The dragon's harem

Selica walked out of the university heading toward the city alone once again, but this time she had Sena make her grow a tiny horn on her head that was covered with her hair. It detects movement and gives her enchanted perception, a security measure considering what happened before.

Sena had already warned her, send a wave of mana into the air, and I'll pick up on it immediately and fly to you. Don't try fighting anyone alone, you might fall into a trap.

Besides Arad, Sena, Gojo, and Tempo, anyone else could be captured in one way or another.

As Selica walked into the city and past the church, she saw Jack and Lydia walking out. "Lydia! Jack, it's nice seeing you here." She approached them.

"Selica, you're here to buy something?" Lydia approached her with Jack slowly trailing behind her.

"Wine and some ink for Lady Sena." She replied, "What about you?"

"Nothing… Just walking around and exploring the city."

Selica stared at them with a smug face. "So you're on a date? How nice…" She giggled, and pointed south, "Don't go in that direction. Sara told me that her brother is plotting something in there and that I should stay away from it."

"What is he doing?" Lydia looked south.

"Abel? He's trying to revitalize the prostitution district. He's quite good at that and it'll make him a lot of money." As Jack replied, Lydia grabbed him by the head. "And how do you know that?"

"He told me. Said that he's looking to open a branch for the elephant trunk here…" Jack replied as Lydia growled. "That bastard Abel, even in Alina we couldn't halt the indecency that he's coming up with…"

"Then how about you fix the original problem?" Jack turned to stare at her and she quickly let go of his head. "Sorry… what is it?"

"Poverty, a lot of men and women lack the skill or courage to work in any other profession, or they might just like it too much. Those people usually end up trying to see themselves as prostitutes on the streets, but that mostly ends up with them scammed and not paid. Abel provides them with protection, guaranteed payment, and health care in exchange for a cut of what they make." Jack explained.

"So you're saying…" She mumbled.

"Without him, endless children would start emerging on the street. Even I was one. I do not know my parents, and I doubt they knew of me or survived long enough. It's a shitty life, growing in the streets isn't something that should exist. Abel is limiting that, and that's a good thing." He looked at her. "If you think what he's doing is bad, then fix the city before trying to stop him."

"You're right." Lydia sighed, "It's a systematic problem. Stopping him won't fix anything."

Jack smiled, "So you understand."

Selica stared at them with a surprised face, yet a bit worried. "You're talking sense into a paladin… It's either you're an impressive person, or there is something wrong with her."

"It's probably the latter." Lydia mumbled. Remembering that Amaterasu is a god of duality, she is as evil as she's good, which means the closer someone gets to her, the stronger that nature starts showing in them.

"Unbiased justice delivered to everyone equally." Lydia's eyes opened wide as she stared at the corner of the street, seeing a large rat run from the sun to the shade, the grass growing under the warm sunlight while fungus thrived in the shade. Darkness is the absence of light, and so are Amaterasu's doctrines.

"I see it! It's necessary; both exist like two faces of the same coin. Justice isn't trying to make the good side win, that's called tyranny. Justice is trying to achieve a balance between god and evil, that's why the church is failing, that is why people can't help but find paladins and clerics preach annoying, because we forget the truth of balance." She started mumbling and her holy magic started spiking, even Jack and Selica could feel it and backed away.

"Lydia! Watch out, your magic is getting out of hand. Calm it down." Jack tapped her back and she calmed down.

"Ah, Jack. Sorry, I was lost in thoughts." She smiled, "It's an unfair reality given to all equally. The world is cruel, and we must preserve it."

She closed a fist, engulfed in divine flames. "Oath of vengeance, protection, and now…" She opened her palm, "Balance, protecting the order of the world. I've gotten a new oath, and my divine magic purity doubled once more."

Each time a paladin swears an oath or is granted one by their god, the quality of their divine magic doubles.

Everyone humanoid has a base affinity to holy magic that's equal to 1. Once they become a cleric or a paladin they get their first oath which doubles that affinity and makes it 2. A cleric's oath is to heal all equally and fairly without discrimination as everyone has a right to life. Paladins' oaths differ from one god to another.

A normal paladin would usually have only one oath, which gets the purity of their holy magic into 2. Keeping an oath is a difficult and sometimes a deadly endeavor, so most stay with one.

When a paladin picks a second oath, their holy magic starts shifting into divine magic and reaches a purity of 4, meaning their smite could be double the strength of that of a normal paladin, and so is their willpower.

And now that Lydia gained her third oath her purity spiked to 8, getting doubled once again. She became equal in quality to the previous head paladin Alphonse, albeit she still lacks in quantity.

The large rat that Lydia saw stopped moving and turned toward her, staring with a tired face. He approached them, "The hell was that?" He spoke, his eyes glowing purple.

"Arad?" Jack gasped, patting the rat's head, "I thought you went back to Alina for the weekend?"

"I left my clone here." He replied, turning toward Lydia, "What was that spike in holy magic, no it was divine magic."

"I got a third oath. I bet that devil lord would've seen the gods if I punched him with this power." She smiled.

"You bet… But you're still nowhere near the purity that Vars had when became a demi-god right before ascending." The rat replied in Arad's voice, sitting on his butt and crossing his tiny arms.

"Holy magic won't work against a demi-god anyway. But I have something that might fare better." A dark purple spark crackled in her eyes.

"The scent of the hells, what kind of power did you pick up from there?"

"Want to see it?" Lydia smiled.

"Yeah, but we need to find another place." The rat tapped his tail on the ground and they all disappeared.

Arad and Lydia had a short training bout, and the results looked astounding. He was using his clone which had half his magic power but was just as durable as his full self, but even with that, Lydia's smites could knock him into the next phase with a single hit. Albeit landing those smites seemed impossible with his speed. And she only managed to hit him as he allowed her to do so.

What was more horrifying was when Lydia's blade sparked black under Amaterasu's eclipse, showing a power that contradicts her holy magic. Rotting Arad's flesh upon contact and preventing him from healing.

The two faced each other as Lydia's sword turned back to normal.

"Don't use that sword in front of anyone." Arad said, "It's vile."

"I know. It's not something a paladin should use to enact justice." She looked at him, "But, I feel this power was granted to me for a reason. It eats away at holy magic and erases it to zero…perfect for killing demi-gods like Vars."

Arad started thinking, "So, you're saying we're going to face a demi-god soon? Is that a vision from Amaterasu?"

"No, it's just my conclusion." She looked at him. "I gained this power from Asmodeus, Amaterasu's Archon, and the ruler of the nine hells."

To the south of Croc city, a man sat on a wooden chair in a small village, carrying a golden ball in his hand. "They all died, the party I sent to Croc…" He mumbled.

"Lord Jordan, we got a message from the new team heading to Croc. They successfully located the woman who started the massacre of the Gonger warehouse. At the time of the writing of the letter, she was coming down from the university to the city." The man who walked inside said with a gentle bow.

"I hope they follow their plan." Lord Jordan stared at him with a twisting face. "They will? Won't they?"

"Capture her alive and bring her here. Indeed, they'll do just that." The man bowed deeper.

"Good, those who don't follow my words have no place in my heaven. Make sure everyone remembers that." Lord Jordan growled.

"Yes, Your Highness." The man slowly walked backward and exited the room.

"Such a mysterious thing, but how beautiful it is." He stared at the golden ball in his hand. "The world wants me to rise. There is no other explanation as to why I found this. This land itself saved me decades of preparation and hundreds of worshippers, it's right before my hands, the divine spark." He stood, twitching, "But…Those villains could still try and steal this from me to stall my great plan! But I'm smarter than them, I'm indeed!" He gulped the golden ball, "Now, take it from my corpse. You foul ones!"