The dragon's harem - Chapter 2028: Eris’s Golden Gate

The tournament had ended, and Arad now had a chest full of cash to take back home, but that wasn’t all. He had managed to both get recognized and directly covered by the elders of the entire region instead of having to hide his power on his own, and now, all of them understood one thing as clearly as water.

If anyone dared touch Tina, they’ll have him knocking on their door. And from what they all had seen, they would end up with a fate worse than death.

Sitting on the porch of his humble house in the woods, Arad relaxed for a moment as Kali and Isabelle sat on his lap, and Eris was by his side. A moment later, Tina arrived with a tray of sliced and cold melon.

“Try those, they are great.” She put the tray beside Eris, and Arad gave the sliced melon a stare. “Looks like flesh, but stranger.” He reached with one hand, grabbed a slice, and took a massive bite out of it, even getting the outer skin.

“It’s sweet… but needs something.” After swallowing it, he pulled a tiny pouch of salt and sprinkled a bit on his slice before finishing it off. Tina stared at him in silence for a second, and then stared at the tray. “I don’t think you can add salt to this.”

He smiled, “I just like it more like this.” He then shifted his gaze forward, and his eyes fell on the two women doing squats in his backyard. They were exhausted, drenched in sweat, and looked like they would fall dead at any moment, but Arad still didn’t ask them to stop.

“Miani, you’re not going as deep as you should be. Liana, you’re going down too fast. Control it.” He pointed, and the two women growled. “Damn you…” Miani growled, and Liana sighed.

Eris looked at them with a smile and then pointed forward. “Miani, you don’t argue with Arad. Do what he says, or I’ll rip your nipples off. Ask that woman called Ki about what happened to her.”

Kali stretched her arms and added. “I’m certain he explained this to you before, but the limit of strength you two have reached is simply because there is nothing in this world that can challenge you for a long time. Fights among Elders usually end up in one dying, and a single fight in a few centuries won’t build any power.”

At this moment, both Liana and Miani were put under the pressure of Arad’s gravity and sheer magical power to stress their bodies to the limit and stimulate their growth. If he had put such pressure on a normal human like Tina, their body would’ve flattened to a sheet no taller than a shaving blade.”

Miani sighed and looked at Liana. “No wonder he wasn’t interested in becoming your disciple, you’re his disciple? If he used this pressure during our fight, I would’ve lost from the start.”

“Just shut up and move…” Liana growled at her, feeling like she was about to throw up from exhaustion. “I’m under more pressure than you.”

Arad waved a hand at them. “After you two finish, I’ll have you fight barehanded and with no powers until one of you passes out, and I’ll fight the winner until they pass out.”

“Overtraining won’t solve anything!” Miani growled at him, and Arad shrugged. “As a mortal, yes, it’ll do more damage than harm. But when you’re an immortal with a body that can regenerate at high speed, you can push yourself to the limit and still get results.”

Eris stood, “Arad, meet me at my church. I got something I need to deal with.” She took a simple step forward, and her body disappeared like she was a ghost. Arad just closed his eyes for a moment and focused on the consciousness of his incarnation in Alina.

He had two incarnations in Alina, one was in his private quarter with the elves, and one was now heading toward Eris’s church. Like always, he didn’t bother walking there or even flying. He took a single step and emerged from the dark hallways of the church like a ghost, almost scaring a nun to death.

The nun fell to the ground and crawled back as she saw Arad’s titanic body move across the dark hallway, barely fitting due to his massive body. The people were already noticing that their emperor was still growing larger and larger; he was just around three meters tall a while ago, and now, he was more than three meter and a half.

The more Arad fought, the more souls his body absorbed, and the older he rapidly grew. Even if he wasn’t actively trying to cultivate his age, his body itself was growing at a harrowing speed. The next hibernation was drawing close, even if he didn’t know it.

“Your Majesty!” The nun approached him and bowed, prompting him to lean down and look at her. “Sorry for coming in so late at night.” His body then started getting smaller, and he stopped at a humble 2.1 meter{7 feet} tall.

Even with that, he was still looking like a giant to the poor nun, and she couldn’t help but giggle seeing him shrink like that. “Don’t worry about it, your Majesty. This is Her Divinity, Eris’s church. It is owned by her, and you’re her husband.” She gave him a smile. “She also owns us who worship her. We have dedicated our lives to her servitude.”

“I’m going to the inner sanctum. Is Eris there?” He started walking and the nun followed him with careful steps. “I don’t know… but the Saint is there. She is going through trials to rank up.”

Arad looked back at them, and then nodded. “I see… so Eris wants me to help with that.” Soon, they reached the large golden gate of the inner sanctum, and the nun gave Arad a deep bow before leaving.

He was left alone in the darkness, only illuminated by the soft divine glow of the golden gate. He could feel Eris’s divine magic flowing through the pure gold and radiating from the large sun symbol in the middle. This door, this gate, wasn’t made by mortal hands but forged by Eris’s angels to act as a test for mortals who wish to see her.

When touched, the door senses and calculates the subject’s faith, and only grants them entry if they are past a certain limit. As Arad lifted one of his hands and touched the gate, a pulse of power ran through it.

The gate didn’t try to calculate his faith; it didn’t even dare resist. The moment his fingers touched the gold, the angel who created the gate felt a painful jolt of power that brought her down to her knees. A mere angel can judge mortals, but they shouldn’t dare lift their heads to their Lord. She could feel her divine spell failing, and immediately opened the gate before it would shatter.

She gasped for air in Eris’s heaven and couldn’t even stand. “Damn it… this entire heaven is inside his stomach, of course, he has power over us.” She immediately sent a message to Eris telling her that Arad had entered the sanctum, and she was informed that it was Eris who called him.

“Next time, don’t get in his way. Arad might not be a divine, but he has enough power to punch gods down.” Eris’s faded into her head as the call was halted.