Demonic Dragon: Harem System

The mountain peaks rose like sentinels, covered in a thick layer of snow and a dense mist that crawled along the slopes. The biting wind howled, almost like a lament, while the desolate landscape made anyone feel small and insignificant in the face of its vastness. In the center of this wild and inhospitable terrain, Scarlet moved forward with firm steps, her piercing eyes carefully observing the scene before her.

In a clearing between the peaks, Strax lay, his massive dragon form resting on the snow-covered ground. His red scales glowed in the faint moonlight, reflecting an almost ethereal glow, but what truly caught attention was the pile of fallen bodies around him. Several Wyverns lay dead, their imposing forms reduced to nothing but flesh and broken bones, destroyed in ways that bordered on the unimaginable. The violence etched into the marks of their deaths seemed to speak for itself.

Scarlet stopped, watching for a moment, before letting out a low laugh, as if all of this were a joke she already knew. She couldn’t hide the reproachful look, even though her eyes were filled with something more. Something that was a mix of concern and irritation. The dragon by her side was clearly exhausted, but still, she wasn’t satisfied with vague answers.

"I’ve been looking for you for a long time," Scarlet said, her voice blending controlled irritation with a hint of affection. She waited for a reaction, but Strax seemed indifferent. His enormous golden eyes were closed, a faint sound of a sigh coming from his nostrils, while he remained motionless, as if the conversation wasn’t urgent.

"I’ve been busy," Strax replied in Scarlet’s mind, his voice echoing like a soft murmur. There was an unmistakable exhaustion in his words, as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. "I’m tired..." He seemed defeated, something rare in such a powerful being.

Scarlet frowned, frustration evident in her gaze. "Yeah, I can see that. You disappear for two weeks and show up here, hunting Wyverns in your Dragon form, in a place like this, when I told you not to use it. What happened?" She asked, now crossing her arms, her tone more serious. Discover hidden tales at novelbuddy

Strax slowly turned his head, his golden eyes glowing with a distant focus, but he didn’t have the strength to fully open his eyes. The exhaustion was clear, but the answer he gave made the air around them feel heavier.

"I lost the System," his voice reverberated in Scarlet’s mind with a tone of hopelessness, something he rarely expressed. The silence that followed was almost palpable.

Scarlet, who knew little about this "System," was confused. What did that mean? She moved closer, her curiosity now tinged with a hint of concern. "And was it really that important? I mean, you haven’t used that ’stuff’ in a long time. As far as I know, it was just helping to catalog your strength, right?" She questioned, with a suspicious look but still with a touch of calm.

Strax didn’t move, his massive dragon form remaining imposing and still. "I wouldn’t care normally. It’s been a while since it’s been useful. But..." He hesitated, and his golden eyes glimmered in a disturbing way. "Power is still power, Scarlet. I feel like part of me... is gone." The word "gone" sounded almost like a distant echo, as if he was dealing with something deep and painful.

The tension in the air intensified, and Scarlet observed more carefully. Strax seemed lost in his own thoughts, his body so tired that he could barely keep his eyes open. She felt the gravity of the situation weigh even more.

As he tried, futilely, to use the cores to restore the System, a sense of helplessness hung over him. He felt each attempt fail, as if the very system was drifting away from his essence. He used everything he could, without success. Two hundred cores... no result. Nothing made a difference.

Then, a sound echoed in his mind. A message appeared, lighting up his eyes with a cold glow.

[Your System encountered an issue and needs to be restarted. We are just collecting some error information, and then we will restart it for you. (0% complete)]

The feeling that everything was beyond his control deepened. The error was there, inescapable, unchangeable. He didn’t know what was more tormenting: the weight of the emptiness in his chest or the strange feeling of losing something fundamental to his very existence.

The mountain seemed to watch in silence as Strax, the immense and proud dragon, felt so small in the face of this flaw that he could not fix.

Scarlet observed Strax with a serious yet determined expression. The biting wind hissed around them, but she seemed unaffected. She was focused, her eyes narrowed, as though she saw an opportunity amidst the chaos. The dragon, imposing and full of power, was tired, but not just physically. Something within him was broken, lost. And she knew that to restore him, she would have to go beyond the obvious.

"Well, let’s train," Scarlet said, her voice firm and direct, with no room for argument. She crossed her arms, her eyes burning with a determination almost ferocious. She knew that Strax needed more than rest. He needed to rise again, and she was more than willing to be the force that pulled him back.

Strax, still lying down, slowly turned his head, his enormous golden eyes focusing on her, but something in his gaze seemed distant, as if he couldn’t find the strength to move. The emotional exhaustion was evident in his posture, but Scarlet wasn’t there to pity him.

"I know you’re tired, Strax," she continued, her tone softer, yet still firm. "But this fatigue won’t help you move forward. You’ve faced physical battles that would challenge any being, but now you need to face something much harder: yourself." She took a step toward the dragon, her expression relentless.

He watched her, his golden eyes shining with a mix of fatigue and something else—perhaps a spark of desperation. But still, he didn’t respond, remaining there, immense and motionless, as if the idea of rising was more of a burden than an opportunity.

Scarlet didn’t hesitate. She knew he needed something that would challenge him, something that would pull him out of this spiral of despair. "Get up, Strax. This won’t pass on its own. And I won’t let you give up so easily. You have more inside of you than you think."

She was aware that the path to restoring the System—or whatever else he was losing—wouldn’t be simple, but if anyone could push him, it was her. She knew it wasn’t just Strax’s body that needed strengthening, but his mind, his essence. He needed to find a new purpose, a new reason to fight.

"Come on," Scarlet said with a slight challenge in her tone, almost playful. "Show me who you really are."

The dragon let out a deep sigh, but this time, something in the air seemed to shift. The tension that was once palpable began to slowly dissipate. There was a quiet willingness in Strax to respond to Scarlet’s call, a spark that ignited within him, even though he didn’t know exactly how. He raised one of his massive claws, and the red scales, shimmering under the silver moonlight, reflected the darkness around him. The sky above was a tapestry of stars, but nothing seemed brighter than him in that moment.

With an almost unsettling calm, Strax began to return to his human form. His colossal body, which had once filled the clearing, began to shrink gradually, each muscle and contour of his being taking on a more familiar shape. The transformation wasn’t instant, but rather a slow, powerful process, as if nature itself was adapting to his will. Slowly, the vastness of the mythical creature was replaced by a human being of immense presence, with an aura so intense that it seemed to vibrate the air.

Scarlet watched in silence, her eyes focused on every change, but suddenly, an expression of surprise took over her face. Something wasn’t right.

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"Wait..." Scarlet said, her voice gaining a slight hesitation as her eyes focused on Strax, trying to understand what was happening. "When did your hair...?"

She didn’t have time to finish the sentence, because before she could realize it, Strax ran his hand through his hair, as if a gentle breeze had touched it. What happened next was instantaneous and almost surreal. The dark, deep color of his hair, which had once resembled the densest shadows of the night, began to change right before her eyes. The transition was so quick and overwhelming that Scarlet barely had time to react.

The deep black of his hair crumbled into pure white, as if all the darkness that surrounded him had been consumed by the light. His hair became as white as the most immaculate snow, so bright that it seemed to reflect the moon’s own brightness. The change was radical, almost mystical, and the aura he exuded seemed different too...

Strax touched a lock of his new hair with a thoughtful expression, as if he were getting used to the new sensation. His eyes, still red like the fire that consumed his being, maintained their intensity.

"I lost the system, and I lost the color of my hair? How bizarre..." he commented tiredly.