Demonic Dragon: Harem System

Strax remained inside the White Labyrinth until Vex fell asleep again.

The child resisted for some time, holding part of his clothing whenever someone suggested she needed to rest. The last few nights had been marked by dreams, voices beneath the floor, and a constant feeling of being watched. Although the connection to the desert had been severed, her body still needed to accept that the danger had truly moved away.

Mercedes eventually sat beside the two of them. She did not try to convince Vex with long explanations. She merely ran her fingers through the girl’s blue hair and kept the cold in the room stable, recreating the familiar feeling of the bedroom she used in the castle.

Vex closed her eyes shortly afterward.

Even while sleeping, she continued holding Strax’s hand.

"You do not need to stay," Mercedes said quietly. "The connection is gone."

"I know."

"Then why are you still looking at the floor?"

Strax moved his eyes away from the ice plates forming the ground. No vibration crossed the castle, but his body still reacted as though expecting another attempt. The buried creature had been driven back, not destroyed. That kept part of him prepared for another battle, even though he knew it would not begin that night.

"Because it is still there."

Mercedes looked toward Vex before answering.

"But it is not here."

The difference sounded simple when put that way. Strax remained silent for several seconds, then finally relaxed his shoulders. The presence beneath the desert could no longer reach the child, and that was what mattered at that moment.

He slowly released Vex’s hand, making sure she would not wake, and stood.

"I am returning to Asgard."

"You need to rest."

"I can do that after the report."

Mercedes raised an eyebrow.

"That means Monica will force you to rest after the report."

"Probably."

"Then I will not argue."

Before leaving, Strax looked at Vex again. The dark mark across his chest no longer pulsed, but the scar would remain for some time. He did not care. It was simply another reminder of something that had tried to cross through him and failed.

By the time he reached Asgard, the morning had already advanced over the city.

The information released to the population was simple. An abnormal migration of monsters had been contained, the southeastern routes would remain temporarily closed, and Asgard’s forces would continue inspecting the region. Monica had not mentioned the adaptive network, the crowns, or the buried entity. There was no advantage in spreading information that could attract scholars, mercenaries, or rulers interested in using what still remained beneath the desert.

The city, however, understood that something significant had happened.

Soldiers returned with broken armor, wagons carried damaged equipment, and the medical wing remained occupied. Even so, there was no disorder. The military workshops were already replacing damaged weapons, patrols received new routes, and railway workers labored to reorganize the closed lines.

Asgard did not celebrate before the work was finished.

Monica waited for Strax inside the old meeting room.

The large map of the continent still occupied the main wall, but every piece representing the desert outposts had been removed. In their place was a single black mark at the center of the region, surrounded by three red circles indicating the new isolation zones.

Frieren sat in front of a table covered with fragments collected during the operation. Cassandra, Samira, Daniela, Kali, Beatrice, and Rogue also remained in the room, although some wore bandages and temporary pieces of armor.

Samira looked at Strax as soon as he entered.

"You look terrible."

"So do you."

"But I am still prettier."

Daniela, seated beside her, touched the cut on her own face that had been covered with a bandage.

"She has been repeating that since we returned."

"Because it is true."

The exchange drew a few quiet laughs. It was not a celebration, but it eased some of the tension that had accompanied them since the beginning of the crisis.

Monica waited for Strax to sit before beginning the report.

"The twelve outposts were completely destroyed. No pulse has been recorded since the channel in the North was closed. The disconnected creatures died, collapsed, or lost the ability to adapt in coordination."

Frieren raised a small dark fragment between her fingers.

"The tissues that remained active were frozen and transferred into isolated containers. I found no communication between the samples, but I will destroy them as soon as I finish the basic tests."

Strax looked toward her.

"Do you truly need the tests?"

"I want to discover whether the adaptive ability belonged to the network or whether it can survive inside independent organisms. After that, I will destroy everything."

Monica continued before the conversation could drift.

"The villages near the desert have been evacuated. The process must continue for at least two weeks, until we are certain there are no secondary chambers outside the original circle. Rogue and the adventurers will be responsible for investigating the routes without entering the central region."

Rogue nodded.

"We have already established outposts on rocky ground. No one steps onto the sand without authorization, and no one travels alone."

"I also prohibited excavations," Monica added. "Any ruin, imperial outpost, or underground structure found will be sealed and registered. I do not want curious people trying to recover materials from the network."

Beatrice rested her arms on the table.

"And what about the other kingdoms? They will notice that we closed an entire section of the continent."

"They already noticed," Monica replied. "I sent a limited explanation. Unstable magical activity, risk of underground collapse, and the presence of hostile organisms."

Daniela smiled slightly.

"That is not a lie."

"No. It is simply not everything."

Strax returned his attention to the map. The marked region was enormous. Even after the victory, it would take months to confirm the complete destruction of the network. Even so, the main threat had been eliminated. Without the outposts and the core, the creatures could no longer continue growing as a single army.

"How many casualties?" he asked.

The room lost part of its lightness.

Monica opened another document.

"Three soldiers died during the destruction of the southwestern outpost. Two adventurers did not return after the collapse on the Western Coast. Forty-seven were injured, eleven of them still in serious condition."

The number was low considering the scale of the battle, but no one treated it as insignificant.

Strax received the document and read the names. He did not know all of them personally, although he recognized two soldiers who had taken part in the first patrols around Asgard. He memorized every name before returning the paper.

"The families will receive full compensation."

"I have already arranged it," Monica replied. "They will also receive priority for housing, employment, and education. The names will be added to the military memorial."

Strax nodded.

War did not end when the final creature fell. It ended when the living were cared for and the dead were not reduced to numbers inside a report.

Frieren closed the box containing the samples.

"There is another matter."

Everyone turned their attention toward her.

The elf opened the ancient map, now protected by several layers of crystal. The twelve outer points remained extinguished, as did the temporary channel created between Strax and Vex. The seven inner marks, however, remained visible.

"I found no activity coming from the other crowns," she explained. "The reaction caused by the entity ended when the channel was closed. That means there is no immediate need to search for the remaining six."

Monica crossed her arms.

"But you think we will need to someday."

"Yes."

Frieren touched one of the marks.

"Each crown sustains one part of the prison. If one of them is damaged, hidden, or being studied by someone else, we may face a similar situation in the future."

Strax looked toward the points spread across the continent.

"Then we will investigate."

"Without haste," Monica said. "We just ended a war. We are not beginning another expedition without information."

"I did not say now."

She studied his expression for several seconds.

"You thought now."

"Thinking is not leaving."

"With you, the difference rarely lasts long."

Samira laughed, and even Strax recognized that Monica was right.

The final plan was simple. The seven crowns would be treated as a long-term threat, not an immediate objective. Frieren would study the map and the records taken from the observatory. Ouroboros would attempt to locate threads connected to the other anchors without directly touching them. Monica would gather historical information about vanished cities, ancient dynasties, and regions where alterations to memory had been recorded.

No team would be sent before they understood enough.

When the meeting ended, the others began leaving the room. Samira left for the infirmary after Cassandra threatened to carry her if she continued ignoring her wounds. Rogue returned to the guild, Beatrice headed toward the walls, and Daniela accompanied Kali toward the lodgings.

Frieren collected the boxes and stopped in front of Strax.

"I need to examine your scar again tomorrow."

"It is not doing anything."

"That is the reason to examine it."

"You always manage to turn good news into work."

"It is a skill."

She left the room before he could answer.

Soon afterward, only Strax and Monica remained.

The administrator began removing documents from the table, but this time her movements were slower. The exhaustion accumulated over the last few days finally showed in her posture.

"You need to rest too," Strax said.

Monica looked toward him.

"It is curious to hear that from you."

"That does not make it wrong."

She closed the final folder.

"We destroyed the network, prevented the entity’s release, and preserved the crown of the North. Considering what we faced, it was a good result."

"But?"

"But someone turned the observatories into feeding centers. Someone sent imperial orders to keep the outposts active even after the first disappearances."

Strax looked toward the map again.

"You think it was intentional."

"I cannot say yet. It may have been incompetence, ambition, or a failed attempt to study the seal. But the records were classified, and some of them disappeared."

"Then there is another investigation."

"There is."

Monica approached the window. The city continued operating beneath them, crossed by smoke, rails, and workers beginning another day.

"But that investigation does not belong to this part of the war. We are not chasing ghosts while Asgard is still collecting its wounded."

Strax remained beside her.

"You really are learning to speak like Frieren."

"That was offensive."

"It was a compliment."

Monica eventually smiled.

That night, the southeastern rail lines remained closed, but the trains returned to normal operation throughout the rest of Asgard. The workshops reduced military production, the soldiers received permission to return to their families, and the memorial bells rang five times for those who did not return.

In the North, Vex slept without hearing voices beneath her bed.

In the desert, the destroyed outposts remained silent, and no creature emerged from the dunes.

Far beneath the sand, the seven chains remained firm around the ancient prisoner. The golden eye did not open again, although the consciousness behind it remained awake.

The entity remembered Strax.

Strax remembered it as well.

But at that moment, neither could reach the other.

And that was enough to end the war.