Chapter 2059: Too Bright to Look At
Arad had to squint, and the two drakainas already had their eyes fully closed, since even they couldn’t handle looking directly at her. It was hard to believe that there was light out there that light dragons can’t look at, but since even fire dragons can be burned by some flames, there had to be an exception to everything.
The light flashed brighter as footsteps approached the entrance, and when one toe emerged, the entire cavern drowned in an even more blinding light. It was such a bright and painful light that all shadows burned and disappeared, not leaving a single one in sight.
Luminous had always summoned Arad into her bath, but today was the first time that she was the one to show up at his.
Even Arad couldn’t look at her directly and had to rely on listening to her footsteps, which informed him that she was walking slowly and hadn’t even gone two meters past the entrance. For someone who can run laps around the mortal world in a fraction of a second, she was an awfully slow walker.
"You’re taking your sweet time, aren’t you?" He called, and Luminous smiled.
"Let a woman swing her hips a bit." She slapped her butt and then leaned on one of the drakainas. "It isn’t like you can see me anyway."
Arad indeed couldn’t see her, but he could 100% completely sense her in any other way. He could hear her move, smell her, feel the tremor of her steps, hear her heart beating and silent breathing, and he could even somewhat make out her silhouette by using all of that sensory information and his void.
"I can’t see you, but I can see you." He smiled, and she shrugged. "You aren’t making any sense. Then, tell me what I am doing now."
"Standing straight."
"Now, you’re leaning forward."
"You’re grabbing your chest."
"You’re swinging your butt toward me."
"And now, you’re stretching like a cat."
Hearing him, Luminous sighed with a large grin on her face. "Satisfactory, you really can see me." She then put her hand on the shoulder of one of the two drakainas and pushed her back as she walked toward the pool.
"Do you mind if we join you?" She asked, and Arad threw a glance at her side. "Before that, who are those two?"
"Luminous looked back at the two drakainas. "My personal servants. Their story is quite long. But don’t worry, Isdis gave them her approval. She also made sure they are well behaved and obedient."
"I got time. I won’t mind hearing their story." Arad leaned back, and she looked at him with a grin.
"Those two are deserters of the war, so I kept them by my side as servants." Luminous spoke with a smile as she leaned on one of the drakainas, "You can see them as the criminal slaves that humans have, but due to their power, they are more useful."
She then tapped the drakaina’s arm. "They can massage me, deliver letters and goods in my stead, and even do chores around my lair without getting blinded by my light. That is the best part."
Arad growled with a tired voice. "So, the same as you saw me at the start. Just someone who can endure your light?"
"No, for you." She licked her lips. "At the start, I saw you as a potential mating partner." She then glared at him. "But now, I still see you as one. Otherwise, I won’t be going naked like this around you."
"But, if I am too old for you, I brought two younger flowers with me. They are a bit on the older side, but I heard you like them like that."
She giggled and walked past the two drakainas, taking her sweet time as she stood at the edge of the pool, looked at him, then down at herself. "What do you say? Can you beat them?"
Arad looked toward the two drakainas once more and then shook his head. "Two on one? Not a chance, one-on-one? No, I’ll still lose. They are too fast for me to catch. I can handle Betty since she isn’t that heavy, but if one of those two punched me, I’d be dead."
Hearing him, Luminous smiled, "Did you two hear him? What do you think?"
The two drakainas remained silent for a second, then spoke. "I’ll probably lose." And the other nodded, "It will be our defeat."
Luminous giggled and then crossed her arms. "Arad, why do you think they think they would lose?"
"How could I know?" As he replied, she sighed and stepped into the pool.
"Don’t give me that. I know that you know; you just don’t want to admit it. If any of those two, even if they worked together and were to fight you, they’d end up on the ground with you pissing on them." She stood at his legs, glared down at him for a second, and then approached further.
She sat beside him. "Why... would they lose to you?"
Arad scratched the back of his head and then looked at the two drakainas. "I can read their mind; I’ll predict their movements and set traps for them with space magic and gravity. Not even light can escape from my black hole, so... I’ll win."
She smiled and then lifted her foot out of the water. Then, using her toes, she waved for the two drakainas. "You two can get into the pool." She then leaned on Arad’s shoulder. "Why are you holding back? You can almost read everyone’s mind. The strategy you just told me was what I told them before coming here. If you have such power, why not abuse it?"
"I have more important things to think about than what everyone else thinks. I’ll use it against someone if we were in a fight; I’ll use it to protect someone, but I won’t be walking around reading random people’s minds."
Luminous smiled and then stretched her arms. "You’re nerfing your own power. It is true that you don’t need to look at everyone’s mind, but whenever you’re faced with a dangerous stranger, you probably should keep a tab on them." Cracking her wrists, she reached down into the water, and her palm found its way to Arad’s flesh. "Want to keep a tab on me?"
But before she could get anything done, she felt something at the other side of Arad, and when she looked, a foot hit her right in the face.
"What are you doing here, you stupid lamp?!" Linda growled as her shadows grew bigger and tried to suppress Luminous’s light. "He’s been sitting here alone for a while, talking with himself. Someone has to keep him company."
Linda frowned, "And why does that person have to be you? I’ll take on that role." She leaned on Arad’s shoulder and then looked at his face. Her hand flew inside the water, grabbed Luminous’s wrist, and pushed it aside before claiming his flesh for herself.
"Careful, she saw your fight with Eris, and she’s been horny since then. Dragons love power, and what you showed her was basically irresistible." She threw a sharp glare at Luminous and then turned back toward Arad. "Speaking of that fight, how is recovery going?"
Arad smiled. "I’m fine. I was hungry at the start, but I had already eaten. The only problem is the eldritch magic, and it is already getting cleaned." He pulled his massive arm from the water, and the sheer muscles on it were horrifying.
But to those drakainas, that massive arm wasn’t horrifying; but it was something they couldn’t resist. Before Arad could realize it, Luminous was leaning on his shoulder, panting as she wanted to lick his arm, and the two drakainas she brought with her were already sucking on his fingers.
"Where did that magic even come from?" Linda mumbled as she ignored them and focused on using her hand, and Arad looked at her with a smile. "From me, of course. You know I could use Vorvadoss’s eldritch space magic, and that means I can use eldritch magic. When I ran out of mana and matter to use, that was what I was left with." He wrapped his arm around her. "Don’t worry, I can freely control it."
She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath as she hopped on his lap. "I’m not worried about you losing control. I’m worried about other gods attacking you because of it."
