My Dragon King System-Chapter 350: The Eve Of War

Aiden continued, "More importantly, I need to speak to the Djinns of Eldergreen."

"Djinns?" Arianna repeated. She had never heard that term before. Laela looked equally puzzled.

They only knew Eldergreen as the realm where their messenger summons came from. Creatures they had not used in quite some time.

Aiden nodded. "Djinns are powerful elemental spirits and the rulers of that realm. Or at least, they’ve claimed leadership over the mythical creatures of Eldergreen."

Arianna leaned forward slightly. "Can they be summoned the way messengers are summoned?"

Aiden laughed a bit and shook his head. "No. They’re far too powerful to simply be drawn by human mana, and also far too prideful to answer to anyone else."

He paused, then added, "But they have the most compatibility with humans, way more than mere messengers do."

There was a brief silence as both women processed that information.

Then Aiden continued, "I discovered that more than just summoning, their biology makes it possible for them to merge with humans. This causes an exponential increase in power for both the Djinn and the human."

Arianna’s eyes widened. Laela looked genuinely amazed.

Uriel, however, remained calm. She already knew most of this.

Their conversation about Djinns went on for a few more minutes; details about how the merging worked, what it would mean for mages who achieved such a bond, and the potential risks involved.

But by the end of it, it was decided: Aiden would get Eldergreen involved in all of this preparation.

At some point during their discussion, Arianna cleared her throat deliberately. She glanced at Laela, who nodded at her then both women smiled knowingly.

Aiden noticed immediately. "I know that look." He leaned back in his chair with a smile on his face. "Alright, you two let’s hear it."

Arianna spoke first. "It’s not about us."

Laela added quickly, motioning her head between Aiden and Uriel, "But about you two."

Uriel looked at them in surprise. "I fail to understand."

Laela continued gently, "We know that you and Aiden have been trying to be respectful of Arianna and I, ever since we became pregnant."

What she was insinuating was that Aiden and Uriel had abstained from deeper levels of intimacy, sexual intercourse specifically, because they’d been trying not to offend or upset Laela and Arianna during their pregnancies.

It had been a gesture of consideration, perhaps born out of concern for how the two mothers-to-be might feel knowing of such intimacy while they themselves were dealing with the physical and emotional demands of carrying children.

Uriel’s cheeks flushed red from embarrassment.

Arianna picked up where Laela left off with an amused smile. "But it’s totally fine, guys. I mean, we never asked that of you in the first place." She gestured with one hand. "But we just want to say, it’s totally okay now. We’re not pregnant anymore."

Aiden couldn’t help it—he laughed out loud at that declaration. His laughter was infectious and both Tristan and Andrea started giggling along with him even though they had absolutely no idea what they were laughing about.

Uriel turned her face away in embarrassment for a moment before forcing herself to look back at them with as much composure as she could muster.

"Well," Uriel said after a beat, "it’s also good you guys mentioned this, because there’s something else that has been held off on."

Arianna tilted her head curiously. "What’s that?"

"Your training," Uriel said flatly.

Both Arianna and Laela groaned in unison: "Oh nooo."

Their voices carried equal parts dread and resignation.

"Oh yes," Uriel replied with a little smile tugging at her lips. "Everyone else in the world is proving their strengths right now and just because you’re both not mere mortals anymore, doesn’t mean you get to slack off."

She paused for a moment before adding firmly:

"So we resume today, effective immediately."

Arianna threw her hands up dramatically while Laela groaned again and slumped back in her chair like she’d just been sentenced to hard labor all over.

Aiden watched them with a smile.

His ascension to current status had affected both his wives as it always did, through the dragon bond.

And over the last three years, Uriel had taken it upon herself to help them control and harness that power while also serving as their combat tutor.

It hadn’t always been easy training sessions either; Uriel was thorough and demanding when it came to teaching.

"Shall we go now, ladies?" Uriel asked sweetly. A part of her enjoyed this too. It was as though she was getting back at them for embarrassing her like that.

Arianna muttered something under her breath, while Laela sighed heavily but eventually stood up from her seat with reluctantly.

As Uriel passed by Aiden on her way toward the door with Laela and Arianna following behind her, she glanced at him with a smile.

He glanced up at her and smiled back knowingly before she walked past him.

Once they were gone and silence settled over the dining hall, Aiden gently brought Tristan down from his head and settled him into his lap beside Andrea.

"I guess it’s going to be me and you guys for a while longer," Aiden said to them both.

——

Back at the open field in Dragonhold.

Aside from the two captains who stood guard at their respective lines, the positioning of the other members of each team varied.

On Team A’s side, Ursula hovered in midair, and below her, Greyfus and Azam remained grounded in ready stances

On Team B’s side, everyone else had taken to the air. Elian, Veron, and Melisende all floated above the field.

The atmosphere was tense as both sides eyed each other carefully, waiting for the signal.

Talen, the Grand Magus, then walked calmly to the center of the field. He looked first at Team A, then at Team B, ensuring both sides were prepared.

Then he raised his hand.

"Begin!"

The moment the word left his mouth, Talen’s form warped and disappeared from the field. He reappeared some distance away, standing beside Oberon and Thamoryn where they could observe without interference.

On Team A’s side, Greyfus glanced at Azam and gave a single nod.

It was time to put their plan into motion.

Greyfus stretched his hand out toward the middle section of the field and whispered, "Explosion Magic."

An explosion erupted in the center of the battlefield.

The blast was controlled and precise enough not to harm anyone but powerful enough to create exactly what they needed; a thick cloud of smoke that billowed outward in all directions.

The dense gray haze covered the entire middle section of the field and rose high into the sky, obscuring vision even for those hovering above.

Captain Azam wasted no time. He activated his hyper haste spell, and right that instant, his body became a blur.

He shot forward through the smoke at Mach 500 speed, moving so fast that he was invisible to the naked eye. The air around him rippled from the sheer force of his movement as he tore across the battlefield toward Team B’s line.

Team A’s first strategy was to attempt overwhelming the other team with Azam’s speed and win in the first strike.

But Team B had anticipated this move or something similar.

Azam was the biggest threat they expected to face as his velocity magic made him the fatest guild captain.

But they also knew his weakness.

His movement depended on solid surfaces and he needed ground beneath his feet to run.

Which is why, at the exact same moment Talen had given the signal to begin, Elian raised and waved his paintbrush wand.

He used his Art Magic to alter the topography of the battlefield, specifically toward their side of the field.

This was team B’s opening act as opposed to Team A’s that started with a cloud of smoke.

The ground on Team B’s side transformed, and became wrapped in a thick, slimy, sticky substance that spread across the surface like tar mixed with glue.

Azam burst through the smoke cloud at blinding speed, aiming directly for Team B’s line in one decisive rush.

But the moment his foot touched down on Elian’s altered ground, his momentum slowed down considerably till they came to a halt just at the edge of the sticky substance.

Instead of running cleanly across the surface as he’d intended, his foot sank into the sticky substance.

Azam’s eyes widened in shock as he felt the resistance. "What the—?"