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Dragonborn's Might makes Right by Infonticus

Game X-overs & Avengers Xover Rated: M, English, Adventure, Words: 356k+, Favs: 1k+, Follows: 1k+, Published: Aug 25, 2021 Updated: Jun 12, 2022

513Chapter 7

Chapter 7: A Dragonborn's Recruitment Strategy

[Nova Empire - Planet G-69]

Sylvie and Valkyrie were both dead.

My red eyes narrowed as I stared at the Company Smartphone. A dragonbone-plated hand squeezed the device with such force that it would have shattered under the pressure if it weren't protected with Company magics.

The smiling faces of my only two waifus shone from the phone's glass screen: Sylvie's sly smirk like a fox with a plan and Valkyrie's proud smile like a soldier fresh with victory. Armed and armoured in the best equipment that I could supply or enchant, they would have been formidable opponents for most of the MCU. However, the big red 'Status: Deceased' beside each of their portraits stood as a testament to how wrong that notion was.

I did not possess a particular emotional attachment to them, nor were they particularly integral for my plans. But I will be reviving them all the same for one reason, and one reason alone.

They. were. mine.

And it goes without saying, I will certainly be claiming back what was mine.

Death wasn't cheap for a Company Contractor, but it wasn't insurmountable either. It cost 200 Company Credits to purchase the Company Skill [Warranty Plan] which would make any waifu's death almost inconsequential- they would simply respawn after 72 hours. At the moment however, I didn't have that much Company Credits to my name, which meant that Sylvie and Valkyrie were going to have to remain dead for a while longer.

But more importantly, no one takes from me; and oh, will my retribution be brutal.

And such were the two questions left before me.

How? And who?

Could this possibly be Aether's doing or did they encounter someone like Thanos in their raid on Planet O-12?

These were questions that I needed answers to, but could not acquire right now. I didn't have the means to communicate with anyone on Sakaar. I didn't know anyone on Sakaar apart from Sylvie and Valkyrie, and I will need replacement waifus to fill those duties: A waifu to handle administrating Sakaar, and a secondary waifu to be her sword and her enforcer.

It was a good thing that Aether had a lot of them lying around.

Red eyes glanced at the trembling purple-haired woman gasping for breath on the futon. Especially this one.

The Raiden Shogun had broken under the pressure. In the end, it did not matter that she was the Goddess of Lightning and Eternity, the all powerful DovahCock broke her all the same. Within the cum-splattered interior of my [Dragon Cabin], the purple haired lightning deity was currently stuck in an ahegao- moaning lewdly as both the Shogun-AI and Ei herself fell to the corrupting influence of mindblowing sex.

If only Aether had bought his waifus the Company skill that was [Corruption Defense], Ei would have been able to resist through the entire 24 hours required for me to permanently steal her.

But he had not.

And now, one of his most powerful waifus had told me all I needed to know about her former team… all while her luscious body was covered in my semen and very enthusiastically fucking herself onto my cock. Both my normal Dovahkiin form and the massive Dragon form couldn't help but grin; because from what she was telling me, I now knew for certain…

Aether was no tactical genius, he truly was an unprepared idiot who jumped into PvP without being prepared for violence.

It also became apparent where he had spent all his Company Credits on. Where I spent it all on boosting my power and making myself largely immune to every sort of damage, Aether had spent all of his on his waifus. Martial skill, magical potential, alchemical ingenuity… he had spent all his Company Credits on enhancing the already impressive base abilities of his waifus to even greater heights. He had made his waifus into jack-of-all-trades and masters of none.

It was a good strategy in PvE… but in PvP?

Aether's waifus were versatile and were geared towards handling armies of low-level threats. But the moment they encountered a single concentrated being of power such as PvP-oriented Company Contractors (myself included)?

Aether and his waifus would be eaten alive.

And best of all, from what Ei was moaning out for me, Aether was exactly the sort of person I despised.

A goody two-shoes Contractor that wanted to feel like a good person despite hypocritically Capturing waifus using all the mind-bending effects of the Company bindings and the lures. But Aether took it a step farther than that: He hadn't even sexually touched any of them to Ei's knowledge!

Those poor things. Being blue-balled like that.

An increased libido was a common side-effect of being Captured and bound to a Company Contractor. So each and every single one of them would likely be a tightly-wound spring of unfulfilled sexual desire by now. I'll be sure to look after them properly and thoroughly when Aether's gone. So, I'm going to do my good deed for the year and sexually satisfy them all.

Whether they want to do so with me or not.

With newfound purpose, I poured more of the Power Stone's limitless energies into every flap of my metal wings- crackling with its violet energies.

And in my wake, a trail of scorched countryside as the violet Infinity Stone's baneful energies ravaged everything within a certain radius of me. At almost 15 times the speed of sound, I was travelling at speeds similar to that of an actual meteorite- the air ignited into flames around my gargantuan dragon form.

I glanced back to the horizon where I left Zhongli and Venti- weighing the pros and cons of whether to turn back and Capture them as well. With my [Adjustment Field], genderbending them would be effortless; however, the field can only affect those inside my [Dragon Cabin] and drawing them inside would be far from effortless. So I'll save those two for last.

After all, there were more of Aether's waifus somewhere on this planet.

It had already been late afternoon when I departed from those two annoyances. And that late afternoon turned into evening as I blazed through enough distance to reach another timezone.

To aid in my search, my massive dragon claws glowed a light icy blue with the magical energies of the Skyrim Spell [Clairvoyance]. In-game, the spell would light a navigable path to whatever objective you had with a shining blue mist. Here, in the world of MCU… it gave me the Skyrim-style compass UI in my vision complete with a quest marker.

And that quest marker was guiding me straight to the closest of Aether's waifus. Combined with the effects of the [Aura Whisper] Shout still active, I should be able to spot them as luminous clouds; and unlike the Gods that I battled, they wouldn't be as irksome to slaughter. Or... not slaughter, as I can think of a few ways to put those girls to good use.

Yet another one Aether's weaknesses: If he had bought [Trace Defense] from the Company, neither [Aura Whisper] Shout and the [Clairvoyance] Spell would have worked on him and his waifus. But he hadn't, and now they have no place to hide where I cannot find them.

And just as I was musing Aether's unpreparedness, I saw my targets in the far distance and slowed down.

Two hundred tonnes of metal dragon travelling at 2 kilometers per second would have been impossible to stop safely. In fact, it would have been a cataclysmic event for this planet as my dragon form would have acted like a meteorite; and it was the kind of force that could potentially harm me through my proto-adamantium hide.

Fortunately, I had just the thing to stop.

"FEIM!"

Gleaming proto-adamantium dragon- the size of a Boeing 707- turned incorporeal as my entire metallic immensity was shunted slightly off-sync with reality. If anyone were to look at my body at the moment, they would have seen a blue slightly transparent version of my dragon self skimming silently through the air like a ghost.

It was always so interesting how the Thu'um behaves differently in a different universe. Where once the 'Feim' simply made the Dragonborn invulnerable and semi-transparent. Here it made me phase through solid objects.

No longer completely following the rules of the universe, the flaming air that ensconced my dragon form simply flickered out like a candle light as I simply phased through the air and the trees. My enormous metal body simply passed through them without even disturbing the birds that nested on their branches.

I drifted to a halt over a few seconds and stopped right in front of the group that I had been looking at.

Four of them in this group, and all of them clearly had been sitting together around a campfire, but their eyes were sharp- having spotted my ghostly form. And now they stood together with swords and magical energy deftly held in dainty hands.

Long slender legs clad in tights or tight-fitting pants. Soft and lush hair. Bright eyes of every colour of gemstones. Unblemished skin like the softest cream. Arrayed before my gargantuan dragon form were flawless feminine beauties in scandalously tight clothing... and one of them was male.

Typical Genshin Impact.

Leading this little squad was an athletic blonde in white and gold tights that wrapped around her long toned legs' every curve before highlighting the soft curves of her feminine mound. A soft blue capelet reached her tight rear. Grey-blue eyes shining with dutiful determination held together with sincere concern for the people she protected, and right now, for the small team that she led.

She was easily recognizable as Jean, the acting 'grandmaster' of their local order of knights, a slave to her duty- tirelessly working away at a post that never ended.

And it was then that the bespectacled girl with the light-green hair beside her stated the obvious.

"D-Dragon!" she shrieked from beside Jean as she held a glass potion bottle menacingly. At least, as 'menacingly' as a shrinking violet of a girl with questionable social skills could. Regardless, I recognised her as the second-most skilled alchemist in their country, Sucrose I think her name was. She would make a fine addition to my magitech research and development team that I will be building.

"My apologies." My booming voice like tumbling rocks drawled with deep amusement, "I seem to have interrupted your little Kumbaya sing-along around the campfire."

Then the third and last girl of the group did something completely unexpected: She waved her teammates down- her ash-blonde pigtails and white dress fluttering as her petite form jumped between her teammates and I. Her back to me, she spread her arms wide as if to protect me from her teammates' weapons.

"Wait!" she cried out, "Everyone, don't fight! He may simply be the dragon protector of this planet like Dvalin was to our home of Monstadt!"

What?

My large draconic head tilted in confusion. I was actually dumbfounded by that: I did not expect them to not know who I was.

Aether should have had a photo of me sent to his Company Smart Device- that was Company PvP policy. Unless… it didn't include photos of me in my Dragon Form. But even if that were so, Venti and Zhongli should have disseminated such information by now: That there was a hostile metal dragon flying around trying to kill them and had captured Ei.

And that's when I realised that Aether's little band had the same weakness as mine: his waifus didn't have an efficient way to communicate with each other or with him.

Why Aether didn't cook up a magical equivalent of a cellphone during his time in Genshin Impact, I did not know. He was surrounded by geniuses and prodigies after all. But regardless of the root causes, it still didn't change the fact that they did not know who I was…

Not only will this be advantageous for myself, but tricking them will also be very amusing. Because as much as I would enjoy watching their steaming entrails slip between their weakly grasping hands, and listening to their pitiful sobs for me to let them live…

...the idea of turning their naivete against them is much more hilarious.

"Despite my intimidating appearance, I mean you no harm."

My voice verberated with a calm and soothing tone through their campsite. It was a far cry from the usual loud boom that shook innards as it instead rumbled with a soothing deep bass and reverb. But although my tone was friendly enough, they hesitated to lower their sharp implements that were still aimed against me.

"How do we know we can trust you?" the smooth but suspicious voice of the lone male of the group questioned, his eyebrows furrowing into a pointed and cautious look.

Tanned with an eyepatch, with deep teal hair and tight black leather pants and clothes- some kind of white pelt draped over his slender shoulder. If I recall correctly, his name was Kaeya and he was the Knight Captain of the Cavalry company in their homeworld. Suave with a provocative disposition- he would have been a heartbreaking playboy if he wasn't in Aether's little harem.

"Of course, you shouldn't trust me." I scoffed in bemusement, raising a few confused looks from them.

"We have only just met and trust is not something to be given frivolously. However, trust is not even necessary between us at the moment, for we share a different bond." I offered instead in a knowing tone- causing most of them to raise an eyebrow in interest.

"Oh, and pray tell what bond could we share with a stranger that has not even shared his own name?" His lone icy-blue eye narrowed in suspicion- his sword pointed at me still. I gave him a regal nod like a king would give to a courtier.

"You may address me as Dwiin'Rel'Grah, Dragon of Proto-Adamantium. And the bond we share is that of having a common enemy. An enemy whose name, in the tongue of the dragons, is pronounced Hevno'kren."

Their guileless eyes widened in recognition of my real name.

"And what has Hevnokren done for you to consider him to be your enemy?" Jean, the acting Grandmaster of their order of Knights, questioned curiously. Golden blonde hair tied in a graceful ponytail, gher rey-blue eyes shining with purpose, and clad in a form fitting white and gold outfit that showed off every curve of her athletic body... she will make for a particularly delicious morsel later.

"He is a Dragonborn, born to vanquish Dragons and devour their Souls; and I am a dragon who is particularly attached to his own soul. His attempts to consume my very soul is reason enough to be hated enemies with him, do you not think so?" I explained to them simply without actually lying- and the look of begrudging understanding lit their faces. Gullible morons, the lot of them.

"As for you all… you are the allies and compatriots of the one they call Aether, is that correct?"

"Yes, but we are more than just his allies- we are his family." Jean affirmed in a steadfast voice- likely proud of her association with Aether. And I couldn't help but wonder if they knew what he had done to them: Branding them, bending their minds to his will and flooding their every thought with affection to him. I will thoroughly enjoy breaking such news to them later.

But for now, more amusing lies to feed them.

"I will cut straight to the heart of the matter then: I wish to speak to Aether and enter into a mutual defensive pact against Hevno'Kren."

"You and yours are clearly as... opposed to Hevno'Kren as I. After all, he has placed an extravagant five million Unit bounty on Aether's head. Such a fortune could sustain an entire clan for generations. He would not have placed that large of a sum as a reward if Aether had not made an enemy of him."

"Also, I have one other concern that would interest you..."

"Before we move on to that… I have to say… I recognise your rumbling voice." Kaeya remarked- lowering his blade and contemplatively stroking his chin, "You were the one shouting Aether's name a few hours ago?"

"Yes. I had hoped that Aether himself would come to me." My deep voice affirmed with a smooth lie. "Unfortunately, Hevno'Kren found me first, and we did battle."

With lie after blatant lie stacking on them, they finally seemed to be convinced of my value as an ally. Blades were sheathed and the thrum of magic quieted down to make way for the calm sounds of a night in the forest.

Jean stepped forward and bowed slightly.

"Our apologies for being so suspicious. Allies were in short supply in this world." she sighed, allowing relief to fill her words. "We had mistaken your shouts for that of Hevnokren's. We, ourselves, are on a mission to scout out Hevnokren and gain an understanding of his capabilities."

My car-sized dragon head nodded in acknowledgement. That was in line with what Ei told me.

"Only…" Barbara, Jean's younger sister, muttered with a tired sigh, "... it was a whole lot farther than we thought it would be- we've been running and gliding for hours now."

Jean merely gave her younger sister an empathizing glance before turning to me- tilting her head up high to look me in the eyes- her own grey-blue eyes adopting a steely edge.

"You mentioned that you fought him." Jean probed in a serious tone, "Can you help us with our mission and tell us more about Hevnokren? About his capabilities and his weaknesses?"

Again, I nodded in acknowledgement. It was time to send them on a wild goose chase with some more lies.

"Hevno'Kren is an exceptional illusionist. Forming lifelike illusions before one's eyes and ears, he could make his blade appear shorter or longer than it is or render it invisible entirely. Or, he could make it so that whenever you lay eyes on your allies shouting for your aid, you would instead see your worst enemies hurling insults."

"So he is a consummate liar as well as slaver." Kaeya murmured mostly to himself, shaking his head in disapproval and sending that long lock of light blue hair swaying in the wind.

My blue eyes twinkled in amusement. The tanned, teal-haired knight didn't know how right he was, despite greedily swallowing up the lies that I placed in front of him.

"Which allows me neatly segue into a matter I wished to raise: During the battle with Hevno'Kren, three of your allies arrived and promptly fell prey to such illusions."

"That must have been Ei, Zhongli and Venti." Sucrose spoke up as the realization dawned to her. At that, a look of concern came over Barbara's features- her pretty face paling in concern before she rounded on me- her blue eyes locked straight mine.

"Are they alright? Were they hurt in the fight? Where are they now? Please everyone has been- I've been so worried!" Barbara's harried voice blurted out her questions in rapid fire. Her blue eyes glittering with concern.

"Barbara, easy now... let Dwiin continue." Jean sympathized in a soft voice, placing a hand on her sister's slender shoulder and giving her a gentle, reassuring squeeze. That seemed to mollify Barbara's panic as she merely took a step back as well as a couple of deep breaths.

"I'm sorry for my outburst, Mr. Dwiin. It's just been a long day for me- for us all. Please continue." Barbara muttered while bowing her head, and as she looked up with her blue eyes glittering with some unshed tears, it was apparent that she was still deeply concerned for her three friends.

"Your allies arrived and fell to his illusions. However, what should have been the four of us against Hevno'Kren soon became a three-way battle royale between him, I and your trio of allies. In the confusion, Hevno'Kren managed to injure one of them- the one you call Ei. "

This time, Barbara held her tongue, but there was no missing how her blue eyes flew wide open in concern. And I can see that the rest of them were just as worried.

All this in spite of how the lightning goddess was currently furiously masturbating as she honed her blowjob skills on my manifested avatar within my dragon cabin. But they didn't need to know that, instead four pairs of eyes looked at me with worried but hopeful expressions as they held onto my every word.

And with such an expectant audience, how could I not feed them another steaming spoonful of bullshit?

"The ones you call Zhongli and Venti bade me to deliver the wounded Ei to Aether as they stayed behind to battle with Hevno'Kren. She is currently safe inside my inner compartment and my lifeforce has been slowly healing her of her wounds."

The first sentence was pure lies, but the second sentence was true in a way.

Ei was certainly safe inside my inner compartment: I'd contend that she was safer in my dragon cabin than anywhere else in the universe. And my [Adjustment Field] has certainly been keeping her in tip-top shape, aside from having no control over any muscle below her neck aside from her vaginal and anal muscles. All-in-all, she has been having an amazing time cumming endlessly.

"Ei is with you?" Barbara puzzled- craning her head up to see if the Lightning deity was resting on my back or the like.

"Indeed, she rests within my inner compartment."

At their confused expressions, I reached over and- much like a car door- flipped open the entrance on my side to demonstrate the concept to them before closing it.

"Please let us see our friend, Mister Dwiin." Sucrose pleaded with her amber eyes as she stepped forward, "We can help with the healing process."

Her teammates murmured their agreement at that.

I was inclined to give them just that; after all, I had a trap waiting for them the moment they stepped inside one of the rooms in my [Dragon Cabin]. However, I wondered how much more information they would dispense, if I heaped a bit more lies into their gullible little heads.

"The arrangement between the Zhongli and I was that I would facilitate Ei's safe arrival directly to Aether as a show of good faith for our defensive pact. None of you are Aether; and thus, I have no reason to risk Ei's health simply to suit your curiosity."

"If Zhongli directed you to do so, we can only honour the deal…" Jean capitulated, a hand on her chin as if she was thinking something through. Her companions looked at her with unsure expressions which made me wonder what this was all about… Right before Jean nodded to herself as if she had made her decision.

"Sir Dwiin, Aether had ordered us not to do this unless it was an emergency, but I believe Ei's return is important enough to warrant disobeying it..." Jean mentioned, piquing my interest before adding with a serious stare. She looked up at me- this 5'8" woman staring fearlessly right into the eyes of my 20 meter tall dragon form.

Then she hit me with a particularly interesting piece of information.

"We are able to create portals that lead to Aether, and we would gladly lead you to Aether so that Ei returns to our care sooner." Her firm voice confided to me as if she was sharing a deep secret. It didn't take me even a second for me to realise what skill Aether was using to allow such magic: The Company Skill [All Roads Lead To Home]. The ability of any waifu to create a portal that leads directly to their [Pocket Apartment] which no doubt acted as their home base.

A home base where Aether was currently hiding in.

My glowing blue eyes twinkled in vicious delight at the suggestion.

Aether was right to warn his waifus not to let strangers through the portal. And this gullible girl had just offered to walk their greatest enemy right up to their very vulnerable and squishy master. I can almost imagine the horrified look in Aether's eyes as his own waifus lead me within arms reach of him, and it would be beyond hilarious.

I'll also take pleasure in having them lead me straight to Aether so that I can break his kneecaps and make him watch as I claim his waifus' virginities in front of him. My gaze immediately raked up and down the athletic body of the blonde- her white tights hugging her long, toned legs and teasingly cupping her feminine mound.

I'll definitely start with Jean as thanks for her cooperation.

"Then do so now, so that I may take her to Aether as agreed."

But before she could conjure that portal to their [Pocket Apartment], she was interrupted by her compatriot once again drawing steel from sheath- the sound ringing out through the night air.

"Sorry, no can do." The ever-suspicious and eyepatched Kaeya growled as he steadied his longsword at me once again. "We can't take you on just your word: You will have to show us Ei first before that."

An impatient exhale of hot air left my dragon form's gargantuan maw.

"She is safe, little mortals. And I shall deliver her directly to Aether as was agreed, and not to his followers."

Kaeya's lone periwinkle-coloured eye narrowed as he glared at me- utterly fearless even when I was more than ten times his size.

"Kaeya, stand down!" Jean barked- her hand gesturing to him to lower his sword, "Sir Dwiin is not our enemy!"

"Please Mister Dwiin, sir!" the ash-blonde Deaconess pleaded in her melodious voice, her grey-blue eyes shining with honest concern, "We know you want to keep your word and take her to Aether directly, but you have to let us see with our own eyes that Ei is safe!"

My glowing blue eyes swept over them then settled my gaze on Barbara's blue eyes for a few long seconds... It was then that I actually took the time to truly look at Barbara.

Ash-blonde pigtails, shining eyes the colour of blue steel, and a white frock with navy blue trimmings and gold linings. The kind and pretty deaconess of their local church was dedicated to the worship of Venti's true form as a Wind Deity. Her blue eyes glittered with sincere compassion for those around her. Barbara looked like the kind of girl to wear her heart on her sleeve, and she was.

By her own nature, she was devout and sincerely compassionate.

Here was a girl who- even without the healing magics- saw a sick and dying boy laying on the sidewalk and sang to him until her voice was hoarse and raspy just so that she could ease his pain even by a little, and it was only afterwards that she obtained the ability to heal the sick through her songs.

What a gentle soul… it only made me want to find out what she sounded like screaming in reluctant ecstacy.

Finally, I feigned a sigh of long-suffering capitulation- my massive dragon body's maw letting it out as a great whoosh of hot air that sent their locks swaying gently.

"I know not if she has healed enough to be moved; but if she perishes due to your tampering, her death will be on your hands, little mortals." I warned them with the sharp tone of my deep rumbling voice. At my apparent concession, the tense atmosphere dissipated.

"It's alright, we'll take good care of Ei." Barbara reassured- still worried as she was for the state of Ei.

"Right, we just need to give her some good food and potions." Sucrose agreed, already rummaging through her pack for said potions.

Lowering my titanic metal body to rest on the grassy soil, I reached to my side with a massive metal claw. The long claws hooked on a gleaming plate of proto-adamantium and flipped that portion open like a car door to reveal the interior of my dragon cabin.

Four pairs of eyes peered inside, and four pairs of eyes looked on in confusion at the cozy interior of a modern living room. White birch flooring with some fuzzy navy-blue carpets. Some leather couches and reclining armchairs around a glass coffee table. A fully-stocked kitchen and dining space by the far wall. There were even steps to aid in climbing aboard.

It was likely the farthest thing they expected the interior of a dragon to look like.

"Take the right corridor off the living area, and her room should be on the second door to your left. The Zhongli placed her there, and my energies have been healing her ever since. Also, track mud inside me and I shall be very displeased."

"Thank you for looking after our friend, Mister Dwiin! I promise that I'll clean my shoes!" Barbara bubbled as she beamed a wide smile. With a small gesture, she summoned hydro spirit to clean her shoes from mud before climbing up the steps inside my dragon cabin.

Sucrose followed after her, the green-haired bio-alchemist absentmindedly forgetting to clean her boots before Jean's wind magic blew it off them. The alchemist blushed brilliantly at her error before timidly climbing aboard.

"Thank you, Sir Dwiin." she articulated as she glanced at me with a small smile of appreciation, and I nodded in gratitude at Jean for looking after her compatriots.

Kaeya wordlessly followed them inside, but paused just as he passed the threshold. He leaned his tanned head back out the door to look me in the eyes.

"I was wrong about you." He sincerely admitted- likely because he was initially extremely suspicious of me.

"I am not here for you to approve of, little mortal." I responded with an exaggerated roll of my eyes while subtly preening- deliberately acting like a tsundere dragon as a final lie to complete the illusion.

"But you have it nonetheless, Dwiin." Kaeya retorted with a smirk- no doubt thinking that he caught my 'poorly hidden soft side' before he slipped back inside. Casually as he pleased, his light footsteps on the wooden flooring followed after the bustle of the others as he strolled over to the room where Ei was.

And just like the others that came before him, as soon as he entered through the door, his body was forcibly put into a dreamless half-coma- falling limp to the floor like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

"Hah! Minds like mud." My dragon form gave a snort of humour as I closed the proto-adamantium door behind them. "I have a newfound appreciation for Sylvie and her capacity for trickery."

Tricking people to willingly walk into my dragon cabin where my [Adjustment Field] could mold them however I pleased was both terribly hilarious and incredibly fun. With another bright-blue glow of my claws, my titanic dragon form cast [Clairvoyance] once again to locate the next party of waifus and began moving to their direction.

Luckily, they were close by. Time to find out how many of them will fall for this lie.

[Inside the Dragon Cabin]

My manifested Dovahkiin form in its usual dragonplate armour hefted up the four unconscious bodies.

"I wonder how many of Aether's waifus are going to fall for this." I muttered with amusement as I carried them to their designated room just across the hall. It was a bunk room with enough bunk beds to fit all of Aether's waifus if need be. Uncomfortably cramped with all the tiny coffin-sized beds at that, but it's not like they'll be conscious enough to complain about them.

I tucked them into their beds, and I wished so bad that I could 'interrogate' them.

Because after all, Ei may have been a wealth of information, but her information was also the most dated. She was the very first to leave Aether's side when they arrived in this universe. Who knows what changed until then? What did Aether discuss with the waifus that were left behind? Did he share any plans with them?

But those were just minor details, the main gist of Aether's battle plan was already clear as day from what Ei had told me, and there was little changing that. Aether's strength lay in his waifus and their abilities, and he will naturally aim to concentrate all of their power against me. Which is exactly what I'll deny him- I will take so many of his waifus that he will never be able to muster enough force to defeat me.

But unfortunately, I did not have the luxury of time: The two remaining Gods should have returned to Aether via their one-way portals by now, and they had no doubt informed Aether of my capabilities. The blonde idiot would be moving to ensure that no other waifu in his harem falls into my hands.

OR I could just incinerate this entire planet with the Power Stone, disintegrate them all and win instantly. That had always been an option, but...

… I looked at the sleeping forms of Jean, Barbara, Sucrose and Kaeya. With so many these hopelessly naive waifus wandering around in this region, I felt that giving them a master who was actually worth serving was my solemn duty.

Plan A was simply picking off Aether's waifus one by one before culminating in a head-on battle that would see the blond idiot dead and his waifus in my possession.

"But just in case this didn't work… Just in case he is able to gather all his waifus... I needed a Plan B." I muttered to myself as I tucked Jean in her small coffin-like bed. And as I thought hard about it, I found my gaze once again resting on the gentle Barbara's unconscious form.

She looked so peaceful like that, like a sleeping kitten. I couldn't help but wonder if Aether… Then my eyes widened in realisation as my 'Eureka! Moment' hit me: A plan that would tear his waifus apart should Aether manage to gather them.

"And it will be through you, my dear Barbara, who will make your family's unravelling possible." I patted her head reassuringly- my dragonbone-covered digits gently running through her soft hair.

Making my decision, I picked up the gentle-hearted Deaconess in a princess and carried her out of the bunk room. Instead of stowing with her teammates, I carried her out and laid the sleeping beauty gently across the dining table. Almost tenderly, I placed a soft fluffed up pillow under her head. A peaceful expression was on her pretty face- brought about by her dreamless sleep.

Carefully, I hefted the sleeping deaconess in white and blue into a princess carry. Out the door of the bunkroom, I carried her, down the hallway, past the open door with four more of Aether's gullible waifus that entered just now and finally into a secret room.

White tiled walls and floor. The room was bereft of anything aside from a stainless steel autopsy table and some shelving for surgical tools. Placing Barbara on the cool surface of the autopsy table, I carefully stripped her down until she was naked- neatly folding up her clothes.

I took note of the flaming grail inscribed in a circle tattooed on her inner thigh. Aether's sigil and brand, I'd bet. Having found out all I needed from her for the moment, I placed a surgery sheet over her.

"In honour of your contribution, I shall name this Plan B as 'Plan Barbara.' " I whispered to her sleeping face with a vicious smile as my bone-clad hand stroked the top of her head in appreciation. My large bone-gloved hand opened my Company Smartphone to make a specific purchase.

And as I was doing so, yet another team of Aether's gullible waifus entered my dragon form- making that a total of 12 waifus that have fallen for my 'Dwiin, the friendly metal dragon' lies.

"Should your waifu compatriots happen to be smart enough to summon a portal directly to Aether as I fully expect and hope them to be..." I explained to her casually as my purchase was confirmed. A smile of anticipation was on my face as I stowed my phone- raising up a hand to lovingly cup Barbara's cheek and gently stroking a thumb across the smooth, fair skin.

"..I promise that your pretty face, delightful body and lovely voice will be instrumental in breaking Aether's heart into a million pieces."

"Why is Barbara sleeping on a table?" A little girl's voice rang out from behind me, and I quickly glanced to face the child. She was around eight years-old. Red newsboy cap, pale blonde hair, red coat and white dress, long pointed ears twitching curiously as she stared at me.

I recognised her immediately.

Klee. One of Aether's waifus from Genshin Impact. Eight years-old and resident demolitions experts of the same order of knight that Jean and others were a part of. She was part of the latest team to have fallen victim to my lies; but unlike the rest of her team that were likely comatose in my trap room, she was standing before me conscious and well.

"Hello." I greeted her simply. And through the slits of my dragonplate helmet, my blood red eyes met her ruby-red ones. "What are you doing here, little girl? Why didn't you follow everyone to the room to see Ei?"

"Albedo told me to wait in the living room..." She pouted as she bounced on her feet. "But there was nothing to do, so I went exploring!"

I nodded. That was not a problem- I had a failsafe to counter that scenario. All I had to do was utter the phrase 'Bonsoir' and the same trap would activate for every lifeform inside that isn't me. But…

My red eyes looked her up and down. Very young and consequently incredibly gullible, she could be used as a human shield and/or distraction for Aether. Nothing more distracting than seeing a child's belly burst open like a bloody pinata after all, and if I'm lucky, she'll survive for a few seconds to plead for Aether to save her. So, perhaps her avoiding the comatose trap was a blessing in disguise, after all?

"And does this excitable little girl have a name?" I asked with an amused smile.

"Huh?" she made a puzzled look before her red eyes lit up in recognition, "Oh sorry! I'm Spark Knight Klee of the Knights of Favonius! And uh, please don't tell Albedo that I forgot to introduce myself... What's your name, mister?"

"You can call me Hev." I introduced myself easily enough, "I'm the one who keeps things clean and tidy in the dragon."

Her eyes lit up in understanding.

"Oh, like how Noelle cleans up around the headquarters? So you're a maid too?!" She excitedly blurted out with all the impeccable logic that comes from being an eight year-old.

"I suppose I am." I conceded with a fatherly smile. "Hey, Klee. Do you want to see how people make things explode in this realm?"

And it was like I had told her that I was secretly Santa Claus all along and that all the toys I carried had her name on it. Her eyes widened with surprise and wonder, her little mouth agape with amazement.

"YES PLEASE!"

If I train and arm her just right, she can possibly blow herself and Aether sky-high. I had the explosives for it after all.

Before departing from Sakaar, I had expanded my inventory space, from the size of a simple closet to that of an entire apartment. This Company Skill [Pocket Apartment] was then filled to the brim with all tools I thought I'd need to murder a fellow Company Contractor: Explosives from shoulder-launched plasma launchers to improvised junk nukes to scavenged planet-shaker ordnances. I need only choose one and have Klee 'show' it to Aether.

The portal cut through thin air with an ethereal sound like brass shimmering. A doorway leading to my [Pocket Apartment] that was lined from floor to ceiling with enough high explosive ordnance to level a capital city. At the sight, her eyes wide as dinner plates and a bit of drool dripped from the corner of her slack jawed mouth.

"Behold." I proudly announced, "My stuff."

"Kl- Klee doesn't know what she's looking at," she whispered in reverent awe, "but she has never seen anything as beautiful in her entire life."

And it was at that moment when something hit my dragon form with all the searing heat and energy of a tactical nuke.

[Outside]

Laying in the center of a scorched crater of flash-forged glass and toasted silicon almost 100 meters across, my massive dragon form pushed itself up off the dirt.

My draconic blue eyes immediately adjusted to the blindingly bright light. And right before me, ensconced in the yellow energies like the solar flares of the sun, was this galaxy's biggest annoyance for me.

"Ah, Captain Marvel, I was wondering if you'd arrive at all."

"You survived that?" She merely scowled down at me in a look of surprise and distaste.

A look which, to my confusion, consisted only of her right eye. Her left eye was hidden behind a medical eyepatch and bandages… along with the rest of her head's left side. The bandages covered it all the way down her neck where it was hidden by her flight suit. My keen draconic eyes could see the little hints of charred skin, and burnt blonde hair peeked out from between the bandages.

"Also, for some reason, I thought you'd be uglier: You're a lot better looking than I thought you would."

Clad in her signature gold, red and blue flight suit, the former air force pilot was definitely the definition of 'comic book pretty' unlike the mere mortal actress that portrayed her in the movies. Luxurious blonde hair that bounced past her shoulders. Hefty C-cup bust that bordered on D's. A narrow waistline hugged by the leather of her skintight suit. A wide set of hips that filled out a perfect ass and luscious thighs like a dream.

She had a perfect hourglass figure like every damn woman in this universe.

"Your lieutenant didn't help in that regard." She growled bitterly as her hand raised up to trace the bandages that covered the left-side of her face.

…

I see: So she's the one responsible for killing Sylvie and Brunhilde. She's the one who stole what was mine. She's going to regret ever existing. I don't know yet what I'll do to her, but I'm looking forward to it already.

"Hmm… It surprises me that they were actually able to scratch you at all."

"That makes two of us." She commented, a perfect blonde eyebrow raised in interest as she crossed her arms. "Also, you should know, most of your little raiding fleet over in O-12 is dead in the water. And your bounty hunter friends up in orbit are in the same boat as well. It's over, Hevnokren."

"How did you know that O-12 was going to be assaulted?"

"Oh please." She scoffed in derision,"The Nova Empire has its own intelligence agency, they get tips like that all the time. And also, did you really think that you're the first idiot-warlord who thought of attacking two places at the same time?"

Even so, I had hoped that Captain Marvel would have ignored the Sakaarian fleet's raid on O-12, and flew here to engage me instead. But unfortunately for me, she had the time to do both of those things. And now, I was down both a fleet and both of my waifus. Honestly, the loss of the fleet was a greater setback than both Sylvie and Brunhilde dying. I can always spend a decent chunk of Company Credits to revive them later on, but the failure of the Sakaarian fleet to raid O-12 would set back my plans for a Dread Armada for months, if not years.

But, more than just what she had done.

Her presence here and now had dire consequences for my plans on ultra-murdering Aether.

My eyes met hers. Draconic blue eyes shining with my displeasure for this setback, and my voice steeped in contempt rumbled through the night air like crumbling rocks.

"So you've managed to overpower a fleet of ramshackle ships, and kill two of my lieutenants. It isn't that impressive of a feat. You've hindered my plans, yes. But it is far from over."

"Oh? Will we be doing things the hard way now?" Carol Danvers taunted in a whisper- cracking her knuckles through her red gloves, "Tell you what, I'll let you make the first move, you overgrown metal lizard."

She looked down at me with nonchalance, as did I to her.

Both of us were so certain that we would win against the other in a straight fight. But unlike Captain Marvel, I knew for a fact that the only way she'd 'win' against me is to not fight me at all.

If I could just bite her once and trigger [Dragon's Hoard], I'd Capture her within five minutes. After all, Captain Marvel was a Tier-9 waifu according to the Company. She was worth an inordinate amount of Company Credits should I Capture her, enough that I could easily bounce back from the losses that she herself had inflicted on my plans.

However…

My luminous blue eyes subtly glanced in the direction of Aether's mansion. The same could be said for Aether. If he were to Capture her, I would be at a severe disadvantage. And thus, the need to engage them both at the same time. Aether needs to be too preoccupied to attempt a Capture on Captain Marvel; while at the same time, I need to attempt my own Capture on her.

Then out of the corner of my eyes, I spotted something interesting.

Four pairs of curious eyes peeked out from the treeline in the distance. So well hidden that they were only visible because my [Aura Whisper] Shout highlighted them through the foliage. They were recognizable too; yet another squad of Aether's waifus had arrived. I glanced back to the glowing superheroine- still waiting for me to make the first move. Unfortunately, I wasn't going to be able to trick them with Captain Marvel around.

Things weren't looking optimistic: Outnumbered, enemies closing in from all around, and a very powerful one right in front of me. All in all, the original plan of picking off Aether's waifus one-by-one was not going to work- not with Captain Marvel here to preoccupy me.

It was time for Plan B. For Plan Barbara.

Within my Dragon Cabin, I engaged the [Adjustment Field]. I took just the briefest moments to admire my handiwork with the slender and sweet-faced Barbara before taking my position right by the door that led outside. I had only one shot at this.

With my draconic eyes locked with Captain Marvel, there was a silence that fell between us.

The calm before the storm.

And like a foreboding signal for the violence to begin, my Shout resounded through the night sky.

"MUL QAH DIIV!"

The [Dragon Aspect] Shout: Faster attack speed, increased armour, lower cooldowns on my Shouts. And I was going to need them all for this battle. And more. I tapped into the depthless energies of the Power Stone and wreathed my metal wings in bright lightning.

Naturally, Captain Marvel did not waste time and did as expected: Her slender frame burned bright like the sun as she met me head on.

"RAAAAAGGGHH!" Her furious shout followed mine as she threw the first punch. This woman, barely 55 kilos, crashed into my house-sized 200-tonne [Dragon Scale] form with enough force to actually stop me. The violet lightning of the Power Stone met her fiery power in a terrible clash, and it flared out from us in a violent halo of destruction.

Trees bowed, then disintegrated to ash like they stood near a nuclear blast. Grass and soil was flash-forged into sooty glass. And the night sky suddenly turned to day as our clash illuminated it in an eye-ball searing flash of light and power.

The world underneath us was not going to take much more fighting between god-like forces, and I still had waifus that I needed to steal from Aether. But I had an ace up my sleeve, something to render Captain Marvel unable to bring out her full destructive potential.

My dragon claw reached into my compartment and pulled out...

"Klee is here to help the shiny dragon!"

...The eight year-old that I was hiding in my pocket.

And the superheroine in red and blue couldn't help but blink confused as I deposited the cute eight year-old onto my back with her new 'toy.'

"Mister Hev, shall I push the button?!" Klee gushed, sparkly-eyed as she flipped safety off the crew-served nuke launcher that had a bulbous warhead that was as large as her entire body.

"Try aiming for her other eye, Klee."

Captain Marvel looked unimpressed.

"You think I'm going to fall for your little decoy?" she barked in contempt, and I had a brief flash of confusion before I realised what she meant: She thought that Klee was a robot or hologram. Because we both knew that for as long as Klee was on my back, Captain Marvel can't retaliate with her full power. She was many things, but a child killer wasn't something that she was interested in becoming.

"She's an actual eight year old little girl."

"I'm almost nine!" Klee chirped with a bright smile and pumped a tiny gloved fist into the air. And at those words, Captain Marvel looked absolutely appalled.

"Why the hell did you bring a child onto the battl-"

!BOOM!

And for a brief minute, the sun itself was brought to the surface Planet G-69- burning away the night and a good chunk of the forest. All of it was washed away in a growing mushroom cloud of radioactive ash. Being at ground zero of a nuclear blast was less damaging than I thought it would be.

The thick Proto-Adamantium skin of my [Dragon Scale] form absorbed most of the energy. Metallic wings spread out like a gargantuan bat in flight, I rode the energy of the blast. Like a kite floating in the breeze, I flew just above the tree line- circling the growing mushroom cloud of red-hot nuclear ash in search of Captain Marvel.

Klee stood up on my back to get a better view. From her position, she was shielded from the blast and came out of the point-blank nuclear explosion unscathed.

"Uwah~" Klee cheered- standing up with her hands in the air as she warmed herself in the glow of the rising superheated ash, "It makes a huge flaming mushroom too! Soooo Coooool~!"

"It certainly does make mushrooms. How did you like the explosion?"

"That- that was the prettiest boom I've ever seen." she said breathlessly, white ash dusting her red hat and coat shoulders, "Klee… Klee thinks she came a little."

My dragon form's head craned its head towards her- one non-existent eyebrow raised on my Proto-Adamantium visage.

"Where did you learn to use that word like that?"

"Eh?" the eight year-old squawked in confusion- putting a diminutive finger on her chin in contemplation, "I heard Kaeya use it that way- he said it when he tasted the smelly wine Diona made that one time."

And it was then that she realised that she was under scrutiny, the glowing blue eyes of my dragon form peered down on her. Klee seemed to shrink back under my gaze, as if expecting me to scold her. And she adopted that ashamed expression that only young children had when caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

"Should I not say it like that anymore?"

Instead, steam rushed out the nose of my draconic snout as I snorted in bemusement.

"No, no. Keep using it, I wish to see people make such hilariously uncomfortable expressions when you do."

"Ok! Klee came a little from that boom!" she beamed cheerfully now that she knew that she wasn't in trouble.

"Just a little?"

"Klee came a lot from that boom!" she whooped with a bright grin of straight white teeth- her arms raised up high as if to match the height of the mushroom cloud.

And just in time to ruin the good mood, Captain Marvel pierced through like a missile- aglow with her usual exotic energies and not even looking like she was winded from taking a tactical nuke to the face. I had hoped that the nuke would at least faze her enough for me to bite her. But no such luck.

"Tch, she's unharmed. Reload the nuke, Klee. Prepare to fire again at my signal."

Klee froze at those words.

"Fire… again...?" Her red eyes glanced at the unloaded launcher just as my claw plonked a fresh nuke beside her.

"YOU'RE THE BEST DRAGON FRIEND I'VE EVER HAD!" She declared- throwing herself onto the back of my neck and trying to wrap her tiny arms around my neck that was thicker than most tree trunks.

"When I meet with Aether, I'm going to be everyone's Dragon Friend."

In the furious fighting and the chaos of the burning forest, both Klee and Captain Marvel were all too busy to notice my smaller body exiting my dragon form, dropping into the forest and running away into the night.

[A kilometer away]

With Captain Marvel being led further and further away from Aether's reach, it was time to deal with the blonde pest myself.

As I ran through the brushes straight towards the last known locations of that last team of Aether's waifus, and the way that led directly to him... I took a moment to glance back to where my Dragon Form was doing battle with Captain Marvel.

It always felt so odd to be occupying bodies at the same time and seeing things from two points of view at the same time. The superpowered heroine was holding her own handily against my [Dragon Scale] form- using her speed to her advantage as expected. But she was coming to realise that she can't pierce through my Proto-Adamantium hide.

But here in this body, it felt odd to be so mortal again. Running on two feet, the wind on my face, the scent of forest in my nose, the horrid Mace of Molag Bal thirsting in one hand, and a [Detect Life] in the other hand to search for my prey. I didn't even have my dragonplate armour on either.

It was nostalgic in a way.

Shaking my head, I took a deep breath as I focused on the task at hand- chasing down Aether's waifus.

Aether's squad of waifus were keeping a respectful distance from the fighting- moving back a few hundred meters from where my massive metal dragon body was occupying Captain Marvel. The four waifus were in the process of climbing up a steep cliff face- likely to get a vantage point of the action.

They reached the top of the cliff just as I closed the distance with them.

Promptly enough, one of them spotted me at the bottom of the cliff. Xiangling, a cheerful looking girl with indigo-black hair and garbed in browns and yellows. The ramen chef took one look at me with her golden eyes before she waved down at me- turning to her teammates as well.

"Hey guys, it's-!" Her bubbly voice rang out before my own Shout of "Wuld!" interrupted her. Immediately, my body became a whirlwind that closed the distance between us from 25 meters to 0 meters.

She didn't even have time to react before the mercilessly hard mace head found her skull. The sharp crack and the thud of body falling to the soil alerted her comrades to my presence in their midst- their heads turning to me and their eyes wide in shock.

"What are you doi- UGH!" Bennett, a snowy-haired boy, suddenly found my mace swung between his legs with the strength of a dozen men. Strength enough to shatter bone, much less something more fragile like say... a pair of testicles.

The force was enough to propel him up into the air by a good foot or two where he immediately passed out from pain on the grass.

Ignoring his gurgle of agony, I turned my attention to the other two; and from my hand, the Skyrim spell [Greater Ward] burst into being. The luminous white shield flared slightly as it shielded me from razor-sharp whips made of enchanted water.

And I responded in kind.

"Yol!"

An expanding cone of fire blasted out from my lips at the two remaining waifus, both male and in command of the element of water or Hydro in their local parlance. So shocked were they by that fiery display that they almost didn't shield themselves from it with their water magicks. The torrent of fire washed over them, and set the tree line behind ablaze in orange flames.

Distracted, the shocked look on the two waifus lasted only until I was within mace's reach with one of them. The redhead in the grey two-piece suit desperately tried to parry my mace with his bow, but I had different plans.

"Zun!"

Wide-eyed with surprise, the redheaded male, Childe, could only gape as his bow that should have parried my mace flew from his hand. Now unimpeded, the sharpened spike of my mace found his exposed side- shattering ribs and piercing his fragile liver.

With fearful and still dreadfully confused eyes, the last one looked at me even as I charged at him with breakneck speeds. Garbed in black and navy-blue, Xingqiu was a boy barely past puberty. And he was much like most other boys you'd find in his age.

Eagerly adventurous, playfully mischievous… and hopelessly naive.

"Please! Snap out of it!" he wasted time pleading, dodging my mace swings.

"Fus!"

Even my shout, he dodged- letting it sail by him and gouge out a deep trench in the soil before flattening some trees. Distracted by that unexpected display of magic, he turned to face me just before my bare fist met his temple in a vicious backhand, mercifully knocking him out.

And just as he fell stiff as a board onto the grass, a metallic schwing of sorcery hummed through the night air. Turning to the source of the sound, I grinned viciously as things unfolded just as I had hoped: One of them summoned the portal that led straight to the heart of Aether's base.

The redhead on the grass did his best to crawl his way through the portal- clutching his shattered ribs as he did. I stopped him- pushing him onto his back with my shoe and let him see me stand over him in my horrifying glory.

"Пиздец..." he groaned in despair as he watched my grateful smile- realising that he had just given me precisely what I was hoping for. My foot punted him in the jaw- loosing some teeth and knocking him out.

Keeping an eye on the portal, I dashed across the blood-stained grass. Each of the four badly-injured but still breathing waifus were then deposited into my inventory space. No sense in wasting waifus after all, they'll be safely stored in stasis until I have the time to treat them.

Even as the forest began to burn all around me, my eyes were locked to this shimmering portal. Like a doorway framed with blindingly bright blue lights, the rectangular portal led straight to the Aether's base.

An excited shiver went up and down my spine as I peered through the open portal and saw the resplendent lobby constructed of polished marble, carved wooden facades and gold gildings. To most, it would have looked something like a palace for the greatest kings and queens. But for myself, I saw it for what it truly was: the end of this little farce of a fight between me and Aether.

I took a deep, steadying breath.

I was about to put myself in a really bad spot. Incredibly risky with a real chance that I might actually lose this fight. Glancing back to the fighting that had gone nuclear on the horizon, I knew that I had no other choice: I had stretched my resources too thin on too many fronts and now I was close to losing.

But that's why I had a Plan B.

"Alright, Barbara, it's your time to shine." I whispered with cruel relish. "It's time for you to break Aether's heart into a million little pieces."

And with those words hanging in the air, I stepped through the portal. The hot air of a forest on fire gave way to a warm, homey air- slightly scented too. There were a couple of Aether's waifus already gawking at my arrival, but my eyes were too busy darting around and trying to match the scenery with the layout that Ei described to me.

And just in time, Aether rounded the corner- rushing into the lobby and likely hoping that it was one of his waifus that had successfully returned. Sunny blonde hair, eyes of molten gold, garbed in browns and yellows, he looked exactly as he did in the game.

He slowed to a halt as he caught sight of me- shock and terror on his features.

And after a long, long day, our eyes finally met for the first time.

-