Dragon King's Harem Chapter 455. A Madman’s Declaration.

Dragon King's Harem Chapter 455. A Madman’s Declaration.

His response?

He screamed.

Not a scream of fear. A roar. A full-throated battle cry. A madman’s declaration.

And his hand slammed down on the gauntlet.

My gauntlet.

The one I gave him.

The one enchanted with limiters—and three activation charges.

He used it now, turned it against me.

A pulse of wind burst out in all directions, lifting robes, toppling chairs, scattering dishes, and sending some of the weaker guests stumbling backward. The pressure alone cracked the marble under his feet.

He lunged.

I saw it coming.

[A barrier has activated]

My aura flared. A flickering gold shield formed mid-air, curved and angled, absorbing the direct hit as Cedric’s gauntlet crashed against it.

-Boom!

The impact sounded like a meteor smashing a castle gate. My boots scraped back across the altar floor, frost and shattered sigils scattering underfoot.

But the shield held.

Cracks spread across it, but it held.

Maria didn’t scream. She didn’t cower.

“Frostbind.”

With a flick of her wrist, sharp vines of living ice snaked from the floor, curling up around Cedric’s legs like serpents—meant to hold, to bind, to freeze him in place.

He snarled and twisted. A pulse of flame magic burst from his shoulders, shattering the ice into frozen shards. His power wasn’t just elven—it was borrowed. Amplified. The gauntlet pulsed again.

Al moved next.

“Void Tether, Dual Cast.”

Two jagged ropes of dark mana lashed out from his hands, wrapping around Cedric’s chest like tightening cords. For a second—just a second—Cedric stopped. His body trembled. The spell held.

Then his back flared with red runes, burning them off like parchment in a furnace.

“Damn it,” Al growled.

Callum?

Still seated.

But I saw the flick of his fingers. Just a twitch.

A ripple passed through the room. Invisible to most, but not to me. A hex dome surrounded his table—protecting himself and his aides, with lazy interest painted across his face like he was watching a bloodsport match between two ex-boyfriends.

And Jyne?

Jyne moved fast.

“Foxstep.”

She blurred. One second she was seated beside Sela’s empty chair. The next, she was beside me, her twin daggers flashing in the magical haze. She spun like fire and mist, slicing across Cedric’s ribs.

Blood sprayed—but he didn’t flinch.

The damn gauntlet flared again.

Third charge.

[Overload Triggered]

The rune-core in the gauntlet sparked out of control, lightning cracking through Cedric’s body like a living conduit. The energy spiraled outward—twisting along his shoulder, then shot through his arm...

And slammed into me.

Gauntlet first. Chest.

‘Stone Skin.’

My skin hardened instantly—shimmering with a layer of enchanted rock and molten dragon-scale texture, thick as a castle wall. The moment his fist connected, the crackle of magic didn’t sizzle through flesh—it hit a living fortress.

Still, it packed enough force to shake mountains.

The altar cracked behind me like a thunderclap. A boom echoed through the hall, stone dust erupting from the impact.

Then I was airborne.

Not falling—launched.

Straight backward.

Glass exploded behind me. A wall of stained crystal, once depicting some poetic elven myth, shattered like it was made of brittle sugar.

I burst through it in a storm of shards.

Someone screamed—not Maria, not Jyne. One of the nobles, probably.

Snow and wind tore at my cloak as I went hurtling into the winter night.

And I kept going.

Down. Fast.

I smashed through a decorative balcony beam. Splinters flew like a wooden explosion.

[Stone Skin – Absorbed 60% of impact damage]

[You got punched and lost 19 HP]

But I wasn’t done falling.

Because I wasn’t falling anymore.

My wings burst from my back mid-air—mid-spin. A sudden surge of pain and fire tore through my spine as the massive obsidian-scaled wings unfurled, each beat sending shockwaves through the cold night.

The wind caught them. And I stopped.

Right there, mid-air, just above the ceremonial dueling arena carved from ancient glacier stone.

The place where elven nobles settled old grudges. Where blood froze before it ever hit the ground.

I hovered in silence for a heartbeat.

Snow flurried around me. The moons above painted the shattered glass behind me in dull violet.

Then— He came.

Cedric leapt through the same window like a madman.

His cloak flared behind him like a villain from a bard’s tale. Mana trailed his body in sparks and fractured lines, the gauntlet on his arm still sizzling, overcharged and barely holding together. It’d already burned through its three enchantment charges, but the damn thing was still smoking like it wanted to explode out of spite.

The punch was good.

It hurt.

It actually threw me.

Meaning Cedric wasn’t a poser. His strength was real.

But pain wasn’t the same as damage.

Stone Skin absorbed the brunt

Still, I felt it.

The deep kind of pain that settled in the bones.

A dull throb pulsing in my ribs like a warning.

He landed hard across the arena. Snow scattered under his boots. Frost lines cracked outward from his mana pressure alone.

“You think you can take her from me?” he shouted.

I hovered above him, wings beating slow and heavy. I could see him clearly—his twisted fury, the storm in his pale blue eyes, the betrayal, the bruised pride.

I lowered myself gently, boots crunching into the frost-marked tiles of the arena.

My neck cracked as I tilted it once to the side.

“You never had her, Cedric.”

His jaw clenched. His aura flared.

Then he roared and charged.

His boots left scorched trails across the ice-etched floor, mana burning like wildfire as he summoned his sword—a massive silver blade with jagged runes carved into its fuller. I knew that sword. It belonged to the late King Sylen—Maria’s father. A relic of war. Of conquest.

That bastard stole it.

He gripped it like it was an extension of his body.

And I?

I flexed my fingers.

[Adrenaline Surge has been activated.]

[Dragon Armor has been activated.]

[Power Boost has been activated.]

[Accelerate has been activated.]

I didn’t need to parry.

I vanished.

‘Shadow Walk.’