Demonic Dragon: Harem System

Cristine stared at Strax, her eyes wide, breathing heavily. Those words hammered in her mind with the weight of a sentence. But Strax remained firm, and his voice cut through the silence once more, now a little lower, but still full of certainty.

"Don't think this is what I want to do, Cristine," he said, looking away for a brief moment, as if the words hurt him. "It's not. Turning someone... is not something to be done lightly. And certainly not with her."

He approached slowly, without threat, without arrogance. Just the weight of someone who had crossed that line before.

"But it's the most viable solution. And the fastest. The corrupted mana inside her is taking root with every passing hour. She doesn't have days. Maybe not even hours. We don't have the luxury of waiting and hoping she can adapt on her own."

Cristine squeezed Yennifer's hand tighter, as if that gesture could anchor her in the world of the living. Her voice came out tense.

"What if she doesn't want this? What if, when she wakes up, she hates me for allowing it?"

Strax nodded slowly, as if he had already faced that same doubt.

"Maybe she will. Maybe she won't. But if we don't do anything now, she won't wake up. Ever again. We'll lose her. And then there will be no hatred, no regret. Just emptiness."

Cristine looked at her sister's face, so serene. So distant. It looked like a memory being swallowed by the edges of a bad dream.

"What if you're wrong?" she whispered.

Strax knelt beside her, finally letting his guard down. There was pain in his voice now. A restrained but real pain.

"Then I'll be the one to carry her on my back to hell to try to fix this. But I'm not going to stand by and watch her rot between worlds."

Cristine closed her eyes for a moment, drawing strength from what little she had left. When she opened them, there was a new resolve there.

"You're going to promise me something, Strax. If she starts to lose herself... if she ceases to be Yennifer... you'll help me bring her back. Or... set her free."

He nodded.

"You have my word. Until the end."

Cristine took a deep breath, looked one last time at her sister, and murmured, almost like a prayer:

"Then do whatever it takes. But save her."

Strax rose slowly, the weight of responsibility bending his broad shoulders slightly. The promise he had made to Cristine burned in his mind like a blood pact. He approached Yennifer with steady steps, his gaze fixed on her sleeping face—serene, but almost absent, like a candle about to be extinguished.

Cristine moved back just enough so as not to interrupt what was about to happen, but her eyes never left her sister's body. Her hands were still shaking.

Strax held his hands above Yennifer's chest, his fingers forming an ancient symbol—a circular seal made of intertwined arcane lines that glowed a deep red. It was a symbol forbidden in many circles of magic, but to Strax, it was a tool. A last hope.

Demonic mana began to slowly ooze from his hands, dancing in the air like flaming mist. It condensed over the seal, swirling in spirals until it plunged directly into Yennifer's chest. The symbol burned itself into the silver silk, searing the golden threads with a sharp hiss before breaking through the runic barrier and touching her skin.

Yennifer's body arched violently.

Cristine took a step back, her hand instinctively reaching for the hilt of her sword. Strax did not retreat. His eyes were fixed on her, focused, controlling the flow of energy that now invaded every cell of the girl's body.

Yennifer began to shake. First her fingers, then her arms, and then her entire body went into convulsions. The stone bed vibrated with the force of the magical shock. The containment runes glowed in response, trying to contain the chaos growing inside her—but soon they began to fall apart, one by one, as if being torn away by invisible hands.

The air grew heavy. Every candle in the room flickered and went out with a snap. A deep silence fell over the room—and then, a sudden wave of energy exploded from within Yennifer's body, pushing Strax back a few steps and causing Cristine to lean against the wall.

The demonic aura now enveloped Yennifer like a black and scarlet cocoon. The color of her skin, once pale as marble, began to take on a reddish hue. First at her fingertips, then rising up her arms, taking over her shoulders, her neck — until it completely covered her body.

Strax watched with a mixture of surprise and unease. This was not normal. This was... new.

Horns began to slowly emerge from Yennifer's forehead, piercing her skin with a subtle sound of tearing flesh. They grew curved backward, smooth and black as obsidian. Small sparks ran along the grooves on their surface, as if something ancient was awakening there.

Her breathing became heavy, guttural. Her eyes opened suddenly—but they were no longer the same.

The irises were gone, replaced by an intense white glow, like living embers trapped inside a new body. And then she screamed.

The sound was not human.

Cristine fell to her knees, her hands over her ears. The scream reverberated directly in her soul, as if thousands of voices were screaming from within her at the same time. Strax stood firm, enduring the vibration of the power that now filled the entire room.

And then, silence.

Yennifer fell to the side, her eyes still open, gasping for breath. The cocoon of demonic energy that surrounded her slowly receded, absorbed by her own body, as if it were part of her—which it now was.

Her red skin glowed slightly under the runic lights that were trying to reignite. Her well-formed horns glowed with a dark aura. The atmosphere around her had changed. It was denser, more alive. As if Lumen now also needed to adjust to the new presence inside.

Cristine approached, kneeling beside the bed once more. She touched her sister's hand — still warm, still alive. But different. So different.

"Yennifer..." she whispered.

Her sister's white eyes slowly turned to her. There was no anger there. No confusion. Just something... ancient. And deep. Like a well that had just been dug to the heart of the world.

"Cris..." said Yennifer, in a hoarse, metallic voice — but recognizable.

Cristine swallowed hard, tears streaming unbidden down her face.

"Do you recognize me?"

Yennifer blinked slowly, as if trying to remember something distant, something important.

"Yes..." she whispered. "I... I'm still me... but... there's something... more."

Strax approached, watching carefully. The energy around Yennifer fluctuated, adjusted, breathed with her.

"She's still fighting inside," he said. "But now she has a chance. Now... she has enough body for that."

Cristine turned to him, her eyes shining with gratitude and fear.

"What if that 'something else' takes over?"

Strax looked at Yennifer for a moment, then at Cristine.

"Then I'll turn her into a dragon, and that'll be that."