Chapter: The Journey to the Dragon Empire
There were three dragon princesses who did not have the paper certifying their marriage. That same night, they realized they were the only ones without the document Alequei had delivered to the other queens for them to read. None of the three, originally from the Dragon Empire, had received anything. They asked Alequei, and he told them they had to speak with the King.
Alequei asked the queens to wait there, for he had to speak with Kai first. When he found the King, he told him he needed the other three certificates—the documents endorsing the marriage of the three queens from the Dragon Empire.
—I couldn't get them —Kai said—. I'm going to have to go to the Dragon Empire personally to get them. So, I need you to take charge of the nation in the meantime.
—Very well —Alequei responded—. When do you plan to leave?
—I'll leave in two days. According to the date, I must be in the Dragon Empire in two weeks. My intention is to travel with them to another location for these two weeks, and then, in the final two days, I will set out for the Empire.
—Will you be taking a trip beforehand?
—Yes. I'm going with the queens elsewhere. That's why I want to ask you to handle everything. I'll be away for a month at most —Kai said.
Alequei accepted without hesitation, assuring him that he would take care of the nation. Very late at night, he said goodbye to the King and returned home, wondering what Kai was plotting… or what the dragons were plotting against the White Witch. However, he shouldn't worry about that; what he should worry about was governing an entire nation without its King and its queens.
Meanwhile, all the queens were euphoric because their parents had recognized the marriages. They were at the beach house, many asleep from exhaustion. But the three from the Dragon Empire were awake, waiting for Kai.
Kai arrived very late that night. He had been occupied with the transfers of the kings and their escorts, making sure everyone reached their kingdoms safely, and keeping the maritime and land portals open. It had been a long day. When he entered his house, the three princesses were waiting for him. They asked him why they hadn't received their parents' recognition. Kai explained:
—It's not that they don't want to give it to you. But they want to meet me first.
He didn't want to worry them by saying he had been challenged practically to the death for their honor.
—And what are we going to do then? —they asked.
Kai responded:
—What we'll do is travel for two short weeks to some private beaches I have on the west side of the peninsula. I'll train a bit there while you all have fun and see a different landscape.
Happy, they went to sleep. That night, Kai went to bed, multiplied himself, and embraced his queens, though he knew the upcoming fight would be one of the most difficult in a long time.
The next day, the servants prepared everything, and each queen packed her bags. It was a mini-vacation. Kai had ordered a special vessel to be prepared: a massive ship, not of wood, but of metal, powered by coal. He had built it himself, inspired by the technology of his own planet, resembling a giant cruise ship.
Kai loaded his weapons: Voraghún, Solarael, his sword, his shield, the ring he always wore, some potions, and training clothes. The ship was already loaded, and Alequei waited on the shore to say goodbye. Everyone bid him farewell, and the Queens waved to their people from the ship—to the servants, captains, and warriors. They asked Kai if he needed escorts; he said it wasn't necessary.
The ship set sail. Alequei waved goodbye, and all the inhabitants cheered for their queens. It was a celebration of departure, yet also of sadness. A great maritime portal opened and transported the ship to the west of the peninsula. There was a small port with a cabin and, further ahead, a large modern lodge—practically a resort hotel built by Kai using blueprints from his world.
The queens entered excitedly; it was a luxury different from the palace: modern, with lights, ceramic floors, and even an elevator, which they tested with fascination. One of the princesses of the Dragon Empire asked what they would do there. Kai explained:
—Enjoy the pool, the sauna, and everything here. But you will have to look after yourselves, because this place has no servants. It is a private site. This is where the Crowned Beasts usually rest.
The hotel had complete provisions: food, firewood, perfumes, soaps, everything. While they relaxed, Kai had to train. He told them he would return by nightfall. As the princesses were unloading their suitcases from the ship, Kai disappeared and headed into the forest filled with monsters. The hotel was protected by a wall, just like his house in the kingdom, so they were safe. Kai crossed that wall and trained surrounded by beasts that did not dare to face him.
He sat down to meditate. Kai's problem was that he had no magic, Ki, Mana, or Cosmos. His strength depended on physics: density, mass, velocity. His mass weighed about 500 tons; the earth trembled slightly. His body glowed with a blue hue. He realized he was always at 100% of his power.
Kai understood he needed to evolve. He multiplied: 117 Kais appeared and began to fight each other. The training lasted for hours. He returned near midnight, exhausted. The queens were asleep. That night, Kai did not visit any of them; he slept alone, without multiplying.
The next morning, they woke up and didn't find him. Kai had left a letter saying he had gone to train. They spent the days relaxing at the hotel: the pool, sauna, water volleyball, ping pong, video games. It felt like the 21st century, even though that planet was barely entering the industrial age.
Kai, meanwhile, kept training. Each day he returned wounded by his own strength. One afternoon, near dusk, he tried to exceed his speed. Kai was training on the beach, unified, without clones, without dividing: just him, in his pure state, with all his power concentrated in a single body. He had decided to test his real speed—a speed that even he himself didn't know. He took a heavy cannonball from one of the beach's guard posts and held it for a moment, its weight feeling insignificant in his hand.
—Let's see how far I've come…
He threw it. But it wasn't a normal throw. The air around his arm contracted, as if space itself were being pulled toward the point where his hand moved. A dry crack echoed across the coast. The cannonball didn't fly; it shot out like a nascent meteor, an impossible projectile. Kai stood frozen.
—What… what was that?
The ball was racing toward the ocean at a speed no human could follow with their eyes. But he was not a normal human. As soon as he realized it wasn't going to stop, terror struck him. He ran. His body exploded in a blue flash. His feet barely touched the water for a heartbeat before propelling him forward again. In the distance, the ball was already a fierce ray of red light, cutting through the horizon. And he, behind it, a thin blue line in pursuit.
The ball was heading straight for the center of the ocean, between Continent 1 and Continent 2. If it fell there… Kai didn't know what might happen, but his instinct screamed that it would be devastating. He accelerated. Enough to overtake the ball. He reached the center of the ocean and braked with a skid over the water. He crossed his arms, firm and determined. He had only one chance.
The ball arrived. The impact was indescribable. The cannonball disintegrated upon touching his defense. The clash released a shockwave so brutal that the stormy sky simply vanished. From the planet's orbit, the explosion would have looked like a gigantic mushroom of water rising kilometers and kilometers high. The clouds were swept away like dust.
And then the worst happened. The water began to rise. Not common waves: colossal tsunamis, waves over 1,500 meters high, surging toward the coasts of the three continents: 1, 2, and 3. Millions of lives at risk. All because of a foolish test. Because he didn't measure his strength. Kai felt a cold blow to his chest.
—What have I done…?
There was no time for regrets. He ran again. He ran faster than ever in his life, practically at half the speed of light. He circled the three continents, forming a gigantic blue ring that vibrated with speed. His feet struck the water again and again, each impact sending pressure toward the center of the ocean, pushing the waves, taming them, forcing them down. It was as if he were ironing the entire ocean flat with strokes of pure force.
The circle closed. The water obeyed. And as it did, Kai realized a terrifying truth:
—I'm not weak… I never was…
Finally, when the waters calmed, Kai slowed down. And upon stopping, without support, he simply sank into the ocean, falling toward the depths in absolute silence. He had no desire to keep training. The world didn't need him to get stronger. He was already a monster.
Hours later, he returned to the beach hotel where his 117 wives were waiting for him. He walked in soaked, with tears in his eyes… and a small crab hanging from his ear, tugging at him. They all burst into laughter. The water mage approached with affectionate mockery.
—Are you trading us for the fish, my love?
Kai smiled for the first time since the disaster.
—Multiply.
In an instant, the hall was filled with 117 Kais—117 kings for their 117 queens. Their laughter rang out like bells in the air.
But the big day arrived: the day to go to the Dragon Empire. They packed everything, boarded the ship, and Kai opened the maritime portal. They crossed a dense fog... and the land of the Dragon Empire appeared. One of the princesses said excitedly:
—Welcome to my home, my love.
CHAPTER 9 — Arrival at the Dragon Empire
After crossing the mist, one of the queens, a native of the Dragon Empire, took Kai's hand and said with a soft smile:
—My love… we have arrived at my home.
At that instant, the ship ignited its ceremonial flares, responding to imperial protocol. Immediately, the dragon fleet appeared to escort them, forming a perfect semicircle around the royal vessel. The ship was guided to the port, where a full court awaited them: knights in shimmering armor, nobles in exotic robes, and priests of the Dragon Church—very different from the one Kai and his queens knew from the rest of the world.
Upon their arrival, they were received with honors and escorted directly to the imperial palace. There, they presented themselves before the Dragon Emperor, his two sons—the Golden Dragon and the Black Dragon—and their respective wives, who waited excitedly for the reunion with their daughters, now human queens.
The Emperor greeted the Witch King and each of the queens with the solemnity dictated by their rank. After the formalities, he invited them to a private room from which the majestic capital of the Dragon Empire could be contemplated: a city so vast it seemed endless, built in a style reminiscent of classical Greece and Rome at their height, but surrounded by a lush tropical jungle where animals of all shapes and colors coexisted.
The dragon race was the most powerful on the planet. Although they could transform into dragon-like creatures, it had been hundreds of years since almost anyone adopted that form. After the last two wars in Jetris, they had decided to isolate themselves from the world and rarely allowed foreign visitors to step onto their continent. Very few Kings in history had been received there; now, it was the turn of the new monarch: Kai, the Witch King.
In private, the Emperor and his two sons asked to speak with him while the dragon queens met with their daughters and the rest of the queens. The imperial consorts informed them that they would take the queens to another palace, one reserved only for royal women. There, they would be housed under strict protection. Kai, on the other hand, would be lodged in a different palace for security reasons.
Then came the tense part. The imperial guards informed Kai that his weapons and magical artifacts would be confiscated while he remained in dragon territory. His shield, his sword, the magic ring, the blue necklace, and the small celestial sphere he used to travel and locate places: everything was taken from him. The Emperor explained that, although he understood Kai had brought his weapons to protect his queens during the trip, those relics remained extremely dangerous weapons of war and had to stay under imperial surveillance.
Kai, weaponless and separated from his wives, asked directly for the reason for his summons. The Emperor sighed and spoke firmly:
—My beautiful daughter—the sister of the two dragons present—married you without my permission. And my two granddaughters, daughters of my sons, have also entered into marriage with you without the Empire's authorization. They had fiancés. Men who paid great sums and performed countless efforts to be betrothed to them.
The Black Dragon, one of the most powerful warriors on the continent, added in a hard voice:
—You have insulted their honor. Even if they chose of their own free will, you are responsible for what happened.
Kai shook his head, frustrated.
—I already explained that no one forced them. It was each one's decision…
—Even so —the Emperor interrupted— here you must answer for their decisions.
The sentence came without detour: Kai would be challenged to a duel to the death by the princesses' former fiancés.
—One by one? Or all three together? —the Witch King asked.
The Emperor let out a laugh.
—However you wish, boy. It shall be the three together, though I don't think they will like it.
The Golden Dragon, calmer than his brother, intervened:
—And one more thing. While you are in our empire, you may not live with your queens. You will be housed in an isolated palace.
The Emperor finally spoke with naked sincerity:
—The choice of my daughter and granddaughters does not bother me, and my sons do not oppose this marriage either. The problem is something else. Our nation is sustained by strength. If we hand over our daughters to a weak man, we lose power and influence. You must prove that you deserve to be by their side.
The Black Dragon growled:
—The only reason you are still standing and not reduced to a pool of blood is because my daughter chose to love you. If I had known you forced her, we wouldn't be talking: you would already be dead.
The Golden Dragon added:
—We are not here to intimidate you or to make you feel fear. We are here so that you understand your responsibility as the husband of our daughters. And that responsibility includes demonstrating your strength before our nation.
The Emperor concluded:
—Defeat these three warriors in front of the entire Empire. If you win, we will not bother you with this matter again.
Kai accepted the challenge. He was escorted, without weapons and without his queens, to his isolation palace. Likewise, his wives were informed that they could not meet with him during their entire stay. The Witch King, though treated with respect, had officially entered a state of diplomatic captivity.
The next day, the great celebrations began. The Dragon Empire's gigantic colosseum was completely filled. No one wanted to miss the fight between the three challengers and the "usurper of the princesses," as the crowd called Kai. To them, he was the man who had stolen the hearts of the three princesses without Imperial permission.
—Burn him! Punish him! —some shouted from the stands.
None of the queens yet knew that their husband was going to face the three former fiancés of the dragon princesses who had married him in a fight to the death. Therefore, the Dragon Emperor went to speak with them personally and explained that Kai had been challenged, and that according to the laws of the Empire, he could not refuse the combat. Some queens reacted with worry; others, with pride, trusting fully in their husband.
They were all taken to the colosseum boxes, alongside the nobility and the Emperor. Meanwhile, Kai was sent into the arena. He wore a black vest over a white shirt, brown pants, and thick boots. As soon as he stepped onto the sand, he was met with boos and whistles. The entire crowd despised him, but Kai only thought of one thing: defeating his enemies and getting his wives off that continent as soon as possible. He knew he could never defeat the Emperor or his two sons in a direct fight—at least not for now—so losing that combat meant losing his wives as well.
When the three opponents appeared, the entire arena roared. They were known as the Blue Dragon, the Red Dragon, and the Green Dragon. Although they looked human—with normal skin and athletic bodies—their hair and clothing bore the colors of their lineages. Only upon transforming into beasts did their scales acquire their characteristic color. Kai could barely contain his laughter at the names; they didn't interest him much. What did infuriate him was hearing them talk about his wives.
The three challengers saluted the Emperor. Kai did the same. The Emperor raised his hand, and the colosseum fell silent.
—This is the man who has married my daughter and my granddaughters —the Emperor announced—. To many of you, this is an insult, but it was their choice. And to prove that my family is not mistaken, I have brought the Witch King to face any challenger you deem worthy. You, my dear people, have chosen the strongest: the original fiancés of the princesses.
The Emperor paused, and his voice became more serious:
—And to give this even greater weight, I declare that if any of the three defeats the Witch King… I shall abdicate my throne, and he shall become the new emperor.
The crowd exploded in shouts:
—Don't do it! We don't want another emperor!
—Silence! —the Emperor ordered—. That will only happen if they defeat the Witch King.
The three dragons—Green, Red, and Blue—smiled with ambition. Being emperor was an impossible dream for anyone… except in that instant. The Emperor gave the signal, and the combat began.
As soon as the bell rang, the three launched into the attack without mercy, using all their strength, speed, and power. There were no words, no warnings. But the moment they tried to strike Kai… he vanished from their sight. He was so fast that not even high-level dragons could follow him. Only the Emperor and his two sons could slightly perceive his movements.
—Are you running from us, coward? —the Green Dragon shouted, spinning desperately.
Around him, only light footsteps could be heard, almost like a ghost moving at absurd speed. The three dragons began to sweat; they couldn't see Kai anywhere.
—Coward! Don't hide! —the Green Dragon vociferated.
He turned thirty degrees to the right… and Kai's fist impacted directly on his face. A single blow sent him crashing against the wall and left him unconscious, spitting blood. The Blue and Red dragons stood paralyzed. The Blue one reacted first and lunged at great speed, trying to catch Kai off guard, but Kai dodged every blow with ease and vanished again. Desperate, the Blue dragon released a wave of energy… but it hit nothing. As he prepared to launch another, a high kick struck him in the temple, cracking the floor as he flew toward the wall, leaving him badly wounded and bleeding.
The Red Dragon was terrified. Seeing his companions defeated with a single blow each made him lose his mind. He lunged with fury, striking Kai with all his strength. Each punch carried overwhelming power… but Kai did not move. The Red Dragon's blows barely managed to shake his chest. The dragon noticed his knuckles were burning: hitting Kai was like hitting a mountain.
Then Kai spoke:
—Now it's my turn, boy.
A single blow. One. It was enough to launch him against the wall as if a planet had impacted him. The Red Dragon fell unconscious alongside the other two. The count began:
—Ten!… Nine!…
None of them got up. The three had been defeated with just one blow each. The entire colosseum fell into a deathly silence. Kai had defended the honor of his wives… and he had also defended the throne. He had proven before the entire nation that royalty is not mistaken.
The 117 queens looked at him from the boxes. Some surprised. Some frightened. Many smiling, proud of their husband's power. Kai raised his hand, smiled, and said:
—Let's go home.
The Emperor began to applaud. His sons did too. And soon, the entire colosseum cheered for the Witch King. The Black Knight had proven that his strength was… invincible.
At that moment, Kai was preparing to leave the Empire as soon as possible, but the Emperor asked him to stay for a couple more weeks. His queens were able to be with him again in a private palace, where only they resided. During those days, a grand royal parade was held throughout the kingdom: the Emperor, with pride, presented the Witch King as the husband of his daughter and granddaughters—the man who had demonstrated his power and defended the honor of the Empire. The queens were also presented before all the nations of the continent.
There, it was publicly revealed that the three dragon princesses married to Kai had no right to the imperial throne, but they were officially recognized as queens of the Kingdom of the White Witches. This decision was made to avoid succession conflicts: no one in the palace could use those marriages to claim the throne of the Dragon Empire. Kai understood that this measure existed to maintain the political balance.
After all the festivities, Kai had a private audience with the Emperor and his two sons. The Emperor spoke first:
—Well, boy. You did what I asked… but I have something else to request of you.
Kai tensed slightly; he did not know what else they could ask of him.
—I will ask —the Emperor continued— that you take care of my daughter. That you make her happy with all your heart. She will not be with us for much longer, but I hope that sacrifice is worth it.
Kai responded that yes, he would fulfill that promise, and that the happiness of his wives was the priority of his life. The Black Dragon and the Golden Dragon also requested the same:
—Take care of our daughters —they said—. Protect them always.
Kai responded:
—I will protect every single one of them. Do not worry. I am with them twenty-four hours a day.
After saying goodbye, Kai left the room, leaving the Emperor and his two sons alone. The Golden Dragon spoke first:
—Did you see his speed?
—Yes —responded the Black Dragon—. It is very similar to ours. And his strength… it is like that of an angel.
The Emperor murmured thoughtfully:
—The angel was right. There is a new player in the universe. A truly dangerous one.
—What angel? —asked the Black Dragon.
—It is of no importance —responded the Emperor—. The important thing is that Kai will not only have to keep increasing his strength… but he will.
—Do you say that because he won so easily? —asked the Golden Dragon.
—Yes. And he will become even stronger. But he is not a bad boy. For now, let us see how this game continues. If one day he becomes evil… I will have to kill him.
—If that were to happen —responded the Black Dragon— we will help you stop him.
—It is only a comment —said the Emperor—. Come, my sons. Let us return to the palace with our families. Let time follow its course.
Meanwhile, Kai was already boarding the ships along with his queens, withdrawing from the coast of the Dragon Empire. He headed directly toward a portal that took them back to their lands. The first place they reached was the Hotel of the Crowned Beasts, where they reunited with their masters.
Kai decided not to return straight to his kingdom and announced to them that they would spend a month's vacation there, after everything that had happened. At the hotel, he met with the Crowned Beast, Fenris the Wolf. Fenris asked him:
—What did you go to do at the Dragon Empire?
—I went to hit some people —Kai responded, joking.
—Always hitting people…
—It's just that they want me to hit them —said Kai—. They wanted to take my wives away! I had to hit them.
Fenris laughed.
—Relax, boy, I'm just teasing you. But be careful with the dragons. They are still stronger than you.
—Yes, they are stronger —responded Kai—. But I can be even stronger, Master.
—And you will be —responded Fenris—. We will make you stronger. But do not forget to be careful.
Thus, Kai, accompanied by his six masters and his 117 wives, stayed on vacation at the hotel, taking a well-deserved rest after his conflict with the dragons.