43 Maulketh Enters Hibernation, and Ophis Plan.

(Images of Maulketh's Human Form and size)

As Maulketh slumbered in his time formation, Ares watched over him from time to time to make sure nothing happened to him. Over the course of 35 days, he kept slumbering until he finally woke up.

When his eyes opened they did not look any different and neither did his body on the outside. He was still the same giant dragon from before, but now, his internal body had been taken to a new level.

In the center of his chest, two beating Dragon Hearts began to pump his blood full of Dragon Mana. Both Hearts worked as one to feed his blood to every part of his body. Maulketh reached up with one giant arm and felt both Hearts beat with power.

His first heart was strong, to begin with as it had been forced to evolve with him countless times. Absorbing the blood crystal of Albion along with Ddraig's heart had just powered it up.

Albion's heart along with Ddraig's blood crystal had grown larger and linked up to the rest of his circulatory system and his lungs.

'As long as I draw breath, will I ever truly run out of mana now?'

He was the first Dragon ever to carry two Dragon Hearts. He moved mana through his whole body and felt the process become as smooth as silk with no issues. Doing this so soon after his evolution might not be such a good idea, so he new from now on he had to refrain from training for a good period of time.

He returned to his human form and felt how both hearts on either side of his body worked just fine.

"It seems nothing went wrong."

[It's a miracle honestly. Though, I would not try something this risky again.]

{Yeah.}

"And I won't. I am in need of some long-awaited rest."

Ares walked over in full armor as he had not stopped his training.

"Let me ask you a question. You just keep getting stronger, why not just kill Zeus? It would be that easy."

Maulketh had a good reason for that.

"Once I kill him the Greek pantheon will become disorganized. I need the Pantheon in one piece as while I don't intend to rule it, I plan to keep the Pantheon in my sphere of influence. And I do not want my sphere of influence in pieces."

Ares laughed as his friend just did not want to bother with invaders. This was all a big game to him which his father did not know he was playing.

"Well then, I will stay here for a long time. I can't just rely on my Symbols of Power, I need power myself."

Maulketh nodded.

"Here, make use of it."

With a wave of his hand, he increased the time here to times 100 along with Gravity. Something powerful for sure which Ares more than appreciated.

"Thanks."

With that said, Maulketh left the Time Formation and returned to his room. Once he arrived he threw himself in bed. He kicked off his boots and changed his clothes into some red shorts and a black tank top.

He increased the time dilation of his room to 100 where he planned to enter a long period of hibernation. He had grown stronger over a short period of time so he was going to give his body the break and time it needed to recover and mature. Still, his lovers and pets would be able to enter at any time they wanted.

They just would not be able to wake him as maybe nothing would. Once he was alone he closed his eyes and began to try to enter his very first hibernation. This was the best way to take it easy for a dragon and he would not waste much time in his Time Formations. As he began to doze off he felt a big weight land on his chest.

"I thought Hibernation was for the weak?"

His eyes still closed he spoke to the weight in question.

"Shut up Ophis and let me Hibernate in peace. I have been gaining so much power without a single long period of hibernation. I feel I earned my first one."

Ophis had teleported onto his chest, but she felt heavier than before. When he opened his eyes he noticed that Ophis now looked more like a mature young woman than a child.

(Image)

"What is this about?"

She looked at herself and smirked. She had looked at Maulketh's mates and after seeing his true Dragon Form she had silently decided to try to gain his interest. Though, only after he beat her of course.

"Oh this, think nothing of it."

"Alright, I won't."

He closed his eyes which made Ophis lean in toward his face.

"Hey, don't ignore me."

He rolled over causing her to fall off of him causing her to pout. As he rested on his side she lay in front of him and wrapped her arm behind his back. Her palm rested over his back where she was feeling both Dragon Hearts.

She placed her ear on his chest as she cuddled with him for a moment.

"Hey, are you not interested in me? At the moment I am a Dragoness and male dragons want the strongest. Aren't I the strongest now?"

As he closed his eyes he answered her question.

"You looked like a child. Now though, I think I might be interested."

His words got quieter as he fully began to enter hibernation. She felt his metabolism begin to slow to a crawl, his hearts began to power down as they only produced enough mana to let him subsist, and his breaths slowed.

His body temperature even began to cool down as he entered his first hibernation. He would mature through the tried and true method of how dragons got stronger. By sleeping through the ages.

Once he was asleep, Ophis got up and pushed him back to his back so he would sleep relaxed. Once he was here, she placed her hand on his chest where the blessing of Ares had simmered down into just a black tattoo.

A surge of energy entered his body which was her blessing, as a God, she too could bless people. Her blessing worked best on dragons which let them tap into their full potential which would help him during his sleep.

Her symbol of the Oraborous Dragon appeared on his back in a flash of the Infinite. With that done, she got up and left him alone with a small smile on her face. She might be cheating by giving him her blessing, but he did not have to know she was helping him.

Once Ophis left his room she decided to talk to Maulketh's mates and potential mates. She first found Runeas sitting on the roof of the castle looking out at the blazing volcano which erupted in explosions of lava from time to time.

But the castle kept those at bay so they were not affected by the heat much. As Runeas watched the volcano and Astrid who trained her younger kin with Celestine and Grimnar she felt Ophis sit next to her.

Seeing Ophis looking the way she did make her squint her eyes.

"Thinking of seducing my man?"

Ophis laughed.

"No, he will have to seduce me. I just wanted to let you know that he has entered hibernation in his room."

Hearing that honestly surprised her.

"I would think he would not do that ever?"

Ophis shook her head.

"He is young, to say the least as a dragon. His body is only 17, but for a dragon, he is too young. His blood and body do not have the power of time on his side. With the use of his Time Formation, he will give his body the time it needs to mature through the nurturing of time. Dragons need to hibernate at least once more than the others."

Runeas was about to join him as she needed the excuse to enter a long sleep again, but Ophis stopped her.

"Hold on a minute. Before you go, can you answer one question for me?"

Runeas nodded.

"Sure."

The question Ophis wanted to know was one Runeas had already asked herself.

"As he keeps getting stronger, are you going to keep up? I don't mean this in a bad way, but his goal is to keep getting stronger. As he does that, he will leave you behind. At one point you were stronger than him, but as he keeps growing in power he might begin to change his view.

Will you stay as you are, or follow him?"

Runeas looked out to see Astrid, Celestine, and Grimnar training. She also saw Calypso trying to plant a garden on another part of the castle roof and Rias was not there at the moment.

"I have asked myself this many times. I am a First Generation Devil and one of the powerhouses of my race, yet what use is that when he does not stop training."

Ophis nodded.

"I wanted to prevent that as I know how we dragons work. His human mind is strong, but over time it will begin to fully change into that of a Dragon. I want any girl he picks to stay with him for a long time.

I will give you, Calypso, Valina, Astrid, Celestine, the dog, and Rias my blessing which I gave to Maulketh. All it will do is increase your affinity to Dragons and allow you to fully tap into your full potential. I want you 5 girls to not waste the chance that he is giving you as he hibernates.

He might sleep for a long time in that time formation so use that time to get as freaking strong as possible. I don't want him to end up as alone as me and Great Red."

Hearing that made Runeas reconsider joining her lover in his sleep. She thought about it before she sighed.

"Why do you have to be right?"

Ophis just smiled.

"I know what I am talking about after all. At the moment he only has you three as mates which is rare for a Dragon. So, tell that Rias girl to bring her full peerage with her in that training. Ask Ares to train you all and in exchange, I will bless his new weapons."

Runeas stood up and popped her back. She sighed as she walked off.

"Just a quick question, are you trying to get my man more women?"

Ophis just walked off with a smile.

"Hey, if he makes me his mate one day, I don't want to be alone. Having a big family would be nice, but I won't make it easy for him, I will be doing my own training. Time for me and my brother to train just like he does. Can't let him gain all the power by himself."

Ophis and Great Red were already strong, just how much stronger would they get when they trained? That was a scary thought for Runeas, but for Mark, he would love for them to get evens stronger.

They would make their fight even better. Before Ophis left she walked over to Runeas.

"Ready?"

Runeas nodded as Ophis placed her hand over Runeas' shoulder. With a wave of the Infinite, the same symbol she used on Maulketh appeared on Runeas' shoulder. Runeas looked at the symbol as she did not feel much of a change.

"My power works slower than others, it lets the user tap into their potentiol while Increasing their affinity to Dragons. AKA, Maulketh."

Runeas nodded as Ophis was about to collect all of the females and pets of Maulketh. With a wave of her hand, Calypso, Valine, Rias, Celestine, Astrid, and Grimnar appeared. They all looked somewhat confused as Ophis clapped her hands to get their attention.

"Everyone, please listen to what I have to say carefully. I, am Ophis. The Dragon God of Infinity and a friend of Mark or Maulketh to those who know him as such. The reason I have gathered you all here is because-"

Her grand speech was interrupted by Runeas.

"She is saying we are all weak and we are letting Mark gain too much strength by himself. She does not want us to let him get stronger without us so she is going to give us her blessing while we use Mark's training formation so we are not left in the dust by him. Clear?"

Rias shook her head as she had been in school at the moment. She had just vanished, but thankfully no one noticed as everyone thought she was home that day. Thanks to Ophis' masterful memory manipulation.

"Where is Mark anyway?"

Ophis now upset her speech was interrupted and crossed her arms in a pouty way.

"He is hibernating in his time formation. When he wakes up he will be much older and stronger as Dragons can gain strength just by sleeping. What a damn cheat, but you all will be left in the dust. So to make sure he is not getting stronger alone I want all of you to train like you mean it so you can be someone to stand at his side.

You, Rias girl, bring your three peerage members. Those three girls are kind of weak, but they got great potentiol and bodies. If they fix their mentality, I don't see why someone like Maulketh won't like them. And you want that too don't you?"

Rias turned bright red as everyone turned to look at her.

'How?'

Valina looked at Rias in an understanding way.

"I see. You are a voyeur, one of those weird perverts."

Rias almost fell to the ground as she denied the claim.

"Preposterous. Why would I-"

Runeas shook her head.

"We all know girl don't try to deny it. Mark knows, I know, Grimnar knows, and Celestine knows for goodness sake."

Rias turned around and those in question nodded. Ashamed she wanted to bury herself in the ground. Either way, Ophis spoke to Valina.

"You have the most natural talent of the bunch, so once Maulketh awakens he will give you specialized training. For the moment, Ares the god of war, and Runeas will help you. Tap into your true Lucifer clan trait and you also received a drop of his blood. Most of its power is dormant so tap into it and draw power from it. Got it?"

Valina nodded.

"Of course."

She then turned to Astrid, Celestine, and Grimnar.

"You three are his familiars, so as he gets stronger you get stronger. Don't rely on this power and increase your natural power as you were already doing."

Astrid, Celestine, and Grimnar looked at each other as they agreed to this. Next came Calypso.

"You are the daughter of Atlas and Tethys. Two titans, try to tap into their inheritance if you want Maulketh to spare your father, you will have to be the one to defeat him."

Calypso just wanted to be free for a while, but she thought of the man who rescued her. Someone she had rarely seen rest in the time she knew him. Now that he finally allowed himself to rest, why was she here wasting this chance?

"I understand."

With that said, Ophis turned to Rias.

"Will you bring your peerage into your training? It will be unrelenting as Ares has a goal in mind, defeat Maulketh?"

Rias nodded resolutely.

"I will. I will just have to be firm like he says. They will need this chance more than anyone. I will be back soon."

She teleported back to Japan to gather her peerage as she would not waste this chance. Ophis was not losing anything to bless them as she expected great things from them all. And she was doing Maulketh a favor as she too wanted to make their fight one to remember.

(I plan to give him a rather Large Harem, but they will have to earn it.)