Primordial Villain with a Slave Harem

Chapter 1034: Quinlan Elysiar, The Coward

"I must’ve got hit worse than I thought because I suddenly became a wimpy bitch."

Quinlan spat a mouthful of blood to the side. His eyes sharpened, the previous dullness gone. His aura, which had dimmed as he instinctively went on the defensive, flared like an exploding sun.

The flames rushed up his arms, rippling across his shoulders, becoming a fiery mantle. The cracked ground underfoot trembled from the raw pressure.

And then he moved.

But while Quinlan ignited, a conversation was happening up above.

Every single one of his women turned.

As one.

Slowly. Silently.

Their eyes all landed on Blossom and Kitsara.

The latter watched Quinlan’s back with a satisfied, proud grin, with her tail perked up again after limping behind her butt just moments ago like a banner in the wind.

The former... was less composed.

Blossom squirmed under the intense, judgmental stares. Her golden ears wilted. Her eyes flicked left and right, looking for the nearest escape route, but there was none.

"Explain," Ayame demanded flatly.

Blossom cracked instantly. It took a single word to make her fess up to everything.

"Goldie believes Master is perfect and she refuses to say otherwise, but she also knows Master has a few things to work on!"

Every woman stared harder.

That wasn’t an explanation.

It didn’t even make sense. She claimed he was a perfect man with a few things to work on. So... He wasn’t perfect?

Lucille raised a brow. Aurora crossed her arms. Iris sighed.

Under that pressure, Blossom visibly shrank. Her fists curled against her skirt as she trembled in guilt.

Her voice came out tiny and rushed.

"Goldie and Slutty Foxy knew Master was emotional when he challenged the three of them to a fight, especially when he decided not to wear armor or wield a weapon...!"

Quinlan was stronger than them individually. But when faced with their teamwork and lack of tools to utilize, he found himself in a similar position to what Sareth Greenvale was in beforehand.

She was stronger than them all, even their heaviest hitter, Vex, didn’t stand a chance in a duel against the woman. But when the whole group worked together to take her down, she fell, and they came out victorious.

Kitsara stepped in before the interrogation of her friend grew outright lethal as Blossom looked one moment away from having a nervous breakdown. Her voice was smooth. Clear. And totally unrepentant.

"We thought he might receive a cold shower of reality after a few punches."

She even brushed her bangs back like a proper noble lady as she added:

"Before you think otherwise, let me declare that it was the doggy who proposed this devious plan."

"N-nooo!!" Blossom cried.

She looked moments away from tearing up. Nevermind. She was already teary-eyed.

<This doggy is truly a much bigger schemer than she let on...> Kitsara giggled, using [Master’s Link] this time. <She knows I transformed my tail to that of an illusion right before it was grabbed by the dude... I had enough time to prepare because Blossom was attacked first.> ꞦâNƟ฿Èṣ

<Wait... So what he touched wasn’t your tail?> Aurora asked with a sharp intake of breath.

<It was mine in the sense that I made it. But no, not my biological tail. Hehe! Who do you take me for? I might be many things, but a loose woman who lets random men touch her tail isn’t one of them.>

<... You two are something else,> Lucille chuckled.

<B-Blossom is still a good girl! She is!>

<Is she? Didn’t you just scheme against your sworn eternal alpha or whatever?>

<Ugh!> Dejected whimpering sounded from the dogkin’s lips.

...

A few moments before...

Felicity’s hands were white-knuckled at her sides as she stared at Quinlan’s figure resting against the broken walls.

Her throat tightened.

"Mother... Be honest with me... How bad is it? What are the chances of victory?"

Queen Morgana did not answer immediately.

Her eyes were narrowed, locked on Quinlan with unreadable sharpness.

After several long seconds, she finally spoke. "This man is an incredible combatant. There is no doubt about that."

Felicity nodded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "No doubt!"

Then she blinked and frowned. "But... that’s not what I asked."

She turned to her mother with a small pout. "You’re avoiding the question..."

Morgana turned to her. <subtex>.</subtex>

That one look made Felicity straighten her spine fully.

"Did you notice what happened back at the banquet hall?" the Queen asked.

Felicity perked up, eager to prove herself. "Yes! Lord Black beat up a rude bastard! Serves him right!"

Morgana stared at her for a long, slow moment.

Then sighed with an extreme amount of disappointment evident in her tone.

"So you didn’t notice."

Felicity’s eyes widened at her mother’s tone.

She bit her lower lip, trying to understand. "Wait, no! I’m sure I saw something... I just... I just..."

She furrowed her brows hard enough to wrinkle her entire forehead. One hand even tapped her own temple. For a few long seconds, nothing came to mind.

But then...

"Ah!"

Her head snapped up. "He didn’t intone a single spell! But he obviously used magic!"

"Correct."

Felicity gaped. "B-but!! That’s! That’s not possible! My first lesson in magic literally started with this! You need both forms of intonation, first physical, then verbal. First, you learn with staff and wand moves to make the proper physical gestures, and even once you’re a master, you still have at least hand gestures, and you definitely need words! Even archmages have to speak their spells!"

"There are exceptions," Morgana replied. "It is my belief based on centuries of researching the arcane that when a person becomes truly in tune with their class, when they understand its every intricacy, live it, breathe it, they can move beyond such limitations. I’ve done it before."

Felicity gasped, sparkles lighting up in her violet eyes. "You have?! How?!"

The Queen exhaled through her nose, expression cooling again.

"It was during a battle. I was gravely injured by the elf queen. My staff was broken. I could barely speak from the blood in my throat. And then..."

She had a delicate frown appear on her beautiful face, making it clear she didn’t like her own answer. As a student of magic, she couldn’t accept it. But facts were facts...

"I stopped thinking. My body moved on instinct. I cast spells without speaking, without even knowing how. That was the only time I’ve done it."

Felicity’s mouth dropped. "So... you think Lord Black was the same? That he wasn’t thinking, that he got so overwhelmed by what happened that he entered a rage state?"

"Yes. This is why I said he is a very formidable combatant. That small moment alone revealed something far more telling than any normal duel could." She glanced once more at the battered boy erupting into flames again.

"He is deeply in tune with his class... whatever that class may be."

...

Quinlan felt horrible right now. Perhaps he deserved to have his women be humiliated, for he was a weak loser. Even after all the primordial trials, after all the power-ups, after EVERYTHING, he was still struggling.

And not struggling against the top-tier combatants of the continent like Black Fang, Yoruha, Morgana, Alexios, etc.

No, these were just the shitty sons of a count.

And they were beating him. He was out here, getting his ass handed to him after masquerading into the arena wearing only pants. Right now, he looked like a clown.

No.

He alone was the whole damned circus.

Who cares if he was forced to hold his true powers from emerging? Yes, he couldn’t go all out with everything he had here. Why? Simple.

Devil was the unprecedented elemental genius who could cast without intoning spells, who had immense control over the four elements, both magic and martial. Black was not.

If he showed everything he had here, then it would become obvious that Black and Devil were one and the same. If that became the case, he’d be attacked by the royals and nobles on sight.

But so what?

Quinlan’s bones groaned. A spike of pain flared up his spine. He spat blood on the floor.

The crowd roared.