Primordial Villain with a Slave Harem

Chapter 1080: Surrounded

The man in the center rose slowly as though time itself bowed to the rhythm of his movements.

Out of nothing, a blade materialized in his hand. A saber, pitch-black and lined with pale blue fire. He twirled it once, twice. The weapon sang through the air with a whispering hum.

Cassandra’s pupils shrank. The pieces slammed into place in an instant.

“You…” Her throat tightened. “You’re him. The upstart criminal they can’t shut up about. The prodigy of the Vesper Consortium…”

Her lips shaped the name as if it were a curse.

“Devil.”

The faintest smile curved his mouth, all but confirming it. And with that recognition, her eyes darted around the clearing, her vision sharpening.

They were here.

The short samurai with a katana strapped at her waist, stance poised and deadly.

Blade.

The berserker with the large axe, aura thick with bloodlust that made the air taste metallic.

Scourge.

The elf with her drawn bow, steady as stone, eyes glinting with cold focus. Solace.

And… Cassandra’s stomach dropped. The blonde dogkin with clawed gauntlets, already circling her, looking for blind spots to exploit. The one who had slipped her grip.

Ghost.

Devil chuckled. It was a deep, resonant sound that carried a feral edge beneath its humor.

“I suppose I should feel honored that my name carries weight even in the capital now.”

But then his smirk widened. He cast his gaze to the vast forests around them, the canopy stretching like a cage. “Well. We’re not exactly in the capital…”

“You…” Cassandra’s voice broke into a snarl as ultimate loyalty flared in her chest. She swore to uphold justice in His and Her Majesty’s name, no matter the personal price. As such, the royal guard stepped forward without an ounce of fear, blade raised, her fury sharpened by conviction.

“The Valorian royal family has ruled since the conception of the Vraven Kingdom. Their reign is the spine of this land, the blood in its veins. Their coffers are bottomless, their reach spans farther than you can imagine, and their armies are vast. Every noble house bends the knee before their might.”

“That’s very cool and all, woman, but why exactly are you telling me this? Your rabid queen wants to bite me. I haven’t done anything wrong. This is all self-defense. Do you expect me to hand myself over because she has a lot of money and power? Where’s the logic in that?”

Cassandra froze.

For the first time since stepping into the clearing, her thoughts staggered. His words rang uncomfortably true. He hadn’t stormed the capital to wreak havoc, hadn’t raised his hand against the crown. All he had done was try to take the woman away. The woman who was decreed not guilty by the king himself. It was Her Majesty, assisted by her ingenious advisors, who had laid the trap, who had called the ambush.

Her Majesty… who could do no wrong.

Cassandra grit her teeth, forcing the hesitation from her face. No, Queen Morgana was just in what she was doing. Devil was the criminal, the heretic, the threat. Just because the woman was innocent didn’t mean they should let such a rapidly rising criminal take what he wants and walk free. Setting the trap was the right thing to do.

“You twist words like a viper,” she spat, tightening her grip on her blade. “Her Majesty has done nothing but act with justice. She sought to flush out a criminal from his hole, nothing more.”

Her voice sharpened to a blade’s edge, cutting away her momentary doubt.

“Even knowing the royal family’s reach and might… you think an upstart nobody like you can raise your hand against such power and live to tell the tale?”

The man tilted his head to the side. His eyes were calm, a storm of elements swirling in their depths. Alongside the trembling of the earth, his answer came.

“I do.”

The earth itself answered him.

The ground beneath her boots convulsed, splitting open with jagged cracks. Stone constructs erupted, writhing upward to coil around her legs and arms. The soil groaned, eager to swallow her whole.

“No!” Cassandra roared, refusing to fall. Blue light exploded around her frame as she cast, “[Courage of the Lion]!”

Power rushed through her muscles, veins glowing with mana. She strained, snapped the first earth hold around her feet, shattered the second, and dragged herself free with brute force.

But when she lifted her head, her blood went cold.

The samurai vanished. Gone from sight. Cassandra’s instincts screamed, and she felt the whisper of steel behind her.

The dogkin blurred, leaping overhead, claws descending from high above.

The blond elf loosed a shimmering magical arrow, its flight a streak of death aimed right at her head.

The tanned, athletic woman with flame-coated fists lunged right at her from the front, not aiming for any weak spots but a frontal collision. Her expression was that of the void, and her movements mercilessly precise. It was just business to her; no emotions were needed to execute her enemy.

Another woman in black armor rushed in with her blade poised to cut her apart.

The berserker came as well, axe raised to chop her into two.

The silver-haired elf’s moonlight constructs lunged forward—blades, beasts, bows—assaulting from every direction at once.

And at the edge of it all, the shortest girl she didn’t recognize giggled as she threw what looked like a slime familiar at her.

Every woman descended together in the form of a flawless machine of annihilation.

Cassandra bared her teeth and screamed, “Numbers mean nothing before the strong!”

Her blade roared with light as mana surged, spiraling upward in a storm that split the very air. The ground cracked beneath her feet, trees bowed as if to worship the torrent, and the sky trembled at the force gathering around her.

She thrust her weapon high, eyes blazing.

“[Oathbound: The Ultimate Sacrficie]!”

Her voice echoed like a warhorn across the battlefield. Golden light erupted from her, enveloping her figure until she shone like a burning star. A shockwave detonated outward, toppling stone and bending nature itself, as though the will of the throne had descended through her flesh.

But then… her chest tightened.

Something was wrong.

The mana suddenly became tangled in her veins, sluggish, sickly. A creeping rot coiled through her body, staining her magic.

And then she saw her.

A woman with white hair, standing amid the chaos as if it belonged to her. Dressed in a kendo uniform, blade already drawn.

Blood was dripping from the tip of her sword.

Cassandra froze when she realized that the blood was hers.

She only now realized… When the swarm of enemies descended as one, this one had slipped in with perfect timing, making use of the smallest opening presented before her. She inflicted a wound so shallow that Cassandra hadn’t even felt it. A scratch no bigger than a paper cut.

But it was enough.

The woman’s eyes lifted to meet hers, burning with a crimson pentagram etched into her irises, glowing like a brand of hell itself. Her stare alone screamed: Curse!

Then she smiled. Slowly. Cruelly.

Her tongue slipped past her lips and flicked along the bloodied edge of her sword. She gave the crimson a playful lick, savoring it, as though drinking down Cassandra’s life itself.

The air shuddered.

On her tongue, an ugly, black glyph materialized, a writhing curse sigil that pulsed like a living brand. She stuck her tongue out at Cassandra even further, mockingly displaying the mark, taunting her enemy with it while sporting a condescending grin.

“Vex… the Hexblade…”

The name tore from Cassandra’s throat, eyes widening in horror. A high-ranking enforcer of the Consortium. A curse-weaver whose name children in Greenvale whispered about in fear.

What was she doing here? Why was she acting as if she were just one of the many women following a rookie upstart? Her?! THE Vex?!

Cassandra couldn’t understand, but she wasn’t allowed to wonder for long.

Vex curled her tongue back into her mouth, and the curse struck instantly. The rot inside Cassandra’s veins constricted violently, her own blood betraying her. The weight of the spell doubled, locking onto her with inescapable precision. Her golden light sputtered, fighting to overcome the suffocating darkness binding her.

Vex giggled playfully, finding the sight to be utterly comedic, as the two pentagrams in her eyes burned brighter.