Primordial Villain with a Slave Harem

However, before I could reply, a man’s boisterous voice erupted from the distance. “Hey, isn’t that the new super rookie?! Devil was the name, I believe… I thought he had the hots for Wrath, but that should be Blade if I’m not wrong! Man, what a playboy!”

I didn’t like his tone; he sounded overly arrogant. Without even spending a single moment conversing with him, I already knew trouble was on the horizon.

The man followed his shout up by striding confidently toward us.

His snow-white hair was tied back into a braid, and he had piercing blue eyes, while his attire was that of a traditional martial robe, open at the chest to arrogantly reveal a muscled chest.

(Picture)

As he stopped a few paces away, he crossed his arms and tilted his head to the side, visibly sizing me up. His stance was relaxed, but there was an unmistakable tension in the air. It felt like he was ready to lunge at a moment’s notice.

Next to him stood a woman with the same air of arrogance whose silvery-white hair hung in a similar braid over her shoulder. Her piercing blue eyes sparkled with haughtiness as her lips curled into a smug smirk that spoke volumes of her perceived superiority over us while she was clinging to the man’s arm possessively.

(picture)

Behind them, three more women lingered in the background, seeming like a mere afterthought rather than highly respected and valued teammates.

<Who the hell are these losers?> I asked Ayame, not impressed at all.

<Hmm… I never met them, but his appearance reminds me of the description given to a man named Ryker. He was a Phenom, emerging as one of the few selected in the previous Phenom Trials. I would assume the others are his team.>

The reason Ayame said he ‘was a Phenom’ and not ‘is a Phenom’ is due to the fact that there can only be one generation of Phenoms at any given time. When I and the others became Phenoms, he lost his title, becoming an ordinary member – at least as far as ranks were concerned.

To rise to the highest ranks, namely to the Veil Walker rank that Vex and the rest of Black Fang’s baddies had, or to the aforementioned woman’s rank, which was called Obsidion Circle Member, one had to be a holder of the Vesper Phenom rank once upon a time. It was the single most important matter that allowed members swift upward mobility.

Maybe there were some outliers I didn’t know about, but the general rule was that for non-combatants and non-Phenoms, the Shadow Vanguard rank was the highest achievable rank.

<Did he get promoted during his decade-long tenure of being a Phenom?>

<I don’t remember hearing about such a detail.>

Heh. Now it all made sense. This nerd was jealous. He spent ten years in the illustrious rank, and once it was taken away, he was not promoted to the fourth highest rank, the Eclipse Enforcer, but remained a mere Lunar Adept. Lunar Adept itself was quite the remarkable rank to achieve, especially if he was at most 40 years old, but for a Phenom, well, staying at that rank for a decade wasn’t exactly an admirable feat.

What must’ve made it stink even worse was when news of me beating Kael the Cryomancer dude in a duel reached his ears, as Kael was an Eclipse Enforcer.

Even before I became a Phenom, I was already beating members of the rank he failed to reach for a decade.

He had an inferiority complex.

<Do you know his fighting style?>

<Seriously?! You should know these details without having to rely on me…>

<Ayame, I don’t have the time to concern myself with small fry.>

<Yes, because you’re busy humping women!>

<You make me sound like a sexual deviant. I train harder than anyone; what I do in my spare time shall be left up to my discretion.>

<Sigh… Whatever shall I do with you?>

“Cat got your tongue, brat? Am I that scary?” Ryker chuckled with a mocking tone.

<He’s a brawler type; I don’t know his exact class.> Ayame revealed the info, sensing the situation was worsening.

I summarized, <So basically a more dripped-out version of Abudha, who doesn’t yet know his place in the pecking order.>

<Don’t badmouth your subordinates.>

I tactfully ignored Ayame’s chiding while at long last responding. “Yes, senior. Your striking appearance stunned me for a moment. Boy, am I glad we’re on the same side!”

A happy grin emerged on his features. “Haha! As long as you’re aware, we’re all good.”

However, the woman clinging to his arm wasn’t as socially inept as he was. She pinched his skin and hissed, “He was being sarcastic!”

Ryker’s smile faltered instantly as he shouted, “What?! How dare you?!”

<I’m getting such a strong sense of déjà vu; it’s crazy. They’re like the exact copy of Cedric and Selene when we first met them in the weapon shop. A dumbass dude who is wrapped around the finger of a fox woman.>

<I have to agree.> Ayame felt the same, it seems. <Also… Your primordial pride is as strong as ever, Quin… You should focus up and stop mocking them. We’re outnumbered, and they’re still formidable combatants despite their failure to rank up. Not just anyone can become a Phenom.>

<How can I be scared of these nobodies when I have my beloved samurai by my side?>

<Hmph!> I couldn’t help but notice that her scoff sounded strangely happy for once.

“Answer me, you little shit!” Ryker shouted, and I could see Plump Fox 2.0 smirk at me mockingly. She pointed her raging bull at me, and on her word, he would come charging. She was smiling like that due to knowing whether a conflict or not would occur was in her hand.

“What makes you so confident I was being sarcastic? I assure you, I was being entirely truthful. The last thing I want is to have a confrontation with my senior and his mighty team.”

My words prompted Ryker’s boiling hate to calm down a notch as he eyed me for a second before confusedly looking at the woman next to him, asking for advice.

Plump Fox 2.0 sighed tiredly before pinching his arm a second time, and his anger flared back again immediately.

How extremely pathetic. What a sorry excuse of a man this one was; I felt an urge to spit.

Cedric was at least his own person. Back at the weapon shop, it was him who picked a fight with me while Selene was actively trying to calm him down. However, Ryker was like an extension of this woman, a puppet she controlled. She was the real Phenom, while the man was only her guard dog.

“You have a very sharp tongue…” He growled. “I don’t like smartasses like you.”

I had enough of being accommodating to their childish behavior. I was no longer a no-name nobody, but Devil, the man who shocked everyone at the Trials. I had a reputation to maintain, and if I let these losers push me around, I would seem like a joke. Maybe it was my primordial pride flaring as Ayame put it, but I was no longer intent on letting myself be looked down upon.