Primordial Villain with a Slave Harem

Although I didn’t try it yet, beast-kin were humanoids; thus, their souls should be absorbable by my saber if only monster souls weren’t harvestable, or they didn’t have a soul in the first place.

Thus, it was time to reap the souls of my enemies – to damn them for an eternity of servitude. They will serve as fuel for my upcoming necromancer spells, my legendary, dreaded army of the damned.

Ignis fixed his fiery glasses before stating in a calm tone, “Based on how quickly they got to our location, these beasts will be high leveled. I’ll make a path for us; we must rush out of here before they make the cave collapse onto us.”

Even before he could finish voicing his thoughts out loud, a black streak dashed past him with blinding speed, exiting the cave. It was none other than Raika who wasn’t interested in strategizing. Loud bangs and thuds sounded as a result of her actions.

“Well, I’ll follow Lady Raika’s lead then…” Ignis chuckled. Based on the sounds, there were numerous enemies; Raika alone would likely lose rather quickly. I was absolutely certain such a thought never occurred in her head, though. She felt challenged and thus felt the need to respond in kind.

“[Explosive Propulsion]” Ignis intoned before bursting into a swirling vortex of fire, which shot forth, propelled by his spell and high Magic stat. His form became a blur as he burst out of the cave like a rocket; I could only see the trailing fire and embers he left in his wake. Discover exclusive content at My Virtual Library Empire

A mere heartbeat later, a deafening explosion rocked the cavern. The walls trembled as the reason behind the ‘explosive’ part of his spell’s naming became evident.

Now I fully understood why Ignis retired his previous battle partners to be his maids instead. Fighting alongside such a powerhouse would be impossible for most; their mere presence forced him to limit his output.

“Didn’t he hurt Lady Raika just now?” Lucille asked Vex. She was amazed as well as excited by seeing the top-tier powers display their might right in front of her eyes.

“The wild girl went right after exiting the cave while the fire boy chose to go left. His spell might’ve hit her, but I doubt she felt it. Raika is one of the sturdiest people I know. Now then… I presume Ghosty’s family is in trouble?”

“Yes!” Blossom shouted with a cry while continuing her sniffing of the ground, looking for clues. “She smells evidence of them being attacked here. Ghosty’s mother was injured but not killed… Her family might still be alive!”

Vex nodded, “Yes, I think so too. The beast who demanded our surrender said this territory belonged to Leohtar Sunfang; that’s the name of the lion-kin chieftain who leads their tribe. According to Beastman Confederation laws, this territory should be a neutral zone, hence your ability to grow up here uninterrupted. Something must’ve changed in recent times; the lions broke the treaty. Your family has likely been enslaved by them.”

She then turned around and began walking toward the cavern’s entrance with confident, measured steps while saying, “We can’t debate about this any longer. I’ll go out and help the two while you wait for the opportune moment to come out. We need to push them away first, or you’ll get caught in the crossfire.”

With that, Vex left, leaving my team alone with Ryker’s. The five of them seemed to have ashen expressions and winced each time a loud bang echoed, shaking the cavern and even the ground beneath our feet.

A battle of truly epic proportions was happening a few meters from me, and I couldn’t help but feel angry with myself. I understood perfectly well that my rise in power has been akin to that of a tsunami, yet right in this moment, I felt like a mere water splash instead of an unstoppable force of nature many thought me to be. I was still weak, so painfully weak, forced to cover in a cavern while others fought my battles.

I turned toward Blossom and saw Aurora doing her best to calm the panicking girl down. Today should’ve been the day her dream became reality, the day her wishes got fulfilled, yet it ended up being a horrible nightmare instead. It’s possible she will never see them again.

As Vex said, the aggressive lion-kin likely took them captive, forcing them to do their bidding with their continued good health being questionable at best.

My grip on the hilt of the Soul Reaper tightened alongside the twisting of my heart. I felt angry – both at my continued weakness and at the perpetrators who dared to hurt my woman’s loved ones.

A great need to destroy – to bring ruin to my enemies was bubbling toward the surface from my core.

The fire elixir I had ingested and assumed to have contained begged to differ. It flared alive with wild fury inside me.

It has always been patiently waiting for an opportunity, acting tame on the surface to placate my worries about the strange power that made its home in my body, but in reality, it was preparing to stage a rebellion all along.

The opportunity it was waiting for arrived when anger flared in my heart, momentarily lessening my efforts to contain it. It was as though this strange, fiery substance sensed my emotional turmoil and sought to capitalize on it. I wasn’t even furious enough to lose my mind – I was not in the middle of going on a rage-fueled rampage. Yet my current anger levels were more than strong enough for it to make its move.

A furnace-like heat radiated from my body, raising the cavern’s temperature noticeably, snapping multiple heads in my direction.

The fire roared within me like a beast, tempting me to let it all out, to burn everything down. I grit my teeth as I wrestled the inferno threatening to consume my control.

Ayame made a swift move and grasped my hand, which was gripping the hilt of my saber in her two palms. My samurai’s touch was rejuvenating, like a cooling balm applied to sunburned skin. Her caring hands gently began stroking my clenched fist, wordlessly offering me her utmost support. Her big, beautiful blue eyes looked up at me with worry and sincerity as she asked, “How can I help?”

Next, a sudden pressure pressed against my back as Seraphiel wrapped her arms tightly around me, dropping her brooding girlfriend act in a heartbeat when she saw the situation was no joking matter. She whispered with a frightened tone, “Tell us.” She might’ve been frightened, but I could tell it wasn’t for her own safety. No, she was worried solely about me.

The others began closing in as well. Blossom ceased her frantic searching and, together with the others, approached me. Even Iris, who was clearly confused and unsure of what was happening as she didn’t know I had ingested the strange fire elixir, took a few cautious steps toward me.

The heat surging from my body made their foreheads beady with sweat behind their masks, and Seraphiel, who was hugging me, must’ve felt pain as well, yet none took a single step back. Instead, those that weren’t touching me before joined Ayame and Seraphiel as they placed their hands on my various body parts in a show of self-sacrificing support.

If I lost control now, they would be scorched. I had some strange, innate resistance against getting burned to ashes due to my primordial nature, but the same wasn’t true for them. They were risking their lives right now.

This was unacceptable. I couldn’t allow myself to be so weak that some shitty external force would make me scar my lovers.