Primordial Villain with a Slave Harem

Chapter 1073: Time to Meet

’Begone, Invader. You are not welcome in my home.’

The words struck what remained of Sel’Ashra’s presence. The sunlight of hers broke the storm clouds, the invading corruption recoiling before their brilliance.

Sel’Ashra’s scream of hatred fractured through his skull, twisted and furious, before it was torn away. Her existence peeled out of him until nothing of her remained.

Silence.

Then Lilyanna’s aura softened again, returning to its earlier warmth.

’We’ll need to speak, Primordial Villain,” she said, addressing Quinlan directly for the first time. “Reach level forty-nine and enter the primordial dimension. I’ll be there.’

Quinlan was too rattled to form a proper response due to a myriad of thoughts swirling in his mind at once, but one thought rushed to the forefront of his mind. He could never meet her. Not directly. His resistance to divine energy was too low. Even a brush of her presence could kill him outright.

’Am I… finally going to be strong enough when I reach forty-nine?’

’Not exactly… Your mothers are busy preparing to welcome your lovers into their home. I plan to make use of those preparations. With them, a face-to-face meeting will be possible.’

“Arg!” His head ached. His soul felt frayed. But her voice was still gentle, soothing his exhausted, battered mind.

’I must go…’ she whispered, audibly trying to take up as little presence in his head as possible. ’Having others invade your mind strains your body and soul far too much.’

’Wait!’ Quinlan pressed on despite the pain. Desperation was creeping through his voice when he spoke. ’Just one more thing. Are you stronger than her?’

Lilyanna didn’t answer at once. A couple of seconds passed in heavy silence until she finally sighed.

’No. Sel’Ashra is stronger. The only reason I could force her back is that we’re in my domain. She invaded with her mind only, without giving her all.’

Quinlan gritted his teeth. ’Of course… Why would it be otherwise? My life can’t be simple even for a single second.’

When she heard his words, Liliyanna giggled suddenly.

’You don’t get to complain, Primordial Villain. My life has been infinitely harder since you arrived. There were even times I was a fraction of a second from smiting you down.’

Before he could ask what she meant, her warmth slipped away. Only her ominous parting words remained, echoing in the hollow spaces she left behind.

Quinlan blinked his eyes open.

The warmth that had been pressing against his mind vanished, leaving him feeling strangely hollow, and only then did he notice the strained air in the courtyard.

Dozens of feminine gazes were fixed on him. His lovers, as well as Feng, Felicity, and Rosie, stared intently, their expressions full of worry and confusion. The maids weren’t much better, whispering in hushed voices, glancing at him as if they were worried he might collapse any second.

Quinlan hadn’t even realized what was happening around him. He’d been so absorbed in what was happening in his head that the world had blurred away.

“Daddy!” Rosie zipped around his head. She circled once, twice, three times, eyes wide and frantic as she scanned him from every angle.

“Nothing… nothing, nothing, nothing…” she muttered, sounding more desperate each time the word left her mouth. Finally, she floated up to his forehead and gave it a few sharp, rapid taps with her little palm. “Rosie sees nothing wrong! But Daddy is visibly in pain!”

Quinlan chuckled at her adorable little evaluation, lips twitching despite his headache. “I’m fine, my little doctor. Don’t worry.”

Rosie froze midair and narrowed her eyes. She clearly didn’t believe him. She even tapped his head one more time just in case. Only after that did she let out a small huff, cheeks puffed, and flutter down to rest on his shoulder.

“… Okay. But only because Daddy said so.”

Quinlan straightened and looked at Feng. “Please show Felicity around the stronghold. Don’t disclose any secrets, however. She’s going to live with us for a bit, it seems, but…” He sent Felicity a gentle look that let the girl know he was sorry before continuing, “As long as she is allied to the royal family, we can only treat her as a guest, not an ally.”

Felicity looked visibly disappointed, and perhaps even hurt, based on how strongly she was clutching her palms into fists. But… “I understand, Lord Black.”

Quinlan nodded before looking at the two for a long moment. “… You two are forbidden from entering the basement.”

He sent Emily a look, and the woman, who had accompanied them into the sex dungeon to serve their needs even there, understood exactly what he wanted from her. She bowed low, wordlessly promising to ensure his instruction was followed.

Feng wasn’t very happy being sent off like this, however. It was obvious something important had happened; she wanted to be a part of whatever came next. Her lips parted, concern clouding her sharp eyes. “But-”

One look at Quinlan’s face silenced her protests.

She hesitated, clearly reluctant, but eventually nodded. “… Alright.”

Then her voice brushed against his mind through the Master’s Link.

<But I expect to be kept in the loop!>

Quinlan simply replied with an <Of course,> and drew a steadying breath. He looked at the women before him. “Please protect my body. I need to check something.”

None of them argued. They knew better.

Quinlan closed his eyes.

The soul realm opened.

A familiar weight pressed down on him the moment his consciousness slipped free of his flesh. He’d been worried Sel’Ashra’s invasion had left scars, and now, he needed to confirm.

Light shimmered at the corner of his vision. Rosie slipped in alongside him, riding the tether her strange fairy tree had created in his soul realm. Its roots had anchored themselves in his essence long ago, allowing her to come and go freely through its trunk. Quinlan could reject her if he wanted to, but he never did.

She didn’t ask permission, feeling it was totally natural for her to follow. Instead, she just perched herself on top of his head and tapped his scalp a few more times. “Still okay, Daddy?”

“… Still okay,” he muttered.

Only then did she finally settle, humming happily while swinging her legs over his forehead.

The scene before them unfolded. Serika was waiting.

The tanned, muscled redhead warrior woman sat cross-legged in the center of the soul realm. But unlike her usual fierce, battle-ready self, her hardened edge had melted away. Her arms were cradling something small. Someone small.

Mimi.

The little dryad girl, her skin tinted with a pale-blue sheen and her hair shimmering like dew-soaked moss, trembled in Serika’s hands. She wasn’t born in the normal sense. She was created—reborn—from the corpse which still housed the soul of Serika’s sister, Lysandra, through the strange fusion of Rosie’s fairy magic and dryad essence. But the girl was not Lysandra. She didn’t remember Serika. Didn’t remember her old life at all.

At first, Mimi had stared at Serika with wide, fearful eyes, unable to understand why this stranger clung to her like family. Even now, the child shifted nervously, unsure of her place in the world.

Yet Serika never let go.

Her calloused fingers, the same ones that could punch with enough fiery force to easily split armor, now moved with such gentleness that it made Quinlan’s chest tighten. She brushed Mimi’s hair back from her face, cupping the girl’s cheek with tenderness few would believe the fiery redhead capable of.

“It’s alright…” Serika murmured softly.

Mimi sniffled, tiny fingers clutching Serika’s arm. She was fragile, uncertain. But slowly, little by little, they were building something new. Not a rebirth of the old bond. A different one, fit for their new reality.

Serika felt his presence before she saw him. Her eyes lifted, and the love that sparked there almost masked the uncertainty buried beneath.

“Quinlan…” She smiled faintly, though the expression wavered. “What happened?”

“Trouble,” he said simply. “Did you notice any changes?”

Serika hesitated, then nodded. “Two things.”

She turned, pointing toward the small dryad tree sprouting nearby, the one birthed from Mimi’s existence.

Quinlan’s stomach sank the moment he looked.

Two orbs pulsed on the tree. The concept seeds.

But they shouldn’t be here. When he created the Soul Realm by expanding his souls, he incorporated the seeds into its making, as beforehand, they acted as parasites that hampered his existence, a constant pain.

But now that he spoke with the two goddesses, they materialized once again.

He took a good look at them.

The elemental seed was fragmented, jagged at the edges, and something black seeped into it like ink into water. The corruption seed sat close, its surface quiet but wrong. It was a gnawing presence that bled into the other. Dormant, but never inert.

Quinlan stared, frozen, and the only word that left his lips was…

“Huh?”