Chapter 1401: Entitlement and the Manipulative Little Gremlin

Minutes ago...

Eira had still been trying to decide what exactly had happened to her Master while she slept, because whatever had returned from the Primordial Frozen Zone wearing Phei Ryujin Tiamat’s face was undeniably still Phei, still her shameless Dragon and the idiot capable of spending several minutes seriously defending the existence of a universal post-sleep sit; yet there were things inside him now that had never existed before.

His power was the easiest change to notice, something monstrously deeper wrapped beneath the calm surface of his body, but Eira had known Phei far too long to mistake cultivation for the only difference.

The peculiar innocence that had always survived beneath even his worst decisions had been scorched away somewhere inside that frozen hell.

—In its place sat a colder certainty, merciless enough that when Phei decided something needed to happen, he no longer seemed particularly interested in asking the world whether it approved. There was something almost tyrannical about that new stillness in him, perhaps even a little manic when that terrifying calm cracked beneath excitement, and Eira privately admitted that it made him considerably hotter.

She did not want Phei cruel simply for the pleasure of cruelty, nor did she particularly fancy watching him turn into one of the ancient monsters she had spent centuries learning how to avoid.

What she liked was the certainty, the quiet dominance and the sense that if someone threatened what belonged to him now, there would be none of that old hesitation where Phei considered six different ways to spare an enemy who had already tried killing him twice.

This Phei looked capable of tearing the bastard apart, checking whether dinner was ready afterward and becoming annoyed only because the blood had ruined his shirt.

’Far more Dragon.’ In Eira’s opinion.

Then there was his new little sister.

Eira had become aware of the Dragon Lady almost immediately after waking because there was no way to how something could entwine itself with Phei’s soul before his Familiar failed to notice.

The little Dragon was painfully adorable in the smaller form she currently preferred, but Eira’s amusement had softened considerably once she examined what existed beneath it. Her Dragon Core had been savaged, her Dragon Heart Scale an even worse state, while too much of the cultivation she should have possessed had been drained away over years of torment.

Yet the ancient foundation beneath those wounds remained terrifying.

Thankfully with Phei’s daily healing, she was recovering fast.

If she truly recovered, restored her Core and Dragon Heart Scale to their original peaks and reclaimed every ounce of power she once possessed, she would already become a powerhouse most beings with functional survival instincts would avoid.

Now she possessed Void-Ice too, which changed the equation completely.

Recovery would not merely return the Dragon Lady to what she had once been. If she mastered the new element properly while alongside her she recuperated, she could become stronger than the peak she had lost.

More interesting to Eira was how thoroughly Phei had already inserted the Dragon Lady into the rest of his life despite knowing almost nothing about her true origins. He called her his little sister with the uncomplicated certainty like he had already decided that whatever revelation came later could politely wait its turn.

He wanted her around his family, intended to take her into future battles and was apparently bringing her along to whatever wonderfully sinister crime he planned to commit against a Progenitor today.

The Cosmic Dragon Bond explained part of their closeness, but Eira knew better than to tie everything upon some ability. Phei and the Dragon Lady had spent nearly an entire year surviving the Primordial Frozen Zone together. They had fought back-to-back, bled together, watched one another nearly die and learned the sort of trust that could not be manufactured through a skill description.

There came a point in battle where turning your back toward someone else was no longer vulnerability because you simply knew whatever reached that side belonged to them, and that sort of trust was stronger than many bonds people spent lifetimes trying to name.

Eira was absolutely not jealous, either.

She was Phei’s first Familiar, one of his oldest companions and arguably the creature who knew the most embarrassing percentage of his personality.

The little Dragon threatened none of that.

If anything, Eira welcomed her more enthusiastically than Phei expected, immediately trying to coax her into whatever troublesome friendship she had begun designing inside her head. The Dragon Lady clearly wanted to answer the invitation, but every few moments she glanced toward Phei and restrained herself, as though her older brother’s presence demanded some minimum amount of respectable behavior.

Phei watched the two for a while before laughing. "Okay, I’m apparently interfering with the formation of some criminal sisterhood, so I’ll leave you alone." He had barely crossed the lounge before Eira called after him:

"If you’re taking the Queen, bring Cassiopeia too."

Phei glanced over one shoulder. "Why?"

"She was with you the first time you enslaved a Progenitor Soul. Obviously she should be there for the second."

Phei laughed as he continued walking. "You’re being dramatic."

"Oh, really?" Eira folded her arms beneath her chest and gave him the sort of look that usually meant he was about to regret participating in the conversation. "Answer me something, dear godly handsome Master. Do you want to start a war among your female slaves too, or is the one slowly developing inside your harem already enough entertainment?"

Phei stopped and turned around. "A war among my female slaves?"

"Think about Cassiopeia. She began this wonderful journey of enslaving Progenitors with you, and stood beside you when you enslaved Kyle and she witnessed something nobody should have been able to accomplish, she probably believe the two of you now share some very special Progenitor-enslavement tradition, and then your second time comes around and you take the new woman instead?"

"The new woman?" Phei stared at her. "You mean the Undead Queen?"

"I was trying not to say slave. It sounded rude."

"Where exactly did I promise Cassiopeia that enslaving Progenitors was our special bonding activity?" Phei asked, already laughing again. "Eira, we’re stealing someone’s soul, not visiting some holiday villa that needs equal family attendance. War among my slaves? Please. You’ve been awake for a few hours and apparently decided peace was becoming dangerous."

Eira gave him a deeply understanding nod that immediately made Phei suspicious. "Mhm. I see. So why exactly are we bringing the Undead Queen again? As far as the actual process is concerned, I am the only person you truly need there. I’m the one supposed to contain the energy eruption when the Progenitor Soul comes loose so every Legacy Family doesn’t suddenly stare toward the heavens wondering why reality screamed.

"Yet we’re bringing the Queen, and we’re bringing your adorable little sister." She immediately turned toward the Dragon Lady and smiled: "No offence, little one. You’re perfect. I’m only emotionally manipulating your brother."

The Dragon Lady blinked at her while Phei pinched the bridge of his nose, and Eira smiled brightly before concluding: "So bring Cassiopeia. She deserves this."

Phei had actually considered doing exactly that. He was hardly refusing out of cruelty, and Cassiopeia’s presence would not bother him in the slightest.

The problem was that his supposedly subtle mission was going to rapidly becoming a fucking school excursion with Phei, Eira, the Undead Queen, Dragon Lady, Cassiopeia, and whatever emotionally entitled guest Eira remembered next.

At this pace someone would bring refreshments and demand a group picture with the captured Progenitor afterward.

"What is everyone supposed to do there?" he asked. "This is meant to be quiet and just as subtle."

"For me," Eira replied without hesitation, giving him her brightest smile when he stared at her. "Bring her for me."

"Manipulative little gremlin."

Phei groaned and began walking backward while still looking at her, which was exactly when Eira’s expression changed and she called:

"Watch where you’re—" 𝖿𝖗ⅇℴ𝑚

—before he collided with someone.

The impact was so completely unexpected that for one microscopic fragment of time Phei’s mind failed to understand what his body had encountered.

A startled feminine "Ouch!" reached him as the person bounced backward from his chest as though she had walked into a wall disguised as a handsome young man, and Phei reacted before thought could catch up.

His right arm swept around her waist before she could fall, his left hand caught her shoulder while Healing Touch flowed automatically from his palm without much as a thought, washing through whatever pain the collision had caused before it could properly settle.

The woman ended up against him, dazed and supported almost entirely by the arm around her waist, but Phei’s entire existence sharpened for a reason that had nothing to do with how beautiful she was.

She was beautiful, exceptionally so, enough that the old Phei might already have been wondering which cosmic accountant had finally begun compensating him for suffering.

That simply was not why every instinct inside him had become dangerous.

Phei had not sensed her despite being able to sense almost most thing in the island!

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A/N:Guys, this is the moment most of y’all have been waiting for— next Chapter please??