Primordial Villain with a Slave Harem

Chapter 1155: Melting Ice

The night sky split around them as Quinlan rocketed upward. His grip was firm, cradling the woman who bled heavily in his arms. Her raven hair whipped wildly, and her mesmerizing dark purple eyes burned with many emotions.

“Not going to use that trick of yours?” Quinlan asked with a calm voice, despite their breakneck ascent. “That… self-poison method. The one that stitched your wounds back together last time.”

Black Fang’s expression remained unmoving. She offered no venomous retort, no immediate snap. Just silence as she glared at the horizon.

Quinlan raised an eyebrow. “Lady Black Fang, you’re not seriously angry with me for dragging you out of there, right? You have all my respect, and I have a feeling you might be the strongest out of the ’three strongest human women,’ but unless you have some major trump cards up your sleeve, you would’ve been killed.”

He would’ve been very disappointed in the woman if that was the case, if she was mad at him. There was a difference between being incredibly competitive and being a dumb loser who’d rather die than accept reality. Quinlan greatly respected warriors who hated retreating even when things became dicey, but those who were ready to throw everything away for some useless pride, not so much.

It was one thing if the hotheaded and rather youthful Raika thought like that; from here, it was rather endearing, truth be told. But if it came from this ancient woman who has been terrorizing the country for hundreds of years?

He was hoping for Black Fang to be more mature.

Her reply was ice-cold, but not at him.

“No. I’m angry at myself. I keep failing to kill my enemies.”

Then her voice lost some of its edge. “You’re right, I’m the strongest. And you don’t have to refer to me as Lady.”

Quinlan fought back a big smirk at the woman’s shameless declaration. He didn’t know if she had anything to back the claim up, but it was clear to him that she believed it wholeheartedly. As for her offer of no titles, Quinlan accepted it with gratitude.

He then let out a low hum, understanding. For a serial killer of the highest order, someone who’s been an outright exterminator of human lives, her recent ’failures’ must’ve been extremely infuriating, as if she’d lost her edge.

“Fair enough. That Kaede chick…” He shook his head. “Something’s really wrong with her.”

“Most certainly,” Black Fang agreed. “The sword and the elder’s sacrificial ritual kept her alive despite her heart being destroyed.”

She shifted in his arms. Then, finally granting him an answer, she added, “I can’t use the healing technique again. Not without killing myself. I’ve already forced it three times in the last few minutes.”

“I see,” Quinlan sighed. He looked down at her briefly, then his lips curled upward with faint amusement tugging at his features.

Her deep purple gaze snapped toward him, sharp and probing. She studied his face for a long second, then a realization passed over her. “… You’re joyous.”

He smirked.

“You’re joyous because you think I’m opening up to you,” she declared with a voice that spoke volumes about how strongly she felt about her having the correct assumption.

“Truly,” Quinlan mused with a bit of sarcasm steeping into his tone, “you haven’t lived all these years for nothing. Your wisdom is off the charts.”

The air between them instantly tightened.

Black Fang’s hand moved ever so slightly, making fingers curl around the hilt of her katana at her side. Quinlan suddenly felt as if he was stuck not with a heavily injured woman, but a lioness about to snap his head off.

It was an instinctive reaction on her part, one Vex had warned Quinlan about. ’Black Fang is even more insecure about her age than I am, Hubby. Don’t test her.’

But he just couldn’t help himself; interacting with this woman was so much fun now that the ice was seemingly melting a bit. And, yes, as Ignis has noted, he had major problems with the women he found interesting, and it was only getting worse.

He started out courting pretty normal women with some minor quirks here and there, but ever since he got introduced to the Black Fang gang, he went from fancying unique women to straight up risking his life for romance, as he was going after the truly unhinged and dangerous baddies these days.

There was just something irresistible about making these dangerous and crazed women slowly fall for him. If Vex was anything to go by, they could get pretty obsessed – which was something that, naturally, Quinlan welcomed with open arms.

That being said, he had to make a note about Black Fang’s reaction to his remarks, especially about her age. There was no embarrassment, just instinctive pride. She was no frail maiden to be teased. Even bleeding, even carried, she radiated the lethal edge of a beast who’d cut down kings if they dared laugh at her.

So, just to be safe and give respect to the living legend he was interacting with, he added, “I don’t mean it in a bad way. I know you have lived many experiences and studied many books, making you wise. Your age is incredibly youthful for the amount of experience you have managed to gather, Black Fang.”

That seemed to do the trick as her fingers softened around the blade’s hilt and her voice soon came in response. “Do not believe what Vex says. That girl is greatly troubled.”

Quinlan tilted his head with his smirk deepening. “You think maybe that has something to do with you throwing a ten-year-old peasant girl, who had zero training, mind you, into a monster-infested forest with nothing but a dull dagger and telling her to make it out somehow?”

Black Fang’s response was immediate. “It was not dull.”

Quinlan couldn’t help but chuckle in response. “My bad. You tossed her into the forest with a sharp dagger.”

She didn’t seem intent on answering his question. Instead, she had the gall to speak to him with a rather accusatory tone. It wasn’t a full-on accusation, but her voice definitely had an edge to it. “Why did you not know they were coming?”

Quinlan wondered the same thing mere seconds ago, so he checked on Cassandra. Queen Morgana was currently busy nearly single-handedly besieging a different Consortium location, using her royal guards as bodyguards. There was another regimen of Fujimori there as well, led by some of the clan elders. They split their forces, with most coming here, but some helping Lilith and Morgana destroy another stronghold.

Lilith and the Lilies were there as well, but it seemed, based on their earlier conversation, that Void felt Kaede tearing the portal to their location before Black Fang stopped the casting. They must’ve decided to rush over here while Morgana remained behind, something Cassandra wasn’t informed of.

“My spy has not been informed. She’s with Morgana, who is not here. The Lilies moved alone.”

Her eyes instantly lit up at that information. “Let’s kill Morgana.”

“…” Quinlan had to stop the urge gnawing at his mind to say ’Woman, you’re about to bleed out. What do you mean you want to fight Morgana?!’

“Let’s survive first, shall we? And, just so you know, I can’t open a portal in the skies.”

She visibly didn’t like his response, but offered no complaints.

The wind howled as they ascended higher, rushing toward the sky with stars glinting above.

But between them, there was a new rhythm, an unspoken current. Quinlan teased – respectfully – amused by every crumble of personality she revealed. And Black Fang, no longer a silent machine of death, pushed back with blunt denials and clipped truths.

For the first time, it almost felt like banter.

That was until a murderous air reached them. They were being pursued.