Primordial Villain with a Slave Harem

Chapter 861: The Stillness Beneath the Waves [Bonus]

Queen Nalai stood in the center of the arena, her long aquamarine hair tied in a warrior’s braid. Gone was the stately, royal dress that had once draped her form like divine silk. In its place, she wore streamlined battle armor, shades of dark and glimmering blue flowing over her figure. The metal clung tightly to her limbs, flexible enough for movement yet elegant, clearly forged from materials that were worthy of sovereigns.

If Serika was a flame dancing to a war drum, then Nalai was the ocean in motion: calm, relentless, inevitable.

She smiled at Quinlan as he stepped back into the ring, freshly healed, freshly humbled.

”I trust you’ve digested the first lesson?” she asked lightly while rolling her shoulders. Her tone was serene, her expression unreadable.

Quinlan exhaled slowly, cycling his breath. The memory of Serika’s last explosive kick still echoed in his bones.

”She fought with explosive bursts. You… you’re going to try and drown me, aren’t you?”

Nalai’s smile deepened just slightly. “Only a little.”

Without fanfare, her aura shifted.

There were no sparks. No heat. Just the sudden, terrible weight of pressure.

Like standing beneath deep water.

Like breath vanishing before you realized it was gone.

In the shade of the grand viewing terrace above the arena, Feng and Serika stood side by side, watching the exchange.

For once, Serika wasn’t behaving lightheartedly. Her arms were crossed beneath her heavy bust, expression unreadable, gaze honed like a whetted blade. She was determined to study her students’ every motion down to the smallest details so that she could notice as many potential problems as possible.

Feng glanced at her, then back down at the arena below, where the Water Sovereign’s calm presence seemed to smother the entire battlefield. She opened her mouth to speak just when

”Break a leg, Quinlan!”

Serika cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, making her voice echo down the coliseum’s walls.

Feng blinked. Then slowly turned to look at the woman beside her, expression flat.

Lady Nalai was right to call you a tanned gorilla

Serika only grinned in response.

Feng sighed and leaned her arms on the railing. After a moment of watching the two below silently appraise one another, she spoke, quieter now. Can I ask you something personal?”

”Sure,” Serika replied easily while watching the match. “I got no secrets worth hiding.”

”How did Lady Nalai… become a water wielder?”

Serika finally turned to her, one brow raised.

”I mean,” Feng clarified, “your father is Rykar Vael. One of the most terrifying fire cultivators in recent history. Your mother was called the Blazing Phoenix of the Western Front. So how could your sister…?”

”Be water?” Serika finished for her. She smiled. “It’s rare, but not impossible. There are children born with powerful elemental bloodlines who end up manifesting an affinity outside of it. Call it spiritual drift, or fate, or just cruel irony. Nalai was one of those few.”

Feng nodded slowly. “I figured it had to be something like that. But

She glanced again at the arena, where Nalai now stepped calmly across the marble floor like a tide measuring the shore.

”How did she become a Sovereign in a foreign nation? Someone like Lord Rykar letting his daughter go off and study water cultivation sounds… insane. His daughter would be immediately captured and used as blackmail material.” Ṙ𝔞₦οᛒΕṣ

Serika didn’t respond for a moment.

Then she sighed. It wasn’t her usual loud or dramatic breath. This one was soft. Quiet. Almost regretful.

”You’re right. It was insane. And dangerous. When it became clear Nalai’s qi was water-aligned, Father had two options. Let her stay in Vulkaris and try to cultivate with whatever little help he could find for her, which, trust me, would’ve been pathetic. Or

She trailed off.

”Or what?” Feng asked.

Serika’s lips thinned. “Or he could disown her. Strip her of the Vael name. Fake her death in an accident. And smuggle her across the border before the Fire Nation could tear him apart for it.”

Feng froze.

”He really did that…?”

Serika nodded. “She was a child. Nine years old. He smuggled her into the Water Nation with nothing but a false name and a sack of spirit coins. She begged to stay with us, saying she didn’t care if she’d be weak. She just wanted to be with her family.”

Serika’s jaw flexed, her entire body twitching once.

”But Father told her no. He said that if she stayed, she’d be disowned anyway. So either she left with a chance at greatness… or rotted in mediocrity.”

Feng was silent.

”Lysandra Vael, or Queen Nalai as you know her, cried a lot back then. She hated it. Hated him. But she never let it break her. She joined a sect under her Nalai alias. Climbed her way up. They say she became the youngest Elder in that sect’s history. Eventually, the Nation noticed her. And one day

”She became the Sovereign,” Feng whispered, wide-eyed.

Serika smiled again. This time with a great deal of pride. She truly thought that her sister was the most awesome human in Zhenwu’s history. What she’d achieved despite the setbacks she faced was simply legendary.

When comparing herself to her younger sis, Serika often felt lesser, but that never made her feel bad or jealous about the situation. She was happy Nalai had succeeded, and she was happy to be a strictly combat-focused person, as that was the one area in life where she shone the brightest. The one area where she could give her younger sis a run for her money.

”Yeah. She became the Sovereign,” Serika replied.

Feng stared down at the elegant woman below, who moved like mist and struck like tides.

Her lips parted.

”She’s incredible

”That she most certainly is,” Serika chuckled proudly.

The Water Sovereign raised her hand and sent a ripple of qi through the air with a casual sweep—one that made the arena tremble slightly.

Feng’s heart fluttered.

She leaned over the railing, her eyes sparkling with wonder. She’s like a goddess.”

…

Quinlan moved first. Avatar Form activated.

Flame erupted across one arm, and wind gathered along his legs. He darted forward in a zigzag motion, wind carrying his steps as fire licked his limbs for explosive bursts. He struck from the side with a flaming elbow, only to meet nothing.

Nalai wasn’t there.

She reappeared behind him. Not with speed, but with flow. Her palm pushed lightly against his back and swept down.

Quinlan twisted, raising a burning wall to ward her off. But Nalai stepped through it like mist parting around stone. Her movements were almost lazy, each motion conserving energy, each block or redirection barely there but perfectly placed.

Water qi shimmered around her arms, coating her like a second skin.

She didn’t resist his strength but diverted it.

She didn’t block his blows—she unwound them.

Her first strike landed with fingers pressing into his ribs. A burst of cold pressure exploded inside him, disrupting his qi pathways.

”Gh!”

She struck again with a subtle sweep of her foot that threw his balance off just as he tried to backstep. Then a curved hand strike, snaking around his block to tap his temple. Not hard enough to damage, but his vision blurred for a moment.