Harem Tournament of Champions

Chapter 24 You Would Stay By My Side

After long agonizing three-hours,

'How much more do I have to go on this?' Hisha whined in his thoughts.

[690 unmarked]

[Till they stop meeting with you while you gave them the opportunity at freedom]

HTC deadpanned. All it could do was take count of the total number of those who had left only then could it give the final estimate of the remaining harem count.

Cross popping veins made their way to Hisha's forehead at the words. His attention was drawn to the next female that approached him.

"My lord," the sweet voice of a blue haired female bowed in respect. Her bob cut hair braided at the side with a fringe framing her forehead swayed to her movements before bouncing back as she straightened her posture.

'Something isn't right.' Hisha narrowed his eyes on the female. Her beady blue eyes, set low within their socket, had a sort of malicious glint in them.

[Warning: Malicious intent detected!]

[Range: less than a meter from host]

Hisha's eyes gleamed as his self-consciousness had doubled tremendously.

'Malicious intent eh?!' Hisha laughed it off and mentally prepared himself for what she planned on doing.

He had placed his hand on her chin to release her from his mark. As they slowly aligned their gaze, he shook his head and pulled away.

"Where do you think you're going?" He leaned in for a whisper.

The female's body froze due to a force holding her in place.

'Zui! You despicable witch!' She snarled in her thoughts, feeling an invisible magic ring wrap around her body.

Hisha noticed something was wrong with her behavior and could easily detect something was wrong and immediately searched the crowd for the same strong aura being remotely manipulated.

His eyes stopped at Zui's smirking lips as she made use of the opportunity to blow a kiss his way and wink at him.

'What in the w–"

Shaking his head, he cleared his throat and looked back at the female. His cold gaze fell on her and she trembled slightly.

"Please spare me." The female whispered, feeling the need to save herself from prying eyes.

Hisha raised a brow at her words, she was anything but saved.

'You wanted to pull a fast one, an immortal? Who goes on a suicide mission like that?' Hisha laughed in his thoughts, but his exterior said otherwise.

He knew once they were unmarked, they had a better chance of trying to attack him unawares since they weren't bound to him anymore.

[This could have been the work of some of your subjects plotting against you]

Hisha hummed to the suggestion, that was the only plausible reason.

Walking closer to her, he cast a demeaning gaze that forced the female to her knees.

'HTC, character status.' He commanded.

[Name: Pesa Jynx]

[Height: 168cm]

[Position: Fay]

'Just a fay?' Hisha grimaced at how low her status was in her kind.

Squatting, he pulled her by the chin and stared into her eyes, but instead of saying the words to unmark her, he thought of a better way to punish her and get the information he needed later on.

"You would stay by my side as I would never reject you, no one would hurt you as long as you are stuck with me." He hissed, putting on a smile for those who could see him.

Pesa's eyes widened in fear and disbelief. Her head shook to his words as she repeatedly begged to be set free but couldn't voice out her pleas for the rest to hear.

She trembled in fear when she realized all that had transpired were nothing more than thoughts replaying in her head as she was back to the very spot she had stood when she was restrained and was oddly silent.

'No! This can't be!' Pesa struggled to get free before she couldn't stand a chance anymore.

She would prefer death over being locked up and interrogated.

She shivered to an approaching cold aura seething off from Hisha.

He had his glowing eyes gleam coldly when stretching two of his fingers out.

Pesa tried to shake her head, but fixating on the spot prevented her from reacting. She watched with wide eyes when Hisha lightly tapped her forehead, causing her to lose consciousness immediately.

A collective gasp could be heard from Hisha's harem below.

Hisha rolled his eyes, turning a deaf ear at their reaction to what he had done, he owed no explanation and was aware some of them could sense Pesa's evil intention.

Getting to his feet, his eyes glanced through the remainder of his harem.

[Harem: 6258]

Kritz watched what had transpired with suspicion. He could tell something had gone wrong with the harem for his lord to reject her release and put her in that state.

A part of him was suddenly curious about the information that had pushed his lord to do so.

Walking up to Kritz, Hisha placed his hands on his shoulder and leaned in for a whisper, "take her to the dungeon, make sure she doesn't escape until I'm done here."

Pulling away, Hisha turned his focus to the rest below. Pretending like none of what they saw was of any concern.

Although Hisha's words only confirmed Kritz's suspicion, he couldn't hide the shock in his wide eyes of disbelief–this was a harem member.

"As you wish, my lord." Kritz bowed and walked up to an unconscious Pesa. Creating a black misty orb around her–since he couldn't touch his lord's harem.

Zzt!

He disappeared along with the orb, a black mist spiraled before dissipating.

Hisha stared at where they were before for a brief second. 'Some are just bound to betray.'

[...]

With their heads raised to watch Hisha, Solara shook her head and whispered with the corner of her lips to Zui. "You had to go that far?"

"I never liked her," Zui shrugged. "It turns out that bitch was up to no good anyway. Serves her right." She snickered.

Solara closed her eyes and smiled in satisfaction. "It was for the best, no one tried to taint our positions."

"Exactly." Zui nodded her head in agreement.

***

Looking down at his harem, Hisha decided to finalize their decision. "A total of 10 meretrixs had been unmarked, and I assume those who had stayed had done so to prove themselves worthy."

'There are still some who have hidden agendas like Pesa, merely masking for a time.' Hisha added in his thoughts.

"The start of the tournament would go on as scheduled, may the blessings of the celestials be in your favor." He finalized.