Simba

Simba is a lion-headed Primordial who handles dangerous missions and advancement decisions for Fortune's Call on Nexus. His caution around the impossible Umbrasol mission gives way to reluctant cooperation with Nux, whose return later forces Simba into the destruction of the mercenary system he served.

Biography

Guarding the Umbrasol mission

Simba first receives Nux as a Sovereign asking to inspect the Black Mission concerning Umbrasol. He tries to intimidate the applicant, but respects Nux's distinction between confidence and arrogance and explains why Fortune's Call cannot casually send another person into a mission that has killed every previous entrant. He describes the Reaper's Veil, Deathstorms, the suppression of non-Death abilities, and Wraiths built from the souls of fallen challengers. His purpose is not merely gatekeeping: each failed expedition adds stronger Wraiths, so an unqualified attempt makes the universal threat worse for everyone. (Chapters 1716–1719)

To establish whether Nux is exceptional enough to warrant further access, Fortune's Call stages a highly publicized combat event. Simba initially worries when the crowd turns against his guild and its judgment, but adjusts the format after seeing Nux overwhelm successive opponents. Once Nux defeats the assembled Sovereigns, Simba offers to make him an Elite Mercenary based on his newfound fame and efficient mission record, hoping to remove any need for the Black Mission. Nux refuses the safer promotion and insists that Simba honor his promise to show the previous expedition's recording; Simba yields and supplies the evidence. (Chapters 1723–1737)

The recording confirms that even a Supreme World's force and its Eternal leader were annihilated. Simba understands that the defeated army has multiplied Umbrasol's threat, while Nux still chooses to proceed. Simba's information becomes the foundation for Nux's successful intervention, but Simba does not accompany him and has no control over what happens inside the world. (Chapters 1732–1750)

Erasing Nux from the record

Roughly a century and a half later, Amaya approaches Simba and orders him to erase every record connecting Nux and Riona to Umbrasol. Simba recognizes her Absolute Law and concludes that she belongs to the same overwhelming force he attributes to Nux. He complies, then warns Arshia to stop investigating. Since Umbrasol still stands and no challenger has ever returned, he accepts Nux's death as the only plausible explanation and views the deletion as protection from a Supreme World defending its reputation. (Chapters 1759–1760)

This conclusion is careful but wrong. When the Supreme Worlds later demand the missing Umbrasol information, Simba exhausts himself searching Fortune's Call's archives and intends to report the truth. Nux returns before he can do so. Simba immediately recognizes that killing a few witnesses cannot erase a story already known across Nexus and argues that the Supreme Worlds will eventually connect Nux to the mission regardless. His resistance is verbal rather than physical, but he continues even while believing Nux may kill him. (Chapters 2081–2082)

Nux reads Simba's memories by force, discovers that he has no loved ones to evacuate, and teleports him and Arshia away before destroying Nexus and fifty-five other mercenary worlds to erase their records. Simba watches the worlds disappear and realizes the scale of the force acting against the Supreme Worlds. He and Arshia are kept under Nux's subordinates for several days so they cannot be captured and interrogated. His latest condition is alive but without meaningful freedom or control over Fortune's Call's fate. (Chapters 2082–2083)

Appearance and personality

Simba is a giant humanoid with a lion's head and a hoarse voice. He wears a suit, an incongruous formal appearance that suits his administrative position. His Primordial aura initially feels heavy enough to put Nux on alert. During the later mercenary crisis, exhaustion makes his formerly powerful appearance seem weak, although the change reflects overwork rather than a stated loss of cultivation. (Chapters 1716, 2081)

He is cautious, institutionally minded, and capable of changing course when evidence overturns his assumptions. Simba tries to prevent another fatal Umbrasol attempt, revises the public combat rules after recognizing Nux's strength, and offers a legitimate promotion rather than needlessly endangering him. He also values self-preservation and understands power: Amaya's threat makes him erase records. Yet he is not entirely submissive, warning Arshia for her safety and later challenging Nux's plan even when he expects to die. His mistaken inferences arise from incomplete information, not carelessness. (Chapters 1716–1737, 1759–1760, 2081–2083)

Abilities and cultivation

Primordial-stage cultivation

Simba is a Primordial-stage cultivator whose uncontrolled presence is heavy enough to signal danger to a Sovereign Nux. His exact race name, cultivation method, Law, elemental affinity, weapon, and combat techniques are not given. He never fights on-page, so the source does not establish his attack range, defenses, costs, or performance against another Primordial. By their later meeting, Nux has also reached Primordial and considers Simba and Arshia incapable of stopping him; Absolute Kinesis immobilizes Simba before he can resist. No advancement or loss of stage is reported. (Chapters 1716, 2081–2083)

Perception and analysis

Simba can observe high-level energy well enough to identify Amaya's displayed power as an Absolute Law and to notice that he cannot see its connection to a World. He interprets that concealment as a feat beyond ordinary Transcendents, though this is his inference rather than an explained sensing technique. His more consistently demonstrated strength is analysis: he understands how failed Umbrasol missions compound the threat, adapts Nux's qualification process, and correctly explains why widely distributed mercenary information cannot be erased by killing local witnesses alone. His knowledge has limits, as shown by his false conclusion that Nux died. (Chapters 1718–1737, 1759–1760, 2082)

Mercenary authority

Within Fortune's Call, Simba can review restricted missions, display archived expedition recordings, modify a public trial, and grant Elite Mercenary standing based on fame and performance. These powers come from office rather than cultivation. He is not the guild's overall leader—the narrative distinguishes the leader of Fortune's Call from Simba—and the exact boundary of his authority remains unstated. The destruction of Nexus removes the institution through which he exercised it. (Chapters 1716–1737, 1760, 2083)

Relationships

• Nux: Simba begins as Nux's evaluator and reluctant source on Umbrasol. He comes to regard Nux as a Supreme World monster, then learns that his scale exceeds that assumption when Nux returns, reads his memories, destroys Nexus, and takes him into custody. (Chapters 1716–1750, 2081–2083)
• Arshia: Arshia is Simba's subordinate and one of the few colleagues who can enter his office freely. He knows her Supreme World background, warns her away from Nux's case, and is later evacuated and detained alongside her. (Chapters 1759–1760, 2081–2083)
• Amaya: Amaya intimidates Simba into deleting the Umbrasol records while concealing her true affiliation. He recognizes the danger of her Law but incorrectly reads her intervention as a Supreme World covering Nux's failure. (Chapters 1759–1760)
• Riona: Riona accompanies Nux through his qualification and watches the failed Umbrasol expedition with Simba. Their direct relationship is professional and brief. (Chapters 1716–1737)

Items

Simba uses Fortune's Call's projection and archival systems to display Umbrasol and the prior expedition's recording. These are institutional facilities rather than named possessions, and the corpus does not establish that he owns or retains them after Nexus is destroyed. (Chapters 1718–1737, 2081–2083)