༺ Beasts, their Kings, and Humans – 3 ༻
Lieutenant Colonel Callis Kritz stood witness to an epic, world-shaking showdown between the Dog King, Cat King, and the Progenitor. This battle seemingly held the weight of determining the very fate of the universe. And even if it wasn’t true for the rest of the world, it was for Callis. Her own destiny hinged on the outcome, after all.
The clanking leash yanked at her, and Callis instinctively threw herself. Despite her efforts, she couldn’t match the speed of the pull and ended up rolling miserably on the ground.
Even as the constriction of the chain pained her, Callis had only one thought in her mind.
‘I can’t… give up life. I’m going to survive. No matter what it takes. I’ll survive… climb the ranks… and Father’s inheritance…’
But, could she do it?
Moments ago, the Progenitor’s forefist strike had landed on Nabi’s chest. The blow had been too devastating to be defined as a mere punch, yielding a sickening crunch upon contact. Then, Blood Aura had erupted like the sun from the point of impact, propelling Nabi through the air like a bullet through a corridor, unable to even flail her limbs.
If Nabi were an ordinary creature, her chest would have caved in, spelling instant death… but she was the Cat King.
Nabi opened her red eyes mid-flight and howled, managing to somehow flip over and land on a wall. She glared this way with sharp eyes, licking her paw, then melted into the darkness.
The moment her presence was concealed, it was as though she had vanished from the world. Unperceivable and unheard, Nabi existed only when she chose to reveal herself.
Consequently, the Progenitor and Azzy found themselves driven on the defensive, each shackled by their own obligations.
The Progenitor had to protect the laborer—or whatever he was; Callis wasn’t sure.
As for the Dog King, her objective was to protect Callis. More precisely, she had to prevent the latter from falling victim to the repercussions of this fight.
‘The Dog King… she’s trying to save me. Perhaps even more than myself.’
Yet, Callis was just sitting around, hindering the Dog King with her own life taken hostage by a leash. The scene bordered on ludicrous, but Callis had no choice in the matter.
‘Even if I resist here… what changes?’
If she chose to resist? And the Cat King lost? The denizens of Tantalus were criminals who were arrested and cast into this place by the Military State. Aligning herself with them would lead to nothing but a bleak future.
On the other hand, if the Cat King won and the Human Regime achieved its goal. Callis stood to gain… She stood to gain… what exactly?
In the midst of her contemplation, Rasch’s right thumb suddenly caught her eye. Callis acted on impulse and leaned in to grab it, but the heavy steel chain around her neck rattled, pulling her back.
‘…The chain.’
That was her sole reward for adhering to the Human Regime. An ensnaring chain that gripped her by the throat, threatening her life. Her once-cherished medal, ultimately worthless; the suicide packet presented as hope; the chain she had worn under orders; and the Cat King… they amounted to nothing but cogs in a gear wheeling toward her demise.
In contrast, Rasch and Azzy aimed to rescue her, only to pay the price with their painful struggle on the ground. They bled in their efforts to save Callis in her own place.
Callis quietly recalled something Rasch said to her.
‘…Father’s legacy… resides in me.’
She may have been her father’s darling, but Callis wasn’t dear to anyone else. She knew nothing despite rising to the high rank of lieutenant colonel, be it the machinations of the Human Regime, or the pawns they manipulated.
Callis was a ranked officer of the Military State, yet she was no different from a level 1 citizen. No, she was even lesser than a level 0 laborer. At the very least, that laborer possessed the resolve to throttle the colonel to death… though she remained skeptical regarding his actual identity.
Nonetheless, like him, Callis now had a singular imperative to cling to in order to survive.
“I have to… break the chain.”
She didn’t need to think of the aftermath. Callis was a pitiful human who hardly even merited her rank of lieutenant colonel. Her contemplating the future or what lay ahead was a futile exercise, akin to deciphering ocean waves on a tempestuous night. Such feats were reserved for those endowed with such abilities. In the present moment, not even a second of the future was guaranteed for Callis.
So, she had to do her utmost to survive every passing second and minute.
“It may be late to start but…”
Callis clutched her belt.
There were no packages now; those secret kits bestowed by the Human Regime were long gone. All she had left instead was a fragment of nostalgia, nestled deep within the belt’s pouch.
Her father had bequeathed her a house, an automaton carriage, a gilded sword, and a combat arm. Of these, the sole piece that could be carried on her… was the combat arm. And it had been securely concealed within the belt’s recesses.
This was why Callis wore this type of belt: to always keep that piece of memory with her.
The combat arm was an old model of lackluster capability, its coverage only extending to the left arm, which was why it was abandoned, not even recognized as a true combat arm by the State. But thanks to that, it was bequeathed to Callis to become her only weapon.
“Call to Arms.”
She whispered the command, sliding the combat arm packet into the bio-receptor of her left arm. The compressed steel within the packet began to unravel with an alchemic glow.
An officer was completed by their combat arm. The Military State, with a brief history of just 25 years, had risen from a coup that ousted the previous monarchy. The only reason this young country managed to consolidate its position among the neighboring nations was thanks to fusing diverse technologies to rapidly amass power.
Clunk, clunk. A sleek gauntlet of interlocking metal scales materialized, covering Callis’ arm from elbow to fingertip. Upon equipping the combat arm, she clenched her left hand into a fist with a harsh metallic creak.
The combat arm possessed a straightforward ability: physical protection. It was a trifling piece of equipment, no more than a strong glove.
Callis wasn’t disappointed. A tool’s efficacy always depended on its user. Even if she had a superior combat arm, its full potential would elude her grasp. But this combat arm, a companion for half her lifetime, was sure to carry out her will.
Fueled by this belief, she seized the lock that bound the chain, which was forged from level 4 alchemic steel. Callis could never break it with her power. However, the lock was a different story.
Ebon had initially intended for the colonel to wear the chain, assuming Callis to have perished, so the lock’s only function was to prevent the chain from being unfastened. There was no need for anything valuable.
Of course, it wasn’t like destroying the steel lock was a simple affair, but what if it could be removed without breaking it?
Callis gripped the lock with her gauntlet-clad hand, summoning all the mana at her disposal to begin channeling State-standard magic.
“Set, Re, Re, Re, Re…”
Callis was chosen by the Human Regime as she was part of the magic corps, which was composed entirely of officers due to its special nature.
Universally, mages had little use in minor skirmishes, but the true worth of standard spells lay in their versatility.
The gauntlet grew hot as it became enveloped in mana.
Physical-medium magic was a traditional means of manifesting miracles through the caster’s own body. It was frequently practiced by the mages of old, but it fell out of favor due to the issue of having to fully withstand the recoil that arose from overriding the laws of reality.
The only legacy it left was an adage: “Greatness ushers a mage’s end.”
However, after the State invented bio-receptors and clothing packets, and it became possible to transfer a portion of the recoil into a packet via the arch-avatar, standard magic was proudly recognized as a branch of magic.
“…Re, Re, Realke, Decay, Munde.”
Mana gathered, and magic commenced. De-alchemization, Corrosion, Fracture. She simultaneously invoked three level 2 spells, melding them into a composite spell: Alchemical Deconstruction. Its provisional assessment was level 3.
The level 3 spell, which broke down alchemic matter upon contact, slowly gnawed away at the lock. When the lock was sufficiently heated, Callis clenched her gauntlet. Crunch. The lock—corroded, fractured, and deconstructed—broke to pieces within her grasp.
In the aftermath, the palm of her gauntlet crumbled into dust, dissipating. Due to her hasty casting, part of her skin was disassembled and her hand began to bleed. Nevertheless, she was free from the chain.
The chain lightened as her suffocating throat experienced total release. Embracing a cleansing sense of liberation, Callis cast aside the chain around her neck.
“Dog King!”
Now completely free, Callis yelled toward Azzy.
“I am free! Now fight without worrying about me!”
“Woof? Woof! G..”
Turning around at the sound of the falling chain, Azzy barked joyfully upon seeing Callis unshackled.
“…oof! Woof!”
Callis was dazed for a second there, but she quickly composed herself and continued shouting.
“Focus on the cat!”
“I know, woof!”
Nabi sprang out of the darkness right then. The Dog King’s instincts kicked in and she tried to defend, preparing to throw a counter-attack. However, Azzy’s right hand didn’t rise as she wished and fell limp to her side. She looked down at her arm in puzzlement.
“Woof? Arf!”
Azzy frantically twisted to evade as Nabi made a feral lunge, ducking urgently. Nabi’s paw missed her head, destroying the concrete wall behind her like tofu. Amidst the tumult of debris, Azzy rolled across the ground away from her foe.
Though the chain was gone, their troubles had yet to end.
The frenzy phenomenon occurred when life hung in the balance. A beast exuded sheer bloodlust when killing the enemy was the sole means of survival. They would exert every ounce of ability available to achieve this, all distractions discarded.
At this moment, the Cat King was a beast that was bent on eliminating her enemy through her most effective means.
“Arf, arf!”
Due to the injuries she sustained while protecting Callis, Azzy was helpless against Nabi’s strikes, darting in and out of the shadows. The Progenitor was inclined to help… but any time she tried to step in, Nabi would conceal herself, evidently wary.
Constrained by the need to remain close to the laborer, the Progenitor would bite her lip and withdraw.
Dogs couldn’t enter a frenzy, as all of that fierce nature was borne by wolves. The Progenitor couldn’t act. If she moved away, the laborer would be exposed to danger.
The only one who could help Azzy in this situation was Callis… and she had to, if only to survive.
“Set.”
Her gauntlet creaked as Callis harnessed every last iota of her mana, incanting a spell with precision.
“Re, Re, Re, Re. Fahrenheit, Celsi, Kel.”
She assembled her mana and compressed it once, twice, thrice, four times before applying heat. Following the instantaneous 4-stage compression, Callis imbued that energy into her left arm.
What materialized was an excess of heat. Her gauntlet radiated a scarlet glow, its steel scales expanding as crimson flames flickered between the gaps, as if the armor itself were breathing fire.
Callis clamped her teeth together, enduring the pain of what felt as though her arm was cooking. While the gauntlet offered some protection, the exposed palm allowed the heat to invade, making her blood boil.
The scorching heat was bypassing the combat arm and destroying her very body, but she couldn’t stop. Azzy’s fall would pose a graver predicament than her own arm succumbing to the blaze.
Callis channeled additional mana to the combat arm that was already raging with energy.
“Set, Aqus, Re, Pascal!”
Water was infused, and wind compressed. The heat concentrated in her left hand greedily consumed the drops of water, which screamed as they were compressed to their utmost threshold.
Then, just as Nabi poised to assault Azzy, Callis unleashed that power.
“Steam Stream!”
What ensued was an eruption of steam. The water droplets tipped within the superheated steel had morphed into seething vapor, colliding as it surged upward. Callis charged that force to its zenith and released it at a singular point.
It was steam, and water became wind.
Tsssss! The steam burst forth wildly, its blazing heat made tangible in hissing white, expanding like a tide as if intent on engulfing the world.
It was a level 2 combat spell that possessed considerable power and versatility, but it was still just level 2. It might harm a real cat, but against the Cat King, it was a pathetic trick that couldn’t harm a single feline hair.
However…
“Hiss!”
Nabi leaped back, startled by the unexpected attack.
A beast would lose its rationality in the throes of frenzy and become driven by instinct. The Cat King hated both water and heat, so her aversion to hot steam was beyond words.
A trifling trick though it was, magic was the art of warping and beguiling reality.
Callis expelled scorching steam, driving Nabi away.
“D-don’t come near!”
Her plea rang out, devoid of command, as she projected the steam around Azzy. Even Azzy appeared less than thrilled by the white haze, swatting her tail in annoyance, but Callis disregarded this and stood beside her.
“She’s injured anyway. We just need to hold a deadlock! The frenzy will subside if we buy time!”
She yelled as if bracing herself, and sustained her magic, aiming in all directions.
A dreadful silence enveloped the abyss. No one made any needless sounds, for fear of overlooking the cat hidden in the dark.
When Callis heard anything resembling a sound, she immediately discharged steam. She didn’t know whether her aim was true or misguided, merely hoping that her efforts proved helpful.
And so, time sluggishly elapsed. Beads of perspiration trickled down her hairline. The heat invading her body spread everywhere, covering her in a film of sweat. Near the point of exhaustion and dehydration, Callis barely managed to maintain her spell.
Meanwhile, the Progenitor summoned dark knights to fill the shadows. If the Cat King attempted an ambush from the dark, she would be forewarned.
As for Azzy, she had been licking her wounds until she regained enough strength to move again. Rising onto her paws, she crouched low, ready to go pouncing at any moment.
‘Good. If we keep this up…’
She would live. She would survive. Though she could never return to the Military State after going against the lieutenant general, and never see the things she had left there again…
But if she had any more chances left, any time, this time for sure, she was going to build better memories. The thumb Callis was holding twitched as if it had heard her wish, and a premonition, almost like foresight, came to her.
“I have come!”
Though she hadn’t heard that voice often, she had already started missing it. Callis’ expression momentarily lit up.
Rasch, the undying. What a gladdening name it was. The man who defied death and always came back was a bastion of reliability for Callis.
Another ally had joined their ranks, bolstering her odds against surviving the Cat King. She was a step closer to the future she pictured.
But that hope on the horizon caused Callis to lower her guard for an instant.
“Dodge!”
And when the laborer screamed at her in warning, her reaction was late.
Prrk. Agony ripped through Callis. She tried to groan at the pain, yet even that was beyond her. Her body felt ensnared by something unknown. The heat coursing through her insides escaped through her stomach. Callis strained her head downward to see what it was.
Three blades protruded from her abdomen. They resembled something she had seen before. Three blades spaced at intervals of a finger. She was sure this was… the lieutenant general’s claw.
“Traitors… meet only death. You know this, Lieutenant Colonel.”
Ebon, missing his right arm, whispered icily to her.
