Sometimes Humans Are More Cruel
Sometimes, looking at them, humans are even more cruel.
The fox crashed into the corner in a cloud of dust.
“Ow, ow, ow.”
He slowly rose, resetting his dislocated jaw.
“Still standing after that, are you?”
“I’m not fine. It hurts, damn it.”
The fox said so, yet he showed not the slightest sign of panic.
The instant his eyes flashed toward Amelia—
Clank!
Black chains materialized from thin air and seized the fox’s wrists.
“Wha—”
Clank-clank!
With a bone-chilling rattle the chains multiplied to four.
Both hands. Both feet.
The black chains bound the fox’s limbs fast.
“A mage….”
Whoosh—Amelia leapt high enough for her head to nearly brush the ceiling.
KRA-BOOM!
She brought the massive hammer crashing down on the bound fox.
A direct hit.
The heavy impact traveled cleanly up the haft into her hands.
Yet from beneath his nine tails the fox only smiled, savage and bright.
He raised those tails and stopped the hammer cold.
“You’ll need nine more chains than that.”
The moment the words left his mouth, one tail lashed out on its own, whipping toward Amelia’s side.
Crack!
She twisted the hammer on pure reflex to block, but the force still blasted her backward.
Gritting her teeth, she reset her stance—
Whoosh!
The fox was already right in front of her face.
The sudden closeness made her think he had used magic. He hadn’t.
The wind pressure from his movement proved it.
He was simply fast.
He had simply run.
“Kh—!”
Trying to hide her shock, Amelia swung the hammer horizontally.
Whoosh!
The fox bent his knees with infuriating ease, slipped under the blow, and took a single step back.
“This speed….”
“Right? Looks familiar, doesn’t it? It’s the First Prince’s ability.”
“How is that possible? My brother is dead—”
“He is dead. He’s right here.”
The fox stuck out his tongue and pointed inside his mouth.
“What in the world….”
“But you know what’s funny? I heard it wasn’t even the First Prince’s ability to begin with. Did you know that?”
Instead of answering, Amelia swung the hammer head back over her shoulder, ready to strike.
“They used to drag kids here and experiment on them. Stuffing magic and swordsmanship straight into human bodies. No studying, no training required—doesn’t that sound completely insane?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Cruel. Sometimes humans are even more cruel.”
The fox paced across the floor like an actor crossing a stage. Amelia kept her distance, circling the opposite way.
“The experiments were… half successful, apparently. One subject escaped, and even that one had side effects, but still—half success for something that ridiculous. And besides.”
He tapped the floor lightly with one tail.
“Even if the subject ran, the data stayed right here. Makes the next round a whole lot easier, don’t you think?”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“I’m talking about the First Prince.”
The fox held up the ring on his right hand for her to see and continued.
“How did that guy who couldn’t even touch the Fourth Prince Kairon’s toes as a kid suddenly get that kind of speed? He got it from those experiments. The Magic Tower sacrificed children and gifted the prince a new pair of legs.”
“Nonsense….”
“Hard to believe? I get it. But what I couldn’t believe was something else. Even if he was a prince, how did he order the Magic Tower to run those experiments and actually walk away with results? And then—ah.”
Tap—
The fox smacked a fist against one of his tails.
“There was something bigger behind him, wasn’t there? The First Prince never pulled this off alone.”
“My brother was never the sort to do such things. Whether there was a backer or not—he simply wasn’t capable of anything so bold.”
“Really? If I were him I’d be pretty… wounded in the pride department if I couldn’t even match the child of a demon.”
“Shut your mouth.”
“You know as well as I do—Kairon’s soft to a fault. So just imagine. If someone really wanted to finish off the Kairon the king already hated, all they’d have to do is casually….”
His pupils rolled, sly and slow.
“Casually drop a hint that some poor kids were locked up in here. Wouldn’t Kairon come running to save them?”
Amelia could not answer.
She remembered how Kairon had started looking unsettled the moment the Magic Tower was mentioned.
“He definitely would’ve come. Because he’s Kairon. Because he was born with that power and that heart.”
“…….”
“Then all you do is pin everything that happened in the Magic Tower on Kairon, and—ta-da. Ridiculously easy, right?”
The fox clapped two tails together and giggled.
“Slap a helmet on Kairon and throw him out. Force even the little sister who was close to him to run away. Suddenly there’s no one left standing in the way of the succession.”
Thud—
The fox, who had been circling as he walked, stopped dead.
“What, did you think the world revolved around you? Just because you never got screen time or a mention, you thought everyone else just sat still? They’re all moving, Amelia. Even when you’re not looking, they’re thinking and moving.”
He bent at the waist until their eyes met.
“You two were played by the First Prince from the very beginning.”
“…….”
“Well—except that First Prince got played by me!”
“Ha. Now I understand. You’re the true face of the Death God Cult that Hasgard spoke of.”
“Whoa, whoa. Daywin knew that much already? As expected—as expected of him.”
The fox laughed with genuine delight and glanced downward.
“But aren’t you the ones who lost?”
“Huh?”
“You tried to kill me and taint Kairon with evil, and you failed.”
Amelia took one step forward.
“You tried to slaughter Hasgard’s family and drive him into despair, and you failed.”
With every step the hammer rose higher.
“Not only that—you raised undead all over the country, and even those were crushed before they could truly begin. From where I’m standing….”
Amelia answered his smile with one of her own and tapped her temple lightly with a finger.
“I think you need to think a little harder.”
Grind.
The fox clacked his long fangs together and, for the first time, lost his composure.
Without the fox’s knowledge, a rescue signal had been sent from the Magic Tower.
The moment the signal reached the royal palace, the king called upon his vassals for aid.
The seven great lords who held voting rights.
They gathered before their individual magic tools and conferred remotely.
“Your Majesty! We must send the army!”
“A reconnaissance unit first. It could be a false alarm.”
“The Magic Tower making a mistake? Impossible. Those mages who research magic would never—”
“They are still human. Humans make mistakes.”
“It wasn’t just any signal—it was a rescue signal. They said they were under attack.”
“Which Magic Tower are we even talking about? I’m in the south, so…”
Everyone spoke at once, their words raw and unfiltered, so the council could not advance in any single direction.
Yet among them, exactly one lord remained silent, simply watching the chaos unfold.
The underground laboratory….
He was the very man who had joined hands with the First Prince and ordered those experiments.
In the worst case, everything… will be exposed.
Cold sweat beaded on his skin; his teeth chattered.
While he trembled with anxiety, the king’s thin voice called his name.
“Grand Duke Keln, you have been quiet for some time.”
“Ah—Your Majesty. I-I was thinking.”
“What is the Grand Duke’s opinion?”
“…The army.”
Grand Duke Keln snapped back to himself and spoke.
“We must send the army.”
Whoever the intruders were, if they were a third party the underground laboratory would be discovered.
In that case it might be better to simply smash everything to pieces.
And if it were the royal army, a little extra force could just barely keep the secret from leaking.
“Even Grand Duke Keln thinks so…”
“Yes, Your Majesty. The talents of the Magic Tower are the nation’s assets… are they not? Which means they are also Your Majesty’s assets.”
Grand Duke Keln spoke with shameless confidence, as though he had completely forgotten he himself had diverted those assets for his own purposes.
“If someone covets them… then it is only right that Your Majesty personally mete out punishment.”
“Hmm…”
“Your Majesty, that must not happen. You know better than anyone that the Magic Tower’s arrogance is nothing new. Time and again they have flouted royal decrees and acted independently. Moving the army now would only embolden them further.”
When another lord voiced opposition—
“Do you mean to let those talents die?!”
Keln shouted, flaring up.
“They sent a rescue signal, did they not?! How can we turn our backs on people in danger?!”
As the lords began to quarrel, the king sighed and pressed his fingers to his brow.
That Magic Tower is the place that damned Kairon visited years ago. Even when he is out of sight that brat still finds ways to irritate me.
A moment later the royal secretary approached and whispered in the king’s ear.
“Is that so… Amelia has…”
News that Amelia had recently headed toward the Magic Tower.
“We shall watch a little longer. After that, send the army.”
At the king’s words, Keln secretly clenched his fist.
“A berserker who grows stronger the more blood she sheds.”
The fox licked the blood running down Amelia’s arm as he spoke.
“For royalty, you’re pretty extreme, just like you said.”
He slowly backed away from Amelia, who had lost her hammer and collapsed.
Using his tails as a chair he squatted down and stared intently at Amelia as her consciousness faded.
She lay beside the Magic Tower Master’s corpse, waiting for death.
Blink. Blink.
Her eyes closed and opened with agonizing slowness.
“Even so, if you lose too much blood you’ll die. In the end, you’re only human.”
“Kh… hah…”
Amelia coughed up blood and gasped for air.
“All right. I’ve decided. I’ll eat you after the Tower Master.”
“What… did you say.”
“I thought your ability was useless, but maybe not so much. Even I was surprised when I first got hit.”
The fox rubbed the crown of his head and laughed.
“Your power suits a tough body like mine better. Look—right now. Magic that was good for nothing but speed becomes something else when it meets me. Foundation is everything, you know.”
“You… beast…”
“Mm, if I kill you now the freshness drops, but…”
He lifted Amelia’s chin lightly with a long claw.
“You’re noisy, so I’ll kill you.”
Just as those claws were about to draw a line across her throat—
“I think the noisy one is you.”
Shing!
A blade streaked toward the fox’s waist.
Clang!
If he had not blocked with a tail, the force behind that single stroke would have cut him clean in half.
“What the—I definitely buried you downstairs.”
The fox stared at Daywin with unsteady eyes.
“How did you climb back up from there?”
Daywin ignored the question. He drove his sword into the floor, adjusted his gloves, rolled his wrists once, and locked eyes with the fox again.
“Still not quite yet, I see.”
His gaze shifted to the Magic Tower Master’s corpse.
“Your Highness. From this moment on, I will protect you.”
“…….”
Amelia wiped blood from her mouth and glared at the back of Daywin’s head.
“That damned brother of mine… I told him… never to say those words…”
“Then surely it is fine if I say them.”
“Don’t… make me laugh… If you were the real Hasgard you’d have a halo…”
Hummm—
A halo blazed into brilliant existence above Daywin’s head.
“H-how… you…”
Leaving the wide-eyed Amelia behind him, Daywin gripped his sword once more and pointed it at the fox.
“It’s been a while, you mangy beast.”