Chapter 181: Purge Day
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 181: Purge Day
Similar incidents were erupting all across the Military State.
The deep-seated animosity toward beastkin, a legacy from the days of the kingdom, persisted even after the nation’s transformation. The only difference was that people no longer had the luxury to act on their hatred. The Military State, after all, exploited beastkin and humans alike.
Even the few who could afford such sentiments were hesitant to lay a hand on the beastkin because of the Family. A coordinated counterattack would be more than they could handle. In the old days, they had knights, but now, any such assault would land both sides in the labor camps.
The JJJ, a group of supremacists simmering with pent-up frustration.
Upon hearing that the Family’s enforcer, the one in charge of their muscle, had been killed by the hand of the Shadow, the JJJ sprang into action the moment they heard an explosion from a neighboring district.
It was time to hunt.
Among the orphans, there were those who held a grudge against the Shelter.
The Shelter was a place where retired soldiers cared for children. From a young age, the children there grew accustomed to military-style education and discipline, distinguishing themselves as soon as they entered elementary citizen school.
But anything that rises high is bound to cast a shadow. The children from ordinary orphanages grew up with an inferiority complex toward the Shelter. For them, who graduated from citizen school only to live a life of daily labor, their small comfort found in gathering to vent their frustrations, the Shadow’s temptation was all too sweet.
They were still young, but for that very reason, they were all the more dangerous as they roamed the nights of the Military State in packs.
To say they had mistaken the date of the operation would be an understatement; the situation had spiraled so far out of control that not taking advantage of it would have been foolish. Furthermore, the fireworks that had started in District 13 were so loud that the information about the operation being tomorrow now felt like a lie.
Chaos begets chaos, even without a partner. Alarmed citizens reported the incidents to the police, but this was not a problem that could be solved by the puppet police force under the military government.
Be it a snowball or a flame, if not extinguished at the start, it is bound to grow. That was the perfect description of the Military State’s current condition.
Premature riots were breaking out all over the nation.
However, just because the Shadow had gathered a mob of riffraff didn't mean the organization itself had become one. A messenger, observing the situation from the darkness, moved swiftly, and all this information was relayed to the Shadow’s side with relative speed.
Upon receiving the report of this unplanned event, Wolfen convened the Shadows.
The Shadows gathered in a darkness so profound one could barely make out the face of the person next to them. A pitch-black void where it was impossible to discern who was present or how many there were. Only the sound of forcefully suppressed breaths could be heard.
Wolfen’s voice carried along the shadows.
“…The plan has gone awry.”
His voice seemed to whisper right beside them, yet at the same time, it echoed as if from a great distance. The Shadows trembled at the bizarre sensation that defied any sense of distance.
One thing was certain: Wolfen’s voice was reaching every single person.
“However, it matters not. Those who interfered with us are ignorant of the true plan.”
Ssssk.
Wolfen descended like smoke onto a platform faintly illuminated by the moonlight. He was so devoid of presence that it took a considerable amount of time for all the Shadows to notice his arrival.
Six Penumbras appeared one by one at Wolfen’s side. Clad in black, exuding an aura as sharp as a blade, their mere presence overwhelmed the assembly.
The leader of the Shadows and his executives. Each one an assassin capable of killing even a general officer.
The Shadows believed that their leader, Wolfen, might even be capable of assassinating one of the Military State’s famed Six Generals…
Such was the excellence of Wolfen’s stealth and Qi Arts.
Wolfen opened his mouth.
“Our objective has always been to sow chaos, to sound a warning to the Military State. And, by their hand, to clean up the trash.”
That was right. There was no reason to be anxious just because the date was off by a day.
Those fighting outside now were nothing but pawns. The fact that the gunpowder had ignited a day early was hardly a significant issue.
“I don’t know who it was, but it seems they plotted to disrupt our movements… Fine. If someone forces our hand, then we shall simply match their pace.”
In the blink of an eye, Wolfen vanished. They thought they were watching him, but when they came to their senses, the spot where he should have been was empty.
Stealth is useless once discovered, and swift movement is merely a way to jump far. But the movements of Wolfen, who had mastered both to their extremes, were like watching a phantom.
A man who was everywhere and nowhere. The leader of the Shadows, Wolfen Fenshtein.
Once again, his voice drifted from where he had melted back into the shadows.
“I hereby declare that we will advance the operation. Shadows, incite chaos. Penumbras, spread the poison. As of today, we shall reclaim the darkness.”
In the pitch-black darkness, countless Shadows bowed their heads in unison.
*
Guilt and shame are born from the face. In other words, cover your face, and you gain the courage to not fear sin.
The members of the anti-beastkin organization JJJ, their faces covered with black masks, strode confidently through the dark streets.
Normally, they lived with their shoulders slumped in defeat, but today was different. United with like-minded individuals, they had nothing to fear.
Their target was the Black Cat Magazines.
A place filled with filthy paparazzi who provided jobs and peace to beastkin, a den of thieving cats who shamelessly called digging into others’ lives a profession.
Normally, they would never have dared to attempt such a thing, fearing retaliation from the Family or surveillance by the Military State, but today was different.
Hadn't the Shadow created this opportunity for them?
A masked man in a conical hat shouted.
“Run wild! Tonight, no one will pay us any mind. Even the Military State’s vaunted security is powerless today.”
On the day the Shadow runs rampant, a time when chaos grips every corner of society.
This was the moment of liberation from their long-suppressed lives. Hidden behind masks, their dangerous nature, crushed under the heels of military boots, now bared its fangs at the beastkin.
“Let us unleash our pent-up hatred! We'll teach a lesson to those beasts who don't even recognize their masters and dare to covet the place of humans. Uum!”
“Uum!”
The members marched through the streets, chanting their self-made slogan.
Watching them from a distance, the Fifth Penumbra surveyed his surroundings with cold, sunken eyes.
‘…Hmm. Nothing suspicious in sight. Did they really just fall for the false information?’
Aside from moving a day earlier than the planned date, the JJJ was acting exactly as the Shadow had anticipated. The Fifth dismissed his suspicions.
As they walked, they immediately attacked any beastkin they encountered. A few managed to escape, but not all were as sharp-witted. The young, the naive, and the old were caught, beaten severely, and then tied up with ropes, dragged along as their prisoners.
Beastkin, the fur on their ears and tails singed by flames, were led away. Seeing this, the Fifth nodded with deep satisfaction.
‘Hmph. Even with the Military State in power, the truth remains unchanged. Creatures like these beasts are fit only for a leash.’
The Fifth was a beastkin-hater to the bone. His hatred ran so deep that he had seriously considered leaving the organization when the Umbra appointed a beastkin as the Seventh Penumbra.
No one would ever know how overjoyed he had been when the Seventh died at Wolfen’s hand.
‘A race that has survived by constantly betraying others and wagging their tails… You belong under the feet of humans.’
The sticky, caked-on hatred at the bottom of his soul was one of the reasons he had volunteered to take charge of this district.
Opportunities to kill beastkin with his own hands were rare.
‘Go on, howl like the beasts you are.’
Beastkin were said to possess a Star of the State, but it wasn't some power that made the impossible possible.
It was just a final, desperate struggle before death.
‘And there is nothing more enjoyable than plunging a blade into the neck of a thrashing beast…’
His ecstatic first kill. The moment he plunged his knife into the back of the thrashing beastkin's neck, the Fifth was certain that being an assassin was his true calling.
He had yet to forget the feel of it in his hands, and he was eagerly anticipating the pleasure that would soon come.
“Get her!”
It seemed they had found another victim. The members broke into a run.
The figure in the distance leaped away to evade them, but after a relentless pursuit, she was finally cornered against a dead-end wall.
“Don’t run!”
“Nya? Run? Did I say I was running, nya?”
The beastkin scowled and turned around.
She was a remarkably beautiful beastkin girl. Her neat black and white fur cascaded down to her waist, and her long tail swayed gently. Her frame was small, but her cat ears and tail were particularly prominent.
The beastkin girl, who seemed to have inherited a strong strain of beast blood, frowned in displeasure.
“I don’t run, nya, human. I was just avoiding you because you’re a nuisance, nya.”
“Heh heh. Such pride… How about we make you look just like them?”
The masked member grinned with the visible part of his mouth. As he stepped aside, the beastkin prisoners, bound by ropes, were revealed. Covered in blood and singed fur, they sobbed as they looked at their fellow beastkin.
The girl frowned and retorted.
“I thought only dogs wore leashes, but humans put them on each other too, nya. I guess humans and dogs aren't so different after all, nya…”
How would a supremacist feel being compared to a dog by a cat? Not pleasant, surely.
The masked group’s laughter died, and they began to radiate a menacing aura.
“How dare you compare us to dogs? Don’t worry. You’ll end up in the same state.”
The masked man yanked hard on the rope, and a blood-soaked beastkin fell to the ground. Skin scraped, and droplets of blood fell.
In the end, the humans made the mistake of shoving the scent of blood and ash in the girl’s face.
Her fur standing on end, the girl let out a low growl.
“Nyaaa… The smell of blood…”
“Haha. Do you get it now? It’s your turn to end up like this.”
“Nyaa—. Nyaaa—.”
A cat's cry, both pitiful and chilling, filled the alley, the district. It was an ominous wail, enough to make one’s hair stand on end just by hearing it.
The members, who had paused for a moment, grew angry at the fact that they had been scared. A member holding a torch shouted.
“Get her!”
At his command, the members clutched their ropes tightly and approached the girl…
Watching the scene, the Fifth muttered to himself.
‘…This is ominous.’
What was it? On the surface, she was just an ordinary girl.
But before his hatred for beastkin could even surface, a survival instinct boiling up from the depths of his being screamed a warning. The Fifth reached out a hand to stop them, knowing they couldn't hear him.
“Kyahhaaaak—!”
Too late. Those who had reached out with ropes in hand had their arms torn into three strips.
Vertically.
Blood, expelled from its owner’s body, painted its trajectory on the concrete wall. The sharp claws that had emerged from the girl’s hands glinted coldly.
Sharp claws and a shredded arm.
Even a fool could deduce the cause and effect. The masked man let out a pained scream.
“Aaaaargh!”
“Mu-murder! Call the police!”
“Wh-what? What’s happening?”
It was a crucible of chaos. A few foolish members who hadn't grasped the situation charged in, only to be sent flying back with grievous injuries.
The group, who had held the advantage through numbers, found the tables turned upon meeting a true predator.
After a few more sprays of blood, the members, having gauged their opponent’s level, began to back away, thoroughly terrified. The masked man holding the beastkin hastily threw down the rope in his hand and fled.
Another masked man, seeing this, cried out as if vomiting blood.
“You idiot! You were supposed to use them as hostages!”
“Ah, right!”
But it was too late for that.
Nabi was filled with stress, and before her was a swarm of frightened animals. Her vertical pupils narrowed even further.
Her tail held stiffly upright, Nabi was about to slaughter the humans before her. But then, a thought occurred to her. She suppressed her killing intent and fumbled in her pocket.
“Nya—. Instead of humans, an offering…”
The mana herb she'd been given to use instead of giving in to her murderous intent when she wanted to kill humans.
This was a chance to legally smoke a mana herb. The cunning Nabi didn't miss the opportunity and pulled one out, placing it in her mouth.
In that instant, Nabi’s expression completely relaxed.
A happy, refreshing fragrance masked the smell of blood and smoke, filling Nabi’s nose. The humans before her, the smell of blood and smoke—none of it bothered her anymore.
In this moment, Nabi was in a state of bliss.
“Nyaha…!”
Feeling better, Nabi held the tip of the mana herb and struck her claws together. A spark flew, igniting the end of the herb.
That corrupting fragrance, born from burning the World Tree, quickly brought happiness to the Cat King.
However, humans were always the problem.
As Nabi savored her bliss with her eyes closed, the groans of the humans reached her ears. Her pleasant time interrupted, Nabi scowled.
“You’re in the way, nya!”
With that, she leaped up to a building’s rooftop, where no one could disturb her.
It was an utterly absurd turn of events. To viciously tear people apart, then suddenly pull out a mana herb, smoke it, and then just run away.
Capricious and impossible to understand. They didn't even know why she had appeared.
But the Fifth had no time to ponder such things.
Because he had just come face to face with Nabi, who had landed on the rooftop.
“Nyaa? There’s a human here too, nya.”
“Kh…!”
Confronted with a being more beast-like than any other, what the Fifth felt was not revulsion, but terror. His sense of disgust could not overcome his survival instinct.
Wary of Nabi as if she were a wild beast, the Fifth locked eyes with her and began to back away slowly, very slowly…
“If you're going to leave, then hurry up and go, nya!”
However, Nabi’s patience was shorter than the mana herb burning away with each passing second. She suddenly dashed forward and swatted the Fifth away with her front paw, ‘clearing’ him out.
Without any time to block or dodge. Thud. The Fifth’s body flew toward the edge of the building.
By the time he managed to grasp his fading consciousness, his body was in mid-air, far from the rooftop.
“Keok!”
And so, the Fifth answered the call of Mother Earth and fell to the ground.