The war of the Empress had reached its conclusion. All the other Imperial Princes and Princesses other than the Claudio Riberios had been imprisoned. Of the five Empress, only two were still alive; Empress Rosa Claudio Riberio Azali, the mother of Kaisar, Gaius, and Odyssus, and Empress Adelina Leo Cresnatine Azali, the mother of Anastasia and Albert.

  Right now, Kaisar, Empress Rosa, and their vassals were all in a meeting, discussing the fate of Empress Adelina and all of the Imperial Princes and Princesses they had captured.

  “We should kill them.” The people on Empress Rosa’s side argued that they should execute most of the Imperial Princes and Princesses.

  “We can’t. That would stain Kaisar’s honor.” While the people on Kaisar’s side argued that none of the Imperial Princes and Princesses should be killed.

  In reality, most of the people in the room wanted to compromise with each other. They wanted to execute some of the more power hungry princes and princesses while letting those who submitted to Kaisar live, but the two leaders of the faction wanted no compromise. Empress Rosa wanted all of the Imperial Princes and Princesses dead, whether they possessed a threat to Kaisar’s rule or not. While Kaisar did not want to kill a single one of them, even those who wanted his head.

  The people in the room might be arguing with each other, but it was nothing more but lip service. All of them wished their respective leaders could reach a compromise with each other. “Kaisar,” the first one to speak was Empress Rosa, a tall and imposing grey-skinned woman, with the characteristic four arms of a full-blooded Taon. “Listen to your mother. I only wanted what’s best for you. We need to kill all of them or there might be another civil war in the future.” Empress Rosa spoke in a warm tone, trying to convince Kaisar to listen to her reasoning.

  “No mother. No matter what, I would not approve of the execution of my siblings.” Kaisar, a young man who was even taller and more imposing than his own mother. Even though he was a Taon, he only had two arms, which was typical for a half-blooded Taon. Kaisar was a stoic and dependable leader, worthy of the loyalty his vassals showed him. However, unlike his usual self who usually listened to his vassals suggestion, Kaisar was uncharacteristically against executing the Imperial Princes and Princesses.

  While it might be excessive, it was normal for the winner of a civil war to execute their own blood that challenged them to prevent future war. Forget Azalia’s history, most kingdoms that went through a civil war would do this — but Kaisar would not. He did not even give anybody a logical explanation for this. He just refused to do so.

  “THEY ARE NOT YOUR SIBLINGS!!!” Empress Rosa was triggered when Kaisar called the Imperial Princes and Princess his siblings. The room went silent, awkward. It was an open secret, but most of them knew — Kaisar was a bastard. He did not share a single drop of Azali Royal blood.

  Kaisar was the son of Empress Rosa's previous husband, a duke from a foreign country outside of Azalia, Riberio. However, the Emperor slain Kaisar’s father so he could marry Empress Rosa and integrated Riberio into the empire — a pure political marriage. Kaisar, a pure Taon, had both of his lower arms ripped apart so people would think of him as a half Taon instead, allowing the Emperor to claim Kaisar as his son, hiding his illegitimate nature.

  Empress Rosa loathed the Emperor for this. He stole her beloved husband from her, annexed her home, making her own people think she sold them to Azalia, and worst of all, she had to watch her beloved firstborn’s arms ripped apart just to hide his own heritage. Kaisar might not be logical in wanting to spare all of the Imperial Princes and Princesses, but neither was Empress Rosa. Her desire to execute all of them was based on her hatred for all of Azalia and the Imperial family.

  “Kaisar, mother is sorry for shouting. But please understand. This is for your sake.” Empress Rosa regained her composure and returned to her warm and caring tone.

  “No mother. I understand killing them was necessary… but I still won’t allow it.” Kaisar was stubborn, just like his father — his real father. Empress Rosa knew her son would not change his mind no matter what. If she could, she would just go ahead with the execution, but she did not want to undermine her son. And assasination was not really feasible. The Imperial princes and princesses held the blood of Azali, even the weakest among them was as strong as a knight — and many of them were trained in martial arts, magic, or both.

  Assasination had a high chance of failures, one that could lead to further complication. Worst case scenario, the assanation failed and they managed to escape their imprisonment, leading them to raise another army and prolong a war they already won. It happened once in Azalia’s history — where an assasination attempt on an imprisoned Imperial prince failed, leading to a civil war. That was the story on how the previous Emperor, Alexandross managed to gain his throne. Empress Rosa could not afford to repeat that history… so she went with a compromise,

  “I understand my son. I will not push this anymore… but Adelina. She had to die.”

  The room went tense. In truth, none of the men wanted to execute Empress Adelina. She was one of the Empresses that did not desire war. She tried to broker peace between the Empresses before the war began. When the fighting started, she tried to stay away from all of it by holding up in her own territory. When the battles reached her doorsteps, she ran away with her daughter, hiding from place to place without even trying to raise her own army. She did not even fight Kaisar and his army even once. She was taking refuge under Empress Vanessa Giorgius Naida Azali, and when Kaisar defeated Empress Vanessa, Empress Adelina surrendered to him — only wishing for the safety of her daughter and son in exchange for her life.

  “Mother… We already won the war. There is no need to shed any more blood.” Even through his stoic demeanor, people could see Kaisar's exhaustion. He wanted his mother to stop, to just let it go. She had already won against the Azalia that wronged her. There was no need to shed more blood, especially innocent’s blood.

  “You don’t get it, my son. YOU DON’T GET IT!!!” Empress Rosa started to pull her own hair, frustrated by her beloved son’s stubbornness. Kaisar stood from his chair, attempting to stop his mother from harming herself. But he only had two arms while Empress Rosa had four. He was struggling to contain his mother.

  “Sister, please. Calm down.” Oliver Claudio Riberio, Empress Rosa’s younger brother and Kaisar’s uncle tried to calm her down, but to no avail. “SHUT YOUR MOUTH!!! YOU USELESS… UNGRATEFUL…” Empress Rosa grabbed a cup and hurled it at her brother along with countless insults. The cup did not hurt a warrior such as Oliver — but the words hurt a brother who loved his sister dearly.

  “Mother… please.” In a desperate attempt to stop his mother from hurting herself or his uncle, Kaisar hugged Empress Rosa tightly. Empress Rosa was tall for a woman, but Kaisar was taller and larger. The hug effectively sealed all of Empress Rosa’s arms from moving. Unable to physically do anything, Empress Rosa started sobbing.

  “Kaisar… My dear Kaisar. Please listen to your mother. I only wanted what best for you. As long as two empresses are still alive, as long as that BITCH, Adelina is still alive. The war, this bloody war will not end. As long as those spawns of the devil are still alive — they will threaten your rule. They might be docile for now since they already lost to you, but one day they will rise up in arms and start another civil war. Those greedy devils, all of them wanted what rightfully yours, the throne. Listen to your mother Kaisar. Adelina, and the children of that damned Alexandross — all of them must die. Otherwise neither of us will be safe.”

  Empress Rosa desperately begged her son to see reason. Her teary eyes gazed into his weary eyes. Kaisar wanted the war, the bloodshed to be over. And the only way for it to happen was to eliminate all of the potential claimants to the throne.

  “I understand mother… I understand what needs to be done now.” Kaisar pulled his mother’s head to her chest, embracing her fully. “Thank you son. Thank you. Mother only wanted what best for you.”

  “I know, mother. I know. That is why I want to apologize.” Kaisar released his embrace. He put his hand on his mother’s chin while caressing the back of her hair. “You have nothing to apologize for, my son.” Empress Rosa, still hugging Kaisar, looked at him warmly and full of love — but Kaisar’s eyes did not reciprocate that love. There was sadness in them.

  “Still… I have to apologize for what I will do, mother.” Kaisar apologized one more time, however, no one in the room knew what Kaisar was apologizing for. “What? Why?” Without addressing Empress Rosa’s confusion, Kaisar strengthened his grip on her chin and the top of her head.

  SNAP

  And he twisted her head, breaking her neck so hard her head turned like an owl. “ — wha.” Empress Rosa's body slumped, like a puppet that had its strings cut. Kaisar gently caught it — he laid her body on the floor, blood gurgling out of her mouth. Empress Rosa was still alive, but she could no longer move her body. All she could do was gaze into Kaisar’s remorseful eyes, wondering if this was all just a bad dream. It was only a matter of time before she died choking from her own blood.

  “Ka… Kaisar… What have you done?” Oliver was dumbfounded… so were the other vassals. They just witnessed their lord commit matricide. “I apologized uncle… I killed your beloved sister.” That was the only word Kaisar uttered before he slumped back into his chair, looking more tired than ever.

  “I… I don’t… I don’t understand Kaisar. Why? Why did you kill Rosa?” Oliver just could not understand Kaisar’s train of thought, what led him to do what he did. The other vassals watched intently, they all shared the same sentiment as Oliver.

  “... It’s as mother said, uncle. The war won’t end as long as two empresses are still alive… Now, the only empress still alive is Adelina. The war is over uncle.”

  Oliver’s jaw literally dropped. On one hand, Kaisar’s logic was solid… On the other hand, it just did not make sense. Empress Rosa was not the best person to be around. She was erratic and abusive to everyone — everyone but Kaisar. If it was her other two sons, it would make more sense why they would kill her… But Kaisar? The favored son? Why would Kaisar choose to kill his own mother that loved him so much over killing Empress Adelina whom he barely had any interaction with?

  Oliver fell down to his chair. His brain could not process the event that just happened. “I don’t get it. Why don’t you just execute Adelina to end the war? She volunteered herself for that. Heck, why are you so adamant against executing any of the Imperial princes? Sure, we shouldn’t kill all of them like your mother said… But August!? Tiberio!? Julia!? Those three definitely wanted the throne, Kaisar. They will definitely cause another civil war. Please… Kaisar, I’m begging you. Tell me why… I just… need an explanation. You owe me this, Kaisar.” Oliver now looked as tired and defeated as Kaisar. Being a part of the Imperial family, the civil war, his sister's anger issue, and now this — Oliver was truly drained of all energy. He wished he could just leave everything behind.

  Kaisar was contemplating whether to tell his uncle the reason for his decision. He was not one to share his personal feelings… but his uncle was right. He owed him an explanation. Oliver had contributed and risked a lot for him. And he just killed Oliver’s sister, the only family Oliver got left other than his nephews.

  “I do not want to kill my siblings Uncle. It was as simple as that.”

  “But you… you’re not… you’re not an Azali. You do not share a single drop of blood with them.” Oliver did not want to sound like Empress Rosa… but as erratic as she was, she did make a good point.

  “No… No I don’t… but they are my siblings nonetheless… and I’m afraid Uncle.” Kaisar put his head down… Oliver never saw Kaisar seem so… small. “I’m afraid if I killed the people I considered my siblings, for something as… petty as a throne… Uncle, If I did… What will stop me from killing Gaius and Odyssus one day? My actual blood brothers.”

  “... so you chose to kill your own birth mother… over the possibility of killing your brothers one day?” The exhaustion had left Oliver’s face. Logically, Kaisar’s action still made little sense to him… but he finally understood where Kaisar came from. And he could empathize with it.

  “Yes.” There was no hesitation in Kaisar’s answer. A soft sigh left Oliver’s mouth. He understood his sister just as well as Kaisar did. It was only a possibility… but if she was still alive, one day she would try to get rid of her own sons; Gaius and Odyssus too. They might be her sons… but they had the blood of the person she hated the most flowing inside of them — and that was an unforgivable sin for her.

  “... Thank you Kaisar… for telling me… now, we need to discuss the most important thing in this room,” Oliver looked at the now lifeless body of his sister. While Kaisar and Oliver had seated themselves, most of the vassals were still standing anxiously, “How do we deal with Rosa’s death.”

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  “We could just tell the truth.” Kaisar suggested, but all of the vassals immediately voiced their disagreement. “We can’t, Kaisar. The people will never accept a matricide as an emperor willingly. There will be people that challenge your rule and we’ll end up fighting another civil war.”

  “We could let Gaius be the emperor instead of me. If it’s him, all of us siblings will be able to rule all of Azalia together.” It was clear to the vassals that Kaisar had zero intention to be the next emperor, however, Azalia needed an emperor, and in the vassals’ eyes, only Kaisar was worthy of it. To Kaisar, Gaius was the perfect candidate.

  Unlike him and Odyssus, Gaius did not really fight any of the Imperial princes’ and princesses' armies during the war. He and his army spent most of the war on the border, fighting opportunist foreign powers who saw the civil war as a chance to reclaim some of their lost territory during Azalia’s long history of expansion and protecting Kaisar’s and Odyssus’ supply line. Gaius had not earned the grudge of the defeated armies and he was always more of a diplomat rather than a general, he even managed to negotiate with the invaders favorable terms for both parties, achieving minimal loss of territories and lives during the war. Kaisar and Odyssus respected him for that, many of their siblings too — but not the vassals and the nobles of Azalia.

  “Lord Kaisar…” The vassals were trying to voice their disagreement without openly disrespecting Gaius or angering Kaisar. To many Azalian nobles, and even some common citizens, Gaius was seen as weak. While it was undeniable that Gaius played an important part in the war, he did not directly take part in any of the major battles. Most of his greatest achievements were achieved through diplomacy and logistics — there was no glory in logistics. And his diplomacy cost them some territories. Many doubted that Gaius could be a strong and effective emperor that Azalia needed — they all wanted Kaisar instead.

  “Not Gaius, Kaisar. He can’t be our Emperor.” Oliver spoke up, voicing the thoughts the other vassals wanted to say. “And why is that uncle?” Kaisar’s face remained stoic, but there was a hint of anger in his tone.

  “Internally, he’ll make a good emperor. None of your siblings will object to him being the emperor… but the same cannot be said with foreign powers. Don’t get me wrong, his diplomatic approaches helped us before. Thanks to him, we do not need to spend so many resources fighting on the borders… We did however lose some territories in exchange. Territories we cannot take back through force… Kaisar, you and I know… Our neighbors will form a coalition and declare war on us if Gaius is emperor; all in the hope that Gaius will broker a deal with them.”

  Kaisar averted his eyes from Oliver’s… He knew Oliver’s and the vassals’ concern with Gaius was legitimate. He also considered those aspects of international diplomacy… But he believed that as long Gaius could keep the siblings from fighting each other, then they could easily handle any and all external threats to the empire… but in the end he could not push through with his plan — not yet. Azalia was still weary from the civil war. They did not want to fight another war anytime soon. Even though he did not want it — he understood that he had to take the throne.

  “I understand… We'll report mother’s death as an accident or illness. I’ll leave the details to all of you.” The vassals breathe a sigh of relief. Their lord had conceded and would let them handle stuff. While matricide would be a hassle to cover up, at the very least their lord would not use this as an excuse to abdicate the throne of Azalia… there was only one issue left — how would they inform the other two sons of the Empress death. Gaius was currently not in the capital. He was still stuck in the northern border, guarding the place. But Odyssus, he was in the capital. And if he found out about his mother’s death… there was no telling how he would react.

  KRIEEEEK

  Spoke of the devil, and he would come. A teenage half-Taon opened the large door. Grey skinned, yellow-eyes, and a short black hair fitting for a man obsessed with war and military, Odyssus entered the room. His eyes were bloodshot red.

  “Sorry I’m late. I’m still a bit hungover. Drank with the men too much…” Odyssus stopped giving excuses for his tardiness. His gaze was focused on the dead woman lying on the floor. All the vassals and even the knights guarding the room were nervous. They all had their hands on their weapons. “... Am I still drunk? Or are my eyes deceiving me? Why is mother dead?”

  It was a valid question that none of them could answer forthright — none, but Kaisar. “I killed her, Odyssus.” He said while still maintaining his trademark stoic tired face. Odyssus was bewildered by Kaisar’s straight forward answer. His face went through many different emotions at once, something everyone in the room could empathize with. In the end, he ruffled his own hair while letting out a heavy sigh.

  Shiiing

  He drew his scimitar. A well ornamented scimitar that was forged by the best blacksmith in the south and grafted with powerful runes. Similar to his hand cannon and magic chain, it was a weapon worthy of a legend, the sword named Qā?i?.

  Seeing Qā?i? drawn, the vassals and the knights all drew their own weapons. They were all ready to jump in front of Kaisar and protect him from his own brother… but Kaisar stopped them with a simple ‘halt’ hand gesture. Cold sweats ran through their body. Their lord, Kaisar, would let Odyssus judged him, and there was nothing they could do to stop it. Kaisar had killed his own mother to prevent his non-blood related siblings from being executed… There was no way he would stand still and let his vassals tried to kill Odyssus just to protect him.

  Tap Tap

  Odyssus approached Kaisar steadily. With no way to physically stop him, all the vassals tried to reason with him, “Lord Odyssus, wait. We can explain this. It’s all a misunderstanding.” Every single one of them fired out excuses or pleaded with him, drowning the room with words. But Odyssus’ march did not stop. He did not listen to a single word everyone said, his focus was fixed on Kaisar.

  Tap Tap Tap

  Odyssus stood tall in front of Kaisar who was slumped on his chair. Similar to Kaisar’s stoic face, no one could guess what was Odyssus was thinking. His face was surprisingly — neutral. Odyssus raised Qā?i? up high, readying himself for an overhead swing. The vassals and knights could only watch with their weapons drawn. They all steeled themselves, the moment Odyssus struck Kaisar down, they all would charge Odyssus down. Consequences be damned.

  Slash

  Odyssus swung Qā?i?, a perfect overhead strike, with a form so beautiful all of the people in the room with martial background was awestruck. They almost forgot the reason they were wary of Odyssus in the first place, but they managed to snap back to reality and checked on Kaisar — he was completely unharmed.

  Odyssus swung his blade at his mother’s dead body, decapitating her in one clean stroke. He cleaned Qā?i? from any blood that was left on her steel, then sheathed her. Unlike the care he shown his blade, Odyssus bent down and grabbed his mother’s head by the hair, flinging it on his shoulder, spraying blood from the stump of her neck to nearby bystanders — some of the blood hitting Kaisar’s face.

  “This is what the world will know, and Gaius; I came to this meeting drunk and got into a heated argument with mother about decorum and stuff. In the heat of the argument, I drew my sword and decapitated mother. Blame it on the alcohol, blame it on my temperament, or both, doesn’t matter. Kaisar, you were not in the room at the time… let’s say you were on a toilet break or on some other important business. So you couldn’t stop me. You will however arrest me later after I drunkenly paraded mother’s head for everyone to see. And you’ll pardon me later because you do not want to sully your hand with the blood of your kin. That’s the story we’re going with. Anyone who tells another story will meet the same fate as mother.” Odyssus announced to the room. The Vassals were flabbergasted, but at the same time, Odyssus’ story was more convincing compared to whatever fake scenario they could come up with.

  “You don’t have to do any of this, Odyssus.” Kaisar told Odyssus. There was a hint of disapproval in his voice. He did not want his youngest brother to carry the burden of matricide when he was the one who committed it.

  “Don’t get me wrong, Kaisar. I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing this for Gaius.” Odyssus said bluntly, his eyes were looking at Kaisar full of anger. “If Gaius found out that you, the person he admired the most, slain mother, the person he wanted affection from the most… he would be devastated, it’ll ruin him. You have mother’s love that he desperately wanted, yet you decided to kill mother, just like that. I know you have your reasons… but Gaius will not listen to any of your justification. You’re lucky if he only wanted to kill you.”

  “I see…” Kaisar looked down, unable to meet Odyssus’ fiery gaze. “And you’re willing to take my sin instead?” He was still concerned for Odyssus. If it wasn’t for Odyssus’ reputation, it was for his relationship with Gaius. “Don’t you worry about me, Kaisar. Unlike you, I’m Gaius’ favorite brother. He’ll be confused and conflicted, but he’ll forgive me in the end. He always does.”

  Kaisar could not help but smirk. Even as a teenager, even though he was now a renowned general , Odyssus did not change much. He was still the little boy who was jealous of him, fighting for Gaius’ affection.

  Seeing Kaisar’s smirk, Odyssus became more heated. He felt like Kaisar was looking down on him, but he knew it was only his emotion speaking. “Tsk, Someone bring me a bottle of wine! I’m supposed to be drunk, remember!?” He barked an order at the room, lashing out his childish emotion.

  Everyone’s gazes were now headed towards the room’s attendant, a nervous young man, worried about his own safety after all he witnessed today. Pressured by the room’s gaze and Odyssus’ order, he grabbed a bottle of wine and headed towards Odyssus, hands trembling like a newborn fawn. He tried to hand over the bottle of wine to Odyssus, but the two meter tall giant who was holding the decapitated head of an empress overwhelmed him. He was about to cry and faint before Kaisar grabbed the bottle of wine from him.

  “There is nothing for you to be afraid of. You’ll be handsomely rewarded for your silence, and if keeping it a secret is hard for you, we’ll help you set up a new life in a secluded place where you never need to worry about the schemes and conspiracies of the court again. Whether you keep your silence or not, I, Kaisar, will guarantee the safety of your life.” Kaisar assured the trembling attendant. He gently pat the attendant in the back, indirectly telling the attendant to leave the rest to him.

  “Here you go, Odyssus.” Kaisar handed the bottle of wine to Odyssus, which he snatched without hesitation. He opened the bottle by breaking the glass tip with his thumb, then gulped half of them in an instant.

  Ueeeergh

  Odyssus let out a mighty burp, he swaggered outside the meeting room while twirling his mother’s head, spraying blood all over. “Go and arrest me in an hour.” Those were his final words before he left the room — before he cemented his legacy.

  He will be known in history as a general who slain three of the five Empress during the war of the Empress, one of them being his own mother. The most infamous matricide who killed his own mother in a drunken stupor and played with her head like it was a toy, showing it off to any bystanders he passed by. A story so bizarre many modern historians doubted its authenticity. A man whose many achievements in the battlefield would be forever tainted by one drunken mistake. He was The Ungrateful Odyssus, The Empress Bane.

  **********

  Crunch Munch Crunch Slurp

  Napier could not believe his eyes. The objects of his fear were being replaced by a new one. Regulus, the iron skinned boy who was the leader of the gang he just joined, was snacking on the brain of his former abuser, the beggar king. The sight was so repulsive that he and the other kids who just joined puked out the food that was just given to them when they first met him.

  Regulus was sitting on top of a pile of four torn dead bodies, the infamous beggar knights. Napier still could not believe how easily Regulus dealt with them. He basically just stood still while taking all of their attacks head-on, breaking their weapons in the process. Once they were disarmed, Regulus just swiped at them with his claws and severed their limbs and tore their bodies apart like a knife cutting a piece of cloth, it did not look real to Napier at all.

  Seeing his four knights killed in an instant, the beggar king begged for his life, only for Regulus to decapitate him and snacked on his brain. The beggar king’s many followers prostrated in front of Regulus, hoping that their new king would spare their measly little life. They had no other options but to beg, for they were completely surrounded by Regulus’ gang members. Some of them who tried to escape were gunned down and stabbed to death for the crimes of running away from their new king.

  “What should we do with them, Regulus?” Uri asked Regulus, who was busy slurping the brain of the beggar king. He had grown numb to Regulus’ dietary choice. “Should we…” D’aka, who was also standing next to Regulus, was hesitating to finish his sentence. Usually, whenever they take on a rival gang, Regulus always ended up massacring most of them. While D’aka had grown used to killing people, he did not really want to kill people that already surrendered… but at the same time, he could not really stop Regulus if decided to kill them.

  Crunch Munch

  Regulus finished up eating the beggar king’s head. Not a single piece of bone was left, he even slurped the blood on his fingers. Once he finished eating, Regulus spoke, “Let’s invite them to the herd.”

  “Got it… wait what?” Uri pulled his axes because he thought they were about to kill all of them. To his surprise, Regulus actually suggested something… non-blood thirsty. “Wait… for real?” All of the urchins were surprised, shocked, bamboozled. They could not believe their ears.

  “Yes. Don’t Cooper need some beggars for information gathering? Aren’t they beggars?” Regulus asked innocently. His reasoning for wanting them to join was that simple. “Uuuhm… I guess.” Uri was not sure whether the prostating men in front of him were actually beggars or not. They did follow the man known as beggar king… but he doubted that his followers considered themselves beggars.

  “Uhmm, what’s your name? Napier. Yes, Napier… are they… beggars?” Uri went to ask Napier instead. Napier was not sure how to answer him. The beggar king called himself that because he ran the biggest beggar ring in the entire city of Hazen, but not all of his followers were beggars. Most of the begging was done by children and weak people. Those who were fit became enforcers for the beggar king. Most of the people who were currently prostating were fit enough to be an enforcer or were in the process of being considered one. “I don’t think most of them are.” That was how Napier decided to answer Uri’s question.

  Hearing their discussion, many of the prostating men realized their only chance of survival was to be a beggar — so begging they did. “I’m a beggar.” “No, I’m a beggar.” “Look at my skinny ribs, I’m a beggar.” They all proclaimed themselves beggars, trying to be the loudest to call themselves a beggar. There was so much commotion that the urchins had to close their ears from the many loud voices.

  Regulus raised his arms, and he clapped hard.

  CLAP

  The shockwave of the clap outdo the beggars pathetic groveling for their lives, silencing all of them.

  “I hear all of you. Beggar or not, you all can join.” Regulus announced to the crowd.

  “You sure about this Regulus?” D’aka asked, not quite convinced adding a bunch of adults to the gang would be a wise decision or not. “Yes, they might not all be beggars, but who knows, maybe some of them know how to count like Bern. Or they might have other talents or skills that they can teach us.” D’aka decided not to question Regulus anymore. He had a point, and if the new members caused problems, Regulus was more than capable in handling them.

  Regulus approached the crowd of beggars. He grabbed his favorite object in the world — a copper Azul, and offered them to the beggars. “You want to join us?”

  The prostating men were touched. They did not expect for the monster in front of them to spare them so easily. One of the men was about to reach his hand and grabbed the coin from Regulus’ hand…

  “Ah,”

  Before Napier reflexively made a noise. He tried to close his mouth, but it was too late. He already had Regulus’ attention. “Something wrong Napier?”

  Napier shook his head, “it was nothing,” he tried to convince Regulus. But Regulus did not buy it. “Don’t be afraid. Just tell me.” Regulus assured him.

  He was hesitant, but Napier decided to speak up. “That man in front of you… he beat all of us all the time.” Napier pointed at the man who was about to take Regulus’ coin. “Hmmm… this is a problem. Can you forgive him?” Regulus asked Napier. Napier was hesitant, he hated a lot of the men that abused him when they were all working under the beggar king. He did not think he had it in him to forgive them. “I… I don’t know.”

  “YOU…” the men knew his life was over if Napier did not forgive him, his only chance for survival was to convince Napier to forgive him, but a lifetime of beating kids had conditioned him to be aggressive instead of using persuasion, and that was the last mistake he made in his life.

  BANG

  Regulus backhanded the man so hard his head exploded, his brain splattered all over the place. Some of the brain matter fell on the other prostating men, making them panic when they realized one of them was killed in an instant.

  “Napier, if you cannot forgive them. You don’t have to. Show me who among these humans you cannot forgive. I’ll get rid of them. After all, once they join the herd, I can no longer harm them. So we’ll kill them now.”

  Napier and the new kids were a bit scared of Regulus, who was standing there menacingly with bloodied hands… but deep down, they realized — they were now a part of his group. He’ll do everything for their sake.

  D’aka, Uri, and the rest of the urchins drew their weapons. Regulus was about to start a massacre, and they were going to help him. If there was any consolation — at the very least they did not need to kill all of these pitiful men. Just some of them that did not make the cut.

  Napier and the new children started to point at the adult men they hated the most, the adult men that hurt them the most. Every single one of them was begging for mercy, for forgiveness…

  … But the children had none to give. And Regulus was their instrument of vengeance.