Chapter 32: Rat
His maids smiled sheepishly at his words.
Han liked them going along with him even more now that all of them could evolve into sexy maids. He looked forward to their dragon evolutions and even planned to turn each into a different type of dragon for contrast. At the top of the food chain, he’d stand as the Apex Dragon.
But there was no time to think about such a distant future.
He turned to the two surviving women. "Kill them," he said.
All three werewolves turned to their teammates with stiff, robotic movements. Their jaws clicked in unison, and their eyes were glassy with borrowed will. Emotionless, they pounced, tearing through clothes and flesh. As their monster friends dug in to rip out their hearts, the women screamed until they couldn’t.
I shouldn’t have followed them... it’s over for me... and my family... the debt won’t be paid.
I should’ve stayed home. Mom... I’m sorry.
The most cautious woman died with the heaviest heart as her worries gathered there. She drew her last breath and collapsed to the ground along with her friend. Above her towered her three former teammates, blood dripping from their claws and muzzles. No one would doubt what killed them.
Han stared at the corpses. It feels like a nuisance has been lifted. No remorse whatsoever. In the end, all of them were simply pawns, and the real enemy is now among us.
Han was sure the real enemy drove the swarm of rats. Each rat carried repulsive mana with a pungent smell, second only to the black ichor from his evolution.
"With my True Name, I can more or less control those brainless monsters. I might even control Xena and Bellatrix without their collars, but I won’t risk it. They look good in collars anyway," Han said as he turned and walked toward his mansion, his maids in his wake.
He continued, "There’s someone at Shadowless Academy targeting me. First, we secure the mansion." My house. My rules.
"As you wish, Young Master Han."
—
A swarm of rats swept through Han’s mansion in moments. They chewed secret passages, marked territory, and built nests. Their pungent mana seeped through the halls, slowly taking over his home.
One particular rat stood out. It sniffed around as though searching for something, then followed its instincts upstairs. It chewed a hole in a door and slipped inside. A woman lay on the bed, wrists and ankles chained to the bed frame.
The rat climbed onto the bed and peered down at her from the headboard.
Xena noticed the rat and looked directly into its eyes. Her lip curled despite the collar’s weight. Of all the saviors... a vermin. "You fucking cunt. Why is it you who came to save me?"
The rat jumped off the headboard and transformed into a small, hunched man with front teeth protruding past his lips. He had whiskers, a bald head with a single streak of brown hair, big eyes, and a pockmarked face. Among members of the Ender Cult, many called him the Human Rat.
Xena was one of them.
The man grinned. "Hihihihi. You’re as sassy as ever, Xena. You always irked me the most. Whenever I failed my rituals or experiments, I’d recall your condescending, disgusting stare, and it drove me insane! Save you? Bitch, I am going to use that Obsidian Cauldron and the collar on your neck to my advantage and enslave you for myself! I’m a junior under the Plague Priest in the Ender Cult! I’ll make you pay me back tenfold for the years of disrespect toward me!"
Xena rolled her eyes. "At least that trash Han is handsome. Look at yourself. How can you even enslave someone when life has maltreated you since birth? Were you born in the sewers, or did your mother throw you in there? Go fuck some rats instead of a hot bitch like me! Fuck off!"
"Yeah, keep cursing. I will use your mouth well soon. Hehe," the human rat said, his dark green magic circle appearing in front of him and targeting Han’s Obsidian Cauldron Tattoo.
Then someone knocked on the door.
The human rat gasped and looked over his shoulder.
Han stood there, flanked by Hanna and Bellatrix.
He glared at the rat. "I see they don’t teach manners in the sewers. If you visit someone, you greet the master of the house first. And you saw my pet naked. That’s the death penalty."
An obsidian circle from the Cauldron appeared on Xena’s abdomen. A huge Dark Dragon emerged, snapping the chains on her wrists and ankles. Xena seized her chance and lurched forward to strike the human rat.
She formed her needle, reversed her grip, and thrust it straight into the man’s shoulder. He yelped, clutched the wound, and staggered back, pinned between Xena and Han.
Xena shouted, "Don’t touch him. He’ll poison you. Use weapons or spells: anything you can discard."
The man growled. "Xena!"
Bellatrix moved past Han to flank him. "No need to worry about plague spells. I can heal them, even if you carry dark mana. We can go all out and still spare him from too much pain."
"Spare him? This cunt deserves the worst!" Xena barked.
"Bitch, I came here to save you!" the rat barked back.
"I’d rather die than be saved by an ugly cunt like you." Xena contorted her face, looking down at the fellow member of the Ender Cult with her famous condescending stare.
The man flushed scarlet and cast another spell. He burst into a hundred rats that scattered through the makeshift passages and the open door.
His voice echoed: "You’re all going down! I will bring the plague to this mansion and end all of you! Exactly what members of the Ender Cult do best!"
Han clicked his tongue. "This guy’s another yapper. He yaps and runs, so he’s even worse than Xena."
"He’s a coward and a cunt," Xena replied.
"Don’t look so proud, as if you’re the best yapper. You hit him, so you should be able to find him, right?"
Xena shook her head. "Not so easily."
"Don’t look so proud saying that as though you’re the best yapper. You hit him, so you should be able to find him, right?"
Xena shook her head. "Not so easily."