The Prince in Question Is Not Stable-Chapter 45: The Custodian

Beast-Kin were weaker than Demons.

That was an accepted truth.

But that truth didn’t follow Vahrkan.

Born from the mutation of an S-ranked White Tiger, the creature before Richard was far beyond any beast he’d ever witnessed.

The Vahn family spent ages perfecting this beast into a guardian of their land... it was their masterpiece.

And that’s why something felt amiss when Richard was charging at Vahrkan.

He stopped himself, sliding on the snow bed of the jungle, and looked past the tall trees as Vahrkan just stared at him.

It didn’t move. It was just looking at him.

Feeling uneasy, Richard looked up and saw a runic symbol hovering over his head.

ᚱ - Rhaido Rune. A power special to white tiger beasts.

They can mark their prey just by looking at them, and the Rune weakens their opponent. It not only suppresses powers but also lets Vahrkan feel their prey’s state of mind.

They can see if their prey is in fear, shock, or excitement.

"So that’s how it is..." Richard frowned, staring at the Rhaido Rune above him.

He lowered his stance.

The snow assibilated beneath him as he dragged the edge of his blade across the ground.

For a moment...there was silence.

Then, Vahrkan moved. Its white fur swayed with every breath it took.

The moment it stepped forward, the ground trembled, and frost lifted in the air.

With its blue eyes locked on Richard, it crouched, compressing the muscles for an explosive launch.

Richard felt it immediately.

The rune above him pulsed brighter than before.

His breath turned heave, and his aura was being compressed within.

"Annoying trick," he growled.

*BOOM*

And then, the ground exploded as the tiger lunged forward.

It shattered the line of trees between them, as they fell jaggedly.

Richard kicked the ground and moved sideways as a paw the size of a pillar shattered the ground where he was.

"His speed doesn’t match his size..." He growled, landing on one knee and sliding across the ground.

The rune flickered again. Pulsing even brighter.

Varhkan turned its head slowly.

It knew exactly where Richard was.

The tiger’s tail swept across the jungle, shattering several trees that came in its way.

’So it weakens its prey, and then attacks with the intention to crush them. And not to mention white tigers have the ability to amplify their strengths in their preferred environment,’ Richard thought, and scoffed.

"I’m not foolish enough to battle you when I know other knights are protecting the children, taking them is my priority," He mumbled, looking at Vahrkan.

"I think I can outrun you..." He said.

Richard shifted his weight.

He was prepared to run in the direction of the trench, where children were.

He was confident that he could fight and win the beast in front of him.

But he wasn’t sure if he would be able to accomplish the mission afterwards.

"Smart move..." And then- he heard it.

Chills ran down his body for the first time.

In the direction he turned, there was a man leaning on the trunk of a tree, casually playing with a cane in his hands.

Elegant and dark attire. Long black coat over a black vest. Dark hair, neatly combed, broad shoulders and a lean body.

Thin spectacles rested on his nose as he adjusted them and stared past Richard, looking at the beast with his dark eyes.

"But then again," The man continued. "Can’t expect bravery from a man after the lives of children now, can you?"

A Rhaido Rune also appeared on the head of the man. But he didn’t pay much attention to it.

Richard couldn’t feel the presence of the man in front of him.

Not a breath or a disturbance of aura. He was a master of stealth.

Richard’s eyes drifted to the ground beneath the man’s feet, and there were no footprints on the ice.

The person in front of him was walking in the air, above the bed of snow.

"You are...?" Richard questioned, tightening the grip on his sword in caution.

But the man ignored his question.

Instead, he tapped the end of his cane lightly and observed Vahrkan with curiosity.

"A mutation of a white tiger..." He thought for a while, as the rune above his head pulsed.

The tiger’s pupils narrowed, its whiskers twitched, and it lowered itself again.

"Anyways...Janus is what I’m called as," Ignoring Vahrkan, the man looked at Richard.

"This is how we can do this," he said, as the tiger lunged forward fiercely.

It wasn’t far away in the first place.

And its movements trembled the ground beneath them.

"Option one...You leave the children, tell the duke that you couldn’t find them, face a little punishment," Janus said.

*Snap*

And he snapped his finger.

For a brief moment, nothing happened.

"Oh...well, it usually works," he murmured.

Then the ground beneath Vahrkan ignited.

An enormous blue magic circle spread across the jungle floor, expanding beneath the beast’s entire body.

Thick black chains with metals the size of a tree trunk, and blue fire covering them, erupted from several nodes of the magic circuit, as they pierced the tiger in several places.

From the edges of the circle, enormous chains erupted.

Black metal links, each thicker than a tree’s trunk, surged upward in frenzy.

Blue fire clung to their surfaces.

Before Vahrkan could leap away, the chains struck.

One punched through its shoulder.

Another drove through its foreleg.

One coiled around its throat.

Another slammed through the ground and wrapped its tail.

The jungle shook as the massive beast was dragged down and pinned to the magic circuit.

"Or you have option two," Janus looked at the white tiger impaled, as it convulsed in pain under his chains, and was losing the life it had.

"End up looking like him...But I doubt your family would want to look at a corpse with several holes in it, so why don’t we come to an agreement?"

"Are you with the Vahns?" Richard asked.

"I don’t think so..." Janus thought about the situation while answering.

"On second thought...You’re more useful dead than alive," Janus said, as Richard’s chest crept up with fear.

His eyes turned cold and wide as instincts brought his sword above to defend him.

Janus brought two fingers in front of him and muttered, looking at Richard.

<<<Verity of Reed>>>

Richard’s eyes turned pale white as his iris lost all colour.

The grip on his sword loosened as he buckled and fell on his knees.

His hands hung low, and his shoulders dropped, as he hit the snow bed like a body with no soul.

"Maybe work a little more on your sword skills in the next life..." Janus spoke and turned around.

His magic circle disappeared, dropping the enormous body of Vahrkan on the ground.

Leaving it along with the corpse of Richard De Charny, Mordrak’s favoured commander.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Miles away on the borders of the jungle were the carriages of the court officials, taking the children out of Vahn County.

"Where are you taking us?" Nicole, the eldest brother, asked.

"You, young lord Nicole Vahn...will be sent back to the academy. While your brothers will stay under our guardian services." Selene answered, sitting opposite these children.

"Are my parents dead?" Nico asked.

"...I’m afraid I don’t have the answer to that," Selene replied, looking at the one sitting in the middle.

"He’s dead," Nicole answered, and Cole, the youngest, started weeping in tears.

"Vahns fell because we were weak, manipulating, and taking advantage of the Duke’s ignorance towards his finances." He continued. His anger was diverted towards his father.

"If our father wasn’t so greedy, we would’ve been living a normal life, and pursuing our ambitions, but now we’re nothing but fallen nobles, and fallen nobles are a piece of trash, they’re considered worse than commenors," he spoke, and looked outside the window.

"..." Selene wanted to speak up. But she’d never been the one to console children. She didn’t know what words could help them and what words would harm them.

Because the tales of Vahns being the money-grubbing county, and betraying their own duke has spread across the kingdom.

People would hate them. And what they need now isn’t condolences, but courage to keep their heads straight.

"What about our mother? If you wanted to, you could save our mother, couldn’t you?" Nicole asked, looking at her.

The carriage rocked gently as the wheels crushed the snow beneath them.

He had expectations. A slight hope. He believed that if they wanted, they could save his mother.

Otherwise, a countess whose land is overruled, whose children are on the run, will become nothing but a woman for the Duke to use however he pleases. And Nicole has read the history.

He knew what happened in these cases generally.

There was silence for some moments.

Selene looked at them, wondering if she should speak up or not.

"I can’t be sure about anything, and I can’t certainly promise you anything," she said, looking at Nicole.

"If fate allows it...Someone should already be there to help them," She said.