Chapter 42: Realization

“I won’t serve Leo’s bastard that’s been hiding in the Theocracy. We’ll find someone more suitable. Chuck, that’s my decision.”

“Andrei…” Chuck closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “If the kid really carries Leo’s blood, he’s now first in line. If he wasn’t involved in his father’s downfall, it’s not up to us—“

“No, I say! Don’t get cold feet on me, old friend.”

“We’ve lost our casus belli. I won’t rebel without a just cause. I implore you in the strongest possible terms… Please reconsider.”

“Damn you, Chuck. Step back and allow me to save our Empire.”

“I can’t do that, Andrei.”

“Fine. Let’s get this unpleasant business out of the way so I can actually pay attention to this battle.” Andrei gestured, summoning a large squad of soldiers commanded by one of his top subordinates. “Sequester Lord Burger. We’ll finish this later.”

“Y–Yes Sir…”

“Jonathan.”

“Yes, Father.” Jonathan also approached, flanked by some of his family’s loyal troops.

Andrei pointed at his two nephews who had been observing from nearby. He gestured with a finger for them to join him, but they both stepped backwards, putting more distance between themselves and their uncle. Andrei tilted his head but quickly returned his attention to Chuck just as Chuck issued his next command.

“Karen, you may as well have the remaining monsters join in.”

“Honestly, Father, I won’t get in the middle of your little spat. Stop relying on me so much.”

Chuck clicked his tongue and turned back to Andrei. “Are we really doing this? Can’t you just wait until that wyvern gets here with the successor, at least?”

“Just how naïve are you, Chuck? We’re doing this before the wyvern gets here. I thought we had an understanding.”

“And that’s partly my fault. Deep down, I knew what you wanted, and I pretended otherwise. You’re not the only one who deserves justice, it seems.”

“Oh, how noble and self-sacrificial of you. It’s a bit late to play the loyal retainer, though. If you’re so willing to spit on our families’ long history of camaraderie, then I’ll sever our ties entirely.”

“Damn it, Andrei! There’s no need for either of us to die! Stop this madness!”

“I’ll never give up, Chuck! Not when I’m this close!”

“You’re really going to force me to cut you down?”

“If you absolutely insist on getting in my way… I’ll butcher you.”

Andrei and Chuck both raised their hands, preparing to order the attack. They each stopped and turned to look behind Chuck at the sudden commotion.

DM had toppled onto his side and was slamming his appendages into the ground repeatedly. Karen and anyone else nearby backed off, giving the massive monster space for its fit. Soil and grass launched into the air in spurts as a small dust cloud formed and drifted away harmlessly.

“Creature, just what is the matter!?” As DM’s handler, Karen was the one to inquire. There was an unusually long delay before the morphling finally answered Karen’s question. The appendages also relaxed, although DM remained horizontal as though he was lying down, a position nobody had seen him take before.

“…I must apologize. I just found it so funny.”

“What?” While Karen waited for elaboration, everyone else in the area also had their eyes on the morphling, including even Chuck and Andrei who were dumbfounded.

“…Lord Vosk told Chuck Burger he would butcher him. I couldn’t decide if he was going to butcher him into a chuck steak or a hamburger.”

“Th–That was the reason you acted out?”

“Karen, just what–“ Chuck choked on his next words as DM floated up into the air, righting himself. He grabbed the morphling with one of his appendages, lifting it along with him like a portable speaker.

“…Oh, it’s the little things in life. I suppose I need to take action or Jonathan is at risk of injury here. …Not that I particularly want to help Lord Cheap Meat but it’s clear Lord Vosk is deserving of a little retribution.” DM hovered a few meters over everyone’s heads as he creeped along toward where Andrei was standing at the pace of a slow walk.

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“Karen, it can fly!?” shouted Chuck, ignoring the casual insult to his nickname.

“I–I had no idea, Father!”

“Technically, it’s not flying,” said Ardreth. “If you observe closely—“

“Damn you Chuck!” Andrei raged. “You kept even this from me!?”

“No! It seems my daughter didn’t know either! This monster is yet stranger than I realized!”

Andrei kept his gaze focused on DM as he took a step back. “Guards, forget about the Burgers for now! Deal with that!” He pointed at DM.

“…I think your guards are going to be rather busy.”

The half-dozen monsters DM had kept behind in reserve all suddenly changed form.

“They’re all morphlings!?” Karen shouted in surprise.

All six assumed DM’s form. In addition to DM, six other 4-meter tentacle monsters floated up into the air to various gasps and shouts of surprise.

“…I could take care of you from afar, but that seems disrespectful, Lord Vosk. Prepare for a crushing defeat.”

Tentacles spawned left and right. There were at least a dozen, all sprouting from the ground and spinning around wildly. None of them were within range to strike Andrei, but his defenders were suddenly occupied defending themselves.

“Damn you all! Defend me!” Andrei’s orders fell on deaf ears as his allies noticed new tentacles spawning just when they cut down others. He was so preoccupied trying to rally his troops that he didn’t notice DM had arrived over him until he found himself within a large shadow. Only then did he look up.

“…Bombs away?” DM canceled his float ability and let gravity do its thing. Lord Andrei Vosk bought the farm. It really was a crushing defeat. “…Now that Lord Vosk seems to have crumbled under the pressure of my bottom, what will you do, Lord Burger?”

Chuck didn’t answer. He was slack jawed at what he just witnessed. So was nearly everyone else in the immediate area. So were many of the soldiers farther away who had been watching the proceedings as best they could from afar.

“…Shall I rally the monsters inside the city to resume the assault, or are you calling this whole thing off?”

Chuck shook his head to reset himself and then answered DM. “I’m taking command and calling this off. If anyone intends to oppose me, speak now.”

DM had his morphlings dismiss all the remaining tentacles. As the guards recovered from their frantic battle, the man who was most loyal to Andrei stared at the ground below DM’s body and then turned to Chuck. “No. We must vacate the throne as Lord Vosk wished.”

“…Oh, give it a rest.” DM spawned a tentacle next to the man and smacked him with it, causing the man to tumble several times. As he came to a rest, a new tentacle spawned nearby and grabbed him, forcing him to sleep.

“A–Anyone else?” Chuck looked around to see if anyone else was foolish enough to object but nobody was. “Karen, for now, order the monsters here to back off or they’ll complicate matters. I need to issue the order to withdraw.”

“…No need.” DM lifted up into the air again. As he rose, the morphlings all returned to the ground, switched into the forms of random soldiers, and jogged back over to the area behind Karen. DM used his sprint ability, appearing in the air near Karen in a mere moment as though he had teleported. He immediately canceled his float ability, landing with a tremendous impact right next to Karen and causing her to fall on her backside with a grunt.

While Chuck made the arrangements for the army’s retreat, Karen conversed privately with DM.

“How long.”

“…What?”

“For how long have you been free of my control?” Unlike Chuck, she had recognized that DM was acting beyond his orders.

DM lowered his appendage, placing the morphling back on the ground. It changed its appearance to look exactly like Karen and turned to face her, speaking DM’s response in Karen’s own voice.

“…I was under your control? Whatever gave you that idea?”

Karen’s eyes widened. “But, my orders, you were following them!”

“…I’m sure it seemed like that.”

“What!?”

“…In a twisted way, it was fun pretending to follow your orders.”

“Then… Then! All those failures! They were because the collar wasn’t working and you sabotaged my efforts!”

“…Actually no.”

“What?”

“…This isn’t as funny as Andrei’s remark about butchering your father, but it’s up there.”

“Just what do you mean?”

“…Those failures as you call them were simply me following your bad orders. I enjoyed complying with those ones.”

“Creature!”

“…I have a name, you know. It’s not creature.”

Karen narrowed her eyes but didn’t respond.

“…If you really want to keep calling me creature, I don’t mind so long as you let me call you creature and treat you like a slave too.”

“A–Absolutely not!”

“…It sounds like your father plans to turn himself in as one of the organizers of this rebellion. I’m sure he’ll try and get you and your brother excused from any culpability.”

“Of course! We were only following orders, after all.”

“…First you fail to comprehend the golden rule, then you use that pathetic line as well, huh?”

“Whatever do you mean?”

“…Most likely, you’ll get off scot free so I’ll have to take matters into my own tentacles.”

“I… really don’t care for the sound of that…”

“…I’ve already decided how we will make this right. I will have you help me with a small experiment. …Once the experiment is complete, I’ll say the rest is water under the bridge.”

Karen looked around, noticing that there was nobody nearby to help her. Even Jonathan, who was usually right beside her, was still occupied helping his father deal with the aftermath of the disagreement with Andrei.

She clicked her tongue. “Tch. That useless brother of mine, not coming through when it matters most.”

“…Quite the contrary. Your brother is the reason why you are still alive. …You should thank him for begging for your life.”

Karen tried to vocalize something but no words came out. DM didn’t give her time to gather her thoughts.

“…I remember reading that the large intestine is about one and a half meters long. I don’t really care for dissecting dead people so I was trying to decide on a safe way to measure the length on a living person, just for verification.”

“I–Intestine…?”

“…If I place a stripe on my appendage every ten centimeters or so and number them in ascending order, then I simply need to narrow it down and insert it all the way from one end to the other. By counting the number of stripes—“

Karen’s eyes rolled back as she collapsed the rest of the way to the ground.

“…I seem to have a knack for making women faint with my words.”