Viktor's snow-white hair fluttered in the wind as he looked down on the vast sea from the edge of an airship. The moon's light reflecting off the water was a beautiful sight.

Perhaps if he weren't in such a horrible mood, he would've sat down and admired the view while sipping on some wine.

'Why the hell did they have to come now of all times...'

His nephew's coming-of-age ceremony was today, and he really didn't want to miss it. If it weren't for those distrustful kittens from the east getting into so much trouble, he'd be back home, celebrating the milestone with his pack.

But instead, he was here, forced to escort the visitors since he was one of the only common points of contact. Since Reivan was Vianna's son, the task naturally fell to him.

It definitely wasn't because his sister was stronger than him.

Viktor's ears twitched, and after a moment, a fully-armored knight flew down from above and respectfully saluted him.

"Sir. The Terracatta Chieftain wishes to speak with you."

"Hm." Viktor nodded. "I'll go to them. Return to your station."

Without even asking where the foreign chieftain was, Viktor cut through space and vanished from his previous location.

'I hope they make the smart decision...'

----------------------------------------

Viktor sat down as he gestured across the table at the seat opposite him. "Please take a seat, chief Mikachi."

"Thank you." A beautiful woman replied as she sat down, making sure to bend over just enough to give Viktor a generous view of the bountiful decolletage peeking out of her brown dress.

'Damn this vixen...'

Viktor cursed the brown-haired cat-woman in his mind, but he still did not look away. Getting any sort of reaction out of him was just what she wanted; it was better to silently pretend as if nothing happened.

In fact, it was better to double down and just brazenly stare straight at her cleavage.

How was it better, Viktor wasn't quite sure but this was what he wanted to do — this was what any man would've wanted to do if they were in his shoes.

Mikachi covered her mouth and giggled. "Why not take one of those... pictures, you called them? I believe they would last longer."

With great effort, Viktor pulled his eyes away and looked up to meet the woman's golden eyes. "Another time, perhaps."

"Very well." She smirked, her gaze drifting toward the window. A sigh escaped her lips as she whispered, "Amazing..."

With his keen senses, even a mouse's murmur would never evade his notice. Viktor cocked an eyebrow as he asked, "What?"

"This. An 'airship', was it?" Mikachi gestured at her surroundings. "It's amazing that the humans were able to create something so... convenient. Now, even the weaker ones can fly in the sky. Our Ascendants don't have to go back and forth to ferry our younger clansmen across the ocean! Humans sure are amazing... even though they're missing a pair of ears and a tail..."

"Oh." Viktor nodded knowingly, a grin creeping on his face. "Indeed... but you're partly mistaken."

"Hm?"

"It wasn't the human race that invented this..." He puffed out his chest, pride filling his voice. "It was Aizen. The country I serve."

For a moment, the cat-woman gaped in shock at the sight of him, but then she broke into a fit of laughter. "You used to be such an arrogant brat, but now you're so proud to serve another nation? Your ancestors must be turning over in their graves, Young Lord."

"Don't call me that," Viktor spat, his expression cold. But his face soon fell as he reminisced about the past. "We lost our right to be called that when we fled our nation as it burned to the ground."

Mikachi heaved a forlorn sigh. "It was inevitable. None of it was your fault. Your Dynasty was growing too powerful, forcing the others to work together against you."

"Even so..." He shook his head to clear his thoughts before glaring at her warningly. "Don't say that kind of crap on Vianna. Even by mistake. She's much more prickly about this topic than I am... even I'm not allowed to bring it up, so I suggest you be careful with your words."

"Hoh?" A ferocious smile crossed the warbeast woman's face.

Viktor grimaced, knowing what her expression meant. "Even I am no match for her. I may surpass her in strength... but it doesn't matter if I can't even hit her. Her speed is a bit..."

"I am also confident in my speed."

"Confidence is often not enough," he snapped before shrugging, no longer caring what she did. "You've been warned."

"I'll take note of that." Mikachi nodded. Perhaps to clear the odd mood permeating the air, she brought up another topic. "I heard that your sister had a pup?"

Viktor frowned. "Where did you hear that?"

She leaned back on her chair and shrugged. "Here and there."

"I thought I told you to stay put in your designated areas..."

"Yes, you did." Mikachi grinned. "But my feet got itchy, so I took a stroll. These human... knights? They weren't very perceptive. Even though I was dancing naked right behind them, they didn't notice!"

'Damn this sneaky hag...'

Ordinary knights — even if they were Ascendents — focused on combat and group tactics. Scouting and sneaking around was not on their list of skills. There were divisions that trained in them, but those knights weren't the ones accompanying him; those divisions were currently very busy scouting and sneaking around in important locations.

Naturally, none of the knights here would be able to find this woman's hide or hair if she didn't want them to.

"Now, look here..." Viktor was just about to go off on her, but he was interrupted.

"Come now, I'm the leader of a clan, you know? You can't just ask me to stay put like a good little kitten when we're so unsure of our fates. For all we knew, you could've been preparing some sort of trap to restrain us all in one fell swoop."

Viktor groaned.

'She makes a good point...'

Still, the idea of this clan of extremely skilled assassins skulking around without restraint was very unsettling.

'Dammit. If it weren't for the Empire making strange moves in the Republic, I could've gotten some people from the Clearwater Order to come along with me.'

But it is what it is. This whole debacle just so happened to line up with his nephew's coming-of-age ceremony too, which meant he couldn't make use of those monstrously old knights that had multiple specialties. With the abruptness of it all, Viktor was forced to take along the younger Ascendants — who were all capable men and women in their own rights, just not very suitable for escorting these sneaky feline "friends" from the east.

"So? The pup's named Reivan, yes?" Mikachi tapped the table, breaking Viktor out of his thoughts. "He's the first to be born of a human and a warbeast... how is he?"

"Reivan..."

Since there was nothing he could do about them sneaking around, Viktor chose to ignore the problem for now. In any case, the chances of the Terracatta clan doing anything untoward was low, seeing as their young was inside this ship — the ship that could easily be blown up if any of the Ascendents wanted to.

'Guess I don't really have anything to worry about, huh?'

At the mention of his cheeky nephew, a smile crossed his face. "He's the pride of our bloodline, that one. I'm sure he'll be greater than any of our ancestors... perhaps he'll be the second wolf to reach transcendence, after the first ancestor."

"Really!" Mikachi's eyes were as wide as saucers as she gaped. "Are you not exaggerating...?"

"Mhm." Viktor nodded firmly.

Her doubt was understandable though. Although warbeasts had tremendous physical prowess, allowing them to quickly grow into powerful warriors, they lacked in plenty of other aspects — aspects that were very important to achieve transcendence. This was why there were plenty of warbeasts at the peak of the mortal realm, but relatively fewer in the ascendant and transcendent realms when compared to humans.

Saying that a warbeast had even a fraction of a chance to reach the transcendent realm normally sounded like exaggeratedly high praise.

'But Reivan's different.'

The pup thought that he was hiding it well, but plenty of people had noticed him playing with wisps of mana even when he was so young. Everybody who knew kept quiet though.

'If he was already like back then...'

"Hmm..." Mikachi hummed in thought as she observed Viktor. "I still think you're exaggerating though..."

He scoffed. "You can think what you want."

"I mean... how could I not think so...?" She pointed at his nose. "That's the face of a doting idiot, you know?"

"It is...?" Viktor reached up and massaged his face before he grimaced. "Fuck off..."

Mikachi giggled. "Well, if there's one thing that's certain, it's that you dogs get along well with each other."

"Of course." He raised an eyebrow, wondering if that was ever up for debate. "Also, we're wolves. Not dogs."

"I don't really get how you can like brats so much..." she continued, ignoring his admonishment. "They're all so annoying and bothersome. Crying just because they haven't eaten for a day or two, crying because they fell from a tree, crying because they don't want to bathe... I've been raising them for centuries and I still can't quite understand the appeal."

"Reivan's not like that at all!" Viktor guffawed. "I've rarely seen the boy cry."

"He sounds wonderful." Mikachi genuinely seemed to think so. "I wish a certain pair of sisters would take a page out of his book... though I suppose they actually have a good reason to cry, seeing as they're orphans now."

Viktor's laughter immediately ceased. "Did they die while you were fleeing...?"

She nodded. "Heroically, if I may add."

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"I see..."

As someone who also lost his parents while fleeing from the flames of war, Viktor's heart went out to those two kids.

'Maybe I'll buy them some meat... or fish. Whatever the hell their favorite food is.'

He knew those things would never ease them of the pain, but he hoped some good food would help cheer them up. It certainly helped him forget the bad memories when he was young, if only for a scant few moments.

"How truly unfortunate..." he muttered.

"It happens." Mikachi shrugged indifferently, a weary smile on her face. "Now that they don't have parents anymore, I'll just have to raise them myself, just like how I raised their parents and many others before them. If you know someone nice that also likes children, ask them if they could take a pair of sisters off my hands, will you?"

"You must be joking..." Viktor shook his head in exasperation, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

"Perhaps. Well, now..." The Terracatta Chieftain cleared her throat and her face turned serious. "I believe that's enough small talk to break the ice? I'd like to talk about what will happen to my people from this point on."

"Hm." Aizen's Strongest Knight nodded solemnly, somewhat admiring the woman's ability to shift into business mode at the drop of a hat.

'I suppose there's a reason other than strength as to why she's been the chief for almost a thousand years...'

"So?" He gestured for her to continue. "What's your answer?"

"Cutting to the chase, we partially refuse your demands for an Oath of loyalty." Mikachi's eyes sharpened as her firm voice filled the room. "Our strongest clansmen will agree to a mutual oath of non-aggression with your king. That's as far as we'll go for now."

"Hmm..." Viktor frowned.

"With our own eyes, we'll see whether your nation is worthy of our fealty. And if we do, we'll offer our devotion ourselves."

'I suppose this is to be expected.'

Rodin had given him instructions before he journeyed forth to meet with the Terracatta clan. The actual negotiations would be held when they made landfall, but it wouldn't hurt to clear things up with them beforehand.

One of the terms Rodin had specified was the Oath — a magical contracting method that Aizen stole from the Argonia Empire. Simply put, it was a way for both sides to prevent the other from reneging on an agreement.

Of course, Rodin had fully expected the Terracatta clan to refuse the offer, even considering the dominant position Aizen was in. Unless they were fools, nobody would accept it.

After all, there were worse fates than death.

The obvious reason the offer was made was to subtly inform the other side that such a method existed in the first place.

The hidden reason was to highball the other side. Rodin hoped that by shocking them with such a severe offer, they would be more receptive to his future offers.

It was a simple tactic, but it was a tactic nonetheless.

'That bastard is really merciless when it comes to these kinds of things...'

Even though it was impudent for a knight to think about his king that way, Viktor couldn't help but do so.

Mikachi cleared her throat, pulling him out of his inner musings. "So?"

Viktor leaned back on his chair as he heaved a sigh, feigning reluctance. "What to do..."

He didn't need to be as freakishly perceptive of other people's emotions as Reivan to tell that the Terracota clan's chieftain was extremely uneasy at the moment. Since it was his duty, he had to follow his king's orders even though he didn't want to take advantage of a person's situation.

"Hey, you old hag..." Viktor narrowed his eyes as he grimaced at her. "Did you forget to bring your sense of shame with you when you fled Kuka-Arichi? Why are you being so difficult when we're the ones who'll be doing all the heavy lifting for you? You know that taking you in could potentially create tensions with the east, right?"

Mikachi's brows furrowed for a moment but she quickly returned to a steadfast expression. "I can't thank your country enough, but I truly cannot accept such an absolute contract."

"I was trying to be nice to you too... I put in a good word for you so Rodin would give you better terms."

"And we are very thankful for that. But such a binding contract is much too... we'll settle for much lesser terms if it means we don't hav—"

"Do you think Aizen is poor?" Viktor sneered. "We weren't trying to buy your loyalty, we offered you so much as a gesture of goodwill! You will need a lot of resources to recover from your sudden migration, and we wanted to give you those resources!"

"That's very considerate of your nation, but absolute obedience right out the gate is a bit..." Mikachi restrained a scowl, looking as if she'd eaten something particularly nasty.

The white-haired knight sighed. "Have you no idea why we're so insistent on this, Terracatta Chieftain?"

She frowned. "What do you..."

"You are someone who has to consider the lives of your clan, so you should understand the weight that responsibility places on your shoulders, no?"

"Your point is?"

"My point," Viktor spat, tapping the table in emphasis. "is that while you carry the fate of a clan with a few hundred members, Rodin carries the fate of a nation. A nation with hundreds of millions of people in it."

Mikachi's brows furrowed, catching on to what he meant.

"Would you let a risky entity live amongst your people? Live amongst your children? Even if you can easily slay them, are you confident that you can stop them from doing anything at all?"

She gritted her teeth as her trembling fists clenched under the table.

"You can't," Viktor growled. "Won't it be better to just kill them off? I know that's what you would do. Do you deny it?"

"... I don't deny it." Mikachi reluctantly answered. "But even so, it doesn't have to be absolute obedience. That's why I suggested a mutual non-aggre—"

"And I'm telling you that's not enough!"

A resounding explosion shook the air as a consequence of Viktor slamming his palm on the table between them. The intricately carved wooden table was vaporized in an instant, together with everything that happened to be on top of it.

"Have you forgotten what your clan did when ours was besieged?" He suddenly slapped his head, as if he'd just said something stupid. "Or rather, what your clan didn't do when ours was besieged."

Despite how he was supposed to be acting right now, he couldn't help but let some fury creep into his eyes and venom seep into his words. His true feelings regarding the Terracatta clan were rising to the surface.

"Despite our so-called alliance, did your people not abandon us when we needed you most?"

"That's..." The Terracatta Chieftain hung her head low in shame, but this only lasted for a moment. She quickly raised her head and firmly matched Viktor's glare. "I did what I had to. My priorities lay with my own clan, and the chances of winning that fight did not look favorable."

"Ha!" Viktor scoffed in ridicule. "Is that what you said to all the other clans that fought to the last alongside us, hoping for your reinforcements? Or information about the enemy? I hope you've at least apologized to them for your cowardice, they might still be waiting!"

Mikachi's cheeks twitched as her breathing began to grow erratic. "I would've liked to send my excuses to them, but they've been quiet for about a century now. Seeing as they're all dead and all that."

Viktor could swear he heard his own teeth crack from how much strength he was putting into his jaws.

'This fucking bitch still has the nerve to sass back!'

"I stand by my choices." She placed a palm on her chest, calming herself before her vicious eyes regarded Viktor coldly. "I would do it again. If it means a better future for my people."

"Precisely," He spat. "Without an Oath of loyalty, what's stopping you from sitting on the fence again? Hell, you might even find some sort of loophole to betray us in some way."

At this, Mikachi stood up as she roared with indignance and righteous fury. "You know very well we'd never resort to such dishonorable acts!"

"Oh, I thought I knew too!" Viktor bellowed back. "But clearly, I and all the other dead people in our ruined capital were very wrong about how low you are willing to go!"

The air around the two warbeasts quivered as they stared each other down, fangs bared. Their limbs pulsed with power as veins squirmed on them, ready to propel the warriors toward their enemy's throat. Frosty mist rushed out of Viktor's mouth as he huffed, while the fragrance surrounding the room was replaced with an earthly odor as dust began to fill the room.

Just as it seemed like the two were about to pounce at each other, the door slammed open to reveal two fully-armored knights.

"Sir!" One of them dashed inside, quickly positioning herself behind the Terracatta chieftain with a longsword in her grasp. Despite the floor underneath her being surprisingly soft, she wasn't affected in the slightest since she could fly. With a wave of her hand, a barrier of light covered the window and walls.

While the other stood at the entrance. A short spear appeared in his right hand as arcs of lightning snaked around his body and weapon. "Your orders, sir!"

Panic and alarm crossed Mikachi's face but she resolutely stood her ground. Her eyes narrowed in focus as beads of sweat dripped down her cheeks.

Seeing how ready to kill these two knights were, Viktor calmed down. It was a strange thing, seeing people on your side get angry was calming for some reason.

"We just got a bit worked up. Sorry for alarming you." Viktor shook his head and gestured for them to leave the room, which they did — but not before sending sharp glares at the warbeast woman. Once their relative privacy was restored, he tried to bring the conversation back into a calm discussion. "You have no idea how good the terms offered to you are."

Perhaps from seeing that he'd calmed down, Mikachi also began to even out her breathing. However, she said nothing, only offering a scowl to the man in front of her.

"You will not only be given a large swathe of land in an area beneficial for your race, you will even be bestowed with a noble title!" Viktor sat back down as he instantly created a table made of ice to replace the one he'd disintegrated. "Do you have any idea how big of a deal this is? Since Aizen's founding, authority has been centralized and there are no other nobles except for one family! The Mercer Family! And Rodin is offering to let you stand alongside that family as Aizen's sole nobles!

"In Aizen, there are only three surnames! That is 'Aizen' which is possessed by royalty; 'Mercer' for the descendants of the legendary mercenary that aided the First King to conquer the surrounding nations; and 'Suprana', Rolf's surname — a Transcendant's surname!

"And your filthy clan's treacherous name will stand alongside these names!" Viktor's chest rose up and down. He'd realized he was getting a bit too worked up, but he couldn't suppress his feelings any longer. "It's an honor your people don't deserve! An honor that even our clan will never obtain."

'Our names... our great clan's name...'

It was a decision they'd made for their survival, but Viktor still regretted abandoning their names to hide from their pursuers more efficiently until he and Vianna raised their strengths. And over time, Vianna obtained Aizen's surname while he was bestowed Rolf's surname as one of his many disciples.

Viktor liked his new name, and he knew Vianna liked hers. Even so, he couldn't help but wish to return to using their old names.

But what right did they have to do that?

Their nation was gone, and so were the rest of their clan. The soil where their ancestors were buried had long been desecrated beyond recognition by their foes. Cities that used to be filled with the history of their people were likely buried under the foundation of their enemies' empires.

Would a mutt that fled from his home bring honor to his clan's name by strutting around in a foreign country?

'Someday...'

Viktor's fists clenched, his sharp nails plunging into the flesh of his palms. The Terracatta Clan's plight had reminded him of the tiny flame of a dream he kept hidden deep within his heart.

'Someday, we'll take it all back.'

Perhaps it would take hundreds, maybe even thousands of years, but he would return to the east and reclaim their ancestral lands. Hopefully, he and Vianna were Transcendents by then. Perhaps even Reivan would be at their level by then, with his descendants behind them.

'All of it. Every single acre of land.'

The three of them would lead a pack — no, an army of wolves to take everything back.

"I can... understand that you resent us for what we did and what has happened to you and your sister, but..." Mikachi knelt on the ground in front of Viktor, her eyes looking at him imploringly. "It was all done under my command, so let me bear your resentment alone. Please leave my people out of this..."

Viktor turned away from her. The sight of someone he used to look up to prostrating filled him with self-disgust.

"If... if you wish, my body..." Mikachi reached down to grab the hem of her dress, but before she could do anything else, Viktor had already stood up and headed for the door. "Ah, wait! Please!"

"You've truly fallen low, woman." Viktor didn't even look back as he slowly walked across the room. Even though he was ordered to give them a hard time to soften them up before the negotiation, he knew he went too far. He'd surely get an earful from his brother-in-law for this, but Viktor no longer cared. "Go ahead and plead your case to my king once we make landfall. Because I will certainly not hear them out."

The pitiful woman chased after his coattails but he paid her no heed. However, just as he was about to leave through the door, the crystal orb implanted within his left arm vibrated.

'Hm? A message?'

They must've finally made it close enough to the mainland, seeing as messages were finally able to reach him. Normally, he wouldn't check his messages in the company of others, especially someone he was about to come to blows with just a few moments ago, but his intuition told him that it was important so he immediately checked what it said.

Surprisingly, it was a series of messages from his sister.

'What is it this time...?'

----------------------------------------

"Hey, you're with the muddy cats, right? Go and bring back a stray."

"A girl. Younger than Rein. Preferably cute."

"If you can't, don't bother coming home because I will KILL you. You've been warned."

"Actually, just bring back two if you can. Rein's such a good boy, he should have more nice things."

----------------------------------------

"That crazy woman..." Viktor muttered unconsciously after reading the incredulous messages.

'If I didn't know any better, I'd think she was telling me to pick up a few vegetables on my way home...'

Although he didn't really understand the reason, it seemed it was some sort of reward for his nephew. He wanted to ask some more questions, but none of his replies seemed to be getting through.

'Is she sleeping? Fuck.'

Viktor turned back to the Terracatta chieftain that was still looking at him a bit hopefully. "Hey, those orphan girls you mentioned, how old are they?"

"Hm?" Mikachi gaped in stunned silence for a while before replying in a daze. "One of them is barely ten, while the other is nine. There are only eight months between them..."

"Perfect." The warbeast man nodded as a smile crossed his face. "I'll take them off your hands."

"What...?" Her brows furrowed as her head tilted to the side before her eyes widened. "C-could it be...? You refused my advances because you're interested in chi—"

"Don't you dare complete that sentence!" He roared in indignation. "It's my sister that wants them! They'll be properly taken care of in the castle."

'At least I hope they will. I sure as hell don't know what that crazy sister of mine has planned for them.'

"We'll reach the capital before the hour ends, so go back to your designated area." Viktor turned back around, intending to truly leave this time. "And for crying out loud, stay put. I assure you that if we wanted to hurt you, we would've sent much more people to accompany you."

While wishing his bluff wouldn't be seen through, Viktor left the room.

'I wonder how the ceremony went... I hope I didn't miss anything fun.'