A guy that looked like the King's mugshot but only if the old child-murdering geezer paid fifteen grand to someone Photoshop it burst into the throne room.

"FATHER!" He shouted. "Stop this madness! It is insanity out there! People are murdering children left and right! The streets are crowded with wailing parents!"

The guy wore a maille hauberk, plate greaves and gauntlets, and a tabard with a big bright symbol made of a sun blast with scales in front. Galbarar. He reeked of divinity. A priest-warrior? A [Paladin], perhaps?

"Ernest, now it is not the time!" The king spat back.

"Stop this bounty, father! The real [Assassins] all fled to the wilderness. You are just squandering the Kingdom's money and funding the murder of children! I cannot condone it!"

"Nonsense! Remember to respect me or I'll forget you are born from my loins, ungrateful cur!"

What if the money was inside the throne? I had to take a look.

Ignoring the back-and-forth between father and son, I crawled all the way down the back wall and up the dais. When I was close to the throne, I sensed the wards. I started to make my way past them, bypassing each slowly. But the magical protections around the throne were even stronger than in the treasure room.

> Contested Willpower test failed. You are stunned for 3 seconds. (Base 20 x0.33 Unbound Hero x0.5 Slippery Mind)

>

> Contested Willpower test failed. You are forced to dismiss all subterfuge Traits.

I suddenly found myself back in my true form and unable to move. The guards, Enantinos included, jumped on me and grappled my limbs. The King scoffed something about all assassins away from town. They struck me with their weapons. I recovered and met Enantinos eyes.

"Hey, former [Chieftain]," I said oozing derision. "Fancy seeing you here serving the man that enslaved our kind."

The throne spun in place, the wheels all moving independently from their axles. "What did we get here? Another horse? A horse [Assassin]? What are you, horse?"

I could escape but I wanted to see what was inside that throne, badly. So I took advantage of the proximity and phased. Then I shapeshifted my neck into a giraffe's. My headshot into the throne as I looked around. It went into stone but Rosewise had a Perk to see 3 meters out from any solid object I occupied.

It was a statue.

A statue of a woman.

A peasant woman.

Kneeling. Arms raised as if she held something dear.

The statue commonly known as the "Witch of Tambrilia." To me, I called it "Mother", or "Rosalinda."

The bastard King weaponized my mother. Then I was forced out as he blasted me with whatever magic he put in the ward.

> Contested Willpower test failed. You are stunned for 3 seconds. (Base 20 x0.33 Unbound Hero x0.5 Slippery Mind)

>

> Contested Willpower test failed. You are forced to dismiss all subterfuge Traits.

This King's magic could give Marlowe a run for his money. They brought enchanted shackles and bound me before I could shake the stun again. Then they beat me until I went unconscious.

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

I woke up to see a blinking message from the System

> WARNING. Most of your Traits are locked. Your physical Attributes are halved. You cannot spend MP or PP.

It was the second time I heard about these PP's. I think I have a perk that mentions it too.

Yeah, pretty nice shackles. Well crafted, well enchanted. If I had a few more levels under my belt, it would be easy to escape. But I didn't and I was surviving on a barbarian's build. Look how well it went for the centaurs when they met mind mages.

I ran a basic check as to what was available. Metabolic Perks and a few others, mostly the defensive ones. Moon-bound regeneration was working fine. My resources were all topped. Nothing magical worked, though.

I was in a cell somewhere, chained to the wall. At least I could touch the ground and move a few centimeters around. I could hear the roar of people nearby but couldn't detect anything. What a bother. At least I was above ground.

Without anything to do, I waited. Eventually, Enantinos came to visit me.

"Snowdrop," he called.

I opened an eye. "Hey, traitor. How's your new chieftain doing?"

He narrowed his eyes. "I had no choice. It was either this or seeing my people die."

I spat at him, "News flash, asshole. Our people died. A lot of them. My mother and brother too."

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

He seemed surprised. "Snowflake? But he was safe in Duke..."

"Wake up, delusional bufoon. They are murdering every child they can put their hands on for two pieces of platinum each. What made you think they would spare a centaur when they gleefully murdered their own kind?"

He clenched his fists inside his gauntlets. The chieftain stomped and I heard metal hit stone.

"Horseshoes?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "Perhaps they are right in calling us horses."

Angered, Enantinos shook his head. "I came here to see if there was anything I could do to help you. But if --"

I interrupted him with a stomp of my hooves.

"Don't wanna. I don't need your help. I can solve this shit by myself just fine. Now, if you want to help me tell me about the King and what he plans for me."

"You're going to be executed. We are in the arena where the King wanted to host a tournament. Tomorrow, they'll bring you to the arena floor and the prince will kill you."

"Which one?"

"Prince Ernest, [Paladin] of Galbarar."

I smiled and chuckled, "Oh, nice. The next King. That's great. Thanks for the good news."

He punched the cell bars. "You're going to die! Why did you come here? You are going to die before you could... you, of all people! Our hopes!"

I let him weave rope to hang himself. "Are you talking about being the Unicorn King's [Heritor]? That's old news. Thanks for telling me in due time, though."

Enantinos' blood left his complexion. "You... Did you become the [Heritor]?"

"Yes. Got a pretty nice spear too. Wish I could show it to you but alas, I can't."

He grabbed the bars and started to pull. "I need to get you out of--"

Then he froze. A cackling [Wizard] appeared from nowhere. "Thanks for the spectacle," he bowed to me. "Now, I'll take this horse with me and teach him some discipline. And where he should put his loyalties."

"Yeah, fine by me," I rolled my eyes. "Hey, make sure he is watching me get executed. You heard how I was the hope of our people. There will be no bigger torture for this old stallion than to see me die."

The mage stared into my eyes. "You are quite the specimen, aren't you? Our mind-benders couldn't control you or read your mind and they took damage when they attempted. Not even your status. Who are you?"

"Why, you heard it. I'm the Unicorn King's heir. I'm also the doom of this country. You better make sure I die. Because once I'm done with this arena, I'm going to exterminate all humans in this region. Yup, total genocide."

The mage studied me for a while. Then he scoffed and went away, a dazed Enantinos following him obediently.

Oh, now I remember. The Perk I had that mentioned PP was something that shielded me from mental attacks.

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

They didn't give me food or water. Joke's on them, I didn't need it and my pseudopods worked just fine. The next day, they came and bound my shackles to a set of chains that went around both of my bellies. Then they dragged me to the arena floor. It was almost high sun, or noon if the sunlight matched the day. But yes. The sun was shining on the arena, casting very few shadows.

The King made a speech about a murder attempt and how they needed more taxes to fuel the war, that wouldn't stop with the elves but go all the way to the other side and conquer the plains. They would have the southern half of the world's biggest continents all to themselves. An area bigger than Russia and China together. I checked and Enantinos was there, contrite.

I didn't pay attention to it because I was too busy eating. Yeah, eating. My pseudopods were slowly devouring the magic in the shackles. I learned the enchantments but had honestly no use for them. If I had to restrain an enemy, I could just kill and resurrect them later. Or just kill and be done with it. I had no need for this theatrical farce.

The crowd roared for blood. They threw fruits and vegetables at me. And they had quite the throwing arm, considering that the arena was an oval one hundred meters across at its narrowest point.

The prince came from a tunnel underneath the King's balcony. The people shouted his name. He didn't seem very happy. He raised his hand and returned the public's affection.

Once he was close to me, he said, "I'm sorry it came to this. You don't seem a bad person."

"Nah, don't torture yourself about this. I murdered thousands of your people in the last two years."

"Was it you? In Brasso?"

"I just killed the Count. Your armies killed themselves all on their own. But everything between Brasso and the plains? All me. Including your fortresses. I have them in my back pocket but I can't reach it."

He made a wry chuckle.

"So, have you prayed to Galbarar recently? Asked him about me?"

he raised an eyebrow, "You speak as if you were so familiar with Him. Why? Are you a believer?"

"I'm with Queltphion. But if you didn't talk to Galbarar, don't worry. You'll get your chance before the sun goes away, today."

I started to charge a spell and sing a spell-song including {Grand Fermata}. Dolphin voice ranges so nobody was the wiser.

"Kill her, my son!" The King shouted.

A lot of things happened at once.

Ernest drew his sword. I stopped holding the half-eaten shackles in place with the pseudopods and they fell down. I summoned the Unicorn Spear to my hand. The spell I was charging, I baptized it with the name {Force Atl-Atl}. The tube of Force magic had spiral grooves and a charge of Wind at the bottom. It materialized around the spear. I aimed at the King.

The prince swung his sword. I threw the spear and it flew true. The blast of Wind magic accelerated it with a sonic boom.

It would be impossible to dodge. Let's see how invulnerable that throne was.

The spear moved as if in slow motion. The price struck me, the sword glowing as if made of molten gold. The moment it touched me, the glow went away. The damage was negligible.

All I wanted was to see the notification when I hit the king. But Pandora appeared, a blazing golden ball of light, and darted, no, teleported in front of the spear. The two indestructible entities clashed and it was as if the mother of all gongs got struck by a titan. The sonic blast hurt me more than the Prince's strike. The spear bounced away and spun into the blue sky, vanishing from sight.

I got tons of kill notifications. The people in the grandstands died in droves.

Mages had shields protecting the King and the nobles in their boxes and balconies Nevertheless, to block a wide area of a sonic attack, you need full coverage. I could see all of them bleeding.

Including a baffled King. The man was bleeding from his nose and ears, staring at his red hand. I could see the panic in his eyes.

I knew why Pandora did what she did. My attack would kill the King and break Rosalinda. The statue was indestructible to everything but me.

Sariandi knew. I didn't blame her. I would believe her and it would be super suspicious if she told me what was inside the throne.

Like Chris Hemsworth, I raised my hand and the spear was back.

"KILL HER!" The King shook out of his reverie and shouted with all the power his fear brought to bear. He knew I could hurt him now. We both did.

I ignored him and met Ernest's earnest eyes. "Prince Ernest, I'll make you an offer. I'll let you live and make you King. But your father, all your relatives and the nobles that murdered children are going to die. I won't lie to you. You'll be King of nothing because I'll kill a lot of people. But if you take my offer and promise to give the centaurs protection and equal rights to everyone else, I'll leave a few people for you to rule over."

He gagged. "What if I refuse?"

"Then you die with them and everyone else. Pekothas will end. This wicked nation must be purified."

"I can't condone this insanity! I must--"

"Stop what you are doing, you horse bitch!" The King shouted over Ernest's voice. He was using {Royal Geas}, how nice. I cackled like the villain I would become. The King gasped in surprise when he saw the message telling him that didn't work on Royalty.

Ernest attacked me but I dodged him as if I was wind flowing around his blade. It was high time for my trump card.

"GALBARAR!" I shouted at the sky with all the power my [Musician] proficiency and voice perks could muster and a bit of magic behind it.

"IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO HONOR OUR COVENANT! COME, FRIEND, AND UNVEIL THE TRUTH BEHIND THE GREAT INJUSTICE PEKOTHAS INFRINGED ON ME."

The sky parted. The sun grew in intensity until it was a searing gaze. Galbarar descended and landed on all His glory, on the arena floor next to Ernest and me.

I whispered and winked to the cowering prince, "I told you you'd get your chance to talk to him before the day was over."