It only made sense. Like the normal bees on Earth, no matter how insane the Shinbachira were, they must have a leader as well, if their coordination was of any proof. The problem had always been: where, and what, was their leader?

What did all bees have in common? A queen.

This room wasn’t just a feeding ground. It was three in one—a feeding ground for the larvae to grow, an incubator for what I assumed to be their next queen, and a breeding ground for said queen to produce more larvae. A self-sustaining system that could only grow stronger with time.

Now without anything to hold it back, the creature before me started to move. Rubbing its forehead as if suffering from a chronic headache, the humanoid bee stood up straight, revealing its lower half in its entirety—a pair of gold and black wings that acted like an exoskeleton of its own, covering the body inside it akin to what I presumed was a dress before.

However, this creature had no intention of attacking me, or anyone else in the room. Instead, it just turned its head around, scanning the area in front of it in disbelief. It lightly raised his head, then one of its arms. But nothing happened.

”… HU… mAns…”

The mere presence of the sudden voice sent my nerves into overdrive. Part of it was because of the unfamiliarity in its tone, but more so because of the pressure that it emitted—as if the voice was being projected directly into our minds, like how the stupid system tried to get over my control from time to time.

From instinct, I could tell where the voice came from. And once I shot my glare at the creature before me, its squinted eyes were enough proof.

“Hu… man…” As more time passed, its speech patterns became more eloquent. “Do you… understand me, human?”

”Human? What is that?” Akabane sounded behind me, shocking my mind out of the trance-like pressure I was in.

”Everyone could hear it too?” I turned around to ask, my hand gesturing towards the humanoid bee. “It’s that thing! It’s speaking to us, I think through telepathy!”

”But… That can’t be…”

While Akabane’s face was that of disbelief, the bee seemed to drive amusement from our reaction, looking at its slightly curled eyelids.

”Ah, such human intelligence… To think you’re so foolish as to not even know your species’ name.” With the way the voice vibrated, I could tell it was chuckling.

“Silence, monster!” Shouted Aozaki.

“And that’s anger,” replied the queen bee. “Like how you all call us Omushi indiscriminately, for us, all of you are humans. Or do you think that you Mujin… ah, wait, the blue one seems to be a Setsujin, are the only species with sentience in this world? Am I right?”

”How…”

Interrupting Aozaki’s astonished look, the queen continued.

”Onisatsu, Shinbachira, Herakabuto, Yanonpa… Oh, and would you look at that, an Unborn. At least that one hasn’t had his hands stained with our blood yet.”

As its eyes gazed upon me, I knew what it meant to say.

“You mean me, right?” Pointing towards myself, I asked.

“You’re smarter than the others, child. Then you must know what I am, correct?”

“A Shinjoura, right?”

”Close, but not quite enough. If I were to make a comparison, you’re only the larvae on this floor, child. Meanwhile, I’m similar to the ones behind you—an Evolved.”

“An Evolved Omushi? Impossible!” Akabane swung his arm in the air, as if trying to slice the words flung his way in half. “That can’t happen! Only us Mujin were able to ascend to the Evolved state!”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

”Come on now, heir of Onisatsu,” the Shinjoura’s voice grew colder than ice. “You, of all people, should know how much of a lie that statement was.”

“You…”

”Calm down, Red,” before Akabane could snap, Midorikawa had already stepped forward to place a hand over his shoulder. “This isn’t like you. Take a deep breath, and let’s settle this in a civilized way, shall we?”

“Green! Do you know what you’re talking about? That monster is…”

“I know.” Midorikawa’s grab tightened. “But if it’s in that state already, then we can’t beat it. Even if the kid had tried to prematurely end the incubation period.”

“Yakushi-kun did that on purpose?”

“Of course he did, I told you the kid had a brain we can trust. Right, kid?”

A sneaky wink from Midorikawa told me all I needed to know. Of course, I didn’t plan for things to be this way. I just wanted to save the one trapped behind the amber, when I thought it was still human. But this was a lucky chance I couldn’t let go.

Animals couldn’t communicate with humans. And in this world, the Omushi couldn’t communicate with the Mujin. But what if that wasn’t the case? What if there was a representative of sorts that could allow us to understand one another?

With sentience came civilization and rationality. And with rationality came understanding. This was the foundation of peace. Before me now stood the key to that peace.

I gave a nod towards the group, then turned to the creature before me.

“Queen!” I yelled with whatever measly strength I had left. A surge of blood rushed onto my mouth, bringing me to an iron-filled coughing spree.

“Yakushi-kun!” The group all shouted with concern, before Yamabuki flew towards me and put another pill in my hand.

“Here, take this!” She ushered. “It’ll help suppress the bleeding a bit.”

“Thank you.”

After gulping down the honey pill, my breathing stabilized, while the burning sensation in my stomach had subsided, if just barely enough to continue a conversation.

“We’ve come to negotiate only.” I continued. “I know that the two sides have been at war for far too long, and I know that our sins might have been too deep to be paid in full. But every prosperity has to start somewhere—we hereby give you our words that we won’t disturb your nests anymore, and in turn, you also won’t attack our settlements. A full-on cooperation or cohabitation is impossible for now, but at least with an isolation policy, we can both develop without causing harm to each other. What do you think of our proposition?”

“… I see that you bear an Onigiri for a partner, child,” the Shinjoura ignored my words and asked another matter entirely. “Tell me, are you the next heir?”

”I…” my eyes glanced towards Midorikawa and quickly received a quick nod from him.

“Yes, I am,” I answered, trying to tense my voice to avoid any kinds of shaking that could be mistaken for a lie.

After everything that happened, I only wished to be relaxed. And her following words had finally helped me achieve it.

“Fair enough. If the so-called future of you Mujin has proposed a world of coexistence, then I don’t see why we can’t do the same as well. Come here, Unborn child, and let us shake for our future together.”

I clutched my hand in joy. If it wasn’t for the presence of many people in the room, I would have jumped into the air. Finally, it could be done. A world where both humans and animals could live in harmony, where no evil would exist. A place that I could call my home.

I took my slow, but steady steps forward. It was the foundation to my future, to my righteousness, so it was only natural for me to savor the moment.

Finally, we stood face-to-face as equals. And as our hands both rose forward, a historic moment was about to be made.

“Before we shake, I have a question for you, child.”

“What is it?”

“Do you ever talk to your food?”

A sudden chill ran through my spine. I couldn’t hear anything properly, save for the sploshing sound of guts spilling behind me, as well as the tearing wind in front of me as something similar to an arm flew in the air.

How could I have forgotten?

What made humans the most dominant species on Earth? Their intelligence. But what came with their intelligence?

Malice.

People tricked. They stole from one another, killed one another to survive. Their wealth was built upon mountains of corpses, humans and animals alike. With sentience came rationality, but with intelligence also came cruelty.

Then, pray tell, what would happen when an animal—any species that would triumph over humans in terms of physical prowess—achieve the same intelligence?

Would they live together with humans in harmony? Of course not.

They would trick like humans. They would kill like humans for their own gains. They would become humans themselves. And once they became humans, it was already over for them. Their hearts had been contaminated by the drugs of luxury. They wouldn’t back down from their conquest to consume everything that this planet had to offer, even if they had to destroy everything else in the process.

The creature in front of me was no animal. Not anymore. It had become a mere human, and the worst kind at that—a human with powers beyond their control. Against humans of that nature, there was only one thing for me to do.

“I’m gonna fucking kill you.”