-- Jake’s POV --

“Shall we enter?” I asked.

“Unless we came here to keep looking at it, yes,” Cor raised his brows. Currently, he had blonde hair, green eyes, a pair of short horns and a plain face. Although it was just a husk, it was good enough to not garner attention. Most people were dragons and dragonkins in the capital city and they often had blonde hair, so we didn’t stick out of the crowd.

We turned into our shadow forms in an alleyway and then made our way towards the palace. It was no surprise that we slipped past the guards at the main door without a hitch and got into the palace. But the real problem was that we had no idea where to go.

Although Elena told us everything she knew about the palace, she didn’t know where the prisoners were kept unless Khax and Shin were kept in the same place as them.

“Can you sense Shin? He has a part of your soul, after all,” I stuck out my head from a shadow and whispered, trying to be as silent as I could.

“I think I can, but we don’t have soul-manipulation related abilities yet… so it’s hard,” he replied and then both of us went back into the shadows, but we heard footsteps nearing. Two dragonkins turned the corner and looked at the corridor in silence.

“Did you hear it as well?”

“Yeah, though I didn’t understand who spoke and what. Can you sense anything?”

“I can’t. What should we do?”

“Let’s notify Miss Inhe, just in case,” they turned around to leave. I shouldn’t have asked him… damn it, I’m an idiot.

We could let them go back and then Inhe would probably realise we came. She shouldn’t be stupid enough to not. But if we try to kill them, we might be noticed by somebody else. What to do, what to do…

I felt Cor leave the shadow and enter one of the guards’. Following his example, I joined the other’s and also used the shadow of a vase to make it tip and fall to the ground. Both of the guards turned around and drew their weapons.

“Who’s there?!”

Cor raised out of the ground behind them in the form of a dragonkin child. “Misters! Could you help me?”

“Who are you?!” both of them turned around and pointed their weapons at him. Although he had a husk covering his real looks, his bones and flesh below were still as tough and resistant as in his real form.

“Miss Inhe brought me in to raise me into her servant, b-but when I left to go to the toilet, I’ve got lost somehow! Could you lead me back, Misters?” Cor asked with small stutters as to show his fear.

I don’t think you couldn’t have used the toilet at her place and how you got there without their notice is rather suspicious as well… Well, I should move and take care of these two when their attention is low. Ambush helps as well, at least, I thought as my arms raised out of their shadows, my weapons in hands.

“Is that so? And why would you go to another toilet when she has one. I haven’t heard of her picking up kids either,” one of them pressed the tip of his sword against Cor’s chest, right at his heart.

“I-It’s so I can…”

“You can?” met with a long stop, the guard asked.

“So I can eat you,” he muttered as his head and palms split open. Expecting he’d attack upon being busted, both of them raised their weapons and wanted to cut Cor in two halves. The shell that formed around his body was tough enough to deflect their weapons while he managed to latch onto the throat of the guy on the left. Thanks to inner-devour, he barely had any time before his neck and chest where Cor’s hand rested rotted.

In the meantime, I jumped out of the shadow and spun on my heels. The guy on the right had all his attention on Cor when he lunged at them, so I was met with no resistance and beheaded him in the blink of an eye. We cleaned up everything with the help of Devour and then slipped back into the shadows.

I followed Cor until we reached a pair of double doors where I felt a presence. Cor stuck out his head from the shadow and whispered, “I think Shin’s inside, but there’s only one presence, so Khax should be elsewhere.”

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“And who should we start with?” I asked.

“I’m not sure, maybe he’d follow me but he could resist as well… and we can’t chat for too long or Padinyss might notice us.”

“It’d probably be best if I looked for Khax while you spoke with him,” I offered, not having any better idea. It’s pointless to stay together and it was best to take out both of our targets at the same time.

“Fine, I’ll wait here in silence and if you find Khax, return to tell me. We’ll do it at the same time,” he nodded his head and disappeared.

Following his example, I left him behind and moved towards the place where Elena and Dred were locked up. It was nice to have my mind filled with mana… I didn’t forget things even if I heard them only once unlike when I was still a human. Thanks to her clear explanations I found the place in a few minutes, but I couldn’t sense any presence outside and found nobody inside.

Although we’ve visited Khax before and made a deal, I don’t think he’d have escaped by himself. Padinyss is probably feeling his impending doom as well and he shouldn’t give a chance for Khax to leave. This means that he should keep Khax in the most secure place… maybe a prison underground with magical binds?

After some consideration, I started to look for ways to go underground and find some sort of dungeon, but even after wasting a whole hour, I was left empty-handed. The only thing I got was the guards’ positions in the palace, which was a good thing.

Should I check the throne room? But what if Padinyss is there? I’m afraid he’d notice me, even if my ability to hide is second only to Dred and Elena. I definitely can’t use my senses or any sort of spell. He’d pick up on the changes I made to the mana flow.

As I reached the entrance to the throne room, I found two guards in front of it and of course, the door had no keyholes. This meant that I’d have to use shadow step to enter another shadow in the throne room, but then I’d risk our lives.

How should I go about this? I looked at the guards who stood unmoving. They looked like statues… I can’t even assassinate them or something. Should I wait for the replacement? But then I still wouldn’t get a chance to enter, I’d just stand in front of the door like these two and we must hurry before someone notices that two guards went missing.

We have time only until they shift. Hmm- how would Dred go about this? But then again, they’re better at hiding than us, so they’d probably enter. Audrey~ why are you not here?!

I didn't have a body at this point, so I couldn’t feel my heart beating like crazy or cold sweat pouring down on my back and I couldn’t grit my teeth either in my excitement. But I knew I had to risk using shadow step. I was preparing for the jump when I heard footsteps and I quickly moved further away from the door. Inhe appeared on the corner and stopped in front of the door.

“Step aside.”

“The king doesn’t wish to see you,” the guards replied, not even looking at her.

“Why?”

“...”

“Just let me in, damn it-” she grabbed their shoulders and wanted to push them to the side, but one of them grabbed her hands, while the other one pushed her back. She fell on her buttocks and then hurried to stand up. She glared at the guards who gave her the cold shoulder again.

“Igrar! You can’t do this to me!”

“I can,” the guard on the left answered.

“But let me-”

“Shut up! He has a guest, so you can’t enter. Wait your turn,” Igrar roared at her, seemingly ignoring the ruckus he was making.

Hmm- the doors and the walls should have some sort of voice-blocking barriers around them. Good to know.

“Then why did you not say so in the beginning?!” Inhe stomped on the ground and then sat down on the sofa placed next to the wall, right in front of the door. She continued to glare at Igrar, which I found slightly hilarious.

The fact that I agree with Inhe’s reasons is rather annoying, but Igrar really could have said something… I guess he just wanted to pick a fight with her, I started to wonder about the whys since I had nothing better to do.

It took another five minutes until the door was opened and an old human whispered, “Miss Inhe shall enter and wait in silence.”

While he said that, I entered the throne room, but I stayed close to the walls. Padinyss sat on his throne and I would have clenched my fists have I had them. The aura he exuded, those black scales and the green layer of pure energy below them simply seemed to be indestructible. He had a humanoid shape, but he was covered in scales from his toes to his neck and he had two long and black horns.

I swear if I punched him in the chest, he’d just shrug it off… I just feel it. Can Elena and Dred even fight him? I couldn’t help but wonder. Sure, my masters had powerful abilities, but their bodies weren’t super tough, their regeneration wasn’t super quick, while Padinyss looked so mighty I thought nothing could penetrate his scales.

I was sad when I realised that Padinyss really did look like a legendary creature, while my masters looked more like simple humans, beastmen or demons, with powerful abilities. They just changed their forms and played around, while this guy looked like pure power and might. But for some reason, I still felt that I could trust my masters, no matter who they faced.

I wasn’t sure why, but it felt as if they had more to them than their ‘looks’ and ‘abilities’. When I moved even more to the side, I noticed the human’s face who stood in the middle of the room. His face seemed to be familiar, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on who he was until I remembered.

He was Ed, the guy Elena left alive on Dink when we won the war for Hector. That human who might have lost his family due to us killing many people in the empire. We killed even slaves, but only those who seemed to have no light in their eyes. Maybe one of them was his family.

Did he come to take revenge?