WHY AM I DOING THIS?!

Astella, after thanking me, encouraged me to stay the night, so I had to take the chance.

At midnight, I snuck into her quarters.

I had to sneak out from under a snoring Taury, but luckily, it seemed as the gym was soundproof, so after exiting it, it was a silent walk to the quarters.

“I wonder if she made it soundproof specifically because of the snoring.”

I snuck wordlessly until I reached the door, it was basically pitch black, but luckily, I could still produce pixie dust.

I snuck into the room and saw Astella sleeping, it was oddly beautiful.

Unlike Taury, there was no snoring, and she held a somewhat queenly aura despite being asleep.

“Okay, now to find the safe.”

I snuck around and looked through her drawers, finding no safe. I looked on every shelf, but to no avail, then I had an idea.

I looked at the bed and quickly realized that something was wrong, her head was a bit more raised than the pillow should have raised it.

I picked up one end of the pillow gently and groaned in annoyance.

The safe was under her head.

“So anyone who breaks in will be caught grabbing it, clever, but I can work with it.”

Luckily, I was skinny enough to shimmy behind the bed, then I took a chunk out of the wall and formed a square rock, the same size as the safe.

I then pulled an Indiana Jones, being incredibly careful to not wake her.

I put the safe on her desk and recalled the password.

“53620928… and I’m in.”

Inside was a rolled-up piece of paper.

I rolled it out and began reading.

“Schedules of the council… Oh no…”

[Malkek- Spends most time in the Sylvian woods, but on the winter solstice, will spend an hour in the Nexus meditating, sneak and cut wings then.]

[Morgan- Heart located behind the throne, enter while sleeping and break it.]

[Maven- Spends most time hunting with sisters but spends nights alone in her little hovel, be silent and stab the heart.]

[Roman- Spends all time alone meditating or looking for life, can be stunned by water, air vacuum nearly complete.]

I was shaking and I heard a crack, but I ignored it, because there was one last entry on the document, clearly written today. Each entry had a sketch of the councilors dying, but the last one…

[Additional threat: Taurael- Given the rumors of her being an anomaly, I can use a name command to make her kill William, then use another name command to kill her if she doesn’t kill herself first. Time to do this, tomorrow morning.]

I heard another crack, then my amulet shattered as I heard a snap.

I turned to Astella who now snapped awake and saw me. She looked down and saw her opened safe before blanching and backing against the wall.

“Th-this isn’t what it look-“

“Explain… now.”

Astella, to give her credit, stopped cowering, but still shook.

“Morgan is a threat; we need to eliminate her.”

“And kill the others?”

“They won’t just let it happen, even you must see that.”

“Killing them will merely further the others, and if you want to even try this, don’t touch Taury.”

‘Don’t kill her. Don’t kill her. Don’t kill her. Don’t kill her. Don’t kill her. Don’t kill her.’

I glared at the Minotaur, and she snapped at me.

“You can’t stop me.”

“Oh, I can.”

“Oh really.”

“I’d just rather not kill you.”

“Heh, bold of you.”

Then she seemed to get an idea.

“How about this, we administer a royal challenge.”

“A royal challenge?”

“We fight, magic included, and the one who wins becomes ruler of the minotaurs, meaning, if you win, I’d be your servant, and would have to follow your method.”

“And if you win?”

“Then I have legal reign to kill you.”

“How does one win?”

“Conceding, or death.”

I smiled.

“Very well then, when should we do this?”

“Now.”

Then she leapt at me, bursting out the wall.

The rubble fell from the mountain, and she punched at me, but I dodged, using earth to knock her to the side.

Then I used fire and rock to make a blade, which I slashed at her with.

She roared and threw me off of the mountain. I began to panic as I didn’t have enough magic to catch me.

Astella leapt after me, with the seeming intent to crush me after I splatted.

Then a tree reached out, catching me, and dodged Astella, who crashed into the ground, splintering it.

She looked at me in shock, then I realized.

Mordred was a spriggan once. Of course, he had nature magic.

I leapt at her with the trees trying to constrict her, then she leapt and punched the blade of my sword, breaking it, but cutting her hand.

Then I snapped with fire, catching her in an inferno, but she rushed me and spun, slamming me into a mountain.

I cringed, but sunk into the mountain, before launching at her with a massive rock on my hand.

I punched her, causing her to back up.

The commotion caused some minotaurs to exit their homes to find their queen and me battling.

Some moved to help, but Astella yelled.

“Don’t interfere, it’s a challenge.”

They seemed to instantly react and moved back.

Then Astella seemed to get angry.

“Am I a joke to you?”

“No?”

“Then why are you holding back?”

I had no clue what she was talking about.

“You keep using these different magics, but none of them are fitting you. Use your actual magic.”

“No, because that would be an instant win.”

She got ticked off by that line and lunged at me, then, using illusion, she made ten copies of herself, all of which ran to kick me.

I located the real one and leapt up and over her.

I used earth to make a cage, which she crashed through and punched me.

I gasped and rolled before spinning out of the way of an axe kick.

I righted myself and rushed at her with a flaming punch.

She met the punch and I heard my arm bone snap, and I yelped before falling back.

“Use it now!”

I backed up.

“Fine… but I warned you.”

She smiled and charged me, releasing an unbelievable amount of strength.

“Control.”

She froze, the power dissipated and she stood before swaying.

Numerous minotaurs looked at their queen in shock.

“Remember this.”

“I will.”

“You will concede the battle and relent in your plans. Do you understand?”

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“I will.”

“Good, release.”

Then she fell to her knee and grimaced before speaking.

“I concede the battle.”

Then she stood.

“So, that’s what you meant by an instant victory.”

I looked at her.

“Yes.”

Then she sighed and smiled.

“Well, I guess you won. People, your new king!”

The minotaurs cheered. All of them were stunned by my ability.

Then Astella turned to me.

“I find it impressive that you held out before that, you earned that victory. You may have won without that power.”

“Um thanks.”

“Well, you should get some sleep, your majesty. I assume you’d want to return to your realm tomorrow.”

“Yeah… about that. I still want you to act as leader when I’m not here, and don’t let the council know about this.”

She nodded.

“Of course, I’ll be the regent until you return.”

“Thank you.”

Then we walked back up the stairs.

“So, why were you wanting to do that?”

“Morgan kept doing horrid things and flexing her power. She’d kill people who dared to question her. I found it necessary to kill her, and I felt as though the other councilors would align with her.”

“Malkek is currently ticked off at her, and Maven also doesn’t like her strategies. I’ll try to bring Roman around as well before we go after Morgan.”

“You would do that? It could be very dangerous, though with that power… Could that be why Maven-“

“No, she developed that on her own. All I did, the one time I had her under the power, was remove her memories of the power, and make her trust me a bit more.”

“Clever, and Malkek?”

“I never used mind manipulation, he simply appreciated me proving his sister’s innocence, and helping her reach the Dream to heal.”

“That makes sense.”

“So, are you planning to kill her?”

“Well, at first I thought it’d be impossible, but knowing where her heart is could be a good back up. Though, I think it’d be a lot better if I used control to make her fully loyal.”

“Why?”

“Because she isn’t the only threat to worry about, one of the greatest threats we currently have is stronger than her. So, having her as a servant certainly wouldn’t hurt.”

“I agree, that makes a lot of sense.”

“Of course, if it even works on her.”

“What?”

“The threat I’m referring to was entirely immune, instead causing me to collapse and him to get a rough blow on me.”

“That sounds terrifying.”

“It was.”

“An ability that grasped me in an instant can be ignored by this thing.”

“Yeah, that’s when I realized that it was a major threat.”

“I’d imagine. But could you control Taurael?”

“Yes.”

“Then you should be able to control Morgan, they are of similar mental strengths.”

“But Taury was willing to be controlled at that point.”

“Hm… who’s the greatest will you can control without permission.”

“Demons…”

“Hm, anything I would know how strong it is?”

“Roman.”

“… Impressive, your majesty.”

“Thanks, but suggesting to him is like throwing a hot iron on my head.”

“And a demon?”

“About the same.”

“Wow, so Morgan may be even worse.”

“Yeah, I originally thought that Taury just had a simpler mind, but after Maven’s was also easy, I realized that how willing they were made it so much easier.”

“Yeah, it sounds like it. Especially given how powerful Taurael is, I’d expect for her to have an insanely strong will.”

“Yeah.”

“Hm… so, theoretically, if you could get Morgan to open up to you, you could use control on her?”

“Maybe… I may also have a way to do it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, a while ago, I visited a graveyard, and at there was my father’s grave.”

“I’m sorry for your loss, but if I may, how is this relevant?”

“My father’s grave was marked with Morgan’s wood.”

Astella stopped and her eyes widened.

“Are you saying that Morgan knew your father?”

“And potentially my mother. I want to learn what she knows, but I don’t really know how to introduce the discussion to her.”

Astella nodded.

“I’d say get Roman on your side first, then ask him.”

“Alright, I suppose that would work.”

Then I thought for a moment.

“How much power does the king have?”

Astella laughed.

“If you ordered us to kill ourselves, we’d have to.”

I widened my eyes.

“That’s… a lot of power.”

“Hey, I’m the one who administered the challenge, if things go wrong, pretty much everyone would blame me.”

“I… don’t really want things to go wrong.”

“That’s good, wouldn’t be a very good king otherwise.”

“Yeah, I’ll look to you for advice… though, I noticed that your lab was surprisingly high tech.”

“Yeah, humans of this world were far more advanced than of your world.”

“What… happened to them?”

“At first, minotaurs were kept as pets, but then my great great great grandfather heard of Morgan and her ruling her realm, despite humans, and decided to lead an annihilation war. All of them were wiped out, only a few relics of theirs remain, one being my lab.”

“So…”

“That’s one of the reasons I dislike Morgan, her actions inspired genocide in many… many realms.”

“How did your realm join the council?”

She smiled.

“My grandfather heard of Morgan’s council and thought to join it, he asked her and proved his might by standing up to her without fear. He actually was one of the earliest adopters of the last bastion of humanity idea.”

“Have the same realms been there the whole time?”

“No, Maven’s realm is a newer one, a deer was the first one, then a long line of bunnies, and now Maven herself.”

“Wow…”

“Yep, her world is quite brutal.”

“What about the realm before it?”

“That one was annihilated by demons…”

“Oh…”

“Yeah, that’s why we see them as such major threats. Because they can enter a realm and annihilate it…”

“Woah…”

“We still don’t know who the leader is…”

“The Hunter.”

“No, your majesty. There is someone far above the Hunter in the demon’s ranks. The Hunter can call an army, this guy can organize millions of armies.”

I blanched…

“Who… how….”

“As far as we know, Morgan and Roman are the only ones who’d ever met him. Roman gets petrified whenever we ask about him and Morgan tells us that it’s none of our business.”

The Hunter… was a lackey? That was not good.

“The Hunter overpowers Morgan though, so…”

“Exactly…”

I paled as I considered just how powerful such a demon would have to be.

_

We entered the gym, where Taury was just waking up.

“Oh, hel- What happened?!”

I just realized that we were covered in blood, burns, etc. And my arm was still broken.

“Um…”

“William is now the king of the minotaurs.”

Astella proudly presented me as ruler. Her smile was adorable and funny.

Taury blinked.

“Alright, well, this is definitely a dream.”

I snickered.

“It’s somehow not.”

“Prove it.”

I pinched her.

“OW! How does that prove it?!”

“You can’t feel pain in dreams.”

“… Really?”

Astella nodded.

“As far as I know, that’s correct.”

Then Taury sighed.

“Okay, not a dream… How did this happen?”

Astella smiled.

“I challenged him, then our powerful king showed his might before subjugating me with simple words.”

Taury gave a confused look, so I translated.

“I ticked her off after she ticked me off, so she administered a royal challenge and allowed magic, so we fought, beat each other around, then she essentially demanded I use my ‘real’ magic, so I used control on her and forced her to concede.”

Taury looked at me and sighed.

“Oh jeez, this is gonna be hard to explain…”

“Why? Astella is going to act as my regent, and she won’t let the other councilors know of the leadership change.”

Me and Astella smirked, and Taurael sighed deeply.

“You know what, that would work.”

Then Astella realized something.

“Um… wait, you two are romantically entangled… aren’t you?”

“Um… somewhat?”

Both me and Taury had a light blush, then Astella beamed.

“That means that the minotaurs have an alliance with the pixies, doesn’t it?”

Taury looked at me.

“I mean, even if I haven’t directly claimed the throne, I am still the Monarch, so I guess?”

“WONDERFUL! Our king has already secured a vital alliance on his first day!”

She seemed excited, so me and Taury let her be excited.

Then after a bit of talking policies, I decided to leave most of it to Astella and reentered the Nexus with Taurael.

“So… I’m a king now…”

“And I’m a queen…ish…”

We smiled.

“We’re getting more influence.”

“Even I wouldn’t have predicted you would become the king of the minotaurs.”

Then she thought for a moment.

“What prompted you to confront her in a way that would… where’s the amulet?”

“It shattered, and for the reason… I’d rather not say…”

“I understand, and did it shatter in the battle?”

“No… before… I got mad…”

Her eyes widened.

“How bad was it for you to get angry enough to shatter an earth golem’s amulet?!”

“… Really… bad…”

“And you don’t want to tell me… why?”

“Because if I did, then you’d simply go back and kill Astella before I could stop you.”

She thought for a moment.

“If it’s that bad, then why not tell me?”

“Because we need her help. And I don’t want you to kill her, especially since it’s moot now, since I became king.”

“If it’s moot, then just tell me!”

I sighed.

“Fine, but you will not go back and kill her or any other minotaur, nor will you maim them.”

“Goodness, you’re even giving an order, how bad could it be?”

She clearly didn’t think it was that serious.

So, I recounted my journey into the cave, each of the challenges. Then I explained the lab, and what I heard.

“So… a century old plan to kill the council, that was it?”

“No… because she tested each method beforehand. And she had active plans in her quarters.”

Then she shook.

“Pardon me, but what was the way to kill the pixies… we are hard to kill.”

“Clip the wings, and… pixies will eventually kill themselves…”

Taurael’s expression was pure rage.

“And… she tested it?”

“*Gulp* Yes…”

“I see… why you didn’t want me to know, and why even after, you gave me that command, but what prompted you to fury?”

“Because she knew you’d react if she went for Malkek, so… she was going to use a name command to make you kill me, then you’d either kill yourself, or she’d use a name command to stop you until she could kill you.”

Then I heard a distant snap, and the aura of the Monarch shone so brightly it nearly blinded me.

“She… was planning… what?”

“Taury… calm down…”

I was shivering, I finally fully understood what everyone meant by saying she was equal in strength to Morgan. It was like facing the spriggan in her rage, but instead, the rage was for my sake.

She breathed and I could feel her will struggling against the command, but as there was no pain involved, she couldn’t break through and eventually sighed, her aura fading.

“Astella is fully loyal to me, and she won’t go along with the plan at all.”

“Good… if I learn that she touches Malkek, then I’ll kill every single person in her realm, make it desolate myself. Make sure she knows that.”

I shivered as I was fully aware that she was capable of such a feat.

“I’ll… mention it the next time we’re there.”

“Good.”

After a few more minutes, she fully calmed down.

“Alright, let’s go back.”

“Yeah, the others are probably somewhat worried.”

“They are not gonna believe you.”

“Grace certainly won’t.”

We exited the Nexus.

“member, if they don’t return, we’re breaking into Morgan’s house to get to the stinking Tesseract.”

Brent thought for a moment.

“Grace, how would we even do that? Her palace is literally made of her, there’s no way we’d get ten feet without her realizing.”

The quadrio didn’t seem to realize that we were right behind them.

“I could excuse myself with wanting to speak to Roman, but… hm… I know, with me distracting her, Aoi could sneak you two in.”

Aoi nodded.

“I could sneak through; my stealth is flawless.”

Then Amy looked darkly.

“And what if she hurt him? What then?”

“Then we flame broil that cow.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

They spun around to me and Taury looking at them with amused faces. Grace had a confused look.

“Uh… how long were you there?”

“Ever since the word remember.”

“Oh…”

Then Aoi tackled me.

“I thought you were dead! MEANIE!”

I sighed.

“Not dead, busy.”

Grace helped me pry Aoi off, then looked at me.

“Why is your arm broken?”

“I had a fistfight with Astella. Magic allowed.”

Grace looked at me.

“That wasn’t smart.”

“Eh, she challenged me.”

That interested her.

“Why?”

“Eh… I’d rather not explain that…”

Taury nodded with a flash of anger passing her face.

Grace realized it was something dark.

“You didn’t kill a councilor, did you?”

“Oh, don’t worry. We… just…”

“Say hi to the new king of the minotaurs.”

Thanks, Taury, you made things so much better.

Grace gaped at me, as did Brent, Amy, and Aoi.

Grace grabbed me by my collar before lifting me easily.

“You said, fist fight… not royal challenge! Why would she even challenge you to that?!”

I smiled.

“She realized it was the only way to stop me from simply killing her.”

Grace shivered and dropped me then she noticed something.

“Where’s the amulet?”

“I got… a bit angry…”

Brent and Amy had confused looks. Aoi… was her regular self… confused. And Grace raised a brow.

“That doesn’t explain it, unless you threw it off a cliff and couldn’t find it.”

“Um… no… I got angry enough that my aura shattered it.”

Then she blanched.

“W-what? It… SHATTERED IT?!”

“Y-yeah?”

“Prove it.”

She pressed me against the wall.

“If your aura is strong enough to break my amulet, then prove it, because I don’t feel much of an aura coming from you right now.”

I sighed.

“Fine.”

Then I released the full brunt of my aura for 10 seconds.

An earthquake shook the terrain and Grace grunted before letting me go. Her hands beginning to crack as the aura faded.

She gasped and started breathing again, minor cracks spread across her skin.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah… that… was… intense… It was like I was staring at Morgan herself… How have you grown that much.”

Taury was also shocked by my aura.

“Didn’t you already feel that?”

“No… it’s far stronger than what you had before. That was on par with the aura I release in the nexus…”

Grace sighed.

“We should probably check if theirs an earth golem.”

“Why?”

“Do you really think that you can just release an Earthquake with that much shaking as often as you have and there won’t be an earth golem in at least one of them?”

“I guess.”

Then Brent looked at her.

“Shouldn’t we leave a golem alone if one appeared?”

Then Grace smiled.

“Not with me here, an infantile will mark me as a guardian.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I marked Roman when I was an infantile.”

I blinked.

“So, that’s how you two know each other.”

“Yep, what, you thought we just knew each other as atronachs?”

“Kind of.”

She rolled her eyes and walked out, luckily, there was no infantile.

“Alright, well, let’s go to college.”

We all walked when I smelled something.

“Smoke.”

We rushed forward and saw something horrifying.

The college was on fire.