Chapter 87: The tribe begged
A collective, hesitant rustle from the edge of the bone-white forest made her tilt her head up.
Her eyes narrowed into a cold, immediate scowl. She reached down, her fingers instinctively brushing against the handle of the high-voltage stun rod at her harness.
Emerging from the long shadows of the trees was the gray-tailed Chief, his movements stiff and heavy.
Behind him walked Elder Meira, her seven tails tightly tucked in a defensive fan, followed by the rest of the tribal elders and a sizable crowd of the Fox Tribe’s kin.
They weren’t armed, not like they needed weapons to practice illusion arts, and their heads were lowered, but their sudden advance in the dimming light made the hairs on Hana’s arms stand up.
Caspian instantly stepped into a defensive stance, a low growl vibrating from his chest as his obsidian wings spread wide to block the path.
Raiden’s lazy smile vanished entirely, his green eyes flashing with an icy, dangerous loathing as he stared directly at his father.
Hana lifted her tablet, her gaze deadpan and lethal as she watched the entire procession stop just at the edge of the waterfall’s spray.
What are they up to now? she thought, her brow twitching in pure annoyance.
If these backward traditionalists were about to block her exit after a twelve-hour shift of the heavy stuff, she was going to let Caspian turn the entire ravine into a charcoal pit after all.
The Chief stopped a few paces away in the cold waterfall spray. The silence that followed was heavy, broken only by Kulu unhooking the last heavy crate behind them.
Then, the Chief slowly lowered himself.
His knees hit the wet rock. Behind him, Elder Meira hesitated for a second before she also dropped down. One by one, the tribal elders and the crowd of fox-kin followed, their heads bowed under the dimming orange sky.
Hana’s gaze swept over them, her eyes reading their postures like data on her tablet.
She could see the resentment in the younger ones and the begrudging pride in the elders who were clearly doing this out of fear of Caspian’s flame.
Still, the fact that the Chief had actually gathered them up and convinced them to kneel showed real effort. They wanted to survive, and they wanted her medicine.
The Chief looked up, his milky emerald eyes fixing on his son. "We invoked a judgment that was unmerciful," the Chief said, his voice cracking. "We allowed tradition to blind us. For the sake of the tribe’s future... I ask for your forgiveness, Raiden. For what was done to your mother. And for what was done to you."
Raiden stood perfectly still, his pink tails pinned flat against his legs. He stared down at his father, his jaw locking tightly.
For a long moment, nobody spoke. Then, Raiden threw his face aside with a sharp, bitter hmph.
"It’s that easy for you, isn’t it?" Raiden spat, his usual playful tone completely gone. "A few bent knees in the mud. Apologies—not even if it’s the Fire King himself who goes down on his knees—can never bring my mother back."
He slowly looked back down at them, a cruel smile returning to his face. "But you all look good on your knees. Right where the dirt is. Just where you belong."
"You arrogant bastard!"
A younger, nine-tailed male fox-kin near the front slammed his fists onto the stone and leaped to his feet.
"How dare you speak to the Chief that way? You bring a human and monsters to destroy our home, and you expect us to—"
"Silence!" the Chief commanded, but it was too late.
Raiden’s emerald eyes suddenly flared. He didn’t rely on Caspian’s fire or Kulu’s wings this time. A heavy pink mist violently erupted from the tips of his nine tails, shooting forward like a physical whip and wrapping instantly around the shouting male’s throat.
The male stopped mid-rant, his eyes widening as his hands flew to his neck. He began to choke on the air, his feet lifting a few inches off the wet stone as the mist coiled tighter.
"Raiden, please! Stop! You’ll kill him!"
The four-tailed female from before—the one who had tried to act like his long lost lover in the bunker—broke from the crowd. She threw herself toward Raiden’s feet, tears streaming down her face.
"Please! He’s my brother! He didn’t know any better! Forgive him this once! I beg of you!"
Raiden didn’t even look down at her. With a brutal flick of his wrist, he slammed the choking male sideways into the rocky ground.
The male hit the floor with a dull thud and went completely limp, unconscious but still breathing shallowly. The pink mist disintegrated into nothing. The four-tailed female shrieked and scrambled to her brother’s side, while the rest of the tribe watched in terrified silence.
Hana watched the whole thing without shifting her stance. So, this is Raiden’s illusion arts. A soft chime echoed from her system window and the blue screen flickered to life before her eyes.
> [MIGRATION INITIATED: FOX TRIBE SUBJUGATION]
> Current Status: Compliance achieved.
> Note: Labor force increased by approximately 240 units.
If they are a threat, the system will let me know, but I cannot be fully dependent on the system’s rating lest I get caught off guard, so I shall watch their actions.
She scanned the situation. The expressions of the younger generation and the way the elders were keeping their tails down. They were capable of being submissive so she’ll work with that.
"He’ll live," Hana said, her voice clinical as she cut through the female’s crying. She stepped past Raiden, stopping right in front of the kneeling Chief.
"The terms remain unchanged. Pack what you can carry. My Boars will direct your people to the lower sectors of the Peak. You work, you follow my rules, and you get what everyone else is getting. Break them, and I’ll let Raiden finish what he started." She said and then her lips curled. "But if you aren’t scared of Raiden, I’ll just let Caspian do the job."
She turned on her heel, her white dress catching the damp wind as she looked at her other mates waiting just a few steps behind.
"Caspian, Kulu, haul the last batch. We’re going home."
