After thoroughly beating the crap out of the lizardman, Arnold finally stopped. He had the information he needed. So... He decided to put an end to the monster's misery and killed it without any hesitation, just like the ones he had killed before. Only Talos had witnessed him doing so but the pleading cries of the lizardman were heard by a lot of people standing outside the room, including Nina.

She had intended to have a talk with Arnold regarding a lot of issues, like just how afraid of him the warriors were because of his temperament. But most importantly, to tell him that she was getting concerned about him and his erratic behaviour.

​​

But Arnold didn't come out of the room for a long time. Instead, he called Alleiah inside the interrogation room for some reason. From then on, everything went silent for a couple of hours or so. No one knew what was going inside the room. Most of them thought Arnold was torturing her too.

But their thoughts came crashing down when the doors opened once again and Arnold walked outside of the room along with Alleiah, who was wagging her tail behind him like an obedient dog.

The moment Nina saw Arnold, she felt like something was off... As if the Arnold standing in front of them wasn't the Arnold that went inside the room. Something had changed.

But there possibly couldn't have been a reason for it, right? After all, there was no one else inside the room apart from a few lizardman corpses.

While Nina was absorbed staring at Arnold like a paranoid person, Arnold called Nathan and the rest of the leaders of the syndicate for an emergency meeting. Out of the remaining heads, only five of them had accompanied the warriors to lead the battle while the rest of them chose to stay behind to maintain order in West America. They reasoned that they shouldn't throw everything they have on one matter as that would lead to a disaster in case the plan to retake the swamps failed again.

It was a bullshit reason, everyone knew it. But it was enough reason for Arnold to not bring them along as they would only cause issues and complicate an already complicated situation. He didn't need people who'll cause trouble for him.

Either way, the meeting started once everyone was there. And Arnold notified them that he finally had a solid lock on the location of the main lizardman base. It's wasn't that far away. It was almost so close to the naga city, that no one would've expected them to have a base there. It wouldn't be incorrect to say that the two cities were like neighbours to each other. So yeah... Really close.

Still, Arnold hadn't seen it with his own eyes so there was a possibility that the lizardman had fooled him in his dying moments. So as usual, Arnold suggested forming a task force comprising mostly of the nagas and send them on a quick recon mission to confirm the facts.

They all quickly decided that it was the right path to go forward. But no one could notice something that Nina did.

Usually, Alleiah would throw a fit by now on how the lives of her people mattered too but this time she didn't protest. Instead, she volunteered to lead the reconnaissance mission herself! She was willing to lead her soldiers towards their certain doom.

Also, the way Arnold was speaking was nothing like him. For as long as she could remember, Arnold had been using unfiltered terms and rarely bothered to control his mouth. But now, he seemed to be more reserved. Moreover, he seemed to be... Emotionless as if a robot was impersonating him.

Something was wrong. Really wrong. But she couldn't point on why or how. In the end, she decided to let go of the matter but keep observing the happenings from the sidelines. Still, she wanted to have a chat with her boyfriend but whenever she tried to do so, she was either ignored or something important would pop up and Arnold would have to leave.

By this time, Nina was really suspicious. Especially after the 180° flip in Alleiah's behaviour. She discussed it with Nicole who said that although she too found it a bit weird as well, she wasn't much worried about anything. Nicole also said that Arnold often has mood swings that could put even the girls to shame and that it was probably just one of those times, and not to think too much about it.

Talking with Nicole put Nina at ease. Just a little bit though. She was still having second thoughts but after thinking about it for a few more minutes, she chalked it up to her stress.

Little did she know all of her doubts were spot on. There was a reason why Alleiah was following Arnold and turned from a fearsome lioness to a lost puppy. She was under Arnold's influence now. Or to elaborate, she had been turned into his 'Blood Pet'.

___

Bond formation... SUCCESS!

Transformation complete!

You've earned a new Ally!

[ALLY TYPE] :

: A unique type of Ally, who would fight till their last breath to honour their master's wishes and specialises in mid to short-range combat techniques. Also, they are known to have deadly magical abilities. If a bond is formed with a 'monster' possessing magical abilities, they are most likely to end up being a pet.

[SYNERGY EFFECT]:

:

(When ordered to attack someone by the master.)

Strength (STR) increases by: 10%

Agility (AGI) increases by: 11%

Mana increases by: 5%

:

(While defending the master.)

Strength (STR) increases by: 15%

Defence (DEF) increases by: 11%

Mana increases by: 6%

Magical strength increases by: 2%

You've gained a new ally to aid you in your battles.

EXP: +2000

___

The sole purpose for calling Alleiah inside the torture chamber was to turn her into an ally. Arnold had been thinking about it for a while and ultimately decided to go for it as in future he would require someone to take care of the swamps in his absence and what better way to do so than to forcefully turn someone into his loyal subject?

Meanwhile, Nicole was wondering why Arnold didn't share his plans with her? After all, she had the skills to know what had happened inside the room or more precisely to know what happened with Alleiah but she didn't know why was 'Arnold' acting weird. Donna had already informed her about the former part.

Also, if Arnold didn't tell Nina about Alleiah, there must've been a reason for it. Hence, she didn't tell her either. Whatever her brother was planning to do, she had to make sure no one interfered in his business. That's the least she could do for now.