My bad.

Those two words hit the prince’s heart like it was a nail.

“My bad? You destroyed my mansion and you’re saying my bad?”

Christi said with a trembling voice.

He unsteadily stood up and glared at Rory. He then drew two knives from who knows where.

“I’m going to carve you up.”

He said with clear bloodlust.

“Wait, Christi.”

At that moment, Reina appeared from underneath the rubble after lifting off some debris off her.

“Don’t fight him. I still haven’t lost yet.”

She stood in front of the prince and said.

“You’re a prince, sit back and let your subordinates handle the dirty work for you like a king should.”

“I don’t want to become king in the first place.”

Christi stepped out from behind her.

“If it’s a king’s duty to watch his friends die for his ambition, then I’ll gladly become a commoner.”

He said.

“I’ve told you already, never say that out loud. Remember our circumstances.”

Reina said.

“Hmmm…..From this dialogue doesn’t it make me look like the bad guy here?”

Rory said with a troubled expression.

“Well, aren’t you?”

Reina replied.

“I’m an upstanding citizen. I steal my taxes like everyone else.”

Rory said with a straight face.

“Besides, I think you guys are misunderstanding something here.”

He pointed at them.

“I just came to check you guys out. Why are you guys talking like this is a life a death battle?”

“Huh?”

Christi and Reina were confused by what he said.

“You didn’t come here to destroy us because my people pissed you off?”

Christi asked.

“Who said that?”

Rory looked offended.

“I only returned the women who poisoned me, you guys were the ones who attacked me.”

“But didn’t you hurt the women?”

Reina asked.

“How rude.”

Rory placed his hand on his chest.

“I am a gentleman.”

He then said-

“I only got them drunk and carried them off without no one knowing.”

“That’s the complete opposite of being a gentleman!”

Rory only shrugged in response to one of masked people’s retort.

“Hey, I never said I was perfect.”

He said.

“What’s with this guy? Boss, can we attack all together?”

Reina shook her head in response to the question from her subordinate.

“Devil King.”

“Please, call me Rory.”

“……..”

She paused after hearing Rory say that, but continued.

“You didn’t come for revenge?”

“Nope.”

“Then why did you come here?”

“Would you believe me if I said that I just wanted to see those who study the Boomslang style?”

He jumped off the rubble and stood in front of Reina. All the masked figures looked ready to attack, but stopped when the prince lifted his hand.

“Interesting. So the two of you have the same level of authority over your subordinates.”

Rory said with a nod.

“I’ve already told Roc that my friend who was a fellow member of Pandemonium created the art you’re practicing. So I wanted to see if it’s being put into good use.”

He looked at the prince.

“And I have to say that I’m impressed.”

“So you destroyed my mansion and damaged my people to test us out?”

The prince asked.

“Yeah….I kinda went overboard.”

Rory said with a laugh.

“But it’s not entirely my fault though. It was just so fun fighting you guys that I lost control.”

He then looked at Reina and showed a sly smile.

“Especially her.”

Reina looked at him with her blood colored eyes with no hint of fear.

“The eyes of the Megals are always so pleasing to look at. It and the Lodon’s sunset hair are some of the most beautiful things in the world, in my opinion.”

He stretched his hand out towards her face, but she drew back to prevent him from touching her.

“My apologizes. How rude of me.”

He said with a bright smile.

“But it’s been years since I’ve last seen a Megal.”

He stepped back a little.

“And one so ferocious too.”

He looked at the prince.

“You’re quite lucky to have someone like this on your side.”

“Reina and the others are my irreplaceable comrades. I’m always grateful towards them.”

Christi replied.

“It seems that way. I mean, they even came attacking me without a second thought.”

Rory said.

“Normally, I would slaughter you all and your families as a retaliation, but that’s the old me. The new me is all about peace and love….Well, until I get drunk anyway.”

He said with a thumbs up.

“……….”

Everyone started to wonder if he was serious or just joking around.

“Reina is it?”

“Yes.”

“Were you born in the wild? Or did you live there for a few years?”

“That’s not of your business.”

Reina replied.

“I see. I guess you’re right.”

Rory didn’t get mad and just showed an understanding smile.

“I’m sure you’ll tell me when we get to know each better.”

“Why do you sound like you intend to stick around me? Just so you know, I don’t like you in the least. You blew my cover at the Pleasure Garden, you nearly killed Roc, you destroyed our home, and I’m pretty sure you’re on the second prince’s side.”

Reina replied.

“That’s right! We don’t like you!”

“Stop hitting on the boss, you bastard!”

“The boss perfect body is ours!”

The masked people chanted. One of the chants seemed different from the others though.

“Hey, I’m innocent. The Pleasure Garden incident is because I wasn’t sure if you were a Megal or not because of your disguise. Roc was the one who hurt himself, and finally I haven’t picked a side in this succession battle.”

Rory suddenly paused, and smiled after a while.

“On second thought, I think I’ll take the second prince side.”

He said.

They all were a bit surprised to hear him to bluntly declare that he had taken a side.

“However, it’s not because I believe he’s fit to rule. In fact, I don’t really know any of you to say who would be the better leader.”

“Then why choose my brother?”

Christi asked.

“Because it would be fun.”

Rory answered immediately.

“You have her and the Boomslang Ninjas, and I’m sure Amelia will side with the first prince, so If I side with Liam won’t the playing field be leveled?”

He showed a smile which made their hearts speed up.

“We can play a vivid game of capture the throne.”

Everyone started glaring at him when he said.

“This isn’t a game.”

Christi said.

“For me, everything in life is a game; and just like a game I lose sometimes and I win the other times.”

He started walking past the prince and Reina.

“If you guys wanna survive this, remember these words well.”

They immediately turned around to look at him, but he was no where to be seen.

“That guy will be troublesome.”

Said Reina.

“He’s already troublesome.”

Christi looked at the ruins in front of him.

“Come fix my house, you son of bitch!”

His shout echoed through the night.

A few minutes later, Rory who had returned to the section of the palace that he and Amelia were staying, had a huge smile on his face.

“Reina huh? She’s no way inferior to Amelia, and is quite an interesting woman.”

He remembered the iron claws Reina used to slash him.

“Those weren’t her Animus. So it had to be a technique of some kind, or….”

He paused for a bit before saying-

“Could it be that she’s close to awakening?”

He suddenly looked even more excited.

“If that’s true then that would be very exciting. I haven’t met an awaken Megal in a long time.”

He crossed his arms behind his head as he walked.

“It would be great if I could obtain her. If she’s paired with Amelia, I’m sure they’ll form an invincible duo in the future.”

He said.

“But I don’t want to force her. It’s against my code to force myself on people who aren’t my enemies.”

He frowned.

“There’s also the fact that Lodons and Megals can’t get along with each other in most cases. It’s literally in their genes to be at odds with each other.”

Majority of the humans in this world are descendants of an Evolved Primate beast, however, there are humans who descended from other ancient beasts who evolved after grasping the concept of anima as well. The two main types are the Lodons and the Megals.

The Lodons are descendants of the ancient beast known as the Smilodon aka the Sun Cat.

The Megals are descendants of the ancient beast known as the Megalania. It was considered to be the largest lizard to ever walk the earth. It’s said to even prey on dinosaurs in the past. It was a powerful beast, that became even more powerful after grasping the concept of anima.

Some even believed that it evolved into a dragon before morphing into a humanoid shape. Like the Smilodon, it’s descendants continued to Evolve until they reached their current forms as humans. However, like the Lodons, they mated with the humans that descended from the ancient Primate beast and lost most of their advantages as descendants of the Megalania.

The only way to regain those advantages is experience an “awakening”, similar to the Lodons.

Another thing was, for some reason the Lodons and the Megals seem to instinctively hate each other. There a lot of theories on the reason why like: because they were both apex predators in the past, they fought over territory and hunting grounds so many times that their hatred for each other was passed down to their descendants.

But no one knows the real reason.

“Even if I obtain Reina there’s a high chance she and Amelia will go at it.”

Rory said.

“Well, I’ll deal it if that time comes.”

He said with a shrug.

At that moment he arrived at his room door. He opened it and has expected, he saw Amelia inside.

“Ah, Rory.”

She was sitting on the bed, but stood up when she saw him.

“……..”

Rory looked at her in silence for a while, while paying attention to her body language, expressions, and breathing.

“You seem tense. Are you nervous about something?”

He locked the door and entered the room after saying so.

“No….rather than nervous….”

Amelia stop speaking half way through and averted her eyes over to something else. Rory found her current behavior, which was like a child who’s feeling guilty, rather cute to watch.

“I see. You’ve cheated on me.”

He said with an intentionally depressed tone.

“Wha?! I didn’t cheat on anyone!”

Amelia responded.

“I’m a single woman, just to be clear.”

“Oh? So you admit that you were getting friendly with another man behind my back.”

Rory said.

Amelia jumped when she heard that as if admitting to her guilt.

“Alright. Time to kill a prince.”

Rory said while cracking his fingers.

“Wait, wait, wait! Don’t be hasty!”

Amelia approached him and stopped him from leaving the room by holding his arm.

“I wasn’t doing anything you need to kill someone over!”

She said.

“I know.”

Rory turned around and smiled at her.

“I was just messing with you.”

He said while placing his hand on her head in a playful manner.

“That wasn’t funny.”

Amelia slapped his hand off her head.

“If you want to side with the first prince, then be my guest.”

Rory suddenly said.

“How did you know that that was what I wanted to talk about?”

Amelia asked in surprise.

“Because the two of you have similar personalities, so I know that you two would get along from the beginning.”

Rory answered.

He then moved to the bed and sat on it.

“Do what you want. I myself have just decided to side with the Second prince.”

“Wha?!”

Rory smiled at Amelia’s shocked reaction.

“I guess that make us enemies. Well, only when concerning this.”

“Why are you siding the second prince?”

“Because you’re siding with the first prince, and I like Liam. He’s a cool guy.”

Rory responded.

“So you mean that you’re just doing it to annoy me?”

Amelia asked with a frown.

“Well, I can’t deny that.”

Rory said with a laugh.

Amelia glared at him while he laughed joyously.

“This competition between the princes is no laughing matter. One wrong move and a lot of people can lose their lives. How can you treat it like a game?”

“Because I can. People’s convictions, motives, and morals mean little to me.”

She was surprised by his answer, and soon became angry.

“Are you really such a selfish bastard?”

She asked.

“I told you already didn’t I? There’s nothing wrong with being selfish. It’s what makes you human, and as a human I need to show my selfish side.”

She gritted her teeth when she heard his response.

“I know you’re trying to anger me on purpose, but you can be a real dick sometimes.”

She turned her back to him and started to leave the room.

“Elia.”

That’s when Rory called out her, causing her to stop and look at him. He had a serious expression on his face.

“No matter what happens in this kingdom from here on out, remember one thing.”

He spoke with a serious tone.

“You and I are partners, and nothing can come between that. Don’t allow yourself to be drag too deep into this.”

Amelia looked at him in silence for a while, before simply nodding and leaving. After she left, Rory laid on the bed.

“Now then, everything is set. I didn’t want to get involved at first, but since I’ve already help this country out once before I can do it again.”

He smiled.

“I’ll give this country a chance at survival.”