"Sky King's Claws!" Faolan swished in the air, firing three slices at the gelphin.

The creature winced and screeched like a distorted whistle.

Falling on his back as he rushed to get off, the fragile-boned chap strained to sit himself up and cheered with a brandished fist. "Go, my creation! All we need is his hair! Nyahaha!"

The gelphin clicked its tongue and floated towards Faolan. Its empty eyes set with a menacing stare.

"Sky King's Fangs!" The redhead casted, throwing the beast backward with spear-shaped projectiles.

"Listen, Sir." Onyx returned his sword and crossed his arms. "You were fucked enough without Faolan here. If you escape now, we won't chase you."

"No!" The chap got to his feet and patted some dust off his white lab coat. "I'm not leaving till I get what I need. Gelphin!"

The creature's eyes dilated as it pushed itself off the ground. Flames showered where it was. It looked up, straight at Faolan, and launched itself with all four arms spinning like drills as they readied to land blows on The Dragonlaird.

"Sky King's Cry!" Faolan breathed out flames that sent the gelphin unconscious on the ground.

"Well, there goes your ride." Onyx tsked. "You should have left when we gave you the opportunity."

The old chap's legs trembled as he watched, horror keeping his wrinkled jaws from locking together.

"What's going on here?" asked a man wearing an orange tabard, riding on the back of a teal-scaled beast in the water. "I a--Lord Faolan?"

The redhead's wings vaporized as he landed on the footway and twisted to see the man. "Ah. Perfect timing, officer. Please restrain this man and send him to the dungeons."

"No! I'm not going anywhere!" The chap squeezed his fists together and drew in as much breath as he could before shouting, "Akama!!! Come save me!!!" His earsplitting voice cut the air, then, after just about three seconds, a throat tightening growl echoed out of the hole that the gelphin has dug.

"Watch out!" Alia warned.

As it landed on its feet, the creature's claws scraped on wooden planks. Golden fur fluffed from its ankles to its legs. Its knees up to its waist were concealed by commando trousers. Sparsely spread wool has covered its abdomen. Its muscly neck, shoulders, and arms stole little attention from its marble-white nails. Its eyes, displaying just as much fierceness as its fangs, watched Fable Eclipse murderously.

"A werelion."

"A were..." Kirin mumbled as he slowly sat up. "Did you say 'werelion'?"

"Pfft." Onyx prepared his hand on his sword's hilt. "Go ahead! Send any pet of yours out. Let's see all of them stacked dead."

"Gasp!" With one hand, Kirin covered his mouth while pointing accusingly with the other. "F-F-Furry!"

"Huh?" Both the old chap and the werelion blinked confusedly.

"You're like a full-on fursona, only that you're actually real! I learned a lot about you guys from one of my classmates back at the academy. You even have the muscles and everything from the drawings I saw."

"What in heaven's name are you talking about, mortal?" The werelion sneered.

"Wait. Fursonas don't necessarily have to be the furries. But...!" Kirin redirected his pointing at the chap. "I'm almost certain you are, aren't you?!"

"What?! No?!" The chap pressed his index fingertips at each other.

"You've shown us two anthropomorphic creatures so far. Wonder how many more you have."

"Nya! Suggesting I have more is just absolute preposterousness!" retorted the chap. "Besides! What's so wrong with being a furry, huh?!"

Kirin shrugged. "Well, we do all have our preferences."

"Exactly!"

Onyx's eyebrows twitched. "Faolan. Something's off with this werelion."

"You noticed too." The redhead resummoned his wings and aimed his blade at the creature.

"Any idea what it is?"

"It's my father."

Shock stole all noise from the scene.

By then, the civilians who were earlier crowding the now keeperless stalls have all vacated. The footways and the roads have all become blank, save for some coaches and bags left abandoned. And even the air seemed to have run away as no wind came to interrupt the stillness.

"Your..." Kirin cupped his mouth once again. "...father?!"

"King Nycius?" Alia was twisting to see.

"This kingdom's king is a furry?!"

The werelion remained unmoving for quite a while, then finally budged to release a deep sigh. "I'm surprised." Its voice echoed. "Did not expect you to recognize me, especially in this form."

"I recognized your energy."

"Hurh." The werelion's cheeks stretched to sides. "You took time to familiarize it?"

Creases in Faolan's forehead deepened.

"Hold on!" Kirin barked. "Are we not talking about the fact that this kingdom's king is a furry?!"

"No. We are not." Onyx shot a glare.

Light discharged from where the werelion was. It was fazing, yet still clearly showed when the creature's body shrunk to that of a thirty-something human male whose eyes and hair were golden brown. When it subsided, a half-naked King Nycius was standing in front, holding his hips.

"Oh my gosh!!!" Kirin pointed accusingly once more. "That werelion earlier really was just a fursona!!!"

King Nycius was initially smiling, but the expression shortly dropped as he heard what Kirin said. "I think I'd enjoy making you my chew toy."

"Gasp." Kirin looked away and hid his face behind crossed arms. "Faolan! Your father's a dirty OM."

"No way... All this time..." The chap's eyes nearly rolled out of their eyeballs as he gawked in awe at the King of Beasts. "You... were Akama...?"

King Nycius smirked. "You! Officer. Take the scientist to my special cell."

Still swaying in the sea, on that teal-scaled creature, the man in the orange tabard flinched and then quickly saluted, leaped off the beast and onto the seawall, and locked the chap's arms behind.

"Wait! King Nycius! I did it all for you!" The chap shouted as the officer dragged him away. "I love you! I offer all my knowledge to you, my king! Please!"

"How many psychos have you been working with while I've been away?" Faolan put his attention back on the king.

King Nycius lifted his shoulders. "Without you and Odess around, of course, I had to find other ways to entertain myself."

"Were you seriously gonna try and fight all of us?"

"Was I?" The king's eyebrows shot up. "I will still."

"What are you plotting?" Infuriation darkened the shade of Faolan's eyes.

"What's best for my enjoyment. If you know my energy enough to recognize me in beast forms, you should probably also know I only ever do what I do for my own pleasure."

Kirin's ears perked up.

Another smirk appeared on King Nycius's face. "Beast Dominion. Subjugation!"

An orange forcefield flailed from the king's arm and engulfed and stunned Faolan's body.

"Beast Dominion. Enrage!"

The gelphin gasped as its eyes and the veins in its contracting muscles gleamed orange. "Tkk. Krkk." It stared at the skies, as if lifeless, for a good moment, then arose and studied Fable Eclipse like it was about to lacerate them all.

Alia rushed to get up. "Purple Emperor's Magic! Tranquili--"

"Krkk!!!" The gelphin punched the air, delivering whirls of wind at the fairy and sending her tumbling away.

"Alia!" Kirin called.

"Ergh." Onyx hunkered down, sprung up at the creature, and spun, slashing and hacking with his sword. "Moon Magic! Lunar Eruption!"

White missiles flurried all over the gelphin.

It covered its face with its arm and, when the attack ended, retaliated by spinning its forelimbs and pummeling the footway, creating a sudden crevice where Onyx was about to fall.

"Gravitate!" The blue knight leaped further back.

"I'm helping!" Kirin smacked his fists and drew in energy. "Vampire Magic! Moon's Whisper!"

Almost instantly, as if it was planning to anyway, the gelphin diverged its intent to kill onto the trap. "Krkk!"

Kirin grinned. "I like that look."

The gelphin floated upwards then began punching so vigorously that rapid bolts of wind struck and pushed the trap a significant distance back.

"Your friends are screwed." King Nycius snickered. "This will be good for entertainment."

Faolan shot the god a scowl. "We'll see who's screwed in a second."

"Gravitate!" Onyx hacked and pointed his blade at Kirin.

The trap's feet clung to the ground, keeping him in place. "Thanks!"

"You keep it distracted!"

"Of course!"

"Moon Magic! Lunar Eruption!" Onyx succeeded in delivering his attacks, yet the beast merely ignored his presence.

Alia struggled for air, pulling herself back up, then raised her fingers and chanted, "Purple Emperor's Magic. Amethyst Heart."

Violet lights danced around Kirin, and the same tint shimmered in his eyes as he casted, "Thorns Drain!"

The gelphin retaliated, punching and punching and punching Kirin at his chest.

"Kyaaaaaaa!" went the longest of screams in all history of Cernunnos, as the gelphin kept on with its spinning arms.

Onyx flashed left and right, inflicting wounds wherever the creature had flesh, while Alia kept Kirin's health in check.

"Am I being..." Kirin gasped for air. "...fisted?"

King Nycius frowned very briefly, then turned with a kind expression for Faolan. "They are pretty interesting, huh? I even think... looking at this situation from a bystander's perspective, you seem to be the most helpless. At this rate, I might consider continuing my experiments on your friends instead."

Faolan's eyes ignited, and the orange force keeping him stunned evaporated as if it was water in hell.

Half a second passed, and the footway that they were standing on began melting, and waves that reached the seawall boiled.

"Ah. This power. It's been years since I've last felt it, Pharohi."

"Faolan! No!" Alia's spell halted as shock wafted into her eyes.

Onyx watched the road slowly turn to liquid, letting carts and carriages sink, and the boards they were standing on catch fire, closing at his feet. "Fly! All of you!" He jumped and used his magic to create a constant stream of waves to keep him levitating.

The Gravitate Spell on Kirin wore off, and one punch from the gelphin sent him flying even without Onyx or Alia's help. "Vampiric Lycanthropy!" The trap morphed and flapped faster than a hummingbird to gain control of his flight.

Alia summoned wings on her back.

Faolan's also appeared. Though flames were blazing all around him, the knight shot an ironically cold glare at the gelphin. He darted, disappearing for a moment, only to reappear as if he had teleported, his fingers quickly clenching the gelphin by the neck.

The creature sizzled and went up in flames.

Faolan tossed the burnt body into the ocean and faced King Nycius.

The God of Beasts smirked. "You're truly still my most wonderful creation."

The redhead conjured a ball of fire between his palms. So bright, it glowed, and so warm, it looked like a child of the sun.

King Nycius transformed into a beaked, winged humanoid and flapped to fly. Right above, he went. Behind him, the City of Ollepheist stood and waited like souls haunting from the past. The god chuckled, then announced, "But you have one imperfection!"

Faolan's ball of fire slowly dimmed, then all flames subsided immediately after. Concrete solidified once again, and the ocean stopped bubbling. The Dragonlaird returned to the ground and unsummoned his wings, and just as the horizon slowly consumed the sun, fear and regret replaced the anger within him.

King Nycius crossed his now feathered arms.

"Faolan...?" Kirin whispered as he morphed back to his human self, then gently laid a hand on the man's shoulder. "They told me everything."

Alia and Onyx also came back down.

"I understand it must have been agonizing... carrying all that guilt at such a young age. While it's true you may have served a hand in the loss of all those people... isn't it true too that you've lent a hand for the lives of the rest? You're a hero. Sometimes heroes are forced to choose to sacrifice, whether they want to take that decision or not. What happened that day wasn't your sin. Tell me, was it you who asked Nihila to come attacking? Nope! But it was you who drove him off. All of that destruction... wasn't your fault! In fact, none of that was your responsibility. It was to save Ollepheist! And you did! Your power... saved... them."

All kinds of heads peeked from windows of the buildings behind King Nycius. In the sea, from safe distances, others on ocean mounts were also spectating.

"You've been helping so much more. With us. With Fable Eclipse. With all those quests we've been taking. Have you not thought of that?" Kirin held his waist. "For the record, I'm not telling you this because we need you to stay with us. Even though you're half of our firepower, you should know very well the three of us would do just fine without you. I'm telling you this because I want you to stay. Because I like being with you. I mean, that was mostly the reason why I joined the party when you invited me. I could very well have just joined anyone I wanted."

"Kirin, no one was wanting you," Faolan mumbled.

"I--" Kirin bit his lip, suppressing a squeal. "That's not a very nice thing to say to someone consoling you."

"Kirin was mostly right," Onyx spoke up.

"Mostly right...? You mean there was still something I said wrong?"

Alia elbowed Onyx. "You just left out that we want him to stay too. It's all three of us."

Faolan chuckled. "For goodness' sake. What was it I said again? Better I leave before something makes me think twice?" The Dragonlaird closed his eyes and oped his palm.

A ball of fire ignited.

"Sky King's Breath."