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One(Leviathan)shat
The war between humans and demonkind was, to put it plainly, the stupidest thing I'd ever witnessed in my five centuries years of existence.
Actually, scratch that. I once watched a goblin try to eat a rock because I told him it was edible. This war ranked slightly below that.
"But Yuno," an optimistic fool like you would say, "Surely there's a reason for all this bloodshed?"
No, there wasn't.
What happened was this: about three years ago, some human kingdom got it into their heads that demons were "threatening the natural order" which, translated from human-speak, meant they'd decided demons looked scary and therefore needed to be eliminated. The Demon King, who'd been minding his own business in his territory for the past century or so, suddenly found himself getting holy swords chucked at him.
He fought back, obviously, and now here we were, locked in a continent-wide conflict because humans couldn't mind their own business.
The worst part was I got dragged into it. Me, an elf who spent the last century living a perfectly pleasant life in the forest. I had a cave. A nice cave, mind you, with good drainage and plenty of space for my wyvern, three griffins, a juvenile hydra, too many phoenixes to count, and that one manticore with anxiety. I even had a moss garden going on.
Was that too much to ask? Apparently yes.
Because the humans, in their infinite wisdom, decided anyone who wasn't actively helping them slaughter demons must be "demon sympathizers." They burnt half my forest and kindly went as far to "save" me by dragging me to their refugee camp where they could "re-educate" me.
I broke a human's nose and fled north.
The Demon King found me a couple weeks later and offered me a deal: work for him, and he'd establish sanctuaries for the creatures.
The deal wasn't all sunshine and rainbows though. In exchange for unconditional access to his land for my sanctuary, I had to let him borrow the creatures for the war effort.
"Borrow" being the polite term for "conscription" because right now, the Demon King had my griffins on aerial reconnaissance and my wyvern doing supply runs. Even my hydra was some outpost somewhere in the northern mountains and yes, this is the same hydra that would throw tantrums if his water wasn't the right temperature.
You might be wondering, "Yuno, why don't you fight? Surely an elf of your caliber could single handedly take down a human kingdom herself?"
Well, two reasons.
First, fighting humans was like fighting crybabies, which was exactly why I hadn't fought back in the forest. I'd win, obviously, but then they'd spend the next several decades sobbing about it, writing tragic ballads about the "evil demon-loving witch-hag," and commissioning paintings where I somehow ended up as some hideous, six-limbed monster with glowing red eyes.
Second, the Demon King almost never lets the creatures out of the sanctuary to do their creature things, which meant they'd get fat and lazy if they don't chase around humans once in a while.
I'd learned that lesson the hard way when I kept my phoenixes cooped up for six months straight. They got so bored they started setting fire to their own nests, and I spent three weeks rebuilding perches and listening to them squawk whenever I suggested they could, perhaps, not burn their bedding.
So yeah, the contract was alright. I got to have my very own sanctuary without dealing with whiny humans, the Demon King got his living artilleries, and the creatures got exercise.
Everyone won. Everyone, that is, except the humans, but that was their own fault for starting this mess.
Which brings me to the present, where I'd been zoning out during yet another strategy meeting with the Demon King and his generals.
Yes, attending these meetings was part of the contract for my sanctuary, and no, I hadn't read the fine print, which was why I was here, suffering.
Anyway, there was zero point in paying attention because everyone at the table already knows not to piss me off. They'd learned that asking for my opinion was a gamble. I'd either tell them something useful or suggest they jump off a cliff, depending on my mood.
Unfortunately, some dumb newbie general didn't get that memo.
A young oni - couldn't have been more than fifty, which in demon years made him a toddler - was currently sitting beside me with a finger pointing my way.
"You're an S-Class mage, aren't you? So why haven't you set foot on a single battlefield? You know how fast this war could be over if you actually fought!"
The table fell silent. Only the Demon King shifted in his chair, and I swear he had a hint of amusement on his face. That bastard was enjoying this.
The oni seemed to take the silence as encouragement.
"If you're too scared to fight, just say so! We could use your spot for someone actually willing to-"
He stopped talking because I punched him in the nose.
Not with magic, no sir, just good old-fashioned knuckles to the cartilage. The crack was satisfying, and so was the way the oni's head bounced on the floor.
Look, I try to be peaceful when I can. I really do. But everyone at this table knew that if you pissed me off, you get punched.
Why the nose specifically? No particular reason. Well, actually, there was a reason, but it wasn't because I had some weird nose obsession or whatever sick thought just crossed your mind.
No, it was because my mentor punched me in the nose once, a long time ago. So long ago, in fact, I'd mostly forgotten what she looked like. But her punch? Clear as day. I could still feel the phantom pain sometimes, that awful crunch sound followed by the sloshing of the insides of my head.
So whenever someone needed punching, I aimed for the nose, and I figured the oni deserved something to remember for the next century.
Anyway, blood had started to pool beneath the oni's face now, spreading across the Demon King's nice polished floor in a slow, artistic sort of way.
I stared down at him. How did this dumbass even become a general? One punch and he was already out cold.
The Demon King chuckled.
I shot him a look. "Something funny?"
"Nothing." He was still smiling, that bastard.
Two demon guards dragged the unconscious oni out by the ankles, leaving a red streak across the floor. Someone would have to clean that later. That would probably me, knowing my luck.
The Demon King cleared his throat, composing himself. "Now then, where were we? Ah yes, the western front. Our scouts tell me the human kingdom is consolidating forces near the bypass, which means we'll need to launch a preemptive strike before they…"
My eyes drifted shut.
God, this was boring. Western front, eastern front, southern front - they all end up blurring into one big mushy front in the end. My phoenixes were probably setting something on fire right now. I should check on them after this.
"Yuno."
I jerked upright.
The Demon King was looking directly at me. "I'll need to borrow Akkun again."
Of course he did. Akkun was an Eastern dragon, the kind that can easily one-shot hero parties, which was exactly why the Demon King always wanted to borrow him.
"No."
"What was that?"
"You always take Akkun because he's your easy way out, but that leaves the others restless, and yours truly has to deal with that. Can't you take Oddie instead? That Leontocrocodile tore up half the furniture in your castle's east wing yesterday. He needs something to do."
"This situation requires Akkun's particular skillset."
"Every situation seems to require Akkun's particular skillset."
"Yes." The Demon King stood, signaling the end of discussion, "which is why there's nothing to discuss."
Just as I shoved my chair back and started marching after him, a hand landed on my shoulder. I whipped around, ready to deliver my signature punch, when I saw black fur and pointed ears.
Masaaki. The Black Wolf General, and one of maybe three living things in this entire continent I could tolerate for more than five minutes mostly because talking to him was like talking to one of my creatures, except he occasionally said something useful.
Also, his ears were extremely pettable, but I wasn't about to admit that out loud.
"Let it go," he said.
"Like hell I will."
"You know once the Demon King's locked in, there's no changing his mind. Sound familiar?"
My fingers went to my hair, grabbing the white strands hard enough that my head protested. This was stupid. Just because the Demon King thought he was generous by handing me land for my sanctuary didn't mean he could do whatever he wanted with my creatures. They were living beings with feelings and dietary restrictions, for god's sake.
Plus, Akkun didn't even like fighting. He did it because he's good at it, which was possibly the saddest reason to do anything.
"Look." Masaaki glanced toward the corridor where the Demon King had disappeared. "The western outpost is pretty far from here. Even with Akkun, it'll take the Demon King at least three days to get there, probably longer if humans decide to be extra annoying about it"
"So?"
"So the Demon King's going to be gone for a while. Can't you just take everyone out for a walk or something while he's gone?"
My brain caught up to what Masaaki was suggesting. Three days. The Demon King gone for three whole days, which meant I could take everyone out without the Demon King spying on us like some paranoid perv worried we'd break his contract.
"Masaaki, you're a genius."
Masaaki took a step back, ears flattening against his head. "What have you done with Yuno?"
"What?"
"The real Yuno doesn't give compliments. Who are you and what do you want?"
"I'm literally standing right here…?
Footsteps echoed from the corridor.
The Demon King reappeared in the doorway, arms crossed. "What are you two scheming?"
"Nothing." I put on my most innocent expression, the kind I used when one of my creatures had definitely eaten something they weren't supposed to and I needed to buy time.
The Demon King stared at me.
"Stop that."
Fine, whatever. I dropped the smile.
The Demon King turned to Masaaki. "You're coming with me to the western front, now."
Masaaki's shoulders stiffened before bowing. "Yes, my lord."
He fell into step behind the Demon King, shooting me one last glance as they headed toward the exit. His mouth moved silently: Fuck my life.
I almost felt bad for him, but that was what he got for being competent. Same as Akkun: he was too reliable, so naturally the Demon King dragged him everywhere he went.
The Demon King paused halfway through opening the door.
"Yuno." He didn't turn around. "Clean up that blood while I'm gone. Since you're the only one not going to the frontlines, you might as well make yourself useful."
"You can't be serious."
The door shut.
I stood there, staring at the smeared red streak across the floor.
Clean up the blood. The blood that was the oni's own fault for running his mouth, and now I had to be a temp janitor for the day.
I stared at the blood streak a moment longer.
Maybe I should go to the frontlines too and kill those humans and their stupid heroes with their stupid speeches about justice and righteousness. Once I get it over with I could finally return to the forest, salvage what's left of my cave, and spend the rest of my life in blissful solitude with my creatures. There'd be no more contracts, no more strategy meetings, and no more Demon King telling me to clean up blood.
The thought sat in my mind for exactly three seconds before my stomach turned.
Fighting humans.
God, no. Absolutely not. I rather scrub this entire castle than do that. The crying, the speeches about friendship and hope, and the inevitable survivor who'd track me down twenty years later for a redemption arc I never asked to be part of - I'd end up with a headache that lasted over a century.
Fine, I'd clean the blood, wait until the Demon King's gone, and take my creatures on that walk like Masaaki suggested.
I turned toward the sanctuary wing, searching for a bucket that would do the job. The onsen-style ones were sturdy, and… eh? Why was the bucket heavier than it should've been…?
I stopped mid-step, frowning down at the wooden container in my hands. Maybe one of the phoenixes had nested in there again, because they seemed to think every container in the sanctuary could be their nest.
Suddenly, I heard water inside slosh, and a head popped out.
It was Kuroppi. He was a Leviathan, capable of summoning tsunamis with a flick of his tail, except right now he was the size of a bath toy, blinking up at me with water dripping off his snout.
Masaaki had found him a month ago, knocked out cold by the pond after picking a fight with some human mage. One hit was all it took to floor a mythical sea serpent, which said everything about Kuroppi's combat ability, or should I say lack thereof.
I'd brought him back to the sanctuary to help him recover, but the second Kuroppi laid eyes on Akkun, he'd panicked, shrunk himself down (which I didn't even know Leviathans could actually do) and bolted.
Or so I thought. Apparently, he'd just been hiding in a bucket for the past month.
"You've been in there this whole time?"
Kuroppi ducked back under the water.
"Look, the Demon King took Akkun away, so you can come out now."
Kuroppi's head shot up so fast water splashed over the edge. His eyes darted left, then right, scanning the corridor. When he confirmed the coast was clear, he made a pleased chirping sound and settled back into his bucket.
I rubbed my face. "What am I going to do with you?"
Maybe I could bring Kuroppi on the walk too. I need to get him out of this bucket and show him there was more to life than hiding from dragons twice his size - well, more than twice his size right now.
"Hey." I held out my arm. "Climb on. We're going outside."
Kuroppi stared at my arm, then at his bucket, then back at my arm, before sinking back into the water.
"Come on, it's just a bucket. You don't need it."
Kuroppi wrapped his tail around the wood inside the bucket and made a whining sound.
"Are you seriously attached to-" I stopped. "Ugh, fine, we're bringing the bucket."
I hoisted the container up, water sloshing dangerously close to the rim, and headed toward the exit.
"Everyone out!" I called, kicking open the door. "We're going for a walk!"
The phoenixes burst from their perches in streaks of flame. Oddie lumbered out from his mud pit. The manticore peeked around the corner, saw me holding a bucket, and decided that was safe enough to follow.
The pond sat maybe half an hour's walk from the castle, tucked between a forest of silver birches. Water lilies dotted the surface, and the shallow parts were warm enough for cold-blooded creatures while the deeper end stayed cool for the ones who preferred it.
I found this place two months ago and immediately claimed it as mine. It had everything: open sky for the phoenixes, mud banks for Oddie, rocks for sunbathing, and enough space that nobody had to fight over territory. Plus, it was isolated enough that humans would never stumble across it.
I set the bucket down at the pond's edge, where the mud gave away to smooth stones.
"Out. For real this time."
Kuroppi's head emerged. Then he saw the phoenixes divebombing each other overhead, shrieking loud enough to wake the dead.
Kuroppi's eyes went wide before sinking back into the bucket.
"Oh for crying out loud, they're not going to eat you."
Bubbles rose to the surface.
"That's it."
I lifted the bucket and launched the thing into the water. The bucket hit the surface with a violent splash, and Kuroppi's tail flailed once before he disappeared beneath the surface.
I crouched at the water's edge. The bucket bobbed back up, but nothing else moved.
I leaned closer. "Kuroppi?"
Did he actually forget how to breathe underwater? Was that possible? Could a Leviathan be so spectacularly useless that a month in a bucket made him forget how to breathe?
The water started glowing, a bright blue luminescence that spread from the pond's center outward.
Kuroppi erupted from the pond.
His body uncoiled in sections, each segment expanding as the shrinking magic undid itself. Scales caught the light, reflecting iridescence. His head broke the surface last, easily the size of a carriage wagon, eyes blinking down at me with the same dumb expression he'd had in bucket-form.
The phoenixes shrieked and bolted for the trees. Oddie scrambled backward so fast he tripped over his tail, and even the manticore flattened himself on the ground, whimpering.
Meanwhile, Kuroppi floated in the center of the pond, looking confused about why everyone was suddenly terrified of him.
Ok, at least he managed to revert back to his normal size by himself. First step done. Step two: teach a Leviathan to not be pathetic, which meant getting him to act like the mythical beast he was supposed to be.
"Hey Kuroppi."
His massive head turned toward me, blinking slowly.
"You know shrinking magic, right?" So you must know other spells. Show me the coolest one you've got."
He stared at me. I stared back.
"Any day now."
Kuroppi's head dipped beneath the surface. For a second I thought he'd just given up and decided to hide underwater instead, but then the pond started glowing again but brighter this time, that same blue luminescence spreading outward in circles.
A massive magic circle formed above the water. It was easily fifty meters across, patterns spinning and interlocking as more layers materialized. The light was so bright I had to squint, and the hum of magic building made my ears ring.
Wait. This was the same size as the circle I'd used to level that abandoned human settlement last year, the one I'd cleared out to make grazing grounds for pegasi and unicorns, since they needed open fields and the humans had conveniently left behind a ghost kingdom.
That spell had leveled the entire place.
I quickly threw my hands up, calling on magic to flood toward my arms. My own circle materialized, gold and spinning counterclockwise to Kuroppi's blue. A dome-shaped barrier encompassing the entire pond area snapped into place just as-
A pathetic stream of water shot out.
It arced through the air, no thicker than my thumb, and splashed onto one of the phoenixes on a silver birch.
The phoenix shrieked. Fire erupted from its body, a miniature sun condensed in its beak before launching straight at Kuroppi. The fireball flew across the pond, heat warping the air, and detonated on him in a burst of flame and smoke that covered the entire forest.
When the smoke cleared, Kuroppi was completely unharmed. Something about water-dwelling creatures being immune to fire, but he whimpered anyway.
That's beside the point. Human water mages learned that spell in their first day of training. First day. I'd seen apprentices barely out of diapers conjure stronger streams.
Did I really have to teach a Leviathan water magic from scratch?
I pinched the bridge of my nose.
What would my mentor have done?
One memory came to mind immediately: my mentor's fist connecting with my nose, that awful pain, the way my vision had gone white for a solid three seconds. She'd been trying to teach me combat magic, and I kept overthinking instead of just doing it, so she punched me.
I looked at Kuroppi, still whimpering even though the fire was long gone.
Magic clearly wasn't his strong suit, but he was built like a battering ram with scales thick enough to shrug off phoenix fire and enough weight to flatten a castle, probably.
What if I just... taught him to punch people?
Teaching a Leviathan to punch people. That sounded unbelievably stupid, but for some reason, I was dead set on it.
I straightened up, pointing at Kuroppi. "Watch and listen up."
A fat oak stood near me, trunk wide enough that three people could easily hide behind it. I walked over and summoned a small flame from my right index finger. The fire was barely larger than a candle's, but hot enough to-
A whimper came from the pond.
I glanced back. Kuroppi had shrunk his head halfway beneath the water, eyes fixed on the tiny flame.
"Oh, relax. It's smaller than a phoenix fart. You'll be fine."
He whimpered again.
I sighed, turning back to the tree. We'll work on his fire phobia later.
I traced the flame across the bark, scorching an outline. The head, torso and legs were rough but recognizable. I then found a protruding branch at face-height and left it intact, letting it jut out like an ugly nose.
"There." I stepped back, gesturing at my masterpiece. "See this branch? That's the nose. You're going to use your tail to clock it from the side, like this-"
I demonstrated the motion, twisting my body and swinging my arm in a wide arc.
Kuroppi's head emerged fully from the water, tilted at an angle.
"Now you try."
He uncoiled slowly, water streaming off his scales as his tail rose, then swung.
The branch didn't just break - it exploded, causing splinters to fly every direction. The impact was so clean that the bark looked like it had been sanded down.
Kuroppi made a pleased chirping sound, tail swishing back and forth.
"Yes! Exactly like that!" I grinned, already moving toward the next tree. My finger flame traced another human shape, then another.
"Keep going."
Kuroppi dove in with enthusiasm I hadn't seen from him yet, tail smashing through branch after branch. Each hit landed cleaner than the last, his aim improving with every swing.
This felt weird: teaching a Leviathan physical violence and watching him get excited about punching tree-people. It shouldn't have made me this happy, but it did.
I kept going, etching another human outline when something felt… off.
Magic. Not just strong magic, but the absurdly strong kind that only an S-class mage like me could produce.
I killed the flame on my finger and turned, scanning the trees, but nothing moved except the phoenixes preening in the birches. If it was something dangerous, they'd have bolted by now.
"Keep practicing," I called back to Kuroppi, who was lining up another swing. "I need to check something."
He chirped in acknowledgment, already preparing to punch his next target.
I followed the magical signature. It pulsed like a heartbeat, growing stronger with each step. The silver birches gave away to darker oaks, shadows growing as the canopy closed overhead.
The presence stopped moving.
I stopped too, hand halfway to summoning an immobilization spell, when a figure stepped out from behind an oak tree.
...the Demon King?
I dropped my hand. "What are you doing here? Weren't you going to the western front?"
"Already taken care of." He sounded almost bored. "Plus, something urgent came up at the castle. I need to head back, now."
I stared at him.
The western front was supposed to be a three-day journey. He'd left maybe several hours ago, and now he was back? Already taken care of? What the hell did that even mean? Had he teleported there, obliterated everything in sight, and teleported back? Something definitely felt off, but I couldn't figure out what. Maybe he'd just gotten really efficient at genocide.
"Go handle your urgent matters then, I guess."
His attention drifted past me, toward the pond where Kuroppi was demolishing another tree, and… he didn't say anything.
The real Demon King would've started lecturing me by now. Something about wasting time, or how I should be using that energy for war efforts, or better yet, a passive-aggressive comment about the terms of our contract.
Instead, the "Demon King" just stood there, saying nothing.
Magic flooded through my arms before I finished the thought, golden circles spinning out of my palms. But just as the immobilization spell took shape, pain exploded in my right hand.
The spell shattered. I screamed, crumpling forward as my knees hit dirt. My palm burned, the kind of burning that went down to the bone, but when I forced my eyes open there wasn't any blood.
Actually, there was blood. Lots of it, but it wasn't spreading.
Purple crawled across the wound instead, coagulating so fast the bleeding stopped within seconds. Except the purple had kept moving, crawling up my wrist and toward my elbow.
My vision blurred to the point where the trees doubled, then tripled, and the colors began to bleed together. I blinked hard, trying to force my eyes to focus on what was embedded in my palm.
It was a fang, and I'd seen it before. Held it, even, back when I'd pulled dozens just like it from my arm.
They're Jörmungandr's.
Jörmungandr was the first creature I'd ever taken in. He'd been half-dead when I found him, body riddled with arrows and humans swarming on him like ants. I'd incinerated those pests and carried him back to my cave where I spent the next few months nursing him back to health.
He was the very first creature I'd ever taken in, the one who'd made me realize this was what I wanted to do with my absurdly long life.
And now his venom was killing me.
The figure walked closer.
My vision swam as purple veins crept past my elbow, but I forced myself to look up just in time to see an illusion spell peel away, revealing a human. He looked like a kid, with little more than a chest plate that looked decorative rather than practical.
His sword was another story. It looked older than most kingdoms, its blade etched with runes that pulsed with a light of their own. It looked like holy magic - the real kind, not the watered-down weapons human priests liked to bless and everyone else pretended was divine.
This had to be the Hero. Only someone like him could walk away with one of Jörmungandr's fangs, and only someone that scummy would sneak attack me while the Demon King's away.
"You..." My voice came out hoarse, barely above a whisper. "What have you done to Jörmungandr?"
The kid jerked back, eyes widening. "How are you not dead yet?"
Dead? From Jörmungandr's venom?
I would've laughed if my lungs were working properly. Did he think this was my first time getting bitten? Little Jörmungandr used to bite me everytime I cleaned his wounds or fed him. He'd panic and sink his fangs into whatever part of me happened to be closest. Because of that little shit, my arms looked like a constellation of old scars.
Sure, I'd built up an immunity from being his chew toy, but that didn't mean the venom vanished overnight. It took years to leave my system. Years. Last time it left me crippled for a decade, and now this brat is making me relive that hell all over again.
The kid steadied himself, shoulders straightening as he willed his hands to stop shaking. Whatever panic had gripped him a second ago vanished.
"Intelligence hasn't told me anything about you, but your magical signature and resistance to that monster's venom makes you a threat."
He drew his sword back, the holy runes on the blade glowing brighter.
"So do me a favor and die."
But just as the blade swung down toward my neck, something massive slammed into the kid from the side. He ended up flying through the air before his back slammed against an oak trunk. The impact knocked the air out of him, and I could hear him wheeze even from where I laid.
Kuroppi hovered where the Hero had been standing, tail still out from the swing.
I smiled despite the venom turning my face into sludge. My voice came out raspy, but loud enough.
"Beat the shit out of him, Kuroppi!"
The Leviathan chirped and dove forward.
The kid scrambled upright, sword raised. Runes flared along the blade as he barked words in some ancient tongue. A barrier materialized, the kind of defensive spell that could deflect Akkun's fire.
Kuroppi's tail swung through it like the barrier was nothing.
The kid's eyes went wide again. He tried to block with his sword horizontally, both hands gripping the handle, but it bent instead as the kid went flying again. He hit another tree, then a third, before finally skidding to a stop in a bush.
I laughed. God it hurt, but watching that brat get launched was worth every second of agony.
Suddenly, Kuroppi stopped mid-swing. He hovered over the kid's roughed up body and twitched his tail once, then twice, like he was confused.
Oh. That's because the kid's nose was completely flattened, smashed so far into his face it barely registered as a nose anymore, and I only taught Kuroppi one thing: punch the nose.
No nose meant nothing to hit.
I groaned, pain shooting through my ribs as I forced myself upright. My right hand was basically useless now, purple veins having crawled past my shoulder.
I still had my left, though. I willed magic into my working arm, forcing a circle into existence, and the spell shot forward, wrapping around the kid's face in threads of light. The kid's nose extended, growing longer and longer until it jutted like a real branch from his face. He made a muffled scream, hands flying to his new nose.
"There..." I wheezed.
Kuroppi chirped, then swung his tail.
The punch was glorious. The kid's extended nose bent at ninety degrees, and his scream cut off as his head went sideways. Kuroppi didn't stop. He swung again and again, each hit landing with a crack that echoed through the forest.
Kuroppi looked happy. His entire body wiggled with each punch, and tail swishing so hard it created whirlpools in the pond.
Eventually, Oddie lumbered over to see what all the commotion was about. One look at Kuroppi having the time of his life, and he decided he wanted to join in. His massive foot came down, scooping up a paw full of dirt. He then kicked it straight into the kid's face, leaving him coughing and spitting out mud. Even the manticore joined in. He would raise his tail and poke the kid's leg over and over again.
I slumped against a tree trunk, watching everyone gang up on the so-called Hero of humanity. It was nice. Really nice, actually, watching Kuroppi like this, bonding with the others over violence and not hiding in a bucket for once.
Step two of making a Leviathan less pathetic: complete.
What happened afterwards, you might be wondering?
Well, apparently everything happened while I was out cold from the venom, and I was pissed I'd missed all of it.
When I woke up, I found myself in my bed back at the demon castle. The sheets smelled like something herbal that made my nose itch. My right hand was wrapped in so many bandages it looked like a cocoon, and the purple veins had faded to a dull gray.
Masaaki sat beside the bed, arms crossed, tail flicking against the leg of the chair.
"Yuno, you're awake!"
I groaned, pushing myself upright. "How long was I out?"
"A week."
"A-" I stopped. "Wait. What about the war?"
"It's over!"
"…Over?"
"Yup. With help from Akkun and Kuroppi, we blasted and punched the human kingdom into a pulp!"
My brain took a second to process that. Kuroppi, my bucket-dwelling pathetic little Leviathan had helped end an entire war.
"Does that mean...?"
Masaaki nodded. "Contract's finished, so the sanctuary's all yours."
The sanctuary. Mine. No more watching Akkun get dragged off to fight battles he didn't want to fight too. Just me and my creatures, living however the hell we wanted.
I threw my arms up in celebration.
"Finally! No more-
My vision suddenly went dark, arms dropping as my body remembered it was still crippled from the venom. I collapsed backward onto the bed, head bouncing against the pillow.
Masaaki's face appeared above me, ears flat. "Yuno you okay?!"
I tried to answer, but my mouth wouldn't move. Everything felt warm and distant, but before everything went dark, I found myself smiling.
