The Matriarch who sat back in her Throne, along with the Elders watching the fight, were amused at Lidien even though he was the one massacring the soldiers present.

Then, as they noticed that their own soldiers were thinning out, one of the Elders shouted.

"How long would it take you to end this fight?! KILL HIM!"

The soldiers stood, alert... as they activated all of their Beast Form.

Their bodies ripped the thin clothes they were wearing as they turned larger... their skin produced dark and black fur all over their body, elongating their nose along with their mouth as canine teeth protruded from it.

A hundred warriors completed their transformation as one, their combined roar shaking the palace...

And then, as one, their muscles locked. A hundred triumphant roars turned into a chorus of gurgling, choking sounds as they coughed up thick, black blood... dyeing the Palace floor crimson.

"Wh-What happened?! What did you do?!"

Lidien laughed hysterically as his Blood Form now evoked a crimson-black halo above his head.

The Matriarch stood!

Her shock was prominent at his transformation rather than at her soldiers dying unknowingly.

"B-Blessed of Death!? That woman didn't send a sacrifice... but nurtured a calamity!"

Then as the Matriarch's boiling blood reached its peak, she... along with the Elders, transformed into beasts.

Tens of Elders protruded a bright single-wing on their backs, while... the Matriarch had a pair of it...

Then a voice he hadn't heard for a long time resounded in his mind... the Blood Monarch.

'Be careful, Their Matriarch is an Angel of Life.'

Lidien watched them, not with fear, but with the detached curiosity of a scholar observing a critical experiment.

He was analyzing them not as an enemy... but as a test subject, waiting to see if the Matriarch's 'Angel' nature would grant her immunity.

Then...

The same as before, all the Elders died after their transformation...

But not the Matriarch, as she realized, a fraction of a second too late... that the thing that was killing them wasn't the Blessed of Death smiling at them.

But their own Power.

"How?" She said, black blood slowly seeping out of her lips, her black and dark silky hair now disheveled along with her pale green pair of wings.

Lidien chuckled, as he tried to suppress it by biting his own curled index finger... but he couldn't and it turned into a laughter that could be heard outside of the Dark Wolf Palace.

"You enjoyed drinking it, haven't you? my gifts... the Xocoatl."

It was the moment when Lidien had a taste of the Xocoatl during their breakfast with Mother along with his siblings.

He wasn't familiar with it at first, for it was so bitter and had a strong smell.

Then, as Azer introduced it as something like a 'Gift of the Gods', everything crystallized into something that he had read in his past life.

A Cacao...

And as a joke, of the Dark Wolf Clan being a wolf, much more of a dog... Lidien added it to his plan.

'Dogs die of too much chocolate, right?'

Yet, he wasn't sure... but tried to make it a gift, in case the poison... no, the Theobromine content of the Cacao wouldn't kill them, at least he could try to incite them to attack another settlement.

Then... to confirm his guess, to decide which plan he should follow among his tens of backup plans, he made use of his own soldiers and the beastfolk nature.

His soldiers enjoying themselves along with their barbaric and crude nature, and the Beastfolk pride not to serve any humans.

As the heated arguments of the humans and beastfolk peaked, causing one of the beastfolk to die on its own.

He concluded.

The Theobromine, that was fed to the Beastfolk in human form wouldn't work, but... if they transformed into their Beast Form, a canine... it would be fatal.

The Matriarch laughed, as she wiped her own lips free of black blood.

"I've known Lady Rose for a long time... she wouldn't be able to think of this... tell me, child, are you the one who planned all this?"

Lidien just stared at her, there was no reason to add another word for someone who would die on their own.

"I see... so, it was really you... a Blessed of Death, The Bane of the World."

Then, she laughed...

Her emerald wings and eyes shone bright as her verve oozed out of her body. Then, a visible, dark vapor... the concentrated substance of the Xocoatl's poison... began to steam from her pores, carrying the now-tainted scent with it.

"I don't know if you know... but being an Angel of Life who is on the Metabolism Pathway makes one immune to most of the poisons that exist in this world."

Lidien leaped back, and readied himself as he planted his feet stably... waiting for a sudden attack.

'Metabolism... means they could rapidly transform what they eat into their own energy... She's weakened... I just need to hold out until she dies on her own.'

Another plan was running through Lidien's mind, a plan that wasn't in his initial plans.

He thought of running away, depleting her energy...

However, the Nature of Beastfolk to consume the fallen, even their own kin, would grant her a well of energy to draw from... unless he could deny her that resource.

He could burn all the corpses here... and hold her in this place...

Then...

A loud agonizing scream erupted outside.

Both of them knew... the Beastfolks and Humans were fighting for their lives, and the humans were winning... against the beastfolks who were dying by their own power.

"I should thank you... Human, for the Awakening Ritual you have given to my Clan... rest assured... The Blood Rose Clan, will see their end, by our own hands... between our maws."

Then...

'Left.'

Bang!

The world became a blur of splintering wood and blinding pain... Lidien was sent flying, his body crashing into the sturdy wall with a sickening crunch of bone.

The impact stole the air from his lungs... as he slammed back onto the wooden floor, it erupted into sharp, fragmented splinters.

His left arm broke as he lifted it to block his face... if not for his Incite of Blood running at its limit, and the Monarch of Blood saying where to defend, Lidien would be dead by now.

As a soft, deliberate footsteps disturbed his state of shock... the Matriarch's voice came, not as a roar, but as a calm, cold statement of fact that cut deeper than any scream.

"No matter what Stage you are... In the end, you're just a Blessed."

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