Taming the Beast World with a Frying Pan

Altair didn’t dignify the taunt with a single word or even a flicker of emotion. With a powerful woosh that sent dead leaves, gray moss, and swamp water raining down, the Golden Eagle launched himself into the air.

In a matter of seconds, he was nothing but a streak of brilliant gold vanishing into the gray sky.

"That bird..." Vex muttered to the empty air, brushing the dirt from his shoulder. "That bird is, without a doubt, the most irritating, personality-devoid creature I have ever had the displeasure of meeting."

Things had definitely not gone as planned. He had masterfully set the stage, weaving a web of urgency and despair. He had anticipated that Altair would rush to the castle in a desperate, heroic frenzy to save his mate, dragging the precious tiger cub right into Vex’s waiting grasp.

But instead, the bird brick wall had simply taken his prize, ignored the bait entirely, and flown away.

Vex let out a dramatic sigh, the sound lost to the vast expanse of the swamp.

He was not the type to sulk for long.

’It doesn’t matter,’ Vex reasoned with himself, a smile creeping back onto his handsome face as he began to walk. ’That stubborn bird is hopelessly imprinted. He goes wherever the Little Rose goes. And that applies to the cub, too.’

The feral cub would be his eventually. He just had to be patient, a virtue foxes possessed in endless supply when the prize was worth the wait. However, just thinking about the cub sent a thrill racing down his spine.

He desperately needed to analyze the growth rate of that infant. The biology was utterly fascinating, defying every known law of nature in the Beast World.

Vara had somehow given birth to a fully mature cub after only being pregnant for a few weeks. The standard gestation period for a tiger beastman was three months, yet she had expelled the child in a fraction of the time. Even more miraculously, the infant could already sustain a beastman form. It shouldn’t have been possible. A cub born with the feral rot in its veins should have been a mindless, deformed monstrosity. It should have torn its way out of the womb and attacked everything in sight.

Instead, it was a conscious feral. It possessed the unparalleled power of the curse, but it was sleeping peacefully in the arms of a bird.

’It is the food,’ Vex realized.

Time was of the essence. He needed to get his hands on that little cub as soon as possible before the variables changed. He needed to study its blood, its marrow, its shifting capabilities.

"Well," Vex hummed aloud, his tails picking up their joyful, swaying rhythm once more. "If I cannot play with the eagle today, I can certainly still mess with Syris."

Vex decided it was time to head back to the castle. He would slip back in, lock himself back into his cell, casually play the role of the innocent, helpless prisoner, and wait to see the Snake King’s face when Viper returned empty-handed.

He was almost at the castle, when the hairs on the back of his neck suddenly stood up.

Vex didn’t stop walking. He didn’t even turn his head. He kept his casual, leisurely pace, his ears swiveling backward.

Without a sound, a shadow launched itself from the high branches of a dead tree directly behind him.

Vara slammed through the air, her sharp claws fully extended as she desperately aimed a strike right at the base of the Fox Shaman’s neck.

Vex spun around, gracefully sidestepping her frantic, uncoordinated ambush. As Vara flew past him, completely missing her target, his hand shot out like a striking viper, wrapping like an iron vice around her throat.

Vex chuckled.

"Why in the world," Vex purred, his orange eyes sparkling with delight as he watched her gasp and choke, "do you think you can sneak up on a fox?"

Vara thrashed wildly, her legs kicking at the empty air as she desperately clawed at his wrist.

Vex smiled, looking her over with a detached gaze. "Well, look at you. I see you are alive. The Little Rose was surprisingly true to her word."

"You ruined me!" Vara managed to choke out, her fingers digging uselessly into Vex’s unyielding forearm. Her voice was a strained, raspy hiss of pure hatred. She glared at him, blaming him for every single ounce of her suffering. "You ruined my body!"

Vex scoffed, tossing his head back as an incredulous laugh escaped his lips. The sheer audacity of her was almost entertaining.

"Oh, please, darling," Vex mocked, his voice dripping with condescension as he brought his face closer to hers. "Do not attempt to rewrite history to soothe your own bruised ego. I was not the one who pushed a black tiger from the wasteland’s penis up your vagina."

Vara let out a muffled, furious shriek of humiliation, kicking her legs harder.

"That terrible, desperate life choice was entirely all you," Vex continued ruthlessly, his grip tightening just enough to make her gasp for air. "You were so hungry for power. You wanted an heir so strong, so vicious, that it would completely usurp Kael and cement your place as the Queen of the White Tiger clan. You willingly laid down with a beast from the cursed lands. You broke your own body with your pathetic greed."

Tears of rage and agony spilled over Vara’s mud-caked cheeks. She couldn’t breathe. The edges of her vision were beginning to turn black.

Vex watched the life slowly draining from her eyes. The playful amusement vanished from his expression, replaced by a terrifying coldness.

"Listen to me very carefully, you stupid, greedy cat," Vex whispered, his voice as smooth and deadly as a drawn blade. "As a thank you for giving me the finest specimen in the entire world, I will graciously spare your miserable life today."

"But," Vex smiled darkly, "you might not be so lucky next time you decide to leap at my back."

With a powerful flick of his arm, Vex threw her backward.

Vara flew through the air and crashed into the swamp water with a massive splash. She went under, the murky water swallowing her thrashing form.

Vex didn’t stick around to watch her resurface.