Chapter 252: The Beast He Wore
"There you are."
Alexandra glanced at the dark-red symbol hovering beside her status.
Bloodscent Lock pulsed in time with the blood running down her arm. NineLivesLeft had not merely wounded her. He had turned the wound into a beacon.
"You needed my blood before those stolen senses could follow me?" she asked.
"I needed a target lock." His nostrils flared once, drawing in a scent the rain could not wash away. "Your footwork won’t shake me now."
Kumoe’s middle head released a green pulse.
Warmth spread over Alexandra’s arm, easing the sting as her HP began climbing. The cut narrowed beneath the restoration, but a thin line of blood remained. Every time the flesh tried to seal completely, Bloodscent Lock throbbed and forced the wound open again.
NineLivesLeft watched the effect with open interest.
"So the middle head can heal you directly. Good to confirm."
"She isn’t a collection of effects."
"Everything in here runs on a system."
Alexandra lowered her stance. Kumoe stayed close enough for their shoulders to touch, though Alexandra still kept herself half a step ahead.
The Pride Mark above NineLivesLeft dimmed while neither of them attacked.
[Pride Mark has expired.]
His eyes flicked toward the disappearing symbol.
"Four seconds without damage," he said. "That timer is worse than I expected."
Alexandra’s grip tightened. "You sure talk a lot for someone hiding in anti-beast armor."
"I’m learning."
"You’ve been stalking us through the forest. You’ve watched videos of me fighting. Now you’re standing inside a zone built to permanently kill bonded beasts." Her orange eyes sharpened. "What did you do to yours?"
NineLivesLeft tilted his head.
"My lynx?"
"You know exactly what I’m asking."
He laughed under his breath. "I completed the Beastslayer quest."
Kumoe’s growls deepened.
Alexandra had expected the answer, yet hearing him say it so casually still made something twist inside her chest.
"You killed her."
"You say that like I stabbed an actual animal."
"She trusted you."
"She was pixels, voice lines, and a bond meter. A well-designed pet, sure, but still part of a game."
Kumoe’s curious head bared her teeth. The sleepy middle opened both eyes, while the right stared at NineLivesLeft with cold, focused judgment.
He showed no discomfort beneath their attention.
Alexandra asked, "How did you even find the quest?"
"Raze came back with a hidden class, and Ashy never appeared again."
The rain filled the silence between his words.
"He refused to explain what happened," NineLivesLeft continued, "but he didn’t need to. Missing beast, inherited abilities, new class. People inside the guild put the pieces together."
"And you copied him."
"I improved on his process."
He said it without pride or shame. To him, the distinction was purely mechanical.
"Once I knew sacrifice was part of the route, I started testing the requirements. Species, bond level, skill inheritance, affection events. Most of the early attempts didn’t trigger anything."
Alexandra felt sick. "Attempts?"
"Different beasts. Different conditions."
"You killed more than one?"
"No. The Beastslayer event only appeared after maximum bond." He rolled one shoulder. "Before that, I was just testing what made the quest react."
"That’s supposed to make you sound better?"
"I’m explaining the mechanics."
"You’re explaining how carefully you planned to betray something that trusted you."
NineLivesLeft smiled faintly. "You really can’t separate the game from reality, can you?"
Alexandra looked down for half a heartbeat.
Kumoe pressed closer.
The wet warmth of her fur against Alexandra’s leg felt more real than NineLivesLeft’s voice, more real than the system windows, and more real than every argument he could offer.
"What was she?" Alexandra asked.
"A Duskmane Lynx."
"And you picked her because?"
"I wanted the movement tree."
Of course he had.
NineLivesLeft lifted one hooked blade and examined the rain sliding down its edge.
"Duskmane Lynxes specialize in redirection, target pursuit, and low-light hunting. Their stats aren’t impressive at the start, but their advanced skills are perfect for PvP. Once I knew Beastslayer could inherit a bonded beast’s abilities, the choice was obvious."
"You chose her because she would make a useful corpse."
"I chose her because her progression was efficient."
Alexandra’s expression hardened.
NineLivesLeft continued as though discussing an ordinary build guide.
"I cleared every bond mission I could find, bought the best affection items, and unlocked every scene. The event appeared when the bond reached its limit."
"You rushed her trust."
"I raised a meter."
"You fed her."
"For stats."
"You played with her."
"For bond progress."
"You protected her."
"To keep the quest chain moving."
Each answer came without hesitation.
Alexandra wanted to believe he was provoking her, but that would have meant something inside him understood why his words were disgusting. The calm certainty in his face suggested otherwise.
He genuinely saw no difference between earning loyalty and manipulating a system.
"What happened when you accepted?" Alexandra asked.
NineLivesLeft’s smile widened slightly, not from pleasure at the memory, but from interest.
"The zone formed around us. Her recall option disappeared. The system told me only one of us would leave with the bond intact."
Kumoe’s curious head snarled so loudly that the sound vibrated through Alexandra’s leg.
NineLivesLeft looked at her.
"She backed away first. Made this small wounded noise. The animation was honestly impressive."
Alexandra’s fingers tightened around her swords until the grips pressed painfully against her palms.
"The game taught her to trust you because you spent all that time proving you were safe."
"The bond meter selected the appropriate response."
"She thought you were her partner."
"She didn’t think anything."
His answer cut through the rain with absolute conviction.
"Her AI chose a scene based on the bond value. Then I completed the event and received the class."
"What was her name?"
NineLivesLeft paused.
Only for a fraction of a second, but Alexandra caught it.
"Nyxshade."
Kumoe’s right head released a low growl.
Alexandra stared at him. "You remembered."
"Names make logs easier to organize."
"Sure."
He could reduce the quests to progress, the affection to numbers, and the final betrayal to an event. Yet her name had remained somewhere inside him.
Alexandra wondered whether he hated that.
"And Raze?" she asked. "What happened to Ashy?"
"He returned as a Beastslayer, and Ashy was gone. Whatever he felt about it, he still went through with it."
Alexandra remembered Ashy charging beside Raze without hesitation. The beast had trusted every order, every target, and every direction he chose.
Now she was gone, and the result of that betrayal stood in front of Alexandra wearing another beast’s abilities.
NineLivesLeft slowly rolled his neck.
Dark markings appeared around his wrists.
They crawled beneath his sleeves and surfaced along his throat, splitting into narrow patterns resembling black fur. His pupils tightened into vertical slits, and transparent claws extended over the hooked blades in his hands.
[Beast Inheritance: Duskmane Lynx has been activated.]
His posture changed first.
His shoulders lowered. His weight shifted toward the balls of his feet, and every small movement became unnaturally smooth. He still had a human body, but something feline had settled inside the way he balanced it.
Alexandra raised both swords.
Kumoe bared three sets of teeth beside her.
NineLivesLeft’s gaze passed over them, sharper and hungrier than before.
"You enjoy wearing her," Alexandra said.
"I enjoy the build."
The markings spread across his jaw.
Rain touched the spectral fur forming around his shoulders and vanished into black mist.
Alexandra felt Kumoe tense beside her.
NineLivesLeft sank lower, his hooked blades held near the ground like extended claws.
"A three-headed beast with linked support effects has to give me something interesting."
"You aren’t touching her."
"That’s what makes the attempt fun."
His slit pupils moved across Kumoe’s curious head, then the middle, and finally the right.
"I have no clue what the system will offer."
He pushed off the branch.
The wood cracked beneath his foot.
"One clean kill, and I get to find out."