"Stay back! Get as far away from the monster as you can!" Bastian shouted to us and those still around the abominal as he tossed another set of potions, this time all around the creature and its young.
A viscous green fog seeped up from the broken shards of the bottles closing in on the monster. The gas ravaged the monster, twining around it like a snake. It choked on the vapor with a gurgled roar and grabbed at the closest thing it could--which happened to be its young. The abominal's large hands crushed the skulls of all three of its young with little effort.
My stomach rolled as the death fog continued to eat the flesh of the abominal until the only thing left was bone and the three cracked skeletal bodies of its young.
"Oh, my spirits." Fawn clutched her chest with one hand as her expression morphed into grief. "I have never once seen an abominal that aggressive in my four centuries of life."
"It's the rage potion," Silas spat with hatred lacing his tone. "What it did to that thing is immoral and wrong, monster or not."
"I couldn't agree more." She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment before opening them again.
Any guard or civilian mage that had been near the abominal had perished. Not from Bastian's gas or any of his potions, but from the sheer aggression and brutal force of the abominal.
The fog settled in a low cloud on the ground until Bastian pulled out an empty vial and flew closer, mumbling something I couldn't quite hear under his breath.
All of a sudden, the green death gas funneled into the bottle, and he put a lid on it before dispensing it into his rune. He glanced up at us with a sheepish smile. "It was one of the new potions I learned since bonding Fawn. I wasn't sure how effective it would be, but it turned out to be pretty great."
"That's fucking terrifying," Jasper said, his lips curling into a sinister smirk. "I like it."
"It's different." I tilted my head, feeling my own smirk play on my lips. "I can think of a lot of ways to use it. Can you make me one?"
Aimon chuckled. "Do you really think you need any more killing methods than you already have?"
"Having a variety is important." I shrugged.
Silas blinked at me for a moment before sighing. "You've got a point there."
Bastian shook his head with a smile. "I'll make you and Jasper both one."
"Thanks," Jasper and I chirped at the same time.
"Later," Fawn reminded us. "Let's go meet with Emperor and Empress Lovington. They're expecting us, and we've had to stop a lot on the way." She took off toward the manor, and a suffocating feeling of dread weighed over me at the thought of the emperor and empress.
Matthieu seemed like a rat. I didn't want to immediately suspect the royals of the Allura Empire of any wrongdoing just because he said so.
I trusted Fawn's judgment over anyone else's. She had been around longer than us and had learned how to read people better.
If she said Matthieu was bad news, then he was bad news. But I stopped liking the bone and metamorphose mage the moment he touched her lip. I was just waiting for a reason to turn his insides to liquid.
We landed on the steps of the manor and Emperor and Empress. Lovington themselves stood at the doors to greet us.
"Master Fawn!" Empress Lovington smiled brightly and grabbed Fawn's hand with a squeeze. "It's lovely to have you back here."
"It is lovely to be back," Fawn answered politely.
"I just wish it was on better terms," Emperor Lovington said with a frown. "We appreciate your help. That lone abominal was apparently low on the priority list for the guild. I can't imagine what the other villages are going through if that was considered low priority."
"I actually wanted to discuss a solution for that in the future," Fawn mentioned, her blue eyes twinkling. "If we created another adventurer guild in the Allura Empire after all of this is over, of course, it would prevent this from happening again."
Emperor Lovington nodded without hesitation. "Anything we can do to prevent this happening again. You have full permission from our empire."
"We have prepared a room," Empress Lovington added as if she'd just remembered. "Would you like more than one, or is one room suitable?" A smile tugged at her lips as she glanced at Fawn.
Fawn's face tinged pink, and my heart flipped at her bashfulness. "One room would be fine. It's not a secret that we are bonded, so we would like to stay together."
"We did hear about the bonding," Emperor Lovington admitted, scratching his temple. "Congratulations, I suppose. I'm not sure of the correct reply, since bonding is a sensitive topic."
"Thank you." Fawn placed her palm against her cheek, and I could just imagine that it was warm.
