Chapter 54: Queen’s Decree and Death’s Whisper
Sacha stepped forward, her paws making no sound on the frozen ground. The air trembled around her, temperature plummeting with every breath she took. The ants, dozens of them, hissed and clicked, forming a loose circle, a tide of black chitin and glistening fangs.
But Sacha did not flinch.
Her eyes glowed brighter, twin glaciers burning with imperial cold. She tilted her head slightly, almost curious, before her gaze sharpened the faint pulse of blue light behind her pupils, rippling outward like the heartbeat of a god.
Then she spoke, her soft, childlike voice echoing with the weight of ancient royalty.
"Sacha will not play." She paused, eyes narrowing. "Sacha will rule."
A pulse of mana erupted from her, rippling through the air like a shockwave. Frost bloomed beneath her paws, spreading outwards in intricate patterns, each snowflake a seal of dominion.
The ants froze in place. Their many eyes locked on hers — and in that instant, they knew.
They were not predators.
They were subjects.
The world seemed to hold its breath as an invisible pressure bore down on them. The trees creaked. The wind died. Even the faint hum of mana itself quieted, bowing before the force of her spirit.
The first ant twitched, struggling to move, but its legs buckled. Then another. And another. One by one, the swarm began to kneel, trembling, unwilling, their bodies straining against the weight of her presence.
Sacha’s pupils flared like twin stars. The frost around her surged, wrapping around the ants’ bodies in a tidal wave of white.
A sound like glass breaking filled the air.
And then, silence.
The frozen ants shattered simultaneously, bursting into clouds of glittering frost that danced briefly in the air before fading into nothing. Only the crystalline echo of their destruction remained cold, pure, and absolute.
Points gained: +5
Points gained: +5
Points gained: +5
...
Sacha stood amidst the snowstorm she had birthed, fur glowing faintly, breath misting like smoke from an ancient altar.
’Sacha did well, right, Papa?’ she asked, her tail swaying proudly.
Sebastian chuckled softly, pride gleaming in his eyes. "More than well."
A faint shimmer of blue light appeared beside him, the glowing text of a status window, crisp and regal.
Queen’s Decree:
Exerts overwhelming spiritual authority through her gaze, forcing those who meet it to kneel before her will. Those who fail to resist are encased in ice, their bodies shattering into frozen dust beneath her dominion.
Description:The ultimate expression of Sacha’s regal power, the embodiment of a predator’s sovereignty and a queen’s cold majesty. Her very presence becomes law, her will an execution. When invoked, the world itself seems to still in reverence, and defiance is silenced beneath a crown of frost.
Sebastian looked around at the field of glimmering ice dust and smirked.
{Efficient as always,} Bastard murmured. {You’ve raised quite the monster, Sebastian.}
’Not a monster,’ Sebastian thought, watching as Sacha purred contentedly and rubbed her cheek against his leg.
’A queen.’
And as the snow settled around them, Sebastian couldn’t help but grin.
"Aura farmed beautifully."
Sebastian stared at the remaining ants, the few who hadn’t been caught in Sacha’s froststorm. Their mandibles clicked in terror, legs trembling, instincts screaming at them to flee, but their bodies refused to move. The cold air hung thick with the stench of fear and shattered mana.
He rolled his shoulders, exhaling slowly. "Alright," he murmured, a faint grin tugging at his lips. "Guess it’s my turn to look cool."
Black mana began to leak from his body like ink bleeding into water. The mist curled around his boots, coiling up his legs, thickening until the air itself seemed to recoil from him. It wasn’t loud or flashy; it was quiet, oppressive, and wrong. The kind of wrong that made even monsters hesitate.
The ants shuffled backward, their antennae twitching wildly. The ground under them cracked, veins of black spreading like decay through the soil.
Sebastian’s eyes gleamed, pupils narrowing. He raised a single hand, the dark mist swirling tighter, and then with a voice calm and absolute, he spoke one word.
"Die."
The sound wasn’t loud, yet it rippled through the clearing like a curse.
The ants spasmed.
Their limbs jerked once, twice, then went limp.
One after another, they collapsed, their bodies crumpling like marionettes whose strings had been severed. A wave of silence followed, broken only by the faint hum of death mana dispersing into the air. The black mist slowly receded, leaving behind stillness and the faint smell of decay.
Sebastian let out a slow breath, tilting his head with a satisfied grin.
’Finally,’ he thought, the corners of his mouth twitching upward. ’I finally got to say it.’
He glanced toward Sacha, who was watching him with curious eyes, and chuckled under his breath.
’Belle looked so damn cool when she said that. Took me long enough to get my turn.’
Sacha blinked and tilted her head. ’Papa looks happy.’
Sebastian smirked, brushing some frost off his sleeve as he surveyed the frozen corpses around him.
’Yeah,’ he thought, pride swelling in his chest as the faint traces of black mist coiled away into nothing. ’Not bad for my first dramatic one-liner.’
For a moment, the clearing was completely silent, nothing but the soft hiss of dissipating frost and the faint hum of dying mana. The once-swarming field was now a graveyard of shattered ice and collapsed carcasses.
Then, from behind him, a voice broke the silence.
"...What the fuck did I just watch?"
Sebastian blinked.
Right. Her.
He turned around to see Annalise standing there, wide-eyed and slack-jawed, a mix of awe and existential horror plastered across her face. Her hands still glowed faintly with blue mana, strings half-formed in the air like she’d forgotten what she was doing halfway through.
Sacha, still in her tiger form, leaned her head and looked at the girl curiously. ’Oh. She’s still alive.’
Sebastian sighed, brushing a fleck of frost off his shoulder. "Ah. Forgot you were there."
Annalise just pointed a trembling finger at the battlefield, then at him, her mouth opening and closing wordlessly.
Sebastian gave a casual shrug. "Don’t look at me like that. Everyone’s got hobbies."
Her jaw dropped even lower. "Hobbies? You just genocided a colony!"
Sacha’s tail flicked, sending a puff of frost into the air. ’Papa, she’s loud.’
’Yeah,’ Sebastian replied in his head, suppressing a grin.
’She’s definitely loud.’
Annalise just stared, completely done with reality, and muttered, "I came here to pass an exam, not witness an apocalypse with commentary."
He looked back at Annalise, his tone calm, almost amused. "Well, I did say I wanted to look cool."
He turned to leave, his coat fluttering slightly from the icy wind, and threw one last look over his shoulder with a smirk. "Also, I finally got to say Die dramatically. You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for that."
Annalise blinked. "That’s what you’re proud of?!"
Sacha purred, clearly amused. "He’s been practicing."
Sebastian gave a proud little nod. "And it was worth every second."
Annalise just stared at him, utterly baffled, as the wind carried away the last traces of death and frost, leaving behind nothing but disbelief and one very smug bastard.