While all Hana was busy with her fight, Raiden was doing a fine job at the extreme back.

He used his nine tails to herd the trembling laborers away from the cliff’s edge, keeping them bunched together like a frightened flock of sheep. Each of his tails seemed to have a mind of its own, snapping out with lightning speed to swat away any stray pebbles or debris that flew toward the crowd.

He was an elegant, furry barricade, ensuring the ’weak’ stayed exactly where Hana wanted them—safe and out of the way.

"Stay!" Raiden barked at a smaller boar-man who tried to use the chaos to run. "Unless you want to see if I am as patient as the Female!" His green eyes flared, showing his dangerous predatory side and they shivered.

Hana took one quick glance at them and then turned her attention back to the fallen Alpha. He was struggling to crawl toward his club, his face twisted, and filled with sweat and dirt.

She walked over and placed her foot firmly on his injured wrist, pinning it to the ground.

She held the flint knife just inches from his bloodshot eye.

"The mountain is still standing," Hana said, her voice dropping to a whisper that traveled across the silent plateau. "But your status as Alpha is dead. Do you want to follow it, or are you going to tell your people to drop their weapons?"

The Alpha looked up at her, then past her at Caspian, who was looming like a shadow of death, and finally at his own people, who were now watching him with more pity than fear.

"I... I yield," he croaked, the fight draining out of him. "Drop them! Drop everything!"

The sound of stone spears and wooden clubs hitting the ground echoed through the night, and the system pinged.

> [MISSION COMPLETE: THE SOVEREIGN’S SHIELD]

> [REWARD: +15,000 KARMIC POINTS ACQUIRED]

> [CURRENT BALANCE: -1,209,480]

Hana let out a quiet breath and stepped back, her silver dress completely spotless despite the dirt and chaos. She looked over her shoulder at Caspian.

"He’s all yours, ’King,’" she said with a hint of irony. "Try to keep the execution... tidy."

The Alpha’s chest heaved, his breath coming in ragged, wet snorts. He looked at Hana, his bloodshot eyes still burning with a flicker of resentment. Even with her foot on his wrist and a knife at his eye, and that Caspian taking over meant death for him, he wouldn’t beg her.

To him, she was still a ’hairless human’, a fluke of nature that had gotten lucky.

"Kill me then," he spat, a mixture of blood and dirt staining his tusks. "I will not beg a female for my life."

Hana’s expression didn’t change. She didn’t feel insulted; she felt nothing.

To her, his pride was just another resource he was wasting. She simply stepped back, her silver dress shimmering like a cold flame in the moonlight, and gestured to the shadow looming behind her.

"Good for the both of us then, cause I have no plans of sparing you even if you beg." She grinned. "Let’s just save ourselves the unnecessary drama."

As Hana moved out of the way, the crushing weight of Caspian’s presence slammed down on the plateau. The air around the Dragon King began to shimmer and warp from the sheer heat radiating off his obsidian scales. His eyes weren’t gold anymore—they were a blinding, incandescent white.

The Alpha’s pride vanished in a heartbeat. The moment the Dragon’s shadow fell over him, the ’warrior’ was gone, replaced by a trembling animal.

"W-wait!" the Alpha stuttered as he shrieked, his voice cracking as he tried to scramble backward on his broken knee. "Caspian! My King! I was led astray! It was Vane! He told us you were weak! He told us the mountain was ripe for the taking!"

Caspian didn’t stop. His heavy footsteps thudded against the stone, each one sounding like a funeral drum.

"You listened to a hatchling’s whispers," Caspian rumbled, his voice so deep it made the Boar’s teeth rattle. "And you insulted my mate in my own home."

"Please! I have tribute! Double! Triple!" The Alpha was sobbing now, his forehead pressed against the dirt in a desperate, pathetic bow. He had completely forgotten his ’pride’ the second a real predator stepped into the light. "Spare me, and the Boar tribe will serve you until the sun goes cold!"

Caspian paused, his clawed hand hovering over the Alpha’s head. He looked at Hana, checking her reaction. He wanted to tear the Boar apart for the insult, but he remembered how she had looked at him when he was moving the rocks—with that cold, expectant authority.

It was as if he needed permission, or an instruction, before he moved.

"Hana," Caspian called out, his voice low. "He begs for his life. Do you want his blood on your plateau, or do you have a better use for a broken dog?"

Hana paused, her back to them. She looked at the terrified laborers still held in place by Raiden’s tails, then at the massive, weeping Alpha.

She wanted him dead, obviously. One who betrays once, will have no problem betraying a second time. Better to cut the problem from the roots before it grew.

The Alpha wasn’t even truly repentant and was begging because he did not want to die. There was no way they could keep him alive.

And as if the system agreed to her, for the first damn time, it chimed.

> [HIDDEN MISSION TRIGGERED: THE LABOR OF THE CONQUERED]

> Advice: Do not let the Boar king go.

> Option A: Allow the execution. (Increases Fear/Authority)

> Option B: Enslave the Alpha for the ’Sanitation’ project. (Increases Productivity/Karmic Points)

Ah, it’s about time we saw eye to eye, she thought. But as she looked at the options, she was very tempted to go with Option A, but Option B was also tempting. Yes, she would be taking a gamble by keeping him alive, but points and productivity were also very important. She twisted her lips and sighed. Guess there was no shedding blood today either.

So, she chose Option B, and then muttered,

"I’m getting hungry,"

Caspian’s ears, as well as Raiden’s, seemed to catch on to those words.

"I’ll get rid of him fast and get you food right away, Hana."

"No," Hana said, but she did not clarify, which made the fox bold. He smeared at Caspian.

"Hana would not want to eat from your blood stained hands." Then, he turned to Hana. "I’ll get you the tender meat you like, Hana,"

Caspia growled. "I told you to stay out of my business, Fox. I’ll kill you before I finish the boar,"

"Hana will hate you for it. But even then," he grinned, an open provocation to the Dragon. "I’d like to see you try,"

They began to argue, glaring each other to death.

"No, no," She shook her head, her hand resting on her forehead. It seems she has to spell it out for them to understand. God, they were noisy. "Caspian, don’t think of killing Raiden. And also..." She looked at the ground, the boar, specifically and her face crinkled in disgust. "Don’t kill the Boar Alpha,"