Raising Beast Cubs to Find a Husband-Chapter 172: The Dragon in the Satchel

The Throne Room was a mess.

Half the roof was missing, torn away by the Void magic. The golden carpet was stained with black ichor. Emperor Leonis was currently using a priceless silk tapestry to bandage Prince Bastion’s arm.

But amidst the ruins, the family was finally whole.

Primrose sat on the marble steps of the dais, deactivating her Silver Tails to conserve mana. She looked around.

Caspian (checking Orion for injuries), Lucien (sharpening his daggers), Rajah (gnawing on a leg of roasted mutton he found in the kitchens), and Rurik (trying to get static electricity out of his fur).

Cassian (fixing his monocle), Jax (looking traumatized but alive, clutching a crossbow), and Luna (handing out waterskins).

Arjun, Vali, Silas, Jasper, Orion, Clover, and Ellia.

"We are all here," Primrose whispered, feeling a warmth in her chest that had nothing to do with the Fire Tail. "The whole circus."

Jax flopped down next to her on the steps. "So, that giant eyeball planet in the sky... that’s bad, right? On a scale of one to ten?"

"Eleven," Cassian answered, not looking up from his ancient scroll of star-charts. "The Void Core is an entropy engine. If it touches the surface, it will begin to consume the planet’s mana. We have approximately six hours before impact."

"Six hours?" Rurik stopped grooming himself. "That’s not enough time for a nap!"

"We need a strategy," Leonis said, standing up. "We cannot fight it here. The city is compromised. The civilians are evacuating to the catacombs."

"We need open ground," Rajah grunted. "Somewhere we can unleash full power without worrying about crushing a bakery."

"The Neutral Zone," Lucien suggested. "The Great Desert between the territories. It is empty. Flat. Perfect for a war."

---

While the adults talked tactics, Jasper (the Snake Heir) was standing quietly in the corner. He was holding his leather satchel tight against his chest.

Vali poked him. "Whatcha got, Jas? Snacks?"

"No," Jasper said stiffly. "I have... a solution."

He walked into the center of the room.

"Excuse me," Jasper announced. His voice was small, but it carried the weight of a frantic genius. "I have a tactical proposal."

The adults stopped talking.

"Go ahead, Jasper," Primrose smiled encouragingly.

"The Void Sovereign utilizes atmospheric corruption," Jasper explained. "He poisons the air to weaken us before the main strike. To fight him, we need a localized purification field. Stronger than Auntie Prim’s shield."

"And how do we get that?" Cassian asked, intrigued. "We would need a Divine Beast with atmospheric control properties."

"Correct," Jasper nodded. "I have prepared one."

He opened his satchel.

"Is it a bomb?" Jax asked nervously. "Please tell me it’s not a bomb."

"It is not a bomb," Jasper said with dignity. "It is Pickles."

He reached into the bag and pulled out... a snake.

It was small—no bigger than a garden hose. But it wasn’t a normal snake. It was a brilliant, healthy emerald green. It had tiny, nubby horns on its head and three eyes, all currently closed.

But the most striking feature was on its forehead. Embedded in the scales was a glowing, purified gem.

The Yeouiju. The Celestial Jewel.

"A worm?" Rurik squinted. "You brought a worm to a god-fight?"

"It is an Imugi," Jasper corrected sharply. "A Lesser Dragon. And he has assimilated the Celestial Jewel we recovered from the Serpent Sector."

---

"The Jewel didn’t disappear," Caspian realized, his eyes widening. "It became his heart."

"Precisely," Jasper said. He stroked the little snake’s head. "Pickles. Wakey wakey. Time to work."

The little green snake stirred. It yawned, revealing tiny, needle-sharp teeth.

Then, its three eyes opened.

They weren’t snake eyes. They were galaxies. Spinning, deep, and ancient.

Hiss.

Pickles didn’t just hiss. He let out a sound that sounded like a choir of wind chimes.

He floated out of Jasper’s hands, coiling in the air. The gem on his forehead pulsed.

A wave of green wind exploded outward. It washed over the room. It didn’t blow things away; it cleaned them. The black stains on the carpet vanished. The purple tint in the air dissolved. Even Rurik’s wet fur instantly dried and fluffed up.

"Whoa," Vali gasped. "Fresh laundry smell!"

"Atmospheric Purification," Cassian noted, furiously writing on his scroll. "He is scrubbing the reality around him. He is a living anti-virus."

"He is small now," Jasper admitted. "But the Jewel allows him to scale his power with mana. If Auntie Prim feeds him energy... he can grow."

---

Primrose looked at the floating baby dragon. She looked at her Nine Silver Tails.

"You want me to boost him?" Primrose asked.

"The Ninth Tail is Unity," Jasper explained. "If you link with Pickles, you can expand his purification field to cover the entire battlefield. We can create a ’Clean Zone’ where the Void cannot regenerate."

"That’s genius," Lucien said, a rare smile touching his lips. "If we negate their regeneration, we can actually kill them."

"Good job, Jasper," Rajah nodded approvingly. "The snake finally has teeth."

Jasper blushed, adjusting his glasses. "He is still a baby. Please do not yell at him. He is sensitive."

Pickles flew over to Clover and nuzzled her cheek. Clover giggled. "He’s ticklish!"

---

"Okay," Leonis clapped his hands. "We have a plan. We move to the Neutral Zone. We lure the Void Core there."

"How do we lure a planet-eater?" Jax asked.

Primrose stood up. She touched the Heart of the Tide at her waist.

"We show him the bait," Primrose said. "He wants the Heart. He wants the Kids. We put everything in the middle of the desert and say ’Come and get it’."

"It’s a trap," Bastion grinned, testing his bandaged arm. "I like traps."

"We take the Abyssal Hunter," Caspian decided. "It’s the only vessel fast enough."

---

As everyone scrambled to pack up and head to the ship, Primrose hung back for a second.

She walked over to the balcony. The purple sky was heavy, pressing down on the world.

A hand touched her shoulder.

Caspian.

He didn’t say anything. He just stood next to her.

"We might not win this," Primrose whispered.

"We might not," Caspian agreed honestly. "The Sovereign is... beyond anything we’ve faced."

"If we lose..." Primrose looked at the ring on her finger. "I’m sorry we never got to finish the wedding cake. I really wanted to try the velvet layer."

Caspian laughed softly. He took her hand and kissed the silver crest on her knuckles.

"Primrose," he said. "When this is over, I will bake you a cake the size of a manor house. I will fill the fountains with chocolate. I will make Rurik wear a cravat."

Primrose giggled. The image of Rurik in formal wear was enough to chase away the fear for a moment.

"Promise?"

"Promise," Caspian said. "Now... let’s go save the world so I can keep that promise."

---

"Hey lovebirds!" Rurik shouted from the courtyard. "The Dragon-Bus is leaving! Pickles is driving! (Just kidding, Jax is steering, but Pickles is honking the horn!)"

Primrose and Caspian ran down the stairs.

They piled into the Abyssal Hunter.

Jax punched the runes on the dashboard. "Neutral Desert. Twenty minutes." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The ancient bone-ship roared to life. It shot up into the purple sky, leaving the ruined city behind.

Inside the cockpit, Jasper held Pickles up to the window. The baby dragon watched the clouds pass, his third eye glowing.

Vali sharpened his claws on a bench.

Arjun checked the straps on his gauntlets.

Silas pulled his hood up tight.

Ellia gripped her wooden sword (which Bastion had enchanted with real steel magic).

Orion finished his juice box.

"Are we ready?" Primrose asked, looking at her family.

The Warlords nodded. The Kids nodded.

"Then let’s go," Primrose said, her eyes turning silver. "It’s time to take out the trash."