Plagued

The seven stat fireballs shone brighter and brighter before flying into the sword in Ezekial's hand. Then, the blade was engulfed by a beautiful, raging inferno, much like Kai's Soul Flame.

The beast's body tensed just as the sword was plunged back into the chunk of rock in front of it. Its body was then lit up by seven vibrant colours as it let out a horrifying cry of pain, each of the chains holding it down crying out as well with each movement.

The beast's body was drowned in a bright light, the chains creaking louder and louder as it pulled against them.

Seconds passed excruciatingly slow for Kai, but they probably passed even slower for the beast.

Kai watched the sight before him with the most confused eyes he ever had. Ezekial had a skill that relied on the concept of Stat Sparks, only he didn't know what Stat Sparks were as in the description of his Ignition skill, Stat Sparks had been described as his own original concept, meaning Ezekial must have just thought they were a part of the skill.

But what sort of skill even was that? It seemed way, way to strong for a B-Rank to have. It was just... incredible.

And yet, even though he knew the skill was incredibly powerful, Kai also knew that the skill would have its own drawbacks, and he had a feeling that he already knew what the main drawback was...

The light of the sword dimmed ever so slightly, but it was still incredibly bright. That must have been what was holding the beast in place, the chains were probably just for show, but that glowing blade must have been connected to all the other blades, constantly draining the beasts power so that it had no chance of escape.

Panting, the beast lifted its head and looked at Ezekial weakly, its eyes shining with malice.

"Is that all... Sword Man? You must be getting weaker."

Ezekial scowled.

"What did you say to me? Do you want me to reenact the moment we captured you, for old times sake?"

The beast huffed a few times, but did not respond, making Ezekial spit at their feet before walking away.

Climbing the pit the beast was chained inside, Ezekial approached a large stalagmite and froze.

Strangely, they turned their head to look at it, feeling as if something was off about it, but when they saw that nothing was there, they scowled again and left.

Kai, holding his breath on the other side of the large rock, suddenly exhaled as he watched Ezekial make his way back to the gargantuan stone door.

He felt himself sweating, even though it wasn't actually visible.

He had known that Ezekial was strong, but that skill was just outrageous! Or maybe it wasn't his skill, but his Innate Ability, that would make sense as to why Castillian would want to take him in.

Just as Kai was about to emerge from behind the stalagmite, he froze again after hearing the beast speak.

"You... watcher behind the rock... come here."

Kai looked around nervously, wondering if there was anyone else here. Had the beast really sensed and spoken to him?

Disabling the invisibility to conserve his Mana, Kai slowly made his way down the pit, getting closer to the beast until he was eventually right in front of it.

He arrived right in front of the beast, looking up so he could see its face. Up close, it really did look like a minotaur, but all those horns made Kai think that it was really something else.

"How did you end up here?"

Kai's eyes widened slightly at the question, he wasn't expecting that to be what the beast asked.

"I followed that guy."

The beast glared down at Kai.

"Why?"

Realising that he may end up screwing over his plans by accident, Kai answered the beast honestly.

"One, to find out if he was actually innocent and a good person or not, and two, to see if you could help me."

The beast chuckled darkly, the chains holding it down creaking ominously.

"And? Do you have your answer?"

Kai hesitated before nodding. He didn't want to admit it, but Ezekial was just as bad as Castillian and Anastasia. Turns out, the only good people in this Subdimension were Cecilia, Annie and maybe the Second Queen.

"He is not a good person, and will definitely not be part of my plan."

The beast remained silent, making Kai think it was in pain, but then he saw the massive grin on its face.

However, even though the conversation seemed to he going smoothly, Kai was still completetly lost by one thing.

Why the hell were rats swarming around this minotaur looking thing? A minotaur didn't really seem like the type of beast to have rat minions after all.

Curious, Kai decided to use Soul Sense on the beast, hoping to get his question answered. As soon as he activated the skill, Kai-

...

Oh for fuck sake!

For starters, he could only make out the beasts soul, not its level or Stat Sparks, meaning it was an even higher level than Ezekial. It had to be at least A-Rank, meaning Castillian had lied about Ezekial being the strongest being in the Subdimension.

Or maybe they hadn't lied, levels didn't dictate everything after all, but the beast probably ended up getting trapped or outsmarted or something before getting caught.

But that wasn't the part that was bothering Kai, no, it was the beasts name that was bothering him.

It all seemed so obvious looking back. He had even warned about this all the way back before he even entered this Subdimension, all the way back in the description of the Subdimension he had been given by the system.

And this warning came in the form of a single sentence he had ended up reading wrong.

The city is plagued. A never ending blizzard torments the city.

A full stop, there was a full stop in between the system saying the city was plagued and it mentioning the blizzard. Kai had assumed that the city was plagued by the blizzard, but no, it was plagued by something else entirely.

This beast.

And how did Kai know that?

By the beast's name of course.

Plague Harbinger (???)

Kai internally groaned.

Of course he had overlooked something so obvious, so excruciatingly simple that it should have been a crime to miss.

This beast was the reason that Ezekial was never faced when getting examined by the guards at the city gate for signs of him getting taken over by the mimic, the reason he never bothered having Kai get examined.

It was because there was no mimic. There was a horrifying beast that had caused widespread devastation to the city, only it wasn't a mimic.

It was this Plague Harbinger that was already chained beneath the King's castle.

"Ah... I see you're the one that found that rat. I had attempted to lure it here, it is the only one in the city that hadn't joined me. They are very skilled at hiding, I hadn't even noticed that they hadn't joined me.

Every rat in this city works for me, they act as my eyes, ears, nose."

Snapped out of his thinking time, Kai glanced over his shoulder and saw Remy standing a few steps behind him. Gesturing the rat to come closer, Kai picked it up and petted it softly.

"Remy? They ended up accidently entering the dungeon where I was chained up, I'm guessing that they were trying to find you, sorry about that.

They ended up helping me, acting as my eyes instead of yours. Sorry, again."

The Plague Hargbinger chuckled.

"You... are not normal.

Rats, in my eyes, are a higher species. They have to work for everything while having nothing going for them. They are too small to posses a large amount of strength, to dumb to possess a brain intellegent enough to outsmart other species, yet somehow, they survive, and they don't just survive, they thrive.

Rats are my kin, they understand me, we share this cruel fate. Every other species disgusts me, humans especially. They act like they have nothing going for them, but they always do well, do you want to know why that is?"

Kai swallowed nervously.

"Why?"

The beast grinned, it's sharp rows of fangs showing.

"Because they lie. Humans lie the most out of any species. They lie about their capabilities, they lie about their technology, they would even lie to save their own lives. They are the pinnacle of greed, and yet they are allowed to prosper.

Tell me, human, how is that fair?"

Kai wasn't sure how to answer that.

"Not all humans are liars, but... you're not wrong about most of them being liars."

The Plague Bearer remained silent for a moment before chuckling again.

"I suppose that is true. But human... you do not repulse me as the others do, and I am not sure why. It is... strange."

Kai blinked.

Was he different to other humans or something? Maybe it was because of his Bloodline, or maybe even his Class... His Innate Ability? It was centered around not being human for a while after all.

"Uh... thanks?"

The Plague bringer grinned once more.

"You're welcome."

Steeling his nerves a little, Kai remembered that he didn't exactly have a lot of time, so he had to get back onto the main topic, that main topic being...

"I need your help."

The Plague Bringer stared down at Kai like they were an idiot.

"How am I meant to help, that sword there is holding me in place. It's even thousands of years since I've even moved a finger."

Kai nodded.

"Okay then, how do I free you?"

The Plague Bringer glared at Kai, wondering if they were playing them.

"The Sword Man has tuned it so that neither me or my subjects can free me, so all that has to happen is that someone else has to touch it. It would mess up its internal energy, and I would be able to handle the rest."

Kai grinned and clapped his hands.

"Alright then. In exactly five minutes, Remy here will touch that sword, messing up its internal energy and freeing you, then, you will help me."

The Plague Bringer remained silent for a moment before breaking out into a mad laughing fit. The chains creaked even more than any time previously and it took a whole minute for the beast to calm down.

"Even if you do free me, why should I help you? What can you possibly offer me?"

In stark contrast to the beast's laughter, Kai remained silent. A single memory kept running through his mind the last month, acting like a catalyst for all of this.

There was a debt Kai owed, a promise to be kept, a deal to be completed. He knew that it was messed up, but it was the best possible option.

The people of this city... could not be called living. They were walking corpses, they had no fate, they were bound to be tortured for all of their existence by hunger, frostbite and their tyrannical rulers.

Only there was one person Kai did not wish that fate upon.

So Kai was going to give Annie her final wish.

'I want to die...'

Taking a deep breath, Kai looked up at the beasts head, his eyes shining with determination, and said:

"This city...

I will offer you this entire city."