39 _ A Beast Unleashed.

Her hands slowly transformed into long , sharp claws , her eyes into vertical slits , the whiskers on her face became pronounced , dark lines , a dark energy clouded her , taking full control of her as her teeth changed into fangs and her inner Fox Demon was unleashed. The Wolves that stood at a distance in accordance with Zhuo Fan orders started barking madly while the whip fell from Zhuo Fan's hands.

"No ." Lucian muttered as he groaned again from the sudden and stabbing pains of his wounds. He had never thought or even suspected ...How could he?! She had decieved them. Lied to them the entire time.

The fox demon sprang out fueled by anger and affection from its body's loved ones that was hurt. It was a magnificent spiritual being . It possessed an elegant turquoise fur with shade of bluish green whorls at the end of each beautiful tail. Five large tails swished around, slashing through the air as the beast crouched down prowling. The fox spirit was a powerful being that when angered or provoked, unleashed considerable wrath upon those who wronged it.

And right now it was infuriated.

Zhuo Fan's made no movement as his interest was piqued at this strange creature. Attacking blindly was an art of fools and wise men learned from mistakes of others. Instead he would use his men as bait and watch , determining how best to handle the situation.

The outlaws attacked the wild beast on orders from their commander. The beast swiped a claw in the men general direction, tearing the flesh of these soldiers. It killed some instantly while others were left badly hurt. Thrashing its tails raucously, it flung others against hard stones as some had their head bashed in , necks broken and others unspeakable.

The wolves howled loudly and charged towards the Raging Fox Demon. It thrashed its tails wildly at them , but the creatures did not relent , attacking and biting the tailed beast while it lasted out at them.

"Stop right there!" Zhuo Fan shouted at the rampaging monster , that was testing his men apart. The men were of no concern to him. He would always find another to take up their place. What was of his concern was his own life which was always number one priority. The Tailed Beast glared at him, its eyes menancing, snarling angrily , it's tails held in motion. Its gaze was now on the Bandit King. In his bloodied hands was a long sword. He had undone Lucian's bindings and now held his blade to his chest, directly where his heart would be. "Any false move and they will both be dead."

He nodded towards Hikaru still looking at her with horror as well as dread his eyes. He was still bleeding , And Zhuo Fan continued. " Even if you kill all my men , Even if are able to get to him, I will still be able to end the life of this young man right here. With only a slight movement of my hands, I can stop his heart from beating. So what will it be Demon?"

He said this staring straight at the monster , holding its cold gaze , his even more icy and deadening. The Fox snarled but in the end it did as Zhuo Fan had conditioned and slowly began changing back , regaining all its normal features of human semblance until Kyra returned , all her energy, all of her will to fight any longer...

Was gone.

She was given a sharp blow to the side of her head and she collapsed to the ground. Zhuo Fan was standing over her , with sword in her assessing her carefully. "So the innocent looking girl turns out to be Fox Demon." He dragged out her hair , bringing her ears to his lips. "I wonder what more surprises your friends have for me." He threw her head down but she said nothing , did nothing. Kaya knew it was up. What she had been trying to conceal all this time had been shattered to bits. She couldn't not even bring her eyes up to look at Lucian. She imagined all sorts of thoughts going through his head. He had saved her , been kind to her and she had repaid him by lying to her for all those time. He saw her as nothing but a monster now, an odious, loathsome and detestable creature. She had lost his friendship , his trust.

She had nothing.

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Zhuo Fan sat alone deliberating what to do with his new guests. Them refusing to reveal their identities was an inconvenience to him. Like before when he abducted individuals who were mostly rich travelling merchants going to sell their wares, He robbed them of their goods and then set them up for ransom. Those that were paid were eventually set free and then killed by him on their way of return , the others that were unpaid for had to resort to become outlaws or face a gruesome death by a thousand cuts but some still maintained in their pride and were skinned alive.

Some occasions , they accosted young girls , enjoyed their bodily delights and did away with them but this particular band posed trouble. Zhuo Fan did not want needless attention drawn to him , as that was how he evaded capture and death for years by staying smart. He never captured nobles, or anyone relatively related to them , even rich merchants with connections to Empery were actively avoided. Death of a nobility were never taken likely and the punishment for the perpetrators were more severe.

Zhuo Fan rose up and walked towards his bed chambers. He was going to find Lucian's true identity and he had the perfect way to do it.