In the forest, the knights and hunters were all at a loss for what to do. None of them were capable of stopping the outrageously powerful king. Having been bathed in monster blood, he’d lost all reason and was just cutting down monster after monster with utter delight. He looked less like royalty and more like a seasoned warrior. None of them could do anything but watch. After all, he was the king; They couldn’t lay a finger on him. They’d all tried to come up with some kind of solution, but it wasn’t easy. All they could do without a plan was chase after the king as he gleefully cut down monsters, making his way deeper and deeper into the forest. All of them hoped and prayed that someone else would take the blame for this. They knew it was an utterly selfish thing to hope, but it was all they could do in such a hopeless situation. They just kept wishing from the bottoms of their hearts that someone, anyone, would stop the king for them...and in an instant, that wish was granted.
Squish.
✦ ✦ ✦
A massive catlike beast was the only one to stop the frenzied king. Or perhaps it would’ve been more apt to say that it squished him.
All those knights and hunters who’d finally had their wish granted could only think:
No! Not like this!
This is not what we wanted!
The king, who they’d all been desperately praying would be stopped, was completely still under the large catlike beast’s paw.
“Eek!”
All of them felt goose bumps rising all over their bodies. Something truly horrible had happened, and their bodies reacted before their brains could.
“Y-Your Majesty!!!” All the knights and hunters screamed. Both the knights tasked with guarding the king and the hunters tasked with safely guiding him through the forest had convinced themselves that they could just barely squeeze their way out of this situation if they’d held on a little bit longer, but now their missions had staunchly been squashed flat.
What do we do?! The king’s been squished like a bug!
A single life wouldn’t be enough to pay for allowing a member of the royal family to die, let alone the king. It was almost certain that every knight, hunter, and all of their families would be sent to the guillotine for this. Even the captain of the knights, the vice captain, and the regional overseer could be executed for something this catastrophic.
“A-As long as his body is still intact...” At the very least, they had to be certain there was a body to bury in the first place.
“R-Right!” If they could at least risk their lives to bring the king’s body back, they could potentially appeal to the royal family’s emotions and protect those who weren’t involved in the whole affair.
“We have to do something... Dammit, but my legs are shaking so badly, I can’t move!” However much they wanted to rush in and grab him, the shock of what they’d seen kept them frozen. The knights begged their bodies to move, but before they could get their pitifully stuck legs in motion, the cat raised the very paw that had crushed the king.
“Oh, no... No!”
“Th-The king...!”
“I-It’s gonna eat him!”
The large catlike beast gave its prey (the king) a little sniff, opened its mouth, and picked up the king by the scruff.
“Noooooooo!” The knights and hunters all let out bloodcurdling screams as the beast was about to swallow the king whole, not even leaving the body behind.
“Mrowr?” The beast tilted its head and looked at the knights and hunters. Under normal circumstances, the catlike sound and motion would have been cute. But it had the king’s body in its mouth, and those sparkling golden eyes were looking right at them.
In that moment, they all knew what a cornered mouse felt like. “Eek!” The knights and hunters gulped, and even that sound filled them with the terror that it might be just the signal the cat needed to strike. Once the cat was done with the king...they were surely next. As their eyes met, they knew for certain that they could not possibly defeat this beast.
Just as the knights and hunters were saying their prayers, a gentle, relaxed voice most unsuited for the situation rang out. “General Kongmiiing!”
“Mrowr?” The cat’s gaze shifted away from the knights and hunters to a spot further behind them, as though it were drawn to the voice.
When the knights and hunters turned to see what the cat was looking at, they all stiffened. Prince Edward was right behind them. While the prince had the Stewart brothers and Arthur Bell looking after him, the knights and hunters knew they wouldn’t be a match against that beast. It was a monstrosity capable of taking down the frenzied king as easily as swatting a fly. With the king already dead, they couldn’t possibly let the cat-beast devour the prince as well.
“Your Highness, you have to run— Wait, why is Lady Emma here?!”
There—in front of the Stewart brothers, in front of Arthur Bell, and even in front of Prince Edward, all the way at the front of the group—was Lady Emma Stewart, who wasn’t even supposed to be in the forest. And even odder, she was grinning ear to ear and waving as she ran toward them.
“How could she be in a place like... No! That’s not Lady Emma! It must be an angel!”
“Gasp! That’s right! It’s an angel! So this must be heaven. We must have already been devoured by that beast...”
“Oh, but it really does look just like Lady Emma, doesn’t it? Even down to the scars on her right cheek... And look, there are angels that look like Lady Francesca, Lady Marion, and the Simmons twins too...”
There was no way noblewomen would be all the way out in the gruesome depths of the forest with so many monsters abound. Especially not with big old smiles on their faces.
“Myah!”
“Whoa!”
Just as the knights and hunters had finished convincing themselves of their own deaths, the catlike beast let out a catlike cry, then ran toward the angel that looked just like Emma Stewart, with the king still in its mouth. It was so fast, none of the knights or hunters could even respond. Once it was in front of the angel, it slowly put the king down.
“Oh... Oh no... It’s gonna eat the angel too...”
“It’s leaving the king and going to eat the angel first... Or... Huh?”
“Huh?”
The beast set down the king, then politely sat down next to the angel.
“Myaaaah!”
“Oooh, you’re such a good girl, Kongming. Thank you!”
“Myah!”
“Wha... Huh?!”
The angel that looked like Lady Emma then hugged the beast. She was so close to them, they could almost hear the squeeze as she buried herself in its soft, fluffy fur.
“Y-You can’t...”
“What are you doing?!”
“Wh-What’s going on here?!”
The horrific beast that had crushed the king was nuzzling up against the angel’s face and headbutting her gently. Their lovey-dovey cuddles were utterly baffling to the knights and hunters. It didn’t seem like the creature was going to hurt her at all.
“I see... So even monsters won’t hurt angels...?”
“That makes sense... They are angels, after all...”
“Right... You can’t hurt an angel...”
Seeing the angel’s divine smile in the face of such an atrocious beast made every last one of the knights and hunters accept this fact...for some reason.