"GUARDS!!!" Hera called out, looking everywhere as she tore her room apart. The guards rushed in as soon as she yelled and she turned to them.

"Was anyone outside my door? Did anyone come here while I was resting?" She demanded, trying to remain calm but unable to.

"No mam. No one," came the reply.

Despite the strength of her voice, the Empress being on edge allowed her to notice the tremble of the woman’s voice. While speaking to her was sometimes intimidating, the guards had been with her for years and each of them followed her of their own free will. They were on her side and would have no reason to either lie to her or be afraid of her, unless they had something to hide.

Hera leapt forward without warning, grabbing the woman by the neck and holding her against the wall, lifted her off the ground.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!?!?" Hera’s rage was fully unleashed and the blood red queen made her appearance once again, scaring everyone within range.

"I had no choice. I had to save my daughter. Please... be merciful to her my liege. She doesn’t have long to live now anyway..." The woman said, her tear filled eyes showing her resolve and she moved the power within herself to kill herself.

But the Empress wouldn’t let it go so easily. Her power had been growing after it recovered and her ’interactions with Laz,’ had helped her reach a level she had never dreamed possible. If not for the restrictions of the world, she could have broken through to a level her ancestors could only dream of but no one in her race had been able to do.

"You will not run away from this. Tell me everything, NOW!" Hera commanded.

And so the woman did.

...

Laz was standing at a mirror as Nesha and Anisha slept, their bodies still spent and their minds at peace. Pooja was currently cleaning Laz as he stood in a bucket of warm water, the drops of water traveling down his body in small rivers as Pooja scrubbed every inch of him, as though she was polishing a diamond or her favorite sword. But even as she reached his now limp member, she felt her body shudder in remembrance of what had just occurred.

"So it had some sort of effect on you? Like an aphrodisiac?" Pooja questioned.

"No. It wasn’t so straight forward. More like... it infused so much energy into my body that it felt like I was in some sort of blood berserker rage? I guess that’s the best way to say it. But instead of wanting to kill..."

"You needed to fuck and fuck until the feeling left?"

"Well... yes. Might not sound the best, but that’s the just of it."

"And the result was an unimaginable amount of energy residing within your body, allowing you to just up so many levels, just like that? And it doesn’t even feel unstable..." Pooja commented. Besides cleaning him, she had been observing every inch of him to make sure there were no hidden issues as a breakthrough like that would never happen without them.

Try as she might though, everything seemed as stable as he was before.

"It wasn’t just that energy. It... the poison part of it, seemed to drag out the stored bits of energy that I had somehow still had sitting around in my body, dragged it all together and injected it straight into my core. It seemed like it cleansed my body while boosting me at the same time. It’s like an elixir of the highest quality. If we could somehow take it and dilute it... it would be an interesting tonic one could take. Of course we would need to study it more first...

Pooja looked at him, slightly shocked. When Laz felt her stop moving, he looked at her and saw the look on her face.

"What’s wrong?" Laz asked.

"That’s... I mean... yeah.... I’ve never thought... neither in our records or anything. But I guess if it worked for you, then it should be able to be done. Maybe there’s some sort of... How did we...?"

A lot of thoughts were going through her head right now, but none of them were making much sense as every piece of it seemed to be simply a fragment of her thoughts. But while these things were going on in her head, her face almost went blank as she sat down. It seemed like she had realized something and it had suddenly had a huge impact on her.

Not that it mattered much as A disheveled Hera burst into the room with her guards, finding a naked Pooja sitting on the floor, a naked Laz still standing in a tub of water and two women passed out on the bed.

Hera didn’t even care while her guards were gob smacked and couldn’t take their eyes off the naked Laz’s body. Even with their training, most of them couldn’t help their mouths from dropping open.

"We have a problem and I need your help," Hera said, looking around and finding a towel underneath Pooja’s butt. Without bothering to move her, Hera grabbed the towel and yanked it out from under her, sending the silent woman rolling.

"AHHH FUCK!!!!" Pooja said as Hera tossed the towel to Laz who quickly dried off.

He knew she wouldn’t act like this unless it was a problem.

"What happened?"

"I fell asleep early tonight and some man snuck into my room, used some kind of powder on me to knock me out and stole the seal for the realm door."

"Who? How?" Hera was a stage nine god, dangerously close to peak strength and ready to break through to the ancient god realm. She had revealed as much to Laz the last time they interacted. For something like this to happen, it could only be betrayal.

"Are you alright?"

"Of course I am. Even if I was knocked unconscious, my body would react to bloodlust or harmful thoughts and kill the person who had them. Whoever it was didn’t mean me any direct harm and was only after the key which I had removed as I was dressing for bed," Hera explained quickly. What she hadn’t mentioned was that she was completely caught off guard as she had never imagined she might be attacked in one of the safest places of the fortress.

She blamed herself for this and even more so, blamed herself for once again having to rely on Laz to take care of her problems.

"Can you sense the seal at all?" Laz asked, but she shook her head.

"I tried that as soon as I awoke and noticed it missing. Whoever stole it knew enough to lock away it’s essence so I couldn’t sense it.

"The beasts wouldn’t be either this prepared or this careful," Laz thought as he pulled on some pants and a shirt that had been laying on the back of a chair near him.

"No... This was someone from inside. One of my guards sold me out to save her daughter who had been kidnapped. Not only that, they poisoned the little girl so that the woman would have no choice but to do what they wanted quickly, otherwise the poison would kill her...." Hera explained what she had learned from the guard.

Laz took a deep breath before blowing it out. Even that action seemed to have set the air ablaze.

While it was one thing to betray the Empress, the country and humans in general, it was a completely different thing to involve a child’s life in their schemes.

Ever since meeting Nagi, Laz had a soft spot for children.

"Any ideas?" Laz asked, trying to keep his anger in check.

"None. I’ve ordered double the patrols on all doors and gates to prevent them from leaving and contacting the beasts..."

"But if they were already this coordinated, they would have already secured a way out," Laz said, his mind staying calm even while his emotions exploded.

"AH ha ha ha! I’m glad to see there are some trustworthy people among those here. People who are still loyal to this Emperor!!" Came a ringing voice from outside the walls, but blasted throughout the fortress all the same.

Laz looked Hera in the eye briefly before both of them vanished, moving so quickly that they were invisible to the naked eye as they appeared above the gates in mere moments, only to see a group of men standing outside the walls, handing over the seal through the energy field that protected the entire fortress.

While it prevented things from getting in, the same didn’t apply to those wanting out. Doing so would have taken twice as much energy.

"With this, the deal is fulfilled. You shall keep your end of the bargain? There are certain area’s we will request to have. Those gathered demand first pick of places to settle.

As the Emperor held the seal, his body began to dissolve into nothingness as a man made of shadow took his place.

"I wasn’t sure if they Empress would believe my lies, thinking that doing so would be the best thing for keeping her people safe. But to think dogs such as yourselves would come and offer such a thing to me... I truly must thank the greed and cowardice of humans for such a gift as it’s clear the Empress could see right through me. How interesting. It seems I still have a lot to learn. As for keeping the deal... sure... feel free to come with me now and pick a place to have as your own," the shadow man said, moving his arms as though welcoming them to come out. The cloaked figure in the lead hesitated, but with those behind him pushing him forward slightly, he stepped out of the area of the field. Several others did so as well while the shadow man walked forward as though leading the group.

When half of them had exited, a blur of fur, claws, horns and hooves descended on the men, tearing them apart without exception and causing the others who hadn’t exited to fall back.

"Now what is this?" The shadow man said, turning to face the group of beasts covered in blood and scraps of flesh.

"These humans are wearing the skin of my race as coverings..." one of the lizard like beasts said.

"This one had foot coverings made out of my race."

And on and on, as the moment they stepped through, primal instinct took over and the god beasts attacked.

"You.... You promised us..." One of the remaining few said from inside the safety of the field.

"I promised you yes. But they didn’t. For humans, none of you seem to bright," the shadow man said with a laugh.

The remaining men had never considered something so simple as that. Thinking that the promise of the one in charge meant the promise of all of them while knowing that beasts were still beasts in the end and couldn’t be looked at the same way as humans had been an oversight on their part.

"THEN GET THEM TO AGREE TO IT! We had a deal!" One of the remaining men yelled, but then tried to control himself.

"We did. And I’m keeping my end of it for the sake of karma. Please follow me?" The shadow man then said, gesturing once again.

"But won’t they just attack us again?" The man then asked.

"Probably."

"Then how the hell is that keeping your end of the deal?"

"My deal never included them. What they do has nothing to do with me. Isn’t that obvious? I said I would leave and so would they... I never mentioned they wouldn’t kill you first or ever again," It said with a smile and a laugh.

The men in cloaks then looked forward at all the beasts in front of them and at the castle behind them.

They knew they were trapped.