CHAPTER 368: CHAPTER 368: BE BETTER

"No, wait!" Alyrat panicked and shouted.

But it was already too late.

"NOOOOOOO!" Ozia screamed, a deep sense of fear starting to well up in his heart.

From where Katari stood, she took a single step forward. The region seemed to pause as the atmospheric particles stopped moving entirely.

The elephant was shocked as he felt a terrifying killing intent wash over his body.

His eye settled on the mysterious figure floating far away from them, the supervisor.

The figure was too far for him to see her clearly but he recognized that killing intent very well. He had once felt that killing intent back when he was still an ordinary elephant.

Back then, his herd had been directly subdued by Kael. They had been asked to go into the wild plains to find other Elephant herds to join their caste.

However, the elephants had regrouped and used that opportunity to rebel against the lion regime.

That was the first time the elephants openly challenged the lions, it was the first time the lions retaliated.

He remembered that time well as he had survived.

This killing intent, he had felt it before. He didn’t want to remember the circumstances surrounding that fateful day, it wasn’t something he wanted to remember. He had lost many relatives and close ones the moment that killing intent showed itself.

Never had he seen a lioness so easily dispose of elephants as though she were harvesting cabbages.

And now, he was feeling that same killing intent again. He had the natural near-photographic memory that elephants had, he was sure of what he was feeling.

"H...High Killer..." The elephant muttered as he subconsciously took a step back.

His eyes glanced at the childish humanoids. Their expressions seemed downcast, as if they had done something wrong and were expecting punishment from their parents.

Their demeanor did nothing to cool the elephant’s heart. Staring at certain death wasn’t a good feeling.

Katari raised her arm to the sky, arranging her fingers to form a blade palm. The surrounding void seemed to coagulate at her fingertips.

And then, she slashed down.

The world in front of her was cleaved into two parts. The land was divided cleanly, forming a deep narrow trench below.

The elephant froze in place, feeling a chill pass through his body.

The ground underneath him split slightly to the side, parting his four legs.

A look of melancholy appeared in the elephant’s eyes, he knew that he was dead. He felt his body divided into two.

He couldn’t reconnect his tissues and flesh because of the violent power used to make the cut. The widening of this narrow mini trench below him meant that his body would soon be separated.

His life flashes before his eyes. But before he could relive every part in detail, the trench widened further.

Blood spurted out of the gaps as the elephant’s body split into two. The cut was clean. The two halves fell on the respective sides of the mini trench.

Ozia floated in the air, frozen in shock. His mouth opened but he wasn’t able to say anything.

"Aunt Katari, wait..." He started but immediately shut his mouth. Katari was already in front of him, existing there as if she had always been there.

She gazed down at the face of the first child of Kael, the most talented creature in the whole of Eridoria besides Kael.

And yet, her eyes showed something which she rarely showed.

Disappointment.

"You all will serve a collective punishment that I will tailor for all of you.

You shall return and report yourselves to the king. After which, you shall come to me for your punishment.

Or else..."

Katari didn’t finish her words but they all understood the implications of what she was saying.

Ozia and the rest gulped. Alyrat already had tears streaming down her face.

Katari waved her hand, causing a spatial hold to grip all of them. One by one, they disappeared, teleporting to the arkship.

All except one.

Alyrat.

Seconds passed by, and Alyrat remained rooted to her spot. Seeing that she was the only one left, Alyrat started crying.

Katari dropped down from the sky in front of her daughter, staring down at the little child with a strange expression.

The sight of Alyrat crying seems to awaken a sense of disgust within the mother.

"Enough," Katari commanded. Alyrat instantly forced herself to stop crying.

The little girl used her arms to wipe away the tears and snot from her face while her remaining three arms were folded against her chest.

She was barely up to Katari’s knee. Katari, being more than six feet tall, was much larger than this little girl, and naturally caused Alyrat to feel pressured and intimidated.

"Crying is an act of weakness and a sign of helplessness," Katari said, "You are neither weak nor helpless."

"I’m sorry, mother," Alyrat said as she looked down at her toes. She was barefoot, allowing the cold coarse dirt to play into the space between her toes.

Katari sighed, she knelt down on one knee so that she could be at the same head level as her daughter.

Even then, she still towered over Alyrat.

Katari placed her hand on Alyrat’s shoulder, the tip of her fingers brushing the second arm behind.

"Don’t apologize to me, be better," Katari’s face was expressionless but her words were like hot needles.

Still, Alyrat nodded. She was already used to it, this wasn’t the first time her mother was being blunt with her.

"Mother, the punishment, I’m sorry..." Alyrat pleaded as she got close to her mother.

Katari saw her coming but didn’t move away, she let Alyrat wrap her little arms around her.

As Alyrat hugged her mother, she began to cry harder, burying her face into Katari’s abdomen.

"Alyrat, I don’t derive any form of pleasure or joy in punishing my own daughter or your siblings.

But I must. I couldn’t possibly expect you to punish yourself for your own failures."

Alyrat shook her head, she never truly understood the way her mother reasoned and she may never understand.

"I’m not just guiding you on how to fight, I’m showing you the proper way to kill.

Unfortunately for you, you came into a world where it’s kill or be killed.

Suppose I wasn’t here to supervise you all and you met that rebel elephant. In what scenario do you see yourself surviving that encounter?

The price of failure in that event isn’t just a punishment, it’s death.

I must condition you all to prioritize success in everything you do, even if it means that your early failure results in brutal punishments.

You all are related to the King, he expects nothing short of excellence, even though he hardly demands it.

Not only must you be good at killing to stay alive, you must also kill to remain useful to your father.

He will select, and he will discard the useless.

Even Wei is not safe. Do you think your father would still tolerate her if she weren’t going to be useful?

Future consort or not, she is now a replaceable pawn in the king’s game. There are many water lionesses ready to kill her to take her spot if they are given the chance.

So what makes you think that he would be lenient with you?

I want you to be useful and valuable, therefore, I must be hard on you,"

Katari placed her hands on Alyrat’s shoulders and pushed her away slightly.

One could only pity Alyrat. She was born to a mother who was perpetually unavailable in the area of emotions. The only ones that had ever given her sufficient emotional support were Priya, Nalii, and Kael.

Alas, as venomous as Katari’s words were, they carried nothing but bitter truth.

Kael had changed, developing not just his strength, but his mind also.

The Kael that they all knew two years ago and undergone behavioural changes, a necessary evolution for the better management of his Kingdom.

His new attitude towards everything bled into his personal relationship with his children. It was unknown whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.

Some say that Kael had always been like this, he just needed the right amount of power to come out of his shell and show his true colors.

Kael had become a ruthless entity, one that was feared and respected.

Cutting down creatures he perceived as liabilities was what he did in his free time these days. Unfortunately for a lot of people, Kael’s free time was erratic.

As Katari said, even Wei was not completely safe. For now, Kael merely saw her as an investment, something that gave him the powers of a Water Lion.

If another water lioness were to ever pop up, more talented and already an adult with a reasonable mind, Wei’s position would truly be unstable.

Everyone knew that Kael selected consorts based on functionality. The only reason why Wei was even the future consort was because of her father, Burdo.

Many felt it was unfair.

If not for Burdo actively involving himself in the politics and fighting for his daughter’s position, they may have succeeded in convincing the King to discard Wei.

However, this was just one of the few undercurrent developments happening in the past two years.

There were still many more worrisome occurrences, events that involved the hosts of heaven.