"Grrrrr."

A low rumble reverberated through the bottomless pit. As the beast's growl washed over us, our muscles briefly spasmed in terror. That went for me, the Regressor, and Finlay alike.

The King of Dogs had always sided with humans and lived closer to them than anyone. When humans fought among themselves, she would close her eyes and block her nose if that was what it took to stay out of it.

But she offered not a shred of affection or trust to monsters wrought from blood. Thus, when humans fought vampires, Azi was humanity's most powerful ally.

"Grrr."

For the first time in earnest, Azi bared her teeth at the things that had once been human.

"S-stop her!"

Finlay barked an urgent order. Hundreds, thousands of black knights rose from the ground. Clad in pitch-black armor and wielding all manner of equipment, they stood guard around Finlay and the vampire.

THUD.

Black knights carrying tower shields coated in darkness blocked the front, sharp lances jutting out between them. The heavily armored knights waited with bated breath for the beast to approach, poised to surround and hunt her down if she came too close.

"WOOF!!"

But spears, shields, lances, armor, or black knights—not one of them could stop the King of Dogs.

Azi leaped with a tremendous howl. By the time that thought crossed my mind, she was already in the middle of the black knights.

Even the Regressor briefly lost sight of her. The wind itself failed to keep up, blowing in a beat behind.

CRUNCH.

Azi tossed her head. A black knight's head flew into the air. Pitch-black smoke poured out instead of blood.

With a black knight's blood, the King of Dogs signaled the start of the slaughter.

The shield-bearing vanguard turned, and a spearman tried to swing his spear around. A swordsman thrust out his blade while a knight wielding a mace raised both hands high.

But none of their attacks came to fruition. With every stamp of Azi's feet, armor shattered, weapons snapped, and black bodies were torn to shreds.

"Awooooo!!"

Overwhelming bestial violence swept through them. Azi was a beast in human form, a scourge upon the blood fiends who toyed with corpses.

Human blood. The scent of blood from the humans dogs loved so dearly agitated Azi, their king. With her consummate blood manipulation, the Progenitor could contain even its scent, but Finlay could not. Azi found it repulsive, and that revulsion became an urge to destroy.

A black knight caught in her claws crumbled into smoke. She smashed one and was already on to the next. She tore out one throat, then the next.

Put simply, she was methodically defeating them one at a time, with a single blow each. But she dispatched them so quickly that it looked like a spreading wildfire. Black knights were pulverized in ripples radiating from where Azi had landed, scattering black smoke and red blood with every kill.

Watching his black knights being shredded by the second, Finlay felt fear.

"Progenitor! That beast!"

At Finlay's cry, the vampire slowly waved her hand.

The scattered darkness and blood rose again, forming an enormous figure. A gigantic black knight, five meters tall with armor that looked a full meter thick, stood holding a massive mace of compacted blood.

Just as Azi sank her teeth into a remaining knight's neck, the giant brought its mace down. It moved with speed utterly at odds with its size. The heavy mace struck Azi's head, and the force of the impact alone shattered concrete in every direction.

The noise was deafening.

The calm after the storm. Sound ceased after the impact. With only a shrill ringing filling my ears, the sole movement came from debris rising and settling.

"Finish her!"

Even then, the giant black knight twisted its mace half a turn and thrust it down. A short, powerful strike, as though making sure she was dead.

But when the giant raised its arm, the mace had been severed halfway down.

"Grrr."

With all four paws planted in the ground, Azi lifted her head. Hanging from her mouth was the severed half of an enormous mace that looked three times her size.

That much weight and hardness should have crushed her teeth and made her gums give way. Yet Azi lifted her jaw as easily as if she were holding a toy and shook her head from side to side.

THUD. BOOM. CRUNCH. CRACK.

The massive, ponderous mace swung with unreal speed. Whenever Azi shook her head as if shaking off water, everything between one and five meters to her left became dust and smoke.

The remaining black knights, the giant's legs, and the concrete floor were all equal before Azi's strength.

Pulverization. There was no other word for the destruction sweeping through them.

SNAP.

The mace broke halfway down, unable to withstand the force of Azi's swings. Oblivious, she shook it a few more times before spitting out the shaft that was all that remained. Then she glared at Finlay and the vampire.

Faced with that savage ferocity, Finlay was frightened despite himself. Then, enraged at the very fact that he was afraid, he shouted.

"It's useless!! This is only a fraction of the Progenitor's power!"

Fanatical devotion to the Progenitor, and the madness it bred, surged through him. Finlay used his power to seize the vampire's heart.

Her body twitched briefly as her heart lurched. A red light returned to her unfocused eyes, but only for an instant.

Having gained momentary possession of the Progenitor's heart through blood manipulation, Finlay forcibly moved the blood flowing through her body.

"Progenitor! Show that beast your power!!"

The black knights. The strongest force the vampire could summon without preparation or risk. Though they had not lasted a moment before the King of Dogs, that was not where their true strength lay.

Shadows congealed amid the scattered darkness. A pitch-black arm suddenly thrust out of a round pool of darkness, planted itself on the ground, and hauled its body upright.

It happened in every patch of shadow in the bottomless pit.

One by one, the undying black knights that had fallen beneath Azi's claws and teeth rose again. Within seconds, their numbers were restored to what they had been before their annihilation.

With red eyes gleaming inside their armor, the resurrected black knights faced the King of Dogs.

"The black knights rise without end! All you've defeated are scarecrows that can be remade in an instant!!"

Shouting in a frenzy, Finlay pointed at Azi. At his command, the black knights began advancing as one.

An advance upon a single being. Even with numbers on their side, the sight of the black knights daring to march fearlessly upon a Beast King was enough to inspire awe.

"Be swept away in a sea of blood and die, beast!!"

Finlay shouted, spitting blood, anticipating the King of Dogs' eventual collapse as she slowly exhausted herself fighting an endless army of black knights.

"Grrrr."

But while Azi might not be very intelligent, she was no fool.

Instinctively glaring toward the source of the blood scent, she growled loudly, planted her forepaws, and lowered herself.

The claws on her hind paws dug into the concrete, and her forepaws gripped the ground. She crouched low on all fours, a predator preparing to leap.

By the time Finlay felt a sense of foreboding, it had become reality.

"Woof!"

With a short bark, Azi leaped in that direction. Her target was the vampire sitting on the coffin, staring blankly ahead.

The instant her feet left the ground, Azi was already hurtling toward her.

Sharp claws tore through the darkness. Her outstretched hand was already within reach. The overwhelming violence of a Beast King bore down on the vampire's small, fragile body. Such was the ferocity of her charge that she looked ready to burst the vampire apart in a single blow.

Finlay's eyes widened until they nearly popped out.

"No...don't...!"

But Finlay lacked the power to stop her. He could not even perceive her movement. All he could do was feel a sense of dread and recoil in belated horror.

Just as Azi, moving faster than perception, was about to drive her hand into the vampire's chest, a red hoof descended on her from above.

Azi rebounded faster than she had flown in. She smashed partway into the ground, bounced out, and hung low in the air. Above her, the blood steed leaped, twisting its body half a turn. An enormous hoof the size of a human torso struck Azi.

THWACK.

The sound of hoof meeting flesh was loud enough to reach us. Azi flew through the air like a little ball, far faster than any ball I could throw.

An instant later, with the crash of collapsing bricks, an entire third-floor wall of the prison became a cloud of dust. Azi vanished into it.

SNORT.

Afterward, the horse snorted.

The blood steed Ralion. The first familiar, who obeyed only the Progenitor's commands, had joined the fight when its mistress was threatened.

Having plummeted into hell and caught hold of a single thread of hope, Finlay gave a pitiful laugh.

"Haha! Ralion! Yes! You're finally obeying my orders—!"

NEEEIGH.

Ralion blew air through its nostrils as if to dismiss the very notion.

The blood steed's exhalation was like a storm. Caught unawares, Finlay was lifted off the ground. He bounced several times and rolled before barely managing to turn himself over and stand.

"You bastard! I'm controlling the Progenitor right now. I'm her regent! If you're her thrall, you must obey my—!"

Naturally, the blood steed did not budge. It merely snorted forcefully and stared intently in the direction Azi had disappeared.

Finlay was bewildered to see Ralion still poised for battle.

"What? Why are you looking there?"

The reason soon became clear. Finlay slowly turned his head, his body jerking.

"Grrrrrrrrrr..."

The ground shook. An enraged beast was making the world tremble, from somewhere far away on the third floor.

Finlay's face turned ashen.

"N-no way. She's unharmed after a blow like that?"

The King of Dogs. Humanity's finest friend, an ever-loyal beast.

And a born hunter of enemies.

Finlay had misunderstood something.

The King of Dogs disliked vampires because they were human corpses. Even humans shunned corpses that had once been human. How could dogs, with their sensitive noses, welcome walking human bodies that reeked of their friends' blood?

But that was merely an expression of aversion, far removed from a determination to kill an enemy at all costs.

In other words, the ferocious aggression that made a beast a beast was not directed at vampires.

But...

"... Wait. The King of Dogs wasn't even using her full strength?"

When her opponent was a beast, the King of Dogs became a hunter.

A blurred figure shot forward. The wind trailing behind left only a track of dust. She was so fast that the dust cloud swirled, unable to keep pace.

"Woof."

A great chunk of the blood forming Ralion burst away. Half its mane-streaming neck vanished. Blood splashed onto the ground.

Behind it, Azi landed lightly and spat out a piece of red flesh. The torn chunk fell to the ground.

NEIGH.

Mortally wounded, Ralion staggered violently—but only for a moment.

The red flesh on the ground melted into a quivering mass and slipped back into Ralion's shadow. Immediately afterward, the missing chunk of its neck regenerated.

Restored by the Progenitor's power, Ralion glared at Azi, its fighting spirit undiminished despite having just had its throat torn out. Each scrape of its forehoof overturned the concrete.

"Grrr."

Azi, too, voiced her displeasure at Ralion standing unharmed after having its throat ripped out. Her extended claws dug into the ground.

The two beasts glared at each other, then cried out simultaneously as though by agreement.

"Awoooooooo!"

NEEEEIGH!

Leaving only those cries behind, the two beasts lunged at each other.