"Wat kin? (Rat King?)" The words stumbled out of me more as a mumble than a proper reply.
I gawked at the mouse before me, its tiny frame trembling with fury—though honestly, the display looked more like a tantrum than righteous rage. Still, there was no mistaking it: this wasn't just any rodent. This was the Rat King, leader of the Animal Zodiacs.
My mind raced. What in the abyss was the Rat King doing here, locked away in the Eternal Prison? Don't tell me… No, impossible. Could Nico—if that's what it called itself—be one of the Emperor War Beasts? That didn't add up. Every record I'd dug through insisted there were only four. And I'd already tamed one myself. Which left one possibility that made my stomach churn.
Nico wasn't here by mistake. He was one of the prisoners.
