"Sa... vior...?"
For Saran, this word was something she had dreamed of hearing her entire life.
Saran had been born in a prison.
Her mother was a foxian, and not long after Saran was born, her mother was tortured to death.
As for Saran herself, half the blood in her veins was borisin, so this mixed blood meant she had been born without a tail.
Today, she was supposed to be roasted alive and served as food for the borisins, but when she fought back, her borisin bloodline unexpectedly awakened, triggering the 'Moon Rage.'
As a result, Saran was then chosen by the Wolf-Head Master as a war slave.
"But your scent is really similar to the Wolf-Head Master's—actually, it's even stronger... you're not a savior..."
Saran took a step back, her eyes once again full of suspicion as she looked at Lucian.
Lucian sniffed his own hand, but he found that it didn't smell bad at all, so how could he have the same scent as the borisin?
'Oh... Abundance, huh...'
Lucian immediately realized it was because of the power of Abundance.
Apparently, when Saran bit him earlier, she had smelled the aura of Abundance in his blood.
As expected, canines only trusted scent, not faces.
"It's because I'm an Emanator of Abundance, a messenger of Aeon Yaoshi."
"Sanctus Medicus Yaoshi is merciful and takes pity on all beings, granting them immortality. But sadly, some creatures are evil by nature, so they do bad things behind Yaoshi's back."
"Yaoshi found out the foxians were being persecuted, so THEY sent me to save you."
Lucian lied with a straight face, but of course, Yaoshi's mercy was not a lie.
From what he knew, after gaining immortality, the resources of the borisins were not enough, so for the sake of more power, they grew greedy and started invading everywhere.
Because of that, they became known as the Abominations of Abundance.
"I don't believe you. You're lying."
Saran stepped back again, which made Lucian laugh.
"Use your head, little one. What would I get out of lying to you? How does healing your wounds benefit me?"
Lucian's question instantly stumped Saran.
She mumbled for a while but couldn't come up with an answer.
Seeing her still wary, Lucian spoke again.
"Alright, then tell me, what would make you believe I'm here to help you?"
Saran fell silent for a moment, then, with determined eyes, stared firmly at Lucian.
"Help me get revenge... help me kill all the borisins... I want them dead!"
Lucian saw the hatred in Saran's eyes, almost overflowing.
"Is that all?"
"Yes."
"Alright, I, Emanator of Abundance Lucian, will answer your wish." Lucian vowed, then extended his pinky finger. "You know how to pinky promise, right?"
Saran nodded, then carefully hooked her pinky around Lucian's.
Just like that, they gently linked fingers, sealing the promise.
Lucian had gone out of his way to emphasize 'Emanator of Abundance Lucian' to plant a psychological suggestion in Feixiao's mind. He wanted her to unconsciously separate 'Emanator of Abundance Lucian' from the Abominations of Abundance and other Emanators of Abundance.
"Hiks... Lord Emanator... can you... hiks... save me...? Please, I don't want to be abandoned... hiks..."
Suddenly, Neergul, clinging to the iron bars with teary eyes, spoke while sobbing softly, looking truly pitiful.
She was a black-haired foxian girl, but her jet-black hair had turned yellowish from living in such filthy conditions.
Lucian sighed softly, walked up to her, and with a single tug, tore the cell door right off its hinges.
For these foxians, the cell door had been unbreakable, but to Lucian, it was just like tearing paper.
"A-Amazing..."
Neergul sobbed as she gasped in awe, sounding almost comical.
However, the noise from tearing open the cell had already drawn the attention of the other foxians lying nearby.
"What's going on? Someone's trying to escape?"
"Neergul, you can't run! If they catch you, it'll be terrible!"
"Saran, what are you doing? Get back in your cell! Don't let those borisins see you!"
One after another, the foxians in the other cells kept trying to persuade them, sounding extremely anxious and worried.
It was as if going back into the cells was the right thing to do.
Needless to say, they had been locked up so long that their minds and common sense had been broken into actual slaves.
Lucian had no intention of letting these foxians out for now, since without even the will to save themselves, they would only slow him down outside.
"Come with me. See for yourselves as I make your wish come true."
Lucian reached out his right hand toward Saran.
Saran hesitated for a moment before placing a finger on Lucian's hand, then gripped her best friend Neergul's hand tightly and followed him out.
===
At the same time, outside the underground prison, in the middle of a village belonging to the Eclipse Pack, countless borisins came and went.
Nearby, they had set up huge cauldrons and stone basins.
Here, the sounds of boiling liquid, the hiss of steam, the satisfied licking of the borisin guards, and the oil dripping down the edges of the stone basins all tangled together in the air.
Beside the cauldrons stood many cages made from thick, knotted hardwood, every stake covered in deep claw marks and dark brown stains.
Inside one of the cages, an elderly foxian woman squeezed her eyes shut, her cracked lips moving soundlessly, as if in prayer—or perhaps in curse. Her ears drooped weakly, and one was missing its tip, the edges ragged and torn.
A little farther away, a few foxian children huddled together, their frail bodies trembling like leaves in the wind, yet they did not even dare to cry out loud, letting out only soft, dying whimpers like little animals.
From their direction came other sounds.
A brief, shrill wail—like a string snapping—was followed by a heavy, dull thud, then a wet, squelching rip that made one's teeth ache.
Hearing those noises, the borisins around the cauldrons grew even more cheerful, their rough laughter rising a notch.
Clearly, the foxians in the cages were the next food they planned to cook.
"You two."
Suddenly, a massive borisin over four meters tall stepped out of a house and spoke to two borisins nearby.
He was one of the borisin leaders, the one Saran called the 'Wolf-Head Master.'
"Go drag my new war slave over here. I want her to taste the flesh and blood of her own kind."