King's Kou: Do not awaken the knight in the beast

Chapter 25: Heads or Tails

The game was fairly simple and easy.

"There are caskets scattered everywhere in the game field. The caskets contain a gold coin that you need to toss. Get heads, you win. If you get tails, you won't fail, but if you can't beat the person in the casket then you lose to death. Get a total of three heads each at the crack of dawn and I will reward you handsomely."

Basil clenched his fists. "Just because you're a demon lord..." He swerved to the prince of hell, lunging like a wolf to pierce his horn to his chest.

The devil grabbed the horn, launching the entire gigantic body of the snake backwards.

"You overfed yourself to the point of depreciation..."

The slits in Basil's eyes narrowed in rage. A combustible ball of energy with diverse bright colors formed at the very point of his horn, shooting at the devil's back. A ringing sound of a coin emerged, red slashes split the beam of light and caused the gleam to burst into hundreds of gold coins. As soon as the coins landed on the ground, a shadow crawled out from the bushes. Basil took in a sharp breath when he saw Taibei crawling out. His skin was blackened and leathery from fire. No one would be able to distinguish who he was except for Basil who still had this memory of Taibei carved in his mind with sizzling steel.

Taibei's trembling hand reached out to the serpent. His eyes were clouded with a glint of redness in them. This was exactly how he saw Taibei.

"Ba...sil..."

"Tai!"

"Watch out!"

Strong winds shattered the illusion. Innumerable red slashes broke out in a form of a concave that started to enlarge in range. Boota kicked Gaku behind and flew to where Basil was, hooking his arm upfront to summon his ivory bright shield that exuded a cold white mist. The shield bulked up to the size of Basil. The serpent ducked. Boota ground his teeth from the forceful slashes that Mammon released. The trees behind them were brutally lacerated. He drew a breath when the whips stopped.

"Getting caught off-guard by a body that wouldn't even satisfy maggots, what a farce. Waste no more time, I'm getting impatient. Play the game and I may let you live. Ta-ta~"

The devil pulled his absurdly lavish coat around his form before collapsing into a pool of jewelry and gold. Boota glanced at Basil who was ready to turn someone into ashes with the mere rough grinding of his teeth.

"Just because you're a demon lord doesn't mean you can play with our lives!!!"

Boota allowed him to calm down before probing him for questions.

"Who did you see?"

He was still breathing heavily. Boota inspected his heavily damaged shield. One more of that vicious slash and they could have had a hemicorporectomy.

"Taibei."

Boota knew Taibei from the orphanage; ask anyone from their old residence and they'd tell you more than a thing or two. Taibei was the first orphan to be experimented on. He was the eldest in the orphanage. He tried to be close to all of the children and acted as an older sibling, especially to Kou and Basil who never got along. Since he was the first specimen, the scientists had little to no knowledge on what to do and what to expect.

As per request, he was allowed to visit them. In each visit the wounds and injuries on his body worsened. Small bruises became internal bleedings, shallow cuts became full blown amputations, and small extraction of samples became retrieval of his internal organs. Taibei hid his pain from them, telling them that he was fighting vessels in the laboratory.