Everything the outside world knew about what was happening inside Chernobog came from official Ursus announcements.
In other words, people only knew what the Ursus Empire allowed them to know.
The Ursus Empire already had a terrible reputation—its decades of nonstop invasions made neighboring countries more than happy to expose its scandals and speculate wildly about Chernobog's internal chaos.
But no matter how bad their guesses got, the truth inside the city was always worse.
Walking through the devastated streets of the core city, Crownslayer—who had once briefly crossed paths with Lucian Sinclair—frowned, her mood complicated.
"I was only gone a few days. How did it get this bad? Actually—no, this is way too bad. The Ursus military hasn't even arrived yet. They were only supposed to be fighting the little police force. How did they wreck the place like this?"
One of her underlings scratched his head. "This street's Mephisto's territory. This is the better end, actually. Casualties are under fifty percent."
"What!?" Crownslayer's voice cracked. "Fifty percent?! These are civilians! Didn't the meeting before the operation make it clear we had to minimize civilian casualties? Civilians are our future recruits! Why are they butchering them? Did that white-haired brat's brain get replaced with Originium?"
Her underling looked helpless. "I dunno. That's what the Snowfiend boys said. The Snowfiend unit found out Mephisto told his guys to just loot and smash whatever they wanted, and he even had people dragged into the streets for public executions. Their big sis fought Mephisto over it. but then Leader Talulah showed up, stopped the fight, and didn't punish Mephisto. Said it was 'necessary propaganda'."
Crownslayer choked on her own breath. "Propaganda.? She calls that propaganda? Then what were we doing in Lungmen, playing house?"
It wasn't that Crownslayer didn't understand the concept of killing one to warn the many.
But she wasn't stupid enough to confuse what could be done with what should be done.
She herself had been born in Ursus. She despised the country—its emperor, its commoners, every last Mobile City. It'd be better if they all disappeared from the map.
But she also knew the Reunion Movement couldn't just be a violent organization acting on impulse.
Their goal wasn't just resisting the Ursus Empire—they were supposed to unite Infected across the world and ignite Resistance in every nation.
That was why Crownslayer had gone to Lungmen to set up their next operations.
After capturing Chernobog, the next target was Lungmen—Talulah had decided that long ago.
But what was this mess now? The Reunion Movement had barely started, yet they were already tolerating internal massacres. This would destroy their reputation, alienate the moderate Infected, and turn them into the exact kind of Extremist Organization they didn't want to be.
Crownslayer muttered, "Kids really shouldn't be running this kind of thing."
Good thing she hadn't brought any recruits from Lungmen back with her.
If inexperienced Infected saw a massacre like this, the Reunion Movement would lose their trust before they even finished training them.
She needed answers. Crownslayer turned to her underling.
"Where's Talulah? And what about Patriot? If the old man were here, he'd never allow this. Even if Talulah stepped in, he'd pretend not to hear her and crush that white-haired brat's skull like an egg."
Her underling nodded. "The big guy went to another district. I think he's capturing Chernobog's mayor. A bunch of the Aristocracy already escaped early—somehow they found out exactly when we'd move."
"Ugh. Loose lips again. He's gonna lecture us for hours."
Just thinking about Patriot's lectures made her fur stand on end—literally.
Among the Reunion Movement's elite leaders, aside from Talulah, the strongest and most respected was Patriot, that old Wendigo warrior.
A stern, seasoned soldier—he'd personally trained most of the Infected who had no combat ability before joining. In many ways, he was the backbone of the Reunion Movement.
Maybe she should wait for him to come back before confronting Talulah.
Crownslayer hadn't even completed her mission in Lungmen, and she'd been exposed by some guy claiming to run a logistics company. She really didn't have the face to report in yet.
That was when she felt a wave of unnatural cold sweep past her. Her tail twitched sharply.
That chill wasn't natural. She immediately spotted a white-clad Reunion member approaching from the distance.
"Snowfiend? What are you doing here?"
The "Snowfiend" was a special unit within the Reunion Movement—just like their name, they wore custom snow-white uniforms and radiated intense cold.
But today their chill was even stronger than usual—Crownslayer could feel it from dozens of meters away.
"A-Ah! Crownslayer!" One Snowfiend ran up, panicked. "It's bad! Our big sis's Originium Arts went out of control—she collapsed!"
"Mmm."
The white rabbit slowly opened her eyes, her body heavy like lead.
She stared at the ceiling for a long moment before her thoughts finally came together. "Right. I passed out. The Snowfiends must've brought me back."
"Nope. I brought you back." Crownslayer leaned against the wall, letting out a proud little huff.
She raised a hand toward the white-haired rabbit girl.
"Morning, FrostNova. You fell straight off the upper deck of the district. I was nice enough to haul you out. You slept like Snow White—but you were cold enough to be the Snow Queen."
FrostNova didn't acknowledge the joke. Her eyes focused only on Crownslayer's hand.
From her fingers to her elbow, her arm was wrapped in thick bandages—it looked pretty bad.
FrostNova's voice was weak. "Your hand. It's frostbitten. I'm sorry. I dragged you down with me. Has it been treated?"
"Sick people shouldn't worry about others. At the very least, I'll die after you."
Crownslayer huffed like the eternal tsundere she was and grabbed the kettle beside the bed.
But the moment she touched it, she frowned. "The hot water froze."
Being near FrostNova—walking freezer unit that she was—brought everything down to subzero, making normal life basically impossible.
But complaining wouldn't help.
Crownslayer poured out a cup of icy slush, then pulled a small packet from her pocket. Inside was one piece of Red Sugar—Lucian Sinclair's gift to her.
Even in ice water, the Red Sugar dissolved quickly with a stir.
Crownslayer handed the cup to FrostNova. "Here. Drink."
"..." FrostNova looked suspiciously between the crimson-tinted drink and Crownslayer's face.
But she accepted it in the end.
Crownslayer snorted. "Not worried about poison? Since when are sisters in the Reunion Movement this friendly?"
FrostNova said, calm and neutral, "I don't trust you. But you saved my life, so I'll repay the debt. Then we're even."
"The hell? My lifesaving grace is worth one cup of water to you?"
Crownslayer grumbled tsunderely as she watched FrostNova drink the whole cup.
FrostNova put the cup down without commenting on the taste. She exhaled softly—
Then suddenly choked.
"Ugh—! Cough, cough—!"
Her pale, fragile face flushed at once, breaking into a cold sweat.
She looked up in obvious pain, struggling to speak. "Crown...slayer... you really... poisoned it...?"
Crownslayer rolled her eyes. "Not just poison—I drugged you too. I'll sell you to Lungmen and have you freeze off those pervy men's equipment."
A young woman spitting out dirty jokes like that—Lucian's mom would straighten her out immediately.
Still, Crownslayer's bark was worse than her bite. As Lucian had once judged: foul-mouthed, temperamental, but a good woman.
FrostNova kept coughing violently, her whole body burning up, sweat pouring off her in waves. Her heart was pounding so hard she felt numb—
. Wait. Burning up?
As her senses slowly cleared, she touched her own cheek, eyes going wide.
"Eh? Eh!? H-Hot? This. this is heat!?"
Crownslayer's grin widened. "Knew you'd have a strong reaction. This stuff works better the higher the infection level. First time I ate one, I was panting for half an hour—felt like I chugged a whole bottle of vodka."
She jingled the little packet of sugar proudly.
"You want more? If you want some, call me 'Big Sister Crownslayer' and let me hear it! And it better be sincere and cute!"