Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
As the roar of the thrusters radiated in all directions, Pride descended from the sky, a massive cage slung across his shoulder. Inside, the two-headed husky thrashed relentlessly, straining to shatter the prison that bound it.
"Father, I've brought him back!"
Landing beside the carriage, Pride set the cage down. Duke hurried over at once, his gaze locking onto the husky within. Compared to when Duke had first encountered it, the creature had changed drastically.
Where once it had only one head, now two snarled in defiance. And the hind legs that had been utterly paralyzed had regained their strength.
When Tam had dragged this beast back, its blood-soaked fur clung to its broken body. The entire lower half had been useless, unable to move. Only its two front limbs could still claw at the earth.
Most of its bones had been pulverized as though crushed beneath a steamroller. Its organs ruptured, its blood pouring out, such injuries should have been fatal.
And yet, even in that state, the husky endured. Even after being forced into the Beast Coffer, it had radiated unyielding fury and a murderous will that refused to die.
Now, after its rebirth through the Coffer's remaking, it had not only survived but mutated in ways even Duke had not foreseen.
At first, Duke assumed that after rebirth the most it could wield would be the power of flame. But reality proved far more intriguing.
Its mismatched eyes had split into two separate heads, on the left, ice-blue irises gleamed with reason and curiosity; on the right, brown eyes burned with savagery and distrust.
The left head was calm, almost scholarly, analyzing everything around it with a cold, steady gaze. The right, however, was wild and violent, snarling at the world with unrelenting hostility.
Its body too had undergone remarkable changes. Along its black spine ran twin conduits glowing faintly with red and blue energies.
Its belly fur had thickened, now a translucent white with a strange resilience to its texture.
Its four limbs bulged with muscle, claws transformed into bio-metal. Faint energy veins traced their surface, tiny vents along the sides releasing heat, an adaptation for long pursuits across harsh terrain.
"Incredible," Duke murmured, eyes alight. "Compared to the dawn-drake, this one has retained far more of its beastly form!"
He still remembered how the drake, Chihui, had looked after its rebirth, its body bristling with steel feathers, dragon horns sprouting from its skull, so changed that it could hardly be called a bird anymore.
But this husky, aside from sprouting a second head, retained much of its former shape. Even the vents along its legs were hidden beneath its fur.
Yet when Duke activated his Divine Eye, he saw the truth. Inside, the husky had been completely remade into a machine-beast. From core reactor to gyroscopic bearings, from energy converters to internal wiring, it was flawless.
Even its brain bore signs of transformation.
"Astonishing," Duke whispered, circling the cage. "Internally, you're a complete machine. Yet outwardly, you remain almost unchanged. Compared to the drake, you are the most successful creation thus far."
But the husky did not share his fascination. Again and again, it hurled itself at the crystal bars. From the brown-eyed head erupted a jet of flame, blocked instantly by the energy shield Duke summoned before him.
Shyvana flinched at the blaze, instinctively shielding Lux as they retreated.
"It can breathe fire?!" she exclaimed.
"From one head, yes. But what power lies in the other?" Duke's gaze sharpened on the ice-blue eyes.
That head was calmer, more measured. Unlike the raging brown-eyed twin, it studied Duke intently, the two of them locking eyes through the crystal.
"Come then, little one," Duke said with a smile. "Show me what you can do."
He tapped the crystalline bars with a deliberate knock.
The blue-eyed head opened its jaws, inhaling sharply. Air surged toward the cage with terrifying suction, even tugging strands of Duke's hair forward.
Then,
Boom!
Compressed air detonated against the crystal, yet failed to crack it. With a sigh, the blue-eyed head tilted aside, relinquishing control of the body, and curled up in the corner.
The husky's entire form rippled, compressing, reshaping itself into a perfect cube that lay still within the cage.
"Incredible... truly incredible," Duke breathed, eyes wide. "The Beast Coffer's creations can reshape themselves to fit its form. But why? What other functions lie hidden within this artifact?"
He quickly retrieved the Coffer from his robes, examining it further. Lux, watching him, pressed her palm to her forehead with a weary sigh.
"Shyvana-nee, let's just camp here tonight," she muttered.
"What's wrong with him?" Shyvana asked warily.
"He's researching," Lux replied, massaging her cheeks. "Whenever Teacher encounters a subject that fascinates him, he forgets everything else. It's nothing unusual."
"What a strange man..." Shyvana murmured.
Lux only shrugged. "But that's part of his charm, isn't it?"
As the two prepared camp, gathering firewood, setting the carriage in place, preparing supper, Duke suddenly shot upright.
"I've got it!"
Lux groaned. "Yes, yes, but Duke-nii, we should at least eat first..."
"No time!" Duke strode back to the crystal cage, holding the Beast Coffer in hand.
The husky remained in its cubed second form, a dormant state allowing it to rest, replenish energy, and repair itself.
Chihui, the dawn-drake, had seemed a success to others, but it had been a failure. For it never developed this second form, never reentered the Coffer for renewal.
A true reborn beast could shift between two states: one for battle, one for survival.
The drake had been denied that, and thus had been rejected by the Coffer itself.
But this husky... it had surpassed that threshold.
"The surprises you bring me never end," Duke murmured, turning to Pride. "Open the cage. I want to see this little one up close."
"As you wish, Father."
The cage unfolded. Duke stepped forward, laying a hand upon the husky's cube-form. As his mana flowed in, he reached into the creature's scattered memories.
And what he found was a single, overwhelming impression,
Cold.
Endless, merciless cold.
Blizzards howled. Snow whipped like knives. The pup trailed after a wolf pack, scavenging scraps. The wolves tolerated him only as a half-blood stray, a mongrel never truly one of them.
Still, he endured.
Until the hunters of Freljord came.
The pack, mighty enough to bring down even behemoths, was wiped out in an instant beneath the blades of Iceborn warriors.
The husky too should have died there. Its body shattered by a single sword strike.
But in that moment, alongside the bitter cold, came another emotion.
Anger.
A searing, boundless fury awakened the dormant power within its tainted bloodline, granting it just enough strength to flee.
Too small, too worthless, the Iceborn had left it alive.
"Anger..." Duke whispered, tasting the word. A slow smile spread across his lips. "Limitless anger."
"Well done, little one."
"Well done."
He pressed deeper with his mana, and suddenly the world blurred. He stood no longer in Demacia's heartland, but upon Freljord's endless snowfields.
A mournful howl split the blizzard.
Wolves lay slaughtered, their blood steaming against the ice. Towering Iceborn loomed over a lone husky that growled despite its tucked tail.
One raised a sword to strike,
Duke blurred forward, his fist like a cannon, shattering the Iceborn into fragments of shadow.
Then he knelt, hand outstretched to the pup.
"Come with me."
The husky snapped its jaws on his hand, mismatched eyes burning with fury and pain.
"Come with me," Duke repeated, locking eyes with the beast. "Be my son. I will give you everything you desire."
...
Outside, Shyvana frowned. "He's been sitting like that for almost three hours. Is he alright?"
Duke still knelt, eyes closed, hand pressed to the strange cube. A faint smile lingered on his lips.
"He's fine," Lux said confidently. "No matter what he does, Duke-nii always has a plan."
Moments later, Duke's eyelids fluttered. Slowly, he opened them. The cube unfurled, reshaping once more into the two-headed wolf.
Shyvana's golden pupils flared with flame. She stepped protectively in front of Lux, eyes fixed on Duke.
"It's fine," Duke assured, ruffling the wolf's twin heads with both hands.
"You've tamed it?" Shyvana asked warily.
Duke tilted his head, smiling oddly. "No."
"I've only become his father."
The husky closed both pairs of eyes, leaning into Duke's touch, all traces of rage gone.
"From this day forward," Duke declared, "your name shall be Anger."
End of chapter....
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