Baby System: I'm the Beast World's Only Hope!-Chapter 356: Episode 354: How do we feed him?
The beautiful, shimmering cascade of stardust finally settled against the frozen earth of the Iron-Wood. The residual magic of the Fox King completely faded into the biting winter wind, leaving behind only the profound, suffocating darkness of a world that had just lost its greatest trickster.
In perfect, agonizing silence, the hundreds of red foxes and humanoid Kitsune shifters slowly rose from the frost.
They did not speak a single word. As one, the massive tribe turned and melted seamlessly back into the dense, black shadows of the forest, returning to the eastern plains to mourn their fallen King.
Only Kaito remained.
The elite subordinate stood alone in the sprawling courtyard, the cold wind whipping his hair across his tear-stained face. He stared up at the window of the master bedroom for a long, heavy moment before forcing his trembling legs to carry him toward the Manor’s doors.
He didn’t need to knock. The massive doors slowly groaned open.
Standing in the grand entryway, completely stripping away his terrifying aura, was Zarek. The towering Dragon Alpha looked as though he had aged a thousand years in a single hour. His golden eyes, usually burning with absolute, uncompromising hellfire, were entirely dull and bloodshot.
Cradled delicately against Zarek’s massive chest was Iris. The wolf pup had her arms locked securely around the Dragon King’s thick neck, her face buried into his collarbone as she wept with unrestrained heartbreak. Zarek simply rubbed her back with a massive, trembling hand, offering Kaito a slow, heavy nod of welcome.
"Enter, Fox," Zarek rumbled, his deep voice cracking under the sheer weight of his grief.
Kaito stepped over the threshold, pulling the cold doors shut behind him. The atmosphere inside was like a tomb.
The sprawling living areas, usually a chaotic, vibrant hive of thundering Alpha footsteps and roaring laughter, were completely paralyzed by sorrow.
Torian sat heavily on the stone hearth, the White Tiger staring blankly into the unlit fireplace, his broad shoulders slumped in absolute defeat.
Caspian leaned against the far wall, his face buried in his hands. Kaelen stood frozen near the hallway, his icy blue eyes completely glazed over as he stared at the floorboards.
Kaito halted in his tracks, his green eyes widening in profound surprise.
In the brutal, territorial hierarchy of the Beastworld, a harem of Alpha Kings was held together only by their shared devotion to the Queen. Kaito had always assumed the harem merely tolerated Ren. He had assumed that beneath the banter, they viewed the trickster as a rival for the Queen’s affection.
But looking at the utterly shattered, devastated warlords, Kaito realized how entirely wrong he had been. Ren wasn’t just a rival. He had been their brother-in-arms. He had been a fundamental, irreplaceable pillar of their pack.
The Fox King was truly, deeply loved, even among the most lethal predators on the continent.
Drax stepped out from the archway of the kitchen. The teenage drake’s green eyes were rimmed with red, but his jaw was set tight. He had stepped up, completely absorbing the crushing weight of the pack’s emotional collapse.
He knew exactly what was going on, and he knew his fathers were entirely incapable of leading right now.
"You have traveled through the storm, Kaito," Drax murmured, his deep voice incredibly steady as he approached the subordinate. In his hands, he held a steaming wooden bowl. It was the rich chicken soup Roxy had been making just hours before her world ended. "You must be hungry. Please, eat."
Kaito looked at the warm broth, his stomach violently twisting. He slowly shook his head, holding a hand up.
"I cannot, young Drake," Kaito whispered, his voice hoarse. "Thank you. But I could not stomach a single drop."
Drax didn’t push. He understood perfectly. He slowly lowered the bowl, setting it onto a nearby side table. No one in the entire Manor had the appetite to eat. The very thought of food felt like a betrayal to the empty space Ren had left behind.
Kaito reached into the inner folds of his robes. He retrieved a beautifully carved wooden box, sealed with the ancient, emerald-green wax crest of the Kitsune bloodline.
He walked slowly toward the towering Dragon Alpha.
"I came to deliver this to the Queen," Kaito explained, his voice trembling slightly as he held the box out. "But... when my King gave me these final instructions months ago, he explicitly told me that if Roxy was not here, or if she was unable to accept it... I was to hand it directly to you, Zarek."
Zarek carefully shifted Iris’s weight to one arm, extending his hand to take the wooden box. His fingers curled around the carved wood with a fragile, tragic reverence.
Before Zarek could ask what was inside, soft, hurried footsteps echoed from the adjacent parlor.
Dena, the young wolf-shifter helper, emerged from the shadows. Her face was entirely blotchy from crying, her hands shaking violently. Bundled securely in her arms, wrapped tightly in an emerald-green blanket, was the newborn heir.
Dena walked over to Zarek and gently transferred the wailing infant into the crook of the Dragon King’s massive arm, right beside a sniffling Iris.
Kaito’s breath caught in his throat. He stared down at the child.
The baby boy was small and incredibly fragile, his tiny face flushed red from crying. He was in his full human form, possessing his father’s delicate, perfect features and a thick tuft of vibrant, fiery red hair. But poking out from the messy red locks were two tiny, velvet-soft fox ears, twitching frantically in distress.
The child was screaming. It was a sharp, heartbreaking wail of absolute desperation. He had been violently separated from his mother the absolute second he entered the world, and his tiny, magical core was terrified by the cold, unfamiliar air.
"How is she?" Kaito asked softly, unable to tear his eyes away from the wailing infant. "How is the Queen holding up?"
Zarek looked down at the screaming baby, his golden eyes swimming with an ocean of unshed grief. He slowly, agonizingly shook his head.
"Syris and Dena had to go back up to check on her," Zarek rumbled, his voice hollow. "She went completely quiet. She ordered us out. We... we didn’t know what else to do but give her space."
"HELP!"
Dena’s terrified, blood-curdling scream echoed down the grand staircase.
The young wolf-shifter burst out of the master bedroom, sprinting onto the upper landing, her eyes blown wide with absolute panic. "She collapsed! The Matriarch has collapsed!"
The paralysis gripping the harem instantly vanished.
Zarek thrust the newborn and Iris into Drax’s arms and surged forward like a localized earthquake. Torian, Kaelen, and Caspian scrambled off the walls and the hearth, their combat boots thundering desperately against the wooden stairs as they practically flew up to the second floor.
The children, terrified by the sudden shouting, immediately followed. Iris wailed, grabbing the banister, while Axel and Onyx, their matching blue eyes wide with pure fear, bolted up the stairs right behind the Alpha Kings, tears streaming down their small faces.
Kaito followed closely behind the chaotic surge.
When they burst through the heavy oak doors of the master bedroom, the sight was absolutely apocalyptic. The room was a mess of torn, blood-soaked linens and scattered, broken ceramics.
And lying perfectly still in the center of the massive bed, entirely unresponsive, was Roxy.
She was as pale as a ghost. Her brilliant green eyes were closed, her dark curls plastered to her forehead with sweat. Her hands were folded limply over her chest, and resting directly beneath her fingers, pulsing with a faint, warm light, was a brilliant red stone.
"Roxy!" Torian roared, dropping to his knees beside the bed, his massive hands hovering over her pale face, terrified to touch her.
"Mama!" the twin boys sobbed in unison, rushing forward to bury their faces into the mattress.
"Let me," Kaito commanded gently, stepping through the chaotic wall of panicked Alphas.
The subordinate Fox placed two fingers directly against Roxy’s neck, right below her jaw, and closed his eyes. He tapped into the ancient, sensory magic of the Kitsune, searching for the brilliant spark of her soul.
The room held its breath. The only sound was the frantic sobbing of the children and the distant wail of the newborn downstairs.
After five agonizing seconds, Kaito slowly opened his eyes and let out a long, heavy exhale of relief.
"She is still alive," Kaito confirmed, stepping back. He looked at the terrified Alpha Kings. "Her body has completely shut down to protect itself. It is pure physical and emotional exhaustion. The blood loss, the magical transfer of the birth, and the shock... her body simply could not handle another second of consciousness. She is in a deep, healing sleep. She will be up in a few days."
A collective, massive shudder of relief rippled through the harem. Kaelen bowed his head, resting his forehead against the wooden bedpost. Zarek closed his eyes, his massive shoulders trembling. She was alive. They hadn’t lost her too.
Dena stood in the doorway, wringing her blood-stained apron in her hands. She looked down the stairs toward the grand hall, where the sharp, desperate cries of the infant continued to echo relentlessly through the Manor.
"She will be asleep for days?" Dena asked, her voice trembling as she looked up at the towering, exhausted Alpha Kings. "But... the little one hasn’t eaten properly since he was born. He needs his mother."
Dena swallowed hard, "How do we feed him?"
