Infinity Is My Affinity?!?-Chapter 131: Master Said It’s Okay!

Dove stood completely rigid in the center of the cobblestone street, her armored hand gripping the hilt of her broadsword so tightly the thick leather bindings groaned under the pressure.

She watched the dark, pathetic stain rapidly spread down Jin Kamo’s expensive silk trousers while she listened to the horrifying, wet sound of his cartilage beginning to crack under the chimera’s grip.

[She is actually going to kill him...] Dove realized, feeling a cold bead of sweat roll down the back of her neck. [Right here in the middle of New Shinkotsu, in front of hundreds of witnesses.]

The General’s unyielding voice instantly echoed in the back of her mind. We cannot lose that trio this close to the Red Moon.

Dove’s jaw clenched so hard her teeth ached.

As the Commander of the Knights, the absolute law of the nation dictated she draw her blade, rally her men, and strike down anyone attempting to murder a noble of Fugen in broad daylight.

But she also knew the reality of the situation. The Kamo family, despite their absolute monopoly on the nation’s pharmaceuticals, were a nest of wealthy, entitled vipers, and Jin was a known degenerate.

More importantly, drawing steel against a Greater Dragon wasn’t law enforcement. It was suicide.

If she attacked Nom-Nom, the alliance they had built with Nico would instantly shatter. The resulting battle would level half the district, likely end with her own death, and absolutely doom the entire nation to the horrors of the impending Red Moon.

Dove looked at Nom-Nom’s blazing violet eyes. There was no fear, no hesitation, and absolutely no understanding of the political consequences. It was just the pure, unadulterated instinct of an apex predator executing a pest.

Threatening the dragon with Fugen’s laws was completely and utterly useless.

Realizing the impending disaster, Dove shifted her gaze past the massive chimera, locking eyes with the woman in the crisp white robes standing a few paces away.

Nico’s ’older sister’ stood perfectly still, her own striking violet eyes completely raging with fury as she watched the Jin slowly suffocate.

Dove made a split-second tactical decision. She consciously released her grip on her sword, pulling her hands entirely away from the hilt and raising both palms in a placating, universally non-hostile gesture. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Lady Peko..." Dove projected her voice to cut through the terrified murmurs of the surrounding crowd. "I am not asking the dragon. I am asking you."

Peko slowly turned her head, her gaze shifting from the dying Beastkin to the Knight Commander.

"If she crushes his throat, Fugen law will demand her execution," Dove stated, keeping her tone away from any pretense of knightly honor. "... I know exactly what kind of filth the Kamo family breeds. I know he provoked you. But if he dies in broad daylight, the nobility will force the General’s hand. We will be forced to become your enemies. And Fugen will lose its greatest shield against the Red Moon."

Dove took a slow step forward, keeping her hands raised.

"Do not let it all burn over a pathetic, miserable worm," Dove pleaded. "... Tell her to drop him."

For a long, agonizing second, the street was completely silent save for Jin’s desperate, strangled wheezing as Peko stared at the Commander.

But the terrifying, pressure radiating from the Phoenix did not recede. Instead, it surged even further.

"For three consecutive days, this insect has been actively invading my personal space..." Peko stated, her voice devoid of any warmth or mercy. "For three days, he has been whispering the most vile, degrading filth into my ears. And today, he finally dared to lay his hands on me."

Peko’s violet eyes narrowed as she looked at the dying noble. "...You speak of Fugen’s laws, Commander. But right now, only I know exactly how badly I wish to incinerate this entire street into ash just to cleanse the stench of him from me."

Dove felt a cold knot form in the pit of her stomach. Peko wasn’t going to stop the chimera. She was fully, consciously endorsing the execution.

Desperate, Dove violently shifted her gaze back to the massive dragon holding the noble in the air.

"Then what about Nico?!" Dove pleaded, directly addressing Nom-Nom. "You are his familiar! Ask him through your bond! He understands what is at stake. Ask him if crushing this pathetic worm is truly worth burning the bridge between our forces!"

Nom-Nom paused.

She kept Jin suspended in the air, her fingers digging slightly into his neck as she fell completely silent. Her violet eyes glazed over for a fraction of a second, seamlessly opening the familiar bond to relay the exact situation to her Master.

Dove held her breath, waiting for Nico to instantly recognize the political suicide of this situation and order his Dragon to stand down.

A moment later, life snapped back into Nom-Nom’s eyes. She slowly turned her head back to Dove.

"Master has a question for you," Nom-Nom said, her voice dropping into a terrifying draconic rumble. "If it were you standing here instead of Peko... what would the General have done?"

Dove completely froze.

The words hit her like a physical blow, instantly robbing the air from her lungs.

She stood there completely at a loss for words because she knew the absolute, undeniable truth that if Jin had cornered her and spoken to her like a cheap whore, the General wouldn’t have just killed the man. He would have slaughtered the entire bloodline down to the roots.

Seeing the Commander’s silence, a feral, terrifyingly wide grin stretched across Nom-Nom’s face.

"Master is telling me to do whatever I want," Nom-Nom purred, her violet eyes blazing with unadulterated violence. "He said he will handle the rest. If the worst comes to worst, we will simply leave this nation. And if your knights try to stop us... We will slaughter our way out."

Nom-Nom leaned closer to the terrified, purple-faced noble dangling from her grip. "Master says he would rather declare open war against Pantheon than bear this."

To Dove’s absolute, unbridled horror, Nom-Nom’s grip visibly tightened.

The wet, sickening sound of cartilage beginning to snap echoed over the silent street. Jin’s eyes rolled completely back into his skull as bloody foam bubbled at the corners of his lips.

Dove’s hand instinctively clamped down onto the hilt of her broadsword, but her fingers violently trembled against it.

The sheer, oppressive draconic pressure bleeding off Nom-Nom felt like a physical mountain pressing down on her shoulders.

[We can’t stop them!] Dove’s eyes widened as the terrifying loophole in their arrangement finally clicked into place.

[The Blood Pact explicitly stated that if they act against Fugen’s interests, the General will judge them, and they will be forced to leave. It never stated they had to submit to our laws or face execution.]

If Dove drew her blade to punish them, absolutely nothing was stopping the chimera and Peko from butchering every single knight in the district and simply walking out of the city over their corpses.

But while Dove was paralyzed by the political reality, Peko stood completely stunned.

She stared at the Nom-Nom, her mind reeling from Nico’s relayed words.

She didn’t know what she was expecting him to say, but she didn’t expect him to instantly, without a single second of hesitation and choose her dignity, even going as far as being prepared to slaughter their way out Fugen and declaring open war on Pantheon, all because a noble had harrased her, instead of prioritizing the Fugen citizenship he had worked so hard to build, their cover story and the actual life.

That profound, deeply irrational human loyalty snapped the fury clouding her mind, replacing it with the sheer warmth that flooded her chest.

And with that warmth came the clarity of all he would’ve sacrificed.

Stepping forward, Peko calmly reached out and placed her hand firmly over Nom-Nom’s heavily muscled forearm.

"Let him go," Peko ordered, her voice completely stripped of its previous malice.

Nom-Nom instantly snapped her head toward the Phoenix, her feral grin twisting into a look of absolute betrayal. "Why?! Master said it’s okay!"

"And now I am saying it is not..." Peko countered, her violet eyes locking onto the chimera’s. "Drop him."

Nom-Nom let out a frustrated growl, rapidly running the conflicting orders through the familiar bond with Nico before she finally, reluctantly opened her fingers.

Jin Kamo hit the cobblestone street with an unceremonious thud, landing hard on his ass as he violently clutched his heavily bruised throat, gasping for air, completely covered in his own tears, snot, and the dark stain of urine soaking his silk pants.

He didn’t even have a second to process his survival before Dove marched forward.

The Knight Commander grabbed the sputtering noble violently by his expensive silk collar, hauling him halfway off the ground until they were eye to eye.

"Listen to me very carefully..." Dove snarled, her voice vibrating with absolute, unfiltered disgust as she practically spat in his face. "If you ever bother them again... Kamo or not, I will bury you. And I will have my father bury yours, even if I have to put a blade to my own neck to force my father to make it happen. Do you understand me?!"

Jin let out a pathetic, trembling squeak, vigorously nodding his head as fresh tears streamed down his purple, swollen face.

"Now get out of my sight!" Dove roared, violently shoving him backward.

Before Jin could hit the dirt, Peko caught him by his hair before-

-Slap!

Her hand descended on his face in a resounding slap right across his face, imprinting her fingers onto his tear-stained cheeks, before shoving him back on the ground.

Jin scrambled up to his feet before sprinting as though his life depended on it. He didn’t look back. He didn’t utter a single threat, nor did he even bother checking on his unconscious, bleeding Tier 6 bodyguard still slumped against the wall fifty feet away. He simply ran, scurrying down the street like a terrified rat fleeing a sinking ship.

Watching him disappear into the crowd, Dove let out a massive, shuddering sigh of relief.

That arrogant, entitled idiot had just come within a hair’s breadth of completely ruining the Pantheon alliance upon which the fulfilment of the gap in strength left by the Crusader hinged.

The soft rustle of silk snapped Dove out of her racing thoughts.

"So," Peko’s voice sounded from beside her, completely calm and collected as if the attempted murder had never even happened. "Are you lot stalking us now?"

Dove turned around, forcibly smoothing her expression back into a professional mask as she noted the massive crowd of terrified citizens currently staring at them from the steps of the library.

"I... came to the estate, but no one was there. And Elena... your assigned maid said I could find you here. I wanted to discuss Entropy." Dove stated, keeping her voice low as she gestured toward the chaotic street. "Shall we discuss this elsewhere?"

Peko offered a slow, dignified nod. "Lead the way."