Raising Beast Cubs to Find a Husband-Chapter 148: The Dragon’s Egg

The beam of green light wasn’t just light; it was a frequency.

As it pierced the clouds, the entire Jade Valley screamed. The manicured bonsai trees in the garden exploded, their branches twisting into jagged, thorny whips. The koi pond boiled. The air turned heavy, tasting of ozone and rotten orchids.

Duchess Venetia stood amidst the chaos, her polite mask shattered. She looked euphoric.

"Do not resist," Venetia commanded, her voice amplified by the vibrating magic. "You are witnesses to history. The Serpent becomes the Dragon."

She snapped her fingers.

From the shadows of the trellis, two dozen guards emerged. They moved with the jerky, synchronized efficiency of Hollow Husks. They drew jagged jade daggers.

Primrose reached for her tails, but the ambient Void Magic was suffocating her fire. It felt like trying to light a match in a hurricane.

"Caspian!" Primrose gasped. "I can’t... the pressure..."

Caspian stepped in front of her. He didn’t look scared. He looked annoyed.

"History?" Caspian scoffed. "You are not making history, Duchess. You are making a mess."

He didn’t summon a tsunami—they were too far from the sea. Instead, he raised his hand.

All the tea in the cups, the water in the boiling pond, and the moisture in the humid air obeyed him. It coalesced into a whip of pressurized water, shimmering like a diamond blade.

CRACK.

Caspian lashed out. The water whip sliced through the stone table, separating Venetia from her guards.

"Cassian!" Caspian shouted, his eyes glowing blue. "Take Primrose! Take the children and Luna to the Sanctuary! Get them out of here!"

"I am not leaving you!" Primrose argued, grabbing his arm.

Caspian looked back at her. For a second, the arrogance dropped. He cupped her cheek with a wet hand.

"Go, Primrose," he said softly. "If that thing hatches, we need you to neutralize it. I will hold the door."

He pushed her toward Cassian.

"GO!"

---

Cassian didn’t hesitate. He grabbed Jasper with one arm and grabbed Primrose’s wrist with the other.

"Run," Cassian hissed.

They sprinted out of the hall, Orion and Luna close on their heels. They scrambled up the mountain path toward the source of the beam—the Forbidden Sanctuary.

The path was treacherous. The limestone was slick with moss, and the air grew colder with every step.

They rounded a corner near the summit entrance.

A figure stepped out from the mist.

Real Jax.

He stood blocking the path, holding a spear. His face was blank. His stance was perfect.

"Halt," Jax stated monotonously. "This area is restricted."

Primrose’s tails flared. "Jax! Move!"

He didn’t blink. He shifted his weight, ready to skewer them.

Luna stepped forward. She stopped running. Her long ears were pinned back, not in fear, but in focus.

"Go," Luna said quietly.

"Luna?" Primrose stopped.

"He’s a soldier," Luna said, pulling a heavy iron ladle from her belt (she never traveled without cookware). "But I’m a Rabbit. And Rabbits are fast. Go, Prim. Save the world. I have to... I have to finish this."

Cassian looked at the Rabbit Girl. He saw the resolve in her tear-stained eyes.

"Don’t die," Cassian ordered.

He dragged the others past Jax. Jax tried to strike Cassian, but Luna moved.

CLANG.

She parried the spear tip with her reinforced ladle.

"Eyes on me, Courier," Luna hissed.

---

The others disappeared into the cave. It was just Luna and the stranger wearing her lover’s face.

"Target spotted," Jax said flatly. "Civilian. Low threat."

He lunged. It was a perfect, textbook thrust aimed at her heart.

Luna didn’t block. She dodged.

She dropped into a crouch, her powerful legs coiled like springs. She hopped sideways, the spear passing inches from her nose.

He’s fast, Luna thought, her heart breaking all over again. But he moves in straight lines. Predictable lines.

"You have poor form," Jax criticized, spinning the spear for a second strike. "Your stance is open."

"And your heart is stone!" Luna screamed.

She jumped. Not a normal jump. She channeled magic into her legs—Moon Step.

She vaulted over his head, defying gravity, landing behind him. Before he could turn, she swung the ladle.

THWACK.

It hit his shoulder plate. He barely flinched. He swept his leg back to trip her.

Luna hopped over the sweep.

She didn’t know his secret files. She didn’t know his medical history. But she knew him—this specific man standing in front of her right now. She watched his feet. She saw that he over-committed to every strike, trusting his armor to protect him.

Jax thrust again. Luna sidestepped, grabbed the shaft of the spear, and used his own momentum to swing herself upward.

She slammed both feet into his chest.

THUD.

Jax stumbled back, the breath knocked out of him. He dropped to one knee.

He looked up, confusion flickering in his empty eyes. "Illogical. Rabbit-Kin usually flee."

"Not when we’re protecting our family," Luna sobbed, raising the ladle high. "And not when we’re heartbroken!"

She brought the ladle down on his helmet.

CLANG.

Jax slumped forward. He hit the ground, unconscious.

Luna stood over him, panting. The rain mixed with the tears on her face.

"You’re not him," she whispered to the sleeping soldier. "But I couldn’t hurt you anyway."

She left him there and ran toward the cave.

---

Inside the mountain, the world turned green.

It was a massive cavern hollowed out of raw jade. The walls pulsed with light.

In the center of the room, suspended in a cage of lasers and Void Magic, was the source of the beam.

It wasn’t a dragon. Not yet.

It was an Egg.

It was the size of a carriage. But it wasn’t a smooth, beautiful egg. It was lumpy, translucent, and throbbing with dark purple veins. Inside, a shadowy, serpentine shape was thrashing, banging against the shell.

It looked... sick.

Jasper fell to his knees. He pressed his hands over his ears, his face scrunching up in pain.

"The resonance," Jasper gasped, his voice tight. "It is screaming inside my head. It is overwhelming."

"I don’t hear anything," Primrose whispered.

"It is psychic resonance," Orion analyzed, adjusting his tunic, his face pale. "That is not a biological gestation. They are force-feeding Void energy into a dormant Imugi fossil. They are attempting to artificially engineer a dragon."

"Close," a voice echoed from above.

They looked up.

Standing on a jade platform overlooking the Egg was a man in a grey suit. He held a notebook.

The Boss.

He looked down at them with a pleasant, bored smile.

"We are not engineering a dragon, little fish," The Boss corrected. "We are trying to see if a Void Soul can inhabit a Divine Body. It’s a compatibility test."

Primrose stepped forward, her three tails bristling.

"You," she hissed. "You pretended to be Jax. You ate my stew."

The Boss chuckled. He closed his notebook.

"I did. And I must say, your seasoning is impeccable. It was almost worth the tedium of pretending to care about that hysterical rabbit."

Primrose felt a surge of rage so hot her Sun-Fire Tail turned white.

"You used us," she snarled. "You used his brother’s story."

"It was a narrative device," The Boss shrugged. "People love a tragedy. It makes them pliable."

He walked to the edge of the platform.

"But I am glad you are here, Primrose. We have hit a snag."

He pointed at the throbbing, ugly egg.

"The subject is stubborn. It refuses to hatch. It needs a spark of high-density nature magic to trigger the final mutation. Like... a Nine-Tailed Fox."

---

Before Primrose could attack, the cavern shook.

Duchess Venetia ran into the room from a side entrance. Her robes were wet and slashed (courtesy of Caspian), but she looked manic.

"Do it!" Venetia screamed at The Boss. "The Merman is breaching the lower gate! Wake the God now!"

The Boss sighed. "So impatient."

He pulled a lever.

The Void beams surrounding the egg intensified. They turned from green to black.

CRACK.

The sound was sickening. Like wet bones breaking.

The shell of the egg didn’t break cleanly. It exploded.

Slime and purple smoke flooded the floor.

And then, It rose.

It was a serpent. But it was wrong. Its scales were rotting off, revealing purple muscle underneath. It had three eyes on one side of its head and none on the other. Its jaw unhinged, revealing rows of needle-teeth.

It was a Void Abomination.

It screeched—a sound that shattered the jade crystals on the walls.

"Behold!" Venetia cried, falling to her knees in worship. "The Dragon!"

"That is not a dragon," Cassian said, horrified. "That is a cancer."

The Abomination lunged. It targeted the nearest source of Magic—Primrose.

"Primrose! Move!" Cassian shouted, drawing his daggers.

But someone else moved faster.

Jasper.

The five-year-old boy broke free from his brother’s grip. He didn’t run away. He ran toward the monster.

"JASPER! NO!" Cassian screamed, diving after him.

Jasper slid to a halt right in front of the Abomination’s massive, dripping snout. He threw his arms out wide.

The monster froze. Its mismatched eyes focused on the tiny boy.

"Halt," Jasper commanded. His voice wasn’t scared. It was sad, but steady.

He looked up at the terrifying creature.

"Do not strike," Jasper said, tears streaming down his face. "It is not angry, Brother. It is confused."

The monster hissed, purple slime dripping onto Jasper’s shoes.

"The vibration..." Jasper whispered, reaching out a small hand to touch the rotting scales. "It is crying. It hurts... doesn’t it?"

The Abomination didn’t bite. It shuddered.

And for a moment, the Void purple in its eyes flickered, revealing a scared, emerald green underneath.