The morning is a calm, quiet day over at the manor. Bright skies and soft chirping greet the two residents inside, readying themselves. Dustin, the young, yet mature cat, sits in the study. He reads thick books over the basics of magic and writes down notes as he turns the pages. The sound of the door creaking open takes the cat’s attention for a moment, and he sees his butler coming in with tea and cookies. Dustin’s eyes move back down and he addresses his butler plainly.

“I see you’ve taken your role very seriously.”

The butler laughs softly, placing the tray softly on the desk.

“Well, of course. I plan to uphold my end of the contract. To be your servant and guardian means to take care of you and your wellbeing.”

He speaks in a calming voice, pouring tea for the master. Dustin smirks, playfully responding. “I suppose you are right, but your appearance is…something else.”
The cat looks up at the butler and takes his form. A tall, refined wolf man serves him tea with a soft smile and even softer eyes. His fur is lush and beautiful, a mixture of a pastel pink and white. His appearance is the epitome of friendliness and his smooth voice only makes it a fact.

“Do you think this look is too much, Master Dustin?”

“It’s just the difference from your normal look that’s taken me aback.” The butler giggles, wagging his tail.
“Well, it wouldn’t do if people saw that a demon was living among their crowd.”

His eyes turn from a nice amber to a fiery orange and black as part of his mask is taken off, but he reverts to his friendly demeanor in an instant and stands straight up beside Dustin.

“And being your butler just seems appropriate, right Master?”

Dustin sighs, not sure how to take the whiplash of the wolf’s attitude. However, he does comment on one thing he doesn’t like.

“You’re right. But please, don’t call me master or anything like that. Just call me Dustin and I’ll call you Ignis.”

The wolf shakes his head at Dustin’s response, slightly disappointed. “If…that is what you wish.”

Dustin takes a sip of his tea, a bitter taste with a soothing aroma. It’s been about a week since Dustin went outside and encountered those thugs. After that incident, Dustin realized that he needed to get stronger and actually do something with his life. So, he employs a new friend and puts his head towards researching, looking through the many books his parents left behind. As he enjoys his break though, Ignis gets curious and looks over the books he has on his desk.
Many of the books were about magic and sorcery, detailing the many ways mana could be casted. A few others were over biology and medicine.

“Reviewing the basics of magic, Dustin?”

The cat sets down his tea and puts all his notes together in a neat pile.

“Yes. I plan to register at the town’s adventuring guild today and it wouldn’t hurt to go over the basics before leaving.”

“Ah. Following your parent’s footsteps, I see! Well, they were very strong and respected. I’m sure they’d be proud to see their little boy become a hero.”

The wolf puffs out his chest, prideful of the family’s accomplishments. Dustin however just laughs and dismisses the heroics.

“I’m not as noble as my parents. It’s just to secure a source of income, as well as getting food for you.”

Ignis sort of giggles with an impish smile on his face.

“So you aren’t going to starve me! I suppose I won’t be eating your soul anytime soon.” The comment was extremely morbid, but Dustin just snickers.
“I’d highly doubt you’d even consider it.” And the cat boops the wolf on the nose, making him sniff and huff in confusion. “In any case, we’ll be leaving soon. I assume that you’ve prepared them for tonight?”

Patting his nose with a handkerchief, Ignis responds plainly. “Yes. Your friends will be waiting for you until you come back.” Hearing that, Dustin gives a simple smile and stands up.
“Then let’s make preparations for town. It’s going to be a busy day today.”

And so, both the master and butler leave for town. It's a quiet walk down the hill and the two reach the heart of the forest. A nice gentle breeze flows through the leaves and bushes with the wildlife bringing life with soft chirps and calls. Dustin is trekking fine through the forest, taking in the beauty of nature.

“Doesn’t it feel better than yesterday? The sun feels nice and warm!”

In contrast, Ignis is feeling miserable. His feet feel a little sore and he stumbles sometimes on the uneven ground. Not to mention, the warm weather is not making it easier. He looks at Dustin with a soft plea to rest and Dustin questions him.

“What’s wrong, Ignis? You’re looking worse for wear.”

The wolf holds himself against a tree, taking a deep breath before responding.

“Forgive me for being a little slow. I’ve been locked in the basement for a while, Master. It’s going to take me a while to get my strength back.”

Dustin looks at him, surprised! He didn’t think that would make a demon so unfit for a little walk down the road.

“You were fine doing work at the manor. How did that not tire you out?”

Ignis takes in one more deep breath and he stands straight up with an annoyed expression.

“I could take breaks! This body might look like a handsome wolf, but a lack of exercise would make anyone sluggish.”

Dustin could only sigh and look at Ignis with pity. “I suppose we’ll add that to the list of activities.”
He paces down the road with a little hum, slowing down for Ignis’ sake. That is until a little childish grin forms on his face and he starts speeding up, bolting through the forest. It takes Ignis by surprise and he chases after him.

“Ah, please wait! Don’t make me run all the way there!”

Dustin doesn’t slow down and he looks back with his tongue sticking out. “We’ll start your training now! Come try and catch me, Ignis!”
With a hop, skip, and jump through the beautiful trees and leaves, Dustin races against his butler with a smile on his face. Ignis goes after him, stumbling behind while calling out. The sight

of Dustin like this made Ignis realize that Dustin was, in fact, still a young child. The cat laughs and teases with his tail swiftly moving through the forest with the eyes of a dreamer, waiting to discover what new adventure would lie before him. Ignis felt the fool to forget this fact.

“I suppose I will have to be his guardian. You’ve left behind an interesting child.” His thought warms his heart as he keeps his pace after his new master.
It didn’t take long for them to arrive at the lake town. Dustin stood quite prideful as he won his little race against Ignis.

“You’re much more out of shape than I thought. I think I’ll have to put your physical health on the list of priorities.”

Ignis comes and collapses next to the cat, completely exhausted. “I beg you, master. Please don’t go off on your own.”
His voice is raspy and his heart is beating really fast while laying on the ground. Dustin just chuckles at the heaving man, poking the wolf with his foot.

“Then you’ll just have to get better at running. I won’t be going easy on you. Especially if you keep calling me Master. Now, come on. The town is just up ahead.”

The wolf grumbles as he comes to his two feet. He brushes off the dirt on his suit and follows his master to the town entrance. Inside is a busy and noisy place. Lots of people crowd around and call upon others, yelling out sales, grunting from physical labor, and chasing after each other.
The smell of the lake is a fresh, cooling feeling. Dustin eases into the atmosphere as he strolls the sidewalks.

“Seems this place will always be busy no matter what time I come here. Have you been to town before, Ignis?”

Ignis looks at the crowd, a little amazed.

“It’s…brighter than I expected. There are a lot of hard-working people and it shows.”

The wolf’s eyes travel along the road and paths, simply amazed at the design of the bricks. Weeds are nowhere to be seen and trash is basically nonexistent. The buildings are painted with a light yellow and none of them show a single crack on its walls. Dustin nods and briefly explains some history.

“After the war of the last demon lord, many settlements have been rebuilt. I can say that it’s going along really well here, but we are in the better part of town.”

Ignis acknowledges what Dustin means by that and they keep moving forward through the town. As they walk, they catch some people gossiping and whispering about them.

“Isn’t that the child from the manor?” “I hope he’s doing well.”
“Oh, to be orphaned at such a young age.”

Some people share their condolences and pity for Dustin, but others feel the opposite and the comments slip through the cracks.

“But that child is directly related to the Mages of Mist! Do you think he’ll try to hurt us?” “Just act right! You don't want to be on their bad side.”
“Why is that wolf pink?”

Ignis grimaces from all the eyes and comments, especially that last one. “They seem wary. Should I deal with them?”
Ignis’ eyes turn bright orange as he glares at the gossipers. They turn away and shut their mouths when their eyes meet his. He waits for Dustin to respond, but the cat keeps his head forward and speaks in a monotone voice.

“…Let them gossip. It’s true that my parents weren’t the best of people. They’ve done some questionable things and I can’t fault them for being wary.”

Ignis is unsure if he should act or speak up, but Dustin’s stern stare shuts Ignis down and he recedes his want to harm.

“…I understand.”

Without another word, the two keep walking down the sidewalk, some eyes still looking at them with mixed feelings. Through the streets with relative silence, they finally reach the adventurers guild. It’s a small establishment with a wooden inside. Some tables are set on the side for others to converse about quests and jobs, a few already full with groups of people. Dustin ignores the chatter and heads to the receptionist's desk. There a siamese cat greets them, two
different-toned eyes catching their attention. “Welcome! Welcome. How may I help you today?”
Dustin smiles back in return, being friendly and respectful with his words.

“Good day, sir. I’m Dustin Hawthorn and I’m here to register as an adventurer. I sent all the paperwork earlier this week.”

The receptionist gasps and nods as he shuffles through the desk and looks for something.

“Ah, yes! I have everything you need here. Here are your member cards. Don’t lose these as these act as identification in some places.”

He pulls out two silver cards and hands them to Dustin. To Ignis’ surprise, Dustin gives one of the cards to him, which he looks to his master and questions him.

“Eh? I’m getting one too?”

“Of course, Ignis. We’ll be starting as low-ranking adventurers, and because of that, we won’t be allowed to take quests by ourselves.” Dustin explains the system of the adventurers guild as he fills out more paperwork. “The system goes from F to SSS. The more quests and credibility you gather and rank up, the more privileges you get to take on difficult jobs.”

He hands over the paperwork to the receptionist and looks over to Ignis. “I’m going to need your help on this too, at least until we reach rank C.” Ignis takes his card and looks it over.
Full name: Ignis Firecracker Age: 22
Adventure Rank: D

…with a few other details.

Ignis notices the rank being higher than what he expected. “How come we’re D rank already?”
Dustin hands over a bag full of coins to the receptionist as Ignis inquires about it more.

“Oh, that? Well, if you send the guild list of achievements, abilities, and money, you can skip over the early ranks. That is what I was talking about before. Am I right?”

He nods towards the receptionist and he confirms the process.

“Yes. We’ve received your status and payment. All of that has led us to believe that you’re more than qualified to be D-rank adventurers.”

Learning about the adventuring guild, Ignis was surprised by just how in-depth the system was. Honestly, he was impressed, but there was something that bothered him.

“Why is my last name ‘Firecracker’?” Dustin just looks at him confused.
“I thought it was apt.”

“…Couldn’t you think of something better?”

The cat hums in thought, paces around, and jokingly thinks of a new name. “How about ‘Shortfuse’?”
“That’s even worse!”

The two have a little spat about Ignis’ last name, enjoying themselves in the moment. Even the receptionist joins in by suggesting a few names themselves. However, the tables nearby caught wind of their ranking and eyes stared in their direction. Ignis notices and frowns, feeling the same looks, as from the town earlier.

“…I think we should leave.”

Dustin is taken aback by Ignis’ suggestion. He tilts his head, honestly confused. “Hm? But we’ve come here to start questing.”
A sudden sound of someone kicking the desk of the receptionist brings the attention of everyone. A rough-looking leopard growls at the duo, hands in his pockets. The whole hall is silent as he comes up to Dustin, looking down at him.

“You got some nerve coming in here. Buying your way up the ranks? Only snobbish rich folk like you would do that.”

He looks scary but Dustin doesn’t back down.

“And what’s the problem? They accept anyone they wish. They even accepted you, though I’m sure they had to cover up their noses talking to you.”

He pinches his nose and backs away in disgust at the leopard’s stench. The comment makes him angry and he starts yelling.

“You wanna say that louder punk!”

A fight is about to break out with tensions high. The leopard reaches for his daggers on his side and Ignis gathers magic in the palm of his hand. Just as things turn for the worse, a high-pitched scream comes barging in and the leopard is dropped-kicked.

“Nooooooo fighting!!!!!!”

It takes everyone by surprise when a young brown wolf stands between the two cats. He seems to be around the same age as Dustin, bright blue eyes and with a powerful voice.

“It’s not good to fight! We should be working together!”

The wolf starts spewing about heroics and banding together, lecturing the whole crowd. Whatever tensions were in the room was gone in an instant as he gave his speech.

“…And like the heroes that defeated the demon lord, that’s when we can make the peaceful place that it is today!”

Dustin and Ignis just look at each other, not sure what to do. The leopard is knocked out on the ground and everyone seems to go back to whatever conversation they were having before all this mess.

“Ah… Mr. Wolfrun? Maybe you could save the speech for another time and introduce yourself?” The receptionist awkwardly interjects and the brown wolf stops himself.
“Oh! I guess I should! Friends call me Wolfy! I’m an adventurer like you. Did you just get your guild card?”

The wolf excitedly goes up to the cat, invading his space. He looks at him with excitement and eagerness that his tail basically sweeps the air behind him. Dustin leans away, feeling the heavy stare on him.

“Uh, yes. Both me and my servant have registered together.” “Oh! You too old man?”
Ignis couldn’t even form words at the notion of being called an old man. Wolfy takes out his card and shows it to the two of them. It's lined with bronze and his rank shows that he’s an E-ranked adventurer.

“Impressive for a fourteen-year-old, huh? I’m making steady progress towards becoming the hero that everyone needs.”

He boasts so proudly of his rank. It was true that getting a rank of that caliber at his age was impressive, but then Dustin showed off his card.

“Ah. Well, I’m already a ranked D adventurer.” “WHAT!”
Wolfy takes Dustin's card and inspects it closely. He couldn’t believe that someone his age had just gotten to D rank.

“No way! That’s super amazing! That must mean you’re super powerful!”

Wolfy is absolutely enthralled by Dustin, getting close and friendly with him. Feeling left out, Ignis shows his card and tries to boast about his rank.

“Hey! I’m a ranked D adventurer too! See?” Wolfy looks unimpressed and sighs.
“That’s not a very high rank for someone your age.”

Ignis starts sulking in the corner of the room, battered and bruised on the inside. Wolfy ignores him and clings to Dustin.

“Hey! Why don’t we team up? I’m actually going to take my advancement quest next time I go out! We could do it together!”

“Huh? Oh… uh. I don’t see why not. Sure!”

Having a hard time keeping up with the wolf’s attitude, he sort of stumbles and accepts joining him. The wolf is ecstatic and jumps for joy!

“Nice! I’ll see you guys later then! I gotta go prepare. Bye bye!”

He waves with a bright smile and hops out of the door. Dustin waves back meekly, finally getting a chance to breathe. He goes up to Ignis, who’s still sulking in the corner and pokes him.

“That was certainly a trip. We have a job now so let’s make preparations as well.” Ignis turns to Dustin, tears welling up in his eyes.
“Am I really that old?”

His ego is completely shattered, but all Dustin does is sigh, bringing him up to his feet.

“You’re fine. Come on. Before the stores in town close.”

The two leave the guild with new titles to their name. Things seem to be moving forward for the both of them! However, darkness swirled and festered. Hatred and jealousy would not be so easily squashed and it would be coming for them soon.

Regardless, Dustin and Ignis had other things to do. With the looks and reactions to their appearance, Dustin felt that he needed to remedy this issue right away. The two come to a nearby clothing shop and enter, ringing the bell above the door. It alerts the shop owner and out comes a labrador from the back. He greets them with a great smile, energetic in his voice.

“Oh! Welcome! What can I do to help you on this fine day!”

The dog comes over to Dustin, eager to serve his customer as he kind of pulls him along to the more expensive merchandise. He immediately recognizes the rich attire Dustin and Ignis wears as he pushes his wears on him.

“We’ve got the finest clothes money can buy, silk from the east! You can feel the smoothness go along your fur when you wear them.”

The overbearing attitude kind of makes Dustin uncomfortable, which makes Ignis glare down at the shopkeeper. The dog gets a little scared and laughs nervously, but Dustin gestures to Ignis to calm down and he addresses the shopkeeper professionally.

“Thank you for the selection, mister. However, I’m looking for something a little closer to what the common people wear.”

The dog looks at him surprised, seeing such a fancy boy asking for common clothes. Dustin looks around the quaint shop, seeing the simple shirts and pants on the other side. He picks one of them up and nods, feeling the fabric in his hands.

“Yes, I think this will do. May I change into these?”

Again, the dog is kind of speechless, gesturing to the much nicer and fancier set of clothes. “But sir! I think these are much more befitting for you! Don’t you think so?”
Dustin frowns, taking a set of simple clothes in his grasp.

“I believe I said before that this is what I wanted. I don’t see a reason why I would want something I already have an abundance of.”

Ignis sort of snickers at that response, finding the humor of wanting something cheap very funny. Dustin does call Ignis over and points to another set of cheap clothing.

“You’re going to wear them too, Ignis. It’s going to give me away if you’re still wearing a fancy suit around me.”

Now Ignis is the one surprised.

“But, Master Dustin! I don’t think we need to go that far…Uwah!”

Not listening to a single word, Dustin grabs Ignis with him to a changing room and buys several pairs of cheap clothes. They come out looking a lot more fitting for the townsfolk, and Dustin is quite proud of his selection.

“Yeah! This feels much better than those stuffy, fancy clothes! Don’t you think so, Ignis?”

Holding all of the packaged clothes in bags, Ignis comes out looking slightly irritated. The clothes are a bit scratchy on him and he wishes he had the hands free to itch.

“It’s…certainly a choice! I don’t understand why you would want to have both of us wear this stuff. I was inclined to agree with the shopkeeper there.”

The cat giggles, spinning around to turn to Ignis with a smile on his face.

“Well, earlier this week, I was going through some of my parents' old things. There were a few trinkets here and there with their old adventuring outfits.”

Dustin’s eyes were filled with wonderment, so proud and happy telling of the things he found.

“A seashell necklace, old greves, and a dirty medallion. I wanted to know what it felt like to begin a journey, just like mom and dad did.”

Ignis stood there, awestruck. He had forgotten once again that Dustin was a child, looking up to his parents. The butler sighs and recends his earlier statement.

“I see. Then I guess I shall play along.”

The cat takes his statement and nods, accepting his response.

“Then let us head back home! That wolf will probably be waiting for us tomorrow. Let’s end things early for today.”

Dustin joyfully hops around in his new clothes, singing and humming to his heart’s content. It was such a strange scene for Ignis. The constant whiplash of him being professional to a child

was hard to keep up with. He’ll have to learn his quirks sooner or later as he follows his master back home. However, as they walk back, the eyes of hatred and doubt still linger. Ignis keeps his defenses high, feeling something wrong trailing behind them.

They reach the forest at the base of the hill. Dustin was still singing, humming along a sweet tune while skipping along on the path. Ignis walks behind him, feeling tense after leaving town. His constant frown makes Dustin wonder and he asks what’s wrong as he jumps from stone to stone.

“You’re looking stressed there, Ignis. Is something bothering you?” Ignis keeps his gaze behind him, looking around with skepticism.
“I do feel a little tense, yes. Carrying these clothes is not making the trip easy.” Dustin laughs, smiling as he hops forward onto the dirt path.
“It’s training for you. Considering that you were out of breath coming down the hill, I think you need this push to make sure you can handle the trips to town.”

Although his eyes were looking elsewhere, Ignis showed a slight smile on his face. “I have a feeling that that is not the reason why I’m carrying all of this.”
Dustin sticks his tongue out, before turning to spin around a thin tree. “Your master has many reasons and all are very complicated.”
“So now you use the master title!”

The two have a fun little chat together as they make their way through the forest. However, this feeling of unease doesn’t go away. Ignis keeps watching the bushes and leaves, and it all feels like something is watching through them. He suddenly stops and calls out to Dustin.

“Master Dustin. Why don’t we have another one of those races?”

The question makes Dustin’s ears perk up, though his face had a quiziative look on it. “Hm? I mean, I don’t mind doing another race, but I thought you didn’t like it.”
Ignis keeps a simple smile and speaks softly.

“I’m severely out of shape, just like you said. But now that we’re in this new set of clothes, I feel like I could do even better!”

His friendly demeanor was coming out in full force. Dustin couldn’t help but wonder why he was putting on a face right at this moment. Thinking back about Ignis’ strange actions, something must have happened.

“Hm, well sure! If you want to do one now, then I’ll take you up once more!”

Ignis gives a light-hearted laugh as the two of them line up beside each other. Dustin has his eyes on the road ahead of him, but Ignis looks away elsewhere. Scanning between the trees and bushes, something was there. He knows it!

“Okay, master. When I say go, we run as fast as possible. Ready?” Dustin hops in one place, hyping himself up.
“Whenever you’re ready!”

He gets low into the starting position as Ignis counts down from three. “3…2…1…….GO!”
As soon as he says go, a shadow dashes along with them in the corner of Ignis’ eyes. They were being followed. Luckily, Ignis knew just how seriously Dustin takes these races and the cat effortlessly left them in the dust.

“Seeya later at the manor! I’ll enjoy my prize a little early tonight.”

And he quickly disappears into the trees. Ignis doesn’t try to keep pace with him. Instead, he actually stops. He loses his smile and he calls out to the forest.

“You won’t be able to catch up to him. He knows this forest well and you’ll end up lost inside it if you try to chase him.”

The ambient sounds of the forest surround the butler as he waits for a response. Moments of the wind rustling through leaves go by as the shadow finally shows itself in front of him.

“Tch. Guess I won’t be teaching him a lesson.”

The leopard boy from before appears before Ignis. A snarl leaves the cat’s mouth, unhappy and angry.

“How'd you know I was following you?”

Ignis scoffs, crossing his arms with an ill-tempered response.

“I felt you scurrying around like a rat at the clothing shop. I could tell you were nearby with your malicious aura spewing everywhere.”

The leopard smacks his lips again, annoyed.

“You one of those soul readers? God, the lot of you can’t keep to yourselves.”

Tensions were high between the two. Neither wanted to let their guard down, ready to go for each other’s throats. Ignis, however, wanted to ask something first.

“What were you intending to do with my master? If you wanted to complain to him, I’d happily relay the message for you.”

“Shut it, old man! That bastard is making a fool out of us adventurers! Buying his way up the ranks is fucking stupid! Who does he think he is, waving his money around in front of us real adventurers!”

The leopard starts to lose his temper, grabbing his dagger from the side of his belt and points it right at Ignis.

“If you don’t want to end up in a bloody mess, I suggest you step aside. I’ll personally teach that house cat who has the real power here.”

The two stare at each other, glaring with venom. Ignis doesn’t say a thing, which makes the leopard growl and burst out screaming.

“Fine! Then I guess I’ll just kill the both of you!”

Taking a few more knives from his belt, he throws them straight at the butler. There’s no remorse in his actions, just anger. Ignis, however, doesn’t seem concerned.

“I see.”

With a quick motion, he swipes the knives straight from the air, holding each one between his fingers. The leopard couldn’t believe what he was seeing and he stepped back in fear.

“Wh-what the hell?”

Ignis throws the knives aside as they fall to the ground. He huffs with displeasure, growing with anger.

“So you wish death upon my master? I’m sorry, but I can’t allow that to happen.” He puts the bag of clothes aside to make sure they don’t get dirty. “As his guardian, I’ll have to eradicate you, as per my duty.”

The young leopard was an experienced hunter, with two years of facing monsters coming at this throat. Yet, as he faced this butler, he never felt so scared before. An immense amount of bloodlust exuded from Ignis, and a crooked smile widened on his face.

“Let’s see how well you’ll do against me.”

A swell of warmth was felt underneath the leopard and he immediately ran. An explosion erupted from where the leopard once stood. If he had stayed where he was, he would have been blown to bits.

“What the hell!”

He could only stare in shock at the destructive power the butler had, but he had little time to gawk. Ignis closes in on him and he punches him straight in the gut. It sends the big cat tumbling, rolling against the ground. He holds his stomach as he stumbles to get up. His instincts kick in again as he sprints away, another explosion nearly taking his life. The trees that stood in the way of the blast fell with loud thuds, charcoal when the smoke clears.

“This guy is insane!”

Fear took over the leopard’s mind and he ran as fast as he could to survive. He was not strong enough to fight against such power, and he knew he had to run away.

“Screw this! I’m out of here!”

But it was too late, Ignis was already catching up and he grabbed the leopard’s leg to throw him. The wolf swings him around and throws him hard. The leopard crashes into multiple trees, breaking them in half until he lands smack against a rock wall. A pained scream comes out of him, falling to the floor with his whole body shaking in pain. He was going to die. Death was coming for him. He made the mistake of following Dustin to the forest, and death was walking towards him.

“You’re a lot more resilient, I’ll give you that.”

He was no longer a brightly colored wolf, but a full-grown demon. With fur as dark as crimson and eyes black as coal, his true self showed before the young leopard. He walks up to the struggling boy, grabs both arms, and holds him up from the ground.

“But a fool with an even more foolish wish is just that — a fool.”

Ignis snarls at the struggling idiot, kicking his feet so far from the ground. The demon was large, so much larger than his mortal form. The leopard struggles in vain, unable to escape from the demon’s grasp. He yells at him, still holding on to his bitter anger.

“Let me go, you dirty cheat!”

Ignis sighs and looks at him with disbelief. Even when faced with death staring right at him, he still had the gall to tell him to spit at his face.

“What a disgusting creature.”

Grabbing the leopard’s clothes from the top, Ignis rips the entire front off. The leopard’s chest was exposed and he didn’t know how to react.

“W-What are you doing!”

Ignis then does the same thing to the leopard’s lower half, tearing his pants apart. It was now clear to him what he was going to do to him and he shook his head to protest.

“No. No! Leave me alone!”

He begs loudly for him to stop but the demon doesn't listen. Ignis discards his own clothes and his giant cock points to the leopard’s hole.

“Please! I beg you!”

His voice is no longer a strong-willed warrior, but of a scared child. He cries and writhes as Ignis’ wicked smile grows.

“Face. Your. Punishment.”

Ignis rams himself inside the young leopard's body and a huge scream comes out of the adventurer. His cock goes deep inside the boy, stretching his stomach. It hurts the leopard a lot, and he tries to bare the pain, but the demon has yet to start moving. Ignis gives a low growl as he slowly starts thrusting, feeling such a tight hole wrap around his huge cock. The leopard yells loudly with every thrust, hurting even more when Ignis moves faster. He feels his body split apart, his virginity taken, and the demon moans in pleasure to hear his pained screams.

“Arg! Please…! Somebody…!”

But there was no one to hear his plea. Ignis fucks the troublemaker hard against the stone wall with no remorse, and he pushes his entire being inside.

“Serve your sentence and writhe in pain!”

Thrusting faster and faster, he buries his cock deep in him and paints his insides with warm demon cum. It makes a mess as a small body like the leopard can’t hold a load from a demon that size. It just builds up and leaks when he gets full, pooling underneath them.

Moments pass and Ignis lets go of the leopard, dropping him. He lays on the ground, broken. So much of his body was in pain and the emotional scarring was left deep into his heart. Tears wept from his crying eyes and pathetic snivels filled the silent forest. Ignis just stands there, feeling relieved from the afterglow. The cries would continue to plague him while he rested, but Ignis didn’t care.

“I hope you come to understand what happens when you throw your hatred around so carelessly. Others may disagree with you and escalating it to extremes will result in awful consequences.”

The large demon then picks up the leopard by the head, bringing him up to eye level. His body dangles and he kicks around, still crying out in pain. Ignis keeps his cold stare straight at the leopard, uncaring and ruthless.

“You wished death upon my master and that will be why you will be killed.”

The leopard pleads in vain, asking the demon wolf to forgive him and let him go. “I-I’m so sorry! Please! I beg you! Let me go!”
But the demon did not care. He raises his other hand, a beating heart is placed in it. The leopard freezes in fear, seeing such gore right in front of him. Not knowing what the demon intended to do made his whole body shiver with deep despair. Ignis holds this heart right in front of the leopard and speaks in a low tone.

”You see this here? It’s your beating heart. The one inside your tiny body and this one here are one of the same. Magic is truly wonderful, isn’t it?”

The leopard looks at the heart with a stare as he slowly shakes his head. “And it feels so soft in my hand. I wonder what would happen if I…”
A large grin comes across Ignis’ muzzle and the leopard screams out in one last plea. “PLEASE DON’T! I DON’T WANT TO-“
The demon crushes the heart in his hand and the leopard feels his entire body choke. So much pain courses through to every limb and his body drops with a thud when Ignis lets his head go. He clutches his chest, twitching and shaking on the ground as life escapes his failing body,

coughing up blood. It doesn’t last long until the boy is completely frozen, holding his chest with eyes wide open with despair. Ignis looks down at the corpse, kicking it to see it stiffly roll over.

“This was your own undoing.”

He then picks up the frozen corpse and throws it over his shoulder.

“At least you won’t be feeling anything for a while now. Let’s get you to someplace warm before you start rotting out here.”

And Ignis starts his trek back to the manor on the top of the hill. It’s a silent track back with the sun coming down. Night falls as Ignis finally gets home.

“I’m back.” Though no one was there to greet Ignis at the entrance.

He realizes that Dustin probably headed straight for his bedroom. People were waiting for him after all. Remembering that, Ignis goes up the stairs and reaches Dustin’s room. Upon opening the door, Ignis finds his master deep in love with his friends.

“I see you’re making good use of them already.”

Dustin lifts his head up from making out with an unresponsive hyena. He looks at Ignis with a pout, a little peeved.

“Already? You’ve been gone for at least an hour! I was enjoying these boys all by myself, so you better have a good explanation for why you’re so late.”

Though his anger quickly subsides when he finds Ignis not in his mortal form, but in his demon form. He carries the dead body of the leopard over his shoulder, grinning with a smug look on his face.

“I do, and you wouldn’t believe it! That angry leopard was tailing us, and decided to take it to my own hands to deal with him.”

He pats the leopard’s ass, showing the mess he made in him. Ignis explains what happened when he confronted the leopard and Dustin was left quite in shock after hearing what happened.

“He was really coming after my life?”

Hearing the leopard’s anger, Dustin looked down, a little sad. He almost seemed disappointed that it led to this. He hops off the bed and goes up to Ignis to cling to his arm.

“I suppose I should be grateful. Thank you for protecting me, Ignis.”

Ignis looks down at his master with a grin, haughty in his response.

“It was written in our contract that any danger to your being would be swiftly dealt with. I only did as per the contract.”

But his words would falter at the sound of Dustin purring. Ignis feeling the soft rumbling of his master’s affection made him blush and he huffed to look away and hide his embarrassment. Although a little sad, Dustin giggles, only leaning in more to tease him further.

“Oh, don’t be like that. Why don’t you clean yourself up and show me our new friend who’s joining us?”

Dustin pokes the dead leopard’s foot, excited to have another toy to play with. Ignis, too, was excited to share him as well, going to the bathroom to quickly wash up. He joined everyone on the bed afterwards and lay between the two bodies that had been waiting for them.

“Now, isn’t this a crowd?”

The bed was quite full of people. Three of them were dead, the hyena, the wolf, and the newly added leopard all laid with Ignis. Dustin, standing at the foot of the bed, puts his eyes on the new addition to the crowd.

“But you know what they say. The more the merrier.”

The cat climbs onto the bed and puts himself on the leopard’s body. He caresses the corpse and feels all the bruises and blood still left on him. The expression left on his face is an awful one, so scared and terrified of his end.

“You really made him suffer, didn’t you?”

Ignis scoffs, putting his arms around the wolf and hyena. “He got what he deserved. Fucking him was the best part.”
He actually seemed proud of that statement. Dustin wasn’t sure how to take that. Maybe demons like him enjoyed torturing people.

“Seems you really liked it too.”

He looks down at Ignis’ hard cock, so big and pulsating. He pokes the tip with his finger and plays with the shaft, Ignis huffing from the sudden touch.

“How did he exactly take it? It’s just so big that I have a hard time imagining it.”

Dustin goes down and starts licking the shaft, slowly covering his member with his warm tongue and saliva. Ignis moans, shaking the bodies next to him as his master services him.

“If you’re so curious, why don’t you put him back on? He’s pretty loose now and won’t complain.”

A devilish smile comes on the demon’s face. He nudges the leopard’s body towards Dustin, telling him to see just how it looked when he was having fun with this new toy. Dustin couldn’t wait, pulling the body up and softly inserting Ignis’ cock inside the leopard. A large bulge pokes out of the limp leopard’s belly. His cock was just too big for him.

“Wow! It really is poking out.”

Dustin feels the unnatural bulge sticking out, rubbing it with pure curiosity. The demon moans lightly, getting the tip of his cock basically played with from the outside. The leopard's body practically stayed upright with how big Ignis was.

“Oooh. Slow down! I might cum again with you playing around like that.”

Dustin giggles, stopping to hold the leopard’s head up. He stares into his blank eyes, full of fear and despair. The blood from his mouth still stained his lower jaw. A sort of sadness came to Dustin as he looked at this leopard. He slighted him, sure, but there was no time to learn why he hated him.

“Oh, it’s just so sad, isn’t it? That it came to this.”

Dustin felt that longing in him, and his attraction grew for the dead leopard.

“Don’t worry. At least now you won’t have to feel hatred again. You’ll be met with love and kindness from me from now on.”

He leans forward, pressing his maw against the leopard, and kisses him deeply. His mouth was still warm and wet, and there was a bit of a metallic taste to his tongue. Even so, Dustin shared his love with him. And below him, Ignis moved slowly, thrusting upwards into the dead leopard. He felt the warm meat wrap around his cock once again, this time loose and tender. Everything felt euphoric to both of them, indulging their pleasures with the dead all around them. Dustin’s hand reaches down to the leopard’s cock, all stiff and hard from the demon’s magic. He let out a curious moan, admiring the work Ignis had done to keep the dead leopard’s pride still hard.

“I’m amazed at how you made them hard like this. Making them lust after death surely was a feat, no?”

The demon laughs, grunting with each thrust.

“It took a bit. Necromancy is complicated, but the effort is worth the while, isn’t it?”

Ignis looks to both the hyena and wolf, who garner a peculiar sigil on their chest. Magic radiates from it, capturing the spirit and body in preservation. The demon looks at them fondly, giving him light kisses on the cheek. Dustin himself was also enjoying the product of Ignis’ work, stroking the leopard’s member with his own. He keeps his mouth connected to his, sharing more of his heat with him as he climbs higher and higher in his euphoria. Ignis too was getting impatient, grabbing the leopard’s hips and slamming him down onto his own. Moans fill the room, full of pleasure. The warm dead body of the leopard gets so much attention as it limply shakes and dangles. It doesn’t take long for both to spew their love on and into the warm body, filling his hole once again and coating his groin with seed.

Dustin parts his maw away from the muzzle, a string of saliva breaking from their shared kiss. He pants heavily, so very tired as he falls forward with the leopard. The act makes Ignis’ cock slip out, letting the warm seed leak from the abused hole. The demon grins at his master, surprised that he’s already calling it.

“Are you already that tired?”

“Well, I had a whole hour to myself with the other two. I’m sure you can figure out what I’ve been doing since you’ve been gone.”

Ignis looks at the wolf and the hyena, wet in some places. Their members are still coated with saliva and much of their fur is matted. The demon chuckles, amused.

“I suppose that’s what I get for following my contract.”

Dustin cuddles up to Ignis and boops him on the nose, pouting.

“We can always have a night like this anytime we’d like. Don’t say it like I’m trying to leave you out.”

Ignis sticks his tongue out and nuzzles the cat back. The two share a strange feeling together with corpses close to their bodies.

“I guess I’m being a little unfair. That leopard did in fact give me a great source of power. I think I can properly start controlling our lovely lovers.”

The waft of magic swirls around the whole room, pulling the very core of everything inside. Dustin’s eyes brighten up, getting jittery with excitement.

“You mean you can revive them?” Ignis shakes his head, still smiling.

“Not quite. That’s much further down the line, but for now, the strings of puppetry are within my grasp. I’ll teach you the basics tomorrow along with everything else with magic.”

The cat could not be any more excited, pulling everyone close to him. “I can’t wait to get there! The adventure is just about to start!”
So the night goes on with happiness in their hearts. The first few steps towards a strange tale of death and pleasure come, unsure but ecstatic to see what lies beyond. Ignis looks down at the resting cat, purring on his chest, with gleeful curiosity. Such an interesting soul, wanting nothing but to live freely and selfishly.

“Heh. I’ll support you every step of the way, Master.”

Ignis then would close his eyes too, falling asleep. Though suddenly, Dustin would call out to him for a question.

“Say, Ignis. Did you bring in the clothes we’ve bought? I was wondering if they got damage from your fight with this leopard.”

And a striking moment of silence passes between the two before the demon awkwardly looks away, laughing nervously.

“Haha…well you see…”

After telling him that he left it in the middle of the forest, Ignis was promptly kicked out of the room. He spent the final hours of the night searching for those clothes and slept alone with not even a body to cuddle with.