Apocalypse Villainess Transmigrates Into The Beastworld With Debt

​"They will pay for this, mine," Raiden vowed, his voice dropping into a dangerous, lethal purr as he looked back at Hana, his fingers gently brushing a stray lock of hair away from her pale forehead. "Every single one of them. I will personally oversee their compliance."

​"Good," Hana breathed, her eyes remaining shut as the fast-clotting agent finally finished sealing the internal tear against her ribs. "But just leave it at this for now. Make sure they don’t escape while I recover."

"Yes, Hana." Raiden said and bared his teeth as he turned to the fox tribe.

Hana was breathing steadily. She looked up at Kulu who looked like the world had just gripped the one thing that he couldn’t afford to have taken from him.

His hand was steady on the cylinder but his feathers were trembling.

"Relax, Kulu," Hana murmured, her voice flat, barely a whisper as she found herself trying to relax her mate.

She would just assume that she was avoiding a situation where his trembling would reach his hands and cause her pain, but she was actually... concerned... about him. The expression on his face made her uncomfortable.

"I am not dying." She said, "The bleeding has stopped and my tissues are being repaired."

​Kulu didn’t answer right away. He couldn’t. His amber eyes remained wide, frozen on the exact spot where the gray chemical foam had crusted over her torn flesh.

He slowly withdrew the silver cylinder, but his clawed fingers were locked so tight around the metal casing that the alloy groaned under his grip.

His crimson feathers were ruffled, standing on end like a bird of prey bracing for a fatal drop.

​He looked down at his own palms—stained with her blood—and then at her pale face.

The raw terror in his expression didn’t vanish just because she said she was no longer bleeding. The fact was... her blood was shed.

For a warrior whose entire purpose was wrapped around being useful and protecting her, a breach like this was an absolute failure. He looked completely shattered, as if the mountain itself had crumbled beneath his boots.

​"I am fine," Hana repeated, her tone dropping into that cold, clinical register that usually brought them back to heel. "The child is fine. It was an oversight. It won’t happen again."

Kulu closed his eyes and nodded.

Yes, an oversight. And he would definitely not let it happen again.

​Caspian’s broad chest shifted behind her, a low, rumbling breath escaping his throat as he kept his massive arms securely wrapped around her waist, serving as an immovable backrest.

His dragon horns were still hot to the touch, but his posture had shifted from immediate slaughter to a hyper-vigilant perimeter lock.

​Hana gently pressed her palm against the firm curve of her abdomen beneath the ruined, blood-soaked white fabric. The frantic, internal fluttering of the little dragon had calmed down, returning to that heavy, constant pull of an apex predator feeding on her energy to rebuild its shell. It was safe.

​She let out a slow, deliberate breath, forcing her heart rate down until the blue lines on her system display leveled out completely.

​The immediate crisis was handled, thankfully. But as she opened her cold, dark eyes and looked past Kulu’s trembling shoulders toward the terrified, huddled mess of the Fox Tribe, her expression went completely lethal.

It would definitely not happen again.

"Love," Raiden called, his voice entirely broken.

​Hana shifted her gaze away from the cowering Fox Tribe, looking down to find him actually weeping. The fierce, terrifying nine-tailed predator from a moment ago had completely vanished, leaving behind a pathetic, beautiful mess. Tears were streaming down his face, tracking through the dirt and the stray potato starch on his cheeks.

​Gosh, he is being a massive headache even now, she thought, her mind trying to process the emotional static filling the cave.

​But... she did not get annoyed. Instead, a strange, unfamiliar pull tugged at her chest. It was an uncalculated impulse, a glitch in her usual logical programming. Slowly, she lifted her shaky, blood-stained hand, pressing her fingers against his jawline. She caressed his cheek, her crimson-smeared thumb tracing the line of his tears.

​"I’m fine now," she whispered, her voice rough but softer than usual. "The wound has been closed. So don’t worry about me, okay?"

​But this only made Raiden cry even harder, his nine pink tails trembling as he collapsed further against the edge of the table.

"Hana is acting unlike herself... she’s never this gentle... Oh, gods, she’s dying! The light-blade didn’t work, she’s leaving us!"

​An immediate irk popped right on Hana’s forehead, the brief moment of uncharacteristic tenderness violently evaporating. Her dark eyes narrowed into a glare. "Caspian, hit Raiden for me."

​"With pleasure," Caspian rumbled.

​WHACK.

​Without a moment of hesitation, Caspian swung the thick, scaled length of his tail, smacking it directly down onto the top of Raiden’s head. He didn’t use enough force to crush the fox’s skull, but he put enough weight into it to form a sudden, very prominent lump right through his hair.

​"Owie!" Raiden squeaked, instantly snapping out of his existential panic and clutching his head with both hands, his emerald eyes watering from the physical sting rather than the dramatic grief. "That’s harsh, Hana."

​Seeing the ridiculous display, a tiny, involuntary laugh slipped past Hana’s lips—a brief, genuine sound that surprised even her.

The tension in the air cracked just enough for her to finally feel the crushing weight of her own physical exhaustion.

The synth-flesh foam had fixed the structural damage, but her body had traded an immense amount of metabolic energy to force those tissue repairs while simultaneously keeping the dragon in her womb stable.

​Her eyelids felt heavy. Her system display was completely blue and safe, but her baseline stamina was flashing in the single digits.

​"Take care of the rabbit female and the kits," Hana breathed, her voice slurring slightly as she began to lean entirely back into Caspian’s solid, warm chest, her eyes drifting shut. "I’m falling asleep."

​The words instantly terrified them. Kulu’s head snapped up, his amber eyes wide with renewed horror, and Caspian’s arms tightened around her waist so fast it nearly deflated her lungs.

To them, closing one’s eyes after losing that much blood meant only one thing—the final sleep.

​"Hana! No! Do not sleep!" Kulu panicked, his hands flying back toward the medical kit.

​"Stay awake, mine! Look at the light!" Caspian roared softly against her neck, his chest vibrating with a desperate heat.

​"I am just falling asleep, you idiots," Hana grumbled, her internal thoughts turning entirely dark and sluggish as she drifted off. If they wake me up one more time, I’ll increase their labor hours. "I told you, I’m completely stable. I’m just too tired to stay awake. Let me rest."

"Oh, then, we’ll keep watch," Raiden said.

"I will not let a mistake like this happen a second time," Kulu declared. "I shall watch you every second."

"Yes, Hana. We will not leave your side."

"Just... do as I asked," she muttered and with that final, weak snap, her mind completely shut down, plunging her into a deep, heavy, and thoroughly earned slumber.

​Caspian held her perfectly still, his massive chest barely moving as he listened to the slow, steady, and rhythmic beat of her heart alongside the powerful, fast-paced thumping of the little dragon inside her.

He looked up at Kulu and Raiden, his golden eyes grim but settled.

It was time for them to play their role.