Barn sensed the two familiar presences and smiled, pressing his foot harder into the Celestial Dragon Jalmack beneath him.
"Ah! You're hurting me! You lowborn scum! I can already see the Navy warship! My father must know you've captured me by now. You're dead!"
The warship appearing on the horizon seemed to rekindle Jalmack's hope, and his taunts grew even more brazen.
"Yes, yes, yes. I'm absolutely terrified."
At Jalmack's words, Barn bent down with a smile so Jalmack could see his smiling face, though that smile looked rather terrifying to him.
Still smiling, Barn said,
"I think it'll take your rescuers a little while to get here. As you know, waiting is terribly boring. How about we play a game?"
The sinister smile on Barn's face made Jalmack's skin crawl. He even felt a chill shoot from his tailbone to the back of his head.
"Hiss... what kind of game...?"
Jalmack's throat trembled as he spoke, betraying the fear inside him.
At Jalmack's answer, Barn leaned back against the throne, the same cruel smile still on his face, and said,
"Oh, it's simple. You need to make some noise to keep me entertained, but I've already grown tired of your threats. There's really nothing new about them. How about this? I'm starting to miss those screams you made at the beginning."
As he spoke, Barn drove the First-Generation Onikiri into Jalmack's palm. Its sharp tip pierced straight through his hand without resistance and sank into the ground.
"Aah!"
Jalmack let out a piercing howl! For someone who had always lived in pampered luxury, the pain was immense.
Barn's grin widened, his smile growing even crueler.
He lifted his hand slightly, pulling the tip of the First-Generation Onikiri free of Jalmack's palm. Blood gushed from the wound!
"Aah!"
If the