Title: The King’s Beast Vol. 15
Author: Rei Toma
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 169
Genre: Romance, Fantasy
Publication Date: May 6, 2025
The Story
After the future was foretold on the battlefield ahead of them, Prince Tenyou receives a letter from Ahkil, whom we previously met when he exchanged information on Sougetsu’s collar. The letter talks about his clairvoyant vision of the battlefield ahead. Informed that Prince Kougai would die, they called his beast servant Boku for a private meeting. They have him read the letter and propose that Boku die in his stead so that they can save the prince. Boku agrees.
Rangetsu is also assigned to take part in the battle, and Prince Tenyou tells her everything. She swears that she will find a way to prevent both of their deaths, even though she is uncertain how she will manage to pull that off.
When they arrive, the battle begins. There is a bench that they set fire to, which was to be used as a teleportation point for Kougai’s assassination. Perplexed how they figured that out, they sent in reserve troops. Rangetsu and Boku team up to thin their numbers. Meanwhile, Tenyou suspects that there is a mole within the palace and has an idea of who that might be. He takes Sougetsu and goes to investigate.
Back on the battlefield, Boku tires himself out; however, he mentions something very ominous that was also contained in Akhil’s letter!
Characters
The major focus of development here was on Boku, as we received a nice bit of backstory for him. It talked about how his father was a violent drunk and how he was sold to Prince Kougai. At one point, he didn’t even know his own name; however, Kougai was the one who gave him the name of Boku. Because of that, Prince Kougai became the world to him. This explains why he so readily agreed to lay down his life so that Kougai could live. This gives Boku a bit of depth, but as we see during the battlefield, it also makes him irrational. Throwing his arcana around and wearing himself out proves that he would go to any lengths to protect Kougai, and if exhausting his arcana would result in his death, then that’s what he was prepared to do.
Despite being grateful for everything Kougai gave him, he’s also unable to grasp that there are other solutions he could use to protect them both. His loyalty is blinding him and making him just do as he’s told. Since he was told to die in Kougai’s spot, that’s the order he will follow, all because it’s for Kougai. As long as it’s for Kougai, Boku will just go on autopilot until the order is fulfilled. I get being loyal and grateful, but sometimes you have to take in others’ feelings and viewpoints before making irrational decisions like that, and seek alternative paths. This is a lesson that Boku is in the middle of learning. Whether or not he will remains to be seen.
Rangetsu, on the other hand, showed that she has quite the frisky side… although she did use it to get some information out of Prince Tenyou. Still, it’s usually Tenyou making those types of moves. She’s learning to be a bit more forward with her feelings, and that’s good!
Final Thoughts
Another volume that flew by due to a lot of action scenes… both on the battlefield and in the bedroom! Despite it being action-oriented, there was some great story progression here. It wasn’t as black and white as trying to preserve Prince Kougai’s life. It was about struggling to find the right path, in doing so, outsmarting their enemy, and discovering that the problem ran a bit deeper than they had originally expected. When they find the person who was suspected of being the mole, it adds a decent amount of gravity and drama to the story.
Plus, the final line that Boku muttered about Akhil’s letter showed that they completely underestimated the situation. What started off as a singular goal has now been revealed to have many potential outcomes… none of them good. This means that Rangetsu could have bitten off more than she could chew, but we won’t know the extent of that until the next volume. After all, what was mentioned may not pertain to the battlefield alone, and given what we were shown earlier about the mole, there’s a good chance that the warning covers multiple locations.
All in all, another excellent volume. With three left to go, this does seem like the final battle. We’re not facing a big evil here. Instead, we are facing a world fighting back against the inclusion of Ajin as equal to humans. That equality is the final villain. Three more to go to see if equality wins.
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media
