"Hohoho. What brings you here, old friend?" The king smiled, showing his yellow tinted teeth when Krampus walked forward.

"I have some things I need to verify."

"And what would that be?" The man asked with a chuckle before pushing up his spectacles.

Calm down. As much as his arrogance annoys the hell out of me, I won't act out. The dark prince took a step towards the glamorous throne. "A lot of the things that I've seen here... confuse me. Why is Elsva so morbid now? What happened to the excitement and joy that used to be spread through the town?"

"Well, it's obviously much better now. Much more..." He placed his finger on his chin, looking up at the golden chandelier in thought. "Efficient, don't you think? The elves make more toys, the reindeers work harder than before now that the females and offsprings are gone, and we have record-breaking amounts of good children every year!"

Krampus bit down his on lip to keep from screaming in frustration. "You know that's not what I'm talking about. Why did you tell the people I was dead? It doesn't make sense!" He clenched his fists, letting droplets of blood fall from his pale, trembling knuckles. "Why did you not follow my advice and treat our subjects better? Why the hell are there corpses in the junkyard?"

King Santa smirked, crossing his arms when he looked down on Krampus. "Oh, you should understand by now, my dear boy; it's because the elves are weak. I generously cut the small thread of hope they had with lies and what do they do? Band together in a foolish attempt to overpower me."

He chuckled after swallowing down more sweets, "But the results were fruitless. Just bloodshed and wasted effort. They didn't understand. Don't you see? They need me. I realized something long before I banished you: without me they'd be a pack of savage, untrained animals! I am their saviour. I am their sun!"

The king paused to push down the cookies in his throat with milk before staring at Krampus with misty grey eyes. "This is my love; I want my children to become great guardians for the next generation, and this is the only way to guide them."

Krampus said nothing for a few moments. His eyes were shut while he tried to understand what the king was blabbering on about.

He drew in slow, steady breaths to calm the beast that raged within him before asking with a dead voice, "What, you think you're God now?"

At that, King Santa guffawed. His mighty laughter echoed through the castle, shaking the fragile walls and bringing icicles to the ground when he stated, "No, I am much more powerful than some measly god. I am Santa Claus."

Looks like someone groped his ego while I was gone. Ugh. "That's wonderful, Gramps. Now back to my other question; why are there corpses in the junkyard?"

King Santa took this time to observe his nails when he nonchalantly answered, "They didn't listen."

Breathe. Breathe. Speak calmly. Don't react. "What did you tell them to do?" Krampus asked, his tail swinging furiously behind him.

The man clad in red and white robes scratched his head and sighed. "It wasn't too difficult; all I told them to do was bring their children to work. There weren't enough toys to take around the world and I needed more by midnight. But, they didn't oblige."

"So," he started before drinking a red substance, "I had their families kill them. Pity, they were such hard workers. Now I have to give the living elves more hours."

Krampus clicked his tongue, keeping a fixed gaze on the checkered floor. Vanilla was right; he really is a tyrant. A horrible, delusional tyrant. The prince felt ashamed to carry the same title as the wicked man.

"You've been busy while I was gone, huh?" he asked with a snort. "Killing innocent elves, abusing reindeer... boy am I getting hungry. Given your size, I bet the sins in that broken mind of yours could keep me full all winter!"

The king shook his head disapprovingly. "Hoho, no such thing. On the contrary, Elsva's making so many more children happy now."

Krampus stomped his hoof, ready to tackle the man for speaking such nonsense. "If they knew what you were doing up here then they wouldn't be so jolly, now would they?"

"Now, now, Krampus." King Santa waved his hand. "Has your vacation muddled what little sense of humour you have?" he ignited a small flame with a snap and took out a pipe, lighting it with his finger. "I told you," the king began after letting out a puff, "this is my love. I whipped the reindeer out of discipline because your methods of caretaking were far too soft."

He chuckled afterwards, glancing at the seething goat demon with a smile. "Oh, and Simon was quite the sight to see trembling in fear until he learned to obey me. Now look, your friend's my best global chauffeur."

At that point Krampus snapped, bolting towards the beer-bellied man with a flaming rage. Santa snickered, his steady gaze unwavering when he clapped his hands.

In seconds the prince was restrained by the arms of two snowmen with whom he was unacquainted. No matter how hard he struggled to break free, it was pointless; he couldn't escape their death grip.

His Majesty lazily waved to the frosty guards after setting his dessert aside. "Bring him to me."

The snowmen bowed slightly, placing their slender hands on their chest before dragging Krampus across the hall.

Don't kill them, the goat demon thought with annoyance, you'll be just like him if you do. So, he allowed the snowmen to guide him.

"Krampus," the king said inches away from the man's face, "you know why you haven't had any children appear on the naughty list recently?"

He leaned out of his throne to the demon's ear and whispered, "It's because I ate them."

Krampus was already grimancing while his skin was assaulted with cookie crumbs and corn syrup, and then Santa's words registered in his head. "What?" he growled low, not even trying to hide his beastly nature.

"Hohoho, yes indeed, you did not hear me wrong. The boys in particular were incredibly delicious. Listening to their screams just gives me shivers of ecstasy!" He cackled at that, his voice a ferocious expulsion of hysteric laughter dangling towards inhumanity as he leaned back into his throne. "I'm just doing the job you weren't man enough to do."

Krampus widened his eyes and roared, "You don't know what you're doing! The reason why I stopped eating them was so that they could learn from their mistakes! Why do you think I kidnapped them and took them to hell every year? For a fucking tour?"

The demon's breath was ragged as he added, "I do it to show what's waiting for them if they don't get their shit together, you dumbass." He's missing the whole point.

"I could care less about the method, it's the results I want. Ever since you were exiled, not a single child's name has been on the naughty list thanks to me." He put his pipe between his lips and let out a puff of smoke in Krampus's face.

The king smiled at his distaste before reasoning, "When you brought the little cretins to your domain and then took them out all in that pathetic line of yours, they could've easily just brushed it off as a Christmas nightmare. My method molds children into respectable adults while eliminating the ones who aren't needed in society."

Krampus could feel his fur rapidly covering his body and his teeth pressing against his pale lips as he fumed. "That's their decision and you have no right to take that from them!"

"Why not?" King Santa questioned, tilting his head. "I'm Santa Claus. Those children love me more than their parents. What better way to repay them than getting rid of some bad apples?"

The prince opened his mouth to retort, but changed his mind. He shook his head as he said, "It's pointless trying to talk sense into you. Let me go."

"Hm, and if I don't?"

Every second Krampus spent talking with the plump man made his stomach growl in aching hunger. Exhaling, he met the man's gaze. "You do not want to do that right now. I can't guarantee that you won't have to pick up the pieces of these fine gentlemen here otherwise."

At that, the snowman to his left squeezed the demon's arm, making him flinch. "What shall you have us do with him?" he asked with a hint of sarcasm.

King Santa glanced at them and chuckled. "It's fine, let the little cunt go. He's powerless anyways."

Krampus's ears twitched when he ripped his arm from the guard's grip, landing a solid punch on Santa's face. The sound of his fist slamming against the king's ancient bones reflected on the walls. "How dare you!" he yelled when the snowman grabbed him, one muttering apologies for letting him go to the other.

"No," Santa started with a chortle, "how dare you!" When Krampus heard the last word leave his lips, he was stabbed with a sword in his stomach that cut through his fur and penetrated his skin.

Santa Claus was breathing heavily while he pushed the sword further into his stomach, licking his lips when a splash of blood landed on his face. "Remember who raised you! I'm your master. You owe me your life! I've left you off your leash for far too long; it's about time I tightened it." He smirked, twisting the weapon inside of the demon for what felt like an eternity before ripping it out.

Krampus bit his lip to trap any screams that dared to escape from his mouth at the sword scraping against his organs. Spots of green and purple coated his blotchy vision when he stared at the ceiling to distract himself from the pain. The only thought repeated in his mind being, this man has lost his way. He was boiling, his adrenaline being the only thing keeping him conscious.

Krampus stared at the shackles that bound him to the king after his vision cleared. He then clicked his tongue in annoyance before breaking out of them. The golden constraints jangling when they fell to the blood-splattered floor was the only thing audible until he snarled in jagged breaths, "Not anymore."