For when he confronts our fox hero, the Dragon could say: "I, The Dragon, shall cleanse your arrogance with divine punishment! The ancient Gods and those who worship them are no longer needed...the world is mine alone! I am your god! Your will is of no consequence, fox. You will embrace my mercy. Rejoice, for it begins with your fall! Your soul will serve as the new world's foundation! Praise my name and rejoice! Behold the rightful ruler of this world–The Dragon!"

Upon the Dragon's defeat and death he could say: "Ahhhh...I am defeated...reduced to nothing...how frightening...first Butcher's Den, and now you have slain us as well...Zootopians slaughter all...carnivores, Gods...and even...Earth...O Great Will...it all ends...woe unto me...I, who failed to guide...the world..."

I find the idea of having to hide himself after becoming a hero to be far-fetched...not to mention this feels like an AU where things in Zootopia DIDN'T get better in the other fic despite Nick's achievement.

Personally, I feel if there was to be a sequel, it should have involved Lawrence and Mathilda (in place of Nick and Scarlet) and Sheriff Horne (in place of Judy) since they were involved with the carnivores for the longest. Not to mention Lawrence would be the one living under an assumed name in hiding and not Nick. Lawrence could be made to serve the ZPD like a cop as part of his sentence and face discrimination for his former status as part of "punishment" while doing things like parking duty and providing possible info on the carnivores. Mathilda would be on the move, protecting Lawrence's step-brother while Scarlet is away with Nick, Judy, and her boyfriend in the country to fix up the damage the carnivores caused. Sheriff Horne would come down to Zootopia to fill in for Bogo when he is hurt and would be able to do so with Judy and Nick filling in for him while he is away and lose himself to the position.

If possible, I would love to see that alternate version...it would be Lawrence's path to true redemption as well as Mathilda gaining a life once more. What do you think?

Your story is incredible! You are fantastic! Thank you for this beautiful story

Upon their deaths, I expected them to say lines like:

Kiara & Jimmy: "We Zootopians with our demonic tendencies, who create a 'God' for the sake of our own convenience. Do you think that ones so weak can carry on living in this quagmire of order and chaos? Such neutrality is beyond redemption..."

Rufus: "A world betrayed by its faith in God. A world that spurns God and drowns in anarchy. Now that you stand at the dead-end possibility, what else greets you besides despair? Such hope is beyond redemption..."

Allastor & Gnarlathotep: "Zootopians...can never escape the karma of desire. Desires are no different then demons. Zootopians themselves are demons. Such desire is beyond redemption..."

The Dragon: "Ah...where is our salvation? Why? Why have you done this to us? Why have you left us stranded us in the rift of God...demons...and pain?"

Hi there!
You probably haven't heard from me in while, I used to read some of your stuff in the LK fandom.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered you'd tipped your toe into Zootopia too. I'd been keeping an eye on yours since "Taka's Guard" turned up, which I've been avoiding reading until I finish my own prequel story set in the same theme... (In fact... I think I might have to change the name...) I'm in the process of rewriting my old "Judgement" Story, which shall instead become a trilogy, one of which is set in that time period, when Scar was a cub. I've avoided it till mine is finished to avoid crossing the streams, so to speak. Not far now though.

Wow. This was a dark fic! Yikes.
I enjoyed this a lot, even though it was very very dark. Kinda messed up in the places.

I *really enjoyed* the Draconic (love that term) cultist aspect, really made it different to its predecessor, making it something of a horror novel, which is rather original particularly in this fandom. It was haunting, and horrifying, and the mix of lovecraftian literature with satanism made both of them terrifying. There were some moments, when I genuinely believed you were going to go supernatural on us, and reveal that he was possessed by... something.
That ambiguity is hard to make.
I also enjoyed the reptiles having lovecraftian, or eygptian names. I had a character in my very first story (A Lion King Story) featuring "Sobek" an eldritch River Lord. That took me back.

Nick dealing with a forcible addiction to eating meat, was gut wrenching. His guilt, regret, and desire all at once was mesmerising in a really twisted sense. From mentions of a "Carnivore Register" basically ending job prospects, stopping you from adopting kids, and carnivores being murdered in jail by their inmates, and clandestine gatherings permeating all aspects of society, it was made very clear that carnivores is one of - if not the worst - kind of crime committed in Zootopia, probably (given their history) treated worse than we would treat cannibals. Like with cannibalism, most mammals would - although probably be disgusted - be sympathetic, arguing he did what he had to do to survive a torturous experience. He'd probably be treated sympathetically by his fellows, even if the truth emerged for this reason (I'm reminded of stories in our world where plane crash and boat sinking victims, resorted to cannibalism to survive.) His shameful confession - that he liked it - makes it all the more heartbreaking.

I found it refreshing that Nick and Judy weren't a couple in this. It took me a while to come round, and I needed to read a couple of *very* good stories before I accepted it as a thing. Nowadays, I quite like the pairing. I find the obvious parallels between interspecies pairings and LGBT pairings in Zootopia to be very in keeping with the themes of the original Zootopia, where Prey and Predator

Special shout out to your dig at immigration officials. That made me chuckle.

There were a couple of references hidden throughout, that I liked spotting, and that was fun.

I am glad you are going to do a sequel. I would prefer if the finale wasn't quite as dark as this one. Trying to outdo yourself here would just be a little overboard at this point.
I have a hunch that (if those mysterious tunnels to Scaleonia do exist) a handful of Reptile might have escaped to Scaleonia. Ambassador DaCosta would presumably have diplomatic immunity, and would any of his staff, so there are a couple of survivors. So my random hunch, is that Judy is alive, but in Scaleonia. This would give us a chance to see some more sympathetic reptiles. After all, some attempt to come to Zootopia - so some must share their ideals.

I always like to leave a some constructive criticism if it is welcome, on some things I wasn't overly keen on, and to be honest, it was difficult to find anything. But I did have a couple of niggles.

The casual mention of lynchings, and Judy's casual dismissle of them stood out to me as a callous. She's a believer in justice, I doubt she'd be overly fond of a lack of due process, or violent revenge taking vigilantism.
Judy's relationship early in the novel, with a guy that was something of rightwing nutter stood out to me too, and I doubt she'd even want her name on a silver clover list. They may well be more moderate than certain groups, but believing all predators needed tame collars? I suspect that would be a major obstacle in forming a relationship there. I can't see how it progressed to a point where he planned on asking her to marry him...
I would have liked to have a little more sympathy for Nick's "Kidnapping" of a young tod. Some indication that he was not happy where he was, some moral justification for what he was doing, would have been helpful. Nick just being horny and kidnapping a child for it, *Really* stood out to me as beyond the pale.
And finally, her suspending Nick over a lead not panning out stood out as harsh, especially since she was present where Matilda offered them the lead, all but confirming the reptiles under the city to be responsible. I understand it was necessary for plot reasons but it was a little jarring to me.

Anywho.

That was a good read. Thanks for that - I look forward to seeing what else you have in store at (eventually) to give Taka's Guard a go.

good story

An open. yet hopeful ending. It is well done.

I hope they get the poison out of Nick's body. Maybe make him vomit it all up/out somehow...

Is Judy TRULY dead? I bet not...I bet if she is still alive, she will have gotten the poison out of her.

Jesus Christ O.o. Definitely a hell of an intense chapter. Definitely looking forward to reading the next chapter, to see what happens to Nick next

Oh no... I wonder did Nick really...

I guess we will see next time.

May they survive!

Well. It seems that we are at the end. Nick and Judy have eaten the mushrooms and Nick has gone savage. I guess neither are making it out of this alive. Great chapter.

“Ain’t no rest for the wicked”

Starting to lose interest at this point.

I hope Nick's girlfriend comes to the rescue!