A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

"Dad!" the black-furred werepanther exclaimed anxiously as she practically fell into the room. Her eyes instantly focused on the weak-looking man lying in bed and she began to falter slightly. At the same time, all other eyes in the room locked on to her in turn.

It wasn't just Ankhur, Enkai, Amina, and Nadia who were looking at the wild shapeshifter with blinking eyes. Along with them, there was an older couple, and a tall, mature woman, all three of whom possessed the same bronze-coloured skin as Ankhur.

As if on cue, they all started smiling gently as soon as they recognized the werepanther who just stormed in.

"Little Naeku…" Ankhur smiled as relief practically flowed out of his eyes. Yet, the relief quickly made way for mischief as he sighed and relaxed even more into his pillows. "I suppose that means… I can rest now…" he whispered softly as he pretended to slip away.

"W— What?! No! You can't rest yet!" Naeku, completely oblivious, instantly cried out in a panic as she launched herself at the bed. Tears began to well up in her eyes.

Apparently, she was the only one who didn't realize what was going on, as everyone else in the room instantly groaned and palmed their faces.

Thus, Naeku, who'd entered from the left side of the room, sailed past the Arcanist Nadia, to land on her father's weakened body, instantly causing him to groan and open his eyes wide again.

"Uhnnn… Mistakes…. were made…." he wheezed softly as Naeku sat on top of him and shook his shoulders. "D— Dad! Dad…?!" she cried out softly.

Finally, the vampire Amina couldn't stand it anymore. Exasperated, she slapped the top of Ankhur's head and looked apologetically at Naeku. "It's alright, Naeku. He's not dying… yet. He's just an idiot."

Slowly, the werepanther stopped shaking her father when Amina's words started sinking in, until she finally sat still with her eyes closed and a trembling brow. Below her, Ankhur was smirking mischievously. "Little Naeku, I—"

"Argh!" Naeku interrupted him with a roar and punched down at his chest as hard as she could. "I hate you!"

Unfortunately, while that would normally do nothing to him, he was currently heavily weakened. Thus, when she hit him, he instantly began to cough and wheeze.

"Ah! S— Sorry!" Naeku instantly did a complete turn around and clasped her heart with anxiety.

The Arcanist, Nadia, sighed, and beckoned Naeku of her father, "That's enough, the both of you. Your father isn't dying, but he's not in a good state, so you should still get off him."

"And you," she then continued while pointing at Ankhur with narrowed eyes. "Stop playing around!"

"R— Right," Naeku quickly nodded and moved off her father's chest to kneel next to Nadia instead.

Meanwhile, Ankhur had recovered from his coughing fit, and looked at Naeku with a weak yet fond smirk. "I'm sorry… little Naeku," he wheezed slightly. "Don't worry, I'll be… fine eventually." Enjoy new chapters from empire

Suddenly, before Naeku could answer, another voice joined the conversation. It was the beautiful, melodious, and yet commanding voice that belonged to Elora.

"Perhaps you will be," she said indifferently, while everyone in the room tore their eyes away from the cute father-daughter scene, to stare with alarm at the newcomers who just entered the room. "But it will take months, and you'll never be completely healed. Such is the power of a fourth rank affinity like shadowflame."

For a moment, silence fell as various gazes of surprise and confusion mixed together. Then, everyone reacted. Aggressively.

The older couple and the mature woman all instantly transformed into werepanthers, while Enkai activated his werelion form. Even Ankhur ignored the pain wrecking his body to transform into a werepanther as well, while his two wives finally interrupted their efforts at healing him to jump of the bed.

Nadia conjured light blue magic circles, and everyone else bared their teeth as they began to growl at the intruders.

Unsurprisingly, Erik's wives and servants didn't react much differently, as they quickly took up defensive positions around Erik and Elora, while eyeing them carefully. Only Elora remained deceptively calm.

"What the hell is going on here?! Who are these people?!" the mature woman roared as she flexed her claws. The older couple remained calmer, but they were clearly ready to fight, and Ankhur's wives focused on creating a defensive position around their husband.

Meanwhile, Enkai, of course, recognized most of them, while Naeku appeared a little wry, because she'd actually somewhat forgotten about her entourage. Ankhur, however, focused on one specific thing: the body in Elora's arms.

Yet, although Enkai recognized most of them, he didn't recognize Elora… and she was a third ranker. While all the guards so far may not have realized her power, Enkai could easily recognize her omnisense.

"You!" he snarled cautiously, his beastly eyes not missing a single of Elora's movements. "Back up! Now!"

Rather than figure out what was going on exactly, he wanted to get this third ranker away from the weakened Ankhur immediately.

But Elora ignored Enkai entirely, instead focusing her gaze on Naeku and Ankhur, who she knew where the leaders here. Enkai was actually somewhat beneath her notice.

Her indifference to him quickly began to enrage Enkai, but before the chaos could escalate, a dominant voice resounded through the room. "Enough!" Ankhur roared with all the power he could still find in his pain-stricken body.

Instantly, all the people on his side restrained their aggression. Even if Ankhur could barely get out of bed right now, the respect they felt for him still compelled them to obey.

"Naeku… is— is that…?" he then muttered softly, his eyes not leaving the woman in Elora's arms.

His daughter smiled softly and nodded, "Yes, Father. Lady Runa is alive!"

Finally, everyone else also recognized her and a shock went through the room. "Sister Runa?" Nadia and Amina muttered with astonishment as they lowered their guard.

When the shock died down a little, Ankhur's eyes and senses finally travelled across the other people who'd just entered, including the woman who was holding Runa and just spoke some rather ominous words regarding his condition.

"Naeku…?" he asked his daughter, who was looking a little nervously at the chaos in the room. She'd already come to see Erik and his family as allies, and didn't want a fight to break out here.

"Why don't you introduce us?" he finished, when his daughter looked at him.