Son of the Hero King

One of the most important functions of Gae Assail was the malevolent combination of lethal absolute accuracy, alongside the nifty recall function. While the second function of the weapon was not an absolute authority, like the first, it still allowed the spear to be used as a very effective throwing weapon. The weapon was built in such a fashion that taking down enemies from afar without worrying about losing the weapon was practically a trademark application.

Until now, that is. Lupus was surprised to realize that no matter how much he tried to call forth his weapon, it would not respond to his call, going radio silent. It almost felt like… it was somehow trapped at an incomparably large distance away.

Fuck!

Lupus swore internally as his hair started bristling all around him. His aura density caused the air to tremble as his wrath was manifested in its full might in real-time.

“Where is it!?”

Since the beginning of this epic battle, this was the first time Lupus was showing any signs of losing his composure. Even when he had been cornered by Sol and his ragtag group of Dukes and other lower beings – in Lupus’ eyes at least – he had been the very example of pride and confidence. That was the level of assurance the King of Wratharis had of his victory, no matter the scenario. That assurance was slowly crumbling down into nothingness at this instance, however.

It didn’t even take a moment for Setsuna to notice the change, nor did it take for others with the suffocation that permeated the air with the king’s wrathful aura. However, despite the difficulty in breathing induced by a difference in power, Setsuna’s lips curved into a smirk, which translated to a snarl in her present bestial form.

“You find this funny?”

Lupus gazed at her, his eyes filled with malevolence and all-consuming anger. “I guess your prince must have done something then? Very well, let’s see how long you can keep that smile on your face, little girl. I am done playing nice.”

In but a single instant, the world surrounding them changed into the vision of the Wolf King. The induced change was similar, in nature, to dimensional encroachment as the laws of nature were being rewritten in real-time in front of the girls. The sun transformed into the moon, and with it, the day made way for night.

People looked up with fear and awe as a gigantic silver-white moon hovered above in the sky where the sun should have been shining in full glory. Lupus’ zone worked similarly to the Bull Sage or Setsuna’s zones. It induced a pseudo-domain into reality, taking over the husk of the natural laws and superimposing it with a nature that constantly buffed its wielder, increasing the host’s power to unimaginable heights.

Midnight Moonlight was the zone born for this very reason. A world created by Lupus’ will to ensure his well-being. That was the realization of his truth. As befitting of a King-ranked being, no one could underestimate the danger brought forth from his zone. Not only did the domain-esque zone apply multiple buffs to him throughout the board it also brought his healing factor to nigh immortal territory. As long as he was under the moon, he believed himself to be invincible.

Furthermore, the zone also applied mild debuffs on his enemies— slowing down everyone he deemed necessary, and even adding the Fear effect on the weak-minded and less able. Once the debuff took hold of the target, even the smallest of fears would be amplified to an unholy level while the Zone was in effect.

It was a zone perfectly tailored to the Wolf King’s tastes. Not only would he constantly gain strength inside the area of effect his enemies would only keep getting weaker and face their worst fears as they wallowed in despair and agony in front of his regal might.

Arcs of incinerating lightning crackled and buzzed in Lupin’s surroundings, with him as the center, and a veritable armor of water superimposed by the zapping arcs manifested around his body. An aura of invincibility flowed out of his very being the moment the armor solidified.

“Setsuna. You will soon learn the difference between the two of us and you will watch as your futile struggles amount to nothing in the end. At the end of the day, no matter how strong or how talented you are, you all are only Dukes and a Duke… can never beat a King.”

A golden pillar of incandescent light exploded from Lupus’ body, invoking a barrier of wind to assail the girls and push them far away from the Wolf King.

“I am Lupus Tiangou Ira, King of Wratharis, Blessed of Ira, the Celestial Wolf and I will never lose against mere low-lifes like you! Come at me!!”

His voice was tinged with malevolence and evil. And with that, a bodily transformation was set in motion; his golden fur grew and covered his body and his whole frame began to morph and expand, crack after crack resounded in the silent battlefield as bones broke and reformed until what was left of the Lupus was a hulking two-meter-tall humanoid golden wolf of invincible might.

“You all… will perish… forever!”

His words came out as a beastly growl but the thick killing intent behind it was unmistakable. Even Milia, who had experienced many horrible fights in her life, felt herself tremble on her feet for the faintest of moments.

This was undoubtedly the greatest challenge of her life and Sol was still not responding despite their multiple calls. The situation was definitely dire, however, there was still hope to come out alive of this predicament. They still had one recourse.

Milia thought as she gave a firm look at Isis, making her nod with a grim determination on her face.

{Setsuna, are you sure you want to continue? The danger has increased and we might all die if we are not careful.}

Setsuna’s answer was an earthshaking howl as she summoned a storm of ice and lightning. Her wrathful words echoed in the air, reaching all the people who were running away in the distance,

“A king who needs to constantly preach, I am the King, is no true King! Lupus, next year this day will be the anniversary of your death!”

Both Setsuna and Lilin rushed at a sneering Lupus who did not even bother blocking Lilin’s sword as he dodged it with minimal movements of his body and proceeded to push back Setsuna with a simple swat of his beastly palm.

The shock was enough for Setsuna to black out for half a second but she bit down her tongue, forcibly keeping herself awake as she sent a dense stream of lightning to strike Lupus down.

“Hahaha!”

Lupus laughed as the lightning stopped short of reaching him and started twirling around his body as if he had seized control of it.

“Poor lass. You might be a Calamity Wolf now but I am still a Lightning Wolf at the King rank. Do you truly think your control of Lightning can match mine? How foolish!”

He laughed and the dense web of lightning arcs fused in his hand, transforming into an arrow of condensed lightning.

“Taste this for yourself.”

All the danger sensors in her mind screamed simultaneously, a single-tuned melody of caution and warning, driving Setsuna to hastily create two temporal clones while she retreated with desperation.

With the snap of a finger, the two clones were immediately destroyed as the supercharged lightning arrow pierced through their forehead and heart, killing them on the spot before they could even exude their presence.

Setsuna shuddered in fright as she watched the horrifying scene of the Wolf King’s dominance. While those clones were weaker than her, they still had the strengths of an ordinary Duke backing them. Had it been her in their stead, she would have at least been gravely injured if not dying outright to that beam of concentrated power.

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{Fight girl! Don’t worry, as long as you don’t die, I can heal you!}

Setsuna could only leak out a bitter chuckle as the Isis’ excited words full of horrible advice reached them, making her share a knowing glance with Lilin.

Indeed. They had been too greedy. Having the thought of fighting a King-ranked being, and a Blessed on top of that, without even considering losing a limb or two at the minimum had been excessive of them. Their minds had muddled with their newfound powers, but they had already made their resolve.

“You ready?”

“I can do this all day.”

Thus, the two girls enacted a dance, treading the thin line between life and death, as they gave up all means or desire to defend themselves from any of Lupus’ attacks. They could only believe in Isis and Milia to keep them from getting killed.

This was suicidal, to say the least, however, they did not falter.

Was it because they believed in each other?

Of course not.

Lilin and Setsuna were one thing, but the four girls did not have a tacit understanding born from years of fighting together nor did they share deep and meaningful moments together as the duo in question did throughout the years.

What they had in common though was a singular and deeply rooted belief that bordered toward fanatism— all directed towards a single entity.

Sol Dragona Luxuria. Their lover and lord, the master of their faith and irrevocable love.

Even in the face of overwhelming odds, they did not lose hope because they had a fanatic level of belief in him. Nay, it wasn’t just belief, it was knowledge… a foregone conclusion! They knew that Sol would return, stronger than ever and would change this situation no matter the state or outcome.

All they had to do in the meanwhile was hold on and victory would be theirs. Of that, they had no doubts.

———

The fight immediately resumed but for the observers, it was difficult to call the event a fight by any means.

Rather than a fight, what they were witnessing was more akin to a joke. A horrible joke where a man was playing a group of girls like a fiddle that was hardly even a speck in front of his almighty presence.

Lupus was strong himself but he was also a Blessed on top of that. Even with his current state of weakened strength, due to the usage of his Divine Weapon, he was still head and shoulders above anything mere Dukes were capable of dishing out against him.

For the next few minutes, Lupus showed his absolute and complete domination in the fight. Lilin’s sword techniques could attack from all distances, but the power behind each slash was nowhere near enough to cut through his hardened skin. Even the light wounds he barely received every now and then were immediately gone as though they were merely illusions, thanks to the exemplary healing boost he received with his zone deployed. Meanwhile, the trickier, more lethal, attacks that came off her blade were easily dodged with the most minimal movements thanks to his extreme speed and swift reactions that were beyond anything the girls could break through.

On the other side, Setsuna was treated like nothing more than a glorified ragdoll of giant proportions thanks to her beastly form. It only took a few minutes for her body to become battered beyond what her healing factor could bear.

She had lost a large patch of fur from her pristine and regal body, one of her eyes was as good as gone, and even a single one of her forelimbs was now in a limp state, most likely broken on the course of the horrifying battle. She was forced to forcibly block the mana flow that would cycle through her wounds to obtain just that extra portion of mana that was basically a prerequisite to barely keep up with Lupus’ relentless assault.

Her breathing had gone harsh and wanting, her lungs being punctured with the broken ribs that were practically her whole ribcage being the culprit. Her mana was also at an all-time low due to the relentless assault without having any time for recovery.

Despite seeing his niece in such a pitiful state, Lupus showed no joy, only a note of frustration. Why wouldn’t he? Golden flames soon emerged from Setsuna, covering her whole body and healing most, if not all, of her grievous injuries, achieving at least an 80% recovery rate wherever the healing flames touched. Whenever he tried to stop the healing process, a slithering snake in an inky black hue would lunge at him, hacking away at the slightest opportunity it found, forcing him to dodge the assault and abolish any thoughts of attacking Setsuna.

Lupus growled as he turned his attention towards Isis and Milia, those women were the sole reason this joke of a fight showed no signs of ending anytime soon. It was frustrating and downright insulting for the king.

None of Milia’s attacks could really hurt him but he could feel his mana constantly drain whenever those disgusting shadow snakes touched his body or any part of his aura. With his current, weakened self, there was no avenue for him to lose even the slightest trickle of mana. He had to preserve it for the off chance that someone jumped him out of the blue, or in the extremely unlikely scenario of Lilith defeating Wukong.

This led to this frustrating, insulting, and maddening outcome— no matter how much he hurt Setsuna, she would stand up after being healed by that phoenix as if she were an undying warrior who feared no pain.

“You should give up already. Even though your prince managed to seal my spear by some wretched means, no doubt, it is clear that he is unable to leave from wherever he stored my spear at the moment. As for the rest of you, even if you keep getting healed, there is nothing you can do outside of being my punching bag. You have already lost.”

He spoke to them, wishing to break their spirits with his words but the only outcome that he reached was a wave of frustration as only a laugh escaped Setsuna’s bloody maw in response to his mockery. Lilin even went as far as to laugh out loud while holding onto her chipped sword.

“We will win.” Her words were short and precise, a fanatic belief as though it was a foregone conclusion. The pain from all the wounds she had received did not vanish, a few were them were still open and bleeding even now, however, the brilliant light that shone in her eyes never wavered for a single second. Not when Sol was effectively neutralized from the battlefield, nor when Lupus showed her the immense difference in power between them.

No matter how much pain Lupus was inflicting on her body, they were incomparable to the pain she felt when she ran away like a criminal from her own home, her homeland— Wratharis. Barefooted, without a single thing to eat or drink, while she was still a kid, she made a journey to nowhere with the heavy mind of leaving everyone and everything she loved behind her to rot as she clung to her life. The pain she went through and the pain she was constantly going through… were incomparable to any physical pain anyone could bring to her.

“Do you truly think you win!? Against me!? When you cannot even break my defences!?”

He could not understand their reasoning.

Lupus could see that despite the situation at hand, those girls were not losing hope and there was not a single drivel of fear in their hearts. They did not doubt their victory, leading to an unwavering heart that was ready for any adversity.

How could this be possible!? What allowed them to stand up again and again despite the clear disparity in power between them and an invincible being like him? He had no way of knowing.

“I am sure we will win.” Setsuna’s body faintly quivered as her leg was finally healed and she stood straight, the blood on her body could not hide her prideful elegance and poise.

“Why!!?” Lupus nearly shouted, anger filling his heart at the sight of Setsuna standing up once more to continue this farce.

“Because my lord, Sol, has declared as such.”

Lupus stopped, his eyes opening in utter disbelief,

“Just that?”

“That is more than enough for me and everyone else.” A cold wave rushed from her body as she sought to slow him down again and freeze him while Lilin was ready to come at him from behind with her sword in hand, damaged or not, but Lupus ignored everything as his mind kept replaying Setsuna’s words over and over again.

Those girls were willing to lay down their lives simply because they believed in one person?

How utterly ridiculous!

Once again, Lupus found himself hating and envying Sol. Has there ever been anyone who looked at him with such trust and belief in their eyes?

A forgotten memory started to resurface, one mixed with blood and eyes filled with sadness and betrayal. A bitter memory he had forcibly pushed down for so many years that it had become a blurred afterthought. Lupus squashed those memories once more, not letting them grow any bigger. Thinking about what he had destroyed with his own hands was nothing but a waste of time that would serve no purpose for him.

“I have decided.” Lupus did not dodge Lilin this time and caught her sword with his right hand. Blood started to pour out but he ignored it and looked at the girl with eyes filled with so much hatred that it became tangible.

“I am going to bring you the ultimate despair.” He clenched his fist and broke the sword before immediately piercing Lilin’s stomach with his clawed left hand, his hand opening a large hole in her body as blood and guts poured out incessantly.

『 Avatar -:- Lycaon 』

The light dimmed in Lilin’s eyes as she was flung away like a lifeless doll.

“Do you still believe you will win?”

A toothy grin stretched Lupus’ lips as he saw Setsuna flinch. He tasted the warm blood of Lilin from his hand.

Only by watching the light of hope in their eyes vanish could he sweep away this bad taste in his mouth.

He would break them, in mind and body, and relish their despair. Slowly, carefully, painfully, and with all the atrocity this world could never hope to reenact.

This he swore in his name and invincibility— on the name of the Celestial Wolf.