Chapter 27 - Prince Red Riding Hood

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Chapter 27

 

 

It wasn't the strike he had imagined, but it worked. Lil poured all his strength into the chain, wrapping it tighter around her throat.

 

He knew he was weak. A frail boy couldn't hope to defeat a witch who had lived for over five hundred years.

 

He didn't know if he could even hurt her.

 

But he couldn't simply lie down and be devoured. He refused to be her stepping stone for some twisted evolution.

 

If he didn't fight back—if he didn't resist with everything he had—he would never forgive himself.

 

"You… how dare you!"

 

"Grandmother is gone! You—I'll never forgive you!"

 

Lil twisted the chain harder, pressing it sideways into her throat with a horrible, grinding force.

 

This woman had worn the mask of a noble queen while claiming to be powerless. She had invented the legend of the Wolf King just to justify her cruelty. She had praised Lil's red eyes because they served her purposes—nothing more than a lie disguised as love.

 

She had murdered his father and mother.

 

And now she was reaching for Klaus.

 

"I will never forgive you!"

 

The moment he screamed, Lil felt a searing pain shoot through his stomach.

 

The witch had kicked him. Hard.

 

His body was thrown backward, and he rolled helplessly down the snowy slope.

 

A deep pocket of snow finally caught and stopped him, but he no longer knew which way was up. Gasping for breath, he twisted his chained limbs and forced his body to rise—just in time to see that most of the moon had already turned red.

 

"Lil… the game ends here. Now awaken already. You've misbehaved so badly, I think I'll take my time breaking every bone in your body before I eat you. Let's start with that pretty little face—I'll mash it to pulp with my bare hands! Oh, how delightful your screams will be! 'Please kill me, please!'—how sweet those cries will sound from the lips of a weeping, pathetic little prince!"

 

"Uh... ah..."

 

The witch lifted her bare chest to the sky and screamed, then leapt toward him with the strength of a beast.

 

Even managing to resist her once had been a miracle—Lil realized that now.

 

With strength no human could match, the witch cackled as she raised a massive fist.

 

It was aimed directly at his face.

 

The fist seemed impossibly large. Terrifying.

 

In that split second, Lil's mind raced.

 

If what the witch had said was true, then he would awaken as an incubus the moment the moon turned fully red.

 

She wanted to devour him after that awakening to gain his power. But if he were to die before then—perhaps she wouldn't get what she wanted.

 

Should I… bite off my tongue and die now? Before she breaks my jaw and makes it impossible? Would that stop her evolution? If I become useless to her, could I finally strike her where it hurts? Would that be… my revenge?

 

Gritting his teeth, Lil steeled himself for the thought of death.

 

He would let her strike him once, then bite through his tongue.

 

"Stop!"

 

Just as the blow was about to land, Klaus's voice cut through the air like a blade.

 

At that moment, Lil's body twisted instinctively to the side.

 

He didn't know if it was real or just a hallucination—but he let himself fall into the slope to escape the witch. Despite having resigned himself to death, his body clung to life, moving before his thoughts could catch up.

 

That was Klaus… he came to save me…! But no—if he faces the witch, even Klaus will… he'll be killed!

 

Lil slid down the snowy slope, once again losing all sense of direction.

 

Thrashing wildly, he finally managed to lift his face—and what he saw froze the breath in his lungs.

 

There, before him, was the silhouette of a beast—an overwhelming presence that radiated power.

 

It stood on four legs, poised atop a rocky outcrop, far larger than any bear. The creature's body was sleek, its form graceful, its fur a shining bronze. Its tail was thick, plush, and curved with strength.

 

"…A wolf… Are you… the Wolf King?"

 

The Wolf King was a myth. A monster the witch had invented to conceal her evil.

 

So surely this wolf… wasn't that same legend.

 

And yet, as Lil asked the question—half in disbelief, half in wonder—the massive beast turned to face him.

 

"Ah…"

 

What met his gaze was a face more beautiful than he had ever imagined.

 

The wolf's eyes were a stunning, vivid blue—irises like pale aquamarine, pupils like deep sapphire.

 

Though its back was cloaked in bronze, its face and underbelly were covered in soft silver fur. Its body was slender and lithe, yet powerfully built. And it was… enormous. Far beyond what any normal wolf could be.

 

"I am a wolf, yes. But I am not the one you call the Wolf King."

 

"Y-you can speak…? You're the one speaking…?"

 

The wolf looked down at Lil from its perch atop the rock, and it was indeed speaking human words. Its voice echoed slightly, but Lil recognized it immediately—it sounded just like Klaus.

 

Confused and overwhelmed, Lil couldn't look away.

 

The wolf, meanwhile, had turned his back on Lil and now faced the witch higher up the mountain.

 

"The Wolf King is a fiction. In truth, the so-called king is a succubus who's lived for more than five hundred years. Her current name is Cyndia."

 

"I… I understand. Then… then who are you?"

 

"I am a sacred beast, guardian of these mountains—the holy range of Vallcent, which seals away evil."

 

As soon as he spoke, the wolf—whose voice and eyes mirrored Klaus's—kicked off the rock with powerful legs.

 

He charged toward the witch like a falcon gliding just above the ground.

 

And for a moment, Lil thought he could almost see the wings the witch had long desired spreading from that back.

 

Klaus…? Is that really you? You became a wolf before the moon turned fully red…?

 

Though it was midsummer, this was the northern side of the mountain, blanketed in snow.

 

Snow exploded behind the massive wolf as he tore across the slope.

 

The witch flung her long hair back and hurled herself at him.

 

"You mangy four-legged beast—don't you dare get in my way!"

 

"You are a creature sealed within this mountain! Give up on your evolution!"

 

"Silence! What's wrong with devouring my own bloodline?!"

 

Just before the two collided, they shouted at each other, voices seething with fury.

 

Only then did Lil notice the witch had a tail.

 

It was black, like that of a lizard, sprouting from the base of her spine. It began to grow rapidly, extending far past her own body. With it jutting forward like a spear, she lunged toward the wolf.

 

"Klaus!"

 

A thunderous crack split the sky, and snow burst upward in a blinding plume.

 

The witch's shrill screech overlapped with the wolf's guttural snarl.

 

The wolf's enormous jaws clamped down on the witch's left arm. His fangs sank deep into her shoulder.

 

But even then, Lil couldn't say for sure the wolf had the upper hand. In fact, he seemed at a disadvantage. Just before the wolf could sink his teeth into her neck, the witch's tail had lashed around his body, binding him tight.

 

It coiled again and again, constricting the wolf's movements. And then the sharpened tip of her tail—gleaming like a true spear—drove straight toward the wolf's back.

 

"Ghh… rrgh…!"

 

"Gyaaaahhh—!"

 

"Klaus!!"

 

The two broke apart, kicking at each other violently.

 

The wolf had bitten off the witch's arm, and blood gushed from the torn stump like a fountain.

 

But Klaus's back had not escaped unscathed.

 

The tail had pierced through him, ripping down to his lower back in one deep, savage stroke. Blood burst from him in waves, spreading across his fur like fins sprouting from a wounded fish.

 

"N-no… Klaus… Klaus!"

 

The wind that swept across the sloped snowfield now carried the scent of blood from both sides.

 

Overhead, the moon too was changing, darkening with a red-black haze.

 

The blue-eyed wolf—draped in bronze and silver—had never called himself Klaus Grant. He had only spoken, claimed to be a sacred beast, the guardian of the Vallcent Mountains.

 

And yet, to Lil, there was no question. This wolf was Klaus. Whether such a transformation was even possible for a human, he didn't know. But it didn't matter.

 

He felt it—deep in his soul.

 

A sacred beast… a messenger of God. He called my grandmother a creature sealed within the mountain… He told her to abandon her evolution. Was he watching over her? Was he there to ensure that this witch—who dared sit upon the throne of a nation—wouldn't feast on her own kin and take flight with wings gained by devouring her grandson?

 

 

 

 

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