The Wolf’s Resolve at Dawn part 3

After the wolf collapsed, the soldiers cheered in triumphant joy. Several of them immediately descended and approached the body of the wolf.

Some of them tried poking the massive body with their swords just to be sure, but the wolf did not move at all.

"Silva, it seems this wolf is already dead."

"Very well, we will dispel the magic."

The orange haired man called Silva waved his hand as a signal. The magic wall that stood like a fortress slowly disappeared along with the frontline soldiers lowering their giant shields.

Everyone gathered near the wolf’s body. Their eyes reflected disbelief that they had succeeded in defeating the monster considered to be the source of disaster.

A young girl in a witch’s cloak walked closer and nudged Silva’s arm. "We finally avenged Gilbert and Maria, did we not, Silva?"

"Yes, you are right. Thank you, Chloe. Without your help, it would have been impossible to attack while maintaining the magic fortress. Your role was crucial."

Chloe’s lips curled upward with pride and her chest puffed slightly. "It is nothing. I only performed my duty as a sorceress."

Chloe, standing beside him, was the only person left from Gilbert’s party for the extermination mission he had initiated.

After the deaths of those two, their party disbanded due to conflicting perspectives and the trauma that still lingered.

Her hand moved down to grip a medal in her pocket. It was the last memento left behind by Maria. Every night she dreamed of how Sirius killed her friend. When Silva came holding a proposal for revenge, she signed it without hesitation.

Then a young soldier approached, patting Silva’s shoulder. "Looks like we succeeded, Guild Master. You avenged us and saved the townspeople," he said jokingly.

Silva clenched his fist. "Yes... you are right." He glanced at the young soldier with a relieved smile on his lips. "But without your help, we could never have defeated this monster. Thank you."

"So... are you satisfied now, Guild Master?"

Silva shook his head and walked forward toward the wolf’s body. He unsheathed a golden sword from his waist.

"I will not be satisfied until I sever its head and place it beside the graves of my comrades."

The golden blade glittered beneath the gentle sunlight as it was lifted high. Then in a single swing, he struck down toward the wolf’s neck.

Splash!

Every eye widened when the wolf’s body suddenly turned into dark shadows that splattered in every direction.

Still frozen in shock, the wolf then leapt out from the shadow of one of the soldiers behind them.

Before anyone realized it, its jaws opened wide and bit onto a soldier, tearing his head clean from his body.

"Ruuuun!"

The soldiers scattered like flies as the wolf began devouring them one by one. In an open battle like this, Sirius could no longer be stopped. Yet... there was still something he must do.

He turned his gaze forward, toward Silva who was trying to escape while carrying Chloe on his shoulder.

That girl... I remember her...

His claws dug into the ground, cracking the earth beneath him. His jaws tightened. He remembered how she had bombarded him. She was the same girl who almost killed him with her fire magic during their first encounter.

After a long exhale, Sirius vanished.

"Where is he?!"

Everyone scanned their surroundings with weapons raised. But before any of them found him, the wolf teleported right in front of Silva.

Crash!

A single swipe nearly took their lives if they had not avoided it just in time.

Sirius leapt again with his jaws wide open. But Silva quickly kicked his lower jaw and retreated backward.

Sirius gave chase. Silva reacted by throwing Chloe behind him to widen the distance.

"Forgive me, Chloe! Lead the soldiers while I buy some time!"

"Wai... what are you... aaaaah!"

A soldier managed to catch Chloe as she was thrown like a sack of grains through the air.

Silva raised his sword, his feet planted firmly on the grass stained with blood, preparing for combat as Sirius approached. But... the wolf passed him entirely.

"What?!" he shouted, stunned as the massive body soared over him. His eyes widened the moment he realized its true target. "Soldiers! Do not let that monster reach Chloe!"

The soldier immediately ran frantically while carrying Chloe. Several soldiers tried to block the wolf, yet their heads flew the moment his claws slashed through them.

In desperation, flames erupted beneath Sirius. Metal pillars rose to restrain his movement.

"North side, form a blockade barrier and close it once we enter the formation!"

"Yes!"

The girl could still shout commands perfectly. Sirius felt a hint of admiration for her composure, but he knew this was no time to praise anyone.

He flicked his tail and a savage gust blasted forward, shattering the metal pillars and extinguishing the flames that tried to scorch him.

By the time he broke free, a barrier wall awaited him. But this one did not encircle him in a ring. It stood in a phalanx formation before him.

Soldiers with giant shields advanced slowly. Sirius knew well what would happen if they managed to surround him again.

That was why he teleported behind one of the squads. One claw strike split them in two.

He leapt and dashed in a zigzag pattern, slaughtering everything in his path. His aim was to destroy their encirclement tactic.

One hundred? Two hundred? Or perhaps three hundred?

That was how many lives had fallen to his claws and fangs. But there were still many more soldiers. He had not yet reached the required number. The ritual needed one thousand lives.

I must kill more!

Meanwhile, Chloe struggled to reorganize her scattered formation, shaken by Sirius’s sheer unpredictability.

"Miss Chloe! What should we do?!"

"Shut up, fool! Let me think!" She bit her finger until it almost bled due to frustration. "Damn that wolf... I calculated his power growth but never expected him to be this intelligent," she muttered through clenched teeth.

Sirius moved like a shadow almost too fast to see. He had already slaughtered nearly half of the troops.

"Awooooo!"

He suddenly halted and howled toward the heavens. The sound wave made nearly everyone’s ears bleed. Only a few who strengthened their hearing with physical enhancement magic managed to remain on their feet.

During his prolonged howl, several small shadow wolves crawled out from his own shadow. These silhouettes possessed their own minds and began hunting soldiers who had lost their eardrums.

Some tried to fight back but were quickly torn to pieces. Each shadow was as dangerous as a monster classified at district threat levels.

There was no stopping them.

There was no escape.

The shadow pack ravaged the battlefield like a tidal wave devouring every last soul that still dared resist.

As his howl ended, Sirius exhaled deeply. He lowered his head in silence and allowed himself to hear the hoarse screams of soldiers being torn apart by his shadows.

"Sto... stop!"

"I still want to live!"

"Please spare me!"

"My child... my child will be born soon... please... argh..."

It brought him no joy. Their screams pierced his heart like needles. This was punishment he inflicted upon himself. All to harden his resolve for the day he must take the lives of innocents.

Among the swarming shadows, a streak of gold broke through and raised a sword.

"Take this, monster!"

It was Silva, severely wounded, attacking with the last of his strength. But before he reached the wolf, his magic ran out.

The nearby shadow wolves pounced, swarming over him and ripping his body apart like starving scavengers.

Sirius walked slowly toward him, lowering his head so that his golden eyes could meet Silva’s green ones, eyes filled with hatred and vengeance even as life slipped away.

"You... you..." Silva tried to reach his face but could no longer muster the strength.

"Your hatred has clouded your heart. It is a double edged blade that destroys even its wielder. As a leader, you have failed."

Silva did not answer. He only glared with a fire of resentment that refused to die out.

"You were not thinking clearly."

"You were irrational."

"Not worthy of being followed."

"You... failed your master’s duty."

Silva dug his nails into the hardened ground until they bled. "Do not speak... as though you know her."

Sirius fell silent for a moment and lifted his gaze to the plump clouds drifting lazily overhead. A gentle breeze passed by, erasing the dying pleas and restoring the forest’s eternal silence.

Only one remained. The most stubborn of all. The one still clinging to life fueled only by selfishness.

Sirius inhaled deeply.

"Until the end, you never understood."

He opened his jaws wide and swallowed the man without another word.

No resistance.

No rebellion.

Silva simply accepted his fate. In silence, only one trembling whisper escaped his lips.

"I knew... all of that is true."

With one final motion, Sirius’s jaws closed, taking the selfish man full of regret into his being.

The war was over. The battlefield returned to silence. What remained were mutilated corpses scattered across the quiet forest.

Among the piles of bodies, Sirius walked alone. A thousand lives were surely complete. Now all that remained was to return and meet Valeria.

Sret. Sret.

The sound of scraping made his ear twitch. He followed the noise and found the witch girl, Chloe, still alive though her body was battered. One of her eyes was gone, sealed behind blood and agony.

Within her remaining eye burned rage... but also a reflection. The reflection of another gentle girl whose head had once been crushed by Sirius’s jaws. His first sin.

"I... will not run. Go ahead... eat me."

With her last strength, she formed a tiny magic circle... a very small one.

Sirius blew lightly and her spell shattered instantly.

"Damn..."

Sirius stared at her with soft eyes. Then he bowed his head deeply until his snout touched the ground. Without saying a word, he walked away.

"What are you..."

She tried to ask, but exhaustion claimed her. She passed out before she could question why he spared her.

Away from the soft sunlight, Sirius withdrew and bathed himself once again in the deepest darkness. Yet this time, his heart was prepared. He was ready to walk into a darkness that might devour the light entirely.