Demon Wolf

Fascinating. Wolf examined the perfect curves of the sine-shaped rune he had found on a scroll. The patch of paper lay on the ground, pressed down by a rock, with a tiny trench dug beneath it.

Nobody back home ever considered scribing Spell Formations by attaching pre-made runes to a seal’s skeleton. No, this isn’t scribing. It’s assembly. With a bright smile, a gleam in his eyes, and several streaks of blood splattered on his robe, Wolf followed the Spell Formation’s outline.

Wave, Spin, Vision, Brain, Siphon, Air, Earth, Haze, Shake… he listed the runes he came across, then returned to ‘Wave’ from which he had started.

Wolf frowned, scratching his chin. Where’s the nub to power the Spell Formation? While this sloppy ring is enough for the world to recognize the intended area of effect, it should leak energy crazily, yet there’s no power-source. Is it at the center?

Nope. No lines connect the center with the edges. After breaking the contour and ending the spell’s effect, Wolf followed it for another round, this time collecting the runes. Wait, ‘Siphon’ is out of place here. All the others have something—

Ah, I see it. ‘Siphon’ and ‘Air’ combined fuel the Spell Formation through World Energy in the air, hmm, earth too, there’s a rune for earth.

Fascinating. No wonder nobody back home came up with this. You can’t use it without rich enough World Energy, so even as a thought exercise, it’s useless. What if you make it out of wire? It would bend out of shape in no time. Thick wrought iron? You would have to lug around huge chunks of metal and nobody would enter the circle made of steel beams.

Wolf bit his fingernail, still frowning.

“I haven’t forgotten about you.” Despite focusing on this fresh conundrum, he had an immediate issue to solve. “Even if you hadn’t shouted, I would’ve found you.”

A quivering young woman, a year or two younger than Wolf, jumped off the tree she had hidden in. “I surrender. Please don’t kill me.”

Wolf raised his gaze from the trashy Spell Formation improvisation, as he now referred to the ingenious concept he had discovered not ten minutes ago. The lady before him had short red hair, her eyes were dark blue and her complexion pale. At a glance, he recognized her as a bookworm, or someone who worked rarely seeing the sun.

“What happened when others threw that line at you?” Wolf asked, showing no shred of emotion, examining the academic cultivator like a harmless bunny he had spotted during a stroll.

“I…” She lowered her gaze, not answering the question.

“Cultivation is a path of kill or be killed. I believe the saying goes, ‘To reach the peak of cultivation, one must trample all their rivals?’”

“I… I can be useful! You’re interested in Spell Formations; I can teach you!” Juliette grasped at straws, clinging to her life with her wit, since her brawn could not warrant her safety.

Wolf was about to guffaw at the ridiculous notion of some little girl teaching him about Spell Formations, when he recalled his father’s words. Anyone can teach you a worthwhile lesson.

Wolf gazed at Juliette with conflicted feelings, cracking his knuckles. The girl shuddered and beads of sweat, which had welled on her forehead, started streaming. She swallowed spit, looking as pitiful as can be.

She’s just a child.

Don’t fall for it. She’s a woman; a year or two younger than me.

But she’s afraid of death. Look at her, she’s about to piss herself from fear.

Most people fear death. Maybe the youths she killed pissed themselves before she stabbed them dead. She’s a murderer.

She doesn’t have a baleful aura.

That’s even worse. That means she forced others to do her killing for her. She’s spineless.

Seconds passed as Wolf stared at the quivering, pitiful young woman, unable to reach a decision. He knew what he had to do, yet he could not make himself do it.

Why? Is it because she has a slight resemblance to Anna? Do I still believe I wronged her?

Wolf shook his head, trying to drive away the thought.

“Fine. I will hear what you have to say about Spell Formations. Give me your holdingring and all callingjades you have on you.”

Juliette bit her lip, shying away from Wolf, but after a moment she clenched her jaw and nodded. She took off the holdingring, tossing it towards Wolf, and did the same with her callingjade.

He snatched the items, then examined the list of names on Juliette’s jade before moving to scan her ring. “Now, tell me what you know about Spell Formations.”

“Spell Formations represent a method of harnessing and altering the world’s power into a form which suits us.”

Are you messing with me on purpose? Wolf gave Juliette a flat stare, and the terrified girl stuttered.

“There are many kinds of Spell Formations, and they can do all sorts of useful stuff…”

Did she simplify her words because she thinks I can’t follow formal speech? Wolf could tell Juliette was trying to please in any way possible, however, the more she spoke the more useless her instructions grew.

She’s got several hundred runes penned on sheets. You can make quite a variety of Spell Formations this way.

Why do I feel so disinclined towards killing her? Another train of thought crashed into his scholarly interest. Wolf bit his lip, but found no answer.

“Why do you have a ‘Fire’ rune written on a combustible sheet? Won’t the Spell Formation ignite it the moment it activates? Then, the whole thing should fail or explode?” Wolf muttered, absorbed in his thoughts.

“Um?” Juliette stuttered, mid introductory lesson in Spell Formation for dummies. “I… ‘Fire’ has a wide range of applications. I never thought it would be a problem to have it on a scroll.”

Wolf shot her an ‘are you stupid, kid?’ look, and Juliette shied away, for the moment forgetting her fear. Talking about a familiar subject helped her regain composure, or at least suppress any thoughts of looming death.

“But can you use it in a real-world scenario? You already have ‘Heat’, which while iffy, should not burn the scroll, unless you overload it, or misuse it.”

“You… You know Spell Formations?” Juliette stuttered, her jaw slack with shock.

Wolf repeated the flat stare from a moment ago. Juliette blushed, the jumbled mix of hormones coursing through her body making her dizzy.

Don’t fall for it. Wolf stopped himself from tsking. Her innocence is only temporary. She killed and hunted down others. Others who experienced the same fear gripping their hearts and softening their bones.

Wolf sighed through the nose.

“I can’t do it,” he muttered to himself, then focused on Juliette. “If I let you live, will you hide in this Whiteflame Honeyeater’s den until Corpsewood closes?”

The ecstatic girl bobbed her head so vigorously her vision swam.

“Fine. I will let you keep your basic belongings. I’m confiscating your callingjade and weapons, as well as most of the runes you have scribed. You will set up an illusion and repulsion Spell Formation around the amber dome. With it hidden, it’s unlikely anyone will find the burrow, and you should be safe down there.”

Wolf paused. He was about to tell his prisoner to strip naked, to make sure she had no concealed weapons, but paused. Stripping a girl nude in the middle of the forest was improper. At least, it wasn’t proper back home.

After considering for a second, he almost nodded, again stopping himself. It’s probably improper here as well.

“Do you want me to conduct a body-search here, or would you prefer to strip naked and spend your time underground in the nude with no belongings?” Dammit. That was stupid. I should’ve counted to five before opening my mouth. But I can’t have her carry concealed weapons, and she has the right to choose.

Juliette gave Wolf a blank stare. She must think I’m blackmailing her. ‘Let me grope you, or spend half a year naked.’

“I can’t let you have weapons,” he explained, caving before the gaze he found accusing. “If you’re armed, you might leave the safety of the cave and try to find your comrades. You could also hide a callingjade somewhere on you and use it to contact others. While I am showing you mercy, I won’t do that at the expense of other people’s lives. At least not at the expense of lives you might claim here, in Corpsewood.”

Meanwhile, Juliette stared at the beautiful man, roughly her age, who volunteered to run his thin, elegant fingers all over her body. If this offer had come in the safety of her room, back at the Soaring Dragon Peak, she would have giggled.

Here, looking at the bloodstained murderer, she hesitated. Her hesitation and fear lasted for a moment before she nodded.

“I would prefer to keep my clothes. I promise not to leave the burrow unless I’m fleeing for my life or something, and yes… you may search me.” The final bit she uttered with a flushed face, her gaze drifting towards the ground. Even if she wanted to, she had no way of resisting a monster like Wolf.

sleepydad88 Random Roll -

Spoiler

Wolf kills Juliette. It was a sixty-forty matter, in favor of killing her. It was the rational thing to do, and yet I didn’t like it, so I went against the die roll. Sometimes, you flip the coin to see what you don’t want. Note, the chapter’s title is a joke, since both Wolf and I are breaking pattern. ;)

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