The Divine Wolf... or?
Chapter 93: Awakening Once More!

Meanwhile, in Steoteya, a blinding purple light appeared from numerous runes on one of the courtyards in the imperial palace. Numerous mages and guards instantly surrounded the square. The Steoteyan knights stood in a circle around the square clad in their flaming red armor. While some of them had large shields, some carried swords and stood behind them.

The knights with shields stood at the very front, protecting from any eventual attack. Since they had no hands to hold their weapons, there were knights behind them wielding swords, that would strike out at anyone coming close. They had practiced this formation countless times, but they didn't expect to have to use it today.

From within the square, Thufrat, Alenia, Laurelia and Leo appeared. Leo and Laurelia looked relaxed, they had been through this before, but both Thufrat and Alenia collapsed on the ground. Thufrat vomited several times before he could stand up again. Alenia had it a little easier, but she still had to sit down for a while before she could stand up again.

When they stood up though, they were greeted by the sight of intimidating knights clad in full blazing armor.

They weren't afraid though, they were only surprised, but that was only par for the course. Laurelia took a step forward, and all of the knights flinched a little. A hooded figure that had used the teleportation circle on the square forcibly, with such terrifying energy, wasn't someone they wanted to mess with unnecessarily.

"Attention!" Before long, a shout was heard from behind the knights.

"Yes Sire!" they all shouted in unison.

As they heard the commanding shout, the knights parted in the middle, creating a pathway for whoever it was that had shouted. The knights then stood at attention with their shields in front of them, and their swords by their sides. A gallant young man strode down the middle of the pathway.

The young man was dressed way better than someone like Thufrat, and it was obvious from just a glance that this was a noble.

Underneath his blazing red armor was the finest blue silk clothing Thufrat had ever seen. At his waist hung a sword in a scabbard. The scabbard was exquisitely crafted and had been engraved with numerous runes and carvings, giving it a mysterious vibe. If not for the young man's intimidating and formidable aura, Thufrat would've assumed it to be ornamental.

The armor he wore differed a little from the guards, mostly in quality, but also in looks. It was a lot more beautiful, and it was a lot lighter in comparison.

The young man himself was handsome, to say the least, with striking blonde hair, big yellow eyes, and sharp facial features. This was the crown prince of Steoteya, Theodore. Thanks to his class as an elemental swordsman, with a perfect affinity for lightning magic, he was called Steoteya's lightning sword. Walking up to Laurelia's entourage, he inspected them meticulously with his eyes.

Seeing Laurelia, his gait and bearing instantly straightened itself out a little bit. He had no idea why she was here, but it was obviously not for a fun visit.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience your majesty, but we have an urgent matter to attend to, I can compensate for the troubles later." Without waiting for a response, Laurelia walked past Theodore, without so much as glancing at him in the process. Thufrat, Leo and Alenia followed tightly behind her, they didn't dare get left behind.

Theodore didn't really care, he would let his father handle this matter later, he held no interest in questioning why they were here or trying to suck up to them in any way. Instead, he went his own way, intending to train his swordsmanship a little more.

"Dismissed!"

All the soldiers were relieved from all the tension. Even though they looked perfect on the surface, the human mind was fickle, and none of them were even close to perfection in reality.

...

Outside of the main manor of the large Windrunner family, Laurelia's entourage arrived. The guards at the gate stopped them from entering, but after one of them sent word to the Archduke, they were allowed inside. All the elders of the family got ready in the main hall of the large mansion to receive their important guests. To their astonishment, no one arrived.

Laurelia just followed Thufrat as he lead the way to the place where Ark had been sealed some time ago. The shed was nowhere to be seen, the only thing that could be seen was a big wolf lying dormant on the ground, with a small vortex swirling above its body. The small vortex was the seal's way of supplying energy, by sucking in the surrounding mana.

Seeing this, Laurelia didn't wait around, she had her ways to break the seal, and she didn't need to rely on the elders of the Windrunner family.

Before doing anything else, she just used a very advanced dispel skill to break the seal. When she did, an outflux of mana and killing intent that had been suppressed for weeks suddenly erupted all at once. Alenia and Thufrat were both suppressed by this aura, and they had a hard time moving under it, but before Ark could go out of control, Laurelia suppressed him. How did she suppress him?

By brute force? No, she actually started singing.

Both Thufrat and Alenia were astounded when she did, but what surprised them more was the effect it had, and how good it sounded. Ark's initially red eyes were starting to dim, slowly but surely, and his original eye colour was starting to reappear. After almost a minute of her ethereal singing, Ark looked just the same as he did before he went out of control.

He looked around, astonished, and a little dull-headed. His mind wasn't feeling like normal after having been deeply asleep and suppressed for multiple months.

What he could see though was Thufrat, and he looked fine. Considering the last thing Ark saw was Thufrat nearly dying, this brought him great joy. He walked a little unsteadily to Thufrat and then laid down on the ground again. He couldn't say anything since he was in his wolf form, but the joy in his eyes spoke volumes by itself.

Thufrat was happy beyond belief as well, his friend had finally come back to him! Just thinking about the conversations they would have and all the stories he had to tell Ark made him excited at the prospect.

He was about to give Ark a hug when he was interrupted by a sudden ferocious growl! Everyone instantly got into defensive positions and looked around them. Ark only stared straight down into the ground out of shame. While everyone was still looking around them trying to replace what made the sound, Thufrat started laughing heartily.