Chapter 5. The Moon Rabbit Siblings (4) Part-1

The werewolf gouged the chunk of Lulu's flesh that was pierced by his claws.

As his nails were pulled out of Lulu's belly, thick blood and organs spilled out of the gaping wound left behind.

"Ugh…!"

"…"

In this state, even the rare moon rabbit species wouldn't be able to survive for long.

The werewolf turned his attention to his next target, leaving Lulu to die.

As the werewolf's feral gaze was directed at Luli, Lulu grabbed the werewolf's leg with all of his might, trying to redirect his attention.

"Please… I'm begging you…! My sister… just not my sister…!"

Lulu clung onto the werewolf and begged. The werewolf narrowed his eyes. Lulu was far too weak now to be able to stop him.

He didn't find it fun or exciting to hunt this kind of prey, but he didn't have a choice in the matter. An 'order' had been given to the werewolf, and it kept ringing intensely inside his head.

'Kill the rabbits.'

The vampire's order was absolute.

The werewolves' bodies moved without hesitation at the words filled with demonic power. The blood in their bodies reacted to the vampire's curse.

"Sorry," the werewolf said. "We have no choice but to follow the order. We are their slaves."

The werewolf brushed aside Lulu's desperate hands and once again shifted his gaze to the side, his eyes landing on Luli.

"Run… away! Luli! Hurry up…! Hurry up…! Get help from Her Highness…!"

He coughed up another mouthful of blood.

Though he had yelled at her in sheer desperation, Luli didn't move. She couldn't even think about getting up. She could only blankly stare at her brother as he was dying, in shock.

"B-brother?"

"I will pay for the funeral," the werewolf claimed. "I won't ask you to forgive me. Killers like us have no right to ask for forgiveness. It's too late. Die in peace."

The werewolf raised his hand.

However, the moment his huge claws were about to strike down and tear into Luli, scrolls engraved with Runic language appeared out of nowhere and spread throughout the area.

"…?"

The werewolf was startled and frantically looked around.

The scrolls made of light flew around and attached themselves to the forest ground, the trees, the tree branches, and everything else in the surrounding area. The bright Runic language glimmered brightly for a few moments.

Then they crushed the werewolves' bodies with overwhelming force.

"… Magic?!"

The werewolves' weight abruptly increased by several times.

Despite their powerful bodies, they were forced to kneel down. Their previously raised hands gradually lowered.

'It's heavy…! It's not just me, either. They made the gravity in this whole area much stronger!'

The werewolf looked around.

Two golden eyes could be seen twinkling from further away in the forest.

'Demi-human? But is there somebody who can perform this kind of magic among the demi-humans? There's so much power behind it!'

It was dangerous. He could feel that instinctively.

The werewolf narrowed his eyes and focused on his arms and legs.

Even though he was being forced to kneel, he'd be able to get free if he used all his strength at once in a short burst.

He refocused on the sight in front of him.

'The order was to kill the rabbit siblings! If I can't execute that my species will die!'

"Sorry about this. But I couldn't just watch weak little rabbits get preyed upon by wolves."

Tom appeared out of the forest and slowly approached the moon rabbit siblings. He glanced down at Lulu.

He immediately noticed the huge hole on his body. It was impossible not to due to its severity. It didn't matter that one was a demon with an extremely high vitality; with a wound this severe he would die. Only superior demons could have stood a chance.

Tom looked at the two rabbits and narrowed his eyes.

'These bastards… They mentioned Lily.'

That would mean that they came here relying on her for some reason. However, he couldn't tell what the nature of their relationship with her was based on just that.

'Then I can't let them die. They also seem to possess a mysterious power…'

He approached Lulu and stretched out his hand.

"P-please… Take Luli and run away! I'm begging you! Please…!"

He begged in tears. Tom looked down at Lulu and placed a hand over his wound.

A blue thread suddenly stretched out of Lulu's body and enclosed the hole. The bleeding immediately came to a halt and new flesh began forming. Lulu's pain slowly faded as the wound healed and disappeared.

All in a matter of seconds.

Even the blood vanished. Lulu's body was restored to a pristine condition, as if a miracle of God had taken place.

As Lulu looked up at Tom with astonishment in his eyes, his exhaustion caught up with him. He couldn't win against the mental fatigue and ended up passing out.

"Brother!"

Luli shouted but Lulu didn't wake up.

Tom lifted up Lulu and put him over his shoulder.

'Now is our chance!'

The werewolves started to struggle in unison.

They gritted their teeth as all the muscles in their bodies swelled. The veins on their hands and legs visibly protruded and their fur bristled.

"Kuooooo-!"

The wolves roared and fought back against the power that restrained them.

They lunged from all directions with all their might in an attempt to kill Tom. Luli was startled and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Stop."

"…!"

The werewolves froze.

The nails reaching out to Tom and Luli stiffened.

The werewolves' eyes grew wide as they looked at the chains made out of light that now wrapped their hands, legs, bodies, and necks.

These chains had been formed out of magic and had come out of the white paper scrolls. They were made up of holy power.

The werewolves' skin and fur started to burn.

The chains that restrained their whole bodies radiated a white light and started to heat up. The dark forest turned bright due to the light.

"Full marks for the effect."

The ability was generated by the magic armor that he had on. It had been created by modifying the Holy Knight's holy text from the Golden Feif not too long ago. Though it already had a useful gravity control ability, it had also been granted the ability to completely restrain an opponent. Even though it was effective, it did have a problem. It wasted a lot of Holy power.

The werewolves clenched their teeth.

"So this is a priest's item! You bastard! Are you a human priest?!"

Just like what he had said, abilities like these could only be expected to come from priests. Moreover, it was still nearly impossible if you were not a top, high-ranked archbishop. But the person in front of him was using that enormous power as he pleased with seemingly no effort.

The werewolf struggled to shake off the chains. But the more he tried, the stronger the chains became. More chains appeared out of the scrolls and bound him even tighter.

He and all the other werewolves' bodies were wrapped up entirely with bright light, as if they were stuck in a spider web.

The werewolves that finally lost their strength had no choice but to hang limply.

"…Kill us."

"…?"

The werewolf grimaced.

"We are slaves who obey orders. Even if our bodies are crippled, even if we see members of our own species dying around us, we will never be free from them. Not until we die. Even if you released us… we would still chase after you. We would run after you until we killed you bastards! We wouldn't be able to succeed with our meager power, but it wouldn't matter. If we fail and go back to our master we would only get slaughtered by the vampires instead! We would rather die by your hands!"

Tom tilted his head and put his hand on the werewolf's nose.

"Really honest jerks. That's what you are."

"We are cursed slaves! There is no freedom for us unless they withdraw their order…!"

"Release."

The werewolves' eyes got bigger.

The vampires' demonic power within them disappeared.

All over their bodies, the demonic power resisted with all its might, but it still vanished in the end. Without a trace.

The werewolves felt like they had lost all their energy. It felt like their bodies got lighter. The sudden departure of the demonic energy left them with a feeling of emptiness that they couldn't express in words.

The curse that they had wanted to free themselves from with all their hearts was lifted with absolute ease.

"You're not a regular priest! You're a monster!" The werewolf exclaimed in awe.

"You guys look useful," Tom replied, examining them.

The werewolves flinched. They were just granted freedom but now they had an unsettling feeling after seeing the man's odd smile.

"Your power and muscular strength are good but your cold manner and composure in this kind of situation is also really desirable."

Tom brought his face closer to the werewolf. He smiled as he said,

"You guys work for me now."

***