Ramose crawled back to his feet, blood pooling at his feet, he staggered towards his mate.
"Versailles..." The barely audible whisper passed through his blood-soaked lips, reaching her ears.
The girl shivered, her body trembling. The voice of the male tugged at her heart, sending pain shooting her being. She stared at the bleeding, stumbling figure in a daze, trying to remember why she was attacking him.
'Who is he?'
She wondered in confusion. She did not know the male, yet her heart hurt on seeing him. She did not know why he was looking at her like she should have known him. Why his dark eyes were pleading at her to see him!
She could not understand why she felt like she was in a maze, so lost in the dark she was, that she could not see the truth before her eyes.
But she knew in her gut that she was missing something very important. An important piece of her puzzled existence.
'Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!'
The sudden voice slammed on her wandering thoughts, pushing her behind the dark curtains once again.
Without hesitation, she attacked the male, crashing him on the black rocks once again.
This manner of ruthless beating continued for a few dozen breaths. Ramose raised back up every single time, unwaveringly moving towards her, his great regenerative ability, the only thing keeping him standing.
Luke watched in amusement, the wolves anxiously shifted about, and Sailles stood with a stoic expression, her purple-black eyes rippling with red. Just when the wolves were about to intervene, a black mushroom cloud descended from the sky, falling right over Sailles' head.
The instant the cloud was about to collide with Sailles, a large figure knocked into her, pushing her to the ground, it rolled her out of the black cloud's way.
Sailles stared in confusion at the man embracing her.
'How had he moved so quickly with all those wounds?' She wondered in amazement.
The man was Ramose.
"Are you okay?" Seeing her staring at him in a daze, he immediately panicked thinking she got hurt.
Sailles blinked her eyes as she stared in confusion.
'This question sounds a bit wrong somehow? Was she not the one supposed to be asking him if he was okay?'
Not getting any response, he ran his large hands over her body, checking for wounds. Finding none, he breathed out in relief. Raising his head, he opened his mouth to speak and froze.
Her cheeks were flushed red, her purple-black pupils flickering with complex emotions. The moment he raised his head, she hurriedly shifted hers to the side, avoiding his gaze. On hearing her heart beating as fast as flame skittles, he understood.
Embarrassed, he nervously sat up and looked away, his own heart racing in response to her reaction.
"King, watch out!"
The frightened shout immediately woke him up. Raising to his feet, he held his mate's wrist and ran.
The black mushroom chased after them, gaining speed as the distance between the two shortened, before appearing right on their backs. Ramose barely had enough time to push his mate to the side before his figure was enveloped in the black smoke, vanishing in a flash.
"No!" Sailles involuntarily screamed at the top of her lungs once she saw the figure of the man disappear into the black smoke.
"No! You let him out!" Without thought, she rushed towards the black smoke, unleashing her fire without restraint as she instantly transformed into her serpentine form.
Rivers of flame spewed from her mouth and hands as she unreservedly bombarded the black smoke. Her black-gold tail swung through the air like a barbed whip, ruthlessly lashing on the black smoke.
"Let him out!"
Her shrill cry sounded like a banshee, sending shudders and shivers down the spectating werewolves frames.
"That is Versailles, our king's mate."
"Of course. Just a while ago, she was pummeling the king like a scare magi, but the instant someone else did what she was doing, she lost it."
"Does this mean that she is possessive about our king?"
"Of course! She probably feels that only she has the right to beat her mate into a cripple."
"Silent! Figure out what that black mass is and quickly get rid of it. We need to get the king out before anything else happens!" Ouyang was about to lose his nerves.
One moment, they were still discussing plans to stop the fight between Ramose and his mate, the next, another problem rose up. Although the smoke worked in their favor, instantly breaking up the fight between the couple, he would have much preferred to fix the situation on their own.
Now instead of just stopping two mates from fighting, they had to figure out a way to get rid of the black mass and rescue their reckless king.
"Yes, Master Ouyang!" The werewolves immediately turned serious, their sharp eyes probing into the black mass to see their king's situation.
"What is that black cloud? I cannot see anything!"
"Same here. My sight is not able to penetrate the black cloud to see what is happening inside."
"We need to figure out another way to find out what is going on inside. And just what is that black mass? Only looking at it is making my body tremble." Olsen's frown deepened further as an ominous feeling covered his heart.
"Let us assist the serpentine in freeing our king first." Ouyang was not feeling any better.
The more he observed the black mass, the more he felt his heart going cold. No matter what, they had to get their king out of that thing first!
"Yes!"
Without delay, the pack charged towards the mushroom cloud, attacking without holding back. Soon, the chaotic sounds of claws slashing, and fangs biting sounded out as the cloak of black was shredded until the huge mushroom was reduced to half of its original size.
Before long, the unmistakable appearances of a pink goblin, little feys, winged humans, and other ancient beasts were intermittently exposed.
"Are those the pink goblins and little feys that had gone extinct three years ago?"
"It really is them! There are also winged humans and white-eyed seers among the pack."
"This is crazy! What in the Nar is going on here? Why are the races that were deemed extinct coming out of a black smoke? And why do they seem to be targeting the serpentine?"
Although the werewolves were caught unprepared with the sudden turn of events, they were still able to remember that when the black cloud descended, it was hovering over the serpentine's head. Almost as if it wanted to swallow her whole.
If it was not for the interference of their king, the serpentine might have already been dragged away.
Perplexed and stunned, the werewolves froze in shock for a moment as they tried to process what they were seeing. The gold-bloods were not extinct but purposely erased their existence?
Unfortunately, the wolves were only skimming at the edges of the real truth.
Sailles concentrated her power onto her fists and attacked the cloud without rest. Her sinuous tail whipped around, slamming the smoke to the ground. Then she directly charged into the cloud.
"Hey, wolf king, where are you?"
She shouted as she blindly searched for his figure in the darkness.
"Versailles?"
The weak call was barely above a whisper, but Sailles heard it.
"Yes, where are you?" She unconsciously responded, not even realizing her own slip. She responded to him when he called her Versailles and not Sailles.
"Versailles..."
The cry came from her right and she followed the sound of his voice.
Bang!
Bumping into a large frame, she heavily fell on her knees.
"Ahh."
"Versailles?"
The figure bent down to the place she fell and blindly gathered her into its arms.
"It's okay. I will take you out of here. Come, let us go."
Holding her tightly to his chest, he cautiously led her outside.
Boom!
Bang!
Boom!
The werewolves relentlessly attacked the black cloud, which was now almost gone.
In the midst of their strikes, they caught their king's figure walking out with his mate and cheered in joy.
"Yes! Our king is out!"
"We can finally attack without holding back now."
"Yes! Let us go all out!"
Motivated and in high spirits, the wolves increased their barrage, attacking without any reservation.
Very soon, the black smoke vanished, leaving only the corrupted beasts behind.
"Give us the gem!" They chorused in a monotone voice, their red eyes flashing sinisterly as they fixed on Sailles.
But the werewolves were not in the mood to play nice anymore. They attacked the other party, slaughtering, ripping, and crushing them as if they were a pack of sheep.
The werewolves were small in numbers, but mighty in strength. The pack of gold-blood races were exterminated before they could even launch a counterattack.
'Gem? What gem?'
Sailles was still caught up in the gold-bloods demand. She was confused for a while before understanding dawned on her.
'Do they mean the 'gem of three lives? How do they know that I have the 'gem of three lives?'
She was shocked at the realization. There were others that knew she had the gem! And they came targeting her for it.
Shivering, she snuggled further into the arms of the man holding her, tightening her hold on his black shirt, her purple-black eyes filled with panic.
Luke, who stood behind, flared in rage when he saw Sailles clinging onto the wolf like her life depended on it. He did so much to separate the two, going so far as to even forcefully sever their bond.
And yet, the two still ended up in each other's arms.
Just a while ago, he was enjoying himself watching the werewolf getting beaten by her. Enjoying it too much in fact, that he did not even notice the black cloud hovering over her head. It was only when the wolf pounced on her that he noticed the fog and by then, it was too late.
Because that split delay was all it took for them to turn from enemies to comrades.
"If I can't have her, then no one else will!"
With absolute madness in his dark eyes and black smoke spewing from his seven orifices, he threw his head back and howled in rage and grieve.