Fear

Born in the deep mountains of Northern Europe in the 18th century, in a secluded werewolf village.

From the day of its birth, Ruge Beowulf had never felt, nor understood, what fear was.

It did not decay, did not age, nor did it die.

As a perfect life form, it had always pondered within its confined world what life was, what flaws were, and what death was.

But among these concepts, Ruge Beowulf had never once considered what fear was.

However, at this very moment, it seemed to be experiencing an unfamiliar sensation, one it had never felt before.

The biological structure simulated by Beo, the formation within its brain called the amygdala, sent a strong signal to its consciousness, concluding, "The red-haired woman before me is dangerous."

But Beo couldn't understand why. Humans, in its view (including Touko), were all creatures full of flaws and fragility. Even those so-called "Magicians" were only slightly more troublesome than ordinary humans.

Yet, the being before it was entirely different. Beo's instincts told it so.

The red-haired woman extended her right hand towards it, and darkness surged from that hand like the tentacles of some cephalopod, spreading towards Ruge Beowulf.

The Golden Wolf, experiencing fear for the first time since its birth, was paralyzed.

Its autonomic nervous system, brainstem, hippocampus, and hypothalamus activated simultaneously, triggering a series of physiological responses.

The wolf's face contorted into a remarkably human expression of terror, its heartbeat thrumming like a drum, audible even from several meters away.

"Beo?! Beo? Why did you stop?" Touko's voice emanated from the Familiar on the giant wolf's back, but the colossal wolf remained unresponsive.

Its pupils dilated, its muscles tensed like steel; if someone were to strike it with a sword at that moment, sparks might actually fly.

It was the embodiment of an intangible, corrupting, and indescribable fear. Its instincts told it that it could not overcome it, could not defeat it, and could only await its doom, waiting for the boundless darkness to consume it.

In this world, for the individual known as Ruge Beowulf, there was nothing more terrifying than the red-haired woman before it.

Touko Aozaki noticed that Ruge Beowulf's strong, towering body began to tremble violently. Even through the reconnaissance Familiar, Touko could feel the intense fear emanating from this Phantasmal Species.

Touko knew her ambush had failed because her greatest asset, Ruge Beowulf, had inexplicably fallen into a state of fear and immobility. This was clearly some unknown Magecraft.

But Touko was also deeply perplexed. What Magecraft in this world could affect the Golden Wolf, a creature imbued with three thousand years of mystery? It was utterly impossible within her knowledge system.

As she pondered this, she suddenly felt her perspective tilt sideways, and then she fell to the ground.

Ruge Beowulf's massive body lay motionless on its side, eyes rolled back.

Its mouth, filled with sharp teeth, hung open, its tongue lolling out, saliva pooling on the ground.

Touko quickly maneuvered the Familiar to hover near Beo's head, only to find its pupils fully dilated. Even the drum-like heartbeat from moments before was no longer audible.

It was dead.

"How ironic, Touko."

Aoko Aozaki emerged from the shadows beside them, looking at Touko's Familiar and the "corpse" of the giant wolf on the ground.

"Aoko," Touko said in a low voice, "how did you manage to kill Beo? As far as I know, the Aozaki family's Magic isn't that kind of thing."

"Ah, that's a little bit of my personal trade secret, and I'm afraid I can't reveal it to you, my sister," Aoko replied, performing a curtsy without a skirt, her tone full of apology. "But clearly, your little dog had a very serious flaw, and I exploited it to defeat it."

"...I concede this round," Touko's voice came from within the Familiar. "Until next time."

With that, Touko's Familiar ignited with blue flames and quickly dissipated into a pile of ash.

Only then did Aoko let out a sigh of relief and stretch her body slightly. Defeating a creature like Ruge Beowulf was not easy, even for her.

Alice Kuonji had also descended from the air at some point, carefully collecting the Moon Oil back into a small vial and stowing it in her cloak before walking towards Aoko.

"...How did you do it?" Alice also asked Aoko the same question, having fought the Golden Wolf herself and knowing full well what a formidable opponent it was.

"This beast was scared to death," Aoko said. "Or rather, it believed it was 'scared to death,' so it entered a state of suspended animation."

"...?" Alice tilted her head slightly, finding her housemate's explanation a bit difficult to grasp.

"It had never experienced fear, so I gave it fear," Aoko explained. "To defeat a beast of this caliber head-on would be difficult even for me, so I tried a shortcut."

"By altering the environment and setting the atmosphere, I pushed its internal fear threshold to its absolute limit," Aoko blinked. "And using some of my personal 'little tricks,' I entered its mind and implanted the image of fear within it, resulting in this outcome."

"...What do you plan to do with it?" Alice stopped asking how Aoko did it and moved on to other questions. "Will it come back to life?"

"As long as it wants to, it should be able to 'revive'," Aoko said, stroking her chin. "But I doubt it will make any moves for the next few hundred years."

"Let's use it as a Curse Body," Aoko said, looking at the Golden Wolf as if it were meat on a butcher's block. "That's its punishment for looking at you with that kind of gaze."

As a Witch and a Magician, Alice naturally understood what "that kind of gaze" meant. She rolled her eyes at Aoko and then stood aside, remaining silent, quietly watching to see how Aoko intended to deal with this Phantasmal Species in a state of apparent death.

Aoko took out her grimoire and then produced a Teleportation scroll.

"I know a good place to confine this thing," Aoko told Alice. "Grab my left hand."

Alice removed her glove and walked over, taking Aoko's left arm. Aoko placed her right hand on the giant wolf's body, then activated the Teleportation scroll, vanishing from the spot along with Alice and the wolf's corpse.