Fear

Born in the deep mountains of Northern Europe in the eighteenth century, in some isolated werewolf village.

From the day it was born, Lugh Beowulf had never felt, never understood, what fear was.

It did not decline, did not age, and did not die.

As a complete life-form, it had always pondered what life was, what flaws were, and what death was within its narrow world.

Yet among those concepts, Lugh Beowulf had never considered what fear was.

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

The biological structure Beo had simulated—the construct known as the amygdala within its brain—sent a powerful signal to its consciousness and reached the conclusion that "the red-haired woman before it is dangerous."

But Beo did not understand why. Humans, in its eyes—including Touko—were all flawed, fragile creatures. Even those so-called "magi" were only a tiny bit harder to deal with than ordinary humans.

But the being before it was completely different. Beo's instincts told it so.

The red-haired woman extended her right hand toward it. Darkness poured from that hand like the tentacles of some cephalopod, spreading toward Lugh Beowulf.

For the first time since its birth, the golden wolf experienced the sensation of "fear" and could not move.

Its autonomic nervous system, brainstem, hippocampus, and hypothalamus activated all at once, triggering a series of physiological reactions.

A remarkably human expression of terror appeared on the wolf's face. Its heartbeat pounded like a drum, audible even from several meters away.

"Beo?! Beo? Why did you stop?" Touko's voice came from the familiar on the golden wolf's back, but the giant wolf gave no response.

Its pupils dilated, its muscles tensed like steel. If someone struck it with a sword right then, sparks might truly have flown.

It was the embodiment of formless, decaying, indescribable fear. Its instincts did not believe it could overcome or defeat it; it could only wait helplessly for that boundless darkness to swallow it.

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

Touko Aozaki discovered that Lugh Beowulf's powerful, towering body had begun to tremble violently. Even through the scouting familiar, Touko could feel the intense terror of this Phantasmal Species.

Touko knew that her ambush had failed. Her greatest reliance, Lugh Beowulf, had fallen into fear for some unknown reason and could not move. This was clearly some unknown magecraft.

But Touko was deeply puzzled. What magecraft in this world could affect a golden wolf with three thousand years' worth of Mystery? Within her body of knowledge, that was utterly impossible.

While she was still confused, she suddenly found her viewpoint tilting to one side before crashing onto the ground.

Lugh Beowulf's enormous body lay motionless on its side, its eyes rolled white.

Its fang-filled mouth hung open, its tongue dangling to one side as drool pooled across the ground.

Touko hurriedly controlled the familiar to fly near Beo's head, only to find that its pupils had fully dilated. Even the heartbeat that had sounded like a drum moments ago could no longer be heard.

It was dead.

"What an irony, Touko."

Aoko Aozaki stepped out from the shadows nearby and looked at Touko Aozaki's familiar and the giant wolf's "corpse" on the ground.

"Aoko," Touko said in a low voice, "how did you kill Beo? As far as I know, the Aozaki family's Magic is not capable of that."

"Ah, that's a little personal trade secret of mine. Please forgive me for not revealing it to you, dear sister." Aoko gave a skirt-lifting curtsy despite not wearing a skirt, speaking in an apologetic tone. "But clearly, your little dog has a very serious flaw, and I seized upon that flaw to defeat it."

"...I'll count this round as my loss." Touko's voice came from within the familiar. "Until next time."

With that, Touko's familiar burst into blue flames and quickly turned into a cloud of ash that scattered away.

Only then did Aoko let out a breath and stretch her body a little. Even for her, defeating someone like Lugh Beowulf had not been easy.

At some point, Alice Kuonji had also descended from the air. She put the Oil of the Moon back into its small bottle, carefully returned it to her cloak, and walked toward Aoko.

"...How did you do it?" Alice asked Aoko the same question. After all, having fought the golden wolf the entire time, she knew perfectly well what a terrifying opponent it was.

"That beast was scared to death," Aoko said. "Or rather, it believed it had been 'scared to death,' so it entered a state of suspended activity."

"...?" Alice tilted her head slightly, finding her housemate's explanation somewhat difficult to understand.

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

"By changing the environment and setting the mood, I stimulated the maximum threshold of fear in its heart." Aoko blinked. "Then, through a few personal 'little tricks,' I entered its heart and planted the image of fear within it, producing this result."

"...What do you intend to do with it?" Alice stopped asking how Aoko had done it and instead continued with another question. "Could it come back to life?"

"If it wants to, it should be able to 'revive,'" Aoko said, stroking her chin. "But I suspect it will not make any moves for several hundred years."

"Let's use it as a spell medium." Aoko looked at the golden wolf as though it were meat on a chopping board. "This is its punishment for looking at you with that kind of gaze."

As a witch and a magus, Alice naturally knew exactly what kind of gaze "that" meant. She rolled her eyes at Aoko, then stood silently to one side, quietly watching what Aoko intended to do with the Phantasmal Species in false death.

Aoko took out her spellbook, then produced a teleportation scroll.

"I know a good place to imprison this thing," Aoko said to Alice. "Hold my left hand."

Alice removed her glove, walked over, and took Aoko's left arm. Aoko pressed her right hand against the giant wolf's body, then activated the teleportation scroll and vanished from the spot together with Alice and the giant wolf's corpse.