The Wolf Is Here

"I was wrong, spare me... Aah!" Hunter howled, clutching his broken right hand as he pleaded through tears:

"We were starving! We had no choice! At least consider that I shared some meat and saved... Aah!" With a crack, Hunter's other hand went limp too.

"Take him back and hang him in front of everyone. Then keep looking for the Wolf." Shen Yu clapped his hands clean and turned to ask Quirrel:

"How are things on your end?"

(Carlos) "All taken care of." Quirrel nodded and tied the other two together with a rope.

"Tell me, where are the people who lived in that house?"

"Huh?" Hunter looked up in terror. "No, you caught us before we could do anything! Oh, right, that wolf must have swallowed them."

"Exactly how many wolves are there here?"

"One, just one." Hunter caught sight of his companion wearing a wolfskin out of the corner of his eye and hastily added:

"It looks like a stuffed toy, but that wolf can't die. Even if you kill it and skin it, it'll appear again."

The door creaked open, revealing an enormous figure outside.

It was a large gray wolf standing upright, like a stuffed toy. Thick black brows hung above its scarred right eye, its swollen tail swished, and its furry hands held a pile of red apples.

Its eyes curved into crescents as it spoke in a gentle voice:

"Hello, everyone. I've reflected on what I did. I've decided to be a good wolf. I brought you some fruit from the woods. I hope you can forgive..."

Before the gray wolf could finish, a red figure shot forward, followed by a slash of a Nail across its face.

"Ow!" The gray wolf cried out and stumbled back. The apples scattered across the ground as it clutched its left cheek with both hands, tears swirling in its eyes. It spoke in an aggrieved voice:

"I know I was wrong. I want to be a good wolf. The stones stuffed into my belly gave me chronic indigestion. I haven't eaten meat in ages."

But its only answer was another strike from Little Knight's Nail.

With a ripping sound, a gash opened in the gray wolf's right arm, revealing a writhing, cotton-like substance inside.

"So scary!" The gray wolf hugged its head, squeezed its eyes shut, and fled into the distance, crying as it ran.

"I really know I was wrong! Why won't you believe me?"

The gray wolf raced down the road, wailing and wiping its tears, only to crash into something hard with a yelp. When it opened its eyes, it found a wall in front of it and shocked villagers all around.

"The wolf is here!"

Someone shouted, and the entire dilapidated village erupted into chaos. Women and children hid inside their homes and shut their doors and windows tight, while the men shakily surrounded the wolf with pitchforks and clubs.

Seeing this, the gray wolf threw itself onto the ground and clutched its head.

"I'm sorry. Please don't hurt me."

The villagers froze. One of them swallowed, then struck its back with a club.

The gray wolf immediately yelped and buried its head even deeper, speaking in a trembling voice:

"I know. I'm a terrible villain. I must never prey on other animals, even when I'm starving. I must never cross the line by doing bad things. And when a wolf is punished..."

The villagers exchanged looks. One stared at its enormous body and swallowed. "How much meat would that give us?"

The others cast greedy looks at the wolf as well. One of them held a butcher's knife and slowly approached it.

When Shen Yu reached Little Red Riding Hood's house, he found Little Knight sitting on the front steps, surrounded by scattered apples. Little Red Riding Hood stood in front of her grandmother with an axe in her hands.

"What happened here? What's with all the apples?"

"The wolf came just now. It said it wanted to be a good wolf and brought fruit to apologize. Then your little friend beat it off."

"It was lying!" Old Lady suddenly declared, unconsciously hugging her arms as her entire body trembled.

"Wolves are born with sin. I... I remember now... When disaster and famine strike, and enough sin builds up in people's hearts, it can shed its skin of lies... No... no! I can't remember! Forget it, quickly!"

Where would apples come from during a drought? Shen Yu frowned and picked one up. It felt far too soft, and a layer of sticky fluid coated its surface.

When Shen Yu entered the house, black mist drifted from the apple's surface. In the end, a bleeding heart lay in his hand.

"Quick, kill it!" the surrounding villagers shouted, urging on the man with the butcher's knife.

At the same time, barely visible wisps of black mist slowly seeped out of their hearts and gathered around the gray wolf.

This wolf should feed us for a few days, right? But what do we do after that? Oh, right, Hank is the only one left in his house...

Why isn't this wolf fighting back? If it killed a few people, I'd get a bigger share, and there'd be more meat too.

Ah, why can't more people die? Then I'd have more to eat.

Meat, delicious meat...

"A wolf is always a bad example. A wolf never has any friends..." The gray wolf hugged its head, trembling and weeping, then slowly closed its eyes.

"But I don't care about any of that, because I have to be a bad wolf..."

Suddenly, the man holding the butcher's knife felt a sharp pain in his chest. The gray wolf's right paw had transformed into a savage blue claw, and it was holding a beating heart.

Then a pair of deep blue eyes snapped open. Its stuffed-toy body burst apart with a pop, and bulging, knotted muscles nearly tore through the flaring blue fur all over again. (Image)

Its sharp fangs ground against one another, an eerie blue glow radiating from its entire body. Then the giant wolf slowly raised its head and let out an earthshaking howl.

With its roar, the serene, bright moon turned deep blue, and a black wolf mark slowly appeared upon it.

Then the moonlight began to spread, like deep blue seawater slowly seeping in. Dead trees, yellow earth, ruined houses-all were stained that sinister blue.

A villager shouted and thrust a pitchfork at it, but a streak of blue light flashed past, splitting his body down the middle. He fell to the ground with a thud.

The giant wolf chewed the heart it had torn out, its eyes turning toward the others.

(Kuolasi) "How strange. Was this caused by that monster you called the Wolf?" Quirrel marveled as he ran, looking up at the blue moon in the sky.

"Looks like it." Shen Yu's mouth twitched. He looked at Little Red Riding Hood, whom he was carrying in one hand. "How are you feeling?"

"Not bad."

Tsk, why is it so over the top? How did she kill that thing? Better bring some insurance to keep any bugs from cropping up.

Shen Yu sighed, then looked at Little Knight sitting on his shoulder and had the little one switch the Charms back to the original setup.

As for those three men, their arms and legs had all been broken. They probably wouldn't be going anywhere.

As Shen Yu and the others neared the village, he swung Little Red Riding Hood down, gave her an instruction, and charged into the village.

Severed limbs and blood were everywhere. Human bodies littered the ground, pitchforks had been snapped like toothpicks, and a grindstone had been sliced into pieces.

Strangely, though, the giant wolf hadn't slaughtered everyone. Some people were still crouching in corners. Their minds had broken, but they were unhurt.

At that moment, the giant wolf seemed to sense something. It slowly turned and discarded the corpse in its hand, its internal organs already eaten.

Its deep blue eyes settled on Shen Yu, and its mouth slowly stretched into something resembling a human smile.

Then the giant wolf shot forward, leaving an afterimage behind. By the time its body reappeared, a claw was already right in front of Shen Yu.