It’s immensely risky.

But anything safe wouldn’t allow them to mitigate the impossible.

Miriam looked at Princess Selene one last time, detailing the features of the princess’s face as if this would be the last time she could see her sane. And when she turned away, her heart already turned to steel. She said she’s going to do it, so there’s no backing away now.

"Stall," She told Sintra sternly. "Stall them as long as you can. Every second counts."

Sintra only answered to Prince Alaric of Empress Evelyn.

But right now, they were both on the same side. And seeing how Princess Selene was ready to make the sacrifice like this, she wouldn’t dare disrespect the moment. Summoning every moonlight energy from deep within, she blasted away, straight at the horde of crimson.

Miriam descended and stood behind Princess Selene.

She bit her index fingertip and began drawing intricate, ancient symbols.

Princess Selene’s back was her canvas, and blood was the paint.

First, Miriam drew a symbol that represented the full moon on the nape. On the left back, she drew the symbol that represented the current body. A symbol representing the second body that’s only filled with rage. And on the lower back, she drew the symbol representing the mind and soul.

At this point, the ground was already shaking.

"Hurry!" Princess Selene rasped, watching the incoming crimson horde. "We don’t have long!"

Like a God-send, devastating elemental attacks rammed hundreds.

Several roars echoed on the sides. Order Beasts, one a massive turtle and the other a pale blue bird, saw the horde and attacked without hesitation. As a product of the Mortal Realm, one with nature, they can feel that the horde was alien.

Creatures that shouldn’t exist within this realm.

Explosions flashed before Princess Selene’s eyes, curling her lips into a weak smile.

And thanks to these Order Beasts, Miriam finished the last symbol.

At the center, connected through paths of blood to the other four symbols, was the symbol representing the Great Luna. It took the shape of a broken castle, which was the Great Luna’s grave, when she gave up her life for the betterment of her children.

"Your Highness, it’s done..." Miriam informed hesitantly.

She still wanted there to be another way.

Hoping that Princess Selene didn’t need to take this immense risk.

But there’s no other choice, and time is of the essence.

"Do it!"

"May the Origin be with you, Your Highness."

Miriam coated her claws with moonlight energy and stabbed them into Princess Selene’s back.

Her claws breached the surface and found the space beneath—the sacred pocket where the Inner Fang resided, separate from flesh and bone. Durable magical connective tissues tethered the Great Luna’s gift to Selene’s very essence.

Miriam seized them, and with a forceful, unrelenting pull, she wrenched the Inner Fang from its cradle.

A glowing, fang-shaped translucent object emerged.

And almost instantly, Princess Selene let out a thunderous roar, emanating a devastating shockwave of power that spread across the area. Her roar sounded in pain, feeble, as if she was on the brink of losing her mind.

But her power went completely opposite.

Honeyed, feverish vapor sizzled from her body.

And the Honey Moon King Mark on her forehead turned solid, like it was made of metal. All the blood coming from it stopped, and without wasting a single second, Princess Selene looked down at the ball between her hands and put more energy into it.

Crack—!

Even with the enhanced nature, the ground around her began to crack.

Veins bulged across her body. Her claws were dissolving from the sear of the ball’s energy. And even her eyes had already turned completely golden. No sign of the princess anymore, but she kept going. It was excruciating, but she kept going.

Tears drizzled down her face as the pain overwhelmed her nerve endings.

Her regeneration worked rapidly, but it was losing against the rate of the damage done to her body.

It had been thousands of years since Princess Selene shed a tear.

And seeing it broke Miriam’s heart.

"Stop! Stop!" Miriam tried to reach for the ball, seeing that the Honey Moon King Mark was bleeding again. It was obvious that this ability required a King Mark with a higher ascension. She was forcing it too much.

Princess Selene shoved Miriam back with her energy, sending the worried Shaman bouncing away.

Slowly but surely, the ball began to emanate a fragrant scent.

And when it swelled to the size of her torso, she hurled it down to the bottom of the trench.

"Raargh!!"

Boom—!

From the edge, one could see the golden ball slam into the depths of the trench and shatter like glass. Its energy spread across the entire trench, coating the ground and the wall with golden liquid that unleashed a torrent of irresistible fragrance.

Animals or animal-like creatures wouldn’t be able to resist the scent.

Even if they were from the God Realm.

Sintra had been summoning miniature moons the size of a small hill constantly and hurling them straight at the horde, causing massive explosions. None of the crimson wolves died from the explosion, but the chaos slowed them down.

She looked back the moment the fragrance reached her nose.

A smile crept as she and the Order Beasts managed to stall for enough time.

Roar—!

One momentary distraction.

One mistake.

Sintra was tackled from the sky, where she was safe, and brought plummeting down to the ground.

A crimson wolf had her fangs sunk into her torso deep.

She tried to break free, using every trick she had. Even turning her body astral, into moonlight energy to break away from the fangs, but nothing worked. Just the bite from the crimson wolf alone distorted the moonlight energy within her, breaking down all spells before she could cast them.

And worse, rage filled her.

Unbridled rage that swallowed her mind whole.

It was akin to being injected directly by the essence of the Blood Moon, and there’s no turning back.

Sintra shook her head, trying to retain her consciousness a little longer.

She looked down and saw the horde was closing in rapidly, ten seconds away. Above, she realized that she wasn’t that far from the trench. It was within arm’s reach. Sintra grabbed the edge—and pulled with all her might, bringing the crimson wolf down to the trench with her.

Hundreds of crimson wolves soon followed into the trench.

As opposed to leaping over the trench and attacking Princess Selene, they dove down.

Enthralled by the fragrant scent coming from its depths.

KABOOM—!

Miriam raised her arm, protecting her face from the debris, as she watched the silver explosion rising skyward. Past trauma flashed inside her mind. She remembered the ancient battles where this silver explosion riddled the battlefield.

It was a sign that a Shaman had self-sacrificed by overloading the body with moonlight energy.

Sintra self-destructed.

She knew that against these crimson wolves, the explosion would do nothing.

But that wasn’t what she was aiming for.

Instead of dying by the crimson wolves, she would rather die on her own terms.

On the horizon, the Order Beasts were being overrun by the crimson wolves. The turtle was drowned under the bodies of the crimson wolves, while the bird got its tail bitten by at least fifty of these crimson wolves and was dragged down to the ground.

Even so, Princess Selene’s plan was working.

More and more crimson wolves dove into the trench, drawn by the fragrant scent.

Despite carving the trench as vast as she could manage, a wound in the earth deep enough to swallow tens of thousands of crimson wolves, their number was in the millions. It was a sea of red, flooding the plain like an unstoppable force.

It would take more than the trench to even make a dent in the horde.

And Princess Selene—her breath was growing shallow and her head lolling.

Consciousness was leaving her, and she would be replaced by the rampaging side of her.

At that point, she would die.

Not because going on a rampage would weaken her—or the strain would kill her, but because Princess Selene could no longer think properly at that point. Against the crimson horde, that would be her death sentence.

’It’s filling up,’ Miriam thought inside, watching the crimson wolves entering the trench. ’Any second now, and the trench would be filled with their bodies. And at that point, once the fragrant wear off, they would come out again.’

She knew what she must do.

Closing the trench, and sealed the crimson wolves for good.

And it seemed Princess Selene was also thinking of doing exactly that.

ROAR—!

Princess Selene spread her arms and aura, manifesting more golden liquid above her that she would use to fill the trench and trap the crimson wolves in there. But her body was buckling. She couldn’t keep up with the intensity anymore.

Her hands started to melt.

Flesh turning into golden gooey liquid.

But the liquid kept expanding, kept gathering, kept spreading right above the trench like a gooey cloud.

Princess Selene made sure that if she lost her mind or died, the liquid would still drop to the trench. It’ll take a minute at most. Not that much of a difference, but it’s something. Once the others arrived, once Prince Alaric came, he would have an easier time.

That’s her only goal.

’Mother... Father...’ She stared at the Blood Moon as her arm dissolved into liquid. She stared as if she could see her parents reflected on the surface of the Blood Moon. ’I made a lot of mistakes. But I hope that today... this time... What I’m doing is not a mistake.’

"Stay with me!" Miriam desperately infused her energy into Princess Selene, bordering on reckless, but it was futile. As long as she kept amassing the golden liquid, then her King Mark would keep swallowing her whole. "Your Highness, don’t die! Fight! Resist it!"

"Leave, Miriam."

Princess Selene looked over her shoulder and smiled.

Her King Mark was already flickering, and blood had already painted her face completely.

Even her cheeks were dissolving into golden liquid.

"Stay alive and tell the Royal Black Prince what I did. Let my death be the catalyst—for him to forgive many of us."

"Y-Your Highness..."

Princess Selene looked up again and surrendered herself to Meloriana.

She stared at the Goddess peeking from the void and smiled, certain that she had made the right decision.

No matter what, werewolves will never be slaves again.

And since the Lunirich Gods insisted, then she would rather die on her feet than on her knees.

"Praise be to the Origin."

Miriam closed her eyes.

She didn’t want to see Princess Selene melting into honey.

Just when the world was about to fade to black, a sudden flash of light lit up Princess Selene’s vision again. She blinked her eyes and realized her energy was recovering rapidly, almost as if she had been given a second chance.

"The Royal Black Prince would know what you did today, but you’re going to tell him yourself."

Princess Selene slowly turned her head to the side.

She raised her gaze to the towering form beside her—a werewolf of dark-brown fur, immense and silent. Its hand weighed on her shoulder, steady and unyielding. Encircling its wrist was a band of pure energy. Runic energy. And at its heart, a single rune burned with a complexity that defied her mind.

One that recharged her energy rapidly like a machine.

Even as a royal werewolf, she couldn’t understand it. She could only feel its power.

And though she was old, the werewolf emanated an older air.

One that predated her by a few generations.

No King Mark. No mutations. Just runic power and experience.

Almost instantly, Princess Selene’s eyes widened in realization, "Arnulf the Special...?"

"It’s Flunra now. Flunra of the Silverstar Pack," Flunra walked past the princess and faced the incoming crimson horde head-on. "I heard you creatures wanted to destroy Dargena City," His fur stood up as his indomitable aura flared. "In that case, you’ll have to go through me!"