A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

"A lot," Elora simply answered with a serious expression. "But I'll save her… Because otherwise, I wouldn't be able to look my husband in the eyes anymore."

While talking, she waved her hands, and began to carve several dark green sigils into the bed. Her expression remained focused.

Ankhur finally turned his gaze away from Runa, to look at the beautiful Elora. At first, he scrutinized her, trying to find any sign of deception or doubt, but all he saw was deadly focus and solemnity. So, his gaze turned to one of respect instead.

"He's clearly lucky to you have you," he nodded sincerely. In fact, he still couldn't understand why a third ranker would choose to be such a devoted wife to a second ranker, despite being part of a harem.

After all, he, as a third ranker, was a devoted husband to his two second-ranked wives, but he would never accept to be part of a weaker person's harem.

Finally, Elora's severe expression broke slightly as her lips curled up into a smug grin, "Of course he is."

Ankhur nodded with a weak chuckle. Based on what he'd seen of her so far, he'd be surprised if she suddenly told him she was the lucky one.

His face turned back to Runa, who currently bathed in a dark green light. "I don't wish to interrupt your focus, but… could you explain what you're doing? Just to easy my worry?"

Elora worked in silence for another minute, but then nodded slowly. 'I guess it couldn't hurt to start improving relations. I'm sure Erik would prefer to conquer this place without any bloodshed.'

"About five years ago, just before mother-in-law left for Africa, she did something that I would personally categorize as foolish," she explained, while preparing Runa for what needed to happen. "Although I suppose some would consider brave."

"What… did she do?" Naeku asked softly, already lost in the fairy's storytelling.

"She used an ancient asuran technique to cut a piece off her soul and give it to one of her underlings," she continued with a smooth, almost hypnotizing voice. "That piece of her soul would propel her underling to the third rank, so that they could protect her home, while she went on a hunt for revenge. Yet, unsurprisingly, such an action is not without consequences."

"She was in constant pain and unable to reach the third rank, despite having spent most of her pre-awakening life bathing in the aetherium of Audumla's alters and medallions," she then said, while glancing slyly at Ankhur to gauge his reaction.

And she was not disappointed.

Ankhur was startled. "She is… one of the chosen? Like us?" he muttered with wide eyes and disbelief, indicating himself and Elora.

'Chosen, huh? Sounds like he might know some things we don't…' Elora thought inwardly, while filing this information away for later.

Outwardly, she chuckled, "I don't get chosen, Ankhur, I do the choosing. But yes, Runa is the same as you, and she would have already been a third ranker if not for that foolish decision."

Ankhur still had questions, but Elora continued, "Regardless, besides that, her actions also opened her soul up to malicious influence, only worsened by her use of another asuran technique: berserker."

"Berserker…" Naeku muttered absentmindedly, before turning to her father. "Dad, do you think…?"

Ankhur nodded gravely. "That was likely what she used to content with Lilith on the battlefield a month ago."

"That sounds plausible," Elora nodded. "Berserker strains the soul to provide a short burst of power. Normally, that simply means you'll suffer a lot of pain during and after, but so long as you use it very sparsely, the negative, long-term consequences can be managed."

"But not when her soul is already wounded," Ankhur frowned in understanding, while looking at Runa with a worried gaze.

"Precisely," Elora nodded gravely, while putting the finishing touches on her array of sigils. "Her soul became no better than a sieve, and Lilith used that fact to begin slowly seeping her control through the tiny openings… Until we came, and she used Erik to blow the thing wipe open."

She put her arms down, and sighed as she looked down at her mother-in-law with concern. Runa was now entirely encased in a great many sigils, bound, gagged, and entirely suppressed.

"Afterwards, we tried to stop her from finishing the job, but…" she finished softly, but fell silent with a snap of her fingers. "…we were too late."

Instantly, Runa's eyes snapped open, causing Ankhur and Naeku's eyes to widen.

"Runa…?" Ankhur muttered hesitantly, hopefully.

But his hopes were quickly dispelled when he noticed the pure hatred in her eyes.

"Hello again, Lilith," Elora smiled venomously at the mute, retrained, and supressed woman beneath her. Runa's grey eyes were overflowing with hatred and malice, but it was all pointless. Her body wouldn't obey the malicious slave sigil, planted deep inside her soul.

"I'm sure you hoped Erik wouldn't realize that you'd already finished, and perhaps he wouldn't have," Elora continued viciously, still addressing the person currently in control of her mother-in-law. "Perhaps you could have killed all his loved ones before he realized, or even killed him."

She leaned closer, her beautiful voice now straining with fury and contempt. Her crimson hair fluttering around her as power surged, and her emerald eyes flashing with unrestrained emotions.

Beneath her, Runa's eyes flashed with uncertainty. Lilith had no idea who this person was. She had indeed hoped to ambush Erik as soon as Runa woke up, but she didn't expect to have been so completely immobilized. Even funnelling her third rank power into her new puppet didn't help her move an inch.

"But unfortunately for you, I am here, Bitch," Elora spat with a wide grin. "And you'd need to have been born a few centuries earlier in order to get the drop on me!"

Wild, barely restrained obsession and possessiveness swirled in Elora's eyes.

"Erik is mine, as I am his, and no third-rate villain from his past is going to get the drop on him while I'm here!" she snarled savagely, before raising her left hand.

Neither Ankhur nor Naeku had noticed before, but now they saw a small white blob encased in green energy, pulsing in Elora's hand. Without delay, the fairy slammed that hand down on Runa's chest, pushing the white blob inside Runa's body.

"Now, suffer!" she hissed furiously, her voice dripping with malice as she finally released all the anger she'd been suppressing since Erik got wounded and all the consequences that came with it.

"Suffer just a fraction of your future punishment, you inconsequential wretch!" she whispered viciously while staring into Runa's eyes. "Feel every ounce of my wrath seep into your soul, and know that you will never be more than a footnote in the story of someone far greater than you…!"