"He was the most important beast in this clan but look at what you have done!"
"The guardian turned violent! And we had to tame it, but it rebelled, another elder barked coldly glaring at her, "It killed three soldiers...."
"They provoked him! They must have done something..." she shouted, her voice breaking under the weight of her grief. "They cornered him and struck first!"
Her cries echoed through the courtyard. The priests lowered their heads, and the guards shifted uneasily. For a moment, even the red light of the moon dimmed, as though the heavens themselves pitied her.
Then came the words that shattered her completely.
"Perhaps it wasn't the loyalty that drove her," one of the elders sneered, his eyes cold. "You've always been too fond of that creature, haven't you? Perhaps your bond wasn't as pure as you claim."
The words hit her like a blade slicing her heart into pieces, for a moment, she couldn't even speak. Then she rose slowly, her hands still stained with the beast's blood, her hair wild in the crimson light.
"You think I loved him like that?" Her voice was low, trembling, not from fear, but fury and disappointment, "He was a family to me. He was the last of the guardians my mother entrusted me to protect. And you slaughtered him like an animal."
How dare you?"
Her gaze swept across them, sharp as steel, "You call yourselves elders, but all I see are cowards hiding behind rules you twist to justify cruelty. All I see is your greediness..."
" Watch your tongue, girl," one of them warned.
But Yueyao didn't stop. She pressed her forehead against the beast's fur, her tears soaking into it. "I swear on the blood of the moon," she heavily whispered, " I will make every one of you pay for what you've done."
The runes beneath her feet pulsed faintly, reacting to her grief. The power that had been unleashed from the broken seal stirred again, as if answering her heart's vow.
"Restrain her!" someone suddenly shouted. "She's unstable!"
Guards began to move forward, but none dared touch her. The air around her shimmered with wild energy, her eyes glowing faintly silver through the tears.
The guards hesitated for a moment and then one lunged forward. Yueyao moved before she thought, her hand snapped up, and a surge of silver light burst outward.
The man was thrown back, crashing into the ground with a scream as his armor cracked under invisible force.
Another guard swung his blade toward her. She turned, eyes glowing like molten moonlight. The weapon froze midair, trembling, then shattered into silver dust.
"Stay back!" one shouted, but his voice was drowned by the roar of power around her. The air rippled, wild and untamed, tearing through the circle of runes like a storm.
Elders chanted a containment spell, but the sigils flickered and died the moment they touched her aura. Yueyao's grief was no longer human, it was something older, raw, divine. She was on a rampage, and only blood could wash away her grief.
Her cry split the silence, echoing through the valley. Lightning crackled across the sky as if the moon itself wept for her.
She spun, deflecting a spear with nothing but a flick of her wrist. It melted into molten light before it even hit the ground. One of the elders stumbled backward, fear flickering in his eyes for the first time.
Yueyao's chest heaved, her vision blurring between tears and fury. Power coiled at her fingertips, ready to strike again, ready to destroy everything that was close by...
And then....
A voice she knew, steady, controlled, but laced with pain, cut through the chaos from behind her.
"Enough."
The world immediately froze and time seemed to have stopped.
Yueyao's pulse thundered in her ears as she turned toward the sound. That familiar sound.
Huo Tingxuan stood at the edge of the shattered seal, moonlight glinting off his silver armor. His face was shadowed, torn between fury and something heartbreakingly human, it was regret.
The crest of the Crimson Howl gleamed over his heart, the symbol of the power that had taken everything from her.
For a moment, no one dared move. The air crackled between them, heavy with grief and betrayal.
"You," Yueyao breathed heavily, her voice barely holding itself together, "You stood there and let them kill him. You watched all this unfold itself...."
Huo Tingxuan's jaw tightly clenched defeated, "Yueyao, listen to me. You don't understand...."
" Don't!" Her voice broke, sharp as the shattering runes beneath her feet, "Don't you dare tell me I don't understand! You ordered it, didn't you? You.... the Alpha who swore to protect me, gave the command to slaughter the last guardian my mother entrusted to me! The only person who was my family..."