There was discourse in Gerald’s house the sound of shouting and crying could be heard from outside. The house was filled with tension and sadness, Deitre was desperate to end the tension but only made them argue harder. It was the first time one of the girls had acted so unfairly towards the teacher. Out of everyone, Derb was the saddest, ironically because this wasn’t about him.

“But… i-i dun want Addy to weev me… uuuh...” Hannah shouted in between sobs. She knew the day would come for Derb to leave and she was sad about it but not once had she realized her dear wolf companion would leave too. She was crying while Derb consoled her at her side, looking extremely menacing in the armor and cloak. The helmet was off and was placed on the table but it looked too human so he just hid it under his cloak.

“It’s not like I won’t come back… maybe you could get another wolf?” The crying only got louder thanks to him. Gerald looked distraught, Derb knew he considered these two absolutely precious and the thought of making her so sad must have devastated him. Derb didn’t really care, but as the older brother figure and cause of this whole mess, he had to at least be there for her. “We can’t get her a great wolf, they’re too savage to train without a… proper...” Immediately after saying that Gerald shot up. “Taming! I’m an idiot… we have all the necessary tools...”

Gerald continued muttering under his breath while walking out of the room, leaving the trio confused and curious. Eventually, Derb was the first to speak up. “Let’s… follow him? I can’t be the only one thinking that, right? Everyone nodded and followed suit, Hannah sniffling all along the way. They eventually found him in the library with dozens of books around him. “Nature, demon, anthologies….cooking?” Gerald said, holding a cooking book amongst his priceless magic tomes.

“That one’s mine.” It was Deitre’s wife’s, no longer having any need to learn from the book. He had tried to teach Connor how to cook before and surprisingly enough it had worked. To the extent that Connor could salt and cook the meat long enough to not ruin Derb’s stomach. Gerald threw it to the side and kept searching, being much more gentle with every other book. “Hey...” Before he could pick it up Gerald shouted. “Finally! Taming manual… It’s a bit worn out, i need to clean this area more.”

The book was thick and ordained with gaudy details. Gerald flipped through it with practiced grace until he landed on a certain page. “Dark attribute demon… required nature and light… ritual by anyone… contract.” He slammed the book shut, “Ok! Everyone outside! We’re making a ritual!” Gerald quickly ran outside teleporting in and out of the area with a new material each time. The ground had Derb’s ritual star, formed out of golden dust.

Gerald started ordering everyone around. “Hannah, release nature mana into the star, make sure to properly maintain the shape.” She nodded, struggling to pour mana through the star. The mana was blue with hints of green enveloping the star, expelling mana in large and wasteful amounts to the surrounding area. Derb almost stepped in to help but was stopped by Gerald. “Get over here and summon your wolf, we need to begin the process now.”

Derb followed orders quickly, and the wolf was summoned. “Place it over the ritual and order it to harm no one no matter what.” Gerald was rummaging through a chest and picked out the massive black spike they had used before, during Derb’s little field trip for the cloak. “Uh… Adalia! Go into the star, don’t hurt anyone, um, no matter what, ok?” The wolf nodded and trotted towards the center of the star, slowly getting greener and greener.

“Look for the link between you and the wolf and make sure to sever it the moment I say. Not a moment sooner or later, understand?” What!? Was he losing the wolf? He understood that if he did that the wolf would die… “GET READY!” Derb didn’t have the time to think about the process and just looked for the link. He waited patiently as he looked at the brimming mana of his wolf. He hadn’t used it at all the past month, only to ride around with Hannah whenever he was bored. The girl was basically glued to it… ”NOW!”

He ripped himself away from the link, the mana going dull and dormant. The wolf slumped and fell over, dead. “Adalia!” Oh god, was he too late when he severed it? Did he kill her due to his negligence- “AHAH!” The soul ripped from the body and rushed into the spike, having it glow in power. He instantly shoved the spike directly into the wolf’s hind leg, releasing massive amounts of healing energy as well. “POUR ALL YOU MANA INTO THE RITUAL, BOTH OF YOU.”

The two were shocked out of their stupor from Adalia’s death and poured all their mana into the star. Derb was the most effective as he sat down to meditate while siphoning as pure mana as possible into the mix. The mana didn’t stop but Gerald made no signal that it would end any time soon. Hannah stopped to rest but Derb kept going. He had a tiny mana capacity but his ability to take in and release mana kept it from running out too fast. Luckily he was way faster at siphoning while meditating.

All of a sudden a rumbling was heard. The noise came from inside the wolf, and Derb thought it was a heartbeat. It turned out to be the wolf’s deep growl. It was the first time Derb had heard such a thing from it. “It’s… alive again!” He almost went in to pet it but a sense of deja vu stopped him just in time. The wolf turned and lunged at him and tried to bite his neck but was instantly brought down by familiar golden chains. “Whoa, what happened? Why’s he like that?” Derb shouted to Gerald, who was sweating while he slammed more and more chains down onto it. He didn’t respond to him.

“Hannah! Pour Nature magic into the ritual. Just keep pouring pure mana while you’re at it, boy.” The process kept going from there, Hannah pouring nature mana until she ran out, Derb consistently siphoning everything, and Gerald calmly keeping the wolf under control. Hours passed as the cycle continued. Derb ran out of mana six times, each time he did the wolf became even crazier, lashing out and trying to rip the chains. Only now did he seem more docile, while the star had gone to a deep dark green.

“Is… is it over yet?” Derb was about to run out once again and needed to know whether he should rest. “Not yet, rest up. We need you in the final stage.” Gerald stopped controlling the wolf as it no longer lashed at any of them. He simply stood there as many chains pierced its body, each slowly unraveling one by one. “Hannah, start siphoning mana into the wolf until you feel a connection between you two.” She nodded and was surprised when she got it so fast.

She felt a sudden heat rise within her chest, a feeling of admiration and… adoration? “Adalia?” She spoke, unsure if the wolf would listen to her. In a huge leap, Adalia closed the gap between her and a shrieking Hannah. It turned out to be harmless as all she did was lick and nuzzle Hannah until she was a dirty and wet mess. “Ahaha! Down, Addy!” It took the wolf a bit before it calmed down. Still nuzzling beside her and showing more emotion than ever before.

“Teacher! What did you do to Adalia? How is she so energetic?” Derb didn’t understand, Connor was so docile before so he just assumed it was part of the wolf’s personality. Yet here she was acting like a puppy who had just seen its owner for the first time in months. “She just didn’t like you, boy. In fact… try not to go around her for now.” He was about to ask why until he saw the eyes on the wolf glaring at him. They were a bit angry but what really set him off was the fear in them. As if he was an entity that could send her away at any second.

“Don’t mind it, boy. You did just kill her after all.” Derb stood mouth agape. “You TOLD me to do that! How was I supposed to know she’d die!” He felt like it’d be wrong to make an excuse about something’s death but it wasn’t dead! It was standing right there! “Adalia! You better get over here or I swear I’m sending you back to the void!” Derb shouted. “She doesn’t listen to your orders anymore, she’s no longer under your-” Before Gerald could finish Adalia bounded across the field and buried her snout into the ground right in front of Derb.

“-control… Boy, you know that’s messed up right?” Gerald and Hannah were looking at him like he kicked a puppy. Both disappointment and disrespect. He thought it was pretty cool that he was able to control a massive wolf without magic but whatever. “Fine… Adalia, you no longer belong to me. Hannah’s orders are top priority from now on.” it almost stood up before Derb knelt next to its ear. “If something happens to Hannah you better hope Whatever hurts her kills you.”

The wolf yelped and bounded back to Hannah, sticking its massive head under her legs and all-around being an annoyance. Gerald smacked Derb’s head. “What did you tell her, you little rascal. I thought Deitre beat that personality out of you.” He just shrugged, it was better this way. After all, Hannah deserved to have a guard dog after everything she was put through. All he needed to do was provide a bit of incentive to the “dog”.

“Now you can properly keep her without causing the boy an inconvenience.” Derb nodded, he felt less full inside him than before. Before all this, he felt he could only summon maybe twice more. Adalia herself felt big enough for three summons, probably because of her strength and how she was summoned. Connor himself took almost half the space. He was an elite amongst elites apparently, Derb had yet to fully experience his strength.

Speaking of which, he’d yet to see his summon today… With a quick thought, he appeared before him, in Derb’s usual clothes. He’d taken them off to put on the armor he had on right now. “Connor… you better have an explanation for this...” Connor just kneeled and groveled in front of him, dirtying his clothes even more. “Oh, come on. Connor...” He helped the incubus up and dusted off the clothes, making sure not to miss a speck.

While Connor and Derb were trying to get an explanation Tiffany ran out the door. “Wait! It’s not its fault!” He looked back to see her with two extra sets of his clothing. At this point, he wasn’t even fazed. “Why were you playing dress-up with my incubus...” Tiffany flinched at his monotone voice. “I-I wasn’t I… was just following teacher's orders and finding out the measurements for him.” She fidgeted under his judging gaze before Gerald sent him a thumbs up.

“Oh, fine then. Just don’t get too attached, you’re still just a kid.” Tiffany blushed at the comment. “It’s a demon! Gross!” She dragged Connor back while he screamed for Derb’s help. He just brushed it off and continued onwards to Gerald and the blacksmith. Deitre had left halfway through the ritual but had appeared again the moment it ended. How supportive of him. “How do you feel knowing your wolf was stolen from you, boy?” He asked, apparently he knew Derb was going to lose the wolf from the beginning and kept silent.

“It’s fine, it liked Hannah way more anyway… I’m gonna miss riding it though.” Damnit, he knew he’d have argued against losing the wolf if he knew before time but the situation happened too fast for him to think. By the time he realized what happened it was too late to reconsider. “Cheer up, boy. How about you try fighting with that new armor of yours? It’s not very magical but it has a self-repairing enchantment. You don’t know how long it took to add it to a set of different pieces.”

Derb smiled at the thought but shook his head. It was dark out and the constant siphoning had ripped all the energy out of his body. He felt like he’d pass out the moment he hit a bed. Speaking of which. ‘Connor, make my bed. I’ll tell Tiff the details so don’t worry.’ He simply thought the order and left it at that, not bothering to check on Tiff. He wondered how funny the situation would look when he went inside. “Teacher! Let’s talk about the Departure tomorrow! It’s not going to kill us to wait a day, right?”

Gerald looked just as tired as he did, though it was hard to tell if that wasn’t just his age. “We have to take care of your armor first. Let’s get Hannah and the wolf back here, they seemed to have gotten a bit too rambunctious.” Derb watched as Hannah and the wolf leaped and bounded in a beautiful and wild way. Much more lively than when it had been under his control. He was even starting to lose a bit of confidence at the spectacle.

“They sure seem to like each other, you mind boy?” Derb shook his head, of course he didn’t mind ruining their happy moment. He took a deep breath before shouting, “ADALIA, GET OVER HERE!”