After Kazuto calmed down, Niken loosened her arms to look at her lover's face.
Hm? It's weird. Why did the man's cheeks suddenly become gaunt?
"Kazu? Why did you become thin like this? What happened?" Niken even massaged the man's shoulder and arm.
She remembered that man's body was broad and healthy, but now it felt empty and thin. What is this?
Kazuto smiled at the look of worry from his inamorata. Once he arrived here, he channeled his vitality all together to Niken to replace Niken's energy eaten by Daemon. Alternatively, he was now skinny and without strength.
But that didn't matter to him. He was from the wolf clan. He only needed to rest overnight, and he will return to normal. Unlike Niken, who did not have cell regeneration, without a second thought, Kazuto immediately channeled his vitality to the girl.
"Kazu, what exactly happened? Weren't we at the festival venue? Why are we suddenly falling asleep here? Why did you become thin like this?"
"..." For a few moments, Kazuto looked astonished. "You don't remember?"
Niken seemed to think as if trying to dig into her memory, then shook her head sadly. "I don't remember. It's weird, why can't I remember anything? Really wh... "
Kazuto interrupted her by hugging her tightly. "It is okay. It's fine if you don't remember. It's better if you forget them."
Niken blinked a few times as she got more confused. Something must have happened while they were at the festival. What exactly happened? Why can't she remember it at all?
They did not know that a particular butterfly had been perched on the tree where Kazuto gave his vitality to Niken. That's when the butterfly infiltrated Niken's astral dimension into the memory storage room. After sorting out the memories it saw, the butterfly made the memory of Niken being kidnapped and almost got violated by Daemon locked together and made it like a dream that was not worth remembering.
Because of that, Niken felt she was having a bad dream but could not remember anything she saw in her dream once she woke up.
"Are you really all right?" asked Niken, still not believing in his answer.
At present, they have not moved from their resting place. It was time for them to go back up the mountain, but it seemed that Kazuto was too tired to move. That's why Niken couldn't help but worry about the man's condition.
Niken wondered what had happened to make a man who always looked dashing into fatigue like this. Yet, the man kept his mouth shut refused to enlighten her.
"I am fine. If I stand under the full moon, I will get better."
"Really? Then why are you still sitting here? This tree is too dense, blocking the full moonlight."
"Because you are here. I don't want to part with you."
Niken was at a loss for words.
"Hhhh ... alright. I will keep you company. Come on, stand up." Niken didn't want to refute the absurd sentence of her lover. Right now, she was more concerned with Kazuto's worrying condition.
Kazuto giggled to see his inamorata pulling his hand and immediately brought him to stand under the moonlight.
Once he felt the moonlight hit his body, Kazuto's energy drained away was now refilled at high speed. His body also returned to being a healthy man, making Niken stunned to see him. This was the first time she saw firsthand regeneration in a descendant of the wolf clan.
Kazuto only needed two minutes before all the internal wounds he experienced were completely healed. Then he raised a hand to summon his astral soul energy.
A black lump gathered above his palm formed a ball. Then Kazuto let go and lowered his hand back while glancing at his inamorata.
"Already done. Let's go back. "
"Hm."
Niken laughed amused when he saw Kazuto immediately turned into a black wolf and encouraged her to ride him.
They had to walk up to large rocks and sharp inclines to climb to the top of the mountain. Because of that, Kazuto always shapeshifted himself so that Niken could ride him up and down the hill.
Once in place, they were greeted by an annoyed look from Lionel's stare. The man put both his hands in front of his chest.
Lionel looked like a father was ready to scold his children because the kids went back passed the curfew time.
"You're late. What are you doing down there?"
"Forgive us, sir Lionel. We got a short break near the border of the shield."
"The important thing is that you are inside the shield once the eclipse is over. Right?"
Kazuto nodded his head once in his wolf form to answer his question.
"Wait a minute. How can you see the shield border?"
"Eh? I also don't know." Niken answered while scratching the nape of her neck awkwardly. "Suddenly I saw a yellow dome when I woke up. I felt that the dome's energy aura was similar to that of Sir Lionel, so I guessed that the dome must have been a shield made by Sir Lionel when we first arrived.
"Well, the dome is the shield I made, but only Elementalist knights could see it. Never mind, it's late. You should rest immediately."
"Good night." Niken turned to Kazuto and kissed the tip of the man's nose, "Good night, Kazu."
Kazuto slowly tilted his head towards Niken's shoulder and then let Niken into a house to rest.
"Kazuto, we need to talk. What happened to your energy? Your energy flow is unstable. "
"..."
"Will you continue to be in your wolf form?" Lionel wondered why Kazuto did not immediately return to his human form. He couldn't help but thinking a worse possibility. "Is it possible, you can't return to your human form??"
Kazuto rolled his eyes lazily then walked away before laying himself under a shady tree. Then he closed his eyes and decided to sleep in that position.
As a matter of fact, Kazuto could have returned to his human form. As Lionel said earlier, the flow of energy in his body was unstable due to him using a forbidden technique to summon Supreme Alpha.
Therefore, Kazuto preferred to stay in this form to let the flow of energy stabilized faster than when in human form.
Luckily Lionel understood the intention of Kazuto, who preferred being in his wolf form so that he didn't bother anymore. He decided to end the night before he would interrogate the young knight tomorrow morning.