Taming the Protagonist

Volume 2

Chapter 109: Victory and Defeat (1)

Hitana Lansmarlos.

A village girl from a remote northern hamlet, with nothing but stunning looks and astonishing talent.

Violent, savage, self-centered, utterly arrogant.

Before Count Chishuang captured her, Hitana thought her life would be simple—becoming a renowned hunter around her village, supporting her family with her hands.

Not bad.

Until that day came.

She opened her eyes, finding herself naked on a bed, a handsome young noble standing by, curiously observing her.

From that moment, everything changed.

“What?” Marina stared in shock at Hitana packing her bag. “You’re going back?”

“Yup.”

Hitana, stuffing snacks into her backpack, looked as if it were only natural: “I’ve spent enough time with Mom and Dad! They’re practically begging me to go back to Anselm, so I’m heading back.”

“And…”

She fastened the backpack’s straps, whispering slyly:

“Lina, haven’t you noticed… Anselm’s deliberately sending us away?”

“…”

Marina opened her mouth, looking at her sister with even greater disbelief.

Hitana, stared at like this, furrowed her brows, huffing unhappily: “Don’t look at me like that! My instincts are sharp!”

…So it’s just instinct.

The gentle secretary sighed, half-amused, half-exasperated, taking Hitana’s hand and saying softly:

“Since you feel Anselm’s deliberately sending us away, Hit, why go back?”

“…Huh?”

Hitana looked at Marina, utterly confused.

“I mean, if that’s Mr. Anselm’s intent, we should respect his wishes.”

Marina explained patiently: “He doesn’t want us by his side right now, so we should stay in the village and wait for him to call us back. That’s the right thing, isn’t it?”

Marina, devoted to her duty and giving everything to Anselm, saw unconditional obedience to his will as the correct path.

But Hitana, stunned for several seconds, suddenly lit up with realization:

“So that’s what you think, Lina… I was wondering why you didn’t get something even I could sense.”

Marina, smiling, ruffled Hitana’s hair: “Then let’s stay and wait for Mr. Anselm’s word. What do you want for lunch—”

Before she finished, Hitana had already slung her bulging backpack on, hopping twice.

“Alright! I’m off then. See you in a few days, Lina!”

The wolf girl strode toward the door, waving casually at Marina: “I’ll tell Anselm you miss him!”

“…Hit!”

Marina, snapping out of it, called after her sister: “You’re still going back?”

“Yeah, what’s wrong?”

“Staying here is Mr. Anselm’s wish.”

“Anselm wouldn’t send me away for no reason. He must have something important to do, right, Lina?”

Hitana tilted her head, her dark red eyes meeting Marina’s, brimming with earnestness.

“If you know that…” Marina said earnestly, “then you shouldn’t—”

“Then I should be by Anselm’s side even more!”

Hitana cut her off without hesitation: “I want to help him! I’m his Contract Head!”

Marina froze, looking at her resolute, serious sister, her breathing unsteady.

“You need to understand, Hit…”

Marina said, word by word, her thoughts unclear: “Mr. Anselm knows better than anyone whether you can help him. If he didn’t want you by his side, it means you’d only… make things worse!”

Her words were harsh, but Hitana showed no displeasure, answering even more seriously: “If I mess up, I’ll fix it.”

“You—”

“Lina, since leaving Chishuang Territory and staying in the Imperial Capital, I’ve barely done anything for Anselm… I’m not like you.”

The young wolf looked at her tender palms, saying softly: “I’m like a pet Anselm keeps in a nest, not even given a chance to mess up.”

“I know I’m a fool, but… if I’m already this foolish and don’t try to learn and improve, staying like this forever.”

“How can I help Anselm?”

She grinned at her dazed sister: “So, even if it makes Anselm mad, I’m going! Besides, nothing in this world can really threaten Anselm. If I screw up… he’ll just scold me.”

“Though I’ve got this on.” She fondly touched the collar around her neck, “I never planned to be Anselm’s obedient pup.”

The Celestial Wolf Empress’s dominance and defiance were etched into Hitana’s soul with the Beast King’s awakening.

“I can obey Anselm in everything, but I can’t… have no mind of my own, right?”

Hitana’s eyes sparkled: “So, I’m off! To help Anselm solve his problem! See you later, Lina!”

She gave Marina a final wave, dashing out of her room, heading out of the village.

Marina stared ahead blankly, sitting silently on the bed after a long while, letting out a soft laugh.

“What’s that? Isn’t that just… selfish and willful?”

Since nothing could threaten Anselm, messing up was harmless, even beneficial for growth—this mindset, Marina absolutely rejected.

“You’re wrong… Hit.”

The girl clenched her fists tightly, murmuring: “You’re just… squandering Mr. Anselm’s affection.”

“That’s… all.”

And Hitana, racing toward the Imperial Capital?

She didn’t know what her sister was thinking.

She just wanted to get there faster, to help Anselm her way.

To avoid Anselm’s notice, she cleverly avoided direct teleports to the Imperial Capital, instead teleporting to a large city, walking to the next, then teleporting again, gradually making her way.

After the Great Cold Wave, the journey from Chishuang City back to her village, though short, showed Hitana the world.

In the original future, her invincible Celestial Wolf Empress self grew through long, arduous wanderings.

Hitana thought she should roam the Empire, seeking strong foes to grow and better help Anselm.

But that meant leaving Anselm’s side… He couldn’t follow her around.

Thinking of this, Hitana hesitated.

“But… I can’t keep going like this.”

After six days, Hitana, resolved to head to the Imperial Capital, stepped into the teleportation array.

She loved the comfort and ease of being by Anselm’s side but refused to sink into it.

“Anselm didn’t put this on me to make me his pet.”

Touching her collar, Hitana murmured softly, her form vanishing in the teleportation array’s light.

The next moment, appearing in the Imperial Capital, she clenched her fists, declaring boldly: “Get stronger, Hitana! Hmm… will Anselm know I’m back? Should I sneak to the mansion—”

Boom!!!

A cataclysmic roar made Hitana’s hair stand on end.

She kicked open the teleportation room’s door, standing in the corridor, her pupils contracting as she looked toward the source—the Imperial Capital’s highest point.

She saw the blood-red sun hanging above the palace Anticheg, symbol of the Flame-Feasting Royalty’s supremacy, reduced to rubble.

“…The Empress.”

Bang!

The wolf, her expression turning ferocious, smashed through the corridor, landing amid onlookers’ gasps, then charging toward the city center!

No analysis, no thought needed. When Hitana registered “someone’s fighting in the palace,” her mind instantly concluded:

Anselm was there. Anselm needed help.

She reached this conclusion first, sprinting toward the palace cluster, only then faintly sensing her main Head, confirming Anselm was indeed there.

So Hitana charged even more fiercely, like a hunting predator.

Passersby saw only a blur streak past like lightning, each step shattering stone, a relentless thunder.

Anselm… Anselm was fighting the Empress?

So he didn’t want me by his side?

Right… mistakes in other matters don’t matter, nothing could threaten Anselm, but this, in this matter, I’d only… be a burden.

So you should stop.

You should follow Anselm’s wishes.

This thought emerged silently, naturally in Hitana’s mind.

“…”

But Hitana didn’t slow; her ferocity surged tenfold.

That’s not me.

I’d think Anselm must know I’m here.

If he didn’t want me, he’d tell me to leave.

So, he needs me now.

And the damned thing planting this thought in my head…

I’ll tear your throat out for Anselm someday!

The wolf raced under the blazing sun, toward that untouchable supreme power, taking steps tantamount to death.

Hitana sometimes envied Marina—envied her daily help to Anselm, her graceful dealings with nobles, never tarnishing the Hydra name.

So she wouldn’t hesitate or falter in what she could do.

Tyr once told Hitana that the Head of Strength was the Hydra’s shield, its chariot.

Even with the Hydra’s supreme power, the Head of Strength, bearing its cataclysmic physical might, was duty-bound to block all harm and crush all enemies.

The Head of Wind’s duties were faint in Hitana, so she had long etched the Head of Strength’s role into her core.

Faster… faster!

The Imperial Capital was vast; reaching the palace cluster from the edge’s teleportation array took time.

But from above, one could see… a vivid crack racing along the main road at unthinkable speed toward the city center, like a chariot crushing all obstacles in a roaring charge!

Boom!!

A second violent shock hit without warning, nearly throwing the sprinting Hitana off her feet.

Digging her feet into the ground, she carved two ten-meter trenches, stabilizing before charging faster without looking up.

So close… almost there!

Because of her instincts, because of the aura passing through the Head of Wind, every moment… felt like blades cutting across every inch of her skin.

Death, death, death, death, death…

This wasn’t a battlefield she could tread, a fight she should join.

Ahead of her, there was nothing but death.

Yet Hitana had no thought of stopping.

As long as Anselm didn’t tell her to stop, didn’t tell her to leave… he needed her!

Hitana looked up, seeing the palace cluster collapse like a mountain cleaved in half, a steel demon god slowly rising above the endless ruins.

Its ouroboros behind it emitted bursts of black light, countless iron-gray particles surging from the circle it formed.

She saw a figure, infinitely smaller than the steel demon god yet far more dazzling, floating in the air.

Though barely visible, her presence outshone the blood-red sun burning above the Imperial Capital.

Then she saw the blood-flame, consuming the sky, replace the heavens.

Like a divine blade wielded in wrath from the sky, the blood-flame sword aimed to annihilate all defiance, slashing toward the steel demon god.

At that moment, Hitana reached the end of her journey.

She felt the reassuring aura.

Thus, neither fate, nor death, nor a divine being could stop her.

The loyal yet rebellious wolf roared:

“I’ll rip your head off and feed it to the dogs!”

Leaping high to meet the divine blade of tyranny, Hitana Lansmarlos felt no fear, only rage.

Rage at not fighting beside Anselm from the start, rage that someone dared raise a blade against him.

“How dare you… harm Anselm!”

Under that sword, visible from thousands of miles, capable of obliterating the Imperial Capital, even the steel demon god seemed tiny, let alone a mere human.

Hitana, leaping toward the sky without hesitation, was a million times more foolish than a moth to flame.

But she didn’t think herself foolish; she believed she wasn’t wrong.

Anselm wouldn’t let her die.

He’d surely give her the chance to defeat this old hag.

If… he didn’t, that was fine too.

It would mean her death could help Anselm.

No matter what—

A wild, ferocious grin spread across the wolf’s face.

Her soul, in this moment, roared defiantly with her resolve to scorn death and gods!

No matter what, I’ll fulfill my duty as Anselm’s Contract Head.

I am his shield, his chariot!

Her body collided with the all-destroying blood-flame sword.

At the same time, Ephithand, who had been laughing maniacally, stopped abruptly.

“Flamel… Flamel!”

The frenzied Empress roared in rage: “You’re scheming against me?! Show yourself! Fight me!”

The moth, meant to be incinerated, wasn’t consumed by destruction.

She hadn’t… even touched a spark.

Because the emblem on her collar, hanging at her chest, the nine-headed serpent symbolizing Hydra’s identity, suddenly glowed!

“This is…”

Hitana, stunned for less than half a second, lit up with realization.

It was the gift Flamel gave her on her birthday, the family emblem signifying Hydra’s recognition!

More crucially, Flamel told her it held power to let her withstand a full-powered divine species for ten seconds!

“I knew it… Anselm!”

Protected by that light, Hitana’s fearless heart surged hotter as she leaped skyward, glaring at the seemingly maddened Empress.

Dark shadows spread from behind her, swiftly forming a hundred-meter colossal silhouette!

The Hydra’s projection appeared, its nine-headed serpent towering over the Imperial Capital, roaring with its Head of Strength!

Hunting… a true divine being!

“This is…” Mingfuluo’s eyes widened slightly.

“It’s Father.”

Anselm said softly: “Even now, I’m under his protection… I’ve never felt my choice was so right, Arlo.”

“Thank you.”

He said, meeting Mingfuluo’s gaze, reaching to tear open his chest.

Anselm Hydra revealed the source of his life, the root of his power, to his most trusted person.

“So…” The boy smiled, plucking a ring from his beating heart, “It’s my turn to save you.”

“How could you think I’d watch you disappear before my eyes again?”

Third second, the massive serpent shadow fearlessly coiled around the fiery sword, shattering it into sky-filling flames with Flamel’s protective power.

Fourth second, seeing the nine-headed serpent, Ephithand roared Flamel’s name in complete madness.

The Imperial Capital trembled, then… was uprooted!

Not just the city—tens of thousands of square kilometers of land wailed as they rose skyward, while the blood-flame swept down, as if to destroy it all!

“You lunatic… don’t ruin my capital, my Empire!”

“It’s mine… mine!”

Already enraged, Ivora matched Ephithand’s madness.

Her Ether Armament, amplifying her control over ether and elements, glowed as if overloading.

Above the uprooted land, a distorted shimmer flashed.

The blood-flame, as if blocked by an invisible barrier, couldn’t immediately burn down.

Unwilling to let her crazed mother destroy the capital, Ivora created a massive, unthinkable independent space barrier between the Flame-Feasting fire and the city. Only by burning through it could the fire continue its destruction.

“Anselm!!!”

But Ivora knew this might buy two seconds, if that.

The Flame-Feasting fire’s essence… burned all to nothing!

Space, with its myriad wonders to sorcerers, was mere kindling to it.

But without Anselm, Hitana, freed up, laughed maniacally, charging at Ephithand!

She had nothing to fear.

With this talisman, if she still didn’t dare face the Empress, how could she talk of devouring gods, tearing fate apart?!

Fifth second, Ephithand turned her abyss-dominated gaze to Hitana.

She merely pointed a finger at her.

Flame-Feasting fire erupted, most neutralized, but some pierced Flamel’s barrier!

The emblem’s light tried to extinguish the remaining flames, but the all-consuming fire touched Hitana’s body.

Sixth second, the tug-of-war didn’t incinerate Hitana instantly, but her flame-touched arm turned to bone, spreading rapidly across her body!

A total death threat descended.

Hitana felt overwhelming darkness, suffocation, the phantom pain of her flesh being carved away.

She was going to die.

Even with another divine’s protection, how could a third-tier withstand a divine species’ direct assault, even a glance?

Was she dying?

At that moment, with her pupils contracted to their limit, time seemed to freeze.

She felt the reaper’s scythe slicing her flesh, scraping her bones, aiming for her throat.

No, I can’t die here.

Anselm still needs me.

This isn’t my end.

I must get stronger, reach… higher, farther places.

With Anselm!

The beast’s heart pounded fiercely.

Hitana felt her tailbone, her head, her entire skeleton suddenly ache intensely.

This strange sensation—she’d felt it twice before: once facing Ivora in the Alchemical Association’s workshop, and once under Tyr’s crushing pressure.

Both times, Hitana was at death’s door, facing unbeatable foes.

At those moments, what filled her heart?

A powerful self, capable of defeating and devouring enemies.

Crack crack crack—

Seventh second, Ivora’s space barrier, resisting the blood-flame, burned away in three seconds.

Under the Empress’s madness, indiscriminate destruction loomed.

Simultaneously, the flames burning Hitana reached her head, half her beautiful face reduced to a chilling bone.

But for some reason, the flames’ spread… slowed, and Hitana’s body, amidst strange cracking sounds, underwent incomprehensible changes!

Already 1.85 meters tall, her frame shot to 2.2 meters with her bones’ growth, becoming leaner, stronger.

Her muscles, lightly scorched by the Flame-Feasting fire, showed perfect, streamlined contours, not bulky at all.

Her head sprouted fluffy wolf ears, her tailbone grew a bushy tail.

Stranger still, her eyes turned to serpentine slits, and a thin, forked tongue extended from her lips!

In an instant, Hitana became this bizarre creature, neither fully wolf nor serpent.

Ephithand froze.

Two seconds passed instantly—she should have been ash the moment she touched the Flame-Feasting fire!

“Why aren’t you dead, Flamel… Flamel!!”

Eighth second, amidst Ephithand’s furious roar, the flames stopped—not halted, but unable to burn further!

Half of Hitana’s face remained intact, half was bone, the boundary unyielding.

The Flame-Feasting fire, never ceasing, couldn’t advance a fraction.

Having reached a new realm, the young Beast King, with her bone face, grinned ferociously.

She had fully integrated the Hydra’s projection power, raising her fist.

Ninth second, the light on Hitana dimmed, on the verge of extinction.

Ephithand, ignoring all else, focused all her power on killing Hitana—or rather, erasing Flamel’s power.

The all-dissolving Flame-Feasting fire and time-warping gravity unleashed ultimate destruction.

Everything around Hitana—air, spacetime, elements, matter—was annihilated into a pure void, as if the world had a hole carved out representing “nothing.”

Yet the light shone in this desperate situation, but against such force, the long-held barrier seemed about to collapse.

Ephithand, briefly suppressed, wasn’t at her peak, and the talisman’s power, weakened by Flamel’s decline, faltered.

“Well done.” A cool female voice sounded in Hitana’s ear. “Anselm chose right.”

A flood of iron-gray particles enveloped Hitana, not shielding… but enduring the destruction!

Hitana didn’t hear this, or rather, her mind held nothing else now.

She only wanted to smash her fist into the face of this god-like lunatic!

As the iron-gray particles perfectly blocked Ephithand’s killing blow for a moment, Hitana’s fist, carrying the wolf beast’s ambition and fury, reached her.

Originally distant, Hitana crossed the space instantly!

“Mad… lunatics.”

Ivora, her Ether Armament cracked, murmured softly.

Having restrained Ephithand for three seconds and given Hitana the final assist, her hands trembled.

Bang!

The sound of a fist solidly striking a face.

That punch only made Ephithand’s head tilt slightly.

Hitana’s all-out blow, striking a divine species’ face, had only this effect.

Yet the half-bone, dying wolf still flashed a mocking grin at the divine, as if saying—

You call yourself… a god?

Ten seconds.

The steel demon god rose into the sky.

Hitana, swept up by the particles, vanished from Ephithand’s sight.

Flamel’s protective power, exhausting its last energy, eradicated the remaining Flame-Feasting fire on her.

But her body couldn’t recover so quickly.

After that exhilarating punch, her consciousness nearly faded.

Did I… help Anselm?

Before her consciousness fully dissipated into sleep, Hitana heard a man and woman’s voices.

“She… is remarkable.”

The female voice said.

“I know.”

A gentle male voice responded, and at the same time, Hitana felt a hand rest on the unharmed side of her face.

"She’s the best, always has been."

Thus, Hitana Lansmarlos, clinging to her last thread of consciousness, finally slipped into a peaceful slumber.

She had crossed thousands of miles, treading cautiously, fearing mistakes, but in the end, she had managed to help the one who mattered most to her.

For Hitana Lansmarlos, who had been unable to assist Anselm in any significant way during this time—a girl who was violent, ferocious, self-centered, and supremely arrogant, yet… so deeply in love with Anselm.

There was nothing that could bring her greater happiness than this.

At this moment, Hitana, now shrunk back to her original size, was breathing evenly.

Her injuries had already healed with Mingfuluo’s help, and as she curled up at Anselm’s feet, she looked like a perfectly content little dog.

Mingfuluo floated at Anselm’s other side, a ring of the serpent now adorning the middle finger of her right hand.

Compared to Hitana’s Head of Power ring, this serpent ring emitted almost no trace of ferocity, instead carrying a mysterious aura that made one hesitant to pry.

"She was stunned by Hitana’s punch."

Mingfuluo stated concisely.

Anselm smiled, "Any divine species would be dazed after being punched in the face by a third-tier transcendent, let alone… she was already on the verge of complete madness."

The petite female scholar glanced at Hitana, sleeping peacefully at Anselm’s feet.

Though the primary credit belonged to the barrier created by Flamel, how many in this world could, under the protection of that barrier, throw a punch at a divine species?

Even at the final moment, when the barrier was on the verge of failing, Hitana still managed to land her fist on Ephithand’s face.

"I can understand why you like her so much."

As Mingfuluo spoke, the ouroboros behind the Deus Ex Machina suddenly surged upward with an endless stream of particles, rapidly expanding, growing larger, and larger still!

The Deus Ex Machina raised both hands, the serpent’s tail falling into its palms.

With Nidhogg’s continuous construction under the augmentation of numerous elements, a colossal sky-cleaving sword, hundreds of meters long, was now gripped by this steel deity!

"Such a pure girl—it’s impossible to harbor any hostility toward her."

Mingfuluo continued to chat, her demeanor completely unconcerned with the state of the battle, as if…

As if the outcome was already decided.

And indeed, it was.

The current Mingfuluo was utterly solid, devoid of any emptiness or illusion, no longer appearing as if she might dissipate at any moment.

The ring on her middle finger was the symbol of the Head of Abyss, one of the nine heads of Hydra.

As the magical beast closest to the abyss, Hydra possessed an immense number of elements and wielded vast powers.

Its formidable soul could withstand greater erosion from the abyss, allowing it to dominate more of the world’s laws and essences.

The role of the Head of Abyss was to coordinate, organize, and unify all the elements Hydra possessed, as well as all the world’s laws and essences it comprehended, enabling Hydra to better control its chaotic, disordered, and vast power.

Thus, it was also the Contract Head most affected by the abyss’s erosion, second only to the Head of Soul.

When Mingfuluo donned this ring and became the Head of Abyss, she no longer needed to take such risks—using her unstable soul, with Nidhogg as its vessel, to venture alone into the abyssal torrent, risking complete disintegration to arduously absorb the world’s essences.

With the vast elements Hydra inherently possessed, combined with the abyss’s favor toward Anselm as a preacher of the abyss, and now as the Head of Abyss coordinating all of Hydra’s elements, the Deus Ex Machina, this fantasy armament, had finally completed its final component!

At this moment, across the entire Imperial Capital, the villages and territories beyond it, on this land uprooted by the Emperor’s sheer will, everyone saw the steel deity wielding the sky-cleaving blade.

It looked up at the falling rain of fire, such violent destruction… and suddenly, a pair of gray steel wings unfurled behind it!

"The Moonfall System has been activated."

Countless iron-gray particles emanated from those steel wings, blanketing the sky and enveloping the falling fire rain like a giant net.

The Flame-Feasting fire, capable of annihilating and decomposing everything, burned through these iron-gray particles, only to shrink from a massive blazing orb to the size of a small fireball.

Countless autonomous floating cannons relentlessly fired at the diminished fireballs, requiring multiple shots to extinguish even the smallest ones completely.

"…Even a single fireball requires such immense effort to eliminate."

Mingfuluo looked up at the fire curtain stretching to the horizon, sighing, "This is… a divine species, and a suppressed, deranged, now completely dazed one at that."

Because Ephithand had been rendered senseless by Hitana’s punch, this overwhelming fire curtain did not press down in full force but fell irregularly like meteor showers.

Through the Moonfall System and floating cannons, Mingfuluo did her utmost to prevent this fire rain from bringing harm to this land struck by undeserved calamity.

While resisting the sky full of fire rain, the giant sword in the Deus Ex Machina’s hands began to emit a black sheen.

When it made direct contact with the Flame-Feasting fire, it astonishingly was not entirely decomposed.

"The Severance System has been activated."

Mingfuluo took Anselm’s hand, speaking softly, "Dragging this out won’t do.

It’s time to end her, Anselm."

The thrusters slowly pushed forward, the giant blade in the Deus Ex Machina’s hands humming.