Chapter 781: Chief Lupan’s discovery
Meanwhile, Chief Lupan and the rest of the Brownblood Werewolves finally returned to their base camp, with people and Beastfolk still celebrating the end of their tournament.
Chief Lupan slumped back down on his fur-laddened bed and took a deep sigh. It wasn’t easy seeing his older brother again after so many years. It hurt him seeing how much anger and resentment he still had because of that incident.
In truth, he wanted to reconcile with him. It would be good for both of their tribes to finally become one again and rise up the ranks of the tribes within the Werewolf community.
However, even he knew that his betrayal couldn’t be easily forgiven nor forgotten. Of course, he had his own reasons for doing what he had to do, but Klaus treated it as nothing less than a betrayal worthy of death. If he weren’t his blood brother, then Klaus would have already started a war against him.
And now, he had to worry about the upcoming lunar celebrations.
The Lunar Celebrations was an annual event that involved all of the Werewolf tribes in festivities, socialization, worship, and most important of all, competition.
That was the reason why he started the swordsmen competition in the first place. He wanted to have a competent swordsman within his midst so that he wouldn’t embarrass himself and his tribe in the Lunar Celebrations.
And he thought he finally had the perfect ally in the Auberts. He thought that this would be the chance for the Brownbloods to take center stage and cast away the reputation they had for being one of the weakest.
Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned. Mauricio lost—in convincing fashion, no less.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. This was just a formality for the Auberts.
Now, Chief Lupan was at a crossroads.
He had a choice: continue to ally with the Auberts, or choose someone else instead.
By all accounts, he should pick the latter.
Choosing the winner would definitely give him a mighty swordsman as an ally, giving him a large chance to win in the Lunar Celebrations.
But that was it.
If he sided with the Aubert company, not only would he get a talented swordsman in Mauricio, but he would also gain the help of the entire Aubert clan. The resources that they could give him were crucial to their growth. Sergio even mentioned that they could give him a steady supply of Moonstone.
For him, this was the obvious choice.
But of course, he had to consult his Tribe first. So, he gathered the rest of his advisors in the room and asked for their opinion.
“Chief, we highly advise you to seek the winner of the tournament. We should ally with him instead.”
Chief Lupan raised an eyebrow. He thought they’d agree with him.
“But that is just one person. The Auberts can give us a whole lot more—”
“Not a person, Chief. It was a demi-human,” corrected one of his advisors.
Chief Lupan paused for a second, confusion written all over his face. “What do you mean, a demi-human? How is that even possible?”
The rest of his attendants looked at each other awkwardly.
“We intended to break the news to you earlier, chief, but you were busy with your meeting with the other Beastfolk leaders. There’s something you should know…”
An explanation later, a resounding shout suddenly echoed through the Brownblood Tribe.
“WHAT?!?!?!”
Chief Lupan almost transformed into his Wolf Form due to pure shock. Large grey hairs were already forming out of his arm.
“A demi-human was able to manifest a Diva?! Impossible!”
However, the rest of his attendants attested to the news. “It’s true, chief. Hundreds of Brownblood Werewolves saw it themselves. It was unmistakable. It was the same strange figure that appears above those human Maugnetics.”
Chief Lupan took a second to compose himself before saying, “tell me everything that happened.”
Eventually, a whimper echoed from the door as a female Werewolf entered after asking for permission.
“Come in,” Chief Lupan said.
It was one of the female Werewolf judges who were in charge of the competition. He had specifically asked for her because she seemed to be the one most familiar with this underdog winner who defeated Mauricio.
“Was it true?” he asked..
The female Werewolf nodded before going into the specific details of the tournament.
She first told him about the first test, about how she impulsively turned on the straw dummy to its Werewolf form, making the test harder than it should have been.
This already showed talent from the demi-human, but it wasn’t enough to defeat someone like Mauricio.
Then, she told him about his other battles in which he showed nothing but laziness in each one, doing nothing but sleeping while his opponents trained.
Yet at the very end, when all hope seemed lost, a great new power emerged from the demi-human that allowed him to triumph against Mauricio.
Chief Lupan listened to the story intently, his eyes widening at the part where Jaku officially became a Maugnetic.
“Unbelievable…,” he muttered to himself. How can a demi-human achieve this?”
Then, Chief Lupan remembered something. “Wait, he was supposed to defeat three other swordsmen to win the tournament. How could he have done that?”
From the story that they told him, it seemed as if the odds were completely stacked against Jaku. If even one of his opponents escaped, then he would technically lose on time.
“Something weird happened, Chief Lupan,” said the female Werewolf. “They suddenly lost the ability to escape.”
“What?”
The other attendants nodded in confirmation. “We saw it as well, chief. The three other swordsmen were on the brink of escape, but suddenly tumbled forwards helplessly. We think they failed to activate their Aubility Power because their Diva disappeared for a moment.”
Chief Lupan’s brows were squished together as he tried to make sense of what happened.
There were two possibilities: one was that the three swordsmen deliberately made themselves lose or…
“Their Aubility Powers got disrupted,” Chief Lupan muttered to himself.
Suddenly, a thought appeared in his head.
Two words.
Ancient Roar.
But just as quickly as it appeared, Chief Lupan erased the thought from his head. He had been speaking and talking about the Ancient Roar too much that his thoughts were getting influenced by it. There was no way that a demi-human would awaken the Ancient Roar out of nowhere. It was impossible.
However, it was still incredibly impressive that a demi-human was able to awaken a Diva.
Just from that alone, Chief Lupan knew that it would be worth it to ally themselves with him.
“Thank you for sharing your thoughts,” he said to the female Werewolf, dismissing her.
She opened her mouth, about to say something, but quickly turned around to leave the room.
But just as she was about to open the door, she turned back. “Chief… there was just one weird thing that happened.”
“What was it?”
“When those three swordsmen lost their power, I also felt something in my chest. It felt like someone was pressing on my Dao Heart,” she confessed.
Chief Lupan’s eyes narrowed. “Was it just you who felt it?”
“Me as well, Chief. I felt it,” said one of his attendants.
“I noticed it too, but dismissed it as nothing but a strange coincidence.”
“It wasn’t just that. But I felt the ground shaking as it happened.”