The wolf wasn't in a rush to attack. It continued to circle Cyril with a calm gait.
Suddenly from the shadow at Cyril's feet rose a hand made of pure dark, attempting to grab him.
He broke it apart with a single hit and got ready for a possible follow-up, but nothing came.
The wolf cautiously stayed away, its ferocious eyes locked on him, as if analyzing him.
It's testing my reactions?
The wolf and the humanoid remained locked at a standstill, waiting for the other to move first.
"Cyril! Let me help you fight!" Rhamn appeared during this pause, holding a resolute expression full of heroic bravery.
"I'll use the knowledge I acquired from our trip to augment your abilities!"
She posed just like a soldier about to go on a mission to rescue her comrades. However, her excited red eyes betrayed her deeply mischievous intentions.
…If you want to grow me a tail or a pair of animal ears, then forget it. This is not the time for your games.
Cyril dodged another hand made of shadow and ran up to the wolf, but the magic creature escaped away from him, keeping distance.
They resumed their standstill.
Rhamn reappeared in his field of vision, a disappointed expression of having her schemes fail written on her face.
Though suddenly her pout changed to a smirk.
"Cyril, Selene warned us about arrogance, remember?"
He cautiously observed the wolf's movements, though his ears perked up at her words.
What?
"I just wanted to give it our all to fight this dangerous beast, but you are holding back because you want to look good when you win. Isn't that arrogance?"
"Don't worry about being seen. No one is around, and if Cosmas is observing us, it's not a problem. He'll think it's your archon ability."
"Remember Selene's words!"
...Fine.
"Yes! Hehe!"
Just as Rhamn was celebrating, the shadow wolf's huge body began disappearing bit by bit into the darkness.
In a moment he couldn't see the beast anymore.
Then, the shadows around him began rising. They formed four smaller dark wolves that soon growled at him.
"There is his pack~"
The copies positioned themselves around Cyril, from the front, from the back, and from the sides.
"Alright, it's our turn!"
Suddenly the wolves surrounding him all tilted their heads at the same time.
The seemingly normal human in front of them changed.
From the top of his head grew beautiful golden bunny ears.
"Woof?"
Even the wolf's real body temporarily appeared out of his hiding. His jaw opened and eyes narrowed, twisting in something that looked like human mockery.
At least to Cyril's eyes it seemed like that.
"..."
Suddenly a wolf on his side jumped in, attempting to bite at his neck.
Cyril put his left hand in its path.
The wolf's sharp fangs ruthlessly bit onto his hand, refusing to let go.
Holding the wolf in such a way, Cyril swung it around him, hitting the two other copies away.
At the same time his bunny ears twitched, and an icicle formed that flew at the remaining wolf, piercing him.
In a mere moment the copies dissipated.
They aren't too strong...
He tried to endure the new sensation coming from the top of his head and shook his unharmed hand. Thanks to his practice, his skin was able to handle their teeth.
Before he could ask Rhamn a few questions, the shadows around rose once more.
One by one, more and more wolves formed around him. There were dozens, if not more.
"How many copies can this wolf create?!"
We'll find out...
The big wolf proudly reappeared behind the small army, a smirk on his face.
Suddenly from the top of the tree nearby, a red blur flew down, hitting the wolf on the head.
The shadow wolf dropped to the ground, snout first.
Before Morpho could continue, its body disappeared in the shadows.
The red butterfly quickly retreated, going over the small army of wolves, and hovered near Cyril.
"We are not alone either!"
Cyril silently took a fighting stance, his bunny ears twitching.
A brief stalemate continued, with no one doing anything.
Then, the wolves all moved, displaying a brilliant degree of teamwork, attacking at the right moment one after another.
The shadow wolf hiding around observed the fight with growing confusion.
The seemingly feeble red insect displayed astonishing strength for its size, destroying its copies in one hit.
What's more, the combined attacks of it and the human(?) carried a surprisingly good amount of coordination, rivaling that of this pack.
They perfectly guarded each other's blind spots, disposing of the copies with more and more proficiency.
The human's bunny ears also acted as if having a life of their own, forming projectiles of ice at the most precise timings.
It felt like it was fighting three creatures at once.
Cyril wasn't sure how many copies they'd struck down. He was lost in the moment.
There was something incredible about being on the receiving end of the wolf's hunting strategies.
What he only read in the book before was now being experienced by him in person. This finally felt like the zoo trip he envisioned.
His blue eyes were completely focused, becoming colder as the fight continued. The bunny ears on top of him twitched at times, sending icicle after icicle forward.
At some point, however, the continuous onslaught stopped. No more wolves appeared.
Cyril and Morpho, with the same confusion in their eyes, looked around, but everything was quiet.
Is it trying something else?
Cyril kept his posture, and the ears above him flapped in wariness.
He vigilantly stood there for a few more minutes.
"Cyril... I think it escaped..." Rhamn appeared in front of him with a helpless expression.
No matter how long he stood there, nothing was happening. It was completely quiet.
"How unlucky..."
The confusion in his and Morpho's eyes soon was replaced by frustration.
The wolf made a reasonable decision.
As a wild beast that used to live in nature, it knew that not every fight needed to be taken.
Oftentimes it was better to simply escape once the situation didn't go in your favor.
Cyril stretched and suddenly froze.
He walked towards a puddle nearby, created by some mage in the chaos previously.
Cyril crouched beside it and looked at the young man reflected within.
He had refined face, cold blue eyes, and blond hair, from which grew a conspicuous pair of golden fluffy bunny ears.
They created a peculiar contrast with his usual unapproachable image.
"..."
Morpho landed on the grass near him, carefully taking in his new look. Immediately her antennae began frequently twitching, as a feeling of pure joy emanated from her. It almost felt like a human laughing.
The bunny ears twitched.
He absentmindedly touched them, feeling their softness.
It's like the real thing...
"In a way, it is the real thing~"
Rhamn proudly appeared in the reflection, hands on her hips.
He sent her a blank look, the bunny ears twitching in complaint.
We saw so many animals. Couldn't you have picked something else?
"Hehe, it's the cutest one, though. I know you agree with me."
Yes, but...
He shook his head and stood up.
Never mind. Get rid of them.
"Oh."
Making a sad face, Rhamn disappeared, and the ears on his head disappeared with her.
Morpho landed on his shoulder, emanating a profound feeling of disappointment.
Ignoring it, he continued on his way.
...
After thoroughly ensuring the shadow wolf was gone, Cyril continued his patrol.
He walked around the zoo for a little while, observing the staff's effort in combating the magic creatures.
Eventually a sight caught his attention.
In the thicket, someone was fighting with an ice bunny.
What a coincidence…
Cyril quietly approached, a frown on his face.
"This must be fate! The universe is telling you my idea was good!"
Whatever you say.
As he approached, Cyril noticed the presence of another person, stealthily spectating the fight behind some bushes.
Once he got a good look, Cyril found out it was a familiar figure writing something down in the notebook while crouching.
He quietly approached unseen behind this person and suddenly said, "Hi," in a quiet voice.
"...!" Rose almost screamed from surprise but prevented herself in time.
When she realized it was Cyril, she made a sigh of relief and interrupted the spell forming in her hand.
"Why would you do that? I could've blown my cover!"
"Sorry," Cyril flatly apologized. "Aren't you going to help them?"
The battle wasn't going too smoothly for the mage fighting the bunny.
Actually, the fight looked to be over already.
A mage from the zoo was lying down on his back with his limbs gradually becoming more frozen. He had a despairing expression, struggling to move his limbs.
The bunny was doing what can only be called an interpretive dance in front of the man, rhythmically jumping from one leg to the other.
Rose made an awkward face at his question and evaded his eyes.
"When I arrived, they were already like that, and it's not my job to save people. I am a visitor here!"
After an awkward second, she sighed and lowered her shoulders in defeat.
"Just don't tell the others, alright?" She avoided his gaze, her voice taking on a morbid tone. "I know it's 'bad,' but I think it's an opportunity to observe these magical creatures beyond what's written in the books."
"A few people might suffer, but it was their job to keep things under control in the first place. It's not my fault they've failed."
"Aren't you curious about these magic creatures? How do they use magic? How do they treat their prey?"
She stared down at the ground, awaiting his reaction.
"Yes, I understand you." Cyril nodded, replying with complete honesty.
"Eh?"
Rose looked at him in surprise, almost forgetting to whisper.
"You don't think this is messed up?"
"It's a very normal curiosity. I have it too. And I have a solution for the current situation."
Rose's surprise was quickly replaced by relief and curiosity.
"What is it?"
Cyril directly got up from the bushes and went towards the battlefield, where the mage was slowly being frozen.
"I'll just take his place. You can research all you want. I will even help if you have anything particular you want to check."
After a brief contemplation, Rose nodded and picked up her notebook again with an eager expression.
"Who are you? Stay away, this magic creature is out of control!" the mage called out in distress upon noticing a student.
The ice bunny stumbled in its dance, almost falling flat to the ground.
When it recovered, the creature stared at Cyril with hostility and bared its little fangs.
"It's so cute~"
Once Cyril approached, the bunny's ear twitched, and above its head appeared an icicle that soon flew out in attack.
Cyril hit it midair with his backhand, destroying the spell with no issue.
Seeing this, the bunny warily jumped away a certain distance.
Cyril thawed the poor man with a fire spell, leaving his back to Morpho.
"Go, I'll deal with this," he said to the mage.
"S-Sure, be careful. This damn thing is slippery!" the man yelled.
He hastily got up from the ground and ran away. This student looked like he could handle this.
The bunny wanted to pursue, but Cyril and Morpho stood in its path, blocking the icicles it sent out.
The magic creature then stomped on the ground in frustration. An almost ready meal escaped just like that!
Cyril took on a fighting stance, warily observing the bunny. Its twitching ears appeared particularly annoying for some reason.
Should be a quick fight.
From what he saw, this beast was less dangerous than the shadow wolf.
...Need to keep my arrogance in check.
He quickly tensed up, his blue eyes focusing even more.
"Then-"
No. Rose is here.
As he shut down her idea without hearing it out,Cyril approached on his own, determined to attack, while Rose continued to write in her notebook with interest.
In the past this creature relied on its natural agility to run away from the opponent, then bombard them with ice-based attacks from afar.
However, now it was facing Cyril and Morpho at the same time.
Cyril could destroy whatever ice bolt was going his way easily enough, and he was quick to boot. The bunny had to spend most of its time escaping.
But there was Morpho as well. This butterfly was even faster than the bunny itself, so there was little the creature could do to win.
Numerous times Cyril had to call Morpho back in order to not end it too soon. There were still plenty of things they wanted to know.
Soon Rose began voicing her ideas for an experiment.
They've tried numerous different things, like using fire on its fur, testing its reaction speed, and the coldest temperature the bunny could output. They also checked its ears in detail.
By the end of it all, the bunny was lying on the ground with its leg twitching occasionally, tired from everything.
Morpho flapped her wings right above in triumph. Another beast bested by the butterfly.
Rose was already standing right in front of the magic creature, no longer writing anything down.
"That's enough, thank you, Cyril!" she said while staring at the twitching leg.
"What will you do about it?"
As an answer, Cyril walked up to the magic creature and grabbed the bunny by the ears, raising it in the air.
The bunny stared at Cyril's face. Its cute white eyes blinked a few times as an ominous premonition grew inside of it.
"Make an ice shield and try to brace for a fall."
With a calm face he started swinging the bunny with greater and greater force.
Rose looked dumbfounded as the bunny turned to a blur, whining incessantly.
Once he gained enough speed, Cyril stopped and, with a twist of his whole body, threw the creature with all of his strength.
Screaming, the magic creature flew all the way somewhere far away from here. It covered quite a distance.
"Is this... alright?" Rose looked at the disappearing white dot with concern.
"Don't worry. The ice bunny will be fine."
Cyril dusted off his hands, his blue eyes shining a bit brighter.
Looking at his refreshed face as if after a nice massage, Rose decided not to think about it anymore.
In a good mood, the two continued their exploration of the zoo.