The force of the fight inside the gorge no longer presented itself as visible motion from the outside, because the wolf king had already been dragged beneath Noctis's control and the remaining pack had been wiped away, yet the battle did not become quiet simply because the lesser wolves were dead. The gorge itself became the witness to what followed as shockwaves rolled outward from deeper within the stone passage in heavy, uneven intervals, each one carrying enough pressure to disturb the snow piled along the ledges and send fine white curtains sliding down the dark, frost-coated walls. The impacts did not sound like blade strikes or energy blasts anymore. They were lower, denser, and more physical, the kind of force that traveled through the ground before it traveled through the air, causing the ice beneath the snow to creak and the broken stones scattered across the gorge floor to rattle in place.
Each wave was followed by the harsh metallic strain of crimson chains being pulled taut, their links grinding against one another as the Ice Thunder Wolf King resisted again and again despite already being restrained. At first, its sounds were still those of rage, deep growls forced through a jaw bound shut by blood-forged chains, but as the impacts continued and Noctis applied controlled force without giving the beast enough time to regain momentum, those sounds began to lose their authority. The growls became strained. The strained sounds became lower. Eventually, beneath the chain rattling and the shaking stone, there came a sound that no king of the gorge would ever willingly allow its pack to hear, a doglike whimper dragged out through exhaustion, pain, and the humiliating realization that raw resistance had stopped mattering.
Noctis did not strike to kill. That distinction mattered, because every blow had been measured to reduce the creature's ability to resist without damaging the parts he needed intact. He had already decided the wolf king would become his familiar, and destroying it would only defeat the purpose of the entire encounter. Even so, controlled force from him was still overwhelming. Each time the wolf king gathered strength and tried to rise, the chains restricted its leverage while Noctis drove it back down with another physical impact, and each time lightning gathered across its fur, the restraints absorbed the surge before it could fully discharge. Frost spread beneath its paws in desperate bursts, trying to lock the chains in ice and make them brittle, but the crimson links pulsed with his energy and tightened again, denying the attempt before it could matter.
The sequence continued long enough that the gorge settled into a rhythm of suppression rather than combat. The wolf king would tense, gather energy, twist its body, and attempt to pull free, only for Noctis to answer with another grounded blow that forced the strength out of it before it could complete the motion. Snow slid down from the ledges with each heavier impact, and the air filled with powder that drifted around them like mist before being disturbed again by the next shockwave. The stone wall that had already been cracked from the wolf king's earlier collision widened its fracture lines under the repeated pressure, and the ground beneath the beast became increasingly compacted until its body had carved a shallow depression into the frozen surface.
The final impact that ended the exchange did not arrive as a wild finishing blow but as the inevitable result of accumulated suppression. The wolf king had tried once more to rise, drawing the last of its strength into its limbs while blue-white lightning surged along its spine, but the chains pulled its legs apart just enough to break the posture it needed, and Noctis drove it down before the lightning could become movement. The force entered through the wolf king's body and into the ground beneath it, producing a deep thud that traveled through the gorge floor and sent a final vibration outward along the stone. After that, the chains no longer rattled with the same violence. They remained tight, but the resistance inside them weakened. The wolf king's chest rose and fell heavily, and its claws scraped once against the snow without finding the strength to push.
When the disturbed snow thinned enough to reveal the scene clearly, the Ice Thunder Wolf King lay pressed low against the ground, still wrapped in crimson chains across its limbs, torso, neck, and sealed jaws. Its once majestic fur remained jagged and frost-laden, but much of its electrical aura had become unstable, flickering in broken strands rather than flowing through controlled circuits. The three-meter cold domain around it still existed, but it had shrunk and become inconsistent, freezing patches of snow in uneven pulses rather than spreading with sovereign certainty. Its eyes remained open, bright with hatred and humiliation, but its body had been forced into exhaustion.
Noctis sat on its back as if the outcome had never been in question. He was not leaning forward or bracing himself against the creature's attempts to rise. His posture was relaxed, almost casual, his weight settled in the center of its body where it could not easily throw him off even if it regained strength. His right foot rested on the wolf king's head, pressing it down with steady control rather than repeated stomping, and that was worse for the beast than another strike would have been. A blow could be resisted. Pain could be endured. This position declared something far more absolute. It said that the ruler of the gorge had been reduced to a seat and a footrest, and no amount of pride could change the fact that it was too weak to lift its head.
Noctis activated Omni Eyes while remaining in place, allowing the information to appear over the wolf king's body, and his gaze moved across the displayed status with calm evaluation. Its health had fallen to three percent. Its stamina had been nearly emptied. Its magic output was unstable, still present but unable to gather into a proper release due to both exhaustion and the suppression of the chains. He looked at the number for a moment and gave a quiet nod, not pleased in a cruel sense, but satisfied that he had brought it low enough for the taming process without pushing it into actual death.
"You're at three percent," he said, his voice steady as he looked down at the wolf king beneath him. "That is low enough. You are still alive, and you are still aware, so do not act like I did not hold back."
The wolf king's body tensed beneath him, and a faint current of lightning crawled across its shoulder, but the surge failed to travel far before the chains absorbed it. The beast's eyes rolled slightly toward him, unable to turn its head properly beneath his foot, and the resentment in its gaze was obvious enough that he did not need a telepathic bond to interpret it.
Noctis exhaled through his nose. "You should have taken the chance to follow me earlier," he said, still pressing his foot down against its head. "I offered you a cleaner path. You refused, and now you are suffering this much because you decided to fight until your body could not keep up."
The words came out naturally, but as soon as they did, something about them struck him strangely. He remained seated for a moment, looking down at the defeated wolf king while replaying what he had just said, and the longer he thought about it, the more awkward the tone became in his own ears. He had intended to state the facts. The wolf king had refused, fought, lost, and now would be tamed in a weakened state. That part was true. The problem was that the phrasing made him sound far worse than he intended.
His brows slowly drew together. "Wait," he muttered, more to himself than to the beast. "Did I really just say that?"
The wolf king continued glaring up at him.
Noctis stared back for a moment, then looked slightly away as the realization became clearer. "Is this what a villain sounds like?" he thought, and the more he considered it, the more the comparison grew uncomfortable. "I sound like a loan shark or some back-alley gangster who beats up a store owner for protection money and then says, 'You should have paid earlier, now look what you made me do.'"
The image settled in his mind with such ridiculous clarity that the entire atmosphere shifted for him. He was still sitting on the back of a chained, half-conscious evolved wolf king after slaughtering its pack, with one foot pressing down on its head while explaining how its suffering could have been avoided if it had listened. There was no graceful way to interpret that scene from the outside. Even if his objective was taming rather than cruelty, the presentation had become undeniably villainous.
He looked down at the wolf king again and felt the awkwardness increase.
"…This was on a whim too," he muttered. "I did not even plan the speech. It just came out like that."
The wolf king's eyes narrowed, though whether from hatred or confusion was difficult to tell.
Noctis coughed once into his fist, using the motion to reset the moment. "Alright," he said, shifting his weight as he removed his foot from the wolf king's head and hopped down from its back, landing beside it in the snow. "Let's pretend I did not say that like some third-rate villain collecting overdue debt."
The wolf king tried to lift its head the moment the pressure was removed, but the chains tightened across its neck and jaw, forcing it low again before it could regain dignity. Noctis watched the attempt and shook his head slightly, not mocking it, but recognizing that its pride had still not died even with its body on the edge of collapse.
He crouched in front of it and met its gaze directly. "Listen," he said, this time choosing his words more carefully. "I still meant what I said earlier. I am not here to kill you. If killing you was the point, you would already be dead."
The wolf king's breathing remained heavy, and the faint growl in its throat vibrated against the chain sealing its mouth.
"You hate me," Noctis continued. "That is obvious. I killed your pack, broke your territory, chained you, beat you down, and now I am standing here telling you to follow me. I understand how that looks from your side."
He paused only long enough to let the words settle, not as a dramatic silence but because he was actually considering the creature's position. It was not wrong to hate him. It had ruled this place. It had lived comfortably as the strongest creature in the gorge. Then he arrived, tore apart its pack, shattered its authority, and demanded submission. From its perspective, there was no noble offer here. There was only defeat.
Noctis sighed softly. "Still, I need you," he said. "You are strong, you have good instincts, and your evolution potential is worth taking seriously. I want you as my companion, not as a corpse."
The wolf king's eyes shifted again, anger still there, but the word companion caused a faint reaction. It did not accept the word, but it heard it.
"Since you are weakened," Noctis said, straightening slightly, "it will be easier to tame you now."
The beast's body tensed again, and the chains rattled faintly as it tried to pull back, but it no longer had the strength to move away.
Noctis stepped closer and placed his palm against the wolf king's forehead, directly between its eyes. The fur beneath his hand was cold enough that ordinary flesh would have numbed immediately, but his blood armor and internal energy made the sensation harmless. The wolf king's eyes widened slightly at the contact, not because of pain, but because it understood that the next stage was beginning and could no longer prevent it.
"Beast Tame," Noctis said.
The skill activated through his hand as crimson energy gathered in his palm and began flowing into the wolf king's forehead. It did not invade violently. It moved like a binding current, testing the creature's remaining resistance, searching for the spiritual point where dominance and survival met. The wolf king resisted at first, its eyes sharpening as its will pushed against the incoming energy, and for a few moments the crimson glow flickered unevenly as its pride refused the bond even while its body lacked the strength to break it.
Noctis did not increase the pressure recklessly. He maintained the flow and let the skill work. The wolf king's resistance was not meaningless, but resistance required strength, and strength had been spent. Its health was too low, its stamina nearly gone, and its magic output unstable. The chains restrained its body while the taming skill pressed against its will, and eventually that will could no longer reject the bond completely.
The wolf king closed its eyes.
Not peacefully.
Not willingly.
But in defeat.
The crimson light stabilized beneath Noctis's palm and condensed into lines that began etching themselves into the fur and skin beneath, forming a rune across the wolf king's forehead. The pattern grew slowly, each line connecting to the next with deliberate precision, and as the rune completed its structure, a pulse passed through the chains, the wolf king's body, and Noctis's hand at the same time. The bond locked into place.
Noctis removed his hand and looked at the mark with satisfaction. "There," he said. "All done."
The wolf king opened its eyes again. The hatred had not vanished. It remained, quieter now but still present, beneath the new restraint of the taming rune. Its gaze carried resentment, exhaustion, and an unwilling awareness that the relationship between them had changed. It had not become loyal in heart. It had not suddenly admired him. But the mark on its forehead established the truth that its body and existence now belonged to his command.
Noctis crouched again, looking into its eyes. "From now on, you are my second companion."
The wolf king stared at him without lowering its gaze.
Noctis gave a faint smile. "You can resent me for now. I expected that."
The beast's eyes narrowed.
"But you will understand later," he continued. "Or you will not. Either way, you are coming with me."
The wolf king produced a low sound through its sealed jaws, but it lacked the force to become a true growl.
Noctis stood and looked over its body once more through Omni Eyes. The taming had succeeded, but its condition remained poor. Three percent health was enough for survival under restraint, not enough for usefulness. Its energy was damaged, its body bruised from the beating, and the earlier confidence of the Ice Thunder Wolf King had been crushed into exhaustion. If he left it like this, it would take time to recover naturally, and time was unnecessary when he already knew what his blood could do.
"Now we heal you," Noctis said. "And after that, we evolve you."
The wolf king's reaction was immediate despite its weakened state. Its ears twitched under the chains, and its eyes sharpened with a mixture of disbelief and suspicion. The concept of evolution reached it more deeply than the concept of servitude had. It had refused his offer before because its hatred outweighed ambition, but ambition had not vanished. It had only been buried under defeat.
Noctis noticed the change and chuckled softly. "That got your attention again."
The wolf king stared at him.
"Yes," Noctis said. "Evolution. Now."
The beast's gaze flickered with confusion, and through the newly established bond, Noctis sensed the rough shape of its thought, not as words but as instinctive meaning. Evolution now? After being beaten, chained, and marked? The idea did not fit the order of things it understood. Evolution was something earned through time, territory, bloodline, and survival. It was not supposed to be offered immediately by the same being who had just broken it.
Noctis lifted his left hand and extended the forefinger of his other hand, forming a small edge of blood energy along the nail before drawing it across his palm. The cut opened cleanly, and blood welled up immediately, thick, bright, and dense with power. It was not ordinary blood. Even before it touched the wolf king, the creature sensed the difference. Its eyes fixed on the wound, and its breathing shifted. The blood carried the same aura that had formed the chains, the weapons, and the mark now bound to its forehead, but in a purer, deeper state.
Noctis lowered his bleeding palm and placed it over the rune.
The wolf king's body stiffened.
The blood did not drip down its fur. It was drawn directly into the rune, absorbed as if the mark itself had become thirsty. Crimson light spread from the point of contact, first filling the rune, then pushing outward along thin lines that extended over the wolf king's head. The lines moved across its fur like living threads, tracing beneath the jagged spines and around the base of its ears before descending along the neck where the chains still held it in place.
The wolf king's eyes widened as the energy entered deeper.
Healing came first. The bruising beneath its fur began to reverse. Torn muscle fibers reconnected. Cracked bones sealed. The instability in its lightning output steadied slightly as the blood fed into its body. Its breathing grew stronger, though still restrained by the chain across its jaw. The frost domain around it, which had shrunk and flickered, began to regain consistency as the crimson network spread farther across its body.
But healing was not the only effect.
The rune expanded again.
The crimson lines that had first appeared as a taming mark began to branch across the wolf king's body in a full-body network, moving along its shoulders, spine, torso, and limbs until the entire creature was overlaid by a structured pattern of pulsing red light. Those lines did not erase its frost and lightning nature. They wrapped around it, interacted with it, and began forcing it into alignment with Noctis's blood. Blue-white electricity clashed briefly against crimson energy where the pathways met, but instead of rejecting each other, they began to synchronize in uneven pulses.
Noctis kept his palm in place and watched carefully.
The wolf king trembled beneath the chains, no longer from resistance alone but from the strain of transformation beginning inside its body. Its claws dug into the ground as muscles shifted and energy pathways widened. The jagged fur along its spine lifted higher, and frost began spreading outward again, this time mixed with faint crimson veins beneath the ice. The wolf king's eyes remained open, locked on Noctis with a look that was no longer simple hatred. There was still resentment, but now there was also shock.
Noctis smiled faintly. "I told you. You should have listened earlier."
The moment he said it, he caught himself again and sighed.
"…No, that still sounds bad."
The wolf king stared at him.
Noctis cleared his throat and corrected himself. "What I mean is, this is the kind of future I was offering."
The crimson network pulsed brighter.
The chains tightened just enough to prevent the wolf king from thrashing as the transformation deepened, and the energy flowing from Noctis's blood continued to feed the rune until the entire body of the Ice Thunder Wolf King became covered in interlocking crimson markings that glowed beneath the frost and lightning of its original nature.
The taming was complete.
The healing had begun.
And the evolution was now unavoidable.