CHPT 80: Your making a Monster.

Claude could only briefly wonder in horror. Wonder why he was getting EXP for killing humans, he couldn't spend too much time on the topic since he remembered Chadwick was still fighting and Brenda needed help.

He raced down the hill and ran back to the field, littered with dead bodies and gallons of blood.

He used his Element to root the people closest to Chadwick, to the floor. Immediately after, Chadwick sent small and precise bolts of lightning to their heads with shocking accuracy. They hit the floor with steam billowing from their heads like burned out candles.

Claude arrived shortly after, he held his hands open and ready to cut everyone in the area to shreds.

He had to fight with himself to not go and check on Brenda. Unfortunately, he had to deal with the raiders first. Plus, he trusted Frosty was protecting her well.

"I know how this looks....hehe, but I like our chances." Chadwick said in between exhausted heaves.

Claude was impressed with his intense mental fortitude but couldn't express his thoughts. He instead growled menacingly before they both engaged in battle with at least 12 raiders.

***

After 10 minutes, the field was covered in fresh raider corpses and scorch marks from Chadwicks lightning strikes. They both breathed heavily and had cuts all over their bodies from cheap blows and group attacks dealt out by the raiders.

5 raiders cautiously circled them, now aware of their impressive combat skills and Claude's dangerous animalistic nature. Rikah watched the fight unfold with looks of disgust and disappointment for the raiders inability to take out two low ranked Heroes.

"If you sorry pricks don't finish the job, I'm going to have you all for dinner!" She yelled to them, sounding like her real— savage, self again. Hard accent and all.

The message seemed to raise their moral considerably. One of the men hesitated before lunging at the Hero closest to him, Claude.

"AHHHHHH!!!"

Claude sidestepped and grabbed the man by the shoulders. With a snarl, Claude threw the man over to Chadwick.

The Knight caught him by the face and let off a quick bolt of lightning so powerful that bright blue light lit up the surrounding area for a second before he released the raiders face and let him limply hit the floor.

Out of nowhere, another raider attacked Chadwick from behind, deciding to take the opportunity to deal a deadly blow.

"WAI—Ugh!"

BOOM!

Before Claude could intervene, a large mass collided with him and sent him crashing into the grass. Luckily, he was able to mutter one command before losing consciousness.

"Frosty, don't leave Brenda no matter what!"

***

Claude felt the cold tingle of grass on his face once he woke up. He opened his eyes and saw it all around him, it covered the eye that was closest to the floor. The other eye revealed the horrors of reality to him as he looked around.

Straight across from him in the distance, the raiders were removing armor from Ansel's large and lifeless body, they treated him with the same amount of respect as a kid did with a toy they didn't like.

He could smell death all around him, it wasn't like the Tangent though— it was worse. These deaths were fresh— some of them were people he knew.

Due to the lack of noise and smells of fear or sadness, Claude assumed their leader, Chadwick, had fallen. So many people, so many experiences— adventures. They were all swallowed in an instant, reduced to mere painful memories. All the good they could've done, put to an immediate stop, while individuals like the raiders lived on. The idea sickened him even more than killing humans did. It repulsed him.

"[Claude, you need to get up. Take Frosty and run, revenge can be exacted later. Your life is more important. Run!]" Arne said.

Claude ignored him and thought to himself while he weakly laid against the cold grass.

"Raiders....wildmen with no mercy or morals. These living pieces of filth made me do something I thought I'd never do....am I even a Hero anymore? Was I ever a Hero? I'm supposed to be the last of some ancient powerful race and yet, I wasn't strong enough to save a group of true Heroes. I wasn't strong enough to save the people who took me in even though I have nothing. Fucking disappointment. They want to kill me? Fuck it, I want to kill them too....and I'm not going out until I get my revenge!"

He didn't realize it at the time, but while he laid face down in the grass, his body was changing. His senses sharpened and his claws dug deeply into the blood and sweat soaked ground, adrenaline and raw Lupine power coursed through his veins, giving him a tremendous boost of strength.

"I'll kill them!...I'll kill you all!" He roared in his mind as he slowly got up from the ground.

"[Easy Claude, remember your body can only take the transformation so far.]" Arne advised.

Claude ignored him. There was no time for restraint. He already knew first hand how the raiders dealt with restraint— or anything other than immense physical violence. It would be the death of him before his transformation was for surely.

"Aha! The lone survivor! The omega! So unfortunate that you're going to die on your first Night Run." Rikah said.

Claude growled in response, finding it too difficult to speak.

"Not in the talking mood? Well that's no fun. Kill him and take his armor." She said to the five remaining raiders.

The raiders looked at her and nodded in understanding, but once they turned to face Claude again, they couldn't move. None of them had the acute senses of a Lupine, they couldn't smell his overwhelming hatred spewing out of him like lava or hear the powerful pounding of his heart as it pumped blood through him in preparation for absolute violence. All they knew was; what he felt for them was something they've never witnessed. It terrified them.

"Hello? I said kill him!" Rikah yelled. The raiders stayed silent.

"You useless apes! Morvan, kill him!" Rikah ordered.

"Your wish is my command, my Queen." Her giant bodyguard said before turning and stomping towards Claude. The weight of his steps made the mushy grass deepen beneath him like sludge. He loudly cracked his knuckles and neck as he approached.

Claude stretched his fingers and rolled his shoulders but made no attempt to get into a fighting stance. He only growled quietly and waited for Morvan.

Morvan stopped in front of Claude's face, he looked down at him angrily while his tensed tribal marked arms hung down at his sides.

"Your eyes don't scare me, boy." He said. His breath reeked of alcohol and raw meat.

Morvan was angered by Claude's lack of fear. Due to his size and intimidating looks, he was used to shaking up the people in any area he went to. The only people that didn't feel fear around him were chieftains and raiders who've seen too much death in one lifetime.

Seeing a man so young looking at him with such a look pissed him off and made him feel weak.

He used Claude's relaxed stance to his advantage and swung at him in an attempt to end it before it ever started.

Swoo!!

Claude ducked and lunged sideways while letting his claws slide across Morvan's wide torso.

Shrip!!

Morvan backed away and looked down at his side, he touched his wound before licking the blood off his finger. "Not bad. But not good enough." He said before charging in and swinging in every direction.

His speed and power was incredible for his size and would easily decimate any low ranked Hero. With every near miss, Claude felt the massive gusts of wind he was generating. Coincidentally, the wind all around them picked up, moving the smells of blood, death and fear in every which way.

After Morvan spent about a minute unleashing blow after blow, he stood in the grass heaving and leaking blood from everywhere.

Nobody noticed it at the time, but with every missed attack, Claude slashed at one of Morvan's openings, he moved so fast that the blood was only now beginning to leak.

Claude stood across from him with blood dripping from his hands. Morvan looked down at his body and noticed all the deep cuts and lacerations plaguing his chest and arms.

"You pesky bastard!" Morvan yelled and charged him again. This time, a hideous brown colored Aura surrounded his fists.

Woo!!

Claude easily sidestepped Morvan's slow and weak jab. From his position, his eyes fell on Chadwicks beaten and broken body in the grass, his brown eyes looked up at the night sky indifferently.

Something wild and dark burst to life inside of Claude, it flooded his mind and body like venom.

"RAGH!"

SQSH!

He turned and sent his hand into Morvan's face at inhuman speeds. His clawed fingers sunk into Morvan's eyes and mouth, gripping his head like a flesh covered bowling ball. The pain of seeing Chadwick dead and the empty satisfaction/anger of killing Morvan caused his Lupine form to slowly begin to fight for dominance with his weaker human form.

The raiders behind Morvan didn't understand what was happening until he slammed Morvan's head into the ground with a sickening crunch.

At the same time, a bolt of lightning lit up the sky. The streak of white crashed into the ground somewhere behind him, with it came a light drizzle of cold rain. The raiders shivered and watched Claude. He sat on one knee with his hand shoved into Morvan's face in a gruesome and unnatural manner.

His transformation continued to grow and spread across his body with welcoming tingles and dull aches.

He could feel the hairs sprouting from his arms and lower legs. He removed his hand from Morvan's face and stood up to look at the rest of the raiders.

Rikah looked at him with complete disbelief and lack of understanding.

Due to the darkness and rain, all they saw was Morvan on the ground and Claude's bright green eyes looking at them with unfathomable disdain. The sight wasn't at all as terrifying as it could be, until the lightning struck.

With it came a quick flash of light that brightened the sky and made Claude's haunting appearance visible to everyone.

"AHH!!"....."What the fuck is that?!"

"What's wrong with him!?"

The raiders shrieked and panicked in unison.

The sides of Claude's face and eyes were completely covered in shiny black fur that collected the rain in tiny clear droplets and his—now fur covered, ears gained a devilish point.

Claude watched their reactions and inhaled deeply. The electrifying smell of their fear sent warm and exciting tingles running down his back and through his legs, he felt like he already won. He could feel the direct effect the smell was having on him— on his muscles.

The pain that the transformation brought with it wasn't as intense as the last time, but he could still feel the tugging of his bones and burning of his skin. None of it mattered. At this point he felt like he'd do anything to avenge every Hero that died on the field.

But right now there was only one thing to do.

He leaned forward and roared at the top of his lungs. Thunder struck in unison with the vocalization of his hatred, making it seem like he shook the earth and skies.

The raiders faces went pale and their knees shook until they couldn't take anymore and fled. They had no fight in them at all.

Claude watched them all run mindlessly, screaming for help and pushing off of each other to try and get ahead— get away from the monster that silently waited and watched them.

Right when he was about to give in to the chase, he heard someone cough among the number of dead bodies. The cough was weak— so weak that a normal person wouldn't have heard it.

He looked in the direction of the sound and found himself staring at Brenda, she laid still in the grass with her radiant face pointed towards the sky. The rain soaked her hair and made it stick to the sides of her face— but if did nothing to take away from it's heavenly glow. A heavenly glow that was fading with every drop of blood she continued to lose.

Before he knew it, he was standing right above her, he didn't even remember moving.