CHPT 131: Too Late

As Claude lay against the cold stone wall, new cords of muscle grew and intertwined with his already muscled physique, giving him access to a new amount of speed and power that his body felt he needed to deal with the threat inside the cave.

His skin was pulled tightly as his muscles continued to grow and harden like armor. All while this was happening a thin layer of incredibly dark black hair sprouted from every surface of his body and his canines grew so long that one pricked his lip.

He'd experienced this stage of his Lupine transformation before, back when Rikah revealed her true colors— back when he killed so many people that the newspaper assumed a wild monster ripped them to pieces instead of a 15 year old student.

The transformation even ended the same with his ears increasing in sensitivity and lengthening until they emerged from his deep black hair like an elf's.

He was only out for a couple minutes when the sound of the Nest Mothers hauntingly human screams woke him.

His eyes shot open, shining so brightly that the darkness a few feet in front of him was bathed in a verdant glow. It didn't take long to realize he could see perfectly in the dark cave. In fact, the burning roots near the Nest Mother and his team were so bright they hurt his eyes.

"Rrrgr..." he raised his hand to shield his eyes from the light and realized he growled in a voice much deeper than his own.

"[Im sorry I didn't tell you earlier Claude, since we're so close to the Full Moon you're going to be able to access more of your Lupine form. But this is good, you need to use this power to help your friends.]" Arne said.

"I can't let them see me like this." Claude responded in his mind since speech was difficult.

"[Then pull some of it back. Remember, our kind has the ability to will the change— we can also do the opposite. As a Potential, your innate skills should allow you to do this easier than others.]" Arne said.

Claude grunted in understanding, right when he was about to start working at reversing some of the transformation, he found himself looking at the cave entrance. A low growl rolled out of his throat as he saw Det. Cyrene staring in his direction with her silver sword drawn and a look of focused insanity on her face. Panic washed over him and pushed the progression of his change into overdrive.

"Ack!" He bent over in pain as the familiar feeling of his bones extending and skin burning washed over him.

"[Claude, relax! She can't see you. Remember your senses are sharper than hers. All she can see are your eyes. The only thing you have to do is get rid of your claws and always move in the light, then she won't notice much difference.]" Arne told him.

Eventually Claude relaxed. He closed his eyes and listened to Arne under the sounds of his team fighting the Boss. From the sound of it, he needed to move fast.

Arne guided his thoughts to his older memories when he was a lot happier— less riddled with hatred and anxiety, and slowly he calmed down. In response, his long black claws shrunk and turned back to the white claws he gained when he used, (Beast Trait). As soon as his canines followed suit, he was able to talk and decided that was enough, it was time to fight.

Once he was on his feet, he realized he was taller— not by much but he could feel the difference. He brushed it off and felt around his gut to assess how bad of a condition he was in.

"Ss! Fuck!" He hissed as he touched what he assumed was a large bruise forming on his midsection.

"Fuck it." He said before straightening his posture and beginning to head towards his team and the Boss.

Clk...clk...clk!

He stopped as an odd cracking or scratching sound grabbed his attention. It was behind him, coming from the stone wall.

"What is that?"

Crash!

Right after he questioned the sound, a large hole in the wall broke open in a loud crumbling mess. The first thing he noticed afterward was the cruel dark purple light that emanated from it accompanied by the unsettling scent of Lupines of Remus.

Before he could look inside the hole, a large horde of badly beaten and burned Ratmen came running through it. Spots of their fur were completely gone while others still had purple flames scorching them like they just were dragged through a much darker rendition of hell.

In their mindless charge, he realized they were heading straight for his team. His team realized it too, confused on which enemy to face and in complete fear of their lives.

Claude was moving instantly, he attempted to yell no but all that came out was a humanoid roar that had Det. Cyrene stepping deeper into the cave. He didn't care, he'd deal with her after if he had to.

He reached the horde of tortured Ratmen in seconds, using his claws to open throats and grab ahold of their spines as he ran them down from behind. He was fast and killed at least eight, but one was still able to reach them.

He watched in horror as it reached Ursula.

RSSKSK!

Chnk!

He was relieved after seeing her axe split its skull as it fell to the ground.

"Claude, you alright?" She yelled over to him as she looked from him to the Boss.

"I'm fine. I'll deal with the new ones, just hold off the Boss until then." Claude responded while he tried to stick to the shadows and hide his pointed ears.

He turned around just in time to see 5 more Ratmen running towards him, behind them on the cave on the other side of the hole, he could see the twins fighting off a few on their own. Samuel unleashed his powerful dark flames on the Ratmen and watched with a wicked sneer as they ran off on fire.

"You fucking idiots." Claude growled as he ran to intercept the Ratmen running away from the twins.

He was on the first Ratman instantly, shoving his clawed fingers into its face. His claws ripped through its eyes and reached its brain— killing it immediately. He then used the holes in its face as a handle and swung the dead Ratman at the next one, slamming its head into the dirt before he stomped its skull into a flattened bloody mess.

He slowly let his instincts take over as he continued to fight them off.

***

After killing the last escaped Ratman, he came back to his senses, quickly realizing that Frosty had joined him in the fight.

It didn't take him long to notice the smell of fear inside the cave was stronger than usual. He spun around and saw his team sprawled out across the cave. The Ratman stood near its pedestal surrounded by the lights of the burning roots. The flames illuminated all of its ghastly cuts and burns as well as the many arrows in its shoulders and back. Most importantly, it showed who it was holding.

Ursula was suspended in the air by one of the Nest Mothers arms that gripped her neck firmly. They were both in terrible shape but the Boss looked ready to finish the job.

Time slowed as adrenaline filled every crevice of his insides. With Det. Cyrene at the back of his mind, he fought off his hate-filled Lupine instincts and raised his hand. Green energy flowed off his fingers like smoke as the flaming roots surrounding it shot out of the ground and climbed the Nest Mother's legs and arms.

"AAAAAARRRSKSKS!" The Boss roared in pain and dropped Ursula as natural flaming binds twisted around its limbs and ignited its fur.

"RrGrrr..." Claude couldn't help but growl in satisfaction as he tightened the binds before taking off towards his teammates.

***

Warren looked up in response to the sound of footsteps just in time to see a large black mass with wild green eyes and claws reaching out for him.

"AH!" Warren flinched in fear only to feel a light tug as his dagger was taken from his hand. He opened his eyes and saw Claude running off towards the Boss with his dagger in his left hand.

"The hell?" He thought.

***

As Claude ran towards the screaming Boss, he let the Detective's Class further transform him until his black claws returned and his limbs increased with power to the point that he was moving in the darkness as a blur.

He reached the Boss in seconds and leapt into the air. He cleared 20ft with ease— leaping over Ursula, and sent his hand into the Nest Mother's open mouth. It's screams and snarls were cut short as his hand shot through the back of its neck violently.

Crsh!

The Nest Mother broke free of the binds on its left arm and sunk its claws into his side in a panic to free itself.

"ARRGH!" Claude roared in pain as he placed the dagger into the Nest Mother's mouth. As soon as it was placed, it tried to bite down on his arm with its powerful jaws only to be stabbed by the dagger.

"Yea you like that?!" Claude yelled as the Nest Mothers claws continued to rake his side.

The next part of his plan happened too fast for anyone to notice.

Claude forced his arm further into the Nest Mothers mouth and brought his arm up until the back of the Nest Mother's muscled head was in his palm.

The Boss seemed to understand its end was coming and started shaking and thrashing against the roots violently. To his surprise, it even broke the dagger that held its mouth open— causing its jaws and overgrown teeth to sink into Claude's upper arm.

"ACK!" Claude yelled in pain before using his left hand to steady himself.

The Boss continued to bite on his arm, hoping he would let go but its efforts were futile. Both of them knew it.

Claude looked into the Nest Mothers eyes and felt it shrink in fear as his claws slowly ran against its head.

"Too late." He growled before his right hand that was placed on the back of its head closed down on its skull with a crushing grip that squished its brain into slush.

CRUSH!