CHPT 182: Apparition.

The setting sun watching over the training field fell down deeper behind the gothic walls of the University. And with it, the battle came closer and closer to a close.

Ursula and Alessia being the first to contribute to the conclusion setting over the battle much like the evening sun over the cloudless sky.

With the Berserker's empowering rage came her invulnerability, and madness, allowing her to power through the Tank's icy blows and bring her crashing into the shaded ground below.

Next came Maris. Her never before seen unorthodox fighting style was unable to be followed by Zach's trained eyes and resulted in him withstanding dozens of cuts and slashes. In combination with the way she pulled the blood from his wounds, Zach was defeated. And Maris became aware of a strange power she didn't fully understand.

She left the fight to join her teammate, now sapped of mana and oblivious to Prof. Raizen's eyes following her every movement with keen interest.

Claude's team advantage was solidified when his PitWolf Companion, Frosty, subdued the black wildcat Midnight and forced the feline to be consumed and frozen by fear.

In spite of all this, it still felt…..off.

***

Claude pulled from the reserves of his incredible stamina, slowly tiring Stacy— who proved to be a talented high speed sword fighter, while he kept frequent tabs on Maris, Isaac and Warren who still faced off against Chase. Despite Stacy's speed, he'd fought at a much faster pace in the infested wilds of SkyHaven, so multitasking was easily done.

"RAGH!" Stacy let out an animalistic snarl and swung madly, aiming to cut across Claude's chest.

Clang!

Claude raised his sword in a two handed grip, blocking the blow and feeling the power behind her strike reverberate through his wrists, elbows and up to his shoulders.

Her eyes flared bright like the sun as she snarled in his face. In one fluid motion, she took a hand off her sword and raked at his stomach.

Swip!

Claude leaned into her to move his stomaching of range from her claws only for her to keep her momentum from the missed blow and swinging her hand up to swipe at his face.

FWO-

"Nice try." Claude growled after blocking her hand from reaching his face.

She pushed against his arm with all her strength a few times only to realize his strength vastly overpowered her own.

"Hgh!" She made a choked sound after Claude's free hand pushed hers out of the way and gripped onto her throat tightly.

"Alright that's one out." Claude thought before trying to toss the snarling cat eyed female off the course.

He was sure his win was certified when she dropped her sword to the ground below. But instead of admitting defeat, she used her now free hands to rip at his face with her sharp claws.

"RAHGRRRAR!" She snarled madly while she swiped at his face, completely ignoring how his hand was strongly gripping her throat.

"ACK!" Claude roared in pain before pushing her away to stop his face from being torn to shreds.

Stacy stumbled backwards a few steps before rolling into a back handspring to create more space and regain her balance.

Claude stumbled away before coming to a stop and feeling the three lines of red now painfully present on his cheeks.

After resettling into his fighting stance and facing her, he noticed her appearance took on a slightly different level of ferocity.

Her face was twisted into an angry snarl, baring her teeth and bright yellow eyes— a face Claude made often. Only, behind her slitted golden eyes, bright blue bolts of lightning zipped across the bright yellow seas of her irises.

In seconds, he noticed twisting coils of lightning loudly crackle to life around her hands and claws like blinding white barbed wire.

"[It seems the pretty girl has a rather…..unpleasant side.]" Arne commented.

"Unpleasant as hell….damn cat claws." Claude growled as he wiped the blood dripping from his face before attacking.

Woo!

He ran across the stone path at high speeds with his blade held in front of his face along with his free hand tipped by thick white claws.

He reached her in seconds and prepared to attack.

"RA—"

"ARGH!"

ZSHSSHSH!

Halfway through his shift in stance to go from running to swinging, Stacy swung her clawed hands shrouded in lightning in his direction.

The coiling wires of lightning that surrounded her arms stretched like lively whips that fastened around Claude, shocking him frozen into place.

"Lightning Whips….an Elemental Spell my mother gave me on my birthday." Stacy said poshly while Claude thrashed and snarled against the shocking hold of the whips.

"Spo—…Spoiled….fuckin…g…bastards!" Claude growled as the zapping pain of the lightning barbs threatened to force his mind and body into a Lupine state of ferocity.

Time slowed and the sounds of the students below faded to a hushed whisper at the back of his mind as the familiar pain triggered an unwanted memory.

"Don't tell me you're hiding, Claude! Monsters don't hide, THEY HUNT!" He remembered Detective Cyrene yelling chaotically to him from her blood red den of chaos in the forest.

He remembered everything. The scent of blood, the moon's burning rays, the pain of the red lightning. The way it pushed him to change.

In response to the memory, his heart rate skyrocketed causing the ominous beginnings of his transformation to come to life.

Beneath his armor, his veins bulged and went black while his canines lengthened and the white claws at the ends of his fingers started to fade to an oily black.

"rrr…RRrr." Claude groaned with the bubbling growth of his muscles that tightened the fit of his armor while the lightning continued to remind him of his past traumas and loosen the grips on his control.

"[Claude! Hey! Remember where you are! Ursula could be watching!]" Arne yelled into his mind, bringing him back to reality and out of the dark recesses of his mind.

I'm a chaotic burst of student voices and the clashing of metal, he was aware of his surroundings again, slowly feeling his control continuing to loosen.

"[Stay relaxed, and think. She's coming.]" Arne instructed.

Claude looked across the field at Stacy and saw her heading for him, moving low to the ground with an arrogant smile on her face.

"Ok….breathe." He told himself before closing his eyes and trying not to move against the painful whips.

Slowly, his muscles stopped their bubbling growth and his claws retained their white color— now shrouded in the signature color of his mana.

"Think…think! How do I get out of this…" He thought while Stacy inched closer like a hungry lioness in pursuit of a gazelle.

1 second….closer….2 seconds…closer…3…She was in striking distance.

Claude was ready to try and break it using brute strength when he suddenly felt a domineering presence take place on the Course, making Ronin's presence pale in comparison.

"RrrRR….ThEy CaNNot!….ResTraiN THe….UNBOUND!…gr…StOP HeSiTaTinG wwWith…my PoweRrrgr…" Fenrir's incredibly deep and unnatural voice echoed from within his mind.

Stacy raised her clawed hand, preparing to slash at his face and knock him off the course while he was frozen by her whips.

"Got y—"

FWSH!

She was prepared to attack when Claude suddenly exploded with verdant energy followed by a godlike howl that shook the entire field and reduced her lightning whips to nothing.

In her stunned state she froze. After noticing that she stopped her pursuit, she quickly panicked and tried to continue her attack only to realize she couldn't move.

"Wh—…..what thhe hell?" She spat after looking down and noticing the vines and roots that rose from the ground below and coiled around the path like snakes to reach her.

Ck!….Ck!

She used her sword to try and cut them loose only for another collection of vines to take its place and continue its climb up her legs and waist, slowly becoming a natural tomb that threatened to swallow her whole.

Claude stood across from her sweating profusely and shaking every now and then from the continued exposure to her lightning.

"How did you get out?! Only mid level Tanks and Knights should be able to do that at my level!" Stacy hissed while she fought against the natural binds that now held her arms at her sides.

"That's a secret I don't plan on sharing with you." Claude replied before lunging at her and delivering a left hook to her jaw that immediately put her to sleep.

Woo!

CRACK!

Before she could fall, the vines grew and tightened, holding her in a standing position while blood leaked from her mouth and fell down to the students feet below.

Claude looked past his defeated opponent, taking in how the battle transpired since he last checked.

Maris and Isaac recently finished the Tank who laid in the grass beneath leaking blood from the numerous cuts dealt to his legs and arms.

A few pathways closer to Claude. Warren lay on his back in the center path with Chase sitting at the edge of it nearby, swinging his legs that hung over while flipping an arrow between his fingers like a drumstick. He was waiting— as if he wasn't the last man standing on his team.

"That was an impressive ending. Something tells me Fenrir helped you towards the end there." Chase said knowingly. "That's good…..very good. Because Cernunnos will be helping me today as well."

"Is that right?" Claude asked as he slipped past Stacy and beckoned Frosty to release the cat and follow.

Chase's eyes glimmered with excitement as he jumped to his feet, "Of course it is. Now are you ready to face me?"

FWOOSH!

Before Claude could answer, a giant flash of red energy and shining armor explosively skidded to a halt where Chase previously stood.

Isaac's trademark explosively fast (Shoulder Charge) just barely missed Chase, who expertly jumped away.

"Your forgetting you won't just be facing Claude, noodle arms." He said before placing himself between Chase and Warren and raising his shield that was enveloped in his deep red Aura.

"Your arms are quite noodle-like.." Maris said from behind Chade while she eyed them as if they were something she'd never seen before.

"They get the job done. And I will just be facing Claude, you two aren't my rivals." Chase said while he continued to watch Claude.

WOOSH!

An incredibly powerful gust of wing suddenly swept across the Course, bringing a coldness with it that made the students below shiver.

Even outnumbered as he was, Chase looked completely relaxed— he wasn't even in a combat stance. And Claude soon understood why.

The excited brown eyes that watched Claude like a Hawk suddenly ignited to an airy shade of yellow. Wind collected at his feet like a cyclone, slowly collecting and forming into a matching yellow shade of his mana.

Maris and Isaac stepped back warily.

Chase still didn't pay them any mind, focusing on Claude as the yellow cyclone of mana at his feet began to form and gain shape around his legs like spectral armor….only it wasn't armor.

The yellow Magic climbed up his legs and solidified into something Claude didn't understand. At his feet, thick circles surrounded them while shaggy yellow transparent spectral fur that somehow moved with the wind draped over the odd circles at his feet and climbed up the apparition of animalistic muscular legs coating his own.

From where Claude stood, it looked like he had hooves.

"Claude? What's wrong with your guy man?" Isaac asked in confusion while he faced him with his shield raised fearlessly.

Chase flexed the spectral cloven footed legs that cloaked his own, causing the Course to creak in response to their immense power.

"Try to keep up, Wolfboy!" Chase said before turning and leaping over Maris with inhuman levels of grace and agility.

Fwoo!

"WOAHHHH!!!!" The students roared in awe as Chase landed behind Maris and bounded off towards the flag, moving with an odd sluggishly powerful gait that matched his newly formed legs.

Maris— who was completely unbothered by what Chase had done, took off after him urgently.

Claude and Isaac were stunned for a moment.

"What the hell is that?" Isaac asked from behind his shield.

Claude steeled himself and bounced on his toes lightly before responding, "I have no idea, but if we don't move right now, we'll lose."

"Alright then, let's get going." Isaac said before tossing his shield to move faster.

"Frosty, let's move." Claude said before the three of them took off in pursuit of Chase and his new power.