CHPT 511: My Nightmare. My…. Lineage?

They ran until they hit the city run down by Monstrocity once more. The craters where he once bound down the streets looked like dinosaur footprints. The wooden tendrils spiraling in and out of the skyscraper a mile ahead looked like wooden snakes working to kill a glass and metal giant.

When the lightning struck he could see the outline of students hiding within buildings. Healing their wounded. He could see Ursula.

They entered the building they hunkered down in. A medical store of sorts. It would've been perfect if it wasn't ransacked and older than dirt. Unconscious students littered the aisles covered in bandaging and healing magics. Students stood guard at the windows, terror plain on their faces from the simple overstimulation of everything. Among them he nodded to Eve and Hector. The Assassin and Beast Tamer.

They traveled until they reached Ursula at the back of the building standing over Isaac and Warren.

"Hey."

Ursula damn near jumped out of her skin as she spun around to hug them both.

"Ahhhh! That took too long." Ursula sighed.

"We had a discussion." Claude explained.

Maris nodded.

Ursula looked between them both. "THE….. discussion?"

"No. We will when this is over."

Ursula smiled faintly as her sweat dripped down her face, "Good—"

"HEY Claude! Get over here!"

Claude spun around to look at the left most side of the room.

Ivory— Chase's older sister, worked diligently at healing a cluster of students.

He jogged over.

"Hey… you're a Healer right? We need all hands on deck. You did good work with that spider venom girl but you made a mistake in not keeping the source."

"What?" Everything felt like it was moving a mile a minute.

"The source. To create an anti-venom?" Ivory pulled out a hide flask that reeked of chemicals.

"Right. I don't know how to do that." Claude admitted.

Ivory pushed up her glasses on her bulbous warted nose, "Fine—fine. The other students that aren't poisoned could use a little boost. Once we get them all squared away we're moving out. Conroy and Stella made a map. We know the way out."

Claude nodded and headed to the students. Uncaring of who watched him sniff over their bodies to detect who was poisoned. Frosty and Loba did the same, stopping at healable students while Diamondback stood guard with the other students.

One by one, he broke the floors and dug until he reached fertile ground to plant his seeds.

After three students he healed them all just from the area of effect. At least all that he could.

Immediately he could hear a chain of whispers spread through the student encampment telling everyone to prepare to move out.

But before that— long before that, a constant thought floated at the back of his mind. This was the perfect place for him to do something….. wrong. So….

"Ursula, where the hell is Samuel and Bengal?"

He looked across the room at her. She just shrugged before picking up Isaac and Warren.

Everyone was ready to move out. Claude found himself at the rear guard— alone due to the numbers and power he and his companions generated. Loba had dropped him his spears beforehand. Life saver.

Life saving. That's what he could do as rear guard. It allowed more students to guard from the front.

They moved in the shadows, going deeper into the city and curling around until they were so close to the beach he could smell the sand.

Monsters scuttled about in the buildings. They weren't the goal. Even as they fed on students friends and family. It felt wrong for them to not be avenged immediately. Directly. It was wrong. But his plate was full.

They just needed to leave.

They exited another alley, spilling out onto the streets. Claude was the last to go— and first to hear a Tangent open.

VWOOMP!

He took a glance at it as he hit the corner, only looking away after the smell of Enemy Lupines filled his nose.

Across the street from the other alley came three Lupines. Three.

Samuel….

Bengal…

And another.

The two groups were in such a rush they practically ran into eachother before stopping.

Claude skidded to a halt with his Companions snarling madly.

His voice was caught in his throat. He was caught in the simplest sense. Stunned. Stunned by the randomness of it. Out of all the times it could've happened. Stunned by how long it had been. Yet still so fresh in his mind. Fresh as the full moons first kill.

Stunned by the heat of his soul burning.

Jack smiled with his eyebrows raised as if he was both astonished and on the verge of laughing until his stomach hurt. He stood beside Bengal and Samuel— behind them, like their greasy and equally as disturbed handler.

He brought a hand to his mouth. Slowly— with suspense, his nails shifted into black claws as a throaty laugh escaped his lips.

Time regained normality and the students hushed whispers grew as Ursula spun around and muscled her way through the crowd.

A few of the Glorian first years also froze. They recognized him. Conroy. Drake. Stella.

He didn't even acknowledge them.

The whole encounter lasted all of two seconds.

"Hehehehahahah! ... whew shit. Claude. This is WEIRD….. I didn't notice it before but, you look just like Dol—"

BOOM!

Claude's expanded muscles catapulted him across the street. He tackled Jack, sending them both back into the alleyway they came from. Away from the Tangent. Where the other Lupines of Remus resided. The very thing that allowed Samuel to disappear from New Gloria and end up in The Levant in a month. The very place his father was murdered.

Claude hit the ground with Jack. His laugher made Claude sick.

They bit and clawed at eachother until he kicked off Jack into the brick wall of the alley.

"Haha! You're stronger, kiddo! Thank me! Thank me!"

Claude swung where Jack stood. The Lupine dodged and Claude's fist broke through the wall. A fist hammered into his ribs.

He spun away lashing out with his claws, feeling them rend through skin.

Jack snarled only for Claude to immediately recover and grab a handful of his chest, slamming him into another wall.

He snarled as he transformed, shadows spilled from his extending jaws, forming eyes and fangs.

"Hahahah! What the hell is that?" Jack giggled before Ursula landed with Samuel and Bengal in a glacial smash.

They all rolled into the alley before a fiery purple explosion filled the space.

WSHHH!!!!

The flames died down and Samuel stumbled backwards with a hole in his stomach.

Maris stood at the alley entrance with Conroy, Stella and Chase.

Claude willed his human form back just as Jack punched him square in his jaw.

CRACK!

His head bounced off the wall.

"I see you learned the trick of the shift! Lucky dog…."

He lunged forward to kick Claude only for Claude to catch his leg and throw him further down the alley.

He gave chase with his companions.

Jack exploded to his feet and transformed in a burst of fur, rippling muscle and steam, "ENOUGH!"

A blast of wind followed the stunning shout, bleeding his ears.

Jack leapt over them both, tanking a blast of lightning from Conroy before landing on him.

"I remember you…. Smart ass. Feeling guilty? Trying not to leave the boy a second tim—"

TWIP!

An arrow sunk into the side of his face. Unfortunately his jaw was so strapped with muscle it didn't do much.

A large black cat landed on his back, trying to snap his neck in a flash. Jack shook it off as Stella cut open his back and broke the felines neck with a loud snap.

"NOOOOO!" Stella screamed before grabbing her head and passing out.

Before the cat could hit the ground Claude threw a spear through his chest.

WOOSH!

It bit deep.

He tried to run but Diamondback bit down on his shoulder, slamming him to the floor. From the ground he punched away the Primal, knocking out a handful of its teeth.

"FUCKING—" Claude roared and slammed his spear into the street as he burst out of the alley.

Jack dodged, rolling out of the way again as Ursula leapt over Claude to reach him. He welcomed her charge trying to punch her in the stomach like old times.

THUD!

"Ahh I guess second time ain't a charm, huh?"

Her HellSlayers Aura exploded, aiding in absorbing the punch before she head butted him, getting a startled yelp out of the Lupine.

He rolled with the assault, backwards rolling out of the way before turning on his heels and bolting for the "Tangent" entrance.

"I've overstayed my welcome! Haha! It was nice seeing you Claude….. freaky, but nice. Dolions going to flip!"

Prey Drive pulled them.

Claude stepped into his full power. Using his muscle growth to expand the power output in his legs. Sucking up the Wild Magi—

Jack stepped into the Tangent and it vanished, causing him to burst through the wall in a steaming mess of bricks and blood.

When he opened his eyes he could feel the tears.

Just like that. Out of nowhere, the nightmares— he was reminded they were real. He had him. He had him! He could take the hits. He could do damage. But so could Jack. So could Samuel and Bengal.

[68% HP Remaining]

Ursula pulled him to his feet. "Claude….. we need to get out of here."

"Hey! HEY! Chase yelled as he carried Stella with Conroy, Maris and Goren at his back.

"So Samuel is with them?!?! What do we do with him?"

"We kill them." Claude said.

"No." Conroy muttered.

Maris gripped her blade. She was ready for some infighting.

"He needs to face due process. We can weed out who else in the Leon Family is involved that way." Conroy suggested.

"It's just him." Claude growled.

"Guys!? We're down a man and everyone's leaving! Make a choice. Me personally? Id like to put an arrow between their eyes now."

Maris unsheathed her blade, "I have stuff to work out and this is getting in the way. We do neither." She cut open her arm and manipulated several drops of her blood over to them. Marking them as the most marvelous dinner of all time to the Vampires still populating the skies.

"Casualties." Maris shrugged.

"N—"

Ursula stopped him, "We need to go."

Monsters in the distance roared.

"...FUCK!"