CHPT 545: Fallen Blood

Alpha was an imbecile. An animal given stronger instinct and urge with new thought spurred on by Vampires. His plans were flawed. His actions unjust-- adolescent in their execution. But the StoneApe Shifter wasn't dumb enough to not question Claude-- the same way Claude wasn't dumb enough to not realize why the Wolves were different. He was inspected. Picked and cut at by the Monsters dirty septic nails and beady eyes. Eyes that held a wide fascination. Black thin lips that hung open, hooting and hollering. Like a caveman discovering fire for the first time.

Alpha wasn't the anomaly in the Tower anymore. Claude was.

That didn't stop combat. It made him the focus. He didn't get thrown out, he got locked in. WereWolf, WereTiger, WereCrocodile. Shifters from different climates-- different worlds, pitted against each other to try and restructure the chaos of the tower. Arthuria... Kumatiayo Isle's... The Republic of Tierra Primazon. Beings never supposed to face each other. They spilled blood and bone fragments like animals-- like men at war.

Claude didn't lose. He'd been through hell on earth for months. Molded by trauma both physical and mental. And a duelist of old guided his claw and fang-- turning them into accurate instruments. He knew restriction well. Maybe that's why Fenrir had grown to truly despise him in this waking hour. He was his own set of chains-- he'd been his own enemy among the many others. But now, under the eyes and scrutiny of Alpha, he saved himself.

No more shifts. No more powerful displays of difference.

The WereCrocodile was the last of the onslaught of opponents. Like the others he was huge. Skin both hard and sharply layered with faint scales reflecting the Primals they lived alongside. They grappled-- Claude got caught in a deathroll and was saved by the beasts own chain wrapping his throat. Claude pulled with his teeth, tightening the choke as he brought his heel down onto the enemy combatants chest.

Again and again until bone cracked and blood died his foot. Alpha split them and seemingly had enough. Suspicions forgotten or waned.... unlike the moon.

"Careful-- Easy! Easy!" Tom hissed and shoved at the crowd of starved Werewolves as Claude was shoved back into the fray of circling spectators. They hadn't forgotten a thing. They wanted to know more.

But Claude's shoulder was dislocated. He didn't feel like talking, even if he too had q--

SNAP!

His shoulder slammed back into place. He spun around to face Tom, thinking he was the culprit until he noticed the green glow of the veins in his shoulder. His skin rippled like ocean water when a whale calmly swims beneath.

"Thanks Gil.... I owe you.... thousands, to be honest."

Tom viewed him-- eyes as wild as everyone but still holding an air of curiosity.

"Slower healing..... different smell. Shifting at will. Now I understand why you don't know WereWolves."

Alpha grabbed two new combatants. Tiger and Wolf.

"I know WereWolves." Claude pressed, "Just not the ones here... some of you are different."

[+2 Stat Points.]

Tom nodded as he pulled him to the outer ring of spectators where it was less crowded and chaotic. A much more difficult task than simply walking since they had boulders to drag and eyes to evade. By the time they reached the outer edge, Alpha had started the fight.

They all moved. Prey Drive made standing still impossible.

The increase in noise made talking easy as they watched.

"Some of you are like Alpha.... a lot like him." Claude commented as the Wolf and Tiger fought. The Wolf was a middle aged woman. Like the others, a partial shift took her over. Dark grey stone-like skin. Fur on forearms. Hands for feet.

"It all circles back to the Vampires-- Bertrand. He's a sadistic bastard. He plays with living breathing people like they're toys. That was just his latest idea..... project, in all his souless military expansion." Tom explained as the Wolf flipped over a roundhouse kick and caught the Tiger in a chokehold with her feet.... hands? Whatever.

"He brought humans here." Claude assumed the obvious.

"We killed at least a few hundred. But some survived. The Silver Curse is as biological as it is magical. Each curse is unique to it's holder-- like a virus in the body."

SLCH!

The WereWolf-- who was once winning got her stomach ripped open. The blood made his hair stand on end as they moved.

[+4 Stat Points]

"So... Alpha's Silver Curse. It wasn't Man-Wolf. It's Ape-Wolf."

Tom nodded, "And here we have... an all new brand of Shifter. Bertrand came through and inspected the first survivor-- deemed her a failure. Nothing special. He actually found them funny."

CRCK!

The Tiger-- the same one he'd run into before ripped her spine out through her stomach in a vicious display of savagery that boldened the black stripes beneath his skin. The man of Asian descent let out a horrific chuffing growl as the WereWolf hit the ground. Dead.

"[Cold bastard wanted that kill. Watch out for the Tigers, Claude. They seem a vengeful bunch....]" Arne commented as Claude looked away from the horror.

Tom cursed as Alpha stepped in, "Actually.... it was her. She was the first."

"HOO HOO!!!! Tiger STRONG! NOT Strongest HOO!!" Alpha smacked the WereTiger into the floor before hopping off to grab the next fighter. All he did was rile up the sadistic gladiator. Which made Claude cringe as Alpha grabbed Gaheja. Marcel's sister.

"WAIT! Alpha let me go again, please." Marcel grabbed Alpha's arm as it pulled his sister. Her white flowing hair so unlike his own looked like moon silk.

"HAAA!" Alpha bared his fangs and brought his free hand down on Marcel in a pounding fist slam.

The Lion crumpled under the impact. Before he could get back to his feet and give the fight Claude knew he wanted to, his Pride held him down. Gaheja was thrown into battle. The WereTiger looked happier than ever.

"Li....." Tom started.

"Shut up." The WereTiger looked like he was in a feral state of ecstasy. Muscles hard. Skin reddening and gaining deep black stripes as his claws stretched his fingers and grew his knuckles. His mouth hung open, letting out deep whines.

Gaheja held a similar feline show of aggression. But still she looked so horrifically small.

Marcel was going nuts as the Lions held him. He ascended to a higher level of psychosis when Li pounced on Gaheja.

She flipped out of the way-- getting caught on her chain.

SHLCK!

Li's claws swiped three deep red lines in her shoulder. "You like that, little lioness?!"

"[Fucking hell. She doesn't fight.]"

"Marcel kept her out of fights." Claude didn't need to see her fight to know that.

"NO!" Li kicked her knee in and grabbed her chain, pulling her to him to hit her in the stomach with a vicious sidekick. "Hey Marcel!? Do you like this? Do you like being in my position! Remember my brother while I maim your sister!"

Marcel was frothing at the mouth. His eyes became pure white pools of insanity as he bit into and clawed at his closest allies.

All the while, Li looked the exact same for the very opposite reason.

Bliss and Blight. Horror and Heaven. Somehow connected.

Li kicked chewed and sliced Gaheja. Her white hair and pale skin went red and fleshy as the wounds overwhelmed her supernatural healing.

Then.

CHNK!

She bit down on his shoulder after dodging a punch in an unexpected switching of pace.

Li licked his chops. Her teeth couldn't even bite past the muscles.

"I'll waste my last bit of Mana for this..... for you, Marcel." Li opened his jaws. They clicked and snapped until his cheeks stretched beyond human limits. Like a snake. His fangs grew even larger until his mouth resembled Loba's. Aura spilled down his tongue and coated his teeth like saliva.

"He doesn't need to kill her." Claude whispered to Tom.

"Not all of us have your restraint." Tom commented.

"Yea....."

Maybe it was Marcel. He'd been there. Maybe it was his old aspirations for heroism. Or Fenrir questioning his desperation. He just wanted to move. Do something. Anything.

CHNK!

The slithering shadowy form of the Phantom Legion came out from the faction of Tigers with little interruption and bit down on Li's heel, crunching the bone.

Nothing. Li didn't even flinch as he laughed at the Moon. Reveled in the eye for an eye display he was the sole conductor of.

He lunged in and bit down on Gaheja's throat, ripping through it like paper. Blood sprayed and white hair fell to the floor like strings of snow. The Dragons roars felt like distant rumblings as the battle ended.

Alpha threw Gahija over the wall just like the Wolf before her. And just like that the fighting went on.

By the time the fighting came to a close, the morning sun rose. And everyone was covered in blood sweat and dirt. Like a second skin. Trauma like a second mind.

"This Full Moon. We do whatever's necessary to get the hell out of here." Claude thought.

"[Claude. That's in less than two days....]"

He didn't reply after noticing the itch at the back of his neck wasn't a physical itch.

It was Marcel, staring holes through him.

"We might need to get out of here sooner."