Werewolf Beatdown I

Leila sighed and crossed her arms together, looking equal parts like a posing model and royalty looking down on ants. Which she was, just that in this case, the ants were oversized furballs packaged into human jock forms that belonged straight out of a Tw*light movie.

"Sorry, guys, I'm not really feeling the mood to be your sparkling vampire rival," said Adam.

"Hm? What are you saying, demon? You are not a vampire," said the president.

"That's right, darling," said Leila. "These rank mutts and their pea brains may be far beneath us, but at least they can recognize we are not like those filthy blood sucking leeches."

"It's-," began Adam before he shrugged. "Nevermind. None of you guys watch movies about your kind? Pop culture?"

"No," said the president simply and sternly.

"Aren't you all students that have been living here for how many years?" said Adam.

"Actually, I understood that reference!" said one of the guys enthusiastically in much the same way an old and out of touch boomer would awkwardly jump on knowing a reference from his grandkids.

The president snarled at him, shutting the guy up.

"Alright," said Adam. "Guess there's no fun allowed. So then, what do you want from us?"

"You killed two of our pack," said the president as he pointed to Leila, the tip of his fingernail growing longer, thicker, and sharper. "You should have expected vengeance."

"Hm? Excuse me? Am I hearing this correctly?" said Leila, putting a hand to her ear as she twisted her lips in disdain. "Your mongrel mutts attacked me. Hunted me as if you thought you were even worthy of breathing the same air as me. I merely defended myself."

"We asked only for your blood, not for your life. You refused, and you killed our own. Now, you pay with your own life," said the president.

"When a girl says no, she means no," said Adam. "But I figure guys like you that spend your college days circlejerking in an all dude's house really don't know what consent is." He stood in front of Leila and started to flux his magical energy, and an aura of black tinted with red started to shimmer around his body. "And that's the last time you'll be threatening her."

"Then we are in agreement," said the president as he flashed a fanged smile. "Are we to invoke the Rule of Combat?"

"If that's you call me beating you until you're black and blue, then yeah," said Adam.

"It is as my darling says," said Leila.

Adam meanwhile leaned into Leila's ear and whispered discretely to her. "What exactly is this rule of combat?"

"We can hear you," said the president. "Our ears are sharp. The Rule of Combat is invoked in battle between those of inhuman kind in the Overworld. Here, we are in 'neutral' territory where humans reign. We do not like to draw attention from humans, so when we decide to fight, particularly to the death, there are rules of engagement we must follow."

"Rules that boil down to one simple guideline: do not draw attention from humans," said Leila.

"Well, good thing there's remote forest all around us," said Adam as he cracked his knuckles.

==

Adam, Leila, and the werewolves walked out of the house and into the forest. Throughout it all, Adam noticed that even throughout the crowded house, anyone that they came close to immediately parted way for them, averting their gaze and shivering.

This was because of the killing intent that everyone was just barely concealing. Killing intent projected by magical auras that made humans instinctively aware that they needed to get the hell out of the way.

Out of the house and in a trail leading into the forest, deep into it where houses and music faded away to be replaced by throngs of tall, shadowy trees, Adam asked Leila with a whisper.

"Why did they need your blood?"

"I thought they were simply brutes hunting for prey, sensing my weakened state," said Leila. "But now that I know what Walpurgis Night dawns soon, I understand: they want my blood to enter the ritual. To become one of the hundred participants, a 'Branded', one must either form a contract with a demon or be filled with a strong enough concentration of hell energies.

Demonic blood would suffice in the former condition."

"Then this is good," said Adam.

"Hm, darling?" asked Leila.

Adam smiled at the backs of the werewolves walking ahead of them. He clenched his fists. "We get to get rid of some competition beforehand."

"I like the way you think, darling. Oh, you are just right for me." said Leila as she leaned against him, baring her fangs and flitting her long, pointed tongue across her lips in anticipation to slaughter their challengers.

"Here," said the werewolf president. "This place will do. There are no humans nearby."

He stopped walking, and in unison, his two friends did as well. Before they turned around, their bodies started to shiver as their muscles started to grow. Cracks rung through the air as their bones split and refused together into a much more savage, bestial frame.

Their clothes ripped to tatters from their changing bodies, and in their place, thick coats of fur grew out. Their conventionally handsome faces split apart and stretched out into canine snouts with open, drooling jaws lined with sharp teeth.

The only thing that was the same about them were their eyes. They still had the same striking, almost piercing stares.

Adam nodded as he sized them up physically, looking up at their snarling maws and silver furred bodies. They must have been easily seven feet tall (2.1 meters), with the former president reaching eight feet (2.4 meters), positively towering over Adam and Leila.

"You will come to regret this," said the former president turned werewolf. "A newly turned demon whelp and a little princess weak and cut off from Hell. That is all you two are. Ordinarily, we would have no chance against demons, but now? In your weakened states?"

The president withdrew curled claws from his silver furred hands. "Now, I will tear your hearts from your chest and devour them whole. The power your cores will grant me will let me triumph in the ritual to come.

That you two had the arrogance to believe you could fight with how crippled you are is astounding to me."

"You truly believe us that weak? You have no idea-," began Leila before Adam brought her to his side by grabbing her waist.

"It's okay, Leila. I get it now: he's underestimating us. He has no idea that you're on your way from recovering from your curse and that I grow faster than what common sense dictates. But let him underestimate us."

Leila nodded in understanding, and Adam asked a question that was on his mind.

"No pun intended, but why the hell do you want to win this ritual? You really want a spot in Hell?" said Adam.

The president snorted. "I could care less about that. The Obelisk is pure power - an artifact described of only in legendary whispers.

It need not be used to descend into the fiery pit you call home. It can be broken down and absorbed into might that will allow me to become an Alpha beyond all Alphas, capable of uniting all Were-folk under my claw."

"Pretty interesting dreams you got there," said Adam. "I'll let you keep dreaming them when I put you to sleep forever." Adam exhaled as he felt heat rising inside of his heart again – signs that he was ready to fight. "I've had just about enough of you threatening to kill my love, so I've decided: I'm going to deal with you personally."

"If you wish to fight me alone, then go ahead," said the president. "My pack mates will deal with your little princess Bond."

"Darling-," said Leila as she put a hand on Adam's chest and talked into his hear seductively. "I give you full permission to fight that so called 'Alpha' by yourself. In return, I hope you will give me the chance to deal with these two mutts myself.

I have been positively ACHING for a chance to let loose."

"Of course, Leila," said Adam, smiling.

Leila looked Adam up and down before her red eyes brightened up. "Ah, I know. I will have Raum fashion you a wonderful suit with their skins and furs when I am done with them!"

"You know, I could use something custom tailored," said Adam. "You're so thoughtful, Leila."

Adam gave Leila a quick kiss, and she squirmed and squealed in delight.

The werewolves other than the president watched with distinct discomfort, staring at each other and holding down shivers as their demise and transformation into clothing was discussed right in front of them so casually.

"Kill her, you cowards!" said the president with a roaring growl as he got on all fours and charged forth at Adam.

Adam saw the enormous werewolf barreling towards him, a werewolf taller and stronger than the one he had ran over with his car by multitudes, and felt no fear. Compared to Raum, compared to her enormous power and her killing intent that could warp the space around her, this guy felt about as dangerous as a puppy bumbling towards him.

And Adam had gotten stronger. Every single passing moment, every single time he let that heat in his heart come out, he got stronger. He had always started off rather strong with stats high enough to beat out a peak human in any field whether it be speed, strength, reflexes, or flexibility.

Now, though, Adam's stats had increased again since the heat had gone down and his Shadow Magic awakened within him, and since Surge scaled with his base stats –

Adam used Surge, black veins popping up all around his body, and shot forwards at speeds rivaling a car on the highway. The werewolf alpha was evidently surprised by how fast Adam was, incapable of reacting to Adam.

Adam slammed into the giant beast with a shoulder tackle that sent him flying a dozen meters backwards, smashing past a tree trunk and into the darkness with solid, heavy thumps like a pebble skipped across the surface of a pond.

"Good luck, Leila," said Adam with a wink and he leaped into the air, disappearing into the shadows.

Leila blew a kiss to Adam as he disappeared and looked at the two stunned werewolves in front of her. They had stopped their charge, watching their Alpha fly backwards like he was an empty bottle caught in a strong wind.

Then, they shivered as they turned to see Leila's face twisting into rage, her beautiful features warping into pure, fiery anger. Black flames started to crackle from her pale fingertips, distorting the space around them with heat waves.

Magical energy fluxed around her in red and black that evidently was far, far more than what the werewolves expected as their ears flattered and their tails tucked under their legs.

"I do not like dirtying my hands putting dogs down, but when I imagine how good your fur will look on him, it all seems quite worth the effort," said Leila, her voice surprisingly quiet and yet her expression all too transparently reflective of her intense bloodlust.