A Vicious Confrontation

An ominous mood hung in the air as team Valhalla was soon approaching Shatter sound's previously impenetrable village.The thick trees had orange rays passing through them from above, indicating the upcoming nightfall.

With its population decimated, the arcane spell guarding the area had been dispelled.

Walking right beside Shatter Sound, Antani could see the look of agony on the woman's face that she was trying so hard to cover with the mask of anger.

They were no scholars to debate whether Shatter sound would benefit from inflicting the same kind of massacre to the werewolves who murdered the scarlet talons, but there was one thing Antani was sure of, revenge must be served or else her clan's memory would forever haunt Shattere sound every night.

With the care of a doting sister, Antani wrapped her arms around Shatter sound. No shallow words of comfort would be given, for they will not soothe the maelstrom of grief and anger within Shatter sound's heart. All Antani was doing was letting Shatter sound no that she wasn't alone in her path of revenge.

The vengeful look on Shatter sound's face softened for a moment…

…Until the party finally stumbled to her home village that was laid to waste. Memories of her peaceful life, of her clan, of her family. They all crash into Shatter sound, making her collapse to her knees. They were gone, all of it.

Although Antani was there to hold and prevent Shatter sound's fall, the Amazon couldn't do the same for her tears.

Suddenly, A crucial detail snapped Shatter sound out from her painful reminiscence.

She stood and looked around in panic, "The bodies, they're all gone!"

Yulia didn't want to be insensitive but being hysterical won't magically turn up the bodies.

"Shatter sound, breathe. Focus on me." Yulia urged her to calm down. "They're gone because that must be the reason why they invaded your clan in the first place. Is there a reason why they would see the need to collect your clan's corpses?"

What benefit would there be to a werewolf's corpse? Shatter sound searched her memories but found nothing, their fur? Killing an entire clan for their fur was an extreme she would never acknowledge. There was no way the scarlet talons perished just to become pelts.

"Necromancy." Ellamir gave her suggestion. The dark art was the only reasonable possibility she had arrived at since they dealt with corpses.

"I don't think so, a necromancer's ability to control corpses is tied to how powerful they are. It would take a lich or even an arch lich to command an entire village of werewolves. And if a practitioner of the dark arts like that still existed, you best believe that the church of Mithra would already be on their tail."

Stefano gave his assessment on the situation, which turned the party's eyes on him.

"You seem to know a lot about Necromancers." Yulia commented.

"The church of Mithra hunts them, and I'm a Cleric, Necromancers are our natural enemies." Wanting to uplift the grim atmosphere, Stefano did a wisecrack. "Come to think about it, Necromancers are just late clerics."

As quick as their attention turned to him, his little remark made them turn away just as fast.

Stefano felt a tug on his sleeve, it was Gloria, shaking her head in disapproval.

"That was bad. Never again."

+++

They were inspecting the area looking for more clues. Apart from Shatter sound, they could only imagine how fierce the Scarlet Talon's last stand must have been with the remnants of destruction all around.

The party was then forced to huddle together.

Wolves howled all around, heralding their impending clash with the ferocious beasts.

The guild master was correct, that they would find the murders still lingering in the destroyed village's midst. Although this fact made Yulia's brow twitch. How did he come across this knowledge?

Right in front of them, an 8 foot tall woman with grey skin appeared.

Her very appearance triggered Shatter sound's transformation for she could tell, she was the responsible for wiping out their clan. A furnace of anger smoldered within Shatter sound, the flaming inferno demanded for the grey woman to be thrown into the fire of revenge.

She was about to dash for the grey woman's throat when the woman's pack jumped into view. All 50 of them resolutely barred Shatter sound in order to protect their leader, their alpha.

From how their companion reacted, the party guessed that the woman was the grey freak from Shatter sound's story. And Since Shatter Sound wasn't in her right mind to speak, Antani did the interrogation for her.

"Who are you!?" Antani raised her voice so the grey woman would hear.

Although a fair distance apart, Antani saw no emotion from the grey woman's face. She only gazed at them with her indifferent eyes, judging if they were worthy prey…

(Weak adventurers, huh? Looks like that wizard pulled a fast one on us.)...And Vicious Cloud arrived at the conclusion that they are, her veteran experience as a warrior and a honed killer told her that the three women in front are more than capable of ending her life. There is a slight hint of fear. It was an emotion not foreign to her despite her stoic facade.

But that fear was overpowered, the beast inside of her is thrilled to face such fearsome foes. It's been a while since her creed had been tested, and the three before her would be perfect to unleash her full might upon. The result of alchemy and lycanthropy. The melding of Melsa and Vicious.

"I am Vicious Cloud of the 'Grey fangs', it's been years since I went back to my clan, I guess you could say I'm something of a nomad." That won't do. Vicious now had a place where she belonged, and at the risk of dropping a clue to her master's identity, Vicious omitted Melsa's name but still declared her title with pride. "Let me rephrase that, not a Nomad exactly, I am the right hand of the most talented Alchemist in the entire continent."

With that out of the way, it was time for Antani to hit Vicious with the most important question.

"You have a clan of your own! How could you stomach killing the 'Scarlet talons'!?"

"It was for a dream. Her dream." Vicious' tone was solemn. Indicating that Melsa's dream was grand enough that it would warrant the entire 'Scarlet talons' to become absorbed by it.

Ellamir scoffed, "And I hope you're prepared to die for that dream as well, like all those mutts surrounding you."

"Hah, you'd be surprised at the things I'm capable of for her sake alone."

Hearing those words, a grin manifested on Ellamir's lips. In a sordid sense of way, she felt some sort of camaraderie with the woman. And to show her respect, Ellamir decided that Vicious' end would be swift.

Itching for battle, Vicious wrapped up their introduction, "My pack or your party. Tonight, only one of our group would leave this forest alive. Let us begin."

They doubted that Vicious would let on any more information than what she had told them. Shatter sound and the rest of the party arrived at the same conclusion. The time to murder the werewolves is nigh.

With her fury unbound, Shatter sound resumed her charge, knocking aside the wolves on her path using her incredible agility. Shatter sound would start a bloody opening to their battle by ripping out the Vicious' throat. Next, she's going to send her pack to accompany her down to hell.

The stoic woman grinned. Although the werewolf charging at her with blinding speed might have appeared as a blur of death to some, to Vicious, she was nothing more than a welp throwing a tantrum.

Shatter sound brandished her claw stronger than steel, her right hand intent to swipe the woman in her neck, clawing out her jugulars.

And the outcome?

There was no blood that gushed, leaving the werewolf utterly confused.

Vicious' left hand intercepted Shatter sound's swipe as she now held the werewolf by the wrist. It was inconceivable to Shatter sound how her hand was kept at bay by her kin who was still untransformed.

Shatter sound was so shaken by this fact that she failed to notice Vicious' right fist hammering her snout with such force that it sent her sliding sideways into the ground.

Vicious hoped she didn't hit her too hard, she's not going to hear the end of it from Melsa if she accidentally killed her target.