83 BATTLE-BORN

Very randomly— maybe due to the trauma of all he was experiencing. Or the fact that he was outright dying, a saying stuck out to him.

One he'd heard from a blacksmith on a random day years ago.

It was after the weapons crafter had seen him get shoved into a puddle by a passing merchant in a hurry. He must've sensed Claude was having a bad day. A day of embarassment and the fruits of his labor being unmet.

He said, "The strongest sword is forged in the hottest fire."

And there Claude crouched. Under the fires of golden power. Where he burned like the stars that went noticed across entire lightyears with vast cosmic potential.

Only his power wasn't vast.

But it was getting there.

And he wasn't alone.

[20% HP Remaining…]

The Lupines were at war.

A war he couldn't escape.

A war he no longer wanted to escape. He couldn't run like his father. He wasn't fast or charming enough. All he had was his forest-born tenacity.

And hate.

He hated the Lupines like nothing he'd ever experienced.

And so did Frosty.

He and his brother were never far apart in mind.

But as he burned and as they guarded their father against violence incarnate, they were one in the same.

His very being took notice.

And a sound he never expected came forth.

DING!

[Rare Taming Instance Recognized!]

[Due to your dire circumstances, as a Beast-Tamer, you have met the criteria to form a (Battle-Bond). This variation of the (Companion-Bond) Skill takes no casting

/harmonizing time and forms a strong bond fit for war instantaneously that runs deeper than the normal bond. The negative passive of (Battle-Mentality) will be applied to both you and your Companion, making times of peace discomforting over long periods of time. You and your Companion will be born and awakened in strife. But it is also where you'll be drawn. Where you'll find comfort.]

[Would you like to form a Battle-Bond with (LV.12 Pitwolf)?]

"Yes."

The fires stopped.

Claude and Frosty's inner mana exploded outward in a hybridizing light show of verdant and blue pulse waves of energy.

[Mana Hybridization: 1….110%]

As they both rose from the ashes of nature, they were lit ablaze with cyan mana flow so intense it burned the ashes into nothing.

[Canine Synergy Gained!]

Claude could see through Frosty's eyes— smell through his nose. All while still processing his own sensory phenomena. It was jarring. But it wasn't unbearable. It pulled his attention away from the fact that the skin of his entire back was gone.

[Bonded Skill, (Pit-Fighter Pack) and (Dual-Dominance) Unlocked!]

[Dryadic Essence Infusion…..]

[Your Dryadic Essence makes the natural flow of connection between you and your Companion more seamless than before. Stronger even.]

[Your Companion is an (Offensive/Frenzy/Pack-Hunter) Class-Type Animal. As a result, you will gain a permanent (+5) to all physical offensive stats and Willpower and another (+2) upon bonded skill usage.]

Claude shrugged off his ashen armor and summoned his spear.

Frosty shook the dust off and stamped his paws.

"You know….. I see why they assumed you were one of us." Dolion said. He stood among the burning grass casually as Prof. Brennan fought off a dozen Lupines.

Claude threw his spear at Dolion and charged while the other hounds guarded his father.

Dolion casually sidestepped his attacked and kicked Claude into Frosty.

The two were sent flying west like ragdolls.

They rolled through the ashes and bone of the dead.

Lupines slowly gave chase as they slowed.

Claude got his footing just as he entered a small patch of forest.

A brown furred beta was on him. He tackled the beast and let them both hit the ground. As the lupine took top mount, Frosty came from behind and bit the shifters neck, cracking its spine.

At the same time, Claude shoved his fist in its mouth and summoned his spear.

Its head exploded.

[+350 EXP]

Frosty flung the beast off him and they were back on the move just as two more fell from the trees like hellish baboons. They fought like two wolves, dipping and diving back and forth.

Claude and Frosty fought like one wolf. One wolf with four arms, four legs and two sets of jaws.

The spear was the icing on the dirt-cake.

What they lacked in strength and speed they made up for in ferocity and synchronization.

They didn't dip and dodge like the Lupines. They attacked as one and Claude used the trees and roots beneath to force openings where there weren't any.

He was making them bleed.

Making them hurt.

The largest of the two grew impatient and stood up on its hind legs to slash him open.

Claude charged unexpectantly, flipping over the lupine. At the same time, he grabbed its upper jaw, pulling its head back for Frosty to lunge and tear into its throat.

The Pitwolf wasn't strong enough to break Lupine bone.

Frosty stopped after ripping open the beasts windpipe.

As it defensively swatted away the more immediate danger, Claude ran his burning spear through its back. At the same time, he activated his (Vigor Blast) sending the hot metal and a braid of forestry through its back.

When combined with the fire, it burned and regrew repeatedly until the Lupine was slowly ripped apart in a maelstrom of fire and vines.

[+400 EXP]

DING!

[You have Leveled Up!]

[You are now Level 11!]

[Stat Points Available: 4]

His health and stamina refilled just in time to be drop kicked by a Lupine.

The hit was so hard— even with his enforced pit-fighter aura, two of his ribs broke along with his sternum as he smashed into a tree.

[30% HP Remaining…]

"How'd that feel?" Jack questioned as he trotted through the forest flanked by two Lupines.

He truly was grotesque. Almost slimy in his greasiness. Bug-eyed and narrow snouted with disproportionate shaping that left his back bunching with muscle and his forelegs thin and entirely too long.

"I'll kill you….." Claude forced out.

"Yea?" Jack giggled.

"That's it. Fall for it, bastard." Claude thought as he felt the trees sap seep through the cracks.

"I'll KILL YOU!"

Jack lunged. "TAKE ME!"

The tree Claude leaned against split down the middle as it exploded with sap.

He directed it at the Lupines, drowning them in it as it sparked and bubbled from the earth.

He stood up, manipulating the elements. Forcing it to collect and slither into their noses and mouthes.

They choked and clawed at their throats.

They drowned.

Frosty stepped out from behind the tree stump. He licked his chops hungrily.

"Now…"

Frosty took off, diving for the closest Lupine. He tore into the creature, using his massive front legs to stomp in its chest and smash its lungs. The beast protested as it drowned. Frosty bit down on its throat and tore his way down to the windpipe before stomping some more until the Lupine's head was disconnected.

The other— despite being deprived of oxygen, tried to jump on Frosty.

Frosty, seeing through Claude's eyes, rolled out of the way and charged from behind, knocking the creature off balance.

Claude took the chance and chucked his spear.

The flaming pike interacted with the sap inside the Lupine. The beast imploded with steaming enflamed natural energy and essence. It looked like glow in the dark napalm.

[+400 EXP]

Claude and Frosty turned on Jack.

Despite sap bubbling out of the slimy creatures nose, eyes and mouth, he laughed.

Claude closed in.

Jack nodded, gurgling the words, "Yeshhh….uCk—…. I knew ish…. Wassssh in yhu….huhuhuhuhahahaha…."

Claude threw his spear through the Lupines chest.

The sap inside exploded and burned.

Immediately he called it back and threw it again. Jack laughed like it tickled to have his organs dipped in natures lava.

Again.

Again.

Again.

He wanted him to burn. He wanted the ash in the dirt. He wanted his wicked eyes as nothing more than steaming ocular fluid left to replenish the soil.

He roared as he threw the spear, slowly beginning to burn through his glove. He didn't care. He didn't care how much of himself—

"WAIT!" Jack croaked and pointed off at something in the distance.

"AAACK!"

Claude spun around and found Prof. Brennan knocked aside.

Dolion made his way towards Claude's father.

Riptide stood strong. Rivera— the alpha she was, charged Dolion.

Dolion caught the Island-dog by the throat, snapping it effortlessly.

Claude couldn't even hear his own screams past his ears ringing. He just felt the tear in his throat.

Jack hobbled away laughing.

"Growth and development…..hehehuhuhuhahaha…."

Claude adjusted his target. Losing more of his mind as Dolion ripped his way through Claude's family.

Riptide. Rivera. Rain.

Ren.

Something in Claude's brain broke. Permanently.

DING!

[Status Effect: (Tamer's Trauma)]

[System Corruption: 1%….]

[Significant Mental Trauma Recognized. System Skills and Abilities may be subject to inconsistency and/or transformation.]

Claude slashed through the system prompt as he charged Dolion.

His claws extended. The fur along his arms spread. Every tooth in his mouth extended into canine fangs, forcing his mouth open into a manic sneer. His jaw broke as it extended into a crude snout.

Dolion dropped Ren's corpse into the grass as he watched Claude approach.

Claude slapped the ground, birthing a braided vine platform to send him twenty feet up. From there he jumped off to attack from above.

Dolion watched. Yawning as Claude descended.

Claude prepared to rip the man's face off.

Dolion did as well.

Right when he dodged, he noticed the slim tendril of vines wrapped around Claude's waist.

Claude flew out of the way, selling the feint perfectly.

As Dolion came to a stop, roots exploded out of the ground and held his legs.

Frosty pounced out of the long grass and cut open Dolion behind the knees.

Dolion stumbled. He was physically slowed. But more importantly, he was mentally as well.

He turned around to follow Frosty.

Claude came from the other direction with a (Vigor Blast).

The glimmering blast of life energy barely bothered Dolion.

But the second wave of focused nature had him flipping out of the way.

Frosty was waiting where he landed and bit down on his hand with a hideous crunch.

His ring cracked between the pitwolf's teeth.

Suddenly the world went wild.

The ground fluttered and rippled like a shook carpet.

The sky folded in on itself. Sun and moon collided in a spacial starscream of flaming rubble and solar plasma blasts. Rain fell sideways and gravity warbled.

But most importantly, the Tangent exit popped in and out of existence all across the map like blinking eyes.

"No more death…. No more…. No more…" Claude huffed like a maniac as he picked up his father and ran through the unstable hell zone on unstable legs driven by an unstable mind.

It was the best plan he had.

He suspected the ring controlled the Proto-tangent. It was the only thing Dolion wore besides pants. He knew damaging it risked killing everyone. Part of him wanted to.

Send everyone to the black.

Where it was quiet.

Where the world wasn't folding and quaking and roiling like thunderclouds that held the corpses of his friends.

But he made a promise.

Frosty ran beside him, tongue lolling from acute exhaustion. Fur uneven from the hundreds of wounds and burns.

They looked like hell.

They ran like hell.

The exit flickered a few hundred feet out.

Dolion raged in the distance.

Lupines gave chase.

Others still in the forest were eaten alive by the twisting nature and earth. He would've spit on their corpses if he had the time.

He rushed.

The air warmed as fires spun from Prof. Brennan's skilled hand.

He took the chance to end Dolion.

Claude could hear it so well, he practically saw it.

Prof. Brennan threw a tornado of fire at Dolion.

Dier appeared in front of Dolion and clapped his gargantuan hands, snuffing out the fiery vortex with forced winds.

All he heard after was a crunch.

"No more death…. No more death…"

The Tangent exit was no more than a hundred feet away.

Stabilizing.

Focusing in one spot.

Luck was in his favor when he needed it most.

He could make it.

They could escape.

It didn't matter where they landed he just needed to get out and away and never return.

Eighty feet.

The grounds formed a hill, he slid downward, blinking as the thick rain beat his beaten face.

Fifty feet.

Dolion cursed.

Twenty feet.

He could feel the world on the other side.

He could go home.

Eight feet.

He jumped.

The exit vanished.

The world stabilized.

Dolion stood behind him, adjusting his ring.

He took a deep breath before raging. His skin bubbled. Patches of dry wiry hair bloomed along his arms and back. One of his eyes bulged out of its socket.

"IM GONNA KILL YOU!"

Jack was suddenly on him, "Wait wait wait wait wait... my Alpha, we must be careful."

"That's why IM KILLING HIM!" Dolion slurred his words from an uneven snout.

Jack growled low and dropped his head, "We were told to kill the jester….. he…. Was an unforeseen extra. Unexpected. Undocumented…. We don't even really know who this is… or what it could mean. We must speak with Reyla…"

Dolion took a deep breath, running his hands over his lumpy head until he transformed back into his handsome human form. "What are you playing at today, Jack?"

"Look. I know the twins were your objective. But look around…" Jack said as he held a hand out around the domain, "The boy killed more Lupines of Remus than any human has in a long time. He is….. special…. Heheheheheh you should've seen him in that forest. Truly an Inheritor of Remus."

"So what?" Dolion asked, "We give the gift to our enemy? Because of partial blood?"

"Our enemy for now. Remember your power as Alpha. By changing him, you exist in the mind of someone who could otherwise be a huge problem for us. HUGE!"

Dolion snarled at his sudden outburst and slapped him, "Control yourself, wretch."

Jack giggled, "You should do it…. give him the gift. He may be an enemy now….. but we are long lived. He has a long time to consider who his real enemy is. And who was holding him back."

Claude tried to run. Before he could even get up, Dolion and his pack of horrific beasts were on him.

Dier's massive paw held him to the floor with the weight of two worlds. "You cannot resist the apex. Do as nature demands and submit before Remus."

Claude thrashed.

It was there that he watched Dolion drag his father away.

His father awakened. He didn't come out swinging or snarling ready for another agonizing round. He was spent. And in his eyes, Claude saw resignation. He was human again. Pale and tired and old.

He eyed Claude and pursed his lips as he held back tears.

Dolion lifted him by the neck from behind.

The Lupines surrounded them all in a circle like some religious cult.

"TONIGHT! REYLA SCORN'S LEGACY IS MAINTAINED! A MISTAKE OF THE PAST IS WIPED CLEAN! AND ANY HALFBLOOD FILTH THAT COULD COME BACK TO HER OR HER LITER IS CHANGED….. FOR THE BETTER!" Dolion roared.

Jack nodded approvingly.

Claude held his fathers gaze, raging at his lack of action.

Then he spoke.

All Claude wanted to hear was, "Give them hell."

"On three we fight."

"Ready, kid?"

He would've found the energy— the resolve.

Instead, his father said, "Don't ever lose it—"

Then a hand was ripping through his chest, carrying his still beating heart before crushing it.

The world went silent abruptly before all of the nature in the entire tangent exploded with wild untamed growth.

The long grass pierced the sky. The trees grew like wooden skyscrapers with roots bursting from the ground forming earthquakes.

Through the madness, the Lupines charged.

They reached him with unexpected ease as his mana hit zero.

Dolion reshaped the world, revealing Claude and Frosty swarmed by Lupines.

Dolion approached, parting the feral seas until he stood over them.

He grabbed Claude by the arm and lifted his unconscious body.

"You will be a dog of war... only after centuries of being my slave. Payment for the disaster you caused here. Pup."

He bit Claude.

Then he summoned the Tangent exit.

"Can I eat the pitwolf?" Jack asked.

"Yes."

Jack stepped toward the unconcious hound—

"Wait." Dolion slung Claude over his shoulder.

Jack stopped.

Dolion looked at the PitWolf. "Hmmm….."

"What?" Jack asked.

Dolion looked down at Frosty a while longer. "They say Remus' closest allies were his pets— given the gift. Made into great shifting-beasts."

"That's myth." Jack said.

"As is the world." Dolion replied, "I walk in the footsteps of gods. And know, there is no better sign of strength— no better victory, than bending your enemy to your will."

Dolion picked up Frosty by the throat and bit into his neck.

Then, he threw them both out.

"If I want to be the best…. If the Scorn of Remus wishes to claim the western world, then we have to be different. And we start by dismantling that University. Hopefully the little wolves can do as much damage there as they have here…"

Jack giggled, "I'm sure they will….. I still wanna eat that wolf."

"You're a stain on Remus' great race." Dier huffed.

"You're an ogre." Jack replied.

"Both of you shut up." Aiko hissed.

They all stood on the horizon for a while before exiting their own tangent and entering a sanded world far away from New Gloria as a whole.