The White Wolf's Mercy

The wind howled across the cracked battlefield, carrying the scent of blood and scorched metal.

Brakka stood at the center of it all, battered but unbowed, her greatsword resting heavy in her grip. Her breath came in hard, hot bursts. Blood trickled down her arm and dripped from her knuckles.

Across from her, Kaizer 89 stepped down from the boulder, white armor gleaming like moonlight. His blade, Steel Howl, rested over his shoulder, humming low with power. The glowing veins along his suit pulsed in rhythmic blue patterns, calm and unhurried.

His visor focused on her.

Wolf eyes.

Predatory.

Emotionless.

Brakka grinned, sweat streaking her cheeks. "Come on then, pretty boy," she growled. "Let's see if the pup outgrew the fang."

Kaizer didn't answer.

He simply walked forward, boots crunching stone. Each step echoed like a drumbeat.

Brakka roared, a thunderclap of defiance and lunged.

Her horizontal swing came in low and brutal, aiming for his neck.

CLAAANG!

Steel met steel. Kaizer didn't even flinch. With a smooth twist of his wrist, he deflected the blow effortlessly, the howling edge of his blade grinding against hers and redirecting it past him.

Before her feet even landed...

She reversed direction, this time an overhead vertical slash, sharp and heavy.

CLANG!

Kaizer blocked again, one-handed, barely shifting his stance.

Brakka snarled and spun into a third attack—an upward rising slash that carved the air like a guillotine.

SHING!

Again, Kaizer deflected, rotating Steel Howl in a perfect arc that caught the edge and nullified the momentum.

Watching from the ridge, Kyra's hands clenched tight around Sylthea's cloak. "Why isn't he moving?"

Sylthea's eyes were narrowed, focused. "Because... he doesn't have to."

Korrak growled, fists shaking. "She's hitting him with everything, he's not even sweating."

Back on the field, Brakka launched a blinding flurry, a furious storm of slashes.

Diagonal. Left. Right. Overhead. Spinning.

SLASH-SHINK-CLANG!

Kaizer blocked each one with mechanical precision, moving only his arms. His body barely shifted. The greatsword danced in his hands like a ribbon of inevitability, neutralizing every angle with ease.

Ten strikes. Fifteen. Twenty.

Each was parried. Deflected. Denied.

The howl of Steel Howl grew louder with every clash, each block ringing like the final bell of judgment.

Brakka roared, eyes blazing, and lunged forward with a final, piercing thrust, the tip of her blade aimed directly at his heart.

Kaizer turned slightly and raised the flat of his blade.

CLANG!

The impact sparked, her blade skidding off harmlessly. She was left wide open.

He stared at her through his visor.

"I'll give you credit," Kaizer said softly, almost with respect. "You're not bad... for a disgusting monster."

Brakka's eyes widened—but he wasn't done.

"I'll only need... 3%."

A faint chime echoed from his suit.

SYSTEM ENGAGED: FULL MOON MODE - 3%

Blue energy flared along his limbs. His suit's veins pulsed brighter. The air around him rippled.

And then...

BOOM!

He moved.

Faster than sight.

One blink and his knee slammed into her gut, folding her forward.

"GHHK...!"

CRACK! Elbow to her back.

THWAM! Fist across her face.

She stumbled, reeling but he was already behind her.

SLAM! An axe kick to the back of her head, sending her crashing into the dirt.

She tried to rise...

He grabbed her by the hair.

"Stay down."

He kneed her in the face and then lifted her bodily by the collar of her armor.

She spat blood and roared, swinging wildly.

But Kaizer caught her wrist.

"Slow."

He drove his fist into her shoulder joint with such force it popped.

CRACK!

Then he spun and slammed her spine-first into the ground, shattering the stone.

The entire ridge trembled.

Kyra screamed. "Brakka!"

Kaizer stood over her.

"2.8%," he said.

Brakka groaned, trying to push herself up with one hand.

He tilted his head. "Stubborn."

She lifted her blade with trembling fingers, trying to stand.

He nodded once.

"Fine."

Kaizer raised Steel Howl over his head.

Brakka screamed and swung her sword one final time.

He brought his blade down like divine punishment.

CLAAAAANG!

The two swords collided...

And hers shattered under the weight.

Kaizer didn't stop.

The force carried her with the blow, flinging her like a cannonball across the field.

She smashed through a boulder with a thunderous BOOM, stone shards exploding into the air.

Silence.

Smoke rose from the impact crater.

Brakka didn't get up.

Kaizer lowered his sword slowly, breathing calm, mechanical.

His voice echoed across the battlefield.

"Still alive?"

Silence.

Then, from the smoke, a groan.

Kaizer's jaw tightened. His visor flickered.

He turned away.

"1.6% was enough," he muttered, sheathing his sword with a magnetic click.

"Brakka!!"

Kyra's voice cracked as she fell to her knees, tears streaming down from her eyes.

Brakka wasn't moving.

She lay in a crater of crushed stone, body limp, armor shattered, blood soaking the ground beneath her.

Kaizer didn't even look at Brakka. His eyes were locked on the trio, Kyra, Sylthea, and Korrak, now at the base of the ridge.

He stepped forward slowly, lifting Steel Howl again, its blood-slick blade humming with anticipation.

"Time to deal with the other swine," he muttered.

Korrak stepped protectively in front of the others, but even the mighty troll's knees trembled.

Sylthea, ever composed, was pale.

The pressure Kaizer exuded… it wasn't human.

It was predator made flesh.

Each step of his was like a thunderclap in the heart.

Kyra kept sobbing while on her knees... "Please get up…" she whispered. "You promised we'd eat soup tonight…"

And then...

A crackle.

A sound like tearing sinew and boiling water.

Brakka moved.

Her broken fingers curled.

Her blood sizzled on the rocks.

Smoke began to rise from her shoulders.

Kaizer paused, one foot forward.

"What…?"

Brakka pushed herself to her knees.

Her body steamed like metal pulled from a forge. The shredded remnants of her armor hissed and peeled back from her skin, revealing muscle that was swelling, hardening.

Her eyes snapped open.

Glowing red.

"…Exterminators," she muttered. Her voice was deeper now. Less woman, more beast. "You're really something…"

She stood fully, towering, blood cascading down her chest.

Her greatsword was snapped in half but she held it anyway, gripping it in reverse like a fang ready to be driven into a throat.

Her veins bulged, her muscles engorged with rage-born power.

Kyra gasped. "She's… smoking…"

Sylthea's voice was low, reverent.

"It's called a Bloodbourne Monster Trait. Every non-human race has one… Ogres have Ogre's Rage. It boosts strength, reflexes, tenfold. Most ogres go feral when it activates."

She looked at Brakka, awed.

"But she's in full control."

"She's a true warrior."

Brakka cracked her neck and grinned, fangs gleaming.

"You said 1.6% was enough to break me?" she growled.

Kaizer turned fully now, blade rising again.

"You don't stand a chance, monster..."

But he never finished the sentence.

Because Brakka was already there.

BOOM!

She appeared before him like a missile of fury, cleaving with the broken half of her greatsword.

Kaizer barely raised Steel Howl in time.

CLAAAAANG!!!

The impact blasted him backward, boots tearing trenches through the dirt. Sparks erupted where the blades met. His arms buckled from the force.

She pressed in, fists and blade moving like a hurricane.

Kaizer growled and activated Full Moon Mode - 3%.

He surged forward, faster now but she met him strike for strike.

SLAM!

A fist to his jaw.

CLANG!

His blade blocked her backhand swing, barely.

"Her power is growing..." Kaizer hissed, staggering from another blow.

He flipped backward and skidded to a halt.

"5%," he snapped.

His energy flared, blue veins glowing violently.

He dashed forward, now a blur of motion, his swings creating sonic booms.

But Brakka was keeping up.

Strike. Block. Parry. Counter.

The battlefield lit with sparks, shockwaves rippling out like earthquakes.

Sylthea's cloak whipped around her in the wind.

Korrak's jaw was slack.

"She's winning," he said in disbelief.

Kaizer was getting pushed back.

Again. And again.

"8%!" Kaizer snarled.

The ground exploded beneath him as he launched forward, Steel Howl screeching like a banshee.

But Brakka had tasted blood.

She caught his blade on her broken sword and shoulder-checked him mid-swing, driving her knee into his side, armor denting inward.

He flew sideways, crashing through a pillar of rock.

From the dust, his voice echoed...

"Enough."

"15%."

The world paused.

Lightning cracked from his limbs as his body surged with unstable power. The White Wolf suit screamed, its joints hissing, energy overloading the circuits. Kaizer's eyes glowed within his visor, brighter than ever.

And then he vanished.

One blink...

BOOM!!

A knee to Brakka's stomach sent her skidding.

Another blink.

A spinning heel kick cracked against her temple.

SLASH!

Steel Howl carved a bloody arc across her chest.

She roared, swinging...

But he grabbed her arm, twisted, and elbowed her in the throat.

SLAM!

She flew back, bouncing across stone, blood splattering in her wake.

Her knees hit the ground.

One eye swollen shut.

Blood poured from her mouth.

Still… she laughed.

"Hah… hah… damn…"

Kaizer walked toward her, unhurried.

"You're the first monster to push me to 15%," he said quietly.

"You should feel proud."

He raised Steel Howl, the blade humming like death.

Brakka's head bowed… smiling.

But then...

"STOP!!"

A small figure threw herself in front of Brakka, arms out.

Kyra.

Tears streamed down her face. "Don't kill her!! Please!! Please, she's good!! She's my family!!"

Kaizer stared, unmoved.

"I don't kill children," he said coldly.

"But you a monster..."

He raised his blade.

"…so you die with her."

And he swung.

A blur.

A crack of red light...

CLANG!!

The blade halted mid-air.

Stopped cold.

Another sword held it in place.

A black blade.

With glowing red energy.

"Iron Howl…" Kaizer whispered.

He looked up...

And saw Axel.

Damaged.

Bleeding.

Helmet cracked.

But alive.

His voice was low.

Cold.

Dangerous.

"…That's enough, Kaizer."

Kaizer took a step back. "Brother."

Then Axel punched him.

BOOOOOOM!!

Kaizer flew across the clearing, crashing into the stone wall with thunderous force.

Axel stood over Brakka and Kyra, body shaking with fury.

His visor glowed.

"You hurt my pack."

"Now you answer to the Black Wolf."