"Now prepare to die!" came Ovisia's voice.
Yet, as she was about to thrust her dagger forth, through Theo's neck, a familiar sound came from the direction of the western village entrance: A series of chilling howls. "That's impossible…".
Releasing Theo's chin, Ovisia turned, along with the Chief, Jacky, and the other villagers to see a horrifying sight: A pack of over thirty giant wolves had invaded the village, and all of them were angry-looking, all of them with a beast aura of B rank or higher, with the strongest being the alpha, a shaggy grey direwolf at S rank. It was the same pack that had helped Theo escape the Dawson siblings once before, Theo was certain of it, and it looked like they had come to his rescue.
"Mystic wolves?" one of the villagers had the courage to speak, even despite the wet spot in their trousers.
"H-here? Now? T-t-today?" another asked, voice shaky. "W-why?"
"A-a beast tide?" Ovisia stuttered, as the villagers trembled in fear. 'At a time like this? Damn it! I'd almost gotten my revenge!' she thought, frustrated, before an idea struck her like lightning. "Claws and bite marks on the corpses of my babies… These must be the beasts the brat used to kill my angels…".
She was about to turn around to Theo again, but, before she could, Theo, who had been acting severely wounded up to that point, buying his time, struck. Using his claws, Theo raked his clawed hands across the Whisperer's back, before also cutting across her cords, causing her to shriek, falling to the ground, clutching her own throat, which flowed crimson already pooling in her own blood.
"Ovisia!" screamed jacky, who had just begun ordering the men of the village to form a defensive formation against the approaching tide. He rushed forward, a blur of movement, sending Theo flying with the swing of his iron greatswords' flat part of the blade, before kneeling at his beloved's side. Theo barely had time to brace himself before he was sent flying, colliding into the wall of a villager's house, with a CRASH that caused the wall to collapse in on itself, almost trapping Theo inside. The pain was so great, he nearly passed out.
[-3 Health]
[Injury Sustained! Primal Regen Active!]
[For every 5 seconds the body is injured, -1 Stamina will be used to sustain Primal Regen.]
[Stamina Consumed! -1 Stamina, +1 Health!]
Ignoring the notification, Theo did his best to stay conscious, his head bleeding and dizzy, as blood dripped from both his nose and forehead, dust getting in his eyes from the collapsed wall. His vision blurred and he was certain he was seeing double… Concussion, he was sure he had one.
"Ugn…," groaning, Theo decided to turn off the notifications, alerting him to his injuries and details about his healing factor. "System, put all attribute points in Health."
[Ding! +6 Attribute Points added to Health!]
[Remaining Attribute Points: 0]
Instantly, Theo's injuries began stitching themselves back together, his concussion vanished and he was able to pick himself up from the collapsed pill of wood and stone he'd fallen into.
Looking ahead, what he saw nearly brought a smile to his face. The wolves were slaughtering the villagers. The most powerful of the villagers were at Apprentice Rank 3 or 4 or Primary Stage 4 at most while the weakest of the wolves were at B rank, which were comparable to Squire Rank 1 and Mage Rank 1 respectively. This meant, they stood hardly any chance to fight back, let alone win.
Sir Joshua, though, who was a Mage rank 3 magic-type cultivator, was holding his own quite well against the horde. He was engaged in a battle of fire and ash with the alpha, oftentimes helping his fellow villagers mid-fight, though neither side was giving ground, neither pyromancer nor beast. Both had an affinity for fire and both were of generally comparable levels. For every fiery blast of flame one shot, the other released an even stronger one. The nearby homes were immediately engulfed in flames and reduced to ashes.
Chief Jacky remained by ovisia's side, feeding her a health potion, but it didn't seem to be working and she looked to be losing more and more blood by the minute. This was because it wouldn't heal as long as theo didn't want it to, thanks to his Hemorrhaging effect his claws had.
"Health potions won't heal her, you know," Theo smirked, already having made his way out of the rubble. He was pleased with how things were going.
Looking at theo, Chief Jacky felt unbridled rage. "What did you do to my wife?"
"Oh, nothing too much," Theo said, nonchalantly. "She just won't be healing anytime soon. She'll likely die like that, in your arms. You're welcome, though. That bitch was crazy; she will not be missed."
"YOU! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY WIFE?!" the man hollered, voice rageful and aura descending on Theo like increased gravity.
"Oh, calm down. Your screaming is damaging my ears," Theo dug his pinky in his ear, before flicking the earwax onto the ground, the man's aura surprisingly not visually affecting him. "Why the long look? You guys don't think I was just going to let your attempt to lynch me slide, did you? Come on now, I'm a vengeful, petty bastard. I invented this game… as you'll no doubt come to understand when I claim your bodies for my own."
This comment caused the Chieftain to blank. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. 'Bodies for his own? What the hell does that mean?' he thought. 'No, it doesn't matter. He's most likely poisoned my beloved. I need to deal with him and find a cure!'
"I'll kill you!" the chief picked up his greatsword, dashing towards Theo in a blur of motion. He was before Theo in an instant.
[Impenetrable Hide in effect]
[Time Until Cooldown Period: 2 Minutes!]
Activating the [Impenetrable Hide] effect of his Fenris Physique, right at the last second, the chieftain's greatsword wasn't able to pierce Theo's enhanced durability but the force of impact to Theo's side and chest caused him to go flying.
Meanwhile, across the battlefield, Joshua was battling the alpha wolf, who seemed to be an even enough match for him…
[Alpha Wolf]:
"Fire Ball!" the mage before the wolf exclaimed, firing multiple fireballs at the wolf, in consecutive order.
The elf used its higher agility stat to dodge the valley of fireballs, evading the pyromancer's consecutive attacks with some time to spare. Despite the fireball's size, the wolf instinctively knew it'd pack a mean punch if he got hit by it, even with its Thermal Resistance ability. A few hits would leave some damage.
"[Cinder Lash]!" the mage exclaimed, summoning a whip made of molten flames, swinging it in a wide arc, where a few of the attacking wolves got caught in the middle of, sliced to burning bits and molten pieces, before he focused the whip to strike at the alpha. "You're finished now, you vile beast! Be sliced and diced, once and for all!"
The wolf merely used its skill, [Ashen Armor], its fur solidifying into hardened armor made of ash, its defensive nature not only withstanding the pyromancer's whip, but absorbing the attack with its absorbing impact effect.
It then used [Flame Claws] to attack the pyromancer in close quarter combat, but the mage used a defensive spell, [Inferno Shroud], to form a shield of flames around himself, blocking and negating the wolf's assault.
"Come out and aid me, [Flame Wisp Summoning]!" Suddenly a pixie-like ball of flaming light began rotating an axis around the human, regenerating his mana and increasing his flames' intensity. "With you by my side, I won't lose this. Now, go, [Emberstorm]! This is my most powerful attack — You won't be able to survive this, mutt!"
Suddenly, a large tornado of flames and embers appeared, coming right at the alpha, easily incinerating both monsters and humans alike in its path. Its flames were suffocating and its embers destructive. Easily engulfing many of the remaining houses left standing previously by the great battle, in flames and embers, leaving only mere wreckages of what they once were only a few moments prior.
As many villagers and wolves either died from the burns or left unconscious, engulfed in flaming burns due to the intensity of the vortex of flames and embers, the alpha wolf stood his ground in the face of the flames. It was an alpha direwolf and a direct descendant of the godbeast, Fenrir! He would not let himself be taken out by someone else's flame that's his Progenitor, as is the pride of the Fenrir bloodline.
[Volcanic Bursts]
With the mighty howl of its spirit and the roar of the wild, the direwolf unleashed its own ultimate attack. The ground beneath its feet lit up with molten lava and an eruption of blistering, molten mama like that of a volcano fired itself directly at the tornado of flames and embers.
BOOM!
An explosion unlike any other rocked the village, caused by the collision of the two, fiery-based ultimate attacks. The force was so great that many of the still-fighting villagers and wolves were knocked to their feet, unable to withstand the force of the explosion. A great mist of smoke and ash covered the sky immediately after the collision, blocking visibility.
[Obscuring Ashen Mist]
[Ashen Armor]
[Ashen Cover]
[Flame Skin]
[Flame Skin]
[Flame Claws]
Almost immediately after the two attacks collided, the great mist gained even greater obscurity as the alpha wolf used a series of abilities, using the impact of the collision and use of [Obscuring Ashen Mist] to lower visibility even more, creating a larger, more thicker cloud of ash, mist and dust in the surroundings. Then, using [Ashen Armor] to armor itself and [Ashen Cover] to hide itself even more, the wolf basically vanished into the obscurity even more as he made his way through the mist.
And, using [Flame Skin] at the last minute, appeared directly beside the mage, who casted their defensive spell much too late.
[Flame Claws]
The wolf made a swipe directly across the mage's chest, causing the Mage Rank 3 pyromancer to fall onto the ground, clutching its chest in shock.
"H-how?" Joshua asked, horrified and dying. "How… did I… l-lose?"
And, with that, the mage took his last breath and died.
But the wolf didn't stay around long enough to watch him. Instead its attention was towards Theo and the chieftain's battle. Theo — the boy who had the wolf feeling a sense of kinship with — was losing badly.
It suddenly found itself compelled to help the human boy in his struggle. Rushing forward, it used [Flame Claws] to attack the chieftain, but the Chieftain was much too durable for its claws to penetrate the skin.
"Stupid mutt!" with the back of his hand, the chief sent the wolf flying many meters away, into the last of the remaining buildings — the chieftain's own home, unmoving.
[Theo Kraven]:
"NO!" Theo was horrified. He couldn't believe his eyes. The wolf was unmoving.
He thought about how the wolf had been the only being that was even relatively nice to him since his arrival post reincarnation — How the wolf had watched over him when he slept in the forest, vulnerable. He thought about how it let him go when he first arrived and found himself surrounded by bullies who wanted him dead. He then looked at the other wolves — Most of whom were now corpses, either sliced or burned to death by the earlier confrontation with their alpha and Joshua. The ones that were still alive were either unconscious or still fighting. He was certain that they had all been rallied to fight by their alpha to help Theo — And now said alpha was either gravely wounded or worse, and all Theo could do was watch.
"You're going to regret that," Theo gritted his teeth.
Theo, hair covering face and body trembling with uncontrolled rage. He couldn't think clearly anymore — He just felt so angry. So goddamn angry.
[WARNING! Heartbeat Is Erratic & Adrenaline Is Spiking!]
[WARNING! Pulse Is Rising! Possibility of— ERROR, ERROR!]
[Host's Emotions Are Too Strong…Seeking Possible Release…. Release Found!]
[Primal Fury Activated!]
Suddenly, Theo's blue hair seemed to ignite on fire as blue as sapphire flames. The pressure surrounding Theo suddenly spiked like the Texas weather during Summer.
[Ding! All Physical Stats Have Increased By 300%]
[Name]: Theo Kraven(Fenris-Khaos)
[Level]: 2
[Health]: 9
[Agility]: 7 [28]
[Strength]: 6 [24]
Durability: 3 [12]
Stamina: 7 [28]
System Remark: "Oh, yeah, real impressive — Too bad it's like strapping a firecracker to a twig and calling it a warhammer. That bastard outclasses you six ways to Sunday. So unless you've got a death wish, turn your ass around before you get turned into a glorified chew toy, your pride be damned!"
'I have a plan,' Theo thought to his System. 'I couldn't do it before because my stamina pool was too small. Now, though…'.
"Nice power up, boy," the chieftain chuckled, looking down on Theo as if he were a child in need of a lesson. "But, if that's the best you've got, it won't be enough to overcome me. I will make you bleed for what you've done to my beloved. You will know pain beyond anything you could possibly imagine!"
"I know 'I' can't beat you," Theo said, as his blue hair suddenly began turning a dark, sinister green, its sapphire flames shifting to emerald green blazes on his head. His naturally green eyes shone with an unnatural luminous emerald shine and his aura shifted once more, taking a more deathly vibe. "But 'I' don't have to. In the words of Lex fucking Luthor, 'if Man won't kill God…then the Devil will do!' From the depths of Tartarus, I summon…DOOM!"
This response gave Jacky pause, but it was already too late.
[Ding! 'Monarch of Tartarus' Authority is reacting…]
[Now Performing… Grand Nether Summoning!]
That day, the planet of Valtoria was shaken to its core, as an indescribable feeling descended upon its people…