137 CHPT 137: The Full Moon

2hrs Until the Full Moon.

Claude stood in his room removing his armor— partially because no ones allowed to wear their armor or bring their weapons to the Halloween Festival, but also because Arne told him he'd rip through it once he transformed— if he was that large as a Lupine....sizes varied.

As he removed his last leather arm bracer, he stopped to look at his hands. They shook violently and felt clammy.

"Shit.....I'm so scared. I don't want to transform early and die....I can't go without getting revenge." He whispered as he ran his shaking hands through his hair.

"[Don't worry. We've been training for this day for the better portion of a month. Training diligently to make sure today wouldn't result in your death. Just stick to the plan.]"

"Right. Time to go." Claude said as he grabbed the leash he recently bought and limped out of his room.

***

Claude painfully headed down the flight of stairs among the rushing wave of students all heading to the room where the Halloween Festival was taking place, the Mess Hall.

The hallway that led to the room was lined with fancy, spooky themed artwork and banners all in celebration of the holiday that Professors and students with too much holiday spirit made.

By the time he reached the Mess Hall, he was thoroughly aggravated by the noise of the students and the overpowering mixture of smells. It felt like his senses were improving by the second.

"[Get inside, find a corner away from people and relax.]" Arne said.

Claude began searching for a spot as he stepped into the large room.

Students were spread out across the entire floor, under beautiful chandeliers and colorful banners with tablets full of drinks and food in different locations on the floor. It looked nothing like the place he spent most mornings eating breakfast in,

While he continued to look around, he noticed a stage was placed directly in front of him with a number of instruments on it all accompanied by people he wasn't familiar with.

"Great...if the other students weren't enough, we've got a band to blast my ear drums out of existence." He thought as students continued to fill the room.

"[Are you not aware of how parties go?]" Arne asked.

"Of course not, I've never been to one." Claude replied as he found a secluded spot in the corner of the room.

***

Claude spent another twenty minutes watching the twins as they chatted with Alessia, Julian and a number of other students until he heard footsteps heading in his direction.

"You don't know how not to brood, do you" Warren asked as he approached him with Isaac close behind.

"I mean....I could smile but that would look worse, wouldn't it?" Claude responded, trying not to grunt painfully as his stomach spun.

"Fair point." Warren replied.

The three talked and waited for the party to start when two more students split the crowd to enter their social sphere.

Maris walked with the fluid grace of a deep sea predator wrapped in a dark shiny blue dress that accentuated her skin and eyes well.

In front of her, Ursula confidently approached them. She wore her hair differently than usual with two curly brown locks of hair hanging down around her lightly freckled face. She wore all black with a shirt that drew attention away from her hulking muscles and accentuated her more feminine features.

The two were actively drawing a considerable amount of attention.

"God DAMN! Y'all clean up nice." Warren said as he fist bumped Ursula and was left hanging by Maris.

"Thanks, Lucy thought it would be a good idea." Ursula replied while Maris uncomfortably shifted around in her dress.

This was the first time Claude had been so close to them all this week. He couldn't help but agree with Warren, they all were dressed very nicely. It made him incredibly self conscious as he looked down at his own ripped and tatter v-neck that looked a size too small— much like his pants.

"I look homeless as hell." He thought as his face began to heat up.

"[Well....you do sleep in a forest.]" Arne interjected.

"Fuck off."

His exchange with Arne was silenced as he felt someone staring. The person then took a step forward, meaning to speak directly to him.

"Hey, how you been? We haven't been able to talk much this week." Ursula asked as everyone else started talking between each other.

"Yea I'm good. Just feeling a little under the weather." Claude responded while noticing how well the eyeliner she was wearing looked.

"Well get better soon because your my dance partner." She said, matter of factly.

"I'm your wha—"

"Ohhhh shit, it's starting!!" Warren said giddily cutting him off as the man in the center of the stage started to play a slow and steady tempo on his stringed instrument.

The crowd of students roared in excitement as the song started.

Claude's head spun in response to the surge of noise and movement, making him incredibly sick and agitated. He recovered just in time to see the man in the center of the stage, speaking into a metal ring with glowing green symbols written all over it.

"[That circle has an amplification rune placed on it....probably by a Hexblade. It's going to get a lot louder in here.]" Arne said.

Not long after, the slow tempo the man played on the stringed instrument was joined by the beating of drums and powerful strums of other instruments until the powerful tune bounced off the walls of the Mess Halll and ushered the students into a state of dancing madness.

"Come on, let's dance!" Ursula yelled as she grabbed his arm and pulled him into the crowd.

***

Reluctantly, Claude entered the crowd of students and found himself with the others. At first, him and Maris— being the most disconnected from society, stood amongst the students awkwardly as everyone else danced. But, as time passed the two found themselves copying everyone else as they lost track of time, dancing as the band ran through song after song.

Claude didn't know how long he danced with Ursula and rest but suddenly, Arne was speaking in his mind.

"[Claude, it's almost time.]"

He was immediately yanked back into reality and the small amount of enjoyment he was feeling left, leaving him back to feeling sick and uncomfortable in his own skin.

Ursula seemed to pick up on it and yelled out to him. "Are you alright? You look like you feel sick."

Claude jumped at the opportunity, pulling out the leash he recently purchased from the University's item shop. "Ursula...I lost track of time. Can you get Frosty from Predators Forest and sneak him into my room? He gets violent— but only towards other animals, on the Full Moon. I would go but I think I'm going to be sick." He said, trying to sound as sick as he felt.

She stood still as she looked him over, for a moment he thought she was actively seeing through everything with her incredibly perceptive brown eyes.

"Yea ok. I'll go get him, you get to the bathroom or Infirmary." She said as she took the leash from him and headed out of the Mess Hall.

"Alright. Now for the hard part." Claude said as he limped off to the bathroom.

Once he was inside, he ran a hand through his hair and looked himself over in the mirror. His skin looked like it was redder than usual and he could see the faintest green glow in his eyes. It was just beneath the surface.

"How close are we?" Claude asked Arne.

"[Probably 20 minutes. You need to move quickly.]"

Claude agreed and straightened himself out before punching out the torch lights on the wall that lit the bathroom.

CRSHH!....CRSH!!...CRSH.!

He could hear someone running down the hallway towards the bathroom in response to the noise.

"Det. Cyrene." He thought.

Before she could reach the bathroom, he activated his skill, (Shadow Cast) in the dark bathroom.

Fwoo!

In seconds, he could hear the Phantom Wolves claws clicking against the floor in the bathroom.

"Alright Ashe, I want you to run out of here and lead the Wolves upstairs. Make a ruckus, but try not to be seen." He said.

He saw a pair of moon-like eyes nod in understanding before they all rushed out of the bathroom.

"Ah! What the hell? CLAUDE!" Det. Cyrene yelled from outside the bathroom as the smokey Wolves ran past her.

"Ok good. She's still out there.." he thought as he began slamming himself against different objects and snarling like an animal.

"DETECTIVE!.....HELP....ACK! There's another one of those things in here!" He yelled as he threw himself against a stall while also trying to make her think another animal was inside.

Heavy footsteps approached the door and seconds later she came barreling inside— completely unaware of the pitch darkness until the door shut behind her.

"Heheheh.....Oh no you don't, Clau—"

Crack!

Before she could finish speaking, Claude snuck up behind her in the dark room and slammed her head against the wall with all the strength he could muster.

As he let her limp body hit the floor, the smell of her blood made him lose focus for a second.

"[Claude.....Claude! Focus, she's only going to be out for a few minutes at most. You need to move.]" Arne said.

"Huh?.....oh right!" Claude replied before leaving the bathroom.

"Ack!" He bent over in pain as his stomach jumped again once he left the bathroom. The sound of footsteps caused him to look up and see Professors and teams of Guards heading upstairs.

".....Yes sir. We're not sure what they are but they're not normal animals. We've got guards on the ends of this floor and upstairs to protect the students."

"Ok. We'll join you for safety precautions."

Claude leaned against a wall, breathing heavily as he listened to the exchange between a Professor and a Guard.

"Front door it is." He said as he limped back into the loud Mess Hall.

Once inside, he began searching frantically for the twins while thinking of how to get them chasing him. Luckily, he didn't need to be very creative.

"[15 Minutes.]" Arne said.

Claude headed straight for the table with drinks, grabbing two cups of some sort of fruity punch that was burning his nostrils.

"Awe....who drinks this shit?" He thought out loud as he headed for the twins, dancing at the front of the crowd while the band played another intense upbeat song.

He continued to ignore his symptoms brought on by the Full Moon as he pushed through the crowd until he reached them.

"UOF!"

Splash!

"Awe shit...I spilled some of— all of my drink! What a damn bummer!" He yelled sarcastically as he emptied the cups of punch on the twins backs and heads.

After they spun around to see who assaulted them, they just stared wildly at him. Their eyes flickered from normal to Lupine in the dark room like half dead torches.

"You think that shits funny?" Samuel asked in between growls.

"Eh....I'm not going to sit here and act like I didn't enjoy it." Claude replied as their faces twisted into masks of rage.

"Arne, do Lupines of Remus have Prey Drive as well?"

"[Im sure they do.]" he replied.

"Perfect." He thought.

"You want to get into it right here? That's fine, me and Tai wi—"

"Wowewww. Would you look at the time. Gotta go!" Claude loudly interrupted before tossing his cups at them and running for the door.

He immediately heard animalistic snarls and the smell of fear hit his nostrils soon after. Once he was sure they were on him, he picked up his speed and led them out of the Mess Hall.

"Arne, time? I wasn't paying attention." He asked as he shoved through the door.

"[About ten minutes.]"

"Fu—ACK!" He was cut off halfway down the first set of stairs leading to the main hall as a large mass slammed into his back and sent him crashing chest first into the wall at the bottom of the steps.

"GrrrrRRR" Samuel snarled in his ear and gripped his shoulder with clawed fingers. He looked behind him and saw Samuel's saliva coated fangs inches away from his face, Tai stood at the top of the steps behind him like his own personal snarling predatory shadow.

Claude snarled back loudly and sent his elbow crashing into Samuels nose.

CRCK!

"AARP!" Samuel yelped like a dog.

Claude spun around and grabbed Samuel by his shirt and threw him down the next flight of stairs.

He heard movement to his left and responded just in time to dodge Tai as he tried to jump on him.

As he sidestepped, he grabbed the back of Tai's head and slammed his face into the wall before grabbing him by the hair and throwing him down the stairs next to his brother.

As Samuel tried to recover, Claude came crashing into his back.

"Try to keep up!" He growled in Samuel's ear before leaping off his back and heading down the next flight of stairs.

The twins got up angrily and continued to chase after him.

He led them down the final steps and across the MainHall, stepping silently over the large Phoenix designed floor before shoving the doors open.

The outside air seemed to remove his sick reeling. The night air was so rich, it felt like he was inhaling— in its simplest sense, power. With every inhale as he ran, his lungs became infinitely larger, his vision grew sharper along with his sense of smell and his muscles felt full of strength. He could feel the moon rising behind him instinctively as he led the twins farther away from the University.

***

As the Moon continued to reach its place high in the sky, the three Lupines became faster and stronger to the point that they were expanding the distance between themselves and the University as not much more than large blurs in the night.

After running for a while longer, Claude felt it was safe to deactivate his skill, (Shadow Cast).

By that time, he found himself in a small patch of forest, he could hear the animals clear out immediately, and the river ran loudly behind him.

The twins staggered inside, pushing past bushes and tree branches as they breathed loudly. He immediately noticed certain parts of them already gave in to the Moons influence.

Samuel's arm was fully transformed— much like the first time they fought after being changed. The fur climbed up his neck and and sprouted from half of his face where it looked like his jaw and nose were becoming a thick snout.

Tai looked terrible. One of his eyes bulged out of his head, glowing like a blue ball of fire and patches of blond fur sprouted from his face and neck while the muscles in his right arm bulged and spasmed like snakes were under his skin. All he did was growl and snap his teeth at Claude angrily.

"[Its time.]" Arne suddenly said.

At the exact same time, the Full Moon rose up above the trees and lit up the forest with its haunting white glow.

As soon as the rays fell on him, he grew incredibly hot. It felt like his skin was on fire and for a second he thought it was as his skin started to steam.

"AHHHHH!!!! Arne what the hell is this?!" He thought as he instinctively tried to block out the burning rays of the Moon. He could hear the twins groaning and snarling as they did the same.

"[This is natural. Don't try to hide from it. Just try to stay calm and be ready to fight them.]" Arne said.

Claude looked over to them and saw them rolling around on the floor in pain like wild animals. While he looked back up at his hands that shielded the Moon from his face, he noticed it was different.

His hand and forearm was a greyish black color that looked tough like leather. Shiny black fur was sprouting from his hands and arms as veins in his arms turned black and changed more of his arms.

In this time, he was only getting hotter, causing him to rip off his shirt in an angry snarl. He immediately fell to the ground as fur sprouted from his back and chest.

CRKcrkckkkrkrk!

"AAAARGGH!!" He roared in pain as his bones snapped and grew with more durability, connected to larger and more powerful muscles until he was almost unrecognizable.

Somewhere along the way, his shoes ripped as his feet changed from regular human feet to a sort of wolf—human hybrid suited for running on all fours as well as on two feet.

His muscles continued to grow as his limbs grew longer and his body emitted more steam.

Crack!

Before he could finish transforming. A clawed foot slammed into his gut and sent him tumbling deeper into the forest.

He tumbled down a hill and slammed into a tree loudly after being kicked. He looked up and noticed Samuel was fully transformed. He was huge.

The Moon hovering over the forest highlighted the golden fur that was stretched over his large muscles as he stood at the top of the hill looking down at him. The wolf-like ears that now sat at the top of his head like horns, twitched and turned at every sound that echoed through the forest and his snout twisted and morphed into an ugly snarl as he glared down at him through his savage purple eyes.

Claude was still dazed and transforming, allowing him the only option of watching as Samuel dropped down to all fours and began running down the hill, looking like a giant golden wolf from hell.

All he could think as he watched Samuel close the distance was, "Is this what my Father felt?.....This excruciating pain?....it burns...everything hurts! You two sons of bitches...your forced my Father to die like this! I'll kill you both! ILL KILL YOU ALL!"

FWoo!

At the same time, Samuel leapt off the floor, snarling and reaching out for him with his sharp clawed hands. His jaws were opened, revealing the impressive array of sharp teeth he planned to shred Claude to pieces with. Claude had other plans.

"RAG—" Samuel was silenced as Claude's hand shot out and caught him by the throat in mid air.

Claude ignored how large his hands must've become for one of them to wrap around Samuel's thick neck the way it was as he rose from the ground— still holding Samuel.

He was unaware of his size as he raised to his full height, but it seemed Samuel was. His ears flattened in fear slightly and he snarled quietly at the large steaming mass of muscles, fur, and wild glowing eyes as he was pulled closer.

For a moment the two just sat. Samuel snarling quietly while Claude's features were hidden behind the veil of steam until suddenly, Claude's grip tightened around his neck.

"rrrRRRRAOORRRR!!!!!" The steam split as Claude leaned forward and roared in Samuel's face loud enough to shake the trees around them.

All while this happened, Claude's transformation reached his face, morphing his nose and jaw into a roaring wolf-like jaw and snout while his ears turned completely black and lengthened to elven points. The black leathery skin reached his face and snout before being covered in shiny deep black fur that made his eyes look even more intense under his wild black mane of hair that was growing down to his hulking fur covered shoulders.

After vocalizing his anger in Samuel's face, his lips peeled back as he bared his teeth at him before throwing him into a nearby tree.

He didn't pursue the enemy Lupine and instead stood silently for a moment. The last of the steam faded off of his fur signifying the end of his transformation.

His new increased senses spoke to him in ways he couldn't comprehend as he lifted his head and found himself staring at the Moon.

Through his new eyes, it looked incredible. He could see the Lunar Magic it was expelling like bright blue energy that washed over the forest and hovered around him before soaking through his fur and into his skin.

It looked like a second sun.

"[Claude, are you with me? Tell me what you feel.]" Arne asked.

Claude growled and looked towards Samuel as he replied, "Hate.....Hate..."

"[I understand. Remember why you're here. You have to keep them from going back to the Univeristy and killing students or getting themselves killed.]"

Claude felt himself returning as he listened to Arne's words. "Yes. That's why I'm here. I have to keep them in the forest. I have to keep them here to get revenge later." He thought clearly, for the first time.

"[Impressive. Your fully conscious...]" Arne said, sounding nothing short of amazed.

His ear twitched at the side of his head in response to the sound of Samuel getting up.

The golden Lupine snarled as he slowly approached him on all fours.

Claude felt his control leaving him as the adrenaline pumped through his veins.

The two sized eachother up, walking in a circle in the small forest as they snarled and snapped back and forth.

As Claude looked into Samuel's purely inhuman eyes, he felt different about something.

"Samuel. I'm not going to kill you or Tai right now— wherever your little your little follower is. You two aren't yourselves right now, that's no good. I want you to know who brought about your end. Until then, I'll just beat the shit out of you both!"

That was his last conscious thought before the two lunged at each other and clashed in a blinding mixture of shiny fur, teeth and claws.

***

During this time, none of them were aware of Tai fighting for his life to survive the harsh transformation as he lay sprawled out in the grass, panting and half shifted. They were also unaware of the psychotic presence slowly descending upon the forest.

***

"Hehehehehheheh...no more....n-no more monsters...hahaHAHAHAH.....REMOVE THEIR HEADS!"