CHPT 284: Deja Vu.....

Within the forest surrounding and playing as part of Rollan's home, the Full Moon became one of two living spectators in what can only be described as an absolute massacre.

The second wave of Monsters came with a wild confidence that was snuffed out of existence in seconds as Claude's Wild Magic infused howls reverberated through the cold night itself and called forth the worlds most natural predators in the face of the unnatural.

They appeared on the makeshift battle-field, already transformed by the power of the untamed that over-saturated their limbs and piloted their maddened minds towards the idea of ripping tearing and mauling the unwanted beings ahead into fleshy ribbons.

What they wanted was what they got.

Madness reached new heights as the war waged on. As a Lupine and rarely titled, Potential, Claude attracted more of the untamed magic of the ambient world like a feral magnet. It pooled above them all, moving with the icy winds like clouds. And where there were clouds-- rain usually followed. The Lunar Magic spilling from the Full Moon was their rainfall. It cut through the cold sky and rippled through their wild clouds, splashing on the natural born predators skin. And soaking their minds completely in the ideas of bloody violence.

This simple and primal idea carried them. Wave after wave. More Monsters decapitated....Goblins left unrecognizable....Gnoll's having their snouts removed brutally and highspeed Centaurs caught in the wild growth of Trees that swallowed them up like the earthen jaws of an awakening Dragon.

Over time, the madness subsided. There was enough blood spilled to drown a small village in red.

For the first time, Claude could think relatively clearly...clear enough to realize they weren't finished.

***

SHLCK!

Plop!...

The final head fell. The head of a HellBred Goblin. It's skin lost it's color even before death, blending with the soaked grass ground as a lifeless shade of blackish green. It's eyes that once burned with the flames of hell were now merely black pools of pure absence. The same loss of color appeared at the front of it's forehead where two ram-like horns spiraled and sunk into the earth, matching it's icy coldness...matching it's prevalence of death.

Blood dripped from his claws, falling on the creatures cold skin like raindrops. The forest was just silent enough for it to sound like the liquid beats of a drum.

Splish Splash..Splish Splash. The tempo matched his heartbeat. Steady-- fast. Never slowing even with the absence of combat. Because the battle wasn't over.

"RA--"

"ARGSHH!"

SQSH!

A fallen Gnoll behind him moved to try and attack him from behind with its remaining arm. Before it could reach him, Frosty ripped into the back of it's head, only letting go when it's pieces of brain began to leak down the spaces between his jagged teeth.

Should've played dead.

A lot of different things should've been done. That's what Claude thought their final opponent was thinking based on the powerful scents of fear spilling from the Monster-- could it even think?.....it's corrupted arm seemed to work as a brain as well. And yet, he could sense the clash of emotions on both as clear as day.

The fear drew him in like a moth to a flame.

As he walked across the grass, past trees-- still twisting, growing and grinding up the Monsters caught inside, the final Monster stayed frozen.

The massive Satyr didn't move much at all. His thick black hooves stayed level with the earth. His bulging fur covered legs followed suit, along with the rest of his beastially corrupted body. All that moved were two things.

The black veins dancing along it's skin that had spread considerably in his absence. And the Armament of the Underworld on the Monsters left forearm that shook and rattled angrily like a salted leech.

"Move you mindless brute! We can kill them!...We kill them all! Feed on the madness...NOW!" The hellish living Armament screamed as tiny portions of the living weapon tore away more of the Satyr's flesh to reveal the pale bone beneath.

Still no movement.

Claude continued onward. Silently padding through bloody grass and Monster carcasses while his pack and the predators of the wild followed, moving as a legion of furred bodies and glowing eyes.

"MOVE!!..KILL THAT FILTH!" The arm roared, pulsing bright red underneath its smooth black expanse of skin.

Claude snarled, partially understanding the words but more interested in finishing the job.

The Armament continued to roar in protest until the veins on the beast bulged and began to glow red, slowly crawling up to it's hideous face. In a flash, the Satyr moved for the first time as the veins crowded around it's left eye and leaked into the iris, brutally changing the shape and color to a glowing red.

It took a step forward for the first time.

The left half of it's face went from looking fearful to excited with a wicked sneer splitting it's snouted face. The ruined left eye of the Monster continued to watch him while the right eye rolled lazily as if it lost all function.

"....Incomplete...haha....but he gave me no choice. Weak hosts....I hate them." The Satyr spoke-- only from the left side of its jaw while the other half of it's face and body continued to slowly descend into death it seemed.

The Armament of the Underworld took hold of the entirety of the Satyr's body...and murdered the rest.

Claude and Frosty snarled in disgust as the feeling of wrongness heightened considerably. There was nothing of the Satyr left other than corrupted flesh. They now faced only the demon beneath.

His hackles raised with the highspeed tensing of his muscles as the realization dawned on him. His averse reaction sent a tidal wave of responses to the creatures behind him.

The Demon didn't care.

"LET ME TASTE YOUR HATE!!!!!"

FWOOO!!

The Demon piloting the Satyr corpse exploded from the deep woodlands, blasting off on one leg as the right half of the creatures body lagged along. It's speed wasn't hindered in the slightest.

The sudden movement triggered his prey drive causing him to focus on the target like never before as he moved with it.

With that focus, came clarity. He was clear....like the very few moments of clarity he had last Full Moon. For the moment he was back.

His jaws closed in a flash and his spread arms moved to guard his face as he bulleted towards the frenzied Demon.

FWWO--

SNAP!

Instead of colliding like two wild monsters, Claude swatted away the Demons lunging jab and kicked in it's only functioning leg causing it to snap backward at the knee so gruesomely that the bone ripped out in a flash.

"AAHHHHK!"

Before it could fall, he caught it by the throat with his left hand and held its left arm at bay with his other.

The right half of its body hung like a ragdoll while the other half shook and vibrated. Speech exploded from the left side of its face in an instant.

"You wretched bastard! You think this is it? You think you've got me? Try and kill me...haha! YOU CAN'T! I'll find another because you cant dispose of me you filthy mutt!"

Claude pondered on the Demons words for a moment. It was right-- sort of. He didn't understand the full extent of HellBreeders yet....he didn't know if the Armament would disconnect and find another after it all. He couldn't dispose of it currently-- but he knew who could.

it'd been screaming within his mind for the entire night. He finally listened.

"You're NOTHING! I'll come back and kill you all with a stronger host! YOU HEAR ME?! YOU'RE ALL NOTHING!!!"

He shook the creature angrily and pulled them face to face before growling a final set of words to the Demon.

"....Eat shit."

FWOO!

Before the Demon could reply, he threw it back towards the woodlands it emerged from. Right when it thought that was the end of it, he roared, causing green flames and electrical fissures of energy to explode from his body in a vaguely shaped torrent that headed straight for the Demon.

As his roars continued, the blast of energy from within gained shape and form in a flash of feral fluidity.

It developed legs...and a head....energy focused and solidified before being sheathed in thick black scales. And steaming spikes.

In an instant, the HellSlayer's Hound crashed into the Demonic parasite, bigger and made more monstrous by its Full Moon transformation as it ripped and tore away at the Demon.

Following his final attack, the predators of the wild that flanked him surged like piranhas.

They joined the hound in expelling the Demon while he watched overhead in silence.

In his difficultly maintained moment of clarity, he couldn't help but notice how similar the sight was to his nightmare....

Death followed soon after in a flash of blood and Natural Flames.....

[+ 485 EXP]

DING!

[You have Leveled Up! You are now Level 23!]

[6 Stat Points Available!]

[You have slain a significantly dangerous and powerful member of the Demon Race as well as a number of Demonically infected beings.]

[All HellSlayer Powers have risen one Level!]

[HellSlayer's Hound Strength Increased!]

The thought was shortlived as the pull of the Moon regained dominance over his mind.

Everything after came to him in flashes of coherence.

Checking on Ursula....

Marking Territory..

Regrowing SpellBloom Wards...

Hunting....

Eating...

Running...

It all faded into a muddled mess of madness and control with his legion of predators. But two things remained along the way.

A question...

How quickly could his nightmare really become a reality?

And an urge...

An urge to remove danger from every corner of his Lupine territory.

He'd found that danger and leapt at it with the ferocity of a wild protector, seamlessly shifting from one world to the next in a flash.

VWOOMP!