Turned into Beast

When the knights had started fighting Avery, the people who were in front had retreated to the other parts of the church and hid themselves. The church grounds were as huge as the grounds of the Sacred Order, and the main church, where they were at currently, was the biggest building in Arcturus. It would be more accurate to say it was a cathedral, but people of Arcturus were accustomed to call it a church.

The church grounds had other facilities too, such as their own educational institution for priests. Luckily, the majority of people who were evacuated were put in those buildings instead of the main church. But those who sought refuge inside the main church still died meaningless deaths at the hands of Avery Gray.

"Haha... Do you have to be so rough on an old man like me?" Avery joked as Vine grabbed him by his shackled arm, pulled him up from the ground and threw him against the wall face first. "Ah! Hahaha" Avery turned around and leaned against the wall, his nose bloody from the impact just now. 

BAM

Vine punched towards Avery's face, but he missed it by a hair and struck the wall of the church, cracking it. "Wow! That was dangerous!" Avery looked at Vine's bandaged hands from the side of his eye.

"What was your goal here?" Vine stared at Avery. "Did you bring the Saint of Mayhem here? Is the Storm Legion behind this?" He sounded quite impatient as he started to barrage him with questions.

"Slow down Vine, I'll answer you!" Avery smiled at him.

"Then talk! What is your goal?" Vine clenched his teeth at Avery's attitude and pushed his neck with his forearm.

"My goal?" Avery smiled from ear to ear. "I just wanted to have some fun! Hahahahaha!" He started laughing.

BAM

Vine choked Avery and pushed him hard on the wall, causing him to cough up a mouthful of blood. But Avery still laughed like a mad man, showing his bloodied teeth.

"Calm down brother." Thorn walked towards Vine and pat him on the shoulder. "We'll take him to the interrogation chamber. I'm sure we'll get some answers."

Vine snapped his head back towards Thorn, but he regained his clarity and nodded, calming down his anger. When Thorn saw Vine's face just now, he was visibly shaken.

"I've checked the condition of people who retreated. They're fine.." Thorn reported. "I've sent them to other buildings instead of here." Thorn looked around at the piles of corpses and clenched his teeth. 

Vine let out a long sigh and looked around the church along with Thorn. He was trying his hardest to suppress his emotions, but with all that happened this day, he was almost out of control. He clenched his teeth and dug his fingernails in his palms, but looking at the corpses of all the innocent people left him with the feeling of extreme guilt and powerlessness. He was breathing heavily and his body shook with occasional tremors.

Edana was sitting down on a pew and catching her breath after the two battles. She raised her head and looked at her surrounding first. She looked at Thorn and then she noticed Vine's condition. She was about to call out to Thorn to inform him about Vine's condition, but she felt a sudden chill along her body. Turning her head sharply, she found Avery Gray looking at Vine with a chilling smile on his face.

He looked like a wolf preying on a sheep. In the next moment, Avery Gray suddenly jerked his neck. A small long whistle which was tied around his neck rope jumped up from the momentum and landed on his mouth. "Stop him!" Edana cried out, pointing towards Avery, but it was too late.

Avery blew the whistle, but no sound could be heard. Immediately after he blew the whistle, Vine started screaming in pain.

"AAAGH!" He started scratching his shoulders and body. His long coat expanded with his body and tore apart, revealing his skin, which was transforming.

"Brother!" Thorn ran towards Vine and held him. Although the transformation was happening right before his eyes, he had no way of helping him.

Vine moved his arm and hit Thorn, sending him flying towards the pews of the church where Edana was. Rushing forward, Edana helped Thorn by stopping him from falling down. After helping him steady himself, the two were about to rush towards Vine, but stopped.

Vine raised his hand and stopped them from approaching any further. "AAAAAH!" He screamed in agony, as his body grew double in size and his skin turned black. The black skin began growing black hair rapidly. 

"AAAAHHGGH" He moved his hands towards his face. With his nails, he tore apart the skin on his face from the middle of his forehead. His mouth elongated into a large snout with sharp fangs. His human skin melted off when he pulled it with his sharp claws, and he looked at Thorn and Edana with the face of a wolf.

Thorn and Edana looked at Vine's transformed form in horror. "No...." Thorn muttered softly. Vine looked at them with clear sadness in his eyes for a second. Then he turned his head towards Avery. When he turned to look at Avery, the sadness from his eyes turned to anger, then the eyes of Vine transformed to that the a beast, which was wholly black in color.

This time, the transformed Vine looked at Avery like he was the prey and pounced. Vine had fallen into lunacy and had completely transformed into a lunatized beast.