Discovery III.

She hated it... hated it... hated everything she wanted to kill them all.

The pain from clenching her hands too tightly woke her up from the haze of the bloodlust.

Damn it. Hell. Shit.

Kristensen had forgotten about that, the bloodlust. Her emotions were getting worked up frequently within that space, and it wasn't the ideal place for her to be.

What to do, what to do...

"The recruits are willingly sacrificing themselves?" Kristensen questioned, her voice steady despite the turmoil simmering beneath the surface.

Who would believe anything someone in charge of sucking people of their life, power, and everything else dry?

The figure leaned back and let go of her chin, tilting its head as if contemplating something. "You... you're... you're going through bloodlust?"

It chuckled after saying that outloud. The chuckle was pure delight and mischief that had Kristensen cringing. She had a feeling that what the masked figure would try out next wouldn't be good for her.

"Bloodlust?" The figure leaned towards Kristensen again, and she avoided its gloved hand, but it still took hold of her chin, this time more forceful than before.

It leaned towards Kristensen's ear and whispered in a soft voice, "You... it's like you gift wrapped yourself and delivered yourself to my door. How can I refuse such a good gesture?"

Kristensen almost broke her neck, tilting her head back to avoid the masked figure's touch. It baffled her how even from that close proximity, she still couldn't tell if the figure was a man or woman.

Was it even a person?

"Does he really think he's the emperor since people are calling him that?" Said the figure softly - not to Kristensen but at her. "You're not bonded with him. Why can't I take you for myself? I want to see how powerful he is.'

Before Kristensen could react, she was lifted from the ground by her throat, and the eyes on the figure's mask started to glow. Deep dripping red, like the hue in the surreal room. They blended together with the scene and unleashed the pressure of an alpha... an alpha more powerful than Casey.

The force that had woven inside of her from before started to creep in once more and this time with more intensity than before.

As Kristensen tried to keep her guard up and grit her teeth to go through the same ordeal again, she heard a loud bang in her mind that made her whole being tremble. Her heart, her soul, her mind, and her body shook.

At first, it was a shock, and Kristensen looked around to see where exactly the bang came from and what caused it, then came the calm - extreme silence that she thought she had been hallucinating.

Then, Kristensen threw a mouthful of blood and excruciating pain like all her bones breaking at ones came. It was impossible for her to simply grit her teeth to go through it. She roared the loudest she had ever in agony.

"Huh? That shield around you is really strong. Will I really have to make you stupid to get what I want?" The masked figure mused out. "Well, as long as you're not dead."

Although Kristensen was in immense pain and her consciousness was drifted between - blinded by the urge to kill and destroy and clarity, she knew that she couldn't lose herself.

"You don't have to endure it. Don't... you're putting yourself through too much pain if you do. Let go, huh, Kristensen? Join me, join us. Let go." The masked figure said softly, as though coaxing a child to take a sip.

Another bang on Kristensen's consciousness came, and her eyes rolled back. She hung on the masked figure's hand, lifted by her throat as though she were a doll, incapable of making any resistance.

The invisible shield that protected her human-wolf figurine in her subconscious didn't give way, though. The figurine was floating in a pool lit crimson silver. There wasn't any disturbance.

The masked figure pat both Kristensen's cheeks. "Don't, don't. You can't lose conscience now."

Kristensen opened her eyes, the luster in them unfocused. She blinked a couple of times before she remembered where she was.

She let out a sardonic smile as her eyes focused on the masked figure. Her lips were red from the blood, and her face was pale from losing blood and the pain she was in, yet at that moment, she looked extremely beautiful.

Kristensen thought to herself, her luck had become terrible since waking up in that room, it blew her away.

The situations she found herself in one after another were ones some would never encounter in their lifetimes, yet they happened to her frequently. How unlucky was she?

The process repeated a couple of times as the masked figure tried to break through Kristensen's shield yet to no avail.

Within the surreal crimson room, the silence stretched only disturbed by Kristensen's pain induced roars. The masked figure, still holding her aloft, observed with obvious fascination as it couldn't break through the shield no matter how much pressure it gave.

"So strong?" The figure pondered aloud, "That can't be just from his protection alone, though, right. Who are you really?"

Kristensen let out a series of heart-wrenching coughs before weakly looking at the figure.

Damn, it hurt.

It felt like she would cough out her lungs and intestines. Why had she been a busy body to rush to rescue people she didn't know? Kristensen wanted to go back in time and beat herself up.

How many lives did she think she had? It was already clear her luck was terrible as a wolf, yet she tested her fate...

"Who are you anyway?" She wondered outloud after catching her breath. "Isaac... you... what is it you're after? I'm new here, so pardon my ignorance."

If she was going to die and become a dried corpse, she thought she might as well know why she died and by whom.

Her lazy voice just then carried the extreme nonchalance of her personality that the masked figure let out a soft laugh, the bewilderment in the laugh apparent.

The masked figure tossed her to the ground and walked back, putting some distance between the two.

Suddenly, echoes of footsteps sounded, coming from afar and leisurely. The scene changed from the room to the worshippers roaring towards the moon.

"He... he's coming." Said the masked figure as it disappeared behind the moon.

Kristensen was too worn out to care about who the masked figure was talking about. She couldn't care about the mass that had fallen and how the pseudo alpha's symbol was almost filled.

She closed her eyes tiredly.

Her connection to the pseudo alpha's symbol cut, and back at the underground chamber, her body fell to the ground.

Vince, Casey, and the others clamored when they saw Kristensen fall down. They pounded harder on the invisible wall that was obstructing them from getting to her.

However, there wasn't any when they pounded, and they almost fell. Vince was the first one to run to Kristensen.

On the other side of the underground passage, steady steps echoed as Ocean made his way through the long, narrow passage.

He whistled as he made his way, poking his head on the pits he passed. After walking for some time, he saw a figure at the end of the tunnel.

Ocean continued making his way at the same pace, as though he didn't see there was a person waiting on him.

"You didn't have to come and receive me. Then again, if you didn't, I'd still uproot you from that little ritual you're holding." said Ocean as he got closer, a slight smile visible on his face.

Two red glowing dots gleamed in the darkness, and the masked figure replied as it took off towards Ocean, turning along the way. "You're long away from the capital."

Ocean shifted to the left, and the brown wolf flashed by. He grabbed it easily by the back of the head and tossed it back. The wolf fell down with a loud thud.

"On second thought, it seems coming out to welcoming me was a bad idea." Ocean said as he continued making his way.

The masked figure turned back to its human form and watched Ocean worrily as he made his way.

"Does Caston really not know what his people are doing, or are you guys harvesting for him?" Ocean asked. His demeanor shedding off the lightness and was becoming the cold, domineering stance of an alpha.

Ocean stood in front of the masked figure and looked at it from above. "You've already served your purpose."

The sentence was a declaration of death. He said calmly and without hesitation as though the masked figure had even disappointed him.

He crouched down to be level with the masked figure, took the mask off as soon as he got closer, and revealed the face behind the mask.

Ocean stared at the unmasked face of a boy before him, his expression unreadable. The face was simply beyond what he had expected. Young, simply too young.

The masked figure, now unmasked, looked at Ocean with defiance and resignation.

"I have nothing to say. Just kill me..." The boy said.

Ocean let out an amused laugh. He almost fell for it, he thought. The game was really too interesting if this was how they played.

"You're not him." Ocean mused, "and he was able to get away so quickly."

He brought his head to the boy's eyes and hid them. The claws extended from his fingers, and whilst covering the boy's eyes, Ocean crushed his skull.

The boy's boy fell too ground, and he rose to his feet. Ocean took out a handkerchief from his pocket, his eyes on the body, and started wiping the blood on his fingers.

"My pub is really too enticing." Ocean clicked his tongue as he said, looking at the body.

He threw the handkerchief on the boy's head, then turned, and he left.

His steps echoed as he made his way back, and he started to whistle in tune with his steps.

Ocean's gaze directed towards the underground chamber - precisely - where the pseudo alpha's symbol floated. It was only a casual glance and on opposite sides of the underground, but the glimmer on the pseudo alpha's symbol diminished a little.

He retracted his gaze as though nothing happened and continued on his way - whistling.

"Alright, let's keep playing this game of hide and seek. I want to see how long you can keep hiding." Said Ocean as he disappeared into the dark underground passage.

In one of the pits, another figure in a masked watched Ocean disappear and gritted its teeth.

"We... we need to find Father and report to him. It seems we underestimated the person from the capital." The figure said to no one, waited a while, then turned around, disappearing into the underground labyrinth.