The explosion of dust and stone came from the violent contact of two fighters. Dragena was thrown back to the doors, her helmet was once again on her head, her mighty armor bore countless scars. Alsyn, now looking like a monster from stories that parents tell cubs to keep them obedient, climbed out of the cloud, smiling like a maniac. Her body was bleeding, wet popping sounds accompanied her every move, she walked on all four limbs in short jerking bursts, resembling more a toy soldier than a living being. A single eye looked at Dragena with hungry anticipation, showing an eagerness to kill. The wicked creature still continued to grow ever so slightly.

"I will protect him. Against everyone. Even you will not take away his future!" The creature croaked, spitting forward the tongue from her upper mouth, now once again filled with fangs. Alsyn's slimy tongue hit Dragena in her right arm, wrapping around her elbow like a rope. With a push of her jaw, Alsyn started dragging the warlord toward herself.

Seeing that everyone was too captivated by looking at the battle between the two beings, Annie left Kayleen in the care of others and jumped off the walkway. The mercenaries ignored her, some men dropped their weapons, others simply sat on the ground. While Annie raced past it, silence could be heard from the receiver. She slammed against the doors of the iron dome, the sturdy metal doors refused to open, a silent humming sound was behind them. Annie's paws grabbed the door handle, praying that it would hold just long enough. Pushing the muscles of her body and the motors of her armor, Annie tore the steel door, throwing it aside. Behind her, Alsyn twitched in worry, trying to turn around. Her hesitation allowed Dragena to cut her tongue in two and leave a long slash at the monster. Alsyn threw herself at the warlord with a roar, turning both fighters into blurry figures. Only ruins on the floor and intense wind, accompanied by thunderous sounds, reminded everyone that these were the people fighting, rather than ghosts.

Annie stepped inside and saw countless people strapped to chairs, their mouths gagged with leather straps. At least two hundred people, almost the entire daily shift of this place and some more. In the center of the room stood a pedestal, with a steel closed sphere on it. Cables run on the floor from people toward the pedestal. Most of these cables had red on them. Annie stepped forward and saw that one of the people on a chair resembled a dried husk, rather than a man. His hair was white and was falling out, his skin barely covered his bones, and his oversized orange jumpsuit was far too big for him. The cable that ran from his chair toward the sphere was burning green.

Annie was unsure of what to make of this. The hand of the man fell on his chest, cable underneath him turned black. One of the cables under the other man shifted color to green and the man tried to scream. Something shifted in Annie’s head, and the scout jumped forward, burying her remaining claws in the cables, tearing through them one by one, ignoring discharges of electricity that hit her again and again.

Every wolfkin passed her or his trial during times in the pits. The task was simple, under the guidance of the instructor, you had to kill an insectoid drone. These were the common pests of the Wastes and Ravaged Lands, once they were a menace to the population, leaving behind entire empty villages devoid of life. In modern times, insectoids were still capable of killing humans, but hives adapted. Now it sends its drones to scavenge on farms, trying to sneak in by night, killing animals or devouring food. These creatures also rummaged through the garbage, taking away every scrap of food, feeding the queen of the hive and increasing their numbers. Over time, hives can grow large enough to threaten even settlements. Seeing living rivers made of chitin bodies running from the hills upon the remote village was a truly breathtaking sight. Annie stopped one such attack as a member of Dragena’s pack. Under orders from Kayleen, the wolfkins placed mines and wiped out the remains of the insects with shardguns.

Yet there was a problem with drones. Their razor-sharp claws and needle-like legs could cut through steel, but they were no match for wolfkins. Even cubs can outrun them, and even normies can outrun drones. But when cubs crashed with drones, tearing through chitin carapace with claws and fangs, the drones often bit the unexperienced cubs, injecting acid underneath the skin. For long days ahead, this nasty substance would pulsate under the skin of cubs, causing them to whimper in their sleep from pain, while the weak immune system of cubs would adapt to overcome damage. Instructors very rarely helped cubs with painkillers, the exercise's goal was to teach young people not to get hit, that injuries will make you weak not only today, but in the days ahead. And pain was the greatest teacher, in the opinion of the instructors. Annie felt the same pain now, only it was accumulated with each torn cable. It was almost like the cables were just mandibles of insectoids, with stingers inside them, that injected poison into Annie’s paws with each torn cable, poison that was gathering beneath her skin, making her paw swollen, bursting her skin…

Too late. Just a moment sooner. He died because I was too late. If I was stronger, if I was faster... No more. Annie pushed through the pain, following the teaching of shamans. The one who toughs it out to the end is the winner. It does not matter how many times you lose, how much pain you suffer, as long as you stand up and move forward. Indignity is irrelevant. Pain is temporary, like life itself. New breeds were given more power than others. They were expected to deliver more.

"Annie, your paws are about to burst!" Kassandra shouted, and Annie simply growled. Cable, slash, cable, slash. Cable… Slash?

Annie stopped, looking around, noticing that all the cables that were moving to the pedestal were cut. She blinked with disbelief, trying to shake off the pulsing pain in her paws and walked toward the first man whom she saved, tearing through his leather bonds.

"I am fine." Annie almost cried, trying not to look at her ruined paws. Shame burned in the scout when water made her vision murky. She failed to save all the hostages and now she was crying from pain. How more pathetic could she be?

Virginia would never have cried from pain… Annie shook her head angrily, trying to stop the tears that refused to disappear from her eyes.

"Like Abyss you are. I can see the data feed of your power armor. Out, immediately, other soldiers will arrive shortly and free the hostages. You sit out and rest, until the medics treat you. This is an order, scout." Kassandra commanded angrily.

Annie freed the man, took off her helmet and looked at her paws. Her fur burned away, her skin looked red, her fingers were swollen and looked like overcooked sausages that were about to burst, in some places, the skin cracked and the meat inside was torched. Her ruined fingers even smelled like a piece of cusack’s meat, when Annie overcooked it by accident, and this realization horrified her.

"Thank you, lady! Larry Kosh from WWB at your service," The man jumped out of his seat, trying to shake the paw of Annie, and she jumped back in fear, "Oh, my apologizes. Did not notice your hands at first. You are Annie, right? Sorry, your face is a bit swollen." the man asked, looking at Annie’s snout with a curious expression.

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"How are Iternian…" She remembered him. She saw this person in prayer dens a couple of times, but he pretended to be local back then, "You are a faker! You dared to…"

"Eh, relax!" The blonde man smiled, raising his hands in a gesture of peace. He was dressed in the grey clothes of a travelling merchant with a badge of guest on his right shoulder. Kassandra checked the number on the badge and sent confirmation to Annie that this man really had permission to be in this facility, "We have permission from your warlord Zero to make a film about the Wolf Tribe. Well, war happened, and our attention is now split a bit, plus this place was a bit interesting… But don’t worry, we still have some good material. Once the war is over, you will see…"

"Just help others here, please. My paws… I can’t do much right now." That was half a lie. She still had her claws on her legs and a mouth full of fangs. But Kassandra is unlikely to approve if the scout stays here. The agent was not cruel by nature, but during her work in the refugee center, Annie learned to obey her. Each time she unintentionally failed to complete her tasks, the agent would send her to cleaning duty. And the toilets in the refugee center looked like hell itself and smelled like dozens of rotten bodies. After two such punishments, Annie learned to act as an obedient soldier to the agent, while working as a volunteer. Spirits only know what Kassandra will do to her if she disobeys orders during a real-life field mission. She'd probably skin her alive or something. The scout turned away from the man, wiping tears of pain off her eyes.

Putting on her helmet, Annie walked outside, seeing the ruined hall. Wolfkins, orais, and even normies were hurrying to remove themselves from the first floor, accompanied by mercenaries. Both sides worked together, trying to move the injured out of the battle zone, while the battle between Dragena and Alsyn still raged, making the floor underneath Annie’s legs tremble from shock. Cracks ran across the walls, steel beams that supported walkways were bent or outright torn asunder, several giant projectors fell from the ceiling onto the floor. Other wolf hags from the Dragena pack reported that resistance all around the facility ceased, mercenaries surrendered in every room, making only this place an active battle. Several medics from mercenaries joined the medics of Reclaimers, treating the most severely injured soldiers, trying to patch them up enough to transport them out of harm’s way, cursing ever so slightly during their work at each impact that the warlord and her opponent created.

"Blood… So much blood… Mom! Mom!" One of the soldiers on the floor screamed, his belly was riddled with bullets from the weapons of mercenaries, blood was on his lips, running all the way toward his left ear. Medics nearby tried to stop the bleeding of a nearby patient.

Lacerated One came and looked at injured soldier. He was young, barely saw twenty years in his life, his eyes were filled with tears and panic. The shaman inhaled, tasting the smell of man’s blood and insides. Shamans were rarely medics, but they knew just as much about treating wounds as other wolfkins. What a member of the Wolf Tribe could endure, a normie could not endure. If a shaman tries to treat the wounds of this man, shock may kill the soldier just as easily as injury.

"Calm yourself, cub." The shaman said, lowering herself on her knees near him, gently pressing his body to the ground with a single paw. The light from her shining amber eyes made the man's blood glow.

"Mother… Please don’t tell mom that I was crying when I…" The soldier whimpered, fighting to keep his eyes open.

"You will tell her yourself. Your wounds are bad, but the medics will save you. They can fix anyone. Just don’t sleep. Stay awake, grab the light of this life and hold it as tightly as a cub holds a mother during a scary night." The shaman took off her helmet, looking with a bloody snout at the man before her. Her free paw rose in the air, opening one of the scars over her eye and bathing the edge of the claw with blood.

"But… it hurts, hurts… I want to slee…" The soldier whispered. The shaman nodded and reached for her face once more, taking a drip of blood and spattering it across the man’s face, making him gasp for air with a sudden burst of strength. His closing eyes were open, looking at the Lacerated One with clarity.

"I know that it hurts. But your death will not bring happiness to anyone. Stick with the living for a while. Live long, find a mate, breed well, and be happy. Blessed be." The shaman stood up, allowing medics to come and work on the suddenly energized man. Lacerated One came close to Annie and lowered her snout to the ear of the scout and whispered, "You saw nothing. You will not report this to other shamans. Stay safe." Leaving a drop of blood fall on Annie’s paw, Lacerated One put her helmet on her head, turning toward the battle. The heartbeat of the scout increased, the pain in her paws receded, giving way to sheer ecstasy. She felt herself strongest, she wanted to charge at the mercenary, ripping and tearing, soaking herself in the blood of the enemy, devouring flesh and…

Annie jumped when Lacerated One lightly tapped her at the back of the head, almost making the scout fall on her knees. The shaman nodded at the fighters, silently telling Annie to calm down.

Dragena was pushed all the way to the entrance, creature known as Alsyn stood on all four limbs ten steps away from the warlord. The creature screamed from pain when one of the spinal cords pierced her waist, coming out of her body and covering itself with flesh. A massive tail landed on the floor, breaking stone slabs. Another roaring scream came from the mouth of the creature as her gray skin cracked once again, unleashing countless gray eyes on her back and arms.

"Kill… I… Kill!" The main eye of Alsyn closed on Dragena, pupil became the size of a black dot. Dragena stepped aside just in time to evade the beam of light that shot out of her naked eye, a beam that melted the remains of the steel doors and speared its way to the outside of the facility, leaving behind the smell of burning wood and the sound of molten metal running down on the floor, "Kill, kill, protect!" The rest of her eyes began to glow, and her words became clearer with each word. Devourer sent for an update, demanding to know what was happening. According to him, a beam of light raced all the way to the horizon. The warlord quickly sent him a request to stay put, if his excellency joined the fight, nothing would remain of the facility.

"Enough of this." Dragena moved forward, putting the blades back into the sheaths. Once again, the warlord put her right leg forward, disappearing from sight and reappearing behind Alsyn. The former mercenary leader roared from pain, all her countless eyes were blinded, leaking from countless eye sockets. Dragena fell on one knee behind Alsyn, breathing hard and putting one paw on the floor. The tail hit Dragena across the left side, sending the warlord through the column that supported one of the walkways.

"Warlord. This strain is too much for your body. I recommend you leave the battlefield, in your condition, you risk losing y…" Ieshua once again said on communication channel.

"I am fully fine, doctor," The warlord replied, climbing out of rubble and walking forward when the creature turned to her. The claw-like hand struck forward, and Dragena lifted her blade, piercing the enemy in the palm. Flesh flowed from Alsyn's paw, trying to close around the paw that held the handle. Dragena let go of her knife and snapped her fingers. The blade, still stuck in enemy flesh, exploded, causing the blinded creature to roar in pain. The warlord rolled to the side, evading the charge of the maddening monster. Even lacking eyes, it still somehow tracked Dragena. A blood fountain came from the sliced shoulder of the warlord as she was standing up, "Are hostages safe?" The warlord demanded to know, dodging another swing of the claws from her opponent. The massive head of Alsyn fell to the ground, mercenary gave a low growl, standing on all four limbs before the warlord. Veins, like knots of tight rope, become visible under the skin of the creature. Blood ran from her ruined eyes, creating a small pool of blood around her hands and legs.

"One of the hostages was dead, warlord. This machine… It sucked the life out of him. I have no excuses." Annie responded, feeling shame in her very bones.

"Understood. Shamans, to me. Tegrin, give command to your troops to prepare flamethrowers. Annie and Ultis move one of the carts from the ceiling in front of the projector to the south. Everyone else, open fire at the beast. Time to end it." Dragena took out the new knife, replacing the one that she had lost.