Unfortunately, he could only take a few steps before a loud blearing echoed through the halls. A loud scraping sound quickly followed, as he noticed some blast doors dropping from the ceiling, and slamming shut.

"Ella?!" he growled again as he just barely slipped under the first closing door, before being met with an already closed second. Immediately, he struck the second door with full power, but barely dented it. 'Figures,' he scoffed inwardly.

"Working on it!" she quickly exclaimed, her voice a little strained. "They sounded the alarm and activated some kind of lockdown sequence, but…" she fell silent, and Kane was just about to growl at her again, when the doors around him suddenly started retreating into the ceiling again.

"There!" she echoed in his head again, now sounding excited. "I have control of all the doors in this place. It seems like there's a single door leading to the outside, and it's also been closed. What should I do with that one?"

"External door, eh?" Kane grinned maliciously. "Leave it closed. In fact, only open doors that I need to use, and leave everything else sealed up. Let's show these people who is locked up with who."

Gripping the sword in his right hand and moving forward, he suddenly felt the urge to howl. Which he did. A terrifying, blood-thirsty howl echoed through the bunker's corridors, penetrating even the closed doors, and making anyone who heard it shake in their boots.

He started picking up the pace and soon encountered more people; eight of them, about a hundred feet ahead. Once again, they were a mix of humans and beastlings, both male and female.

"What the fuck is that?!" one human man exclaimed in a panic, and fumbled for his sword, as soon as Kane came into view.

"Who cares?!" a beastling yelled with authority in his voice as he grabbed for the large axe on his back. "Kill first, ask questions later! This thing has all its cores at the fifth rank, don't even try to capture it!"

Kane smirked and wasted no time before he charged the group of eight. His sword on one side, claws on the other. It was time to take his training to the next level with some live targets.

Once again his eyes shone with a terrifying red. This was another skill he'd learned from the Crescent Moon Manual: Gaze of Crimson Dread.

Despite the pompous name, it had a relatively simple use, in that it merely amplified the fear someone was already feeling. In compensation, however, it was very energy efficient, and basically worked as a passive ability, although he could pump more power into it to amplify the effects.

Fortunately, most of these people were clearly untrained and without any real discipline. Their fear was already quite high.

The bandits readied their weapons, but their hands were shaking and their eyes were wide. All they saw was a mass of muscle, fur, claws, and teeth, armed with a sword, as it charged straight at them.

The bandits started yelling at each other. Various elements sparked around them, but only a few were actually able to form them into abilities.

Finally, Kane had closed the distance, and that was when he yelled in his head, "Kill the lights!"

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Instantly, Ella responded. The lights in the walls went out, and the corridor was plunged into darkness. The only sources of light left were Kane's crimson eyes, one or two small patches of glowing moss, and the sparking of various abilities he bandits tried to use.

Their fear skyrocketed. Only the beastlings had decent night vision, but even they needed a few more Mystic stages before they could see properly in this level of darkness.

Kane felt himself growing stronger as the crescent crimson moon inside his soul fed on their fear. This was an actual passive ability of the Dreadwolf, that allowed him to grow temporarily stronger, exponential to the fear and dread people felt around him.

The bandits screamed in terror. Various weapons sliced through the darkness, but only one hit home. Eery crimson claws flashed, and blood splattered.

Then, one of the bandits managed to toss a floating fire at the ceiling, and the darkness was cast aside. But that didn't help their fear.

Three of their eight comrades already lay motionless on the ground.

"Shit!" one of those remaining exclaimed, and tried to back away, but his back hit the door Ella had already closed behind them.

Kane noticed his new partners initiative, and appreciated it. Clearly, she wasn't afraid to shy away from the dirty work that her goals might require.

When the bandits noticed they were trapped, some of them became entirely frozen in fear, but others surprisingly managed to rally.

Three of the remaining five bandits roared with determination, and charged him, weapons raised, elements at their fingertips. But Kane just smirked. None of their cores exceeded the third level, and their movements were sluggish and uncoordinated.

They were ripe for the reaping.

Snarling, he jumped into a lunge, and met their charge with one of his own, sword and claws at the ready.

His sword flashed, deflecting one of the bandits, and his feet where a whirl as he stepped around another. His claws extended with eerie crimson light, becoming twice as long, and lashed out at the third bandit, ripping out his throat.

The other two bandits were caught of guard and needed a moment to recover, but Kane didn't give them any. He spun around and smacked the second bandit on the head with the pommel of his sword, causing her to crumple to the ground, unconscious.

Using his momentum, he kept spinning, and now aimed his empty hand at the third bandit. A small crimson sphere formed quickly, and launched itself forward.

After the orb tore through the third bandit's chest, he, too, sagged to the floor.

This time, he'd used two skills from the Elemental Blade Combat Art instead: Elemental Rend, and Elemental Blast. The former simply extended his claws with energy, while the latter fired a weak, but quick blast. Both skills took on the properties of whichever element he used to activate them.

They were both relatively weak and simple skills, which is why he'd already been able to learn them. Unfortunately, this combat art also didn't get much more complicated, as it was really only viable up to the third or fourth Mystic stage.

Finally, Kane directed his attention to the final two bandits, who were still staring at him, frozen in fear. Slowly, menacingly, he walked up to them.

When he was in front of them, he grinned viciously, before taking a deep breath, swelling his chest, and then… roaring into their faces.

Immediately, both their eyes rolled into the back of their heads, and they fainted. Kane chuckled, and stepped passed them, but not before stomping on the male bandit's head, killing him, while leaving the woman alone.

From there, Kane continued sprinting through the futuristic, yet faded and dilapidated, black and green corridors, guided by Ella. He passed a large number of doors that likely led to larger areas, causing him to realise how big this place was, but he ignore them all.

He also realized a lot of the blast doors that closed around him before were actually malfunctioning, and stuck in the ceiling, unable to follow their orders to close.

Along the way, he encountered a few more bandits, but most were stuck behind doors, locked by Ella. Any male bandits he encountered died gruesomely, causing the floors to run red with blood. Female bandits, on the other hand, were spared, and only knocked unconscious.

Finally, he reached another blast door, and he could feel Luna was on the other side.

His eyes hardening, he growled inwardly, "Open it."