The training hall was a massive marble box the size of an empty warehouse. To the right of the door was a glass window with enough space for many onlookers to see anything happening inside. The floor was covered in sand that didn't impede my movement. The sand would harden and flatten at our footsteps instead of shifting with our weight.

"Alright!" Claymore clapped his hands, and the sound echoed in the empty chamber. "Let's quickly go over the stuff you do know."

Standing in the middle of the training hall, I remembered when my abilities first manifested. The stab wounds and any other damages I suffered from Chase and friends were all healed at some point. It might have been the work of Claymore, but I was fine after fighting the leatherbacks. Afterward, any attack they did land on me had no effect. I barely realized I suffered any damage, if any at all. Finally, I was able to manifest golden claws that covered my fingers.

With my thoughts together, I explained to Claymore what I deduced. "As I am now, my skin is tough to where I can't take damage. If I take damage, I can heal in seconds."

"Correct," said Claymore.

"In other words, I have all the powers of a werewolf and their weaknesses."

"No."

I blinked a few times. "Does this have something to do with me also being called the Steel Werewolf?"

"'Iron Werewolf', to be exact." He took a moment to think before he continued. "Though calling you a werewolf in most regards would be inaccurate. For one thing, your weakness is not silver but electricity. You are no stronger during a full moon than on a clear morning. You don't even seem to have an innate disdain for vampires."

"So if I'm not a standard textbook werewolf, what am I?"

Claymore sighed. "I don't know. It doesn't matter now. It's time to go over the basics of what you can do. You are more of a physical fighter since you can't use magic."

"Why can't I?" I asked.

"Because of your impure aura."

Aura. The representation of one's connection to the magic around them. Like a pipe, the cleaner it is, the more fluid can pass through it.

Claymore smiled and continued. "Because of this, you tend to use your claws to attack. All you have to do is stretch out your fingers, and they will appear."

And so I did. The claws came out like before, but I could feel the strain I was putting on my hands this time. My tattoos had a faint blue glow to them as well. After looking at them again, I relaxed my hands, and they reverted to normal.

"While you don't have magic, you have a unique ability with your claws to cut through most things, including magic."

"How do I do that?"

"That's the wrong question. You know how to do it."

I was overthinking everything. Claymore wasn't telling me to accept what was but rather develop on what I understood. Right now, I didn't need to know how everything worked, just that it did, and I had to figure out how I would use it.

"Any other questions?"

"Is there anything else I can do?" I asked not because I wanted to do more. So far, I have had many more abilities than most asendeits would have gotten. Maybe I expected this to be more complicated, with more steps I needed to go through before I could even comprehend what it was. Thankfully, that wasn't the case.

"Aside from being stronger, faster, and so on, that is it. You may find something new, but this is all you need to know. With that said, let us see how well--"

Knock, Knock, Knock. The banging of glass caught our attention. At the window stood the scaly man and his group.

"You know them?" Claymore asked.

"The guy banging the glass wants to fight me, I think," I responded.

"Oh, perfect. He can be your sparing partner, then." He turned to me and frowned. "Why do you keep hesitating?"

I wasn't expecting Claymore to ask that question. It was out of place compared to what we talked about moments before. He read me like a book before I realized I was holding back.

"I feel like if I keep using these powers, the further I get from turning back."

"You're going after Shadow Fang. It doesn't matter if you go back later. What matters now is whether you have the power to stand against him."

I took a moment to sheath and unsheath my claws. It was natural. At that, I smiled, remembering when I stood up and fought others without a care.

"You're right," I finally responded, "I have to go all out if I want to beat Shadow Fang."

"And this will give us a chance to fight together," said B.D.

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That's right. I wouldn't be going in alone, either. Even if an army stands in my way, I must keep moving forward.

The four mercenaries walked into the arena as Claymore left. As they did, the sand turned to mud, and the terrain changed into a grassy open field with gray skies. The ground had patches of dirt that looked like it was blasted with grenades. We were transported to a war zone.

As soon as the mercenaries stood side by side, the scaly man threw out his own grenade with a smile on his face. No warning made me wonder if he wanted to kill me.

As the explosive arced through the air, B.D.'s thoughts merged with mine. She was a part of me and her own being, instantly allowing me to understand all she could do. B.D. is a shapeshifter that could turn into anything but could only grow as big as an elephant and couldn't be any smaller than an iguana.

One of B.D.'s wings expanded into a shield to block the explosion and the grenade's shrapnel. While B.D. and I struggled to keep a foothold after the blast, someone moved around us to try and get to our blind spot. Thanks to B.D. I caught them passing us and raced after them before they could flank us. The flanker was a harpy holding a rifle in her talons.

Klang!

B.D. extended her tail to block a thrown hatchet. Before it fell to the ground, a blue light flashed around the hatchet, and as the light faded, another one of the mercenaries now had it in his hand while also having another one in the other hand. This one was twice my height, with two horns and blue skin. Using his weight, he latched the hatchets onto my shoulders and pulled me to the ground.

While I was pinned, the harpy aimed a shot as she hovered high in the air. If she's shooting with a typical bullet, I'll be fine. They know who I am, and they want to win. Let's not assume that it is just a standard bullet.

By the time the harpy fired, B.D. had grown as big as the blue oni, taking the form of a four-legged dragon. While she enough to get the oni off of me, B.D. couldn't knock him down. Once I was unpinned, B.D. used her tail to slide me under the oni's legs just as the bullet from the harpy hit the ground.

The other mercenaries held their fire to avoid hitting their ally. B.D. shunk in size to avoid getting hit and distract the oni by running around his head. I pushed myself off the muddy ground, extended my claws, and climbed the back of the oni to land a heavy hit on his head. He fell sideways with a splash. I landed on my feet with B.D. back on my shoulders.

Boom! Crack!

The harpy was back to shooting now that her friend was out of the way. The scaly man was also shooting and shouting. I ran towards the harpy in a zigzag, thinking she should be the next one I took down due to her height advantage.

I jumped into the air once she ran out of shoots, and B.D. grew her wings. I was flying again, and this time I wasn't afraid to be as high as I needed to. The harpy evades us while trying to reload her weapon. Air rushed through my ears as B.D. pushed herself to catch up. We couldn't keep up with her maneuvers leading her to reload and start shooting us like a dogfight. B.D. avoided each shot, but as the bullets passed, I could hear the humid air sizzle like water on a hot iron.

She's the better flier. Eventually, one of the bullets will hit us.

Instead of flying after the harpy, B.D. flew high above her and, once we were directly over her, unleashed a torrent of fire that dried up the air. I closed my eyes and reached out my hand as B.D. dove after her flames. Once we were on the other side, my claws caught the harpy, and I slammed her to the ground creating a big splash of mud.

I looked up just in time to see the oni swing his hatchets toward me. I rolled out of the way but was kicked so hard that I was launched into the sky. While airborne, B.D. and I noticed something strange about the scaly man and the fourth mercenary. The fourth member was a human, and her fingers leaked a green haze onto her leader. His screams reverberated across the battlefield, and it made my claws tingle.

A hatchet appeared before me from the ground, and the oni teleported to it. He latched onto me again and tossed me to the ground, but B.D. extended her wing to act as a parachute.

Crash!

The oni was back on the turf, swinging wildly to pin me down. I blocked and dodged his attempts but knew I had to get to his boss to end this fight. B.D. flapped her wings to fly us backward, and I ran straight for the leader. The oni teleported beside me, but this time B.D. shielded the attack and remained there to keep him distracted.

The leader took shots at me, but most of them landed on my hoodie. The fabric burned away for a moment but slowly stitched itself back together. I could still feel the extreme heat from the bullets, but I continued forward.

He dodged my first kick but, in doing so, separated him from the human. I punched her to distance her from the leader, and I could hear the wind rush out of her lungs. I returned to fighting the leader, and he retaliated by using the bayonet like a spear. Eventually, I was close enough to slash at his face, but he smiled as a green bubble enveloped him, and an explosion pushed me back.

My ears were ringing as I rolled over the mud. When I got up, I saw that everyone was down except for the oni. B.D. wasn't attacking him anymore as he watched patiently for his leader to get up. As B.D. landed on my shoulder, I walked over to the leader to see if he was ok.

He was well enough to hold up his gun while lying on his back as I got close. I kept walking until I was over him and offered my hand to help him.

"I'm willing to end this at a draw if you are," I said as B.D. translated.

The scaly man held his weapon with such control that even his trigger finger was still. His eyes were full of adrenaline, ensuring I was ending the fight. As he began to relax, his smile crept over his face as he laughed strangely. He took my hand, and I helped him up.

"If it weren't for your pet, we would have won," he said, laughing.

"Then it would have been four on one, and that's not fair," I retorted.

"I guess not."

"What was your name?"

"Lange Friedhold. One day that name will mean something."

With Lange's order, the oni lifted the harpy and the human off the ground as it turned from mud to sand. The vast battlefield returned to the empty arena I had initially walked into. I took a moment to catch my breath before I left the training area.

That was more intense than I was ready for. But we handled it well.

The thoughts of B.D. were melding with mine. Once I realized what was happening, I spoke out loud with concern.

"That was intense," I said, repeating the thought.

"Do you want to stop using the connection?" asked B.D.

"I just need a break from it. I can't tell where my thoughts end, and yours begins. Don't worry; I'll be fine." Once we were out of the training room, I looked around to find Claymore, but he wasn't in sight. "Where did Claymore go?"

"Doing king things most likely," said B.D. I didn't respond immediately, and she didn't look in my mind to know what I was thinking. "What do you want to do now?"

"I want to know how to move forward. I can't follow Shadow Fang if I don't know where he's going."

"Then let's talk to Isheram. He may not know where Shadow Fang is, but he might have a lead."

It was the next best thing, so we went to the gargoyle without thinking twice.