The two monsters ran sporadically as they charged at us, their limbs flying wildly as their eyes locked in on us. Now that they were coming closer I got a closer look at their features.

Both were heavily furred, one with dark gray fur and the other with light tan. They had long snouts and muzzles, giving off some very werewolf vibes. Their snarling grew louder as they raced towards us, both of their mouths foamed. Great. Not only are they werewolves, but rabid werewolves. What next? Anemic vampires.

I shook my head, now wasn’t the time for bad jokes. They were still a couple dozen yards away, so I had a brief moment to think about which form would be best to fight in.

Ursa, as always was my initial instinct, but watching how they moved, the speed at which they ran, and the feral movements, I knew Ursa would be on the slow side. Meaning Gremlin would be the natural choice. But alas no weapons.

My face twitched when I came to the conclusion. I sighed. It served me well in the last raid. And it's much better at fighting than Apis.

I sighed, a little longer that time, as I felt my hands grow claws and my eyesight sharpened.

“Marns,” I said before the transformation finished, “forgive me.”

He looked at me from the side, keeping one eye on the incoming threat. His eyebrow went up.

“I’m probably going to say some stupid crap.” I finished the sentence just as the two monsters closed in on us. Then the trademark single-word phrase ran through my head as my now glowing green feline eyes glared at the challengers. I grinned.

Prey.

I charged forth, forgetting everything that wasn’t the target in front of me. I chose the dark grey two-legged wolf. He looked stronger, and practically begging for a quick lesson about who sat at the top of the food chain on this battlefield.

My claws skimmed across the ground as I ran forward, but I had no intention of being the assaulter, no I just wanted it to think that if this creature’s feeble mind was even capable of such an act.

I looked into its ravenous eyes. They were empty, devoid of anything that resembled conscious thought. Hunger, that was it. Poor thing, that hunger will be its final feeling. That and my perfect claws slicing right through its throat. I wonder what werewolf heart tastes like.

Now the beast was within a matter of feet from me. I looked at its hips and legs. Its hips lowered and legs bunched just slightly, something most would miss, but I didn’t. It was about to pounce, that was its plan. An objectively stupid one at that. But I couldn’t expect any more from such a base creature.

Once it was about five feet away, it jumped just as I predicted. In turn, I lowered my body closer to the ground, and then right before its bulky claws collided with my body, I slid underneath it, raising my own hand, trying to slice through its gut as it flew by.

Yet I didn’t feel its flesh rip under my claws. I watched as it twisted its body, midair, out of the way, just barely dodging my counter.

It skidded to a stop, catching itself with all four limbs as they dug through the dirt. I stood back up and turned to meet my agile foe.

I snorted. Lucky thing. After the thought, I lept at it this time, trying to attack while its balance was still off. My claws tore through the air, heading for its undefended face. But it recentered quickly, raising its furred arms in time to block the blow. My claws entangled with its shaggy hair, yet I tore through it all the same. Some mangy mutt’s coat could never hope to hold me back.

From here I went on the offensive, sending a flurry of slashes at the beast; each strike more graceful than the last. Dark gray fur flew into the flame-lit sky with each of my strikes. But even with each elegant move, irritation began to bubble in my chest. There was no blood. Each of my wonderful blows connected, but they were blocked by this bastard’s fur. I yearned to watch that beautiful red liquid flow from my opponent. For the terrific rush Predator’s Bloodlust provided in the fight.

But with each tuft of fur, my frustration only burned hotter. And the beast noticed. My last slash missed its arm and whiffed, leaving my side open. It wasted no time upon seeing my lowered guard. The werewolf shoved its shoulder into my torso, pushing me back. Then its arms whipped out, smacking into my own and throwing them up. One of its claws nicked my hand.

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Its mouth opened wide filling the air with a foul stench, then it took its chance and struck. Its gaping maw rushed for my unprotected throat. It planned to end this fight as quickly as possible. I couldn’t bring my arms down in time to block the blow.

Yet I was calm. All of this was… a simple misstep. A fluke. And a fluke would never take down true perfection. And it was up to me to show this creature that undeniable fact.

Darkness surrounded the beast, robbing the light from its frantic eyes. Its jaws snapped shut, teeth clenching on nothing but themselves. It attempted to chomp down again, and then again. But its target was gone, along with all of its surroundings. Covered up completely by my Eternal Shade.

I watched as the beast pathetically bit and swiped at the air in my bubble of shadow. It swung out where I was just standing. I’d simply ducked out of the way of its teeth. The shade’s diameter had grown since the last time I’d used it, now spanning almost seven feet. Plenty of room to get away from the beast and wrap around to its back.

I was tempted to let it keep attacking the air, its pitiful display brought me joy, but my stamina was finite. So I crouched down and launched myself at the creature's legs. Pleasure washed over me as I opened wounds right along the back of its quads. The blood from the beast wet my claws; I brought my nose to it and sniffed. The hard iron scent filled me with glee, however I did notice something off about it. The scent was more sweet than that of normal blood. I couldn’t quite place it. And before I could try further, my claws absorbed the red liquid. Then I smiled, no longer caring about the oddity, for this monster no longer had a chance against me. I swiped again.

But the beast’s reaction time was almost supernatural, just as my claws passed through, the werewolf slashed its own claws at me, managing another nick, this time on my shoulder. Rage flushed through my system. How dare it even try to stand against me.

I hopped back just as another slash came my way, one I’m not sure I’d have been able to dodge without the stack of Predator’s Bloodlust boosting my AGI. Its head jerked around for a minute before it threw its head up and took a big sniff in the air. Then as it finished, it twisted its head, pointing straight at me.

It can’t— but before I could finish the thought, it bore its teeth and lunged at me again, going for my arm this time. I brought my arm out of the way and slashed at its face, scoring just a small scratch, but it was enough to proc another stack of Bloodlust.

It was the beast’s turn to send a barrage of attacks my way, barbaric strikes for sure but ones that were aimed properly at me. The monster must have some type of super scent ability, and that was how it was tracking me. It was of no consequence, however. I still landed counterattacks on it, though many were hampered by its thick coat, others struck true, boosting my abilities further and further.

Soon I began dodging each attack easily as the number of stacks kept growing and growing until I hit the cap of five. It gave me a full 7.5% boost to my physical stats, barring Constitution. Yet despite the boost, I couldn’t make a finishing blow. It was almost as if the creature was matching my boosts. Maybe it had some sort of berserker ability, where the less health it had, the better it got at fighting. Who knows? But I was certain of one thing, the blood pouring out of it.

My initial blow to its legs wasn’t healing, and bled at the same rate as when I first opened it. It had lost a lot of blood by now. All this effort it exuded was nothing but the final bright flame of a nearly spent candle. All I needed to do was exacerbate it.

I ran to the edge of my shade and walked out, letting the ability go. I could handle its speed now and my stamina sat at fifty percent. I didn’t need to push it. The beast, however…he pushed it even more than before.

Once it could see again it headed straight for me, roaring. Its arms whipped around wildly, without purpose, much different than it had at the start. These attacks felt desperate. But that can be expected from a creature pushed into a corner. I hopped right over the werewolf after a great lunge. Then sliced at its legs again.

It fell to one knee, yipping at me again. I slashed its face in retaliation, leaving five deep gashes across its face. It whimpered, falling to the ground.

I brought my blood-covered claw to my face again, getting in one more whiff of the languid scent. Yet it had that same smell, that sweet scent that blood wasn’t supposed to have. It was almost floral. And not only that, it smelled familiar, incredibly so.

I looked down at my prey once again, its eyes, filled with hate and anger, stared back at me.

“What are you?” I asked.

Its eyes softened, all that aggression it once had vanished in the blink of an eye. A soft pink aura surrounded its head. An overwhelming feeling of pity tore at my chest. It disgusted me but I felt like I needed to heal it. I turned away from it, looking to see if I could find something to help it. But just as I did, its anger flared again and I heard it snarl. It lunged at my back.

Pathetic creature.

With my still Predator’s Bloodlust boosted speed, I whipped around, claws at the ready. But I stopped. Marns held the creature's head in his hands.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered into its ear.

SNAP!

He broke its neck. It fell to the ground, dead.

“MY PREY!” I roared out at the medic. This imbecile had the gall to steal my kill. Rage filled my heart as I looked at the man.

Yet the man gently turned to me and looked into my eyes.

“Trust me. You don’t want this kill,” he said, turning back to the creature laid before him.

I looked down. The werewolf was gone, replaced by a man. A human man.