Chapter 18: Moonlit Dread
The first clash sounded like thunder striking stone.
Steel bit into bone. Claws shredded cloth and muscle. The warcries of wolves and men tangled beneath the silver moon, painting the battlefield with chaos.
Kael darted through the front lines like a phantom of flame and fury, his Devourer Mark glowing with each strike. Every move he made felt sharpened, guided—not just by instinct, but by the pulsing rhythm of the pack behind him.
They moved as one. The Ash Pact burned in their veins, syncing their motion, their breath, their will.
But this wasn't a raid—it was an invasion.
The Broken Fang warriors came in waves, snarling beasts driven by bloodlust. Behind them, the morphed surged—abominations of twisted flesh and shattered spirits. They weren't just enhanced—they were wrong. Eyes too wide, muscles twitching unnaturally, their howls dissonant and hollow.
Tamir's sword clashed against one of them. "They don't bleed right," he spat, backing up. "It's like cutting firewood soaked in tar."
Flam, his body smeared with blood, tackled two raiders at once, growling, "They're unstable—cut their legs or jaws. Don't let 'em bite!"
Near the southern flank, Vira raised a stone totem and slammed it into the earth, releasing a shockwave of binding energy that gave the younger fighters a moment to regroup.
Kael leapt over a fallen corpse and landed in front of a morphed brute twice his size. Its face was half wolf, half rot, one side fused with metal. It let out a guttural shriek and lunged.
System Notification:
Devourer Mark Target Lock Initiated
Target: Morphed Raider Alpha (Hybrid Mutation Detected)
Chance of Clean Assimilation: 24%
Risk of Corruption: HIGH
Proceed with Ritual Hunt?
[Y/N]
Kael snarled, "Yes."
He charged forward, meeting the monster head-on. The Devourer Mark flared, and a ring of crimson light formed around them—cutting the world away from outside eyes. His heart pounded. His vision sharpened. This was the hunt.
The morphed lashed out, claws blurring. Kael ducked the first swipe, but the second grazed his side. Pain bit deep.
Kael roared—not just from pain, but from defiance. His body moved on instinct—roll, feint, strike low, rip upward. He didn't fight smarter than the beast. He fought wilder.
System Update:
Assimilation Ritual Initiated
Progress: 37%
The morphed shrieked, eyes melting into its skull. It collapsed, and Kael stood over it, chest heaving, the Devourer Mark glowing like wildfire. A rush of knowledge, power, mutation tore through him.
Then silence.
All around him, the pack saw it.
Kael, blood-slicked and howling, stood victorious atop a dead monster.
Lucien approached from the side, limping. "You've changed," he said, eyes narrowed. "That mark… it's not just blood. It's hunger."
Kael's voice was low, calm. "It's what we need to survive."
Behind them, the wind howled.
And far in the distance… a second horn blew.
A different sound. Colder. Older.
Kael froze.
That wasn't Broken Fang.
System Notification:
New Threat Detected
Pack Identifier: UNKNOWN
Faction: Forbidden Moon Cult
Status: Observation Phase
Intent: Interference Likely
Kael looked toward the horizon, jaw clenched.
This war… was far from over.