Demigods vs. Werewolves, Pt 4! Conclusion: WTF!
[Celeste Luminaris]:
Celeste parried Pallas' onslaught of claws with her rapier,which was a feat in and of itself, even with the pushback of each parry.
She tried going offensive, but the werewolf prince was just too fast and much too strong, preventing her from completing any attack she attempts to make. Every time she tried to stab Silvermoon into the werewolf, the mutt would weave the attack before following up with a punch or a claw's slash that Celeste barely be able to parry, but the force of it would sent flying from the collision. And, being swift as only a royal werewolf could be, Pallas would dash at her before she would even be able to fully get up, not letting her get even a breather, a chance to gather her bearings before she'd have to engage in combat once more.
And worse yet, she was on the losing side. She may have been a demigod and primordial spawn, but her stamina was limited. The werewolf attacking her not only had greater strengths, speeds and stamina, but had a higher cultivation level. He was leagues ahead of Celeste in terms of power. She should be dead by now. If he weren't holding back, she knew she would've been already.
Celeste knew that the werewolf prince way toying with her. She knew that, if he wanted to, he could have killed her already. She herself was only a Peak Legacy ranked cultivator while he was comparable to that of a Chaotic ranked one, being a Tier S ranked monster — That's a whole stage above her. He's at the very peak of the Ascendant Stages and at the very peak of what regular mortals could even dream of achieving. He was the epitome of Magic Beasts Stage and the beginning of Apex beasts Stage.
By all definitions, if he wasn't playing with her, she'd be dead by now.
But Celeste also knew her sword rapier, Silvermoon, was a Legendary rank weapon, capable of injuring and even killing the strongest of Chaotic rankers. In terms of tiers, it was a higher ranked weapon than the cultivation and beastial rank of the beast before her. If she could get even a tiny stab at pallas, in the right place, she could injure him enough to kill him.
Suddenly, Pallas backhanded Celeste, and she went flying. Hitting a large boulder backfirst, Celeste felt the air get knocked out of her lungs, her vision blurring. She was left gasping for air, pain erupting from her back like a fire on a field of straw. All the while, Pallas walked towards her slowly.
"Foolish girl! You face a Progenitor. Your loss was guaranteed the moment you dared to defy me. If I hadn't given you the bite, I'd have killed you by now!" boomed Pallas, enraged.
'The bite…?' Celeste thought, eyes widening suddenly in realization. 'That's right! An alpha's bite is transformative. I wonder…'.
Celeste closed her eyes, focusing inward. She felt for the energies that live within her — The unawakened and dormant Moonborn Elven bloodline, the lunar energies, and the light of Hemera that lives within her as a daughter of Hemera. She searched for a fourth energy source, and searched, and then she found it!
A faint, amber light attached to her soul like a small golden flame — It wasn't there before and it was certainly a new energy source living within her.
Willing it to expand, Celeste watched, as, like a Sun, it lit her soul amber, attempting to corrupt, but Celeste willed the lunar energy to keep it tamed. She will not go berserk like a newborn werewolf.
Celeste has always been a prodigy at understanding energies. Be it mana manipulation, be it lunar energy manipulation or just the academies in theories on the topic of soul manipulation. Celeste has always been able to discern energies and their properties and intentions, making her a proficient candidate in healing and controlling the energies within her.
The energy inside her, the amber flame shaped like a wolf, tried to fight Celeste's will, but she was stubborn.she would not lose control of her body, werewolf or no, she willed lunar energy to strap around the wolf like restraints. It tried to thrash and fight and take control, but Celeste was adamant in staying in control of her own body.
'You don't control me, dog!' Celeste screamed internally. 'I am in control of this body, no one else! Give me your strength!'
The wolf, restrained, helpless, could only whine as it bowed its head in submission to Celeste's will. Now submissive, Celeste felt the wolf's strength merge with her own. And she intended to use it.
Meanwhile, in the corporeal plane, Pallas, seeing Celeste's head down, mistaken Celeste's bowed head for submission. He thought she had given up.
She didn't.
"So you have finally submitted unto me, little beta," Pallas rumbled, sneering maliciously. "Good. stand, my queen."
Celeste's hair was covering her face, so Pallas couldn't see her expression. But what he didn't see either were her eyes, which were glowing golden at that moment. She was growling. "Grr…".
"Huh? What did you say?" Pallas said, leaning closer.
"I said, 'Go fuck yourself'!" Celeste screamed, then, to pallas' surprise, she quickly lifted a clawed hand with silver, lunar energy glowing claws, upwards, cutting the chest of the werewolf alpha before leaping over the werewolf.
"Aagh!" the prince of werewolves clutched his chest, startled and wounded.
Celeste then landed behind the werewolf where her saber had fallen to. Then, picking up the blade, she was about to stab the werewolf's heart, but, before she could, Pallas had knocked the blade from her grasp and had her in his grip, choking her.
"YOU DARE!" the werewolf prince raised his voice. "YOU DARE!"
Looking at the werewolf, Celeste saw a claw-shaped wound on his from where Celeste had injured him. She couldn't breathe, though, as he had her raised in the air via her neck, off her feet.
"Foolish girl! I thought you'd see the error of your pride after I have given you the gift of the bite," Celeste struggled in the grip of the werewolf in a desperate though fruitless attempt to free herself. "But I see now. I have to finish the job completely to get the desired outcome!"
Celeste was seeing double. Her face was turning purple, and she would pass out from asphyxiation soon. But there was nothing she could do. She had failed. She was too weak to beat this bastard.
But, as she was coming to terms with her imminent death, something occurred.
"I see you have great trouble with 'finishing the job completely'," a voice sounded from above.
Suddenly, a tendril of shadows blasted Pallas back a couple feet, freeing Celeste from his grip. Falling to the ground, Celeste was left gasping for her breath. Looking up, she saw Corven atop a strange-looking griffon, descending to the ground beside her. He rushed to her side, and Celeste swore the world slowed as he hugged her.
"Are you alright, Celeste?" he asked her.
"I-I am fine. Just need to catch my breath," Celeste answered, not trying to figure out if her heated face was due to her literally almost being choked to death or…something else. "I'll back you in this fight. This guy is strong. You'll need all the help you can get."
"Trust me, I know," Corven grinned as a malicious glint danced in his eyes. "Besides, I didn't come here without a backout. My Tainted and my Shadows… Come out!"
Suddenly, to Celeste's awe, a small army of beasts appeared behind Corven. From Eclipse, who had recently broken through to low Tier S rank to the Shadowwolves who had all broken through to the low Tier A rank [This was all thanks to Corven, breaking through to Demigod rank, though Celeste didn't know that quite yet.] From the Tainted who all also broke through minor levels, including the wolf Skyron, the winged unicorn Nightwing, the werewolves Asher and Flicker who had all broken through to low Tier S ranks and Azurez the griffon, who had also broken through to Tier A(peak). All of Corven's summons were summoned, including the newly turned shadow werewolf undeads, whom were also promoted to the mid and high levels of Tier A rank. Corven essentially had a small army backing him and Celeste, to say the least, was impressed.
"Whoa…," Celeste was briefly speechless before she smirked, giving Corven a playful expression. "So now you wanna go all out after getting kicked to Death's door? Took you long enough. And you are appearing literally at the last second."
"Woman, you want to be saved or not," Corven replied with a snarky reply before jokingly saying "Besides, everyone knows the hero arrives at the last second." He said this as he picked up her Legendary ranked saber, Silvermoon, turning it over in his hand, as if to imprint it's every details to memory. He then handed it to her. "We have to go all out. We can't hold anything back. Oh, and nice claws."
Bewildered by his comment, Celeste looked at her free hand, noticing sharp silver moon-glowing claws at the tips of her fingers. "Uh, thanks. Nice—."
But, before Celeste could complete her sentence, Pallas seemed to have gotten over his shock at the turn of events. He had gotten to his feet and he looked enraged. "You again! You think I can't kill these strange beasts a second time? They're nothing!"
"Interesting take," Corven nodded, de-summoning his twin daggers, Greenfang Blades, and, in their place, he summoned his own Legendary ranked sword, Darkstar, and handing it to Celeste. "Hold him off for as long as you can. My Tainted and Shadow Undead will back you with their lives."
'He must have a plan, a trump card of sorts, I'd wager,' Celeste thought, nodding. 'If he needs me to buy him time to carry it out, then so be it. I'll buy him the time he needs. We won't lose this time!'
Celeste gasped as she took hold of the weapon, feeling the power boosts of two Legendary ranked weapons. Though she couldn't feel more than 10% of the total power boost from Darkstar, as she wasn't Corven, it was still a significant boost nonetheless. She climbed atop Nightwing, the winged unicorn-turned Tainted, Corven willing her shadow to turn into reins and a saddle for her to control the mount with.
"What will you do?" Celeste asked, curious.
Corven just grinned like the imp he was. "I'm going to let shadows flow through me," was all he said, quite vague. It caused Celeste to raise a curious brow in bewilderment.
Celeste, feeling confused, just shrugged. She assumed that what he had said had an underlining meaning or message to it, but she wasn't too worried about not knowing what that meaning or message could be. Besides, she had bigger things to worry about. The monster before them was staring between them, eyeing the two of them warily, Celeste more so than Corven, likely due to the two Legendary rank swords in her possession.
She somehow knew Corven had a trump card that he needed to charge for — And she was adamant on buying him that time, especially if it meant victory over this being before them.
"You really think you can be, little girl?" the werewolf eyed Celeste hungrily. When she didn't bless him with an answer, the alpha prince just chuckled. "Hehehe. Don't make me laugh!" Pallas then became serious faced. "I'll swallow you whole!"
"Again, mutt," Celeste wielded the reins of the winged unicorn, sword in other hand, saber sheath but ready for action at any second. "Don't underestimate me!"
With that, Celeste charged forward, with an army of beasts behind Celeste, all charging alongside the lunar princess. The ones that could fly, flanked her, and the ones that ran, trailed her. It was truly like a scene from a movie, where the warrior princess is leading her army at the enemy. And the clash? Well, it was one to be remembered, that's for sure…
[Corven Umbrovante]:
Corven was well aware of the battle going on around him, even as he sat down in a meditative position with his eyes closed, especially with the aid of his Shadow Sense ability.
He was aware of the shadow wolves taking bite after bite of the werewolf prince, despite getting beaten to mist afterwards. He was aware of the shadow werewolves following the same tactic, often leading to the same outcome albeit not as immediate. He was aware of Flicker, Asher and Skyron battling him during their turn, with Nightwing firing blue blasts from her horn and Azurez firing flaming blue feathers as they circled overhead. These attacks at best were only giving Pallas a few scratches and cuts at their points of contact, though.
Celeste, seeing this reined Nightwing downward to land, de-mounting, before charging forward, both swords drawn in her charge toward Pallas, as Nightwing took flight once more, attacking from a distance.
She focussed her attacks to the wound she gave it earlier, using Silvermoon to poke into the very same wound and Darkstar to make more wounds to poke into later. All the while rolling out of the way of Pallas' claws and fists strikes.
Corven, aware of the things going on around him, choose to focus more on his inner energies.
'I'm supposed to feel the shadows within me. 'Shadow is a power that lives in you. Let it flow through you.' That's what Thanatos said,' Corven remembered his brother's words to the best of his abilities, but he was coming up blank in practice. 'What the fuck does that even mean!'
Suddenly, Corven became aware of yet another shadow beasts' death and Celeste was getting flung into a boulder, her weapons along with her. The other beasts focussed their attacks on the wounds that Celeste had managed to make, but the best that was doing was buying a few seconds of time at most. And Celeste was barely standing on wobbly legs, claws out, their lunar lighting fading — She's running out of lunar energy to use in her attacks — It was safe to say that she wasn't strong enough to beat Pallas.
'Focus Corven!' Corvene thought to himself, wondering about Thanatos' words more. 'What did he mean?'
Pallas had just managed to kill Eclipse yet again. He was walking towards Celeste, slowly but surely, intending to kill her once and for all. He was angry and hungry and ready to end this charade. If Corven doesn't figure it out, the werewolf prince will kill Celeste.
Corven was thinking and thinking. Then, suddenly, it hit him. 'Shadows live in all things… What if I use Shadow Sense on myself?'
Then, without hesitation, Corven activated Shadow Sense — not outwardly, but turned it inward, upon himself. In an instant, his perception expanded beyond flesh and bone. He could see within — his innards, his mana veins, the intricate web of life energies coursing through his being.
His vision reached deeper still, to the very seat of his power: his Cultivation Core... and nestled in his head, pulsing with ancient potency, his Progenitor's Seed. Every part of him became known to him. And then he focused.
Within his core, a constellation of elemental forces revealed themselves. He saw the baby-blue glow of mana, calm and pure. The indigo-black energy of darkness, cold and brooding. The pitch-black sphere speckled with stars — the essence of night itself, vast and endless. And finally, the violet-black blaze of shadow, volatile and wild.
Each energy swirled within its own flaming outline, their colors distinct — as if the elements were alive, burning in miniature suns no larger than spheres in his core.
Corven instinctively reached for the shadowy purple-black ball of flaming energy that floated within his core and, upon contact, it spread into and throughout his mana veins almost instantaneously — He immediately became lit on fire and shadowy purple-black flames consumed him, filling his mana veins and his body, causing Corven to go under a partial transformation as he gasped in shock.
His aura jumped to unsteady levels. His eyes glowed a fierce dark purple-black color, like a glowstick. And his athletic frame got visibly more muscular. His hair went from white to completely pitch black and his left eye turned pitch black, the inky blackness covering both the sclera and pupil of his left eye. He felt more powerful than he had ever felt being. He sensed his transformation caused his power to skyrocket.
And he wasn't the only one.
Celeste had also broken through to Demigod rank, mid-fight, transforming partially into a werewolf with golden eyes, sharp ears, fangs like daggers and claws like blades. The combination of adrenaline and lunar energy inside her had boosted her power output as a werewolf, allowing her to force herself from Pallas' grip, even as Corven vanished from his spot, reappearing with a fist in Pallas' chest.
Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Pallas gasped in pain and shock as he felt his breath get punched out of his airway.
Corven knew he wasn't faster than the werewolf. It was more like he was teleporting via shadows to appear before his opponents, similar to his Shadow Jump ability, but a tad bit more advanced and many times faster.
Corven also sensed that this new transformation was far from mastered and even further from perfected — Even through the physical strength and shadow energy of the form, he felt he couldn't hold the form for long. Plus, he could feel it; the form sucked a lot of Shadow Energy and mana from his being — That and stamina. This all meant that he had to beat Pallas before the time on the form ran out.
Pallas, gathering himself, threw a razor sharp clawed hand towards Corven's face, intending to rip Corven's face from his skull. To Corven, it was as if time had slowed down, even as the claw was inches from Corven's face, his eyes seemed to follow the movement. Then, at the last second, Corven vanished, appearing directly behind the werewolf, his sword, Darkstar, heeding its master's call, instantaneously flying into his hands.
Darkstar in his grasp, Corven did a horizontal slash with the sword to the back of the werewolf's knees, causing the werewolf to cry out, falling to his knees in pain.
Celeste used this as an opportunity to inflict vengeance. She rushed forward, rapier sword, Silvermoon, in hand — She leaped, spiralling forward like a spiralling missile, the sword making the missilehead, and, with a gruesome sound, spiralled right through Pallas's chest, coming out the other side with a giant heart at the other end of her blade.
"Wha—?" Pallas was too shocked and too wounded to respond. "H-how—?"
But Corven wasn't intending to let him heal from this — If it were possible, he wasn't sure. He didn't know much about werewolves, but what he did know was that they had an excellent healing factor. He did not need this beast to regrow a second heart — And he didn't want to risk taking a chance.
With a swift motion, Corven used Darkstar to sever the beast's head from its body. Decapitated, the head rolled over to a stop before one of the corpses of Corven's Tainted, the light in its eyes frizzled out. Pallas' headless body fell forward onto the snow-covered ground for the last time, desecrating the snowy ground in even more werewolf blood.
Panting, Corven resurrected his Tainted and de-summoned them all except for Skyron, who he had stand guard while he helped Celeste to get to her feet. He returned Darkstar to his Shadow Space while Celeste returned Silvermoon to her Soul Space. Celeste had reverted back to her normal form just as Corven's limit was reached and he was also reverted back to his normal form, panting in exhaustion.
They were both battered and beaten, and littered with injuries that had yet to fully heal; even some of the ones from before they faced the werewolf progenitor were still taking their time to heal, even with their healing factor. They were exhausted and taxed, but at least they were alive. That said, Corven was sure he wouldn't be able to use that form again for a while, or even his normal shadowy powers for a hot minute.
Corven checked in on Celeste, who was mostly fine, having healed most of her own injuries in the moments post the battle. He then towered over the body of the werewolf progenitor, Pallas, about to store it for later when something happened.
The ground opened up and green, nether-like flames came from the hole in the ground in the form of flaming green flaming hands that dragged both the head and body inside itself before closing behind itself.
"What the fuck…," Corven said, turning to Celeste as if to ask 'Did you see that?' but what he saw next was just as bizarre.
Celeste was looking at the meat of the black heart she spiralled out of Pallas, curious. She was eyeing it as if it had answers to questions left unsaid. Then, as if a strange desire overtook her, Corven watched her mouth extend into a maw and she swallowed the alpha werewolf's heart whole before turning back to her normal self almost in an instant. Her eyes though… were no longer golden amber, but a fierce red.
"What the fuck…," Corven blurted out loud.
Celeste only fixed Corven with imploring, innocent eyes, though they seemed to have returned to their normal, iridescent white-pink-gold color at the moment. Corven was about to say something when Skyron, who had been laying down beside Corven, suddenly shifted to his feet, ears twitching. The giant Tainted wolf began growling and howling in alarm, which grabbed both Corven and Celeste's attention albeit much too late.
No sooner had the wolf begun howling than seven Chaotic rankers appeared, surrounding Corven and Celeste, along with a neatly groomed crow.
"So you did survive. That's good," came Cole Seger's voice as he looked kindly to Celeste. Then he turned to Corven with a hardened expression. "You, on the other hand, are in a great deal of trouble young man, for what you have done this day."
"Wait, wha—?" Corven began.
But, no sooner had he began, Corven saw stars, his body hitting the ground with a THUNK. The last face he remembers seeing before going unconscious is Draco Johnson's maniacally laughing at me. Then, unconsciousness grabbed Corven, pulling him under, his last thought: 'What the FUCK?!'