Content

Both Innu and Blake had witnessed the last moments of Roman, the five-star
hunter. Before, in the Altered Hunters Society, when a five-star hunter perished, it
was a large deal.
Their strength, their stars on their body, was proof of how much they had been
through in the organization. How many battles they had faced and managed to get
out alive time and time again.
The profession was one that had a somewhat high amount of deaths. This was
mitigated through the times as Altered Hunters came up with more rules. To not
strike on their own, to research who they were taking out, doing a calculation to
only get involved in fights they knew they could win.
However, one could say that five-star hunters had managed to surpass all of that,
giving them free rein. It felt like they were almost unstoppable. The strength within
the five-star hunters varied greatly, though.
As there was no upper limit, all of the five-star hunters were grouped into one
category. Still, it was believed that maybe some of them could face some of the
Kings and at least survive. Perhaps not win, but find a way out of the situation.
It was a big unknown mark above one’s head to what the truth was, but still, to the
Altered Hunters themselves, that had a long history going back, it was still a great
prestige, and today one of those legendary five-star hunters had fallen.
“Shit… shit, shit, shit, shit!” Innu shouted. “You damn hairy mutts!”
The anger had risen in Innu. They hadn’t spent a lot of time with Roman. They had
spent a little over a week, but through the conversations they had, the battles they
had been through together.
He knew he was a good person, he knew he was one to look out for them, and he
was the type of fool that would have risked his life so the two of them could have
gotten away.
One of the axes flew from Innu’s hand and had bashed hard against the metal
chest of Ron. It spun back in the air and was coming right back towards Innu with
his telekinesis powers.
He grabbed it as he was stepping forward, running right at Ron, and had already
hurled the other axe that was in his hand right at him again.
Ron could feel a large, heavy weight crashing into his chest as it hit him. One after
the other, the axes came at him. Even through his armor, he could feel the weight
and wave of energy hitting his chest.
“I’m sick and tired of seeing people die that I know. Why!” Innu shouted. “Why did I
train and fight so hard!”
As Innu was running toward Ron, the other Werewolves that had been waiting in
the reception area had caught on, and they leaped right at him, trying to stop Innu.
Quickly, though, there was one person who appeared by his side. Blake swung his
black sword across the face of the Werewolf closest, cutting its eyes, and then
with the backside of his other sword, he slammed it onto the ground.
Innu continued to run and trampled over the fallen Werewolf. Using its body as a
type of platform, he jumped in the air and forced the two axes back to his hand. He
leaned them back as far as he could.
Blake had drawn the attention of the other Werewolves, using everything he could
to swing his swords, following the lines in his vision, cutting them at the perfect
spots that were open.
As Innu’s anger fueled him, his Qi went into the weapons, and the power from the
weapons made from ancient beasts that the Altered forms were based on,
powered into his body.
The veins on his arms almost looked like they were illuminating. The two axes
pounded down right into Ron’s arms.
His entire body sunk immediately, crashing down. The floor beneath his feet broke,
and Ron continued to crash through the floors of the shopping mall.
Innu landed on the ground, out of breath, huffing and panting. “Why… do people
like this, keep on appearing in front of us… I hate it… I hate losing people.”
Innu had lost a lot, from those at the orphanage, to his teacher Ashen who had
taught him how to use telekinesis powers, and now even Roman who he hardly
knew. He was fighting, training every day to never lose those people.
And yet it was still happening to him, in this cruel world ruled by these gangs that
could proudly roam the streets and get away with murder left and right. The
frustration had built up, into an override of his Qi and activating both of the
weapons to its fullest.
“Whoa… now that I look at it, I managed to do that, with my own two hands?” Innu
thought. “That’s not power that a human should have, am I even human anymore.”
When looking down at the hole he had made, he could soon see the debris moving
about, and jumping right out from the hole, breaking through, heading towards
Innu.
Innu quickly rolled back with both axes in his hand; he was exhausted, but in a life-
or-death situation, if he still had to fight, he still had to fight.
Landing on the sixth floor, the Werewolf in the iron armor was still present.
“That was quite the hit,” Ron said. The iron armor which was all over his body from
head to toe had disappeared, and only the chest piece was present. “I even had to
use my own nails to energize me a little,” Ron said with his nails extended out.
“I never thought two young ones like you would give so much trouble.”
“Innu, switch with me!” Blake shouted as he started to run forward. “You’ve done
enough, I think I can deal with this one.”
*****
Content
Ron’s werewolf form, he was a Titan Vanguard. One of the rarest classes that had
a powerful defense, and his powers could even be used to enhance the others
around him. Due to his own fighting style, though, he hadn’t used his powers to
enhance those in the pack that were around him.
When hit badly, though, his body had been quite hurt from Innu. It wasn’t his
outside, an open wound or broken bones, nothing like that, but the powerful
strikes had hurt his internals.
In order to counter the pain that he felt, he decided to inject himself with his own
powers. The energy that would leak out from his own nails was giving him a
powerful boost in recovery, defense, and more.
“You think just because you two swap that you have a better chance at beating
me?” Ron said, as he went to punch his hands together and then punched his
chest. Just like before, the glowing light appeared all over his body.
The armor was starting to reform, and it was back, covering his body from head to
toe.
“If I’m right about this… If I am,” Blake said as he continued to run forward.
Meanwhile, Innu had stood up, ready to fight against the Werewolves that would
possibly be chasing down Blake. To give him whatever protection he needed
despite how tired he was, but when he looked at the Cinema reception in front of
him, he only had a few words.
“Finish what off…”
All of the Werewolves were injured, with cut limbs; all of the wounds on their body
looked to be vital; even if they were breathing, they were on the floor, unable to
get up again.
Even Blake himself was unaware of what he had done. Charging forward at a fast
speed, Blake was right upon Ron; he lifted his arms up, ready to strike at Blake.
‘I can still see the lines, I can still strike where I need to, I know where to hit!’ Blake
moved to the side, and the wind from the strike was felt; his sword moved right
under the arm of Ron and had scratched it.
Ron quickly moved, trying to hit Blake with the back of his fist, but Blake was
already one step ahead, ducking under the arm, striking with his sword again.
These movements continued as Blake continued to dodge attacks and strike
where he could with both of his swords.
‘Follow the lines, follow the lines!’
The clashing sounds continued as his sword struck at the armor again and again.
“You think you can just keep attacking? Nothing can get through my armor and
body!” Ron declared. “The man before you failed, and you will as well.”
Right then, a large white line appeared in Blake’s vision, going right across his
chest. Blake then dropped the red sword, and holding onto the hilt with two hands,
he lifted it and swung with all of his might, cutting through and heading right
through his opponent.
Ron stood there, his body still, until blood filled his mouth. “What… is that…
sword.”
The armor shattered, falling to the ground, revealing a heavy, large cut across his
chest, and Ron eventually fell down on the ground himself. The Ironfang had been
defeated.
“You did it… you really did it!” Innu said, running over. “I guess that sword is quite
impressive after all. Same with this axe, the weapons Altered Hunters have are
really impressive.”
It was a brief moment of joy for the two, and for Innu, as he looked behind him, he
saw Roman’s body on the ground along with the rest of the Werewolves.
“What should we do with his body?” Innu asked.
“We can’t do anything. I’m sure, Lupus Gang will have some way to clean this up
without people knowing,” Blake answered. “I know you want to take him back… but
the situation, it could be really hard out there. We were caught in this trap, and the
same could be said for the rest of the groups out there.”
The fight that was meant to take place on a large scale in the garden had been
done in the shopping mall. Several squads were involved in the operations today. It
was a big one, according to Roman, hoping that the Altered Hunters could make
some type of large progress.
“You’re worried about your father, right? I suppose you want to head to where
Edvard and his group are?” Innu asked.
“Right, I think it’s our best shot, we need to inform Edvard of what happened here
anyway, regroup our plan. I’m worried that today will be too big of a loss for the
Altered Hunters to continue; it might be our last day of fighting today, so we need
to give it everything we’ve got,” Blake answered.
Innu felt exhausted just hearing that; he had already fought with all he had, and he
would have to do it all over again with minimal rest. “I wonder if this is how the
others felt going up against Harvor and the One Gang, that couldn’t have been
easy, right,” Innu commented.
“Alright, I’ll follow after you, but let’s not head off too fast,” Innu said. “I need some
time to recover some energy.”
Before setting off, Innu also noticed Blake doing something. The cloth wrapping he
had tied it in a way around the outside of his body, and then, placed the black
sword carefully in the wrapping.
After that, he picked up his two red swords and placed them in the sheaths by
their side.
“Why don’t you just swap out the black sword for the red ones so you can use it
easily?” Innu asked.
“I… just have a strange feeling about it, about what Roman said,” Blake answered.
“Huh… what are you saying, Blake?” Innu asked.
“What, I was just answering you, you just asked me why didn’t I use the black
sword?” Blake replied.
“I didn’t say anything… At least I don’t think I said anything… I might have, I’m too
tired,” Innu replied, waving his hand, gesturing for the two to run off toward
Edvard.
‘I’m sure I didn’t say anything,’ Innu thought.
*****
Content

“The colors in the sky are quite numerous and various in degrees,” Lupus said as
he reached out his hand in the air. He was standing on the outside of his castle
wall on the hilltop, overlooking the great and large city that they had built.
Then he looked at the Botanical gardens in the distance. The scents that were
noticeable to him were flowing into particular places, and as the winds blew, he
could tell the difference between each one.
“It was as you guessed,” Garlark said, standing by his side, an old man who was
grey all over, in a brown suit, and using a walking stick by his side. The oldest
serving Werewolf of the Alphas. The man who was always by Lupus’ side and had
the most knowledge about the Werewolves, the bookkeeper of sorts.
“Among the Altered Hunters, we have discovered them in the scents. So they are
highly likely to be behind this,” Garlark said.
“Right, a mixture of foolish humans who believe they are committing to some
ideals, while actually being swayed by another bigger picture that they know
nothing about,” Lupus replied. “It seems that things are the same, always
repeating just like they did in the past.”
“What’s your order,” Ylva said. “We have received the gifts, and they have been
distributed to two of the Ironfangs, they should be able to hold them off.”
“The fact that the Ironfangs have been defeated in the first place, means that
there is a troublesome one among them. With how far they are going, my guess is
they will try and end things tonight, and I have decided.” Lupus lifted his leg up, on
the edge of the castle wall, and then stood on top of it.
“That I will enter this fight myself, and make sure it’s over with today.”
⸺
The main Altered Hunter group, led by Edvard, the head of the Altered Hunters
association in the current country, had successfully infiltrated one of the large
Botanical Gardens. When looking above them, they could see the large glass roof,
and around the paths that winded left and right, there were an assortment of
trees, vines, and grass.
It was almost like a maze with all of the pathways, and they didn’t just go on the
ground either; there were several pathways above, large holes dug out of giant
trees that were set up to be used as shops, among other things.
Among the entire squad, there were two five-star hunters with Edvard. One of
them was Ozacas, Blake’s father, the other was a man named Donald. The two of
them were some of the longest-serving members of the Altered Hunters.
On top of that, there were four and three-star members, making a total of around
twenty members that were in the garden.
“Would it not be better to split up and cover more ground?” Donald asked. “We
can communicate from a distance using our masks, so we could let the others
know of our location when we find the Ironfang.”
“Although that would be the best situation, I would rather have you all under my
eye,” Edvard answered. “We have been here far too long, a lot longer than I
thought, to be honest. Time is not our friend in this situation.”
“The longer we are here, the more chance they have to mark us. It’s going to be
difficult from now on. They won’t be playing games. Small squads won’t cut it, we
need to utilize all of our power together.”
Both Ozacas and Donald looked at each other. It was the first time the Altered
Hunters had ever acted this way in an attack. To go straight up and fight. Then
again, it was the first time they were openly attacking one of the Kings as well.
Although they were well aware of what was going to happen ahead of time.
Everything felt a little off to the Altered Hunter members, but if there was one
person that they trusted through all of this, then it would be Edvard.
“The other squads, I hope they can get through this,” Edvard murmured to himself.
They carefully went through the Botanical garden, using their masks to detect any
heat signatures, but it was difficult; the heat of the garden itself was making it so
they were unable to determine what was what, and they had quite a few mistakes
made of spotting something already.
In the end, they had decided it was best to just switch the masks they were to the
regular vision they had.
Following the group of Altered Hunters, the werewolves were careful as they
climbed high up within the trees, staring down at their prey, gathering towards
them.
At the very back of the group, were the three-star hunters, turning their heads
constantly, trying to spot something.
The werewolf following them brought out its tongue, licking its lips. It dug its
clawed hands into the bark of the tree, and then, when it was close enough, it
leaped, pouncing off the tree, heading right for the hunter.
“Ahh!” The hunter shouted as he saw what was coming at him, its mouth wide
open.
The hunter was too slow to react or pull out his weapon, but it didn’t matter, for a
person was standing in front of him, his hand covered its snout, and with the
strength of his fingers alone, he had shut the mouth.
“Edvard!” The hunter called out.
Both Ozacas and Donald turned around. They didn’t even see Edvard move from
his position, to get from the front to the back, in such a short time.
“The fight has begun, so everyone, ready themselves!” Edvard said, tensing his
fist, he threw it and hit the Werewolf deep in the stomach. Red aura had twirled
around his knuckles just for a moment away from the eyes of the others.
When his fist hit, Edvard let go of the snout of the Werewolf, and they went flying
back, crashing into the tree’s trunk, its body broke through it and continued off in
the distance of the garden.
“Sometimes it’s hard to believe that he’s human,” Donald commented.
“Right, and we are going to need that strength if we are to get out of here!”
Ozacas said, holding his sword firmly as the Werewolves were making their
presence known.
****
Content
A lot of the members that were present in the Altered Hunters squad had never
seen Edvard directly fight.
They were aware of his position as one of the heads of the Altered Hunters
Association, but unlike the other starred Altered Hunters, Edvard was not one of
them.
It was quite possible that his actual strength was less than that of the current five-
star hunters they were fighting with.
Right now, though, they had just witnessed a small part of Edvard’s strength as he
blasted an attacking Werewolf into an unknown distance.
It gave them confidence; with him around, they could do something despite them
being outnumbered, and it became quite clear to them that they were very
outnumbered.
The werewolves had come out of their hiding spots as they crawled out of tree
trunks, jumped out of the bushes, and fell from the treetops.
“Everyone remain calm, use all of the items at your disposal and stick close to one
another!” Donald shouted.
The Altered Hunters did as they were trained; although some of them might have
been lower-starred Altered Hunters, they all had stars, they all had been in a
situation where they needed to fight against inhuman creatures.
A group around the edge pulled out their electrifying bolts and fired them into the
distance and into the trees.
The werewolves’ quick movement speed allowed them to avoid them with ease,
and then they leaped at the group itself.
The crossbows they were using had a type of special canister that could be
implanted into the bottom.
Pulling objects out from their belt, they switched the canister and started to fire
out again.
A small solid ball ejected and midway exploded into a special net. It tangled some
of the unsuspecting werewolves and then started to electrify.
A large number of the Werewolves fell to the ground, but not all were trapped as
others had managed to use their claws to break through the net before anything
activated, and then there were those that were able to stand up despite the net
electrifying their body.
“Make sure the ones on the ground can’t get back up!” Ozacas shouted. “We’ll
focus on fighting them head-on.”
Several claws came Ozacas’ way, and he swung his single sword, hitting them to
the side. He held the sword firmly in front of him.
However, Ozacas was finding it difficult to cause major damage as there were too
many that were attacking him at the same time.
Donald was using a large mace and had whacked one of the werewolves right in
the stomach, but they weren’t taking them down in one hit, and with how many
they were, he couldn’t focus on finishing them off as he pulled his weapon back
out.
“There’s too many of them for us to focus on!” Donald shouted.
The sound of screaming men was heard at the side as a Werewolf was on top of
one of their members.
He was holding the sword, trying to stop the Werewolf from biting down on his
body.
Seeing this, Ozacas pulled a circular red object a little bigger than a marble and hit
it with the flat side of his sword.
The small red object landed right in the Werewolf’s mouth and then ignited,
exploding.
Smoke came out of the Werewolf’s mouth as its eyes looked like they were rolling
to the back of its head.
Quickly, several Altered Hunters charged in, stabbing the Werewolf from every
angle to finish it off.
At the same time, Edvard was working at an incredible speed. He was moving from
member to member of the squad, defending them from what attacks he could.
He knocked large clawed hands away and then kicked them in the stomach,
sending them flying in the distance.
He could quickly avoid a number of strikes and pulled the werewolves’ arm and
lifted the entire body of another, slamming it into the ground.
Right after, two sharp objects were lodged into his skin; it had ripped through the
Altered Hunters uniform.
“Damn those nails, they’re attacking from above!”
Edvard ran from his position, breaking away from the Altered Hunters, and ran
directly up one of the tree trunks.
When they spotted him, the werewolves flicked their nails in his direction. Edvard
jumped, avoiding most of them; even some of the nails hit tree branches and
lodged themselves elsewhere, missing their target.
“I was wondering when our luck would start to change; it’s been some time.”
Edvard bent his knees and then launched himself, hitting the Werewolf right in the
chin. He kicked the werewolf’s body, flinging it to the side.
The werewolf crashed into the bottom of a large trunk, breaking it. The tree
started to fall down and landed on a few of the Werewolves in the process.
“I bet you’re not used to this, someone being faster and stronger than you,
superior to you guys in every way,” Edvard said with a smile. “It would be quite the
shock to many in their system, and I guess I’m not ordinary among my own either.”
Looking at the situation, although the Altered Hunters were skilled enough, they
were being overwhelmed.
“Leave them alone for so long, and they start to reproduce like bunnies; no wonder
they decided to send in the big guns,” Edvard claimed as he stood up.
“Come on then, come get me; I know all of you can smell me, it must be irritating
your noses, making you feel as if you’ve gone mad, right!”
One of the werewolves attacked Edvard, who jumped up at the right time. The
attack hit the branch, causing it to fall along with the Werewolf.
“Come on, I need to speed things up.” Edvard ran through the gardens, looking for
any werewolf he could, getting as close as he could to them.
As he did, he would pull out a few hairs from their body and continue to rush off;
before he knew it, he had a large group chasing after him through the gardens.
Eventually, he jumped down to a large bed of flowers, and now all of the
werewolves surrounded him.
“Now we’re away from the eyes of others, I can get a bit more serious.” Edvard
grabbed the mask on his face and chucked it to the side before preparing a pair of
sunglasses to wear, but just before he placed them on, his eyes were glowing
bright red, and blood aura was starting to swirl about around his body.
*****
****
Content
Not all of the Altered Hunters in Ruin City were present in the attacks or with the
other squads. Many were on standby throughout the city, trying to watch the
movements in the other areas.
A warning if the Lupus Gang seemed to be making any movements. Moving
incredibly large forces in the first place was also an invitation for the opponent to
do the same, and the Altered Hunters didn’t work best when it came to this
aspect.
On the rooftop of one of the buildings, a team had set up base. They had a
makeshift tent with supplies and tables with various equipment. There were
around ten of them present, being led by another five-star hunter named Cooper.
Cooper was one of the older five-star Altered Hunters. A reliable member that
could take over command if anything were to happen to Edvard. Which was why he
was in charge of thirty or so men that were currently out on top.
“Have you had any news yet from Edvard?” One of the four-star hunters, Joy,
asked.
Joy, she was currently looking out with a pair of binoculars, observing the city for
any movement in the distance. She also had another device attached to her arm
that popped up several small screens, observing the area.
Cameras that had been placed around Ruin City.
“No news is perhaps the best news,” Cooper answered. “After what Edvard is
doing today, he’s hoping for Lupus to have some type of reaction, but if it was
me…”
“If it was you, what?” Joy asked, turning around.
“Nothing… he’s lived far longer than me, so I’m sure he has thought this through
far more than me.”
Joy shook her head as she went back to checking the scene with her binoculars
and the cameras on her screen. “You say some weird things sometimes. I think you
should start using some hydration masks because you look a lot older than Edvard
if what you’re saying is true.”
Although everyone else was wearing the Altered masks to help them see, Cooper
was not, as he was using his regular vision to observe.
As he looked at Joy, though, he noticed a flicker on the camera. “That’s located on
West Street. Joy, switch the cameras to cover the squad on West Street!”
“There’s a squad on West Street, are you sure? I thought they had already moved
in,” Joy answered as she tapped the control device on her arm a few times. The
screens continued to change.
‘Right, the squad that originally met up with Edvard and went in to the Botanical
Garden to fight with him. The truth is, though, there’s another squad that the
others don’t know about,’ Cooper was starting to look nervous.
As the screen changed, they could see it; several Altered Hunters, around eight of
them, were spread out, and stood in the center there was one man, in a human-
like shape, a v-neck shirt relatively wide open, showing the top of his chiseled
chest.
His fierce eyes with slightly bushy eyebrows, and his messy spiky hair that was
partially swept back, but looked as if it couldn’t be contained.
“It’s Lupus… Lupus is there… this isn’t good!” Cooper shouted. “There’s only one
person that can handle him. Send a notice for all of the squads to fall back.”
“To fall back!” Joy shouted back. “Shouldn’t we send help to them, or go and
extract Edvard and his group.”
“It’s too late… just listen to my order, fall back!” Cooper shouted.
The group, and the rest of the Altered Hunters on the rooftop hearing these words
quickly complied. They were packing away the equipment and placing things back
the way it was.
‘I knew it… I knew that we should have brought that for Edvard… I’m not so sure he
can handle a fight against Lupus without it… and if he gets trapped in the city and
Lupus is able to zone us out… then what can we do… this is going to be incredibly
hard.’
On the very rooftop where Lupus had infiltrated, he stood there in the center
alone. “Ah, this smell, it hasn’t been too long since you have tried to come for me
directly!” Lupus claimed as he sniffed through his nostrils. “Every once in a while,
you used to pay a visit, we would have a scuffle or two, and I would be sent on my
back foot.”
“It seems you are trying something new this time, with these Altered Hunters, but I
can tell, none of you are hunters!” Lupus claimed.
Several of the hunters surrounding Lupus all decided to jump in at the same time.
In the middle of their jump, the bottom part of their bodies were felt falling, and
before they knew it, half of them were sliced in half, falling to the ground.
Lupus’s hand was bloody.
For the vampires behind him, he swung his body around and waved his hand.
There was red aura in the air swirling, coming at him, but with the swing of his
hand, it almost looked like the wind had made it so the aura was nonexistent.
Right after, he grabbed one by the head and then swung his arm, hurling it in the
distance. Flying through the sky, the only thing that could be seen was its body, as
the head of the Altered Hunter was still in his hand. The body was broken and
flung off from the momentum of his swing.
The last Altered Hunter was upon him, and Lupus already had his head held in his
other hand like a basketball. He tensed his fingers slightly, the mask breaking, and
the face of the man was revealed with his eyes glowing red.
“I created the Ironfangs to combat your leaders in that settlement of yours, but
look at what you have done!” Lupus grunted. “Always, throughout history, never
allowing us the strength to rival yours.”
“I can smell it, you’re afraid of us, someone so afraid of us, trying to subdue us,
trying to make us submit… the suppression we have had, the chains on our bodies
have been on for far too long.”
“The others might have given in to your demands in the past, but I will break all of
the chains from our group, including yours!”
Lupus tensed his hand, and the head exploded, splattering blood all over him.
“Let’s deal with the rest of those disgusting rats!”
****
Content

Blake and Innu had successfully gotten out of the mall. They didn’t run into any
other Werewolves on their way out, despite going down to the bottom floor.
Reluctantly, they had also made the choice to leave Roman’s body behind, due to
the situation.
Once they had reached the bottom, they went further into the underground where
there was a passby that linked the shopping mall to the Botanical Garden. This was
the original plan that they were going to use.
“Why are we heading out this way?” Innu asked. “Wouldn’t it be better for us to
just head out the mall and go through the streets. If we’re in a rush, we can take
the motorcycles as well.”
The Altered Hunters’ preferred mode of transport were motorcycles, and just like
the special packages that were left around the city, the motorcycles themselves
were left in particular spots as well.
They could be used as long as one had the special bracer that would identify them
as a member.
“They make far too much noise, you should know that we’re not going up against
regular Altered,” Blake answered. “That’s how they managed to trap us in the first
place. I’m sure Edvard knows what our opponents really are, yet they didn’t spread
the information.”
Although this was true, Innu didn’t think it would help much. The plan set out by
Edvard in the first place had to factor all of this in somehow, and would their plan
really have changed that much, even with their knowledge and advice.
Innu could feel it, Blake was angry that Roman had died, because he was too, but it
was the first time that Blake was somewhat showing it.
‘Maybe he’s just worried, with his father out on this mission, he can’t imagine what
would happen to him. It would be the same for me… if my family were out here,’
Innu thought.
“Besides all of that, while we are here we should make sure to complete the
mission, we were meant to take over their base of the Botanical Gardens. There is
a good chance that they left some type of skeleton unit in here just to cover
things. We have to make sure the job is done, before we move on, otherwise all of
the deaths would have been useless,” Blake answered.
Innu could agree to that, and the two of them continued to move, heading through
strange plastic tubes that blocked the wind and air from going inside. Once they
ran past them, they were in some type of giant plastic see-through tube.
The heat had hit them in an instant, and they could see part of the greenery inside.
It was almost as if they were in the Garden already. Just up ahead, there was a
staircase that led to the real part of the Garden.
As they rushed through the entrance and entered the large open area, Innu was a
little worried that there would be another ambush, but there was no such thing.
“I guess that Ironfang really went all out against us then, huh,” Innu stated.
“It certainly did seem like it,” Blake replied. “Remember, there were the other
squads as well. We don’t know how hard their fight was or how many they took out
before it was up to us.”
When Innu thought about it, just them two alone had taken out a large chunk.
Because they were running and fighting at the same time, it didn’t seem like it. But
on the way to the 6th floor, eventually reaching the cinema screen 4.
Then there was the large pile of Werewolves that Blake had taken out by himself;
maybe he didn’t even know how many he had killed.
As the two of them carefully walked through the path of the Garden, looking high
up and above, both of them heard a bit of static through their masks, causing Innu
to jump.
“Whoa! That scared the crap out of me,” Innu said, placing his hand up by his ear,
trying to make sure he didn’t miss what the message was that was being sent out.
“The shopping mall, they must have blocked out the signals before,” Blake stated.
“So we’re only getting the message now that we’re in the Garden, they really did
plan to finish us off in there.”
“This is an order from Cooper to all squads. You are to retreat and abort the task
that has been given. Abort the task. Stay hidden, do not reveal yourself, and stay
in Ruin City, stay in hiding until further orders can be sent out. I repeat, everyone is
to abort!”
It was the end of the message that was sent out, and both Innu and Blake didn’t
have the best of looks on their faces.
“Does this mean what we thought was right, all of the other groups ended up in
the same situation as ours?” Innu asked.
“It might be the case, but what do they want us to do, to stay in Ruin City and not
head back, what’s the reason… and what about father,” Blake said.
He had to make a decision, did he still try to head to where his father and Edvard
would be? What if they just needed a few people there, or to listen to the order.
“It’s your call, Blake, I’ve survived more situations because of you, so I’ll go where
you want to,” Innu answered.
In the middle of Blake’s thoughts, he could hear sound coming from his right, and
immediately both Innu and him drew their weapons as they could see someone on
the ground approaching them.
“Well, well, well, of all of the sad sods I had to run into, I end up running into the
two of you.”
The voice had caused the hairs on the back of Innu’s neck to raise, and when he
stepped into view, it had confirmed who it was.
“What are you doing here, Midwak!” Innu shouted.
*****
Content

A few days had passed since the large celebration event had occurred. It was
meant to be a peaceful period for the group; they weren’t under any attack, and
truthfully, it wasn’t as if they were at war with any of the Kings for a change.
The issue was the constant tension in the air, almost as if anything was going to
happen at any second, which kept them on their toes. Gary still hadn’t fully
committed to making a decision of joining the Altered Hunters or trying to attack
Lupus first.
Instead, his plan was to get information from Innu and Blake before anything, and
maybe the Lupus Gang itself by heading to the city. The main issue was the smell.
Although there would be some of those that needed to apply more deodorant than
others when waking up, or some were lucky enough to apply none at all, this
wouldn’t matter.
It wasn’t enough to cover up the inherent smell of another Werewolf. There was
something about the smell that irritated the others, and particularly if they were
from another pack.
Gary had felt it in his nose even before his system message had notified him of the
other members. So, they decided to leave things to Tom. The smartest person that
Gary knew, at least directly.
Heading to the research lab that had been funded for him by Kai, Gary had
frequently been visiting, and it wasn’t just him, but Kai as well.
“I’ve tested it on a number of dogs, and I’m very confident that this one should
work,” Tom said as he handed over a black glass aftershave bottle with a golden
top. Even the simplest of things, Kai insisted on always using the gang’s colors.
Gary was somewhat used to this now.
“Are you saying I’m a dog?” Gary said as he looked at the bottle. “I’m just kidding,
that’s why we have Kai here as well, right?”
“Just put on the spray,” Kai grunted.
Listening, Gary put on the spray as directed by Tom, in a cross-like shape,
spraying three times across his body. Once that was done, it was time to bring in
the sniffer, which was Kai himself.
He sniffed the air and then got closer and closer to Gary. “I think…it works,” Kai
said. “You’ve not masked the smell, but you’ve made him smell…”
“Human?” Tom answered. “Honestly, this was quite a bit easier than the Altered
research we do, so I was quite confident that I would be able to create something,
but I do have to warn you. That spray only lasts a maximum of three hours, and
during those three hours, the power of the spray will wear off.
“Right now, Kai can’t smell you, but in an hour or so, if he got that close, he might.
You can use a few extra sprays if you want to, but it might start to get suspicious if
you were just doing that out in the open, but it’s up to you.”
Gary looked at it in awe, but it also made him gulp at the thought. It was his own
plan, but to go in undercover? It wasn’t the same as when he went into the tier
four city, this was completely different.
“Alright, so it looks like we have that part done,” Kai said, rubbing his hands
together and making sure he had everything he needed as if he was ready to go
somewhere. “We should still wait a few days until you turn Xin into your Luna, and
then we can figure out what we’re doing with Ruin city.”
“Let Tom make some more of those things.”
“Where are you going?” Gary asked.
“Me, I’m paying a quick visit to Notsburg, I’m getting no answer from Midwak, and
no one can properly check up on him for some reason. I’m just a little worried,
that’s all. I’ll be back today, it should be a quick visit… you just rest up, or prepare
for what comes next, it’s up to you.”
⸺
Others in the Howlers group were left to their own devices as they relaxed during
their downtime. In particular, Olivia and Marie. Today it was a shopping spree day,
and in particular, Olivia was picking out clothes for Marie in order for a fresh start.
The night sky was out, and the two of them were walking with a number of large
shopping bags. A large number of people were staring at them, not just due to how
many shopping bags they bought, but because Olivia’s body always seemed to
turn heads.
“Man, how much did they buy, are they like royalty or something?”
“Or she must have married a rich husband, right?”
Immediately, Olivia turned her head straight at the boys talking; they were quite a
distance away, and it made them jump.
“Stupid boys, and what’s the matter with you, you don’t like going out with me?”
Olivia asked.
“It’s not that, I actually had a really good time today,” Marie replied.
“It’s just that you wish it was with Gary.”
Marie’s face went red with embarrassment. “Did everyone know I liked him?”
“If they didn’t, they definitely did after you stormed out of that room,” Olivia
answered.
The two continued to walk, and there was one thing Marie knew, she couldn’t stay
like this forever. With everything, though, it was just going to take some time.
As the two continued to walk down the streets, they both glanced at each other.
“So what do you want to do?”
“I feel like blowing off some steam,” Marie said. “We can do this.”
Hearing these words, Olivia smiled, and the two of them had taken a right,
venturing into a dark alleyway between several restaurants. As they continued to
walk, they eventually stopped.
“We know you have been following us for a while, you can come out!” Olivia
shouted.
Immediately, four men appeared right in front of them; they were dressed in all
black, all of them having black hairstyles, and some even wearing sunglasses
despite it being nighttime.
Immediately, Olivia placed her hands to her side. “Marie, now they’re close, you
can smell them, right, you remember this smell.”
“I do!” Marie said.
The men in black opened their mouths, as their teeth started to elongate and their
eyes started to glow red.
“They’re vampires!”
****

(Note it’s Valentine’s Day, enjoying the day with the Pregnant Wife, so only doing 1
chapter today.)
For updates on MWS and future works, please remember to follow me on my social
media below.
Instagram: jksmanga
Discord: [Link]/jksmanga
When news of MVS, MWS, or any other series comes out, you will be able to see it
there first, and you can reach out to me. If I’m not too busy, I tend to reply back.

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