Galdark was ant to stay underground, deep within the hidden tunnels where it was safe and the reach of Unzoku’s couldn't easily find him. There was absolutely no rational reason for him to co up to the surface now, and Lupus knew in his gut that the old man had to be lying.
Gary and his team couldn’t have been close to this location. They had only discovered that Unzoku was even here quite recently, and Lupus was right to doubt the arrival of reinforcents. Although Galdark wasn’t lying about the fact that he had already sent word to the Howlers, he also knew they had their own massive troubles to deal with.
The two groups did stay in contact because they imagined that Unzoku might try and attack them if he found out about their hidden location, or perhaps it wouldn't even be Unzoku, but the vampires who would co knocking.
Staying in contact through the larger group chat, Galdark also knew that Slough was currently suffering with its own set of problems. It was a chaotic ti across the board. So, it was highly unlikely that soone would be sent to help them anyti soon. But hearing the vibrations from below, feeling the tremors of the earth, and seeing what was happening above through the sensors, Galdark couldn’t help but at least try sothing. For a typically rational person, he had certainly been acting irrationally in this mont, pinning a lot of things on a desperate hope.
He hoped that Unzoku would, for so reason, fear the Howlers coming to finish him. He hoped that if that failed, Lupus would take the distraction as a chance to run away. Even though he knew Lupus’s character well and knew that he wasn’t the type of person to ever retreat from a fight, Galdark still made the move. He knew his appearance might amount to nothing, but even if there was the slimst chance possible to save him, he wanted to try it. That was why he stood out there in the open, vulnerable.
“What is that idiot doing!” Lupus grunted through his clenched teeth. His insides were screaming in a chorus of pain from the nurous, bone-crushing blows he had taken.
“Galdark, I can still fight! I’m going to kill this guy, so get out of here!” Lupus shouted, his voice cracking with the effort.
Lupus didn't know why, but as he looked at Galdark standing there, he started to rember nurous mories with the man. He wasn’t just the bookkeeper during his ti as King; Galdark had been the bookkeeper during his father’s ti as well. He was the one who had taught both him and his brother, Dean, everything they knew about werewolves and their ancient history. When Lupus had finally taken the position of leadership, Galdark had beco more than just a teacher.
He was his advisor every step of the way, supporting his decisions and his goal of freeing their kind. Even when tis were hard, like when Lupus had to make the agonizing choice to kick out his own brother, Galdark was there to make sure he got through it.
He made him believe in his own decision when the weight of it threatened to crush him. In a lot of ways, Lupus didn't know where he would be if Galdark wasn't there to guide him. He had already lost his brother. Losing another person so close to him on this journey was sothing he simply didn't want to see.
“Is this why you fought so hard and didn't run?” Unzoku asked, his voice dripping with cold amusent.
With a sudden, violent motion, Unzoku leapt with one foot from his position. He landed right where Galdark was standing. With his large hand, he grabbed Galdark by the face and turned around to face Lupus.
“Is this why you were fighting so hard this entire ti? You said earlier that this bond is your strength, but let tell you sothing, Lupus. The longer you live, the more you will find out why having people around you is just your ultimate weakness.”
Clenching his hand shut with a sickening force, Galdark’s head exploded under the pressure. The light vanished from the old man's eyes, and the rest of his body fell limp to the floor.
Lupus’s eyes locked onto the now lifeless body on the ground, and his heart started to beat with a terrifying rhythm. He felt it pulsing through his entire body, the blood rushing in his ears. With each pulse, a searing, white-hot pain shot through his nervous system.
Once.
Twice.
And then the third ti… the world seed to slow.
His fingers began to twitch uncontrollably. A sharp crack echoed from within his arm, the bone shifting, and the muscles beneath his skin began to bulge unnaturally. His claws extended, but they didn’t stop like they usually did. They continued to grow, curving outward, becoming thicker and sharper, more like the talons of a beast that didn’t belong on the land.
“Aghh…!” Lupus growled, dropping to one knee as his body began to rewrite itself.
His back arched violently, and his spine pushed outward against his flesh, tearing slightly against the skin before settling back in a new, larger configuration. From beneath his thick black fur, sothing else started to form. It wasn’t more fur. It was scales. Dark, hardened plates began to spread across parts of his body, layering over his shoulders and down his arms. They shimred faintly in the moonlight, as if they were coated in a thin layer of frost, and a chilling mist started to leak from the gaps between them.
The ground beneath him began to freeze instantly, the frost spreading in a wide circle. Unzoku paused, his head tilting slightly as he watched the transformation unfold.
“Oh?” he said, his interest piqued. “What is this now?”
Lupus didn't respond; he couldn't. The change was happening from deep within his soul. Another pulse hit him, and this ti, it was even stronger than the last. His chest expanded, his breath turning into a visible cloud as a freezing aura burst from his mouth. His eyes, once filled with pain and exhaustion, now glowed with a mixture of an outer layer of red and a deep, piercing blue.
Then, sothing burst from his lower back. A long, thick tail slamd against the ground behind him, cracking the earth on the impact. It wasn't like a standard werewolf’s tail. It was longer, heavier, and covered in jagged, dark scales with sharp icy protrusions running along its length. The tail moved on its own, swaying with a life of its own before slamming into the stone again, as if testing its own imnse strength.
Lupus’s hands pressed into the ground as his body lifted slightly. His form was no longer that of a standard werewolf. His arms had grown thicker, layered with both fur and scale, and the claws now resembled sothing closer to a sea predator than a land beast. His shoulders rose higher, his posture changing, less like a wolf, and more like sothing ancient and forgotten. Sothing monstrous.
“A transformation…?” Unzoku muttered, his voice dropping. “No… this isn't just that.”
The air around Lupus dropped in temperature rapidly, the moisture in the air turning to ice. Frost spread outward in all directions, crawling along the ground, climbing up the nearby rocks, and freezing everything it touched. Lupus slowly lifted his head.
His mouth opened, revealing sharper, longer teeth than he had ever possessed before. As he exhaled, a freezing mist poured out, the air itself seeming to crack from the cold. The tail behind him coiled slightly, and the icy spikes along his body sharpened further, growing like blades ford from pure, frozen energy.
Lupus stepped forward. The ground shattered beneath his foot as if it could no longer support his weight. The Leviathan within him had fully awakened. He was no longer just a Werewolf, he was the Dragon of the Sea.
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