The power that could be felt coiled deep inside Lupus’s throat had finally reached its tipping point, vibrating with a high-pitched hum that signaled the release of his most devastating technique. Using his large, powerful legs, he sprung from the earth and leapt high into the air once again. With Unzoku’s body still partly frozen and struggling on the ground below, his body was the perfect, immobile target.
Lupus tilted his head back, gathering the last of the glowing blue energy, and then flung it forward with a violent snap. His mouth opened wide, almost like the jaws of an ancient alligator, and following right after, a glowing beam of pure blue energy rushed out. It descended like a falling star, illuminating the dark ruins of the city.
Unzoku was finally ready to move as he shoved one hand against the dirt to get up off the ground, but he was too slow. The beam of energy hit him squarely. The mont it made contact, a massive pulse of force erupted, and a thick cloud of dust and frost went off in every direction, obscuring the battlefield.
The beam of energy was so wide and intense that it consud Unzoku’s entire body to the point where he could no longer be seen within the light. The ground, although originally covered in jagged cracks from their previous exchanges, started to be filled in with thick, permanent ice. The frost spread rapidly, as if a sea of ice was being created on the spot, consuming the entire area and locking the ruins in a frozen embrace.
Until finally, the beam of energy stopped, and Lupus fell back down to the ground, his heavy feet cracking the new ice. Right then, he could feel it, his heart was beating again with that strange, heavy rhythm, and a pulse was going through his body, only it wasn't quite the sa as before.
‘It’s fighting against ... I can feel it. My body is going to revert back, I won’t be able to use this anymore,’ Lupus thought, his vision beginning to flicker. ‘I had a feeling that this power would be short-lived.’
But while he still had a fragnt of that power remaining, he knew he needed to finish Unzoku off for good.
The icy mist from the blast started to disappear, and now, lying on the floor in the center of the crater, Unzoku had beco nothing but a solid block of ice. It wasn’t just a powerful physical attack; his entire body was completely frozen through. Yet, Lupus’s instincts were kicking in, whispering a warning.
A Werewolf was more resilient than almost anything in existence. And for the original Werewolf, as Unzoku claid himself to be, to have survived for so many centuries, it was unlikely that he would perish so easily. Lupus was right.
Cracks started to appear in the thick ice, and a familiar red mist imdiately started to ooze from the fissures. A few seconds later, the ice block containing Unzoku shattered into a thousand shards. Imdiately after, however, Unzoku was huffing and panting heavily, his whole body groaning under the strain of the cold.
‘What was that attack? It didn’t just freeze the outside... it appears as if it’s frozen part of my insides as well,’ Unzoku thought, his breath coming out in ragged, icy plus.
‘My breathing... it’s hard to move, and my entire body feels like it's still shutting down. I’m thawing it out, but I can’t fight at even a fraction of my strength. My body hasn’t even healed and can’t heal the wound from before... this is bad... this is very bad,’ Unzoku realized as he looked at Lupus through blurry eyes.
When he found himself in this desperate situation, Unzoku did what he always decided to do when the odds turned against him: he gathered every bit of remaining strength in his legs and leapt off into the night. He cleared a large distance in a single bound, his silhouette still visible against the moon as he retreated.
‘Damn it, he’s running! I didn’t expect that!’ Lupus thought. Even in his weakened state, he could still see his target, and he was ready to pounce after him to deliver the final blow. But just as he moved to spring, his legs started to shrink. His whole body began to change.
He was reverting back, but unlike what Lupus thought, he didn't return to his standard werewolf form. He had envisioned he would still be able to fight against Unzoku back in his previous form if he had to. But as his body shrunk down and continued to get smaller, the change went further than he expected. He eventually returned to his human self, the armor hanging heavy on his small fra, and he fell forward onto both knees.
‘What is this? It feels like every bit of energy has been drained from my body.’ Lupus looked at his trembling human hand and tried to force a partial transformation, but there was nothing. No claws, no fur, no surge of power.
‘Is this because of what I turned into earlier? Did it use up every bit of power I had?’
When Lupus looked up, he could no longer see Unzoku; he had already vanished into the distance. In a way, Unzoku running away from the fight believing he had lost had actually saved Lupus’s life, as Lupus was now completely defenseless.
However, Lupus wasn’t pleased with the result either. He was so close. He could feel it in his gut, he was so close to finally getting rid of the threat to their kind, and it had slipped away from him at the last possible second.
‘I have to do sothing. If he’s managed to survive this, he’s going to try and do whatever it takes to win against us. He might co back stronger than ever before,’ Lupus thought as he stared at the empty horizon. ‘If I can’t fight, I need to do what I can to help the others prepare.’
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