Chapter 34: Legacy of Wolves
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"To win, but not destroy; to conquer, but not humiliate: That is what true conquest is!"
- Rider: Alexander the Great, (Fate/Zero)
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<(Omniscient POV)>
"We are being slowly surrounded. There are too many of these wolf-people for us to kill. I understand that these are just mindless brainwashed clones according to Zoya but killing so many of them is still... unsettling. It's like we are the animals here. Also, where is Atem? I thought he said that he said that he would give us support while we took care of the army." Laura said as she looked around for the New God with confusion etched on her face.
"He said that he would give us 'emotional' support kid. That's a bit different from the support you are expecting. So no, he isn't gonna be of much help, at least not until he thinks that we really need it. He is basically just here to see our combat powers and only help in case of a worst-case scenario." Logan clarified as he went loose on the scrawny 'humanoid wolf' in front of him.
"Goddamn it. I should have known. I should have figured something was wrong the moment Atem gave that sarcastic smile at Hank after he mentioned that he wasn't a wolf and that Atem should consider changing the name of the squad." Laura lamented as she looked at the faraway hill where she last saw Atem standing.
"Let me show you, Atem, how strong I have become. I trust in your guidance and protection, and I fear nothing as long as you are watching over me, not even death itself..." She muttered to herself.
"Umm, actually, he is no longer here. He went to the castle about ten minutes ago. So, he is not really watching over you right now. I just didn't say anything because I thought everyone noticed that with their developed senses." Remus interrupted Laura's heartfelt words as she continued her one-hit kill streak.
"... What?" Laura asked dumbfounded.
"Oh, you didn't sense it, kid? It seems that you still have to work on your senses a lot after we get back. I am sure a few months of sparring with me blindfolded in a forest will do wonders to fully develop your senses. Our claws might look good as bloody weapons of slaughter but it's really our regeneration and senses that help us win in a battle." Wolverine advised.
"You knew...?" Laura still wasn't completely out of shock as she got stabbed in her stomach by a wolfman's claws, something she immediately recovered from before using her own pair of claws to separate the being's head from its body.
"Actually, I sensed him leaving too. It was quite obvious with the sound of his red portal opening and all. But believe me, I do understand that mastering your senses at this age is tougher than it sounds. So, nobody will really judge you here." Hank McCoy, aka, the Beast also spoke while awkwardly raising his hand like he was giving an attendance or something.
He had been trying to make himself seem invisible by not speaking anything after he had embarrassed himself earlier by pointing out the name of the squad not exactly matching the theme of their powers as it was originally intended by Atem and had only been focusing on silently amputating all the artificial humanoid Wolves without attracting anyone's attention.
But hearing both Wolverine and Remus telling Laura about their advanced senses, he could not help but boast about his as well.
"I hate all of you... Anyway, where did Atem teleport to after leaving us fighting here? Also, where the hell is Domino?"
"..." All three of her teammates remained silent at that moment as they looked at each other and wondered how to inform Laura that Domino too had left sometime during the battle which all of them had also noticed except Laura herself who was too bloodthirsty to notice anything amidst her bloody slaughter of the lupine monsters.
So, they made a silent decision amongst themselves and kept their mouth shut to not further annoy the poor teenage wolverine and instead focused on clearing the remaining hundred or so wolfish mutates.
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<(Atem POV)>
"Why the hell are you following me? You could have had a good time fighting those wolf people you know. So, why waste your time and follow me?" I complained as I walked through the castle corridor with Zoya silently flying beside me and Domino following me with a strange giddy smile on her face.
"I don't know. I felt like I could have some more fun if I followed you instead of staying with those four... Also, I already killed more than fifty of those minions before coming here. Turns out that when I shot one of them when they were initially rushing to launch their assault on us, a lot of them collided with the dying wolf person I shot and a major portion of the entire horde fell down like collapsing blocks. Due to the rocky terrain, most of them either broke their limbs or just died due to suffering from a fatal head wound." Domino explained, making it seem like what she did was no big deal.
'That almost seems impossible in a real-life situation... But again, she is the luckiest person in the world, so might as well give her the benefit of the doubt.' I thought, stopping myself from retorting against her argument.
"Fine then. Do as you wish." I released a frustrated sigh as I decided to ignore her and calmly walked toward my intended destination, the main hall of the castle.
I would have Boom Tube'd directly to the 'great hall' of the castle but something was blocking me from doing that which was quite surprising since there were very few things on the planet that had the capability to stop something as advanced as the Boom Tube. That's why I only boom-tube'd to the entrance of the castle and was currently making my way to the main hall while appreciating the brilliant medieval-era architecture.
Of course, straight up destroying the entire castle was a valid option but wouldn't it be a pity to destroy such a brilliant historic building which could be quite useful as some hidden base for me and my organizations later after I took it over?
"If you could have opened that portal thingy directly to the castle entrance, why force the others to fight the monsters outside? Wouldn't it have been much easier to just silently defeat this... what was his name, oh yeah, Romulus? Just eliminating the mastermind would have been enough to finish this entire mission." Domino asked the question that had been bothering her for the last few minutes.
"It would, but that would have meant that the Wolf squad, and no I am still not calling it the Beast squad, would have nowhere to let themselves loose. Wolves always grow and achieve their full potential in a real fight with the possibility of losing their lives if they get defeated, not in some safe environment with no chance of death or amputation like an artificial training room." I answered knowing that they weren't so easy to be killed by some weak wolf-monster minions and at the off-chance they did die, I could always revive them later.
After walking for a few more minutes in silence, we soon arrived in front of a huge metal door behind which was the main hall of the castle located, at least according to Zoya's scan.
"Open sesame," I shouted in a sing-song voice as I kicked open the locked door, blasting the entire door leaf a couple of meters away from the door frame.
"Who dares barge their way into Romulus' castle?" A man with an extraordinarily huge body frame, looking like a real-life lookalike of Yujiro Hanma roared in anger as he looked at me with bloodshot eyes.
There were a few more people behind him but our attention was mostly grabbed by the huge man himself because of his... unique appearance.
He had a big ponytail of Platinum blonde hair on his head, wearing a pair of leather trousers with matching leather gloves. But, unfortunately for my poor eyes, he wasn't wearing anything on his upper body and was thus proudly displaying his INCREDIBLY hairy chest.
"Was your mother really a wolf according to Roman mythology? Was your father a furry? How did they even fuck?" Domino directly asked the questions that came to her mind with a straight face without even waiting for me to speak.
"Language Domino... But she is still right. How did they exactly do the deed if you don't mind me asking?" I asked quite seriously as I waited for Romulus who was now red with anger to speak.
"Why don't you ask that to my father yourself? I will even do the honor of sending you to him." He growled as extremely big claws the size of swords came out of his arms.
"Isn't he just admitting that his father indeed banged a wolf?" Domino whispered to herself as she stared at the man's claws.
They were much like Remus' claws except the fact that Remus only had one of them in each hand while he had four. Three of them came out of the same knuckles as Logan's claws while the fourth one came out of the knuckle on his thumb.
But the weird placement and impressive size of his claws weren't the things that surprised me the most. Instead, it was the smooth crystal-like surface of the claws that amazed me.
"Huh, it seems you got some plastic surgery like your descendants, or should I call it nail surgery? But still, that's not any normal metal coated on your claws, is it? And it certainly doesn't look like bones. So what are they? Vibranium or some unique alloy of adamantium?" I asked as Romulus began to rush at me like a hungry beast.
I didn't try to particularly defend myself and instead just pushed Domino back a little while dodging just enough of his attack that his nails were only able to slightly graze me.
But even the light scratch was enough to draw a red line on my godly skin, the only mark on my flawless body. It wasn't enough to draw blood but I knew that with enough strength and pressure, it wouldn't be tough.
'No, that's not vibranium and definitely not adamantium. An attack from any of those would have immediately activated the danger sense part of my Cosmic Awareness ability. But, I didn't feel anything. If I wasn't currently feeling the sensation on my hand I am feeling right now, I would have almost thought that the claws were just an illusion. So, that means whatever metal, you got your... claws in, it undoubtedly holds very potent mystical properties which even supersedes that of Wakandan Vibranium itself.' I remarked to myself with a thoughtful expression.
"You afraid of a little magical nail little man? Don't worry I won't hurt you too bad. My sharp claws will make sure that your death is clean and quick. I would hate to get your blood all over my Persian rug." Romulus chuckled with a bloodthirsty smile on his face as he rubbed his huge claws against each other in a bid to appear even more menacing.
"Afraid? I think you misunderstood me. I wasn't trying to say that I was afraid of your magical metal-coated claws. I only meant that they are quite interesting and unique. That's why..., I want them for myself." I responded with a cruel smile that matched his own as I began my hunt for the old alpha wolf.
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