The trailer park smelled of oil and cold metal. It seemed like no one was awake at this hour. Retsu's breath fogged in the thin night air as he killed the headlights. Then they drove slowly through the different rows of trailers until they reached the one that said four.
A single light was on, which flickered through the curtains of the living room. "He must be watching tv." Rori whispered. But Retsu shook his head.
Badum. Badum. Badum. He heard them, the faint heartbeats of three people. And he smelled the scent of death of the last person, who no longer had a heartbeat.
"They've got us surrounded." He said, glancing to his right and left without moving his head. "They knew we were coming. That means I get to kill Charlie afterall."
Rori remembered that he said he wouldn't harm Charlie if the waitress kept quiet. But she must have informed them anyways. She wondered if that meant that Retsu would come for her next as a snack. Rori was glad that she could still eat normal food. At least, higher in protein than what a human ate, but her normal was being a werewolf.
Retsu looked into the darkness and saw the outlines of the lackeys hiding behind various objects. "But where is Bob?" He wondered.
His scent was everywhere, and it was impossible to pinpoint where the source was. Had he marked his territory? The man must be a monster already. Dread filled him. No. He was going to figure it out. He had been involved in gang wars when he was alive, and they had outsmarted many enemies who seemed to be stronger than him. He wondered, how much of the real world applied to the system?
For example, if someone was going to die, it was not usually due to low HP, so how could having low HP kill him anyways? Hypothetically. Couldn't he make an exception to the rule? Survive somehow?
Couldn't he beat an opponent then that was of a higher HP? He should be able to beat a human, no matter how strong he was. It was just logical.
Unless the system somehow had a way of viewing the future to see what someone was capable of? He would be capable of more than a prediction. He was Retsu afterall, and he was the leader of this pack. He would beat them all into submission!
Fury began to fill him.
HP didn't kill people. People died when they made mistakes. If the system thought it could predict that, it hadn't met him yet.
His Alpha aura began to spill out of him. He turned off the car and Rori followed him as he got out of the car.
"Come out here Bob! I heard you wanted an Alpha challenge! So why do you send your lackeys to do your bidding? I smell you hiding like a coward."
Rori tried her best to stand strong under the aura that Retsu produced, and narrowed her eyes to see who was going to make the first move.
The lackeys had sat down under the weight, even though they were stronger than Rori, they were still human, and had no resistance to his presence.
Charlie was still standing though. Him and Bob were not dominated by the pressure. Either of them could become an alpha if he bit them, if he couldn't dominate them. He had already bit Bob.
"I heard you are a revenant, do you know what that is?"
Bob came out, smiling. His aura was stronger than Retsu's. Rori fell to her knees as the presence of both of them flooded the space.
Charlie took a seat. He would be a spectator for now, since Retsu had called for Bob only. This was good, Retsu thought.
Bob's claws extended as he transformed his hands and feet into that of a werewolve's.
"A revenant is able to hunt down their prey no matter what you throw at them." He said, baring his teeth, "you want to know what my prey is?"
Rori lifted her head with enormous effort. She gritted her teeth. Retsu frowned. "Let Rori take a seat with Charlie for a while, she's just a girl, she isn't part of this."
"My prey is those who have killed me." He finished. "Tell me, when I have finished doing that, does that daughter of yours belong to me?"
Retsu wasn't going to be intimidated by a baseless threat like that. In the world of gangs, men liked scaring young girls, but he was not going to let anyone touch her.
"You have a lot of confidence thinking that you'll win if you make threats like that." He snarled, de-transforming his body and face to show his rotten form. Then he opened his bony clawed hands and warmth flooded him as fire erupted from his palms, lighting the area around him and casting shadows on his face. His green eyes were glowing menacingly.
"You don't look so good. But two can play at that game." Bob said, as suddenly his face began to rot as well. It seemed that anything Retsu could do, Bob could do better.
"And are you seeing things too Bob?"
"What?" His eyes narrowed, "seeing what things?"
"Can you see how strong I am? Or what abilities I have?" He asked. Retsu wanted to know if he had the system too.
"I don't think you look that tough." He said. "That fire doesn't scare me."
Eat him! Retsu's wolf said, getting tired of this long introduction.
Good, Retsu assumed that meant Bob was unable to see the system and Retsu's stats. That meant that he didn't know how strong he was and could be bluffing to figure it out. Last time he had bitten him and he bled a lot. So Retsu hadn't really lost.
"So are we going to do this?" He asked, activating his essence absorption skill, and using it to transform his body into that of a wolf. Full transformation. Retsu doubted that Bob had that skill.
Suddenly, Bob rushed in; running on all fours even though he was in his scrawny human form, only equipped with claws and werewolf feet. He bore his enormous canines and tore a chunk of flesh from Retsu's chest.
-50 hp the notification appeared as pain tore through Retsu. His unbeating heart exposed.