Masaki Taisho struggled to return to his feet. His Warhammer was misplaced somewhere in the forest. He lifted his head to find the Okami no Banshi at an overwhelming disadvantage.
Kuma felt a wave of panic rush through him like an electric shock when he saw Masaki Taisho get flung away by the advanced tier Sarugami. His grip on his Katana tightened and he gritted his teeth as he fought back the rage inside of him. His eyes found Masaki trying to get back up then he noticed he was without a weapon. His eyes darted around the forest floor and found the Warhammer lodged into a tree by the sharpened end not too far away from him. He was about to move towards it, but he sensed danger. He was quick to act, He shifted left—just as the club crashed down where he stood, the impact splitting earth and root alike. But the Sarugami did not cease it's attack, it swung its club at Kiyoshi again. Kiyoshi was left with little options but to dodge the attacks of the Sarugami, for he knew the danger of even a single hit from this cursed beast before him. The Sarugami's frustration grew as he found himself unable to kill a single man. "Stay in one place you small human!" The Sarugami yelled, but Kiyoshi would not allow himself be baited by simple taunts. The wardens moved, they would not waste his effort. While the beast was busy trying to clubber Kiyoshi, they coordinated another attack from the side, even though they knew their strengths were lacking, even though they had been rendered immobilized by the Sarugami's sonic attack. They still rose up to assist Kiyoshi. The Sarugami was not to be taken lightly. It noticed the samurai gathering around him slowly. "Even though I can't hit you, I can hit them." And with that statement it turned its back on Kiyoshi and blocked a slash from one of the wolf wardens. Some of the wardens flanked the beast from the side and although some of their slashes managed to get through, it only seemed to rile up the beast even more. Kiyoshi would not let the little opportunity he had go to waste, he shifted cleared the distance between him and the beast in a few seconds, with the momentum he went for a strike to the gut but the metal club was there in time to intercept it, he went in for another strike but the Sarugami lifted its foot and slammed it onto his chest with such force that he was flung about fifteen feet away from the beast. The beast leaped backwards and onto a tree branch a few feet away from the wardens and Kiyoshi. It sucked in its breath and unleashed another screech so loud that it rattled the bones of the wardens. Seeing its opponents down, it leaped from the tree with its club in it's hand ready to destroy whatever was in its path.
Masaki had managed to rise up from the hard floor and was already running to the Wardens' aid, but he wasn't fast enough.
The Sarugami brought its metal club down in a pulverizing arc onto the head of the nearest Warden.
"NOOOOO!!" A gut wrenching scream erupted from Masaki lungs as he watched one of his men get crushed by the beast. He rose up and mustered all the strength he could into his feet as he ran toward his men.
"Yes finally one kill." The advanced tier Sarugami smiled as it lifted its club and bashed it into the head of another samurai. The other wardens unable to move, watched in horror and fear as the beast killed them off one by one. They tried to fight off the effect of the Sarugami's sonic ability but it was futile.
Kiyoshi watched from the side as the beast layed waste to his brothers, his family. And as he watched it wasn't fear that filled his heart, no, it was rage. A rage so deep it felt primal. His dirty brown hair turned a deeper shade of brown, and it's length increased at a visible rate, fur grew on his face and a his nose slowly elongated growing into a small snout. His pupils turned deep brown and dilated. Sounds of bones shifting could be heard as the size of his arms increased and his nails sharpened and elongated like claws. He grew significantly taller as his legs grew longer and larger and he was only a feet or two away from the hight of the almost 8 feet tall advanced tier Sarugami.
His vision grew darker but his sense of smell intensified and he smelled blood. He turned he hear to where he smelled it the most and he could see the Sarugami lift its club again ready to kill another one of the Okami no Banshi. Kiyoshi Kuma got down on all fours and in a single single leap it covered the distance between himself and the beast and grabbed onto the metal club before it crushed the warden it was aimed at.
The Sarugami frowned at the sight of Kiyoshi. "You smell different. But it doesn't matter." The Sarugami lifted its foot ready to slam it into Kiyoshi again, but he caught it. Kiyoshi grunted as he lifted the Sarugami over his head and threw him into a tree. The Sarugami's eyes widened in shock. It got off the floor and screeched in rage as he ran straight at Kiyoshi.
Kiyoshi shifted his weight and darted to the side immediately, causing the Sarugami to miss it's attack. He grabbed onto the Sarugami's arm and held it in place.
"NOW MASAKI!" Kiyoshi screamed and Masaki Taisho emerged from the side with a katana in hand and plunged it through the thick hide of the Sarugami.
The Sarugami screamed as blood sprayed from its side. It grabbed onto the katana trying to pull it out but Masaki poured out all his strength and pushed it in deeper.
The Sarugami got so enraged that it let out another paralysis screech. Although Kiyoshi in his partial transformation could still hold its clubbed hand down, an injured Masaki could not resist the paralysis. The Sarugami lifted its free arm and smacked Masaki away, then it made a fist and repeatedly punched Kiyoshi in the face, it then grabbed Kiyoshi, lifted him up and rammed him into a tree.
It let out a screech as it pulled the katana that was lodged into its side.
Kiyoshi was down down on his knees with possible broken bones, Masaki was bloody battered and weakened and the rest of the wolf wardens were down for the count. "It is you and that short muscle man that is the most trouble." The Sarugami stated in rage and ragged breath, "I must kill you first and then I will kill him." The Sarugami lifted the bloody katana ready to end Kiyoshi's life when it felt a wave of heat coming at it. It lifted the katana up ready to defend almost immediately a flaming hot blade broke through the katana in in it's hand and made a bloody slash from its neck down to its torso.
It gripped its neck in fear as that was the closest it had been to death since it started fighting.