The wind tore past Mirus as he surged through the night sky, the Theocracy's distant glow burning like a holy wound on the horizon.
From below, moonlight seeped in sparse beams through the canopy, casting an eerie glow over the fog and illuminating the lycanthrope's gleaming eyes and bared teeth.
The beast's snout flared and its sinister maw began to salivate.
Relishing the scent of its prey, its pace quickened spurred by the tantalizing pull of divine meat as it navigated through the ancient forest of titan trees.
The Lycanthrope tore through the forest, its powerful paws pounded in a violent rhythmic fury over moss and stone, leaves and branches whipped at its sides as it surged forward, drawn to Mirus's essence.
Trees were clawed through as something barreled through them—too fast, too heavy, too deliberate.
A massive lupine shape burst from the canopy.
Not leaping.
Launching itself into the air.
It cleared the titan trees in a single violent arc, hind legs kicking off shattered bark, sending splinters and soil erupting into the night.
Moonlight illuminated its form.
An abominable Lycanthrope.
Its body was massive—nearly the size of a carriage—muscle layered like plated corded stone.
Its fur was a storm of ash-gray and pitch-black, rough and bristling as if charged with static.
Its spine carried jagged ridges of bone that glowed faintly like dying embers, and from its jaws leaked thin strings of dark vapor, like its bestial breath was poisoning the air itself.
Mirus was just enjoying the view, coasting on spatial control like a man riding a quiet midnight breeze.
His coat fluttered softly behind him.
Moonlight traced along his silhouette.
It was serene.
Peaceful.
And then—
WHOOMPH!—
A violent blur exploded out from directly beneath him.
No warning.
No aura.
Just pure stealth.
One second he was flying forward.
The next—
something ripped him DOWNWARD out of the sky.
"Shit!"
He was intercepted and snatched.
'I didn't sense anything! It has some sort of a concealment ability!'
A hulking mass of fur and ravenous unbridled bloodlust had dug its massive sharp claws deep into Mirus's sides.
Its jaws clamped down on his neck and shoulder with bone-cracking force.
It's snarled viciously in his ear.
"Bastard beast!"
The Maw was full of them—he'd never seen this fiendish beast though!
'This abomination's strength is commendable! It will be mine! Let's… return the harm.'
Mirus activated his defenses and wrapped his hands into its throat in an attempt to strangle it.
Decay and corrosion began to run rampant through his body and he transferred the damage he was nullifying back to the Lycan.
But the Lycanthropes' neck was massive, he could barely wrap his hands around it!
So he started punching its snout.
His world flipped and whole body was yanked backward in a sudden, disorienting lurch.
Skies. Trees. Skies. Trees. Skies. Trees!
They blurred violently together in his vision as the beast dragged him downward in a spiraling arc.
Air blasted past his ears, the forest rushing up toward them far too fast.
Only then—mid-plummet—did he get a good look at the abomination.
A lycanthrope filled to the brim and overflowing with chaotic eldritch lifeforce and malice.
He could see it, but he could not feel it.
Yet, its aura and presence, completely concealed.
'Fascinating.'
Mirus raised an eyebrow at the creature as the free falled together through the sky.
Its eyes were cold and murderous, luminous pits of pale inverted predatory starlight.
Parts of its body phased in and out of existence, twinkling black void tendrils crawled across its limbs.
It flinched and pulled back.
The Lycanthrope did not understand why it was feeling pain but it knew the meal in front of it was the one inflicting harm upon on its abominable self.
It was furious, and finally feeling all the damage it had inflicted upon Mirus' return to it.
It cocked its head sideways, lips peeling back over aetheric saliva-slick fangs—then its jaw split wider than any natural creature could manage.
A cavernous maw opened, teeth jutting at impossible angles as a barbed, sinewed tentacle shot out like a spear.
It screeched at Mirus, the sound sharp enough to rattle bone, the tentacle-tongue lashing through the air with murderous intent, snapping inches from his face.
"Oh yes," Mirus murmured, eyes narrowing in amusement, "you are wicked indeed."
Taking control of the descent Mirus twisted his body mid-grapple at the last second.
WHACK!
They slammed into a treetop, wood shattering beneath the Lycanthropes body.
The beast had finally let him go!
In the wake of their fall, they had blasted apart the whole top of the Titan-tree sending wood chips and pollen flying for miles.
But Titan trees aren't as weak as they seem, they have stood tall and strong for thousands if not millions of years.
They would persevere.
The lycanthrope lay there, howling and snarling, impaled on the shattered jagged point of the titan tree.
Mirus floated above it.
The yellow moon loomed large behind them, spectating.
"Have you had enough? Vile beast of burden."
It gnashed its teeth and snarled angrily at Mirus.
It flailed its limbs angrily trying to grab him, but it was stuck!
Then the beast stopped wasting its movements, cocked its head and locked eyes with Mirus.
A hint of intelligence flickered in its dark eyes and its canine snout lifted in a wicked sneer.
It slashed at him again and this time its claws reappeared right in front of him, piercing through the void!
Nearly gauging Mirus's throat, he dodged its claws at the last second as he felt the space around him fluctuate.
Wide-eyed.
Stunned.
Then his expression shifted ever so slightly.
Not fear.
Not confusion.
A slow, incredulous grin.
The first thing he said, voice low and amused:
"…You're a sneaky little wretch."
It howled and gripped the jagged point it was impaled upon, and crushed it.
The beast now free from the tree fell down to the ground, landing feet first.
The ground sank beneath it as its claws dug into the forest floor.
It looked up and growled at Mirus as he descended upon it.
Its teeth were decaying and falling out and its fingers had turned brittle but the regeneration ability of the beast was astounding.
The flesh that had made contact with Mirus fell apart and knit itself back together, healing as fast as it decayed!
FWUMP—!
It dropped to all fours.
Its spine arched.
Its limbs bent low.
Its claws dug furrows through root and stone.
A low, murderous snarl ripped from its snout.
"Come beast. I will make you whole," Mirus muttered, descending with calm disdain.
The Lycanthrope charged.
Not running—but detonating forward like a cannonball of fang and muscle.
Its claws carved trenches through the earth as it surged upward toward him, a blur of void-touched fur and killing intent.
Mirus met its charge head-on.
He shot forward like a streak of black lightning, spatial force rippling around him.
They collided in mid-air.
CRASH—!!
Shockwaves blasted outward, flattening brush, snapping branches, sending dust spiraling skyward.
The Lycanthrope slashed with claws that flickered in and out of existence.
Void-tendrils trailed behind every strike, each swipe distorting the air.
Mirus blocked the first swing with his forearm—THUNK!
Even reinforced by his own divine energy, the impact rattled bone.
The second claw came from nowhere—phasing in at his flank.
Mirus twisted, spatially bending his torso out of its path.
"You're keeping up," he smirked. "Good."
He slammed his knee upward, imbued with corrupted force.
CRACK!
The blow shattered its ribs, sending a ripple of blight through the beast's chest.
The Lycanthrope didn't even flinch, it had resolved to kill him by any means necessary.
It retaliated instantly—lunging forward, jaws snapping shut so hard the sound thundered like breaking stone.
Mirus caught its snout with one hand, forcing its maw open as rot burned into its flesh.
The creature screeched, miasma pouring from its throat like smoke from a furnace.
It swiped again—this time both claws phasing behind Mirus simultaneously, attempting to sever his spine.
His instincts flared.
Mirus disappeared—
then reappeared above the beast, his heels dropping like a falling star.
BOOM—!
His kick smashed into its skull, sending the giant lupine monstrosity crashing into the forest floor, cratering dirt and uprooting trees.
The Lycanthrope burst back up instantly.
Regeneration lighting its body in eldritch glow.
Relentlessly, it launched at him again—
a blur, a storm, a rabid hurricane of fang and void.
They clashed repeatedly.
BAM—!
WHAP—!
KRAK—!
Claw met flesh.
Mirus weaved between blows, arms and legs wreathed in his blightful eldritch mana, each strike melting away fur and bone.
The beast retaliated with savage unpredictability—occasionally vanishing mid-lunge, reappearing claw-first at Mirus's throat, ribs, or spine.
He slipped through space in razor-thin movements, sometimes letting a claw graze him—only to return the decay tenfold.
They were two storms colliding over ancient earth.
Finally—
The creature overextended.
A lunge—wide, desperate, and final.
Mirus stepped inside its guard.
His godly hand blurred.
SHHNK—
His arm plunged straight into the Lycanthrope's massive Bony chest.
Up to the elbow.
The beast froze—
eyes widening in shock, breath hitching, void-tendrils spasming around it.
Mirus grinned, his fingers curled around something pulsing.
Heavy.
Hot.
Overflowing with eldritch corruption.
The Lycanthrope's heart.
Mirus leaned in, whispering:
"You're mine..."
He clenched his fist.
SPLRRCH—!!
—but the beast was resilient, it did not fall!
Not yet.
Its head snapped viciously upward.
Jaw unhinging.
Throat bulging.
And with a wet, tearing snarl—
FWSSH—!!
A second void-tongue—thicker, spiked, and dripping abyssal ichor—launched from deep within its gullet, aiming straight for Mirus's skull.
Mirus didn't flinch.
His free hand snapped up, catching the grotesque appendage mid-strike.
The tongue writhed violently, barbs shredding the air, trying to coil around his arm.
"You are a burden because you persist… in the face of overwhelming odds and death," he muttered.
He tightened his grip and curled the tongue around his fist.
Black blight surged through his palm—
a flood corrosion and decay and coursed through its tongue.
It raced up the writhing appendage, turning flesh to ash, ash to dust, dust to nothing.
The entire tentacle crumbled, disintegrating in his grasp.
The Lycanthrope's eyes widened in horror as its last weapon failed.
Mirus turned back toward its chest—his hand still embedded inside it.
And squeezed harder.
KRRSHH—!!
The heart burst fully, and blood shot from the lycanthropes eyes and ears.
The Lycanthrope let out a choked, wet gasp—then collapsed to its knees.
Its massive body convulsed once… twice… and fell limp, shaking the earth.
"The Maw takes…"
Between his hand, crimsidian essence, blood and muscle tissue began to form.
"And the Maw provides…"