Begin (3) 15: Let The Games…
Begin (3) HUMMMMMM!!!!!!
While Neon remained largely the same on the inside, the outside told a completely different story.
In the ruined forest, the shift made its presence known with a devastating force.
A massive surge of essence erupted from Neon’s body, so pure and absolute in its darkness that even the surrounding night could not fully contain it.
The power was not merely black; it was the absence of submission itself, a living declaration that nothing above him would remain unchallenged.
With his eyes still shut, Neon lifted himself from the crater as if the very Earth had taken him by the hand, carrying him upward through the shattered canopy and into the vast open sky.
In that instant, the black-furred wolf, which had already been charging toward Atlas and the others, came to an abrupt stop midway.
Its massive paws seemed to carve trenches into the very air as it twisted its enormous head around, eyes narrowing in unmistakable shock.
For the first time since the battle began, the predator spoke, its voice a low, grinding rumble that carried across the night like distant thunder.
“What… kind of path is this?” The presence coming off the rising Neon wasn’t dominance in the usual way—it was something sharper, more defiant.
It was a raw, unshakable refusal to be placed below anyone or anything, a kind of instinct that couldn’t be tamed or reasoned with.
Even the air itself seemed to pull back, as if it knew it had no place pressing too close.
In the next heartbeat, Neon’s eyes flicked open, and in that very moment, he activated one of his abilities.
[Eye of the Usurper (Mythic)] HUMMMMM!!!!!!
As his gaze locked onto the wolf’s burning eyes across the distance, the world between them seemed to shrink into a single status screen, and information bloomed before his perception with perfect clarity.
[Choose one item to permanently claim.] [Race/Bloodline: Lesser Werewolf (Bloodline: Lesser NightWolf) (Locked) [Abilities: Shadowstep (Legendary) — An ability that allows the user to move through darkness with unnatural speed, up to the limit of their senses.
(100 KM) Dread Howl (Legendary) — A howl that allows the user to manipulate the fear and hesitation in nearby enemies.
Night Cloak (Legendary) — An ability that allows the user to manipulate darkness.] —- Still high above the ruined forest, Neon floated with effortless ease, hands loosely clasped behind his back, a faint smile playing on his lips as he turned his gaze toward the distant line of survivors floating steadily into the night.
“Yo Atlas,” he called, voice carrying easily across the vast distance, calm and almost conversational despite everything that was unfolding.
“It looks like Earth…
now has werewolves roaming around.” In that moment, Atlas’s eyes widened slightly at the casual announcement.
He shook his head once, a short, disbelieving motion, while a low mutter escaped under his breath.
“Just what the hell happened to him…” Yet even as the words left him, a sharp, eager fire kindled behind his own gaze.
Seeing Neon remain so calm after such a spectacle only fueled Atlas’s desire to dive further into the path that lay ahead.
Lucien’s head whipped toward the floating figure, his face tightening with real shock.
“Werewolves?
You’ve got to be kidding me.” Maylene interjected, her voice climbing despite her attempt to keep it even.
“Right…
Please tell us you’re joking.
That thing can’t actually be…” Lea’s hand tightened around her father’s as she stared across the dark expanse, her usual composure cracking just enough for disbelief to flicker through.
“A werewolf… on Earth?
After everything else… it doesn’t really sound too far-fetched.” —– In that moment, the twelve remaining survivors were overwhelmed with chaotic emotions after the recent events.
The Werewolf before them, still hidden from full view, stood completely frozen.
Its massive size—so huge it blocked out entire sections of the canopy—made it impossible to think Neon’s words were anything but serious.
In that moment, all the hunting instinct and fierce conviction the black-furred wolf had displayed seemed to vanish.
Even the once-intense glow in its eyes now carried a flicker of something that felt almost like stunned recognition.
Before the creature could push a single word past its jaws, Neon was already in motion.
He turned into a streak of pure dark light, covering the four-hundred-kilometer distance in the blink of an eye.
Still smiling mid-flight, Neon activated the power he had only just claimed.
However, in this moment, he was slightly surprised to see that the ability was not the same as the one he had acquired from the Werewolf….
The moment he fully claimed the power, it surged beyond its limits, ascending to the Mythic rank—a detail never mentioned in its original description.
[Child of Dark (Mythic) – This ability allows you to control all darkness within the range of your senses (100 km).] — Even seeing the status, he maintained his focus, eyes locked on the target before him.
[Child of Dark (Mythic)] HUMMMMM!!!!!
In that instant, the darkness the wolf had worn like a cloak shattered, unraveling like frayed silk as Neon’s approach closed in to a critical distance.
The massive beast now stood bare against the night sky, its towering silhouette revealed for all below to see.
With a single, almost lazy flick of Neon’s wrist, the surrounding darkness responded as if it had always been his to command.
It swelled upward, gathering and twisting until it formed a massive hand of pure shadow, so vast it could swallow the wolf whole.
CRRRRACCKKKKK!!!!!
As the hand took shape, it slowly closed in one fluid motion, clamping down on the wolf.
Its bones snapped one after another under the force—ribs, spine, limbs—each break crisp and wet in the abrupt silence.
The wolf’s body convulsed once, a strangled sound escaping its throat as nearly every major bone within it gave way.
Blood welled from its muzzle and the corners of its eyes; the creature sagged inside the dark fist, left hovering on the edge of death yet deliberately kept from crossing it.
WHOOOOOSHHHHH!!!!!
The shadow hand opened and flung the broken form forward with casual precision, sending the wolf hurtling directly into Neon’s path.
BOOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!
He met it without slowing, one fist already drawn back.
The punch landed clean and measured—enough force to launch the massive body across the sky like a broken comet, yet carefully restrained so that the final spark of life remained.