Lord Of Beasts

Back at the compound, everything was exploding.

BOOM!

BOOOOOOM!

BOOM!

Flames tore through the facility as sections of the fortress collapsed one after another. The ground shook violently beneath the survivors, while chunks of concrete and twisted metal rained down from above.

The air was filled with smoke, heat, and the deafening roar of destruction.

Kaela didn’t hesitate.

She lowered her head and charged directly into the flames.

The fire washed over her body, scorching her skin as explosions erupted around her. She didn’t even bother trying to avoid the burning debris.

”Mark!”

Her voice tore through the chaos as she pushed deeper into the burning compound.

Elara followed close behind.

Unlike Kaela, she didn’t simply charge through the flames.

Crimson mana spread across her body, forming a thin, malleable layer that wrapped around her like natural armour. The flames struck the barrier and dispersed around her, allowing her to move through the inferno effortlessly.

Her eyes darted across the collapsing structures.

”Where is he?!”

Neither woman had an answer.

Then a familiar surge of energy appeared behind them.

Elara’s head snapped around, and Kaela rushed back as the air behind them distorted.

A Gate suddenly appeared, and Ethan burst through.

The enormous Fenrir came charging through the Gate with its summoner riding on its back. Wolfy’s paws slammed into the ground as it emerged, its massive body immediately lowering as though ready to sprint straight through the destruction.

Ethan looked around, his eyes widening.

The entire compound was burning, buildings were collapsing, and smoke obscured much of the battlefield.

Somewhere beneath all of it was his best friend and brother.

Both parties had a bunch of questions for the other, but none of them had the time to ask any of them.

The same thought crossed all three of their minds.

’Mark!’

They all burst back into action.

Kaela charged headfirst through another wall of flames, completely ignoring the fire licking across her body. Elara blinked forward, crimson mana continuing to shield her as she moved deeper into the destruction.

Meanwhile, Ethan looked down at his summon.

”Sorry, Wolfy.”

The Fenrir looked up at him.

It then suddenly dissolved into particles of light that rushed toward Ethan before sinking into his chest, reforming into the familiar Fenrir tattoo.

Ethan turned toward the inferno, his body already screaming.

His muscles were exhausted from everything he had endured inside the Gate. His mana had been heavily drained, while the accumulated strain from his skills, especially that last attack, still lingered throughout his body.

But Ethan ignored all of it.

His eyes hardened.

’Partial Assimilation: Spark.’

The tattoo on his forearm flashed, and flames erupted across his body.

Fwoosh!

Fire raced along his arms and shoulders before spreading across his torso. Flames wrapped around his legs and climbed over his back, engulfing him in a blazing inferno as he channelled his heightened mana.

Ethan stepped forward cautiously, staring at the surrounding flames.

A grin slowly appeared on his face.

’It worked!’

As he had hoped, in this state he could not only produce flames but was also resistant to them all.

’I’m fucking fireproof.’

It was an incredible realisation, but now wasn’t exactly the time to experiment or celebrate.

Boom!

A violent burst of fire erupted beneath him as Ethan shot upward.

His eyes widened as the ground rapidly dropped away, stabilising himself dozens of metres above the compound.

For a moment, he simply hovered there.

The compound was a living hell, with more and more explosions tearing through it.

’That vampire bitch really didn’t want to leave any evidence.’

Flames rolled across rooftops and poured through shattered windows. Concrete structures buckled under their own weight before crashing into the ground, while smoke swallowed entire sections of the compound, making it difficult to see more than a few dozen meters in any direction.

And beneath the chaos came the screams.

They belonged to the men who had once protected the facility and were now being disposed of, no longer of use. Elara’s shackles had made doing so much easier for Aisha, yet the crimson-eyed woman felt no guilt.

Even less than she had after killing the Orcs.

Though technically, she wasn’t directly killing them, and they deserved everything they were getting.

’These scum are worse than monsters.’

The thought surprised even herself, and she could feel what little remained of her humanity slipping away, but she didn’t dwell on it.

Somewhere inside that inferno was Mark.

Ethan shot through the air above the collapsing facility, his entire body engulfed in roaring flames as his eyes constantly swept across the destruction below. This was the first time he had used Flame Flight since that insect gate, and it definitely didn’t disappoint.

’Where are you, bro?’

He gritted his teeth.

There was no Untitled who could survive what was happening, so it was only natural he was so uneasy. But the roaring flames, continuous blasts, and wails of pain overwhelmed Ethan’s senses.

’Fuck! If only I...’

He could sense Kaela and Elara moving through the compound, also searching for him. They were almost impossible to miss, especially while assimilated with Spark, since they both contained so much mana.

The Riot Valkyrie was doing what she did best: tanking everything.

An explosion erupted directly beside her.

BOOOOOOM!

The blast swallowed her body.

A moment later, Kaela emerged from the flames, coughing once before continuing forward as though nothing had happened. Elara was far more careful, blinking around before joining Ethan in the air, trying to find the man.

’This isn’t working.’

The flaming man paused for a moment.

Rather than frantically flying around, he closed his eyes while floating above the compound and tried to block the external stimuli. There was too much information for his brain to digest in this condition, so he just had to streamline what was being consumed.

That’s when Ethan suddenly felt something subtle.

His eyes narrowed.

”There!”

He instantly changed direction; a burst of flame propelled him forward.

Kaela immediately noticed.

”You found him?”

”I’m honestly not sure.”

Elara blinked beside them, materialising in a flash of scarlet.

”Where?”

Ethan pointed toward a section of the compound that had completely collapsed and was shrouded in flames.

”That way.”

All three moved at once.

They raced through the burning ruins, hoping they would find the man they were searching for, though the closer they got, the stranger the situation became.

There was something there.

But it was something powerful that didn’t feel quite human anymore...