[Volkov Estate — Eastern Courtyard, October 31st, 12:27 PM]

The constant hammering of rain intensified through the shattered courtyard.

Blood diluted into darker streams across the marble floor while chunks of broken stones and uprooted trees littered the eastern gardens. The distant hum of emergency sirens echoed from somewhere deeper inside the mansion, muffled beneath the thunder and lightning of the raging storm.

"Alaaaric..."

For a moment, Nikolai saw a flicker of clarity wash over its barely humanoid face for a brief moment, before it started raging once again.

The abomination clawed at its own skull again.

Its oversized fingers dug into rotten flesh hard enough to expose fragments of bone beneath the skin. The stomach-mouth along its abdomen hung open with rows of jagged teeth snapping against one another while saliva spilt onto the ground.

"...Alaric..."

Nikolai stared silently at the creature who barely resembled the man he’d once met.

He still remembered when he first entered the Patriarchal seat, even though this man had betrayed his grandfather, Alaric tried his best to help. ’A little ironic now...’ A towering werewolf with bronze skin, a shaved head, and a booming laugh that used to shake entire halls.

One of the few outsiders trusted enough to stand beside his grandfather during meetings between clans.

A once loyal hound turned traitor.

Selene panted, adjusting her breathing as she glared at the abomination a short distance away, holding a rifle taken from a fleeing servant.

"You know this thing?"

Nikolai could only scoff, the words trapped in his throat.

’Would it be cruel to his honour to recognise him in this state...?’

His dark eyes remained fixed on the stitched-together horror trembling beneath the Blood Moon.

"I knew someone like him in the past."

Alaric suddenly snapped out of his strange state upon hearing Nikolai’s words, no longer scratching himself. Its cloudy eye rolled upward without force, while the crimson one shifted and locked onto Nikolai.

"What did they do to him, for him to end up like this?" Selene asked while reloading her rifle.

Its cloudy eye rolled towards Selene, then Madoka, before finally settling on Nikolai as the creature’s lips peeled apart disgustingly.

"They... opened us..." it whispered.

Its swollen arm rose shakily toward its own chest.

"Cut... everything..."

The stomach-mouth began laughing violently.

"Toook Everything~~~~~ Ahahahahaha!"

Alaric slammed both claws against his own skull again and screamed toward the Blood Moon.

The sound shook the courtyard hard enough to vibrate through the broken mansion walls.

Nikolai’s expression darkened.

"...I see."

Then his claws spread apart, extending fully.

"Then let me end your suffering, though a traitor you were once, someone my grandfather trusted."

He unfastened his shirt, tossing it onto the wall beside him.

"I’ll kill you quickly."

Nikolai stepped forward, rolling his shoulders as the cold rain struck his bare shoulders, running down the old scars crossing his chest and body.

The black veins beneath his skin pulsed faintly beneath the Blood Moon, each beat anticipating the fight he would soon face. Alaric’s eye widened, for a single second, something like recognition surfaced again as its stomach-mouth screamed.

"Volkoooov!"

The Volkov rushed at him while frothing at the mouth.

Its broken legs cracked beneath the force as it hurled itself across the courtyard, tearing through the marble with both claws outstretched. The sheer weight behind its charge ripped loose chunks of stone and flung them aside like pebbles.

Selene raised the rifle.

"Move!"

She fired three shots.

The bullets punched into Alaric’s shoulder, throat, and cloudy eye, but the creature did not slow. Its neck snapped back from the impact, yet it kept coming, while Nikolai took advantage of its movement.

He darted across the wet grass with several wet thumps.

Alaric clawed through the air, tearing apart the residual hairs of Nikolai.

A black blur crossed beneath its arm.

Nikolai reappeared at its side and jammed his claws deep into the creature’s ribs. He could feel the warm flesh and muscle tearing as he twisted.

Flesh split open from hip to chest as rotten blood and stitched muscle spewed outward. The stomach-mouth snapped downward at Nikolai’s arm, forcing him to wrench himself free before the jagged teeth closed where his wrist had been.

The teeth smashed together with enough force to send sparks through the rain.

"You’re quite fast despite that fat body," Nikolai muttered.

Alaric’s swollen arm whipped sideways.

Nikolai crossed his arms.

The impact sent him flying across the courtyard. His back slammed through the trunk of an uprooted tree before he rolled across broken marble and came to a stop near the shattered fountain.

"Bastard!" Selene cursed, firing without rest. "Nikolai!?"

He pushed himself upright, a faint trickle of blood dripping down his cheek.

Though the blow looked devastating, in the body of an ancestor, Nikolai barely felt anything more than a pin prick from the blow.

"Stay focused! I’m fine, Selene."

Alaric staggered forward, clutching the torn side of its body as its chest visibly convulsed. The opened wound began knitting itself together with thick black threads of flesh, each strand pulling across the gap like worms sewing skin shut from within.

"Be careful, Nikolai, it’s regenerating!" Madoka shouted, with her gaze focused on the beast, unwilling to leave despite her current state.

’Regeration...?’

Nikolai closed his eyes, sucking in a long breath.

’I see, so they used you to test my blood.’

The wound soon finished closing with a twisted smile across its stomach, much wider and clearly impressed with itself.

Alaric’s spine arched backwards with a wet crack.

His shoulders widened.

The stitched flesh across his back split open as a second pair of malformed arms forced their way out, thinner and longer than the first, dragging strands of muscle behind them. Each new hand ended in blackened claws curved like sickles.

Selene recoiled as she adjusted her rifle. "How disgusting."

"Cut us... fed us... made us... better..."

His cloudy eye dangled loose from its socket, yet the crimson one burned brighter.

"Old blood... wolf blood... corpse blood... moon blood..."

Nikolai spat a small amount of blood before shaking his head, "tsk. What the hell did Franz do to you?!"

A bolt of thunder rolled across the sky with a blinding white flash.

Alaric moved, taking advantage of the momentary lack of vision.

Nikolai barely turned in time.

The new arm slashed across his chest, carving three deep lines from shoulder to ribs. His blood sprayed into the rain, but before the creature could follow through, Nikolai drove his knee upward with a violent blow to its jaw.

Thud!

With a single blow, the monster recoiled.

Selene held her rifle steady, shooting straight into the monster’s open mouth.

The rifle blast tore through the inside of the abdomen, shredding teeth and tongue alike. Alaric stumbled backwards, shrieking as smoke and blood poured from the hole.

"Alaric!" Nikolai shouted as Selene’s rifle continued unloading into the monstrosity’s mouth.

Nikolai lowered his body with a quiet huff.

The black veins across his chest darkened, crawling upward along his neck and down both arms. His claws lengthened another inch, their edges sharpening until rain split around them.

Alaric stared at him.

The creature’s breathing became uneven after taking several anti-monster silver rounds, finally taking their effect on the blood stolen from Nikolai. A series of black veins rapidly spread across his flesh, degrading the fiend’s regeneration.

"Niko... lai..."

Despite the monster speaking his name, Nikolai didn’t stop his actions.

"Keep shooting, this cannot end yet."

He slowly approached the monster with heavy steps.

This man was someone whom his grandfather trusted and adored. A man who appeared like family, helping him greatly when he was lost.

"Do not hesitate."

Alaric’s crimson eye shook in its socket.

"Don’t... let... them..."

The creature’s lips trembled.

"Don’t let them... use me... again..."

Nikolai hesitated as the storm roared above, and for a brief moment, his foul visage vanished, and the broken remains of an old werewolf returned for a moment.

His murky eye stared at Nikolai as its colour faded.

He came close, with huge, curved claws almost dragging against the ground with a flicker of sparks.

"I won’t let them, Volkov will never fall."

As if hearing something which brought great relief, the monster closed his eye and stopped resisting. The crimson in his eye flickered, then began to drown beneath cloudy white. Only the struggling wheeze lingered as his body gasped for breath.

"Patri... arch... End it..."

That was the last time Alaric spoke with his own voice.

Nikolai saw it vanish.

The old warrior’s mind slipped beneath the corruption, swallowed by whatever Franz had carved into him. The creature’s jaw widened as its claws dug into the marble. Its body began swelling, ready to attack once again as its muscles contorted.

Selene lifted her rifle, ready to shoot.

Nikolai raised one hand.

"No, Selene. Let me do it."

He stepped behind Alaric, seized a fistful of wet hair, and forced the abomination down to its knees. Nikolai ignored its snarling and desperate attempt to break free, as he leaned closer to the fiend’s body.

"Rest now, Alaric."

His other hand pressed against the back of Alaric’s skull.

For a heartbeat, the courtyard went silent beneath the rain.

Then Nikolai drove his claws straight through.

With the wet crack of bone, its crimson eye went dark as the monster collapsed forward. It died before its body struck the marble.

Nikolai released him and stared at the corpse.

"A Volkov never forgets its hounds, whether loyal or not." He released the sparse hair and glanced up at Selene for a moment.

A smile grew on his lips as his muscles relaxed. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"It’s over, let’s go..."

"E-Eh...? Ah... But...are you alright?" Selene showed a rare sense of delicacy as she cupped his cheeks.

"Mhm, I feel much better now."

He glanced back at the corpse.

It suddenly began to melt, dissolving into a disgusting red puddle.

"But why?"

"Because I finally kept my promise."

Nikolai grasped Selene’s wrist and leaned into her palm.

"So let’s go and prepare, today will be a long one..."