The Lupine System-Chapter 140: It’s Time

It’s Time

"Haa... Haa..." Theresa looked towards Mike who had huddled himself in a corner, his ragged breaths reaching them even from there.

He was curled in on himself, claws gripping his arms tightly as he sat in the fetal position. Sweat covered his body, and if one looked closely, they would be able to see steam faintly emitting from his pores.

"... It’s tonight." Theresa mumbled, more to herself than anyone around her, but Kris still nodded.

"Yeah..." He said simply as he dropped his latest bundle of chains. He’d been creating a lot of them the moment the full moon started to get close.

The wolves were all in the cave, too. Theresa wasn’t sure, but something told her that they knew what was happening to Mike. If they did, though, she didn’t really understand why they chose not to go out and hunt like usual. After all, this was something only the three of them would deal with, as they intended to move Mike far away from the cave to avoid any unnecessary damage.

As she looked at Mike’s huddled form, she couldn’t hide the pang of worry in her heart. Not just at the thought of having to subdue him, but everything else leading to that point.

She’d seen him take numerous terrible hits and barely bat an eye, some of which were caused by herself. But it was disconcerting to see him so... uncomfortable.

It reminded her of when her mother hand a fever. As she wasn’t an ability user like Theresa, she was still subject to common diseases, and Mike was giving off similar symptoms. Just much worse.

’... I know that some abilities aren’t very kind to their users, but still...’ Her thoughts trailed off, then she shook her head.

’He’ll be fine.’ She told herself, as if unwilling to believe otherwise, because, frankly, she didn’t know what she’d do if he didn’t turn out to be fine.

***

’This... hurts...’ Mike gritted his teeth.

He had a high pain tolerance, there was no doubt about it, and the last few battles he’d had in Naraka proved that point. And yet, the pain he was feeling right now...

’It’s like... my body is getting unraveled...’ He squeezed his eyes tightly. He didn’t want to move because any random movement sent a wave of jarring pain throughout his already aching body.

Worse, this wasn’t something his Vitality could fix. After all, his body wasn’t technically getting harmed, just... changing.

As such, Mike had to bear it.

And it was only getting worse.

Time passed, and Mike could barely stay coherent. He tried to keep his kind occupied by thinking about his abilities and how to improve or manipulate them, and it hard worked in the beginning, but eventually, the pain became so bad that even thinking was strenuous.

Every breath hurt, the smallest shift made him feel like countless needles were trickling at his body, and so much more.

The pain wasn’t merely superficial or internal either. It was as though his entire being was subject to the slowly increasing agony.

It was torture.

But he had no choice but to endure it. He couldn’t even lose consciousness.

So, he entered a strange state of limbo and came close to having an ’out-of-body’ experience many times throughout the entire ordeal.

As such, he didn’t even notice when the sun started to dip below the horizon, and his friends stood up.

"Mike." A soft voice entered his ears, followed by a hand on his shoulder that should have been grounding, but it just made his already agitated body scream, making him flinch back.

His eyes snapped open, the whites bloodshot, and his blue pupils glowing like two suns.

"S-Sorry..." Theresa retracted her hand when she saw his reaction, and Mike had to suppress a snarl. She didn’t know her touch would do that, it didn’t make sense to be mad at her...

But goodness, it was hard.

He wanted to lash out, but that would require moving, and moving hurt, so he just sat there, glaring at her.

Seeing this, Theresa forced down the tightness she felt in her chest when he looked at her like that, something he’d never done.

"... The sun is about to set. We need to start moving now." She finally said, and Mike snorted before wincing at the action.

"... Can you move?" Theresa asked after a beat.

Mike’s silence told her all she needed to know.

With a sigh, she turned to Kris who was looking at the dense pile of chains on the floor with a thoughtful expression.

"Do you think you can carry him?" She asked, and Kris didn’t respond. Instead, he just snapped his fingers, and several chains materialized before moving towards Mike.

The moment the made contact with him, he flinched, but they were surprisingly gentle, and in a few seconds, Mike was completely wrapped by them, save for his head.

"Let’s go." Kris said and snapped his fingers again. This time, the permanent chains lifted off the ground in a bundle and Theresa rolled her shoulder.

Glancing at Mike, he hardly seemed like he’d be a threat, but she had a feeling that would change soo.

’Don’t allow your emotions to get the better of you and be prepared.’ She took a deep breath, then exhaled. When she opened her eyes, her gaze had changed into something sharp and focused.

Kris who had been watching from the corner of his eye nodded. He didn’t doubt Theresa’s strength, but she wouldn’t be of much help if she couldn’t put her feelings aside. So the sight was reassuring.

The two of them briefly glanced back at the wolves, and the Alpha along with his pack simply stared back at them. Theresa thought she saw... understanding, im its eyes. Like it knew what was happening and approved, which made Theresa feel weird.

Without any more preamble, they left the cave.

They didn’t really have a specific destination. They just wanted to move far away from the cave so that a possible battle wouldn’t affect the wolves.

As they moved, the only thing that made sound was the clinking of chains and Mike’s labored breathing.

They moved quickly, and by the time they were far enough, the sun had almost fully dipped below the horizon.

"So, how will we do this?" Theresa asked as they stopped in a small clearing, trying to ignore how Mike’s breathing had turned into wheezing gasps.

"Attaching my chains directly to a single thingis sort of pointless since Mike’s physical strength will just allow him to pull the chains and shatter whatever they are attached to." Kris shrugged, Theresa looked at him incredulously.

"Then what is the point of the chains???" She asked, and Kris didnt bother explaining.

With a snap of his fingers, the manifested chains holding Mike vanished, but before he could fall, the permanent ones sprangup and wrapped around him quickly. But that wasn’t all.

The chains interlocked with each other before shooting out in different directions. However, the directions were anything but random.

Some drilled deep into the ground and hooked themselves firmly, others stabbed into the more massive and sturdy trees Naraka had to offer.

So went into nearby mountains, and so one.

By the time each one was done moving, it looked as though the most sturdy and massive natural objects in the vicinity were pillars holding Mike in place.

’... It’s a bit hard to believe that Kris can do all of this without any amplifiers.’ Theresa thought. Sure, the permanent chains didnt drain his energy after being created since they were, well, permanent, but still.

"Ngh!" A grunt suddenly caught their attention, and they looked to see Mike writhing... or at least trying to, against the chains.

His neck snapped back and forth, his eyes rolled back as he struggled.

Kris looked thoughtful for a moment, then he quickly created another chain, made it permanent, and made it wrap around Mike’s mouth to stop him from making any sounds.

"Is that necessary?" Theresa frowned.

"Not sure. But we shouldn’t underestimate him. I’m just being cautious." Kris shrugged. It seemed unnecessarily cruel, but after witnessing Mike’s prowess against the Rat King, he knew it was better safe than sorry.

With that done, the duo decided to create some distance.

Theresa perched on a tree some ways away and summoned her bow while Kris was a bit closer, but it was still a few hundred meters away. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

The goal was to keep Mike bound until morning, which seemed simple in theory, however...

Theresa and Kris couldn’t help but feel unnerved.

Yes, they were confident in their abilities, and in the grand scheme of things, Mike was still weaker than them overall if they decided to go all out. And yet...

Somehow, they felt like things wouldn’t end so easily.

"MMMMPH!" A muffled cry left Mike’s throat, the sound mostly toned down by the chain around his mouth as he started thrashing violently.

The sun set completely, and the moon crept above the horizon.

What happened next would be burned in Kris and Theresa’s memories for the rest of their lives.