Belladonna’s shadow grew, creeping across the ground as it doubled in size and then doubled again. A malevolent aura spread from the shadow, as wisps of darkness curled off of the shadow like smoke.

The Man-Beasts before her growled lowly, gnashing their teeth at the presence of that aura, as something deep and primal within them reacted with ancestral hatred and the utmost bloodlust that one could muster. Yet even despite that they stayed where they were, bearing their teeth and making threatening displays, but too scared to act.

Belladonna’s shadow opened its eyes, revealing two ethereal emerald orbs each the size of Belladonna’s fist, as the shadow pulled itself off of the ground and rapidly gained mass. It grew beneath her feet, lifting her off of them and onto the back of the forming creature.

Leathery, bat-like wings tipped with claws sprouted from the growing shadow, spreading three times as wide as the shadowy mass, which was already as large as the lifted American truck of a man who was definitely not compensating for something.

On the back end, a three meter long tail sprouted from the shadows, whipping through the air before slamming down onto the ground, making the earth trembled from the deadly weapon that tipped the tail. A mass of spikes, surrounding one main spike, sprouted from the tails tip like a crystalline growth. If you weren’t crushed by getting hit by that, then you would be skewered by a dozen different points.

Either way, a direct hit would most likely result in death or serious maiming, if you were lucky and could consider such an outcome lucky.

Black silky soft fur sprouting from the shadows beneath Belladonna, as did a pair fluffy ears in front of her. But the adorableness of the face ended there, as the Beast beneath her had an under bite that made way for a pair of tusks the size of Belladonna’s forearm, and gave it powerful enough jaws to crush a mans head like a grape.

The newly awakened Beans let out a deafening roar like a clap of thunder, that the Beast-men immediately met with a chorus of barks and feral growls that came from all three of them, as the third and final member of this little pack.

Brought over by the commotion, it bounded through the camp, springing off one of the merchant carts and landed on the ground behind Beans.

Just like the others, this newcomer was some kind of abominable mix of man and beast. With a human head covered in fur, one human arm and a human torso. His other arm and his left leg were completely like that of a wolf, giving him paws and forcing him to remain on all fours.

The remaining leg was a horrific cross between the two. With the bone structure identical to that of his fully wolven leg, but with this one wrapped perfectly in human skin, as if that was the way human legs were always supposed to look.

’Are these someone’s sick attempts at making werewolves? Do they not exist otherwise? What about the Wild-Bloods? Is that not what they are?

Who would even do such a thing, and why are they so concerned with me?’

Belladonna’s mind raced as she heaved and wheezed on top of Beans’ back, blood dripping from her wounds onto the grass below. It was only through the miracle of her race, that she was still alive.

Such wounds would normally be instantly fatal. Instead for her, she got to feel like she was suffocating as her body slowly died, letting her live long enough to get ripped apart by these abominable Werewolves. So much better.

On the plus side, since she was still alive, her massively improved Vitality was already starting to get to work, as worms of muscle started to wriggle around sprouts of bone, as her wounds started to knit themselves back together, prioritising her most fatal wounds before giving her things like her bird flipping finger back, as vital as that was.

All she needed was a little bit of blood to speed it along, and would you look at that? She had three wonderful, eager donors.

Her eyes immediately locked onto the one that had bitten off her hand. The big one had hurt her more seriously, but that one... that one she had a personal grudge with. The five predators stared each other down, ancient instincts and new found feuds alike stirring within all of them.

All at once they moved. Belladonna leapt off of Beans’ back as her nemesis wolf leapt at her, but some flames spewing from Belladonna’s feet rocketed her forwards into an airborne tackle that sent the two of them flying off into the distance.

The half-wolf behind Beans leapt at the same time, growling loudly as it bared its teeth, only for Beans to flick his tail and smack the half wolf away. It flew like a cannonball, smashing into one of the merchants shields, causing the shield to flicker and stutter as it tried to handle the strain of the impact. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

The half-wolf slumped to the ground, gashes covering its torso as one of its legs was completely snapped, but after a few seconds those started to reverse their course. The wounds healing themselves and the leg snapping back into position.

In the meantime, Beans was dealing with the final member, and most Werewolf looking, of the pack. Shadows covered his massive paws, as he created his own version of Belladonna’s [Shade Claws] completely by instinct.

He swept those claws back and forth, even spinning to whip his tail at the wolf. But his increased size took a toll on his speed and grace, which the Werewolf was taking advantage of.

It slipped between Beans’ strikes, ducking under the tail swipe before charging forwards on all fours. Slipping into Beans’ range, it raked its claws against his fluffy hide, slicing open his flesh and spilling black blood across the grass.