"FUCK YOU All," Caspian growled, blood dripping down his face as he sprinted toward the shattered remains of the third lupivore he had slain.
"EVOKE!"
Crimson essence surged from Caspian, connecting him to the corpse.
The lupivore's shredded body convulsed, then slowly rose to its feet, its eyes glowing.
Now, he had three reanimated lupivores at his side, and five remaining enemies.
Caspian's body was battered.
"I need to kill one more to gain the upper hand," Caspian muttered.
His eyes darted between the lupivores, assessing their positions and movements.
"But if they die, they explode. I need to time this perfectly..."
The lupivores were circling now.
Caspian's reanimated allies kept them at bay for the moment, snapping and lunging to prevent an immediate attack.
Caspian charged toward the closest lupivore, using the chaos as cover.
Bloodmoon flared to life in his hands, the purple aura shaping into the wolf-like tip as he aimed a calculated slash at its legs.
The lupivore leapt backward, but Caspian anticipated the move, twisting mid-strike to slash at its exposed side.
SLASH!
The blade connected, carving deep into flesh.
The lupivore howled in pain and staggered, leaving it vulnerable.
Caspian didn't hesitate—he dashed forward and drove Bloodmoon into its throat.
BOOM!
The body exploded in a violent eruption of flesh and force, the shockwave slamming into Caspian and throwing him backward.
THUD!
He hit the ground hard, groaning as his vision blurred. Blood streamed from fresh wounds, but he gritted his teeth and pushed himself upright.
"Damn it," he muttered.
Ignoring the pain, he knelt beside the shredded corpse and plunged Bloodmoon into it.
"EVOKE!"
The crimson essence surged again, and the lupivore's body jerked to life.
Caspian's vision dimmed momentarily from the exertion, but he steadied himself.
The newly reanimated lupivore roared and immediately attacked its former packmates.
As Caspian staggered to his feet, a shadow flickered in his blind spot.
One of the remaining lupivores lunged at him from the side, its jaws snapping inches from his neck.
CLACK!
Caspian twisted desperately, raising Bloodmoon just in time to intercept the attack.
The lupivore's weight bore down on him, forcing him to his knees.
He pushed back with all his strength, gritting his teeth as the beast snarled in his face.
SLASH!
Caspian angled Bloodmoon and sliced upward, cutting across the lupivore's chest.
"Aooooooooowwwwww"
It recoiled with a pained howl, but its claws raked across his torso before retreating.
"Ugh"Caspian cried out, blood pouring from the fresh wound.
He staggered but forced himself to stand, his breathing ragged.
With four lupivores now fighting on his side, the battlefield shifted.
The reanimated beasts lunged at the remaining three enemies, tearing into them with savage ferocity.
BOOM!
One enemy lupivore fell under the combined assault, its body exploding and taking one of Caspian's allies with it.
Caspian shielded his face from the blast, coughing as the dust settled.
His remaining allies regrouped, snarling as they prepared to face the last two enemies
"This is it," Caspian muttered.
The lupivore which Caspian had sliced moments earlier stumbled backward, its wounded body collapsing a few feet away.
It snarled weakly, struggling to rise, but the damage was too severe.
BOOM!
The explosion rocked the forest, sending a shockwave that knocked Caspian off his feet.
THUD!
He landed hard against a tree, gasping for breath as he slid down to sit against the trunk.
His body was battered and his vision blurred, but for the moment, he was alive.
"I'm... so done," Caspian muttered, his voice barely above a whisper.
BOOM!
Just as Caspian began to gather his thoughts, another blast tore through the clearing.
One of his reanimated allies, caught too close to an enemy lupivore, was obliterated in the detonation.
"No," Caspian muttered, forcing himself to focus.
Now it was two against one.
The remaining two reanimated lupivores growled, circling their last prey.
The battle ended in a blinding flash.
BOOM!
The last one lupivore exploded, the force of their deaths wiping out Caspian's final ally and sending him sprawling once more.
Blood dripped down his face as he coughed, his chest heaving with each painful breath.
"Why... the fuck... were they blasting?" Caspian muttered, clutching at his side as he sat back against the tree.
{I have no idea,} Bloodmoon replied.
Internally, the sword was brimming with pride.
Despite Caspian's recklessness and inexperience, he had survived against overwhelming odds.
Caspian closed his eyes for a moment, his hand resting limply on Bloodmoon's hilt.
"I'll rest for a bit," he said.
"Then I'll check their memories. Maybe there's a clue—why they were attacking me and why they kept blasting."
He sighed heavily, leaning back against the tree.
The forest was silent now.
Caspian leaned against the tree, exhausted, his breath shallow and uneven.
{Hey, child,} Bloodmoon's said.
{Have you noticed there was a bigger lupivore earlier?. But he's not here now.}
Caspian's tired eyes narrowed.
"Hmm?" He barely registered the words.
{If I tell you what I suspect,} Bloodmoon continued, {you should leave this place immediately.}
Caspian groaned as he attempted to push himself upright.
His legs trembled under him, his wounds stinging fiercely.
"Ugh," he cried softly.
"Water... I'm thirsty..."
He stumbled forward, his fingers brushing over the blasted remains of a lupivore.
He dropped to a crouch, steadying himself before placing his palm on the creature's charred remains.
"I need answers," he muttered.
His eyes glowed faintly as he invoked his blessing.
The essence of the creature's memories surged through him, fragmented and raw.
----
The first images were ordinary, almost serene.
The lupivore lived a simple life in the depths of the forest, hunting small game and moving in a tight-knit pack.
Then, chaos struck.
A woman emerged from the shadows, her figure clad in dark leather. Her jet-black hair, and her piercing black eyes radiated authority.
She moved like a predator among prey, striking down the lupivores with precision.
She was not killing them but making them unconcious.
In the next vision
lupivore's was bounded by ropes connected to it's limbs, the sharp edges cutting into its fur.
It thrashed but was powerless to escape.
The woman loomed over it, an emblem of a noble family glinting on her chest.
The woman knelt, placing a hand on the lupivore's head.
Her touch wasn't gentle—it burned.
The lupivore's mind went dark, overwhelmed by searing pain.
When it regained consciousness, everything had changed.
Caspian's vision blurred as the lupivore's fragmented memories raced forward.
It saw itself in a pack, but something was wrong—its instincts felt dull, its thoughts no longer its own.
The woman stood before them, a puppet master holding their strings.
The scene shifted abruptly in Caspian's mind, a chaotic blur sharpening into a single image.
He saw himself through the lupivore's eyes, running toward him with unrelenting fury.
---
Caspian's breath caught, and he yanked his hand away from the lupivore's remains, staggering backward.
"These weren't random attacks," he muttered under his breath,"Someone was controlling them… that woman… who is she?"
The fragmented memories began to piece themselves together in his mind.
He clenched his fists, his jaw tightening.
"Now I understand what was going on," he said, his voice tinged with both anger and disbelief.
"Those lupivores weren't acting on their own. They became puppets—controlled by that woman through unorthodox beast-taming method."
He paused, the image of the woman's hand on the lupivore's head flashing before his eyes.
"And when they became puppets," he continued, "they don't remember memories of their actions. They were completely unaware of what they had done and what they were doing while under control. However, when the puppet connection was severed, their memories..."
He grimaced, piecing together the horrifying realization. "They reverted to their last command: attacking me. That's why they came at me so mindlessly, even after being freed."
His mind lingered on the noble emblem he had glimpsed.
"And that noble emblem… I don't quite remember which family it belongs to." His voice dropped. "But it's definitely from one of the noble houses."
Caspian's gaze darkened, his exhaustion momentarily forgotten.
Whoever the woman was, her methods were far beyond what he had encountered before.
This wasn't just a random encounter—this was deliberate, calculated. And it left him with more questions than answers.