Chapter 27: Baptism by Fangs and Thunder
Night in the pit was unlike anything the outer world had ever known.
It wasn't stillness—it was sentience. The darkness breathed. The trees leaned in to listen. The ground pulsed with the hunger of forgotten gods. In every gust of wind, in every tremble of branch, there was the scent of blood and the whisper of claws. Roars cracked through the black canopy like drumbeats of war. The forest had awakened.
And it was starving.
I crouched, palm pressed to the damp earth, feeling the rhythm beneath the moss. Æth surged below like an ancient tide, whispering truths in pulses only I could decipher.
"The atmosphere tonight…" I said, low and pleased, "perfect for training."
I ran my hand along a stone veined with moss, and my smile deepened.
"A Rank 3 beast is nearby."
The words were said lightly. Like a passing observation.
But behind me, Vera froze as if ice had replaced her spine. I felt her heartbeat spike—stuttering, terrified.
"What's wrong?" I asked without turning, though the answer already clung to her like a second skin.
"You devil!" she snapped, voice cracking. "Do you even understand what a Rank 3 demonic beast is?! They're walking disasters! Catastrophic forces of nature!"
She jerked against my grip, but I didn't even glance her way. Her fear poured off her in waves. Tangible. Stifling.
I sighed—not in irritation, but disappointment.
Why does she tremble over a mere Rank 3…?
"I see," I murmured. Then turned.
My voice dropped into cold steel. "Pick one: die by my hand… or die trying to kill the beast."
I stepped forward, so close our breaths tangled.
She recoiled. But there was nowhere to run.
I leaned down, our foreheads nearly touching.
"Don't forget…" I whispered. "Your soul already belongs to me."
She shivered.
Her knees nearly buckled.
I turned my gaze toward the east, where the air burned sharper.
And then—without ceremony—I yanked her forward, dragging her like fate.
The trees parted like curtains before us, revealing the altar.
We stopped atop the highest limb of an ancient tree, its gnarled branches twisting into the sky like the fingers of a dying titan. Moonlight filtered through the leaves, pale and broken.
And there it was.
The beast.
The Thunder Striding Wolf.
Even I paused a breath—not out of fear, but appreciation.
It was majestic in a monstrous way. Coal-black fur coursed with arcs of crackling lightning. Energy rolled off its body in waves, each step silent and final. Its eyes, twin spheres of charged sapphire, locked onto us immediately.
Vera gasped.
"T-this… this is a Thunder Striding Wolf…" she whispered, breath stolen. "One of the apex-born… it is lightning…"
Her legs twitched—an instinct to run—but they failed her. She was trapped between two predators.
The wolf...
And me.
I watched it.
It watched back.
It didn't fear us. It welcomed the fight.
"This battle," I said softly, "will show me if you're ready to shed your skin and become something that can truly live."
I turned to Vera, gaze sharp.
"It's better to die trying… than to rot as nothing."
"Damon!" she screamed. "WATCH OUT!"
The wolf vanished from its stance.
It moved like thunder incarnate—silent, sudden, devastating. Its jaws opened wide, fangs aiming for my head in a blur of light and speed.
I didn't flinch.
Black lightning burst from my hands in a hiss of pure malice.
"Foolish dog," I murmured, tilting aside.
"I'm not your opponent."
My palm collided with its face in a flash of impact that split the air—BOOM.
The forest exploded.
The wolf smashed into the earth below, dirt and stone erupting in geysers. It slid through shattered roots and torn soil, lightning lashing in every direction as it struggled to rise.
I turned back to Vera.
Her lips trembled. Her eyes were wide. Disbelieving.
"Now," I said.
And flung her.
"DAAAAMON! YOU BASTARD!!" she screamed as her body spun through the air like a star hurled by a wrathful god, crashing into the battlefield below.
She hit hard—rolled once, twice, gasping as moss and stone tore at her skin. She stopped in a crouch, blades of grass trembling around her like nervous witnesses.
Across from her, the wolf rose—snarling, arcs of lightning jumping across its limbs. Its fangs glowed with energy as it growled.
She froze.
She couldn't move.
Couldn't scream.
But she didn't faint.
And she didn't run.
That… is the first step.
I stood above, arms crossed, eyes unblinking.
"Impress me."
She clenched her jaw.
"This guy is insane…" she muttered under her breath.
But something inside her shifted.
She inhaled deeply—once. Twice.
Then her energy snapped like thunder.
Golden lightning burst from her body in a glorious arc, wrapping her limbs in radiant power. The ground cracked beneath her feet. Even the wolf took a hesitant step back, its fur reacting instinctively to the divine pressure she now exuded.
She gritted her teeth and drew her sword.
"HAHHHH!"
She vanished.
In an instant, she reappeared at the wolf's flank, blade humming with golden charge.
It reacted.
So did she.
They moved like mirrored storms—neither yielding, neither pausing. To halt was to die.
"Thunder Clap!" she roared, palm crashing into the beast's chest with a blinding flash.
It staggered—barely.
Her face twisted in shock. Why is its skin this tough?!
The wolf's eyes narrowed. For a second—it grinned.
Then it retreated three steps and lowered its head.
Æth gathered at its throat.
A ball of crackling death bloomed between its jaws.
"Run. Run! You'll die!" her instincts screamed.
She turned—just slightly—eyes pleading for my judgment.
I said nothing.
But my face said it all.
Disappointment.
And for reasons she couldn't explain…
She didn't want to see that look ever again.
The wolf fired.
A sphere of lightning larger than her body tore through the air. I raised a barrier instinctively—it flared just in time, catching the blast.
CRACK—KRRRNNGSHHH!
The shield fractured.
Vera stood frozen inside, trembling, the air sizzling around her. The charge sank into her bones.
Memories burst free—unbidden.
Her father's corpse.
Her sister's screams.
Hunger.
Exile.
Being discarded by her own blood.
Then one day her senior sister awakened a Physique never seen in a thousand years. That very day a demoness plucked them from despair.
She clenched her fists.
"I've always… always been the one left behind…"
I watched.
And felt it.
From within her—the hatred surfaced.
A cold, deep-burning rage too long buried. I could taste it from here.
And for the first time, I felt something strange in my chest.
"…Why do I feel jealousy from here?" I whispered to myself, amused.
Below, Vera stood in the lightning storm.
The barrier shattered.
But she didn't fall.
She absorbed it.
Her skin rippled with golden arcs, hair lifting in radiant threads. Her sword trembled in her hand, but didn't fall. Her body stood upright, straight, shining.
Her aura changed.
And I smiled.
"Yes…" I said, voice low. "That's it…"
"Become one with the lightning."
"Dance to its rhythm."
"Let it consume you—"
"—until you no longer fear it."
She didn't reply.
She didn't need to.
She became the jaws of the storm. But this wasn't agony. This was worship. A dance of praise to the lightning itself.