Chapter 345: Blood Range

Selene floated on the upper void beyond the werewolf territories, white-fire lines in place along her starlight figure. The fused core of Korrath was still and heavy in her chest. Days spent perfecting its output, figuring the new limits, had tossed away every viable plan that had still tried to involve an attack run on the Vampire Realm. That had already failed once, with the Origin Clan and the remaining hybrid forces in the region far too well coordinated to allow such a move elsewhere in the area.

The new progenitors were not.

Ken’s signature had stabilized enough to indicate clearly which one of the werewolf holdings claimed his seat as present holder. The ranges remained, but operated purely on old instincts and pack-based fury: sheer strength, territory as a means of control, and numbers. No Origin Clan, no sudden reinforcements from other regions waiting in the periphery. A closed hunting ground.

Selene adjusted her trajectory, the descent beginning.

Alarm horns wailed through the main stronghold as soon as she passed the outer perimeter. Alpha-level howls rose in response. Angel was already moving before a second horn even finished in its call. Since Ken’s forced awakening she had taken over the practical responsibilities of the Alpha in the daily order, her own power honed in sharpness by proximity to the new progenitor, and necessity. Flames low and in control, she met the first wave of the lesser fighters, snapping commands that drove them in orderly lines of defense rather than an undisciplined, roaring mass.

Ken came out in the central hall a breath later, only partially shifted, the weight of the Werewolf’s authority pressing across his form. He felt Selene’s presence and knew immediately that this was not a probe.

"Positions," he growled. "Noone fights alone."

Selene made no move to let them complete their formation.

She struck the outermost ring of defenses like a severing blade. Erasure ran through the leading edge before any of the high-ranked beasts in the region could properly shift. Termination cut through three more in succession, their blood scattering across the terraces before they had finished roaring. The remaining survivors took stock and tried to rush forward. She was already past them.

Angel met her with a burst of focused flames and Alpha-force in tandem. The clash lit the stronghold in a garish shade of red and white. Selene’s power met the blow, parted, and answered in kind. A backhand sent Angel flying through a stone pillar, his ribs audibly fractured. Still Angel rose, flames growing hotter, and threw himself into another strike.

Ken arrived in full form, larger and heavier than any version she had seen him take before. The progenitor weight had given his strikes true heft. He drove Selene back several meters, trench-making in the ground with each powerful heel. The strength of the pack surged in her for a moment.

It did not last.

Selene’s eyes narrowed, white-fire. She ceased trying to match Ken’s force in full and began slicing. A thin lance of pure erasure pierced his left shoulder and out through his spine. Termination energy followed the wound, burning the edges in an attempt to keep it from healing cleanly. Ken stumbled. Angel screamed his name, tried to shield him and was caught in Selene’s next strike across the midriff, folding her hard into the ground.

High-ranked wolves poured in from the sides. Selene ended them or disabled them without pause. Limbs separated. Chests opened. The upper terraces of the stronghold became a kill zone of fur, blood, and broken blades. There was the sound of dying wolf and the sharp finality that marked each of her finishing moves.

Ken forced himself upright, blood streaming freely down his torso. He made one more charge. Selene took it and drove an open palm into his sternum, a concentrated strike of termination. Whatever forward drive Ken had remained in was stopped dead. He fell to one knee, then both, the Werewolf’s authority flickering.

Angel crawled forward one-handed, flames sputtering. Selene raised a hand for the killing blow that, this time, would take both of the men she considered her responsibility.

Space folded.

Ken and Angel were gone from the bloodstained stone in a clean teleport, leaving only the after-light of the effort. Selene’s strike fell on empty and carved the ground clean into a crater.

She stood in the center of the stronghold’s wreckage and lowered her final strike, turning to survey the bodies littered around the space. The kill had been taken from her, but the message had been delivered.

Selene turned and stepped into a self-made rift, leaving the Werewolf Realm to tally its losses.

In the starfire realm Lucifer stood with both hands braced against the edge of a broken platform. The last of the accelerated drill ended only moments ago. Aeloria was reinforcing a far wall in the distance. Nyx watched him with no expression.

"I’m done waiting," said Lucifer.

Aeloria did not turn. "You are not ready."

"I am past the point of caring for your timeline." His tone was flat. "Something is already testing the seals. Outside is moving. My people are being hunted while I stay in here building power that I am not permitted to use. That ends now."

Nyx stepped forward before Aeloria could speak. Living darkness wound around one hand as she opened a small space within one palm, drawing out a dense, multi-layered core roughly the size of a human heart. Other materials followed: compressed authorities, crystals of potential, and two thin vials that moved against gravity, holding liquid inside.

"Then stop asking for permission and start absorbing," said Nyx. She tossed the core toward him. Lucifer caught it. The weight was immense. "This will force the next foundation jump. It will hurt. It may almost kill you. When it finishes, you will have a fighting chance against what is actually out there instead of the version Aeloria keeps measuring you against."

Aeloria finally moved to look at them both, his expression tight. "You are accelerating beyond the safe margin."

"Safe margins are gone," said Nyx. "The seals already cracked once. Selene is free and hunting. The harvest of the old ones continues. He either steps up now or watches the board burn from inside a cage."

Lucifer gripped the core. Power radiated from it in thick, oppressive waves that made the platform groan.

"How long?" he asked.

"As long as it takes for the foundation to hold," said Nyx. "Begin."

Lucifer dropped to his knees, pressed the core against his chest, and drove it in.

The starfire realm shuddered as he began to absorb.

Outside the consequences of Selene’s rampage were already spreading. Inside, the hybrid who had been held back for years began to climb the forced climb that would decide whether he could be there in time to make a difference in the wider war.