At the end of the forest lay an individual.

A being unlike any of the mortals and ascended beings he had come across. Unlike the demons, demi gods and fae. Here stood a werewolf above all others. Here stood a being that met and shared the same height that saturn himself kept. He used a polearm of sorts with a long curved blade and a hook like measure for disarming. Every inch of him was covered in some sort of protective carapace with inlaid thought treasured and brought in every inch.

He said nothing, he didn’t have to. The curled horns and the posture indicated that he was some kind of guard, upon seeing saturn his polearm rested in both hands and his tail lashed behind him. Saturn stood there; wondering if he should even try to talk him down. But there was resolve in his eyes. There was a moment or two before saturn would even try to speak but something else came unbidden. That feminine voice, deep and powerful etched into the back of his skull.

There is no talking with him. He’s a Wolfenstein.

”She’s right.”

Saturn jolted a bit and there was concern in the voice in the back of his head; they both seemed out of sorts and the deep tone of the werewolf in front of him was not a surprise. He was definitely saturn’s senior when it came to things. He’d grit his teeth slightly and adjust his own stance, sleeping dragon resting between his hands and his stance a wary one. He didn’t have the skill compared to them to best them.

”You should flee. The ritual is already done.”

”I can’t do that.”

”Then you leave me no choice”

Like a spring the werewolf launched themselves forward, they were faster than saturn both in speed and reflex. Before saturn could even block he had cut a swath through saturn’s flesh causing saturn to flinch slightly. But compared to the wolf his flesh knitted back into place; the werewolf’s eyebrows shot up to the small horns that grew on his brow before he’d have to hop back from saturn’s return swing. Even though he missed the werewolf then followed up with that hop back a stab from the tail, nearly gutting the demon but thankfully saturn was able to turn it aside in time while using it to yank them back. Slamming his fist into the side of their head and causing them to stagger.

He wasn’t experienced but he had good innate understanding of his reach. He had never needed to learn his own reach like one did with other forms and it came beyond natural in every essence of his being.

The werewolf used both of his hands and the spear to help kick both of his feet in an nearly full body stomp from the ground up into saturn’s gut. Causing the demon to fly off his feet into the air. Not even a moment later the werewolf shot forward as saturn came crashing down, looking to slash him in half. Saturn was quick enough to summon his weapon to his hand through the void, it popping through the ever dark into his hand and clashing blow for blow with the wolf.

There struggle rang throughout the glade and each time their weapons collided he could see a deep groove and divet form in the others but only for his weapon to heal with a mix of natural steel and crystal. The implant that had come to him from the void was working to repair both him and his equipment from mental or physical attack. It was quite worrisome for the wolf who had no such abilities. Though his impressive physique and impressive skills were making it an equal bout. What would win? Experience? Or gifts upon gifts?

[639/1500]

Saturn had been blessed in his time among earthland for a great many things, a body that surpassed the norms of humanity. The norms of many demons, the norm of many that wandered. He might have recently come to understand his role in this place but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t fight when needed. But the wolf in front of him had fought tooth and nail for every single thing on their body. Something that saturn himself didn’t understand. Experience would win out in the long run which is why he couldn’t just rely on his body to do everything. He had to get creative, he had to study the person in front of him. He had to defeat them or bring them to a stalemate where they couldn’t overcome him and eventually have to leave because of their own wounds.

Their weapon crashed against him again and he grunted in abject pain as it dug deep. He could already feel his body working against it, already stitching it back together and with a snarl he’d grasp the haft of the others weapon. Pulling them towards him and then up and away. Slamming them down behind him that left a crater in the ground, the wolf swept the legs of the demon out from under him and managed to pull back, trying again to use that tail to his advantage. Saturn’s own whipped around and caught it mid stab, tangling him up and eventually yanking them back only to crash his head into theirs in a mean headbutt.

They were fighting tooth and nail, neither one of them having the edge to beat the other outright. It kept going like this, saturn had the stamina to keep going thanks to his immense magical wealth while the other seemed to grasp at straws in comparison. Perhaps it was just because of how they were trained that they were expecting to deal with him in short terms or they were exerting themselves a little too much. Again that weapon crashed against him, nearly taking his head off but he had used his arm to block the initial part of the swing to deviate a little bit of the force. He was getting used to their style while he had none that the wolf could use. He was full of openings but he could respond to each with gusto.

He felt the crash of another blow against him, sending him flying again while the wolf charged forward. They were trying to juggle him and with a snort he’d use his arm to help slow him down, breaking off the crystals in it to slow his descent and keep him hovering off the ground about ten or so feet above where they could reach.

”This is getting us nowhere.”

”The ritual is still complete and you have failed in your task coming here.”

”You’re saying that like I know what’s going on here.”

The wolf blinked and lowered his weapon, looking a little surprised but his brows came together and he raised his weapon. Clearly thinking that saturn was lying the demon sighed and waved his hand. Sleeping dragon vanishing into the nothing of the void while saturn slowly descended down.

”Look you don’t have a reason to trust me, but I literally came here because of some intense magical energy that I sensed all the way in fiore.”

”What of the pit? The soul prison? The chimera you so handily dispatched?”

”Suffering through and through that I decided to end. Would you fault me otherwise for stopping it as a Rune knight?”

The werewolf’s eyes narrowed slightly and he’d slowly stop holding his weapon with both hands; perhaps a peaceful option was possible with this wolf. Perhaps it was ideal that they could talk it out, he didn’t sense any malice in the others posture and he didn’t sense any ill will from them either. He felt like he could talk to them and make them understand what he was doing and why he was here.

”Then explain yourself.”

”The pit I came across following the intense magical energies, the skeletons attacked me and I took out their hosting skull that was responsible for summoning them. Following that energy still I came across the soul prison as you call it. Following the souls till I got to the center and breaking it open, when they were sucked towards the ritual site I followed that too. When the chimera started to attack me I defended myself. I’ve only been doing that the entire time since I got here. I bear no ill will towards them or you; but I need to get to the ritual site to stop whatever being that was summoned from continuing their existence. The world cannot handle more threats from beyond without being united in some fashion somewhere.”

”That’s the decision that you reached?”

”It is, but I’d rather still not fight you. I’d rather work with you to stop this.”

”There is no stopping it, it’s already started. He’ll burn the world to a cinder.”

There was a tone of defeat in it and the being… well they didn’t say no to helping him. Saturn pondered the response for a few moments and eventually sighed. He’d put his arm back together, watching the flesh fade from the crystal back into a proper limb while the snakes on his back watched the being in front of them. When in combat they hid, when they weren’t they hung around. It was kind of fascinating.

”Are we at peace?”

”...I see no reason to continue our fight. Our goals do not align but we need not be enemies.”

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