Chapter 157: Rowena
The werewolf did not answer the provocation with words.
She answered by advancing.
The white ground beneath her feet cracked like glass, and her body disappeared in an explosion of pure force. Victor raised the sword instinctively, but realized in the middle of the movement that he had calculated wrong.
She was too fast.
Not fast like Black Lightning.
There was none of that sensation of acceleration cutting through space, nor the violent crack of energy pushing the body beyond its natural limit. Her movement was different. Organic. Alive. As if every muscle fiber had been created to hunt, leap, and crush.
Her fist struck Victor’s blade.
BOOOOOOM!
The sword made of Black Ice, White Fire, and Black Lightning vibrated entirely. The white flames spread from the impact, the lightning crackled unstably, and the Black Ice at the center of the weapon cracked almost to the hilt.
Victor was pushed backward, his feet tearing two long lines into the white ground.
He smiled by reflex.
Then realized his hand was trembling.
"Ah."
The werewolf was already in front of him again.
She turned her body and landed a side kick. Victor lowered the sword to block, reinforcing his arms with Black Ice beneath the skin. The impact passed through the defense as if it were thick paper.
CRACK.
The blade broke into two pieces.
Victor was launched to the side, spun in the air, and tried to recover his balance with Black Lightning at his feet. Before he could touch the ground, she appeared above him.
This time, her hand changed.
Her fingers lengthened.
Her nails grew into black claws.
Dark fur appeared from her wrist to halfway up her forearm, and the bones of her hand reorganized into a more animalistic shape, larger, brutal, made to tear flesh and crush bones.
Victor’s eyes widened slightly.
The claw descended.
He created a wall of Black Ice between them.
The wall lasted less than a second.
The claws passed through the ice, shattered the entire structure, and tore Victor’s chest from his shoulder to the side of his abdomen. Blood sprayed into the white space, but vanished before touching the ground.
Victor fell onto his back, rolled, and stood in the same motion, pressing one hand against the wound while regeneration began closing the flesh.
The werewolf landed a few meters ahead, rotating her transformed wrist as if testing the sensation.
"Fragile."
Victor looked at his own chest rebuilding itself.
Then looked at her.
"You broke my sword."
"It was trash."
"It was a very good sword."
"Then you have miserable standards."
Victor began to laugh.
Not much.
Just enough to show that the pain had not killed his interest.
"All right. Let us try something else."
He struck his foot against the ground.
Black Ice spread in every direction like living roots. Stakes emerged around the werewolf, rising from below, from the sides, and even from the air, trying to surround her in a prison of irregular points. At the same time, Victor spread Black Lightning through the structure, making each stake accelerate the instant it was born.
The werewolf did not retreat.
She advanced.
Her arms transformed up to the elbows. Dark skin gave way to muscles covered in dense fur, claws lengthened even further, and a savage force exploded from her body. She cut the first stake with her right hand, crushed the second with her shoulder, kicked the third, and crossed the rest using her own body as a battering ram.
Black Ice pierced her skin.
A little.
Very little.
Victor saw small cuts opening on her arms, thighs, and abdomen, but none were deep. The blood that appeared did not seem vampiric. It was warmer, more alive, almost golden beneath the white light of that empty world. And the instant it touched the air, it vibrated with a strange energy.
Victor frowned.
That was not blood energy.
It was not vampiric magic.
It was not demon, dragon, or anything he had ever felt from Carmilla, Scarlet, or Chysis.
It was something different.
Ancient in another way.
It did not come from death, lineage, or accumulated blood.
It came from life.
From nature.
From forests that breathed on their own, full moons over mountains, ancestral hunts, bones buried beneath roots, winds carrying the scent of rain and wet earth. It was an energy too vast to fit inside a single person, and yet there it was, flowing through her body as if the entire world had chosen to side with her against vampires.
Victor felt a real chill cross his spine.
For the first time since he had put on that ring, his smile failed.
"You... are much stronger than me."
The werewolf heard.
Her smile came slowly.
Savage.
Beautiful and horrible at the same time.
"Finally, an intelligent sentence."
She disappeared.
Victor tried to react with Black Lightning.
He was fast.
But not enough.
A knee struck his abdomen and folded his body in half. Before he could be launched backward, her hand grabbed his hair and pulled his head down.
The other fist rose.
BOOM!
The blow struck his face from below.
Part of Victor’s jaw disappeared.
He was thrown upward, but the werewolf jumped with him. In the air, her right leg changed. Her thigh remained human, but from the knee down the structure became lupine, longer, covered in dark fur, with an enormous paw and curved claws.
She spun.
The kick struck Victor in the ribs.
CRACK.
The sound was absurd.
Victor crossed the white space and hit the nonexistent ground with enough force to create waves across the smooth surface. He rolled, tried to stand, and spat blood while his jaw rebuilt itself.
The werewolf walked toward him without hurry.
Not like someone cautious.
Like someone who knew she did not need to hurry.
Victor placed one hand on the ground and tried to laugh.
The laugh came out broken.
"You hit harder than Jake."
"I do not know who Jake is."
"Keep it that way. It is better for you."
She raised an eyebrow.
"You talk too much for someone getting beaten."
"I think better while bleeding."
"That explains a lot."
Victor stood.
This time, he did not create a sword.
He created several.
Ten blades of Black Ice appeared around him, floating like long, sharp fragments. White Fire wrapped around three of them. Black Lightning ran through four others. The rest remained pure, dense, stable.
The werewolf watched, almost bored.
Victor moved his fingers.
The blades fired.
The first came from the front, aiming for the heart.
She shifted her body aside.
The second came from below.
She stepped on the blade and broke it.
The third and fourth attacked from the sides, wrapped in Black Lightning. They accelerated irregularly at the last instant, changing the angle of the attack.
The werewolf smiled.
Her face partially changed.
Her jaw advanced slightly, her teeth grew, her eyes became brighter and wilder. She opened her mouth and growled, not as a threat, but as an attack.
The sound struck the blades.
The vibration broke the trajectory of both.
Victor saw it and widened his eyes.
"Did you just shout my weapon out of the way?"
"I growled."
"That is even more irritating."
The three blades wrapped in White Fire arrived next.
The werewolf finally showed some caution.
She jumped backward, but Victor had already expected that. Black Lightning appeared beneath his feet, and he advanced along with the blades, using them as cover.
For an instant, he managed to enter her range.
His right fist, covered in Black Ice and White Fire, struck the werewolf’s abdomen.
BOOM!
The impact pushed her half a step back.
Half a step.
Victor fell silent.
The werewolf looked down at the small burned mark on her aristocratic clothing.
Then looked at him.
"You dirtied my clothes."
Victor blinked.
"That was my White Fire strike."
"And?"
"It was supposed to go through you."
"But it did not."
Her hand grabbed his face.
Victor tried to retreat, but the claws had already closed around his head. He reinforced his skull with Black Ice at the same instant.
The werewolf squeezed.
The ice cracked.
Victor felt the bones begin to give.
His body reacted by instinct. Spikes of Black Ice exploded from his neck and shoulders, trying to pierce her arm. The werewolf released him and retreated, but one point still opened a cut on her forearm.
Warm blood ran down.
She looked at the wound.
Victor did too.
The cut closed.
Not like vampiric regeneration.
The flesh did not rebuild itself in a violent or bloody way. The skin simply joined together, as if nature were correcting a small mistake on its own surface.
Victor became serious.
"That is not regeneration."
She licked the blood from her wrist naturally.
"Not like yours."
"Then what is it?"
"You ask too many questions."
"You dragged me into a white world, tore off part of my head, broke my sword, and are using energy that does not belong to vampires." Victor smiled faintly. "I think I have the right to a few questions."
The werewolf tilted her head.
"You put on my ring."
"I put on an abandoned ring inside a strange box."
"My ring."
"Technically, it was ownerless."
Her gaze darkened.
Victor felt the pressure increase.
The white space began to change.
For an instant, shadows of enormous trees appeared in the distance. Not real trees, but silhouettes. The sensation of a full moon became stronger, though there was no sky. The air gained weight, scent, temperature. Wet earth. Animal fur. Warm blood.
Her energy grew.
Victor took a step back before realizing it.
He stopped immediately, irritated with himself.
Fear.
Small.
Instinctive.
But real.
She noticed.
And smiled.
"Now. The vampire understands."
Victor took a deep breath.
The smile returned, but not as mocking as before.
"You are absurd."
"I know."
"Stronger than me."
"I know that too."
"But you are still trapped here."
Her smile disappeared.
Victor saw that he had hit something.
The werewolf advanced with fury.
The first blow came as a claw.
Victor ducked.
The second was a lupine kick.
He blocked with both arms and felt both almost break.
The third came with her head partially transformed, teeth trying to tear out his shoulder. Victor created a plate of Black Ice between the teeth and the flesh. She bit.
CRACK.
The plate broke.
The teeth went through his shoulder.
Victor shouted for the first time.
Not much.
More a sound of surprise and pain than fear.
He grabbed her hair with his free hand and discharged Black Lightning directly against her head.
BOOM!
The discharge forced her to let go.
She retreated a few steps, smoke rising from her hair and the side of her face. The damage was small, but it existed. Victor saw it. So did she.
The two stood still for a second.
Then both smiled.
She smiled like a predator who had finally felt resistance.
Victor smiled like a maniac who had just found another way to hurt her.
"It works," he said.
"A little."
"A little becomes a lot with repetition."
"Do you think you will last long enough?"
"I do not know." Victor rotated his bitten shoulder, letting regeneration close the flesh. "Shall we find out?"
She laughed.
Her laughter was as mad as his.
Not refined.
Not polite.
It was a wild laugh, full of violent pleasure.
"You are a very strange vampire."
"Thank you."
"That was not a compliment."
"I chose to accept it as one."
She attacked again.
Victor responded.
This time, he did not try to block her brute force directly. That would be useless. Her body was stronger, her energy deeper, and each partial transformation increased her physical advantage even more. So he began doing what he did best.
Learning.
When the claw came, he did not stop it. He dodged just enough for it to tear only part of his skin, and at the same instant let Black Lightning run through his body to accelerate his response. When the lupine kick cut through the air, he created Black Ice on the ground to alter friction and move out of the axis. When she tried to bite, he threw White Fire into a short blade and forced her to choose between continuing the attack or burning her mouth.
She still hit him.
A lot.
One punch opened his chest.
One claw tore away part of his flank.
One kick broke his leg.
Victor fell.
Healed.
Stood.
Laughed.
Attacked.
The entire white space trembled with the impacts. Black Ice appeared and broke. White Fire burned and was crushed by natural energy. Black Lightning crackled in short movements, trying to compensate for the absurd difference in strength.
But with each exchange, Victor understood a little more.
Her energy did not circulate like blood.
It breathed.
Expanded and contracted with her body. It flowed through the muscles, but also through the space around her, as if responding to instinct before intention. When she attacked in anger, the energy of nature concentrated in her claws. When she leapt, it accumulated in her legs. When she growled, it vibrated in the air.
It was not cast magic.
It was communion.
That frightened Victor more than the strength.
Vampires dominated blood.
She did not seem to dominate nature.
She seemed to belong to it.
Victor retreated after taking a blow to the stomach and spat blood.
"Who are you?"
The werewolf stopped.
Her body was partially transformed. One arm was still lupine, covered in dark fur and long claws. One of her legs as well, with denser muscles and a predatory stance. Her eyes shone with savage intensity, but there was consciousness there. A great deal of consciousness.
She stared at Victor.
"Who are you?"
Victor wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Victor."
The werewolf observed him for a few seconds, as if weighing the name.
Then she smiled, showing sharp teeth.
"Rowena."
Victor repeated the name in his mind.
Her energy grew once more.
The presence of a full moon took over the white world.
Rowena lowered her body, ready to attack again.
Victor opened a bloody smile and raised his hands.
"Pleasure to meet you, Rowena."
Black Lightning crackled around him.
"Now let us continue."
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