CALAMITY CORE : FREE THE WORLD

CH.63 'FOR LOYALTY'

A grizzled, older-looking man stepped forward from the side of the Chimera Hunters. Locus continued to reminisce as he passed him, and then singled out the wolf, Okuri. His sturdy features shifted, and his pointed, silver-aged hairstyle curled backwards as he raised his thick brows to smile. He flexed, and surprising musculature appeared across his body as he began to bulk up. "C'mon you big hound! I wouldn't be shocked if you were just as Chimera as the real monsters, look at you!" The man shouted, seemingly bursting with anticipation as he gripped his own biceps, digging into them with his nails and drawing blood which coated his bare hands. "The name's Canine... What about you, eh? Even you animals got names, right?"

Okuri rose to his feet, his hand rested on his belt as he strode forward. Initially, the wolf-man was seemingly calm, collected. Nothing of his blood lusting spirit shone through until the man before him began to sharpen the blood on his hands, forming claws. It started with his eyes glinting blue in the rays of forested sunlight, a stark contrast which brought attention to him. "Monsters...? Animals? What's the difference... is it just a name?" Okuri muttered as his lips curled back into a wicked smile. "My name is Okuri of clan Inu, and you've chosen..."

Canine watched as Okuri trailed off, taking a stance without drawing his weapon. His brow lowered as the wolf-man began to radiate with blue ch'i, and he too took a readied stance. "... You've chosen the wrong foe." Okuri growled now, his lips still twisted into a bloodthirsty grin as his pupils slimmed down. "Before I strike you down, tell me-..."

The older man grimaced, staring Okuri in his mad eyes. Lunging forwards without waiting for the Beastkin to finish, Canine stretched out a blood-coated hand of claws, only to miss his target entirely. Turning his head to the side to keep track of Okuri, the man was shocked to see the aged wolf standing dangerously close beside him. "... With all your age and wisdom." Okuri cocked back his fist, low beside his hip. "... Have you shown even an ounce of honor to your youths?!"

Okuri's fist caught on a shielding plate of solidified blood, and Canine grinned now, his features still tensed as he took on the brunt of the colossal man's strength. Pushing back, he noticed now that Okuri's fist hadn't even made contact with him, instead his aura of ch'i having formed an armor around him strong enough to strike with. He clenched his fist, and the bloody shield shot forward as a flurry of strike. "You've got the face of an animal, but the head of a fighter... I like that! Of course I've taught my students honor-!"

"Your kind... Their kind, they simply deserve none!" Canine shouted as Okuri side-stepped the spikes as they shot out at him. They cut into his crystalline blue aura as it wove around his body, and the wolf-man looked down on the mockery of a mentor before him. Raising his fist high in the air, he howled with laughter.

"Honor is a courtesy worthy of all!" Okuri shouted, shooting forward with the speed and luster of a star as he brought his fist down low, having fainted an upwards attack only to swing his fist upwards with a devastating intent. "I offer even you this courtesy... Fall by my hand rather than my blade and learn from that pain!" The wolf-man shouted as his fist met the old man's gut, sending him a few inches into the air.

Canine spat blood and saliva as he was sent upwards, catching his own fluids and molding them into a slender spike in his hand as he crushed them in his fist. Clenching the spike tightly, he felt as a second fist collided with his head now, causing his ears to ring and a tooth to come loose before he neared the ground in an instant. Caught one final time, the old man was hunched over Okuri's boot as it met his chest, only to be swatted away by a spinning kick like some sort of oversized bug. As he tumbled away on the ground, he threw the bloody thorn Okuri's way, the thing lodging in the wolf's calf as he turned around to face Canine once more.

Brow twitching, Okuri placed a hand on the hilt of his still-sheathed blade, glaring down at the old man. "You're lucky. That boy taught me that anyone can prove me wrong." Lifting the leather-wrapped blade from his side, Okuri felt as Canine began to draw blood from his own open wound, and the wolf-man unsheathed his sword in order to shatter the stream of crystalizing blood as his aura only grew more intense. "Let it be a lesson. To both you kids, and the scum who thought us easy prey..."