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The Beastridden part 10

Senryul, his son, and his disciple walked away from a blazing fire, born of the remnants of a two-story long house. With a smile on his face he began to picture the various phases his battle against the otter Jonas took: on the ground, the side of a building, on it's roof, even growing to encompass the area. The three stepped away a moment more, but Senryul stopped. He turned and looked at the now roaring inferno he birthed, and grinned as he called his subordinates.

"Boys, wait. With me for a moment." the master said as the three soon stood at the base of the fire.

"Kera, son, kill the flames. We have a prize to claim." Senryul requested, and his son gripped the hilt of his sword and exhaled, gathering focus as when he drew another breath into his chest the fire shrank to nothing but smoke.

"Good. Now search carefully." he began as he waded into the ash and rubble with his pupils of swordsmanship, using their sheathed swords to feel through the dust.

As they slowly trailed through the shifting hills of ash and smoke, the end of Senryul's scabbard poked a soft mass.

"Here he is..." the hybrid said, and thrust his palm into the dust to grip Jonas's limp, small body. His clothes were singed and his skin was scorched bare in places, and Senryul was pleased to find that the otter's Beastridden power was low enough to render him mundane.

"Now he will come straight to me." Senryul said with a smile, an expression of his cruelty.

"Boys, once my Rite of Carnage is finished, we wil-"

Senryul stopped as his ears detected an unfamiliar sound: talons on stone.

He turned to face the newcomer, and his brow furrowed as he saw a winged humanoid, wrapped in sashes of red and white, with a silk hood that hid their head save for a sharp cone that protruded from inside it.

The hybrid stood still for a moment before he realized what he was looking at.

"You are not Beastridden." he said, taking a step and drawing his sword once more. The being spread its wings as Senryul armed himself, but moved no more as the swordsman was still.

"No matter. Hero or victim, become dust under my feet!" he shouted as he launched a searing ribbon of red light from his sword with a blinding-fast swing. The cutting blast had traveled halfway to it's target, and the winged humanoid drew it's arms back and took a microfast breath before deafening gods themselves with what he said:

"Seph-re'em Os'phas..."

The words, though spoken softly, formed vivid and rumbling glyphs by each syllable and three uniquely-shaped shockwaves rocketed towards the three warriors, erasing the cutting blast like dust before a storm.

The glyphs hit the ground before them like an artillery shell; the three were no longer there before they even heard the spoken force.

***

"Dzuruuk! Taurem! Watch my back!" Knuckle shouted, and with a flash of inspiration he knelt, his legs bulging with power and heat before he took off straight upwards, his velocity igniting his aura and his footprints as he reached a few hundred feet up with an explosive jump. He glanced around, hoping to catch a glimpse of some destruction his new past-sight could build a clue from. He looked left, right, and around, and saw a few plumes of smoke but he began to fall, and while he fell he closed his eyes to let those plumes build a universe of information backwards. He felt his body accelerate as gravity's pull grew more intense, and by the time the impact would have been fatal to a mortal form he stuck the landing gracefully. His paws were instantly soaked in blood and other fluids, as just the two Beastridden rampaging before him had greatly reduced the number of Senryul's forces. Those that hadn't been mutilated had fled for their lives, and Knuckle was free to think.

He saw flashes of death and the majority of the Rite of Carnage, he saw Cajo and the others fight, and the landshark's attacks over Hornstrel. Something he didn't understand stood out to him, definitely rare to even his experience now. With eyes wide open he asked Dzuruuk and Taurem aloud

"Where did the winged guy come from?" and after the last of those remaining were savagely destroyed, they both turned to Knuckle, who was pointing down an alley.

Taurem snarled and approached the brown wolf, his second set of arms retracting before his furry chest collided with Knuckle's face.

"Yooou don't ORRRDERRR us..." the great beast muttered, but Knuckle's ears fell and worry softened his eyes.

"Please... Help me save my friend... Ah love him..." he said.

Taurem scoffed, his breath like sulfuric gas to Knuckle's nose and Dzuruuk approached the brown wolf's side, exchanging smirks with his larger companion.

"Even if you BEAT Senryul, you could never kill him. He's a Fanged Councilman. You could never deal lasting damage. Unless..." he said, his eyes scattering into their multi-adapted phase, which made Knuckle shudder.

"Unless...?" Knuckle asked, feeling his uncertainty grow.

"Unless we crown YOU too. As founding members, we, Taurem and myself, may give you the one thing he has that you don't." Dzuruuk said, with his muscular arms crossed.

"And, when Senryul finds out that his pawns were all mashed into paste, it's war on us too. Once he sees you with a crown of his own, he may deputize others for the hell of it, or make his own army of...more... powerful Beastridden." Dzuruuk explained, and Knuckle nodded, prefacing his question.

"The hell does a simple crown do to make ya that much stronger?" the brown wolf asked, and Taurem gave a coughing laugh in response.

"Puuuny muuuzzle, the crooown is a collection of Beastridden STRENGTH hannnded down from our father, to UUUS.

They are fooorged from many shaaards and dirrrectly conneeected to the WHOOOLE of father GARRRO'S power." the large beast said.

"...What do Ah do then?" Knuckle asked in earnest, and the two Fanged Council members stood still, silently eyeing him as they moved to flank him together.

"Have a little fun with us..." Dzuruuk said, and Taurem seized Knuckle suddenly, lifting him like a pillow as he struggled in surprise.

"WHAT!?" he shouted and growled, heavily restrained.

"You're gonna ride Taurem's massive cock, and I'll crush your knot with my tail hole. How does that sound?" the frost-white wolf asked, running a hand through the hair on Knuckle's chest. While he tensely anticipated their advances, he was no stranger to the fun Dzuruuk spoke of.

"Ah took landshark cock earlier, like ya said, so Ah ain't scared'o Taurem here, even IF he's hung like a titan. And Ah got run off from home cos'o my dick. Ah done snapped my stem by the time Ah was 19. Ah ain't no cherry." Knuckle said, diving into his mannerisms as he asserted himself.

Dzuruuk and Taurem we're silent with fearsome expressions, until Dzuruuk spoke, both returning to more placid visages as they were satisfied with Knuckle.

"Alright Taurem, put him down. I can see his balls through his clothes." he said, and Taurem gently returned Knuckle to his feet. Heaving, he looked to the both of them, as they were again motionless. But immediately following this their auras exploded into bright golden shells of gnashing fangs and claws, and roughly grabbed both of Knuckle's shoulders with one hand, the other raised above his head.

The moment they touched him like this he saw flashes of savagery and destruction, he saw the earthly form of their slain progenitor, he saw ages of darkness and joy, and he felt carnal pleasure that allowed him to then feel Taurem and Dzuruuk's pasts, all three now surging with power like a completed circuit, the three groaning in pleasure and effort.

Arcs of energy jumped and popped between the hands above his head, and Knuckle remembered the day at his home when he received his first Beastridden mark, and the pain he felt when it bonded to him, then his next, then all the rest he gained from Xarieos as he couldn't think of anything else. When his mind seemed locked on those memories, the two on either side of him nodded, raising their eyes to the sky.

"This part rocks." Dzuruuk said to Knuckle, as he began to exude a hellish cold from his glistening fur. Taurem's other limbs returned, the extra hands meeting each other as fists, dripping with molten gold and wild blue sparks.

"We would normally do this in our own realm..." Dzuruuk continued, as his free hand met one of Taurem's, then they pulled them apart as a ring of harsh energy formed between them, crackling and hissing as Knuckle could see it in his thoughts as it formed.

"YOU ARE NOW A MONSTER THAT WILL SHAKE THE WORLD! WE recognize YOU NOW, as a BEASTRIDDEN WARRIOR of the GREATEST DANGER!" they canted in unison, and when they lowered Knuckle's burning, fang crested crown to his head there was an explosion of force that scattered a wide patch of rubble bare as it traveled into the world.

The surge of life that then filled the wolf next fought to bring him to his knees, his face contorted into a map of effort. The two beside him held him steady, their hands smoking as their energy was now reacting to every source as it's own rather than a collective pool to channel and direct.

"KNOW THIS, puny muzzle... YOUR RAGE MUST CLIMB! WHERE DOES YOUR RAGE RISE TO, BEFORE OUR FATHER?" Taurem roared.

"Where does your LOVE ascend to, in the HEIRARCHY OF RAGE?" Dzuruuk finished. Knuckle then screamed out as light filled his eyes, as they then let him fall.

"You must choose love, or hate, when you face him." Dzuruuk said. "This ain't a "two-wolves inside of you" thing. You're not strong enough to choose both, heh." he chided, while Knuckle drew deep breaths, over and over, while in his mind he saw the impossible face of Garro-Talgar.

****

Cajo gasped as he awoke, his eyes flooding with tears as he saw a terrible scene. He knew where Jonas was. He saw where Jonas was, and where Knuckle wasn't. With little strength he began to crawl, teeth gritted with desperation. Foot by foot he dragged himself, grunting and gasping as his depletion of power left him earthly and exsanguinated. Terror and worry gripped him, for he was already too late. Far too late, and right now too weak.

He emerged from the downed rooftop his cousin had earlier, weakly detecting him with his nose and the path he took, thankful he was alone in the jagged alleys of Hornstrel's remains.

With grunts and shouts of effort, or desperation, the wolf pulled himself on, until a wall of boards opened, and two sets of arms quickly seized Cajo, pulling him into a makeshift shelter.

Inside were what he realized to be remnants of Hornstrel's city Guard.

There was a shorter armadillo, a tall and broad woolly mammoth, and a badger his own height. All were in armor: brown leather and metallic plates layered along the abdomen, shoulder and arms, and the two gently set Cajo on a pad made of discarded blankets.

"You can't take them on with one hand!" the armadillo said hastily, and the badger nodded, sitting near a crack in the wall and peeping through.

"I know you. You and a couple others showed up last night" the mammoth said, his large hands carefully examining the exhausted wolf.

"Y-yeah..." Cajo began, despair already winning the battle in his mind. The armadillo gave Cajo a frantic glance.

"I saw you fight some of them earlier. HOW THE HELL ARE YOU ALL SO POWERFUL!? Are you a SORCERER!?" he exclaimed, and the badger threw a towel at his face.

"Not so LOUD!" he hissed, but he then also turned to Cajo.

"Ah'm a... Me an' my cousin..." He started, looking down as he remembered Jonas.

"Yeah, we're all Beastridden." he said, his drawl strained.

"That's supposed to be a fairly tale..." the badger said, and the mammoth looked at Cajo with wide eyes.

"Ah gotta find my friend..." Cajo breathlessly said.

"The forces that did this... Most of our brothers fell in defense of Hornstrel." the mammoth said solemnly.

"Some of us even had families and lives here" the badger added curtly.

"We all swore to go down together, but the three of us survived some wayward gods' wrath..." the armadillo sadly finished.

At this, Cajo sat up. Despite his fatigue, he found the strength to provide a revelation of his own.

"We ain't gods. We're cursed. Cursed to fuck, fight, and kill each other." Cajo said.