Death has been depicted in many ways. Sometimes it’s a skeleton wielding a scythe, sometimes it’s a benevolent angel that brings salvation. If one were to ask Klaus, however, he would have answered that death was the back of a raging beast’s maw.
Saliva dripped in long, stringy ropes from the roof of the werewolf’s maw, glistening like molten glass. Jagged fangs, painted crimson from foreign blood, jutted from swollen gums, each on a distinct blade slick with fresh gore. The tongue twitched with a mind of its own as if tasting the fear in the air. Beyond that, a tunnel of muscle and shadow promised nothing but a wet, crushing end of anything unlucky enough to enter.
Klaus didn’t know how long he had been staring at it. Time seemed to have stopped, and he was trapped there, forced to look at the dark depths of death for all eternity. Unfortunately for him, the jaws were moving, and the rows of gore-painted teeth were closing around him, ready to bite off his head.
The world suddenly shifted and everything turned into a blur. Klaus’s mind had to play catch-up a moment later, that’s when he felt his body hit the ground. The silent impact revealed that he still had his prefect camouflage on. With that being the case, it wasn’t too difficult to guess who it was that had pushed him out of the way.
[Sir, we need to get out of here.] Ushida’s voice came in a second later. [Something isn’t right about all of this.]
There was a low growl then a series of heavy steps. Two red dots drew lines through the fog, moving slowly before bursting forth and closing the distance toward Klaus and his bodyguard. Moonlight shone from above, revealing the beast’s form for a moment. One of its arms was raised, claws cutting through the air as it slashed.
A sharp screech followed the swipe, like nails scratching the smooth surface of a chalkboard. Ushida had reacted quickly, using one of the Silent Breath Arts to create a barrier between them and the beast. Its growls turned into a howl then it started whipping its arms, clawing at the invisible wall with such force that each of its moves came with a powerful gale.
Ushida created new barriers before the old ones broke, but it didn’t seem like he could keep up for long. A faint flash followed each strike of the beast’s claws, giving Klaus a glimpse at its bloody appearance. The numbness from having stared at death began to fade and fear finally found its way to his heart, forcing him to face the reality of his situation.
He had been so drunk on the power granted by the Blue Skull suit that he disregarded his lack of experience, thinking he could handle the enhanced monsters trying to take him down. It was a mistake. A big one, but still just a mistake. Mistakes can be solved, and that’s what he was going to do.
A bright orange light interrupted Klaus’s thoughts just as he attempted to find a solution to his predicament, and an instant later, his surroundings were swallowed by raging flames. If it weren’t for the invisible box encasing him and his head of security...
Nothing would have happened, really. His masterpiece was resistant to all kinds of damage, even without him enhancing it with defensive Arts. Strangely enough, being surrounded by fire helped him calm even more. He wasn’t even angry at the red demon for launching an attack in his direction. After all, he was invisible right now, and he didn’t expect a hired gun to see through his perfect camouflage, even if the monster striking at nothing should have been an obvious hint.
With the continuous screeching finally halting, Klaus forced his thoughts back to his search for a solution. He didn’t have to strain his mind, really. The only way out of this catastrophe would be to escape the hotel a little early. He had to admit that his confidence in the supremacy of his Blue Skull suit had faltered a little, but so long as he managed to gather more Sorcerous Arts and gain battle experience, climbing to the top would only be a matter of time.
"Ushida, we’re getting out of here." He said. "Notify the others."
The two didn’t wait for the flames to stop before making their move. Just as they were deciding on their escape route, a violent tremor shook the floor, followed by demented roars and howls. With how distant their source was, Klaus concluded that the beast had gone to attack the red demon, seeing as he was a much easier target to find.
[Sir, we should take the elevator to the thirty-sixth floor.] Ushida said. [We will reunite with teams four and five on the way. That should give us more options.]
Something was off. The feeling came to Klaus only after they began to move, messing the calm state he was so glad to have regained, and though he couldn’t pinpoint its source, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was incredibly wrong.
At first he thought it was the illusion that refused to break, leaving him stranded in the fogy forest, unable to see where he was going, but that wasn’t the case. The sensors in his suit showed that they were still on the thirty-seventh floor of his hotel, and the path toward the elevator was marked on the map plastered on his OAM
He could hear Ushida instructing the other members of their cohort to buy them time as they retreat, but nothing felt strange about that, too. They were bodyguards, and their job was to ensure he got to safety, even if that meant putting themselves at risk.
The heroes had yet to make a move. He expected them to do something by now, but they don’t seem to have reacted to the berserk state of their companion at all.
Thinking about the heroes brought Klaus’s mind back to the goal he was trying to accomplish. He was trying to defeat the heroes who attacked him so he could take down the coalition conspiring to take him down, but that goal had to take a backseat after he laid eyes on death.
The fleshy hole wet with saliva and gore came to his mind, and the moment it did, Klaus finally figured out what had been bothering him up to this point.
His perfect camouflage had been active this entire time. He hadn’t neglected activating the Art after making his deal with the red demon, and the way the heroes struggled against his attacks showed they were unable to track his movements or react to the actions he took.
But if that were the case, how did that beast find him?
Hearing another howl, Klaus was tempted to glance in the direction it came from. He managed to fight off the urge, but a faint glow in the corner of his ye caught him off guard and he instinctively turned to look.
Before the fear of what had happened before repeating itself could grip his heart, another flash of light drew his attention. It appeared like a dome of pure white light that expanded faster than anyone could react. Klaus recognized the white light, and once it washed over him, the fear he had felt before suddenly magnified.
As his entire body went static for a moment, the Stahlwölfe scion suddenly felt naked, as if everything he had on his was instantly ripped off. In that instant, a maddened glare once again found its way to him.