The Cargo Hold
"We need to get to the bridge," Eiden shouted over the roar of the engines. "If we control the wheel, we control the ship."
The Pack moved through the bowels of the Leviathan. The corridors here were not the polished teak and brass of the upper decks. They were steel gratings, vibrating pipes, and the smell of diesel.
They reached a massive cargo bay. It was a cavern of steel, filled with crates of supplies, luxury cars, and machinery. To get to the forward lift, they had to cross it.
The ship lurched violently as a massive wave struck the hull. The lights flickered and died, leaving only the spinning orange hazard lights.
In the strobing darkness, shapes detached themselves from the shadows of the crates.
They weren't Shadows. They weren't wearing high-tech tactical gear.
They were wearing furs, leather, and scrap metal armor. They held heavy wrenches, chains, and jagged knives.
There were five of them.
And in the center, towering over them all, was Kane.
He looked different. The school uniform was gone. He was stripped to the waist, revealing a torso scarred by training and abuse. He wore heavy iron gauntlets that looked like they had been welded onto his hands. His face was a map of hate, the burn from the kitchen oil still red and angry on his cheek.
"I told you," Kane rumbled, his voice echoing in the vast hold. "The show is over."
"Kane," Eiden said, stepping in front of Emily. "You're a long way from the mountains."
"Vorian sent us to finish the job," Kane grinned, slamming his iron fists together. CLANG. "And Akuma... he pays extra for the head."
"Run," Eiden whispered to the Pack. "Get to the lift."
"We're not leaving you!" Harry cried.
"GO!" Eiden roared.
He didn't wait. He launched himself at the group.
But this wasn't the kitchen. Eiden was exhausted, bleeding, and fighting on unstable ground. The Bears were fresh.
Two of the Bear Claws intercepted him. They swung heavy chains. Eiden dodged one, but the other wrapped around his ankle. They yanked him down hard.
Eiden hit the steel deck. Before he could rise, Kane was there.
He didn't use a weapon. He used his boot.
He kicked Eiden in the chest, right on the broken ribs.
Eiden gasped, the air turning to fire in his lungs. He slid across the floor, crashing into a crate.
"Is that it?" Kane laughed. He walked over, picked Eiden up by the throat with one hand, and slammed him against the steel wall. "Is this the Devil? You're weak. You're broken."
Kane punched him.
It was a blow that would have killed a normal man. Eiden's head snapped back. Blood sprayed from his mouth.
"Eiden!" Emily screamed. She raised her stolen pistol, but a Bear Claw knocked it from her hand with a wrench.
Hazel and Margot tried to intervene, throwing tools, anything they could find, but the Bears just swatted them away like flies. Harry was cowering behind a crate, paralyzed.
Kane hit Eiden again. And again.
"You humiliated me," Kane snarled, driving a knee into Eiden's stomach. "You made me look weak. Now... I'm going to break every bone in your body before I throw you into the ocean."
He threw Eiden to the floor. Eiden tried to push himself up, his arms trembling, blood pouring from his nose and mouth. He collapsed.
He was done. His body had nothing left.
"Look at him," Kane mocked, turning to Emily. "Look at your hero. He's nothing."
Kane raised his heavy iron boot to crush Eiden's skull.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
It wasn't a heartbeat. It was the sound of a switch flipping deep inside Eiden's mind.
The pain... stopped.
The fear... vanished.
The exhaustion... evaporated.
Akuma was right. The Wolf wasn't human. It was a machine made of survival.
Eiden's hand shot out.
He caught Kane's boot inches from his face.
The air in the cargo hold seemed to drop twenty degrees.
Kane froze. He tried to stomp down. He couldn't. Eiden's grip was iron.
"What...?" Kane whispered.
Eiden looked up.
His eyes were not green anymore. In the orange hazard light, they looked black. Pitch black. Void of any humanity, any mercy, any soul.
The Devil had arrived.
"You talk too much," Eiden whispered.
He twisted his wrist.
A sickening CRACK echoed through the hold. Kane's ankle shattered.
The giant screamed, toppling over.
Eiden stood up. He didn't sway. He moved with a terrifying, unnatural fluidity.
The two Bear Claws with chains rushed him.
Eiden didn't dodge. He moved into them.
He grabbed the first chain mid-swing, wrapped it around his arm, and yanked. The Bear Claw flew forward. Eiden met him with a palm strike to the nose that drove bone into the brain. The man dropped instantly.
The second Bear attacked with a knife.
Eiden caught the knife hand. He didn't disarm him. He drove the man's own hand back into his shoulder. The Bear howled. Eiden silenced him with a chop to the throat.
The other two Bears backed away, terror in their eyes. This wasn't a boy. It was a demon.
Eiden walked toward Kane, who was crawling backward, dragging his broken leg.
"Stay back!" Kane screamed, holding up a hand. "I... I surrender!"
Eiden didn't pause. He stepped on Kane's good leg. SNAP. Kane shrieked.
Eiden leaned down. His face was a mask of death.
"Surrender," Eiden said, his voice a hollow echo, "is for weak people, right?"
He grabbed Kane by the heavy leather collar of his armor. He lifted the massive boy with one hand.
"No, wait Eiden."
He threw him across. He fell just before the edge.