MIDNIGHT PRINCE: Empire of Sin

Smoker placed down the mini Prana-powered rocket launcher that was installed in his arm and looked at the results of his work.

The smoke was constantly rising into the air as the flame filled the factory. Diary was able to keep track of the life signals of all the members of the squad so the moment she said their comrade had died as well, there had been no more hesitation in Smoker's mind and he readily launched the weapon into the building.

Ideally, he wished he could use it a second time. But his body was already heating up terribly, almost going into the alarming territory for a human, and his Prana was emptied by at least one-fourth of its total capacity. This was his trump card. But he had not hesitated to use it from the start. There was no reason to hold back, after all.

He remembered the information Diary had gleaned from their survey of the battlefield where the targets had slain their comrades.

The intruder had a large-scale AOE technique but it seemed to be of a low range. At the very least between 10 to 100 meters.

He had no particular weapon or did not judge it necessary to use it to finish Falcon and the others off.

Furthermore, he could attack from afar but the means should be limited.

Watching the video, they also confirmed that the technique used to finish Falcon should take some time to set up as he had used the capture target as bait to lure in Falcon's focus before landing the attack that took their comrade's life.

"The result?"

"The vital signal of one of them vanished. The aid probably died."

Smoker smirked at the news. At the very least, they had avenged their dead comrades. Still, it was too soon to rejoice.

"Mage. Place the buff and shields on the whole team. Tracker, prepare the wolfbane-infused bullets to use on the target. Since the intruder died, we will try to finish the capture mission. If all else fails then we have no other choice but to switch to the elimination of the target. Diary..."

The woman with the code name Diary touched her temple with two of her fingers and her eyes immediately shone with a blue luster as innumerable strings of 1s and 0s moved on her retina at terrifying speeds. She was processing information in real-time and determining the most accurate set of actions for them.


"We have five minutes. Six minutes if we push for it. The firewalls of the LAPPD are weaker than I thought of them to be."

"Then we will keep it at four. Once the allotted time passes, whatever the result may be, we fall back and retreat. Warn Transporter to warm the motor."
Smoker knew that if they faced the LAPPD squad, they would be wiped out without even any chance of retaliation. There was no second measure. All the bastards of the Paranormal department were equipped with the latest tech and had received the best training possible. They simply were not equipped with the capabilities to face them,

They all nodded in understanding and looked vigilantly at the building that was set on fire due to Smoker's attack.

They knew very well that it was impossible for a werewolf to be done in simply because of that mini explosion. Killing the intruder was already a great win for them.

Thankfully, the werewolf would be greatly wounded at least.

Werewolves had a great regeneration capacity. They could even recover lost limbs if they had enough time and energy in hand. But they were not immortal.

Compared to creatures like vampires, their regeneration was rather slow and cost more energy to use. Said energy could only be recovered by eating and sleeping. Unlike vampires who could drink blood to recover energy at any moment.

When facing a vampire. Group tactics were unadvised. As it only meant more cannon fodder for the vampire to feed on and recover itself.

This wasn't the case here, however.

Smoker grinned as he threw away the cigar in his mouth and uncovered his cybernetic right arm.

"It's time to hunt."

Hunters never fought fairly against supernatural creatures after all. That's what it meant to 'hunt' for a hunter.

------

Meanwhile, in the factory that was filled with fire and the odor of burning flesh, Natasha was panicking like she had never before in her life.

"Adam!?"

She kept shaking the body of her friend, but no matter how much she tried, no matter how much she shook him, he stayed unresponsive throughout.

She could not accept that her friend had died like this.

In fact, Adam was currently unrecognizable. His entire back was charred beyond belief. The scent of his flesh still sizzling with the fire of the explosion, made her feel nauseous. Furthermore, shrapnels were embedded in his body and Natasha knew that they were all made out of silver.

'He... He protected me.'

Had she received this blow from the assailants, she would have been unable to heal at her normal speed and would have most likely become completely helpless before them.

Tears streamed down the soot-covered face of Natasha. She thought back to all the time she had spent with Adam and their other friends.

Adam had never been very sharing with them. He had his own circumstances, after all. But he was never the kind to cry and whine without any reason and was a firm individual. This was why the two of them became friends.

Perhaps not the best of friends. But certainly, very good ones who could enjoy time spent with each other.

"You died for me because of my mistake."

Her eyes shone as her body began to change. Her golden hair became silver. Her blue eyes became a shade of deep crimson red and wolf ears protruded up from her head out of nowhere.

The cracking of bones resounded throughout the fire-strewn factory as her body began to grow and shift visibly.

In the end, there was no more beautiful girl standing close to Adam, but rather a menacing two meters tall wolf with a sleek figure and silver-white fur.

Raising her head up high, she howled to the sky...

Awooo--!!

The wind stirred under her cry as frost began to cover the ground and chased away all the flames.

Glancing one last time at Adam's damaged body, a low growl escaped her lips and she slowly turned her body.

Today should have been a simple day. She was just supposed to hang out with her friend and make sure that nothing bad had happened to him or that he had not joined any sketchy cult.

But because of an abominable turn of events, her friend had died. Far from taking care of him, her meddling had indirectly caused his death.

This was a pang of guilt she would carry on her back for the rest of her life. If they were lucky to become friends again in the next life, she swore she would dedicate her life and everything she would have to him.

But now? Now she was going to tear apart some humans for their transgression against her and her dear friend.