The first Void Walker construct burst through the treeline like a nightmare made flesh. It had the shape of a human, but nothing about it was right. Its limbs stretched too long, its joints bent the wrong way, and its skin flickered between solid matter and static, as if reality couldn't decide whether it belonged.
"What in the hell is that?" Garrett growled, his lip curling.
"A Void Walker puppet," Solareth rumbled, his wings spreading wide. "Once a supernatural being. Consumed. Hollowed out. Reforged into a weapon."
Luna's stomach twisted. "It was human?"
"Werewolf," Magnus said grimly, his prophetic sight piercing its broken form. "One of the eastern territories. He's been missing for weeks."
Cold fury surged through Luna, sharper than fire. These weren't just monsters. They were stolen lives.
"Tactical report," she barked, her voice steady and sharp. "Strengths and weaknesses. Now."
Thomas stepped forward. "Frost Pack. Thirty-two fighters. Strong coordination, they know the land. Weakness: no experience with non-werewolf enemies."
"Iron Pack," Garrett said, his tone clipped. "Twenty-eight fighters, heavy combat. Weakness: unfamiliar terrain."
"Shadow faction," Victoria added, pale but resolute. "Fifteen left. We specialize in stealth and psychology. Weakness: our numbers are thin."
"Rogue coalition," Dmitri said with a smirk that didn't quite hide his tension. "Forty-three fighters, unconventional warfare. Weakness: we don't always play nice with each other."
Sage's voice was tight. "Magical support, wards, healing. My combat magic is limited, and I'm already drained from last night."
Luna nodded, mind racing. The constructs weren't charging blindly. They moved with eerie pack tactics. There was intelligence behind them.
"Solareth, aerial recon," she ordered. "I need numbers and vectors."
The dragon launched into the sky, his massive form blotting the morning sun.
"Kieran, Magnus, flank me. We coordinate tactics."
The constructs shifted, their unnatural movements painful to watch. One broke away, sprinting straight at the clearing with impossible speed.
"Iron Pack, delta formation!" Luna shouted. "Surround and harry, don't let it focus!"
The wolves leapt into motion. Garrett's pack struck from three sides at once. But when claws and teeth tore into the construct, the sound that came back wasn't flesh ripping. It was static. Screaming static.
"It's incorporeal!" one of Garrett's wolves shouted. "Physical strikes barely land!"
Luna's mind snapped to connections. Werewolf strength. Witch fire. Vampire energy. Dragon flame. A union of powers.
"Sage!" she called. "Can you channel fire through claws?"
The witch's eyes widened. "On multiple wolves at once? I've never."
"Try it!" Luna commanded.
Sage moved instantly, her hands sketching runes that sparked with flame. Fire licked along Iron Pack claws, turning their strikes into blazing arcs that burned through the construct's shifting form. This time, it screamed in true agony.
"Shadow faction, vanish and confuse!" Luna barked. "Make them guess our numbers. Dmitri, hit-and-run strikes, don't stay locked."
As her orders rippled out, the field shifted. Wolves wreathed in flame slashed burning arcs. Shadows blurred, sowing panic. Rogues struck and vanished before the constructs could pin them.
Kieran growled at her side. "Solareth reports twenty more constructs inbound. Bigger ones. Coordinated."
Luna's gaze caught them through the trees. Massive shapes, more coherent, radiating menace.
"Former Alphas," Magnus whispered, his voice tight with horror. "They're using corrupted leaders as commanders."
Ice filled Luna's veins. If Void Walkers could twist Alphas into generals, they weren't facing mindless puppets, they were facing strategy.
"Change of plan," she shouted, her voice carrying. "We're not just defending. We're striking their command structure."
Victoria's eyes flashed. "That's suicide!"
"Not if we cut the head off fast enough," Luna countered. "If we let them coordinate, they'll crush us by numbers. But disrupt their chain, and they fall apart."
Kieran stepped forward without hesitation. "Frost Pack volunteers."
Magnus's eyes burned gold. "Shadow Pack stands."
"Iron Pack is with you," Garrett said grimly.
Dmitri's grin turned feral. "And you know rogues love impossible odds."
Warmth surged through Luna's chest, fierce and steady. They trusted her. They'd follow her.
"Sage," she said, turning to the witch, "hold the main defense. Coordinate wards and healing. If we don't come back"
"You will come back," Sage cut in. Her tired eyes glowed with defiance. "Because you're too stubborn to let parasites win."
Luna smiled faintly. "I'll take that as faith."
Overhead, Solareth roared, his shadow sweeping the clearing. "More constructs inbound. Dozens. And something larger directing them."
Luna drew her sword, feeling the hum of multi-species magic run along its edge. She turned to her strike team, wolves from every pack, a witch's support, a dragon's fire above.
"Remember," she said, her voice low but carrying, "we're not just fighting for ourselves. We're proving that united, we're stronger than they ever imagined."
A chorus of howls, roars, and battle cries answered her.
"Strike team, move out!"
They surged into the forest, blades, claws, and fire ready, toward an enemy that shouldn't exist, and a command structure they had to break before it broke them.
The corrupted Alpha waited in the clearing like a shadow given form. The air reeked of decay and something worse, the stench of static that made Luna's skin crawl. Beneath it all, her sharpened senses caught another scent, fear. Some part of the Alpha still lingered inside that twisted shell, terrified of what he had become.
"Spread out," Luna whispered, gesturing her strike team into position. "Remember, this was an Alpha. He knows tactics as well as we do."
The creature's body flickered between solid muscle and shifting static. Its eyes glowed with cold, alien intelligence.
"Luna Blackthorne," it rasped, voice like broken metal. "Bridge-builder. You cannot save them all."
Luna raised her sword, power humming along its blade. "Watch me."
The Alpha moved first, blurring with impossible speed. Claws ripped through the air where Luna had been standing a heartbeat earlier. She dodged, rolling to her feet, her sword biting into its flank as she rose. Instead of blood, shadow spilled from the wound, and her Crimson magic reacted. Golden fire crackled along the blade, searing away the corruption.
"It works!" Magnus shouted, eyes wide. "Your bloodline power burns them!"
The construct roared, spinning toward her, but Kieran slammed into its side, claws wreathed in flame thanks to Sage's magic. The creature shrieked, static crackling as its body tore under the assault.
"Coordinated strike!" Luna commanded. "Dmitri, Magnus, flank! Garrett, Victoria, front!"
The Alphas obeyed without hesitation. Fire-laced claws ripped through corrupted flesh while Luna darted in with precise sword strikes. For every flicker of shadow that tried to mend, her blade's light burned it away.
The corrupted Alpha faltered, its body glitching between forms. Luna pressed the attack, her final blow piercing its chest. She channeled every ounce of purification into the strike. The corruption screamed as it dissolved, leaving behind only the fallen remains of a leader who had finally been freed.
Luna bowed her head briefly. "Rest now. You're free."
"One down," Garrett muttered grimly. "How many more?"
Before anyone could answer, a roar shook the forest. Luna looked up, and her heart froze. Solareth was locked in aerial combat with another dragon.
But this one was wrong. Its scales shimmered the color of dead stars, its eyes void of life. Black fire spilled from its jaws, freezing the air.
Magnus's voice broke with horror. "They corrupted a dragon."
Solareth's voice echoed in their minds, heavy with grief. Not just any dragon. Nethys the Void-Touched. My mate.
Pain ripped through the ancient dragon's mental voice, but determination followed. I will hold her. Focus on your battle below.
Luna's throat tightened, but there was no time to grieve. More constructs poured from the shadows, led by something worse. A presence she hadn't noticed before now pressed down on her senses, cold, commanding.
A figure stepped into the clearing, elegant and familiar. Silver hair. Pale eyes. A smile as sharp as glass.
Vera Shadow.
"Hello, nephew," she said sweetly, her gaze sliding to Magnus. "I hope you're not too disappointed."
Magnus went white. "Aunt Vera. How long?"
"Since before you were born," Vera said with cheerful cruelty. "I don't serve the Void Walkers. I work for them."
The truth hit like a hammer. Vera wasn't corrupted like Victoria, she was a willing collaborator.
"You staged the Alpha trials," Luna realized, her voice low. "The timing. The dragon's appearance. All of it."
Vera's smile widened. "Very good. Did you think it coincidence? My employers needed to see you in action, little Crimson. To measure your potential. To test how powerful united supernatural forces could become under your leadership."
Luna's stomach dropped. "You don't want to stop me from uniting them. You want me to succeed."
"Exactly!" Vera clapped her hands, delighted. "A united supernatural society will make a far richer harvest. You're not the solution, darling. You're the bait."
The strike team stiffened, fury rippling through them. But Luna held her ground, her sword glowing in her grip.
"You made one mistake," she said evenly.
"Only one?" Vera asked, amused.
"You assumed I fight for the supernatural world." Luna's voice rose, steady with conviction. "I don't. I fight for them."
She gestured to her strike team, Kieran at her side, Magnus fierce and loyal, Garrett and Victoria standing together, Dmitri smirking like a wolf in the dark, Sage holding the line, Solareth above. People who had chosen her, trusted her, believed in her.
"I don't care if unity makes us easier to harvest," Luna said. "Because we're not prey. We fight. We survive. Because that's what families do."
A golden glow burst from her, not drawn from any single power, but from every bond she'd forged. Trust. Loyalty. Love. The magic of connection itself.
For the first time, Vera's smile faltered.
"All forces!" Luna shouted. "Show them what unity looks like!"
The corrupted constructs poured from the shadows, too many, too fast. But the alliance didn't break. Fire-laced claws tore shadows apart. Rogues struck and vanished. Stealth wolves confused enemy lines. Luna's sword blazed with golden light, cutting through corruption with every strike.
Above, Solareth's roar mingled with the shriek of his fallen mate as dragon fire clashed against void flame.
The clearing became legend.
And in the heart of the storm, Luna Blackthorne finally understood. Crimson Bloodline wasn't about power. It was about connection. About proving that love, fierce, protective, unbreakable, was a weapon the Void Walkers would never understand.
Some things were worth fighting for. No matter the odds.