A capable leader could be said to have three things. Cunning, a strategic mindset and a confidence that could rally the masses to follow wherever they walked.

Wa'rak had none of those things.

It's not like he needed them anyway, he wasn't a leader, he never wanted to be. That was Failure's or Aldred's job. He just wanted to be the battering ram that burst open the gates.

Wa'rak lead the charge on the horde of abominations, his eyes gleaming with a devilish sort of glee. For too long the abominations had slaughtered his kin like pigs for the factory, it was finally time to get some revenge.

It could have been said that the time he spent with Kai wiping out the smaller groups of abominations could have been revenge, but that wasn't enough. That was like comparing stealing a pen from someone who killed your whole family.

No, Wa'rak wanted more. He wanted to kill every single abomination that infested the forest that he called home.

Actually, he didn't want to kill them.

He was going to kill them.

Snarling, Wa'rak dived headfirst into a mass of waving tentacles and hideous blobs. His claws and fangs were the perfect weapons to kill such easy opponents without trouble.

His claws tore through the flesh while his fangs ripped chunks out of the writhing crescent moon abominations. He savoured the taste, screw being able to eat food in the safe compounds of The Dome, the taste of dead abomination flesh was oh so much sweeter in comparison.

And luckily, Wa'rak wasn't full yet.

As he continued pouncing, dashing, slashing and eating, he slowly gained more and more momentum. He slowly became faster, his body starting to blur as his speed picked up more and more.

Of course, this was all thanks to his innate ability.

Wa'rak was special. The most common innate ability for a moon wolf to have was Strong Jaws, a one aspect innate ability that allowed the wolves to empower their jaws with Mana to deal extra damage.

While it was useful, it was extremely easy to counter.

Just don't let a moon wolf bite you.

But Wa'rak did not possess that innate ability. In fact, his innate ability had nothing to do with his jaws.

No, his innate ability was something else entirely.

Double Impact: In the beginning, everything was singular. That was until ??? came along and created ???. Allows the user to hit anything physical twice at the point of impact. Godspeed, and shall your momentum ever grow.

Wa'rak hated the last line of his innate ability. It made it sound as if he preferred using speed over strength. That was the biggest lie anyone could have ever said, speed was just one factor of strength, meaning it was still strength he was relying on.

Of course, the first line was equally as strange, but why should he care about a bunch of question marks? As long as he could protect his kin, he would willingly forsake that knowledge.

Every step Wa'rak took, he used Double Impact. Everytime Wa'rak slashed an abomination, he used Double Impact. Even when Wa'rak bit down on an abominations horrible tasting flesh, he used Double Impact.

He was constantly gaining momentum by the second. Abominations were just a stepping stone to get stronger and stronger.

Of course, one wrong step, one mistake, one missed attack, any sort of slip up would make him lose all the momentum he had built up so far.

Wa'rak was like a rocket, gaining more and more speed, but a single comet was all that was needed to destroy it.

So Wa'rak did not slip up. He constantly analysed, watched all of his surroundings with the utmost level of focus. Nothing escaped his eyes, he would would even use Double Impact on his eye socket so he could switch between looking left and right even quicker.

Analysing and watching his surroundings was just another factor of strength after all.

But it wasn't enough.

While Wa'rak was constantly gaining speed, the army was slowly losing it.

They were completetly overwhelmed by the number of abominations, especially the amount of higher ranked ones. And even though majority of the humans on the side of the abominations were petrified and useless, there was still some who were causing respectable damage to the moon beasts.

Wa'rak saw that black haired friend of the brat that he used to duel kill a quarter moon abomination, which was a feat that should be praised.

But it's not like there was only one quarter moon abomination, and that was leaving out the gibbous moon ones.

Wa'rak had also yet to see the brat himself anywhere. It wasn't surprising, he always was lazy and useless at attacking in the first place. He needed a push, then he would probably be useful enough.

Those were the only spare thoughts Wa'rak could manage in the moment, he had to focus his mind back to wiping out the abominations before they could wipe out the moon beasts.

Wa'rak was like a frenzied weapon of war. With the help of his innate ability, he could kill all of the crescent moon abominations in one - well, two - hits.

But that was only the crescent moon abominations he could finish in one strike.

Without warning, Wa'rak was struck in the side by something he didn't see coming.

Howling, he rolled along the ground for a few moments before skidding to a stop.

He was livid. All the momentum he had built up was lost. All of the abominations he had killed seemed to miniscule compared to the fact that something had made him lose the speed he gained by killing them.

Growling, Wa'rak shifted his body and quickly jumped off the ground. He was going to kill whatever ruined his momentum without delay, he was going to charge-

Wa'rak froze and lowered his body catiously.

He would not be able to kill the thing that ruined his momentum easily.

The abomination that had ruined his momentum had a gibbous moon in its eye.

A low growl escaped Wa'rak's snout. He had not seen anything with a gibbous moon in its eye in a long time.

In fact, the last time he saw one was when he was young. Just twenty of his current five hundred and sixty corpses old.

How times change.

The last time he had seen a gibbous moon abomination, it had managed to kill dozens of moon beasts before Aldred to put it down.

Now, it was up to him to end the life of this foul abomination.

The creature across from Wa'rak resembled a wolf itself, actually, it resembled Wa'rak himself.

Blood red abomination flesh dripped out of the gibbous moon abomination's jaw, acting as saliva in a rabid beasts mouth.

The wolf abominations whole body was made of flesh, the exact same as all the other abominations, but it was almost as is if there was something wriggling underneath it.

Wa'rak snarled, his own fangs shining red with abomination flesh as he glared at the abomination version of himself.

He knew he shouldn't be doing this, he knew that he should run or get someone else to help him take down a gibbous moon monstrosity, but it's not like he could just let this abomination remain unopposed.

That would be like letting a rabid beast into a room full of toddlers.

Snarling, Wa'rak started charging at the abomination. He used Double Impact with every step to gain back some of the momentum he lost, but he wasn't able to regain much before he met the hideous wolf.

Wa'rak slashed, but the gibbous moon abomination easily dodged and retaliated with its own slash, its claws digging into Wa'rak's flesh like a knife into butter.

Howling, Wa'rak kicked off of the abominations body, and using his innate ability he got enough distance to have a few moments of rest.

But those few moments of respite were cut short as the abomination lunged at Wa'rak.

It was a one sided fight. Wa'rak may have been maybe the strongest quarter moon beast that lived under The Dome, but this was a gibbous moon abomination he was up against.

The wolf abomination continued to land more and more hits on Wa'rak, only making the pitch black beast more and more upset.

Wa'rak wasn't weak, not by any means. He would be able to beat anyone one on one if push came to shove and he had enough momentum, but this abomination was different, it was almost like it was copying him.

But it's not like his innate ability was the only skill in Wa'rak's arsenal.

There was still a problem though.

Most of the skills he had picked had been in favour of improving his innate ability. He had one that allowed him to think quicker, allowing him to reach higher speeds as he could plan his movements. He also had one that reinforced his body. Speed was one thing, he also had to have a strong body, otherwise he wouldn't be able to handle the backlash. Of course, he had ones other than those, but they all played a different type of support to his innate ability.

But there was one skill, a skill that Wa'rak had only seen successfully used once in his entire lifetime. A skill that was useless unless used in the right moment.

It was when he was born. Wa'rak was born while The Dome was under siege by the abominations.

Moon wolves can only be born out of the corpse of another moon wolf, and that corpse had to be surrounded by shadows.

Normally, if a moon wolf died in The Dome, it would not be able to have a child. They would either be basked by the artificial moon or the artificial sun artificial sun after all.

But that day, when he was born, the shadows responded to one of the wolves call.

One of the elders of the moon wolves, comparable to only Aldred. They had managed to bring out the true extent of this skill, shrouding the entire Dome in shadows and eradicating any abomination that attempted to kill any moon beast.

That particular skill was sitting in Wa'rak's status, unused to this very day.

But he had to at least attempt it, otherwise everyone was dead anyway.

[Protected by Darkness (Rare)]
The Wolves of the moon are blessed by the darkness. The darkness is the all knowing of the Forest of Ethenia. Darkness is everywhere... and so is its protection

It was Wa'rak's only chance, but its not like the shadows would definitely answer his call. They could just leave him unanswered, bringing him closer to his death.

But he was still going to try.

Wa'rak howled, a desparate attempt to get the shadows to heed to his call. All of his pain, his anguish, his determination to protect his family was let out in that heartbreaking cry.

And to his surprise, they did.

The shadows that surrounded the two wolves slowly started swirling, their darkness swallowing the grass they rested on. A faint mist started rising and it looked like death had finally come for Wa'rak, its shadowy embrace coming for him.

But the shadows did not devour him, they simply shrouded him. The mist slowly started getting darker and darker, almost as if it was a physical thing, like a set or armour.

Actually, that's what it was. A suit of armour created by the shadows covered Wa'rak's entire body except for his paws, eyes and snout.

The armour was light, yet Wa'rak couldn't even begin to imagine how sturdy it was.

The shadows of the forest were ancient after all, they've been here since the beginning.

Yet Wa'rak couldn't help but feel dissapointed. The wolf who had used this skill all that time ago may have been a gibbous moon beast, but when they used it the entire Dome was consumed by the shadows. By the time the shadows dissapatated, every single abomination was gone, but so was the wolf.

They had all been consumed by the shadows.

While Wa'rak only got a suit of armour. But that would be enough to kill this bastard abomination-

The abomination snarled, then a grin started to grow on its fleshy maw.

A red smoke started swirling around the fleshy wolf, a horrible shade that looked like blood.

The smoke started getting thicker and thicker until eventually...

A set of red armour the exact same shape as Wa'rak's was covering the abominations body.

Wa'rak snarled. The abomination really was a mimic.

But he could tell that the armour that the abomination wore was different to his own. Sadly, while he could tell it was different, he couldn't tell how it was different.

It's not like it mattered if it was different or not anyway, Wa'rak was going to kill this abomination no matter what.

The shadows had answered his call, and he was going to make sure that whatever controlled them was not going to regret choosing him to grant their power first time for in many years.