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[b][i]~~~~~~Hollow Bastion / Unknown~~~~~~[/b][/i]

The metal wolves seemed to only function in two stages. The first was to stick to the shadows of the massive storehouse, the only sound of their positions coming from the clunks of metal as they landed, after leaping about the crates, and their bright eyes which only appeared right before they pounced on their prey. The second stage was all about the struggle, the creatures tackling to the ground anything close to them and whether they managed to kill or not, so long as given the chance they quickly retreated back into the darkness to repeat the process. 

The mix of metal that made up their bodies still provided a sturdy defence against most of the Unbound Heart members. However it was clear due to their multiplying numbers, that in some cases the supply of metal was being spread too thin, creating smaller and weaker beasts as time went on. Even this didn’t last too long, and by the time Ace returned silence once again fell throughout the storehouse. 

The wall of monitors still continued to broadcast their images for the sitting figure, the large metal armchair allowing the well-dressed man to lay back and watch. That is, if it wasn’t for his eyes being closed behind the pair of glasses he wore. Since the UHs entered the storehouse and the man entered the small combination of symbols from his keyboard, his entire attention was focused internally, his metal layered finger still jabbing the desk with clock like precision. Yet, even though the man never once watched the images on the screens it seemed he knew what was already happening, as well as not being once unnerved by the events. 

“The little “princess” trying to fight for the people again? How quaint. Always capable of amusing me with your actions time and time again...” Said the man to himself, his finger still tapping in the same spot even as the metal that covered it began to glow. 

[b][i]~~~~~~Hollow Bastion / Storehouse Disctrict~~~~~~[/b][/i]

Gears lay lifeless across the floor of the storehouse around Shizuka, along with their now useless slabs and chunks of armour and weapons. Though the silence for everyone else would have probably been a reassuring rest, what followed for Shizuka as the dark gears began to glow would only hint at the danger that was about to befall everyone there.

“The little “princess” trying to fight for the people again? How quaint. Always capable of amusing me with your actions time and time again. Enlighten me…have you still kept this small affliction of yours away from your comrades? Most likely yes…we couldn’t have the “princess” being considered to be losing her sanity, no?” The voice for Shizuka would have sounded as if it was piercing through her thoughts, it being one of only a very rare amount of times to occur, yet each instance would be the exact same. 

As the voice continued to speak, the now glowing gears quickly moved with their new order silently given. The hunks of metal littering the ground from more than half a dozen of the creatures suddenly flung towards a single spot in the light of the storehouse, the formless mass of floating iron and steel soon joining together with the help of a growing amount of gears beneath their now new layer of skin. 

The large creature stood on two massive hind legs, its build still resembling that of a wolf but with aspects of a human, especially with its long reaching arms. Hunched over slightly due to its top heavy torso, the werewolf styled beast growled down towards Shizuka with not the usual set of purple lights but three running along just before the long snout of its face.

Gunfire merely sparked and ricocheted off the machine’s thick back, and even when one of the other Unbound members managed to get in close and strike the creature’s serrated arm with a sword, this only seemed to agitate it further and always ending with the lifeless body of the member being flung somewhere into the darkness of the storehouse. 

The massive howl that erupted from the beast was entirely different to what its small wolf types tried at first. This was like standing face first towards a strong gust of wind, the sheer force from it probably enough to knock normal people to the ground, but it was the stench of something else that gave the howl that extra level of nastiness. It was like that of corruption, as if everything was slowly dying and rotting over time. 

As the howl sounded throughout the storehouse and its neighbour buildings, it was soon answered back, the distant howls like that of the large beast that calmly stalked towards Shizuka and Ace, even as a second styled creature swung itself into the path leading out of the storehouse behind the two Unbound members themselves. 

Even with time seemingly slowed down for Trisean’s perspective, the sight of these monsters still capable of some sort of movement, albeit slow and sluggish, would have been warning enough that the creatures were able to move quite swiftly even with their large sizes. For the moment it appeared they were solely focused with Trisean himself, one of the beasts slowly moving up and onto the catwalk itself with one of its great leaps while a second, which must have landed on the metal catwalk just after Trisean climbed it, was no more that a foot away with its claws outstretched and slowly moving through the air to pounce its prey.