The Outer Rifts had no sun, no moon, no horizon.
But after hours of battle… something like night had fallen.
Smoke blotted out what passed for a sky.
Floating islands drifted like broken planets.
Flames cast long shadows across fractured terrain.
And between the Wolf King's burning army and the exhausted ranks of the Buddies, the battlefield trembled like it was alive.
Jimmy wiped ash from his visor and forced himself upright.
His left gauntlet was cracked.
His right knee plating was warped.
His exosuit was low on power.
He had no idea how many hours they had been fighting.
But he knew this:
They had not yet seen the worst.
The Wolf King Summons His LieutenantsAcross the battlefield, the Wolf King crouched low and slammed both clawed fists into the ground.
The Rift shuddered.
Then it… sang.
A terrible, metallic howl vibrated through the air — not a sound, but a resonance, a call older than the Wolf King himself.
Jimmy's eyes widened behind his visor.
"Oh no… what is he doing?"
Operatives braced their weapons.
Drones swiveled to new threat trajectories.
The Titan-class walker stepped in front of the troops, cannons heating.
Across the field, the Wolf King's howl carved a shape in the air — a circle of black fire that burned without a source.
A portal.
Not a rift.
Not teleportation.
Something else.
Something summoned.
Three shapes stepped through.
And the entire Buddy army felt fear spike through their suits' biometric sensors.
The Wolf King's lieutenants had arrived.
Lieutenant One: HallowjawThe first creature stood nine feet tall, its body nearly skeletal except for bulging muscle-wires beneath charred skin. Its jaw hung open unnaturally wide, revealing serrated bone.
Black fire poured from its ribcage like smoke from a furnace.
"Hallowjaw," Jimmy whispered.
The beast screeched at a pitch that made Buddy helmets ring with distortion.
Lieutenant Two: Red HowlerThe second was shorter but denser — a hulking wolf hybrid with red-hot plasma veins glowing across his body like molten rivers. His roar shook loose floating debris from overhead islands.
Red Howler cracked his knuckles, exhaled smoke, and immediately began stalking for targets.
Lieutenant Three: ShadeclawThe third lieutenant didn't walk — it floated, or drifted, its movements blurred, fur shifting like a shadow underwater. Its claws dragged streaks of darkness behind them that burnt into the ground.
Jimmy gritted his teeth.
"Perfect. Stealth class. Because I needed another problem today."
Shadeclaw simply smiled.
A terrifying, human-like smile.
Jimmy shuddered.
The Lieutenants ChargeHallowjaw leapt first.
One moment he was still; the next he was across the entire battlefield, slamming into a platoon of Buddy troopers with enough force to crater the earth. Troopers scattered as Hallowjaw tore through their barricade plate by plate.
Red Howler followed with a shoulder charge into the Titan walker — a direct hit powerful enough to stagger the three-story machine.
Shadeclaw vanished completely.
Jimmy's visor blurred with red alerts.
"ALL UNITS! PRIORITIZE LIEUTENANTS!"
Railgun fire opened from the upper floating islands.
Heavy plasma blasts detonated.
Artillery drones fired cluster-bombs.
But the lieutenants moved through the carnage like it was rain.
Hallowjaw vs. Buddy Strike Team
Jimmy watched in horror as Hallowjaw grabbed a heavy-plated Buddy trooper and hurled him into a hovering drone — both exploded midair.
The strike team opened with synchronized rail-pulses.
Hallowjaw twisted, broken bones snapping into new positions as he avoided the volleys. He slammed his fist into the ground, sending shockwaves that knocked the strike team off their feet.
Then he pounced.
A trooper screamed.
Hallowjaw's ribcage split open — literally — revealing a maw of black fire inside.
He devoured the trooper in a single gulp.
Jimmy almost retched.
"Everyone—STAY OUT OF Hallowjaw's chest cavity! THAT IS A SENTENCE I NEVER THOUGHT I'D SAY!"
Red Howler vs. the Titan WalkerRed Howler dug his claws into the Titan's leg plating. His plasma-filled veins surged, glowing brighter with each heartbeat.
The Titan fired a point-blank blast.
Red Howler caught it.
Caught it.
The plasma burned into his palms, but he held it and roared — a bull-like bellow that shook armor panels loose.
He flung the blast aside and slammed his head into the Titan's thigh. Metal buckled.
The Titan reeled and attempted a hydraulic kick.
Red Howler blocked it with his forearms and smiled — a grin of challenge.
He loved this.
Shadeclaw vs. Buddy CommandJimmy saw a blur of black.
Then a scream behind him.
He spun, gauntlets up, barely intercepting a shadow-claw that materialized out of thin air.
Shadeclaw's smile hovered inches from Jimmy's visor.
"You smell like fear, little chief."
Jimmy shoved hard, stumbling back as Shadeclaw flickered and vanished again.
His suit's HUD blared warnings:
STEALTH PREDATOR: PHASE SHIFT DETECTED
ADAPTIVE CAMOUFLAGE: UNKNOWN
RECOMMENDED: DO NOT BE ALONE
Jimmy yelled:
"FORM UP ON ME! SHADECLAW IS HUNTING THE COMMAND STAFF!"
Three guards closed around him instantly.
It helped a little.
But not much.
Jimmy Calls for Orbital SupportJimmy slapped a command panel on his gauntlet.
"ORBITAL PLATFORM SIX—FIRE!"
A voice crackled through:
"Sir, firing on this dimension could destabilize—"
"FIRE. NOW."
A beam of pure white energy lanced down from the heavens, carving a burning line through the battlefield. The hybrids leapt aside instinctively.
Hallowjaw took the blast head-on.
His left arm evaporated.
His ribs cracked.
For the first time…
He stumbled.
Jimmy screamed in triumph.
"Yes! YES! HIT HIM AGAIN—"
Before he finished, the orbital feed cut out.
ORBITAL LINK LOST
DIMENSIONAL INTERFERENCE INCREASED BY 400%
RIFTSTORM IMMINENT
Jimmy's heart sank.
"Oh no…"
The Riftstorm BeginsThe Outer Rifts began to tear open.
Lightning made of fractured timelines speared across the sky.
Chunks of dimension flickered.
Gravity twisted.
Floating islands turned vertical, then horizontal, then upside-down.
The battlefield became a maze of shifting geometry.
Troops scrambled for stable ground.
Hybrids adapted instantly — claws digging into rotating platforms, bodies moving with unnatural stability.
Jimmy barely kept his footing.
"This is bad. This is really, REALLY bad—"
A floating slab of stone rotated above him, then dropped like a guillotine.
Jimmy dove aside—
Just in time.
The slab smashed into the battlefield, scattering soldiers and sending a shockwave of dust into the air.
The Wolf King Stands Center StageThe Wolf King inhaled deeply.
Flames churned in his chest, flickering violently.
His spine cracked as it extended.
His shoulders broadened.
His eyes glowed like dying stars.
He was evolving.
Again.
Jimmy's visor zoomed and analyzed.
WARNING:
NEW MUTATION SIGNATURE DETECTED
COMBAT LEVEL: UNKNOWN
ADVICE: RETREAT
Jimmy groaned.
"Yeah… that's not happening."
The Wolf King rose taller — now eight, nine, ten feet. His fur was no longer black fire. It was something worse.
It was metal-flame.
Flame with weight.
Flame with shape.
Flame that clung to him like armor.
He cracked his neck.
"If the dragons will not come to me…
I will carve a path through the world itself."
The Mid-War Climax BeginsThe lieutenants howled.
The hybrids surged.
The Riftstorm intensified.
Floating islands collided.
Debris rained down.
Lightning of pure timeline energy forked through the air.
Jimmy braced himself.
"ALL UNITS—PREPARE FOR TOTAL COLLAPSE!"
He lifted his gauntlets, power cells screaming.
"THIS IS OUR LINE!
THE WOLF KING DOESN'T GET THROUGH!
HOLD—"
A shadow flickered behind him.
Shadeclaw.
Jimmy turned too late.
Shadeclaw punched his claws straight toward Jimmy's throat.
His guards threw themselves in the way.
Claws tore through plating.
Blood sprayed.
Shadeclaw vanished again.
Jimmy fell to one knee.
"Damn it… they're everywhere…"
The Wolf King pointed at Jimmy through the chaos.
He whispered:
"You cannot stop me.
Not you.
Not your tech.
Not your armies.
Not your world."
He raised his arm.
The battlefield trembled.
"Now… let the hunt continue."
And the war surged into its next horrific phase.
The Howling War was far from over.