...


    ...


    ...


    "Come again?" Dominus thought he heard Ares wrong because what Dominus had heard couldn''t have possibly been true...


    "No changes. Nada. It didn''t even occur to me this whole time because of how non-existent the issue was. I would have noticed a tail or something right away but, now that I think about it, nothing has changed at all... I''m at bloodline awakening, and undergoing the unchaining, so I should have some kind of mutation on my human form, right?"


    "Yeah obviously! Where the bloody hell is it?! Are you sure you''ve checked everything? Is your butt any hairier?"


    "No... At least I don''t think so? That one would be hard to tell honestly. I''ll admit I haven''t ever counted the hairs before and I think you can give me a pass for not having done so because that is a strange thing to ask of me. But yeah, no, I feel like I normally do. Not my nails, not my flesh, not my bone structure. Zilch. My voice is the same, my eye colour is the same otherwise Calla would have noticed. I''m not seeing anything, chief."


    "Well there has to be something!... It''s not your ding dong is it? I mean it is possible... There was this one guy..."


    "No. Nonononono. Don''t bring that curse upon me I don''t wanna even hear it! Also it definitely isn''t that. The white camel is minding his own business, thank you very much."


    "Then what on earth is it?..." Dominus kept searching over Ares'' body, what was visible at least, as the two descended. Ares was doing more intrusive checks on his body, even looking inside himself to try and spot even the tiniest of differences but, by the time the next platform became visible, both their searches turned up empty. Dominus was tilting his head. "Well this is the strangest thing I''ve ever seen. What are the odds we''re both just missing something so painfully obvious we aren''t even registering it as a change? You know, like a ''hide in plain sight'' kinda deal?"


    "Unlikely. We''re both dumb but I think our brain cells combined would have worked it out by now."


    "Brain cells? Plural? Bold of you to assume there''s more than one... And I''m telling you now kid, it''s mine!"


    "Now is not the time for this! We need answers!"


    "Well I don''t think we''re getting any. For the life of me I can''t see anything off about your human form. I think it would have to be something underneath the clothes you''re wearing which would explain why I can''t see it... But you said there''s nothing there?"


    "And of that I''m certain. I''ve checked everything at least ten times over by now..." Ares and Dominus finally stepped onto the metal sheet that functioned like a makeshift platform and walked up the door. As was the same as before, the door had a dog tag over it but, instead of Dominus, this one simply read ''zeta''. Other than that difference it was exactly the same scenario as last time. Maybe the lower floors would get more fancy but, right now, up here, it was static as can be. As Ares put his hand on the door handle, Dominus was running through some thoughts in his head.


    This is too strange... Why doesn''t he have any mutations? No revenant has ever not had one, it shouldn''t be possible... No... Is it not possible or has it just never happened? If the mutation gets smaller and smaller as the tier increases... Has he gone above a lord?! What would that even entail?! It can''t be, right? I don''t care how funky this kid''s evolution is it shouldn''t be able to outdo me, the progenitor... What on earth is going on here?


    The jail cell creaked open and before the inside of the room even became visible a disgusting smell escaped from the confines of the previously shut room. It was acidic with metallic undertones and made the two revenants nauseous in their stomachs. Ares'' grand reveal of the room was delayed as he twisted his head to the side as the bottled up smell was flowing out through the doorway and into the pitted hallway. Both Ares and Dominus took a step back from the door and idled off to the sides while they waited for the odour to subside even partially. Dominus might be fine but if Ares walked inside and brute forced the issue he knew all too well he would throw up. All too happy to wait out the thick smell, Dominus spent his time checking over his armour and making sure it wasn''t scuffed as this was the first time he''d ever had the liberty to move and give himself a once over.


    Roughly a minute later things were as good as they were gonna get on the patiently waiting front and so Ares took point once more. He wasn''t much looking forward to being eaten by himself in a room so atrociously dirty it smelled like rotten rust but what needed to be done, needed to be done. Ares opened the door and clicked his tongue upon seeing the inside of the room while Dominus'' red eyes scanned the interior with a sharp gaze. Ares didn''t know what was supposed to be going on in here, at least not to the same degree as someone as knowledgeable as Dominus, but he didn''t have to be a genius to tell something was very wrong here. At least the massive pool of blood at the far end of the room, and the occasional splotch marks of the stuff painting the walls, answered any questions Ares might have had about the origin of the smell from before. Now though he only had more questions. Did that blood pool belong to the zeta revenant version of himself that was supposed to be in here? Why was it dead and gone? And why did it look like Dominus was about to be unable to answer all of these questions in addition to the mutation issue they''d been discussing prior? Wasn''t Dominus the epitome of knowledge'' when referring to revenants? Why were so many bizarre happenings that he couldn''t explain cropping up? And what exactly did all of this mean for Ares?


    Dominus slipped past Ares'' flank and headed to the blood pool while focussing his sight on the floor beneath it. He knelt down and swabbed aside the blood, revealing a scratch mark in the floor. It was thick and seemed to be incredibly long so, to uncover just how long, Dominus waded through the pool and kicked away the obstructing red tide. The further he went, the longer the scratch mark became and it didn''t seem to end up until he finally reached the far wall and could go no further. Although Ares couldn''t see the frown on his face, behind the mask, it was palpable via his demeanour and Ares knew whatever was going on was a serious matter. Dominus trudged back through the pool and cleaned off his boots after making his way out of it before looking over at Ares and going over his findings and knowledge on the matter. "Kid... There''s a lot wrong with you. Not in the sense that you''re gonna explode or anything, I mean that I have no idea what''s really happening here. I''ve never seen anything quite like this since the dawn of the revenant race. So many inexplicable events are taking place and you are the root of every single one of them. Not having any mutations is one thing, and could have maybe been ignored or chalked up to your fundamental pillar in some way or another, but this ''discovery'' we''ve just made is making it pretty clear your bloodline is untreaded ground. I can not help you. I do not know what awaits us on the lower floors. No revenant should have ever walked into one of these rooms and found a dead werewolf... Or rather not even just dead but completely gone. Nothing that exists within this space should be able to roam freely unless given explicit permission from you via an unchaining. What this crime scene tells me is that something else, other than us, is moving about unrestrained in this prison. Whatever it is has trumped the entirety of the revenant system and cannot be judged by such a metric anymore. Whatever it is... It''s not something I can comprehend at least. I don''t know why it killed this revenant, I don''t know if it killed any of the others, I don''t know what it is, and last but least that scratch mark is deeply concerning... It''s not that it exists in this place, which shouldn''t even be able to sustain damage to begin with, it''s that it means whatever caused it is highly dangerous. That scratch was the result of a single attack, not multiple. The severity of it is horrifying because even if I had my weapons on me I don''t know if I could match such a strike even if I went all out... You can''t suffer any injuries in this place but if you''re dead set on exploring it I would be ready to die here if I were you... Not that you weren''t going to anyway but this? This is not going to be a walk in the park."


    "Maybe not but I want answers... I''m not convinced you don''t have an inkling of the events that are unfolding but I understand you''re hesitant to make an uneducated guess and I won''t press you on it. Still, if you ever feel like sharing that would be swell. We may both be going into this blind but at least it''s only partial blindness on your end. I would greatly appreciate even the smallest hint so I don''t stumble around in this dark void like a headless chicken."


    "... It doesn''t matter. If my hypothesis is correct there will be time to verify it before shit hits the fan. If it isn''t then it would only ever be actively misleading. There''s no benefit to informing you now as this way keeps you on your toes for any unforeseen circumstances. I may not be a trustworthy person but right now you can trust me at least. Or rather I want out of you so souring this relationship of comradery we have going on is something I couldn''t do even if I wanted to. I won''t ever act in a way that isn''t conducive to your success so just take my word on this. I''m experienced in a great many ways and have seen a great many things. I will do what I can to compile that information and guide you when able. If there''s anything I don''t know I will warn you in advance. That is my pledge to you."


    "... Alright. So what now? We keep going down?"


    "There''s nothing else for it so yes. Doing so will help verify my suspicions but we''ll need to go way further down first before I can tell what the extent of this problem really is."


    Ares nodded and left the room. Dominus looked back at the ginormous scratch and wondered to himself if the lord tier revenant further down would even still be alive... If even that level of existence was incapable of fighting back... Dominus shook his head and also took his leave. The two wolves in human''s clothing kept ''exploring'' although, really, there was no variance in their surroundings so there wasn''t much to find. Their small-talk conversation about pressure came to a halt when Ares finally caught sight of another platform below them. This was the floor that, provided the sign was accurate, would house the epsilon version of Ares'' revenant form... Should, anyway. Ares and Dominus were both fully expecting it have befallen a similar fate as the zeta wolf. Ares was starting to worry about whether this would affect his transformation as getting eaten by these wolves was supposed to be a part of the process... And yet it seemed they were the ones getting eaten by something else entirely. Maybe one of them would be able to put up a fight against this unknown creature? Ares didn''t hold out much hope for any of the lower tiered forms so he ripped the bandaid off and swung the jail cell door open wide. He sighed, turned his head to avoid the rancid smell, and walked out of range of the odour again. Actually, he had to walk even further this time, even going down a few of the steps to put sufficient distance between himself and the nostril offender that was the river of blood inside the cell. As this revenant form would have been bigger than the previous one, there was a larger quantity of blood sloshing around inside the cell. At this rate, by the time Ares reached the lower floors, the stuff would be leaking out of the cells...


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Dominus took a deep breath and ventured into the doorway to take a gander at the room. Though he couldn''t see it all, there was yet another scratch mark, identical to the last, present here too... And that worried Dominus more than anything else he''d seen because this mark was roughly the same size as the last one... All out attacks, using all of a person''s might, would have variance to them. Mustering every single ounce of strength consistently was hard and depended on the circumstances. Fear, remaining mana quantity, physical exertion leading to a loss of strength, injuries, etc... There were a million and one reasons someone wouldn''t be able to replicate their most powerful strike to a tee... And yet this scratch mark was perfectly identical to the last one... This meant it was the exact opposite scenario... This creature wasn''t trying at all... An oddly specific middle ground between no effort and maximum effort presumably wasn''t the answer either as there was no reason to aim for an attack of this size, intentionally, over and over. It was seemingly overkill so exerting any effort whatsoever just to mimic the size of the previous attack was highly unnecessary and a waste of time.


    But what did that mean?


    There was something inside this place that could leave such massive amounts of damage with a flick of its wrists and nothing more?! Dominus wasn''t a detective or anything but there was no other valid explanation for what he was seeing and that troubled him. Whatever this thing was, Dominus was glad it hadn''t come for him on the floors above for whatever reason. Maybe not being a part of the bloodline, and housing his own separate one, was what had spared him from a similar fate... Dominus was left feeling nervous about this whole situation and resolved himself to flee if things went south. He wasn''t betraying Ares it''s just that there was a genuine risk he might disappear for good here if everything went pear shaped. Ares would be kicked out and go back to normal but Dominus? Yes he was a revenant but A; he was only a clone and B; this scenario was entirely off the books. There was no telling what the result of an encounter here with this unknown monster would bring about. Dominus could just safely flee to another part of the body now that he was unchained and so he admitted this to Ares and was upfront about his intentions after he left the room. Ares gave a wry smile and nodded in acceptance. Forcing Dominus to chuck his life away, potential permanently, was silly. It did mean he would be stuck here on his own but... Well... He was technically asking for this. He could leave now while it wasn''t still too late but he was being stubborn about it because he wanted some answers for damn once!


    The pursuit of said answers continued onwards for an indeterminable period of time. There was no night and day and certainly no timekeeping apparatus either in this place so how long the dynamic doggo duo had being going for was up in the air. Speaking of up in the air, the two had descended so far down they could no longer properly spy the black abyss Ares had originally arrived in here from. It was just endless prison cells reaching into the ''sky''. As for how their search went during this time, they''d passed by the epsilon, delta, and gamma jail cells... The result wasn''t much of a shocker. All dead and gone. However strong each of these forms were made no difference as, per usual, they''d all been felled by that same, single, scratch. Dominus was only becoming more and more fearful as the same result kept cropping up because a revenant lord, such as himself, would still struggle to deal with a powerful gamma revenant efficiently. Of course he was leagues above a gamma but, should the gamma revenant in question be an adept or have some kind of mastery, it would complicate things. Ares was an adept so the fact that whatever this thing was had outperformed what even a lord could do against such a revenant was actually causing a tinge of fear to well up in Dominus. He didn''t want to die! He''d been through that phase once already and realised his mistake! There were things worth living for and the cold, eternal embrace of death would take it all away from him. He''d sorted out his priorities now and wouldn''t lose sight of them again so dying in a place like this would be cruel! Getting a brand new lease on life only to have it snuffed out then and there... No thank you! Of course he was still just a clone but that didn''t mean he was incapable of feeling scared for his well-being.


    Sniff


    "Eughh." Both Ares and Dominus could smell the tell-tale scent of blood and they hadn''t even entered the next jail cell yet. It belonged to a beta revenant version of Ares... And was dead. Again, they hadn''t entered the cell yet yet, it''s just that Ares'' earlier prediction had come true and blood was leaking outside of the room. A small gap underneath the doorway was where a small, steady stream of blood was rolling out from within. Opening the jail cell was possible but it would result in both their ankles getting covered in blood for no reason and, quite frankly, Dominus didn''t want to see that damnable scratch mark and everything it entailed again. The two of them nodded with solemnity at one another and kept venturing down. The fact the staircase kept going meant Ares was at least an alpha wolf, that was confirmed. If beta was his limit the staircase would end here and there would be nothing but another blank void awaiting him like the one at the top of the prison. As that wasn''t the case, the descent continued.


    Two minutes later...


    "..." The two revenants were leaning over the staircase and staring at the red platform a few floors down... The blood wasn''t a small stream anymore, it was a deluge that was rapidly pouring... No, flooding, out of the jail cell... The door looked caved in, like something massive had dented it from the inside and Dominus'' speculation was as follows...


    "The alpha was trying to escape?" Six simple words that formed a sentence Dominus had never spoken before in his entire life and never expected he ever would... No matter how talented or boring the alpha, there was a bare minimum level of strength they all possessed. A level of strength that even Dominus would have to respect as an upset in a one on one fight was very possible... And it had made an attempt to flee from some kind of predator, banging on the door to try and break free instead of holding its ground and fighting... If it weren''t for Dominus'' overwhelming curiosity he would have left this unnatural place well enough alone and scarpered. He''d set forth with confidence into numerous death traps in his life when he was in his own body but this, everything he was seeing now, was enough to make him want to run away with his tail between his legs.


    A massacre is what had occurred here. As with the previous scene of carnage, Dominus didn''t want to look any deeper... If he saw that same scratch mark here he might actually go insane on the spot and lose his mind for good. There was no race, God, or monster out there capable of annihilating an alpha wolf in one slash. That was fucking preposterous and Dominus didn''t want confirmation about whether it had truly happened or not. Some things were better left to the imagination where it could be denied for as long as he liked. Ares, on the other, hand, didn''t understand the full scope of the issue as the only point of reference he had for revenants was his mother who he''d just fought. Still, that was something. Calla''s adept beta form was able to beat out Ares'' enhancement speed... If she''d been an alpha it wouldn''t even be a competition and she could maybe still remain faster than him even without her own enhancement... And if she''d been a lord she could have outpaced Ares'' annihilation enhancement with her own regular enhancement... That was how powerful revenants could be. Ares was also an adept, so a strength adept revenant at alpha tier being slaughtered like livestock past its expiry date... It was a sign that things were going to get ugly here. There was more prison extending downwards after the alpha floor so that meant a lord was coming up next... This was where Dominus'' deductions would all start to make sense depending on one specific piece of information...


    Ares and Dominus both walked down to the bloody platform and hopped atop the nearby railings to pass by unfettered. The blood would follow them on their journey from now on, however, as it was trickling off the metal sheet flooring and falling down the centre of the prison like a mini waterfall. Ares had been interested in knowing if the scenery here would ever change but this wasn''t quite what he meant... He wasn''t going to sit around and clean it up though as he had a mystery to unravel.


    Once more the two made their way down numerous steps, this time in silence as their conversation topics had all but run dry. The nearby blood waterfall had spruced up their adventure a little but not in any way that was appreciable as it only further contributed to the eery atmosphere, setting a tone that implied things neither Ares or Dominus wanted to accept and/or dwell on. It didn''t take them as long to come across the next problem, unfortunately, as it was detectable long before they could spot it. The fact that they could smell the blood from here before they could see it was ''unfortunate'' because it meant exactly what they''d both been dreading... The lord was dead too. If the alpha''s blood was like a waterfall then this lord''s would be like a cascading ocean which explained the ability to smell it from here.


    Now to what extent was the brutality of whatever happened going to showcase itself further down? Ares had no clue but he was interested in finding out. Yes it was only going to confirm suspicions they truly didn''t want confirmed but, at this point, guessing the calibre of the monster responsible was amusing in its own right. It was starting to defy logic and now Ares had given up on trying to use reason, instead opting to take bets with himself on what kind of eldritch abomination / Lovecraftian horror / or mutant beast was running around eating revenant lords. Just the thought of it would be enough to make any sane cultivator in the realm of Gods piss themselves and could be used as a bedtime story to spook prodigious children. ''If you don''t come first in the tournament and win the heart of the fair maiden, you''ll be visited by the revenant lord eater!'' Somehow, someway, Ares found it in him to laugh in this situation. Dominus looked at him with a raised eyebrow, initially thinking the kid had gone loco, but slowly realised Ares was just a different breed of person compared to himself. Dominus was free-willed and a revenant at his core but there was no way he could remain undeterred by this creepy snuff-show. Regrettably this was only the halfway point and the brief halt to their descent was now resuming... What on earth were they going to find at the bottom of this place?...