Published at 29th of January 2026 7:00 am

Chapter 1702 The Bridge Between Generations

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Kai’s standard Wolf form was undeniably fast. When he combined his lupine agility with his elemental ice powers, he became a blur of frost and fur that could dismantle most opponents before they even realized the fight had begun.

However, that speed came at a significant cost. In his base transformed state, Kai had one glaring, major weakness: his raw attack power was relatively low compared to the heavy hitters of the pack. His True Alpha form was designed to bridge this gap, granting him the physical force necessary to crush reinforced defenses, but that was a form he simply couldn't access in the current chaos.

Faced with a situation like this, where he was up against an opponent like Steve, whose hide was too dense and whose body was too resilient to be damaged by simple claws, Kai’s traditional Wolf form felt almost useless. As they traded blows, Kai realized the terrifying truth: Steve was subconsciously utilizing Qi to reinforce his entire skeletal structure and muscular system.

It was a bitter irony. The beast version of Steve, fueled by the madness of the full moon, seemed significantly more dangerous than the "real" Steve. Without the mental restraints of morality or self-doubt, the creature was tapping into a well of primal power that Steve usually kept suppressed.

“Come on!” Kai shouted, the sound echoing off the cavern walls. He kicked off his front foot, shattering the ground beneath him as he blasted straight ahead like a white-blue streak.

Steve mirrored the movement, charging with the weight of a freight train, but Kai had the edge in pure reaction time. The ice swords he had crafted hummed with a lethal chill. Kai ducked beneath a wild swing of Steve's chains and slashed upward. The blades connected with Steve’s chest, the reinforced ice managing to bite deep enough to cause a spray of dark blood to splatter across the frost.

Steve didn't let up. His massive arms moved in a frantic blur, attempting to swat Kai out of the air. Kai parried the heavy strikes with his ice blades, the ring of power against beast hide sounding like clashing steel.

He didn't stop to admire his work; he continued to slash with both hands, using every ounce of power he could muster. Kai was pushing his lungs to the limit, barely taking a breath as he maintained a relentless flurry of strikes.

There was a specific reason why Kai was able to do this, why he could stand toe-to-toe with a rampaging Alpha. It was because he had mastered a skill that was rare even among their kind in this world: the precise application of Qi.

While Gary and Lupus relied on their sheer physical monstrousness, Kai had studied the finer points of empowering his muscles and feet. This allowed his movement to be faster and more explosive than ever before, even without the full physical shift of a Wolf form. But more importantly, Kai was one of the few who had learned to project his Qi into external objects.

He was coating his ice blades in a thin, vibrating layer of Qi energy. This was a technique that the others hadn't quite mastered yet. By doing so, his weapons became more than just frozen water; they were reinforced artifacts. They didn't shatter against Steve’s toughened hide despite the incredible force being channeled through them.

Kai continued his assault, a whirlwind of blades cutting into Steve’s shoulders and flanks. Frustrated and bleeding from a dozen shallow cuts, Steve roared and slammed his fist into the ground again. He summoned a massive surge of Qi that rippled through the earth, intending to blast Kai upward.

Kai, anticipating the move, leapt at the perfect micro-second. As he descended from the peak of his jump, he thrusted both swords forward, burying them into Steve’s chest. The impact was heavy, and Steve responded with a desperate, crushing punch that sent Kai bouncing across the cavern floor like a stone skipped across a pond.

The moment Kai’s feet touched the ground, he shifted instantly into his full Wolf form. In a display of mid-air coordination, he caught one of his fallen ice blades in his powerful jaws. He lunged back toward Steve, shifting back to his humanoid Werewolf form at the last possible second to perform a low, sweeping strike. The blade cut deep into the back of Steve’s leg, severing the Achilles tendon.

Even an Alpha of Steve’s caliber couldn't fight through the sudden loss of structural integrity. The pain and the shock to his nervous system forced him to his knees, and he fell heavily to the cavern floor.

Kai didn't give him a chance to recover. He unleashed a final, frantic series of slashes across Steve’s back. He moved with cold efficiency, cutting the other leg to ensure Steve stayed down, before finally slamming both blades together in a cross-slash across the Alpha's spine. The blades pounded into Steve’s skin with the weight of a hammer before finally smashing into a thousand crystalline pieces. Steve’s massive body slumped forward, unmoving.

“I know that’s not enough to kill a monster like you, but I hope it’s enough to make you stay down for a while,” Kai panted, leaning on his knees as his ice weapons evaporated into mist. “I’m sorry, Steve. Your generation of Alphas... you’re strong. You did what you could with your bodies, and you even learned to utilize Qi in your own way.”

Kai looked down at his own hands, which were trembling from the exertion.

“Maybe if you had eaten a stronger beast to evolve yourself, or used that high-tier beast gear of yours, it would have been a much tougher fight. Or maybe it's just the fact that I’m a shapeshifter, getting a boost from the others’ presence, that gave me the edge. But it’s time for the new generation to surpass the old.”

Kai allowed himself a small, tired smile, feeling a genuine sense of pride in defeating an Alpha of the current era. However, his satisfaction was short-lived. As he looked around the cavern to catch his breath, he realized something was very wrong.

The silence was eerie. He wondered why the other pack members weren't swarming him now that their Alpha was down. Had they been too intimidated to intervene? Had the speed of the fight left them unable to keep up?

Kai looked toward the far end of the cavern where the main staircase was located. His heart sank. The massive steel doors, designed to keep the starving wolves contained, had been violently torn from their hinges. While Kai had been entirely focused on his life-or-death duel with Steve, every other werewolf in the cavern that was able to move had already escaped into the tunnels above.

The siege of the Red Wing Kingdom was about to get a lot more crowded.

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