Byakko Shiroe had always been an odd girl out for her tribe. Born to both tiger-type werebeast parents, she was born with white fur very different from her parents' orange. Of course, no one cared enough. There were tens of hundreds of different species of werebeasts, and it wasn't uncommon for them to be born with an incredible variety of shapes and colors completely unrelated to their parents.
Since she was little, Byakko had been different from others, aggressive, competitive, and always seeking challenges. It's a more or less normal attitude that many werebeasts end up developing thanks to the aggressiveness of their surroundings, but basically being born with it? That certainly wasn't normal. "A talent from heaven," they called her.
Even as a child, she was the strongest combat member of her entire race. She absorbed fighting knowledge like a sponge, had insane reflexes, brutal regeneration, and inhuman strength, and her senses far surpassed even the best trackers. She had it all. What not many noticed was her lack of... Purpose. She followed orders, her personality was there, and she trained, but she seemed to be missing something fundamental, like she wasn't yet complete.
That changed with the arrival of the true owner of that personality and body, that is, me.
It's no longer time to talk about Byakko Shiroe as someone else. For all intents and purposes, that's the new me; there's no doubt about it. Her body and personality, almost certainly created entirely by the Waifu Catalog or the entity behind it, are exactly what you'd expect of me if I didn't have any Waifu Catalog powers or my memories.
That means that, as soon as I "recovered" consciousness, I almost immediately felt stronger, and not by a small margin. I wanted to enjoy this newfound superiority I felt in my bones, but the scream of one of my fellow companions caught my attention.
"Dhampirs are here!"
At that moment, a grim smile spread across my face. The entire group gathered in a circular formation, ready to act at the first sign of trouble, even though they couldn't see anything.
We were in a vast, lush forest. Enormous trees, barely existent on Earth, surrounded us on all sides. Their enormous leaves and branches covered the entire sky, giving the illusion of a green roof above us.
In retrospect, the perfect place for a race whose mortal weakness is sunlight.
Dhampirs are expert assassins. Their illusions are capable of nullifying all senses, allowing them to completely conceal their presence from any race, making them dangerous to anyone not strong enough to resist their bite. Considering that, the fact that we were able to detect them even remotely by their scent is a miracle, a miracle I doubt we'll ever have again.
My companions were just waiting to be able to react to the first attack; they had no hope of being able to find any dhampir now that they are completely hidden.
Not that it's my case, not now.
A single swipe of my sharp claws and the dhampir about to attack the wolf girl beside me was completely split in half.
""What?!""
I could barely hear that scream the twelve dhampirs made in their invisibility cloaks, but I did.
Everyone in the room stared at me as if I'd grown a second head in place. The fallen dhampir's blood washed over me as I slowly began to stretch. I closed my eyes as if enjoying the stretch after a good morning blood shower. As I did so, I began to think a little about the mission.
It was supposed to be a reconnaissance mission for the influx of bloodless animals we'd found near the shores connecting our archipelago to the continent of Lucia. It was normal for us to have conflicts with elves or dwarves over control of the continent, but there was only one race that had a stupid habit of attacking animals like that: dhampirs. The mission was to search during the day and return before night to avoid conflict, but an altercation with the sirens on the way to the great continent delayed our arrival, and now here we are, surrounded by a squad of dhampirs.
Normally, this squad of dhampirs, outnumbering us by almost twice as many, would be enough to wipe out our small group of werebeasts, but not now, not with me here.
The rest of the dhampirs were wary. However, their arrogance and confidence in their stealth abilities, as well as the difference in numbers, caused them to begin circling me as they prepared for an attack. I pretended not to be able to see them as I continued with my exercises.
A quick use of their illusions was enough to drive the rest of my group crazy. They were avoiding attacking anyone who didn't activate their touch senses because they were well aware of the dirty tricks played by dhampirs, but the experience of having our senses, one of our greatest weapons, played with was still unpleasant.
I ignored it.
Annoyed by my apparent indifference, even those targeting my companions turned in my direction. I quickly found myself surrounded by eleven very angry adult dhampirs, ready to attack me at the slightest opportunity… Which was apparently right now, when one of the dhampirs, the one who appeared to be the youngest, lunged at my neck, confident in his stealth; however, I have to repeat myself: that won't work on me.
With one fluid motion, I spun around in a spin move that would put Michael Jordan to shame, grabbed the poor bastard by the neck, and before anyone could react, slammed his head into the ground.
He didn't move again.
This time I didn't hesitate and directed my malicious gaze at the dhampirs who now looked scared as they realized their illusions weren't as effective as they thought. That was thanks to Mind Defense. Of course, I was only at Defense level, not immunity, so their illusions affected me to a certain extent, but not to the point where they were invisible or bothered me enough to stop me from fighting—just small distractions at best, and that's not enough to stop me.
They began preparing to fly away from the place, ready to flee at the slightest sign of trouble like the cowards they are; of course, I wouldn't let them go that easily.
With a thought, my once completely human legs took the form of the white tiger I am. I felt my already strong muscles, bones, tendons, and nerves grow even more dangerous. I crouched down, springing into a sprint, and in a fluid motion, I shot forward at full speed.
From the dhampirs' point of view, I might as well have disappeared. They looked around for any trace of my presence in the dense forest we found ourselves in. The forest was supposed to be an asset to their stealth skills or even a place to take cover from the deadly sunlight with its vast amount of leaves and enormous trunks, but now as they watched me hooked using my enormous claws from my white tiger hands and legs to one of those trunks, holding a head in my mouth, they wondered if they might have made a mistake.
"There she is! Attack her!"
That one seemed to be the smartest; however, he didn't take into account the psychological damage of having an enemy with your companion's head in its mouth. The other dhampirs were slow to react, and by then he'd already jumped to the next log, and the next, and the next.
Like a crazy pinball game, I began jumping from tree to tree in a blur of motion. Magical attacks that looked like small beams of darkness that were probably curses kept trying to hit me, but they weren't even close. The dhampirs were getting desperate, and their magic was becoming increasingly unstable due to their lack of concentration.
"What are y- Argh!"
That dhampir's scream was cut short when the wolf girl from before pierced his chest with her claws that were now covered in blood.
The shout from his fellow dhampir caught the attention of the others, who realized the problem. They were so focused on me that they lost focus on the illusions put on the other werebeasts, a mistake they paid dearly for when all of my companions immediately took the life of a dhampir each.
There was no longer an advantage in numbers.
The five remaining dhampirs, panicking, completely forgot about formation or maintaining any illusions. Their only priority was running. They knew they couldn't escape through the forest—I was too fast for them to pull that off—so their next attempt was to escape above.
I don't think they've tried it before for fear that the lack of visibility due to the incredible amount of leaves would be fatal, but it seems they decided to take the risk.
As if I would allow them to do that.
This was a skill I'd wanted to try for a while. What better time than now?
"Blood Break!"
It was as if the world stopped.
The first thing I noticed was the colors. My sense of sight had improved so much that I was able to see colors I didn't even know existed—I could even see the mites on dhampir skin. My hearing wasn't far behind, hearing for miles around me, which made me also aware of the small elven spy in the mountains. I didn't know how he could see through the dense forest, but considering he's an elf, it almost certainly had something to do with magic. My senses of smell, touch, and taste—everything had improved to an absurd level, not to mention my reflexes, which are the reason the world felt like it was in slow motion.
My strength felt greater. Not because I was getting stronger, but rather because my boiling blood forced my organs to generate more energy per second at the cost of greater fatigue. The process was so intense that it generated steam around me. However, that wasn't the greatest source of my strength. I could feel the mana in my body transforming from a gasoline-powered engine into a particle accelerator. A bit of an exaggeration, but the point is that my mana increased its rotational speed to a ridiculous degree, dramatically increasing my physical capabilities.
I can even do this.
Before anyone could even move in my slowed-down world, I kicked with all my might at the trunk I'd been holding onto seconds ago. The entire tree shattered into pieces from the force of the blow. I blasted past one of the dhampirs, who had already lost his mind before I could react. The momentum carried me forward, seemingly endlessly, but a twist of my body brought me face-to-face with the dhampirs I'd left behind, and with a movement that breaks all the laws of physics, I kicked the air.
Somehow, that simple kick propelled me back toward the group of dhampirs. It didn't make sense, but I knew it was related to the large influx of mana, simply doing what its owner wanted it to do. I wanted to kick the air, so that's what I did.
This time I saw one of the dhampirs open his eyes slightly, even with my altered perception. I aimed for that one; he seemed the smartest.
Another attack, another head.
I repeated the process once more until I finally allowed my legs to touch the ground in a crouching position. With a thought, I turned off Blood Break mode, allowing my senses to return to normal.
The sound of the tree I destroyed with my first move falling along with the bodies of the last five dhampirs was what greeted me as soon as my perception of the world returned. That and the gaping mouths, along with the glimmer of respect and disbelief from my packmates.
Without a second thought, I stood up from my crouched position on the ground, of course taking the opportunity to pose a little, sticking out my chest as I basked in the attention. It was mainly because of the wolf girl's focused attention from earlier. Her red face and labored breathing let me know that I would soon receive the full brunt of her attention for a good while, which I would enjoy later.
"Easy, right?"