Chapter three

Alexander’s POV

A Day Before The Ceremony

I looked into the mirror, admiring my handsome self. “I hope that delusional goddess gives me a strong mate—a mate not as strong as me, though.”

“From the rumors, you should be feeling the bond between the two of you a day before the ceremony." My beta Jasper, who was also my right hand, replied to me while standing by the entrance of my door. He was always beside me, ever since I became the Alpha.

"Do you feel a bond with anyone, Jasper?"

"I did feel a sensation when I woke up," he said, looking at me with a smile on his face.

"Why do I feel like you are not talking about something relating to mating?"

"What are you insinuating, Alexander?" We both burst into laughter. Even if he was my beta, he had always called me by my name. He was the only one permitted to call me without saying "Alpha.".

We were the best of friends through the lowest of lows. We didn't have wealthy parents. My father had died during the last war between another pack, while Jasper was an orphan.

My mom had brought him into our house when he was still a baby. Apparently she found him in a woven basket near the river, and since then he has become my half brother.

After being together for many years, we found out that we aspired to become the Alpha, and since then, we have become rivals, advancing through ranks, beating other competitors, and building a stronger bond between us. We were equally matched in strength, speed, and power. 

On the day of the ceremony for the selection of the next Alpha, the elders had given one rule: 

"A fight to the death." We knew it was going to come to this: the last fight. He was a good fighter who excelled in both defense and attack skills. I am more into attacking than defense. Why would you be equal in defense and attack when you can just attack and go all out?

We had fought for three days in the arena without food, water, or sleep. It was obvious we weren't giving up anytime soon. On the fourth day, the match became a little one-sided, giving me the upper hand. I knew something was wrong. The Jasper I knew could go more than a week fighting. His endurance was greater than mine.

His movements were getting easier to read, and his attacks weren't as strong as before.

"What are you doing, bastard? Tired already?" I smiled while dodging one of the claw attacks.

"You must be kidding me; I wouldn't get tired fighting someone as weak as you." He laughed as he moved towards me, launching another attack towards my belly. Moving back swiftly, he clawed at the air, immediately giving me an opportunity to strike since he has been playing more defense than attack, disrupting me from attacking any open spots.

In a blink of an eye, I dodged the attack, immediately transporting myself to his back. By using all of the energy I still had, I enhanced my speed by activating the switch skill, which allowed me to move as fast as ten Alphas combined. It was my signature skill, which allowed me to move crazy fast while shifting part of the energy to different parts of my attacks, which improved my damage ten times. It had a time limit of about ten seconds, so I had to make the most of it.

Jasper, who had tried to claw at me, had a surprised look on his face as he couldn't find me at his front anymore. He was still in his position.

The elders also had a surprised look on their faces.

"Did you just see that?"

"What kind of skill is that?"

"They have been fighting for four days, and he still has this amount of energy?" 

Slowly, I dispersed some of the energy into my hands, easing out my claws and making them harder and more dangerous. With only six seconds remaining, I released my attacks at his back, destroying the leather armor he was wearing and tearing apart his flesh. I didn't mind killing him to become Alpha; I would do anything to become Alpha, even if it meant killing someone close to me.

After three seconds of running, I revolved around him, dealing attacks anywhere possible. Time was running out as I was starting to feel weak. Another flaw of the attack was that it used all of my energy.

Time finally ran out as I dropped on my knees, hoping to see Jasper down. Strangely, he was still standing while blood dripped from the various cuts I had made. No way!

No one would be able to survive those attacks. I had attacked his sensitive points, dealing ten times the damage. It was surprising to see him still standing. He turned around to face me as he let out a huge roar, releasing a huge amount of energy, which made the grounds of the arena crumble into two, causing a big wave of dust that disturbed the vision of the elders.

What just happened seemed impossible; my strongest attack wasn't able to kill him.

"Just what kind of monster are you?" I shouted with an agitated look on my face. I had never seen anyone survive that attack. A skill I had slowly created and mastered for about fifty years. I had a cold sweat running down my face, and as I tried standing up, my knees weren't responding. Oh damn.

Slowly, he walked towards me, ignoring the cuts and blood that dripped off him. He left blood trails as he approached me. The arena had been crushed into two.

The elders were still in shock about what had just happened in the arena. I could see some of them sweating. The two of us had been displaying a lot of power since the beginning of the match, portraying intellectual knowledge and how much work we had put into knowing about harnessing different skills and attributes.

"Those boys are monsters," one of them said while adjusting his clothing. Everyone could see how much he was sweating.

"We have been observing for the past four days now. This sudden burst of power is now alarming. Any small power release, and the remains of the arena are not going to exist anymore. We need to stop this; we can't even see what's going on now that the dust has blocked our vision. The arena alone would take years to rebuild." The main elder said this while rising from his seat. 

The main elder is the oldest in the whole pack. His job is to crown the next Alpha and act as his advisor. He has over twenty lesser elders under his control, and all of them were present watching the two battles.

"Someone should go check if someone is still alive." One of the lesser elders suggested.

"We don't have to look; we wait," the main elder replied, sitting down.

"Main elder, what if no one comes?"

"A true Alpha, despite the situation, is supposed to know how to survive.

"I know about that. What if we...

"Look ! Someone's coming!" Turning their faces back towards the ruins of the arena, they could see a small figure approaching while holding something.

"Alexander !!!"