Enid threw the grenade in a daze.
Boom—!!!
A thick column of water suddenly exploded behind the side of the nearest canoe, drenching the contestants on that boat like a rainstorm!
The contestants, who thought they had escaped, froze for half a second before erupting into even more piercing screams:
"Why do these guys still have grenades?! Didn't they say they were all out?!"
Amidst the wails of despair, everyone paddled for their lives, wishing they could use every ounce of strength they had.
Enid stared blankly at the scene she had caused—the explosion, the soaring water column, the screams and fear of her opponents... Her heart pounded wildly in her chest, but it was no longer because of Victor's seductive "baby" from earlier.
It was something else... something deeper, from the depths of her bloodline, something savage and primal that had been ignited.
"Can... can I have another one?" Enid lowered her head, her voice trembling slightly, making it impossible to see her expression.
"Of course, why not, baby." A glimmer of knowing interest flashed in Victor's eyes as he unhesitatingly handed over several more grenades.
Enid took them and pulled all the pins almost violently, as if venting some long-suppressed emotion, throwing them all at once with all her might!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Boom!!!
One explosion after another rang out, and columns of water bloomed on the lake like fireworks of death, making the desperately fleeing boats look even smaller and more pitiful.
Listening to those amplified and distorted screams of fear, and watching those figures fleeing in panic like startled prey, Enid felt as if she had been instantly cast back into the vast primeval forest.
And she was no longer that Little Wolf Girl who needed to try hard to fit in and worried about being unable to transform.
She was the alpha! She was leading her pack, rounding up and hunting!
Enid suddenly remembered the ancient legends she had heard as a child—the alpha wolves who led the pack to tear apart prey under the moonlight never needed a perfect transformation; they only needed the purest primal instinct.
"Ha... ha..." Enid panted heavily, her chest feeling incredibly tight. A searing power surged through her limbs, desperately seeking an exit, wanting to do something to vent this unprecedented, surging impulse!
She stumbled back a few steps, nearly unable to stand.
A warm and steady hand supported the small of her back just in time.
"Enid," Victor's voice sounded in her ear, with an encouraging, almost provocative smile, "Do what you want to do most. Now, immediately!"
Enid snapped her head up and stared fixedly at Victor. In those eyes that always flickered with friendly light, a wild, almost manic brilliance was burning now.
Suddenly, she let out a string of bell-like yet aggressively cheerful laughter!
One of her hands shot out, accurately grabbing the jingling bell collar around Victor's neck, and pulled him toward her with force!
Then, under Victor's slightly surprised gaze, her pink lips pressed firmly against his cheek with undeniable power!
It was a brief touch before she pulled away.
Then, like a heartbreaker who leaves without a second thought after getting what she wanted, she casually pushed Victor back while her other hand skillfully snatched all the remaining grenades from his hand.
Victor was completely stunned, even subconsciously touching the cheek that had just been "attacked." For the first time, a genuine, caught-off-guard blankness appeared in those eyes that always flickered with mad light.
Wednesday, who had been watching coldly from the side, frowned imperceptibly. The emotions in her dark pupils were hard to discern, and no one knew what she was thinking.
Enid, however, seemed to have completed some important ritual. She turned and, like a goddess scattering flowers, threw all the grenades in her hand as far as she could!
Boom boom boom boom—!!!
A series of even denser and more violent explosions rang out. Massive columns of water shot into the sky, eventually turning into a shower of spray that fell with a splash, as if a brief rainstorm had started on the lake.
In this chaotic and spectacular "curtain of rain" she had created, Enid stepped onto the bow of the black cat, her posture upright and full of wild power.
She held high the black flag emblazoned with a hideous cat claw, tilted her head back, and let out a loud and long—
"Awoo—!!!"
This wasn't the forced, shy, and uncertain wolf Howl she used to make just to fit in.
It was a louder, purer Howl, filled with primal power and vigorous vitality! It was as if it erupted from the deepest part of her soul!
In the spectator stands, some werewolf students seemed to be struck in the soul by this Howl. Their bodies reacted before their minds, and one by one, they erupted in responding wolf Howls!
Then, even among the contestants desperately paddling on the lake, the werewolf students seemed to be infected by some powerful bloodline resonance. They involuntarily looked up and let out the same Howl!
For a time, wolf Howls rose and fell across the Black Lake, weaving into a wild and shocking chorus!
On the viewing platform, Principal Larissa Weems watched this unexpected scene, her lips curling slightly into a meaningful smile.
"It seems," she whispered to herself, a hint of satisfaction flashing in her silver-gray eyes, "that Sinclair will be able to successfully wolf out by the time the next full moon arrives."
On the lake, a contestant finally broke down completely.
"Damn it! I'm not competing anymore! I quit!" A contestant slammed his oar into the water, shouted in despair while holding his head, and then jumped into the lake with a splash.
This was the default way to concede in Nevermore's "no-rules" competition.
His breakdown was like the first domino falling.
If they were terrified but still harbored a sliver of hope that "they can control it, no one will actually die" when facing Victor and Wednesday's surgical-precision throws...
then facing Enid... they were in total despair.
That werewolf girl's throwing was completely haphazard, relying entirely on a wild instinct!
The previous grenade might land eighty feet away, giving you a breather, but the next one could explode almost right against your hull. That face-to-face breath of death and the deafening roar were enough to make anyone's adrenaline spike to the limit!
This extreme experience of oscillating between "luck" and "sudden death" was enough to drive even the strongest nerves insane.
With the first came the second, the third... "I'm out too!"
"I concede! I concede!"
"Help!"
The sound of splashes rang out one after another as contestants scrambled to jump ship and escape, as if the black cat was the source of some spreading plague.
Even the proud Bianca, looking at the suddenly empty lake around her, then at the black boat approaching like a carnival float, and the three distinct but equally dangerous lunatics on board...
She bit her lip so hard she nearly drew blood, but finally, she slumped and let go of her oar, slowly raising her hands in a humiliated and stiff gesture.
She saw no hope of winning, not even a shred.
"It looks like we've secured our victory ahead of time."
Victor looked around and found that on the vast Black Lake, their canoe was the only one still sailing, and he couldn't help but sigh in victory.
He looked at Enid, who was still in a state of extreme excitement at the bow, as if leading an invisible pack of wolves, and a playful smile played on his lips.
He reached out to straighten the bell collar that Enid had tugged askew, and then—under everyone's watchful eyes—he reached into Venom's body and, after some rummaging, actually pulled out a well-maintained, dark brown violin and bow!
He elegantly rested the violin on his shoulder, his chin lightly pressing against the chinrest, and tested a few notes.
Then, he looked at the expressionless Wednesday and issued a wild invitation: "Hey, Captain, how about some victory BGM? Venom has a cello in his belly too, and the tone is quite good."
Wednesday raised an eyebrow, a tiny glimmer of interest seemingly flashing in her dark pupils, moved by this absurd proposal.
This kind of public madness wasn't elegant enough... but, once in a while, it didn't feel bad.
She did not speak, but she reached out her hand toward Venom.
Venom writhed cooperatively, and another larger, elegantly lined cello was "spat" out and delivered steadily into Wednesday's hands.
Wednesday adjusted her sitting posture, placed the cello in front of her, and gripped the bow.
The next moment, a rousing and familiar melody that made one's skin crawl—the theme song of "Pirates of the Caribbean," "He's a Pirate"—suddenly resounded across the Black Lake through the duet of violin and cello!
Victor's violin took the lead melody, wild and unrestrained, filled with the passion of adventure and conquest.
Wednesday's cello played the deep and rhythmic bass part, like a dark, surging sea, steady and dangerous.
The two timbres intertwined perfectly, interpreting this classic piece with a unique charm of darkness and madness that belonged to Nevermore.
And just as the music reached its climax, Enid at the bow seemed to understand perfectly. She suddenly drew the pink, rhinestone-studded Desert Eagle pistol Victor had given her and aimed it at the sky—
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The crisp and loud gunshots punctuated the stirring music rhythmically, becoming the most shocking percussion part!
All the spectators in the stands, including the teachers and the principal, watched this surreal scene on the lake:
A pitch-black, ghost-ship-like canoe, carrying a Gothic girl playing the cello, a manic boy playing the violin, a werewolf girl holding a flag and firing into the air, and a black symbiote wiggling its body to the music, sailed across the empty lake like a sovereign to the classic Pirates of the Caribbean BGM... They froze collectively, falling into a several-second-long, deeply shocked silence.
Then, a roar of wild cheers and whistles, louder than all the previous explosions combined and nearly overturning the entire Black Lake, erupted from the spectator stands like a tsunami!
"black cat! black cat! black cat!"
No one knew who started it, but the unified, fanatically worshipful shouts echoed through the skies.
At this moment, the winner had been decided.
But more importantly, a legend was born.