Becoming a Monster

Chapter 159: Chapter 159: Fenrir’s Rebirth

Once the core entered close proximity, his Primal Nexus began to take on a change. The eye became akin to a black hole, a massive sucking power drew in the energies from within the core. Eventually, only an empty orb remained; the gaseous clouds had entirely disappeared as they took residence within his Nexus.

When at first, the energy was left suspended in the void, swirling aimlessly. Gradually, the gaseous substance began to take shape. The shape continued to freely move until a noticeable resemblance began to take form. Its form was almost a complete replica of the creation from which the orb had been taken from, except it lacked a solid presence.

The beast within seemed to have a life of its own, its body moving about; seemingly protesting being caged inside.

Normally, this scene would have spurred Noah’s budding curiosity, but at this moment, Noah was completely focused. His expression remained to be one of indifference towards the mystery of his body, while his eyes reflected the affection he had for Fenrir, who was struggling to breathe even now.

”With this....” Noah placed his palm over his Nexus, and as if what he was doing wasn’t mystifying already, his hand submerged itself within the swirling energy. His hand gripped onto the creature as if it was now a tangible substance, withdrawing it from his chest while the creature squirmed in protest.

Noah shuffled around Fenrir’s body. Just as he needed to use a core to withdraw the energy and spiritual make-up of the creature, he also needed a core to place the spiritual creature within.

”Not only will you become powerful enough to continue to fight by my side...but....” Noah’s tone softened, the warmth in his eyes intensified as he brought his hand towards Fenrir’s chest. ”We’ll be family...”

As if the spiritual creatures came to recognize its fate, it began to struggle more fiercely than ever, but its struggle was in vain. The moment the creature made contact with Fenrir’s body, there was a sudden pulse of energy, and every single strand of fur on Fenrir’s body shot up. The struggling creature then slowly slipped through Fenrir’s body, flesh and all. Its entire being fought for a way to survive without a container, and its instincts led it to the closest vessel, not realizing that it was leading itself to its own doom.

For a moment, Fenrir’s body went completely still; his once labored breathing stopped, in fact, he wasn’t breathing at all. But Noah never worried; his Nexus eye could see the energy stimulating within. The struggling creature that now resided within Fenrir’s core found its body being slowly dissolved, its energy slowly being consumed, eventually merging and changing itself and the new core it found itself in. Its movements were more frantic than ever, with its instincts screaming that its existence was about to be lost forever, but there was nothing it could do.

When the last bit of its mana essence was fully absorbed, the change within Fenrir sparked.

Another strong pulse of energy was released. Fenrir’s entire body jolted simultaneously with the pulsating energy. His eyes widened in both agony and intoxicating euphoria; the potent power coursing through his body was as addicting as it was painful.

His head jerked up, pointing into the sky, and releasing a roar that harbored his transitioning into something more. His roars fully exhibited the pain he was experiencing, and the breaks in between them began to fester as his body underwent its mutation.

Sickening spurts of flesh being punctured sounded echoed repeatedly. As his mana drained, a line of crystallized thorns arose from his body, with fresh blood and skin clinging strongly to most of the thorns.

Alongside the thorn’s appearance, his face took on a similar characteristic. Just inches above the base of his forehead, a menacing horn thrust itself forward. It slightly curved above his eyes, extending almost two feet in length. The horn tapered to an extremely sharp point at the tip, with additional smaller ridges traveling down. And if observed on closer inspection, the horn carried small, almost unnoticeable engravings that seemed to hold no meaning.

The horn almost made the other features on his face go unnoticed. On both sides of the bridge of his snout and above his eyes, small centipede-like eyes emerged. The cluster of small, brownish crimson compound eyes made his face seem almost alien in nature. These small eyes weren’t there to enhance his vision but to heighten his predatory instincts in his hunt; they give him enhanced perception of movement and light, making him more alert and responsive to his prey.

His entire body was contorting and stretching itself, the cracking of bones and stretching of flesh filled the air as he gained a few extra feet in height. When his body reached a certain state, blood splattered from underneath his arms as large, hairless claws extended outward. All of his muscles and tendons were on full display and the scene was gory, with blood continuing to spill from the exposed muscles. Even his previous arms underwent a notable transformation. From his claws all the way to his elbow, all of the fur and skin fell off, revealing the same grotesque scene as before.

The exposed arms suddenly seemed to be subjected to a familiar yet unnatural substance. Unlike skin, a hardened material began to manifest itself from atop his muscle fibers, almost as if the material was forming an exoskeleton. The hardened substance spread rapidly across all four of his arms, thickening and solidifying into silver, jagged plates; the same color as his now terrifying mane. The exoskeleton wasn’t just serving as a mere protective barrier; from Noah’s inspection, the exoskeleton was at least triple the density of the rest of his arms.

The exoskeleton even covered up his massive claws, making them his most dangerous weapon.

His arms were unnaturally longer than his original figure, most likely from the centipede’s genetics. Even if he were to stand on his two feet, his arms would be close to touching the ground. The centipede’s genes seemed to continue to cause shifts within his body. On every one of his limbs, a set of long, eerie talons with two segmented pieces grew. On his arms, the talons resided on the both sides of his forearms, while extending out from his legs on either side of his shins.

The talons were long and curved enough not only to reach the ground but also to latch onto his prey if Fenrir grabbed an enemy.

And although the majority of his body was once covered in fur, patches of his new exoskeleton, similar to the dense armor on his arms, were now splattered throughout his body. The segmented armor covered the back of his neck, along his spine and the curvature of his ribcage, while lastly the upper parts of his legs received the same patchwork experience.

Like his horn, each one of his claws and even the crystallized shards on his back were all riddled with the same barely noticeable engravings.

Looking at Fenrir’s new appearance, Noah watched in high praise. Even after Fenrir completed his transformation, he released a sound that was a mixture between a predatory roar and an ominous shriek. Fenrir’s thoughts were still filled with the overwhelming power residing within him, while his primal instincts were at an all time high from the persistent agonizing pain he had endured.

When he felt movement to his side, his face snapped towards the source, and one of his heavy handed claws forcefully struck in the direction, generating a burst of air in the process. But just as quickly as Fenrir made the decision to strike, his attack suddenly halted as he sensed an awfully familiar presence; one that he would continuously risk his life to serve and protect, but also within that presence, he felt genuine fear.

Even as he held back his attack, the force brought with the attack released the gust of air in Noah’s direction. Noah’s hair and facial muscles were blown back by the force, but he didn’t flinch. His expression was no longer the same that held the same affection but one that promised punishment. His focused gaze locked onto Fenrir, seemingly daring the wolf to continue through his attack. That look, and his subtle intention, made Fenrir wake up to what he was about to do.

Realizing what he did, Fenrir’s elongated tail still managed to bury itself between his legs, and his body going prone to the ground while his eyes attempted to put on a puppy-like display of innocence and forgiveness.

Seeing Fenrir’s familiar antics restores Noah’s previous demeanor. Knowing that Fenrir was still his monstrous puppy, and not letting power consume his sanity gave Noah a comfort he was aware of.

With calm steps, Noah approached the oversized creature. Fenrir’s maw was large enough to swallow Noah whole if he chose to, yet Noah’s steps didn’t falter. Even as he reached out to Fenrir’s snout, slowly caressing his fur.

”it’s good that you’re back...I thought I was gonna have to beat the old you out of you,” Noah threatenedly voiced, but his warm tone contradicted his statement.

Instead of feeling fearful, the touch of Noah’s touch made Fenrir ignore the eerie threat. His tail unfurled itself before it whipped up a thunderous storm, generating a wind just as ferocious as his punch.

Ailetta didn’t intend to intrude on such a reunion; she was already satisfied enough on acutely memorizing the small smile on Noah’s face, and enjoying the warmth of his soul that enriched hers.

And when the reunion seemed to never end, Noah stopped feeding into Fenrir’s attention, and turned his gaze to his last missing family member.

”She still hasn’t come out?” Noah voiced to himself. His question caused the dissatisfied Fenrir to look in the same general direction, finding a saturated shell of what used to be Arachne. Noah’s gaze was more longing as he took in Arachne’s image compared to the one he held for Fenrir. But then his eyes sternly narrowed, the eye within his Primal Nexus spotted an object in the distance.

As before, he shot another web towards the location that held the Queen’s remains, retrieving a shiny, luscious orb that radiated nearly twice the power as the core he used for Fenrir.

Noah was conflicted about whether to do the same thing to Arachne.On one hand, the orb would certainly make her more powerful, but on the other, she already gained the Queen’s genes, incorporating it into her own. However, peering into Arachne’s figure, Noah could tell that the aura building up within wasn’t nearly as strong as the present orb.

Ailetta noticed this certain action, even though she was curious at what Noah planned, couldn’t help but voice her concern.. ”Noah? Are you planning on doing the same thing to her?”

To her question, Noah continued his steady strides, seemingly questioning his actions again before giving an answer. ”Even if we were stronger than 99% of the world, I realized...that isn’t enough...Just like now, we could eventually meet that 1%. I don’t care if this may seem wasteful; all I want is for all of us to be the strongest. We must be the strongest....because....there will always be something stronger...”

His voice softened to a barely audible whisper, one that Ailetta could only pick up through their bond, but this was leaving her with lingering questions. She didn’t know that the ”something” Noah was referring to was the entity in his soul