Chapter 269: Voidfang Predator
Chapter 269: Voidfang Predator
She let out a sigh. "I told everyone to get some sleep while I stayed behind to watch over you."
West stared at her for a moment. "...Sorry."
Aria shook her head immediately. "Don’t apologize."
Without warning, she leaned forward and kissed him deeply.
West’s eyes widened slightly before he returned the kiss naturally.
When they finally separated, Aria rested her forehead lightly against his chest.
"I’m just glad you’re alright."
West chuckled softly.
"Oh trust me..." he slowly stood to his feet. "I’m more than alright."
And truly, he was.
Power spread through every inch of his body to the point where he felt his entire existence had become heavier somehow.
Aria stared at him carefully while standing as well. "...You feel different."
West glanced down at himself. "Different good or different bad?"
Aria stepped closer slowly before placing a hand against his chest.
Upon contact, her eyes widened slightly. "...Your body temperature is really high."
West shrugged casually. "I feel fine."
But Aria’s fingers lingered against his chest slightly longer than necessary.
His muscles felt denser now, like steel cables beneath skin.
Even his aura felt more intense, oppressive and primal.
Aria swallowed slightly. "...You honestly look scarier too."
West laughed. "Good."
He stretched his neck lightly. "Time to see what exactly I got."
A few minutes later, West arrived at the Shadow Reapers training room.
The massive chamber was empty at this hour.
Destroyed training dummies littered the place alongside heavy equipment, weapon racks and cracked walls from previous training sessions.
West stepped into the center of the room alone and the moment he closed his eyes, he felt the six branches.
Three summoner branches and three transformation branches.
The summoner branches still radiated their usual glow internally but the new transformation branches, looked completely different.
They were thicker with blueish-red web-like patterns spread across them like veins.
Energy swept through them continuously causing West to frown slightly.
"...Weird."
Still, the only thing he could do right now was test them.
He immediately activated the first transformation branch.
BOOM~
Power erupted through his body instantly causing West’s muscles tp expand rapidly.
His entire frame became larger and more imposing while dark fur rapidly spread across parts of his body.
His height increased several inches while his eyes emitted a bright blue-white glow.
Long canines extended from his mouth, additional fingers grew from his hands and bony spine-like protrusions extended outward from his back.
Suddenly, the world from his point of view changed completely.
West stiffened briefly. "...What the hell?"
The room no longer looked normal... everything around him appeared mapped differently.
He could see through the wall... figures, movement patterns, heat signatures, air currents, tiny vibrations...
It was as though the entire world had transformed into a layered sensory field.
Every object carried trails, traces and marks.
All of a sudden, a system notification appeared.
<[ Transformation Identified: Voidfang Predator Form ]>
West stared at the floating text briefly. "...Voidfang Predator?"
He slowly raised one clawed hand and the sheer physical power flooding through him felt absurd.
Even standing still, he could tell this form was monstrously strong and fast too.
West took a single step forward and suddenly, glowing blue humanoid footprints appeared ahead of him across the floor.
"...What?"
The footprints stretched across the room like spectral pathways.
Instinctively, West focused on one and in the next instant...
FWOOOM~
He vanished instantly and reappeared directly on top of the selected footprint.
"...DAMN."
His eyes widened immediately. "That’s cool."
He tested it again, focusing on another footprint.
He vanished with another teleport-like burst and reappeared elsewhere.
FWOOOM~
Again and again... and again...
West began flashing around the training room at ridiculous speed.
Each movement left glowing footprints behind temporarily before fading.
He appeared on the walls, ceiling and other parts of the training platforms.
He appeared everywhere almost instantly and even more shocking, there seemed to be almost zero delay between movements.
"This is insane..."
A ticklish feeling suddenly wrinkled up his nose causing him to sneeze.
"Achoo!"
A concentrated blue-white blast exploded from his mouth instantly.
BOOOOOOM!
The beam vaporized an entire section of reinforced wall ahead, melting metal and incinerating concrete.
Smoke exploded outward violently while West stared blankly at the destruction.
"...Excuse me?" He looked down at himself again. "...Okay this form is ridiculous."
Next he proceeded to test his strength.
West walked toward a training section where a lot of budget had gone into for the creation of simulated environments when needed with all necessary equipments.
West lowered his gaze toward the massive reinforced weight rack near the far side of this training section.
Several thick steel bars rested there alongside industrial-grade training equipment Shadow Reapers used for strength testing.
The larger ones were mostly decorative... even Jax struggled moving them around.
West walked toward the largest bar casually.
It was loaded with dark iron compression plates meant for heavy-class transformation awakeners.
It was over three tons and yet, he grabbed the center of the bar with one hand before lifting.
The thing came off the ground so effortlessly it almost looked fake.
"...What?" West shook the bar slightly in disbelief.
The enormous weights rattled violently while hanging from one hand.
There was no tension... it genuinely felt light to him, like lifting an empty backpack.
West slowly increased his grip and the reinforced steel bar bent in his hand.
CRRRKKKK~
His eyes widened slightly. "...Oops."
The entire thing warped before snapping in half.
The giant weight plates crashed against the floor with thunderous force causing the entire training room to tremble slightly.
BOOOOM!
West stared at the broken steel in silence before slowly looking down at his transformed arm.
"...Okay."
He turned toward the far corner of the training room where one of the Shadow Reapers transport bikes rested.
The bike alone weighed over half a ton due to its armored frame.
West grabbed the front casually and the entire bike rose into the air effortlessly.
He spun it once experimentally using one hand.
The heavy machine whistled through the air like a toy before he caught it again.
West started laughing. "No way..."
He tossed it upward lightly and the bike nearly touched the ceiling.
He caught it again without even shifting his footing but concrete beneath his feet cracked anyway. This wasn’t because the bike was heavy but because he was exerting force without realizing it.
West slowly lowered the vehicle and shifted his gaze further ahead.
His gaze focused on a parked armored transport truck.
It was enormous with dark steel plating, heavy-duty awakened suppression framework and military-grade tires.
Even ordinary transformation users needed multiple people to tilt it.
West approached quietly and placed both hands beneath the front.
The muscles across his transformed body bulged a little as blue-white veins lit beneath his furred skin.
For half a second, the truck remained still before the entire front end lifted clean off the ground.
Metal groaned loudly as the rear tires grazed the floor briefly before West lifted higher until the entire multi-ton armored vehicle was hanging over his head.
West’s glowing eyes widened from shock because it still didn’t feel heavy enough.
His breathing hadn’t changed, neither had his heartbeat hadn’t increased.
This transformation possessed horrifying physical strength.
West suddenly grinned before hurling the entire armored truck across the training hall.
The vehicle tore through multiple reinforced training walls before crashing violently into the far end of the chamber.
BOOOOOOOOM!
Dust exploded everywhere and alarms immediately began blaring throughout the room.
West stared at the destruction for a second before slowly looking at his own hands again.
"...Yeah," a dangerous grin spread across his face. "This is crazy."
He proceeded to keep testing the limits of this transformation... going from jumping power to reaction speed to sensory range to durability.
Everything was absurd....
At one point he casually flicked a metal training blade and accidentally embedded it halfway into reinforced steel walls.
"...Oops."
West continued experimenting for nearly thirty minutes before pausing after noticing that his senses were tracking everything...
Including people several floors away inside the base.
West slowly turned his head toward one section of the wall.
"...Jax is eating again."
Far below, Jax suddenly sneezed while holding instant noodles.
"...Why do I feel like someone just judged me?"
Back in the training room, West slowly deactivated the transformation, returning back to regular human form.
West stared at his own hands quietly afterward.
He couldn’t believe how crazy the Voidfang Predator form was. This was only the first branch and it was already this powerful... he couldn’t imagine what the other two branches held in store for him.
"...This second awakening might actually be broken."
•••
•••
The rain poured heavily across the industrial district, turning alleyways into rivers and rooftops into roaring drums beneath the storm.
Darius man stood in the middle of it all with his phone pulled out.
The wallpaper was a picture of his wife and two children smiling brightly beside him at some amusement park.
The massive Tier 2 awakener stared at it briefly and smiled softly like a completely different person.
"Boss?"
One of his subordinates approached carefully.
"The territory dispute near West Junction is getting worse."
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