Chapter 9: Aftermath And Changes

Gazing across the horizon, all around a field of mayhem and chaos… the reminder of a fearsome exchange could be seen on the edges of a nearby lake.

Rows of trees torn apart and splintered, the soil displaced greatly, showing signs of being plowed through by something massive facing an even mightier adversary.

At the epicenter of all this carnage and destruction, a fairly deep crater could be observed emitting an immense golden hue.

Within the crater, the shape of a humanoid body could be observed. The true cause of the golden hue was lying on the ground. The glow that had proceeded after hours, was beginning to slowly dim over time but was still relatively bright when viewed from the surface.

As time passed and the morning luster was replaced by the midday glory, the glow dimmed considerably, making its unnatural cause visible to the surface.

What could be seen was Aziel. His appearance was vastly different than it was prior. His skin was no longer scaly like reptiles, instead, it became similar to mammals. His hands no longer had claws. His tail vanishing back within his body.

From the outside, the silhouette, besides its unique saturation, was akin to a human.

Aziel's body had completely reverted back to its original form. Observing his body, other than a massive change in muscle mass, having the build of a modern-day athlete, and gaining the perfect proportions, he looked relatively 'normal'.

As the glow began to fade completely, Aziel's form could be admired in its full glory. His skin could be seen glistening as the sun's rays caressed his toned golden-brown chest, seeming delicate to the touch and filled with luster.

*CRACK!*

Not long after the glow faded, a medium-sized chuck on debris broke off from the edge of the crater, plummeting towards Aziel's unmoving body.

*CRUMBLE!*

As if colliding with metal, the debris shattered as it came into contact with Aziel's skin.

His skin's delicate appearance was merely an illusion. In reality, it was much stronger than most materials generated on the planet, capable of absorbing and repealing high levels of pressure generated against it.

Aziel didn't so much as flinch to the debris, as it went completely unnoticed by him.

*GROAN!*

He grunted as his eyelids fluttered open, expressing another noticeable change.

His eyes were still reptilian, but they changed greatly from how they were before. The slit in his pupils gained a considerable depth, giving off a sinking feeling to those who observed it. His irises and sclera radiating a purple and blue hue, gaining the main characteristics of a more mythical creature.

"Uhhh… my head…" Aziel groaned in pain reaching for his forehead.

He was still disoriented from the changes his body had gone through.

Aziel stood up with zero difficulty, due to his body's newfound natural instinct of being less wasteful of its movement.

Standing up, he looked at his hands, shocked to witness the vast difference compared to before.

Yet, the initial surprise slowly turned into a displeased frown.

"D*mn… I was really getting used to my claws… They were different from before…" He lamented.

Yet, as he kept on inspecting both his hands, a sudden feeling, a slight stimulus emerged from beneath his skin, making Aziel go surprised yet again.

"Wait for a second…"

Despite his claws not being visible on the outside, Aziel could still feel them. Feeling as if he could still use them, but he couldn't understand what changes his body had gone under and what exactly he had become.

Walking over to the lake, Aziel knelt and leaned over to see his reflection on the water's crystal clear surface.

"Not bad… I see the vague outline of my old self in there…"

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He noticed that his body had reverted to how it was before, except for a few noticeable changes. His muscles were sturdy, each fiber was visible below the skin. Though his head was still hairless, his face now vaguely reminded him of his old visage just with a hard reptilian touch. Yet the sharp jawline and the contours started to draw out his previous self.

That was when he finally noticed the changes in his eyes.

"What in the Gods' name…"

Seeing his irises and sclera glowing a purple and blue hue he was flabbergasted.

"Is this change related to this unique energy that this world seems to be rich at?" He muttered, lost in the reflection of himself.

"It's not mana, nor elemental essence… I can't feel any connection with the elements at all… Hmm…"

"In any ways… This new 'me'… I kinda like it!" He exclaimed as he straightened himself and stood back up.

Turning around, he saw the damage caused by his battle against the massive beast. Shrugging his shoulders to ignore the barren wasteland-esque sight, he began walking back into the forest.

After the first few steps, Aziel noticed something: his balance was much different than it was in his previous forms! Seeming more spread out around his entire body, rather than being centered at his core.

Wanting to test the changes in his balance, Aziel placed his leg back on the ground.

To test it further, he also placed his hands on the muddy floor, transitioning into a one-handed handstand. He began shifting his weight in as many positions as he possibly could. Even with his supernatural flexibility, his balance did not falter even once.

Satisfied with his newfound capabilities, Aziel wanted to further test what other changes he had.

Looking back at his hands, he remembered the strange feeling, that slight tingling he was having before. To test this theory, he began to experiment by tensing the muscles in his right arm, focusing keenly on the results.

To his surprise, his right arm suddenly swelled, exploding in size, replicating the layers of scales he had in his larger, reptilian form. His nails rapidly grew and hardened, morphing into the onyx-colored claws he once had.

"Hmm… Not bad, not bad…" He muttered, satisfied with the unexpected discovery.

Releasing the tension in his arm, it quickly reverted to its previous state.

After continuous experimentation, Aziel had concluded that he still had all of the traits he had absorbed, but his body, or more precisely, [Essence Restitute] with the acquired copious amounts of mass he absorbed, created a primitive version of the [Shapeshift] unique ability. Though it was very basic, as long as he had enough mass stored in his cells, Aziel could now freely alter between his previous 'massive' size and this current, more compact version.

Even though the strength would remain relatively the same, the extra weight could prove useful in some cases.

He now could revert himself back completely into his more massive form by contracting all the muscles in his body and focusing on the change.

...

Now in his larger form, Aziel could be seen smiling, flashing his terrifying fangs in anticipation of how much stronger he was.

Walking up to a nearby tree, he raised his claws into the air.

*SWOOSH!*

As he swung his claws, a burst of wind followed, slicing the tree into several parts and proceeding to do the same to the ones behind it, blowing the sections away with the erupting high pressure.

Satisfied with what he had seen, Aziel had a look of approval plastered across his face.

"I think that's everything."

Concentrating, he reverted back to his smaller, humanoid appearance.

"Still the energy usage for the shapeshift is not the most ideal... Just this back and forth consumed more than half of my reserves..." He sighed, feeling the sudden ache in his stomach.

With a sigh, he turned around and began walking back in the depth of the jungle, looking for the cave he was once forced to take a prolonged rest in....

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