SOS CH 53 (Patreon)

Walk. Stay silent. Fight. Kill. Eat. Train. Do not question order— Do not even think!

Remember. You are nothing but a doll, a fucking robot. Your very existence is nothing but a whim of the higher-ups.

Fight for Earth.

Fight for Humanity.

Fight for your brethren.

Kills all the Parasites.

Erase all nuisances.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?

YOU. ARE. THE. STRONGEST.

***

“Shut up!”

Noah’s eyes snapped open as he growled before coughing up and groaning. The world seemed so bright. Too bright in fact. So bright he had a feeling something was burning his retina for a moment.

Covering his face, Noah tried to remember where he was and what had happened. His mind was jumbled up and the old resurging dreams were not helping him at all.

For Noah, everything seemed to be blurry and confusing at the moment. Thankfully. After receiving the final attack of Omid and making a promise to the Queen, his consciousness had completely slinked into the shadow.

If he had to be honest, he had been pretty sure that he would be a goner. He knew very well that his regeneration was in no way limitless and he was not indestructible. But right now, it seemed like he was not in any kind of Heaven or afterlife.

“If this is heaven then I am going to complain to the higher ups.”

Grunting Noah slowly, very slowly, tried to open his eyes. He wished to let them adapt to the intensity and soon he was able to see again and was able to recognize where he was.

This place was a complete wreckage now, The Scorched was truly worthy of its name as if this place could attest.

Sighing, Noah tried to stand up to better see how his surroundings were but even as he stood up, his legs wobbled slightly, as if he was a newborn calf that needed to learn how to walk again.

At this moment, many incongruities started to be noticed by Noah.

For one, his vision was sharp. He always had a sharp vision but the current level was completely different. It was as if he was watching the world in higher definition. If the world was a game, then it would be like he had been playing on 30 FPS all his life and suddenly upgraded to 120 FPS or from 1080P to 8K.

“What…”

His brain was barely registering the difference when he noticed another thing.

The distance between him and the ground seemed awfully low.

“Oh come on…”

He looked at his small chubby hands and pinched the right cheek of his face before finally accepting the reality.

He became a child once again and this time it was worse. He didn’t just look like a teen but more like a pre-teen. Furthermore, he was once again butt naked. Which wasn’t so surprising considering he was most likely burnt to death.

“So. Seems like we survived.”

—....

Noah stretched a little and once he felt like he had enough control over his body he started walking toward the rest of the wreckage. His hand gently touched the slightly hot metal and remains of Ouroboros.

“This was a pretty epic last fight, right?”

Noah spoke before falling silent. He felt weird. Ouroboros was supposed to be nothing but a machine. But at this moment, he felt like he had lost a very important part of himself.

It was then —

[Small energy resource detected. Would you like to absorb it?]

[Y/N?]

Noah stopped dead in his tracks. His head tilted and his eyes widened in full bewilderment.

“The hell?”

He took his hand away and the notification vanished. But his surprise was still here. This notification had happened so suddenly but the feeling it brought him was the same as when he received notification directly to his mind while connected to Ourobors.

Something weird was happening and he did not understand what.

Closing his eyes, he focused inwardly for a few seconds, and soon, a new screen appeared before him.

[Status:

Designation: Perpetual Core Ouroboros

Type: Unique/Growth

Growth: Egg.

Level: 10/10]

[Evolution possible. Do you wish to proceed?]

[Y/N?]

“...”

—Noah…

Noah could feel his heartbeat accelerate greatly in his chest. He took multiple deep breaths in order to calm himself and only then did he open his mouth.

“I have the feeling that you have an explanation as to why I have such a thing in my head.”

—I…

“Tell me everything. What have you done?”

His voice was rising a little and he caught himself and forced the heat in his voice to calm down. Becoming angry and screaming when he did not have the full picture was just a waste of time.

He needed to calm down. He needed to keep a cool mind and he needed to understand what in the nine hells was happening to him.

Now that he was starting to think about it, everything had been too weird. He had chalked it up to almost dying but this was closer to what he felt the first time he woke up on the new planet.

His body had been different. So different that he could barely see himself as human and now…

—It was necessary for survival.

The Queen spoke and Noah listened in silence.

She explained the miserable situation he was in and how close to death they both were. In the end, she explained as best as she could the decisions she took and the changes that followed.

—At this moment, while you still look like a human and have most of the functions one should have outwardly. Inwardly, your body is anything but. Your entire internal structure from your bones to your tendons and even your veins are completely different and those changes are still continuing. I believe your Adaptation evolved once again. For example, did you notice that your breathing rate had slowed down considerably? I believe that soon, even breathing will not be necessary for you.

“....”

––As of now…Your internal structure is closer to that of Ouroboros itself than anything else and the Perpetual core becomes part of your heart. One could even say that in a way…You are a living Mecha or more a living Core.