[Chapter 39 – Terror of the universe reborn –Part 7]

Inside of the metallic container Xeno had immersed himself in, a four meters tall cocoon had now appeared. The bulging oval shaped structure had quickly absorbed all of the organic remains from the bath of blood and bones. The strange chrysalis was dyed of pure silver, while all over its surface where coursing countless pulsating rainbow colored veins.

At the same time, it started to accumulate energy from its surroundings at an alarming rate, as even the sturdy metallic tank was starting to get slowly corroded.

A few days later, the cocoon had reached the height of five meters and No.2345 was sure about Xeno's evolution being almost completed.

At the same time, inside of a thick black forest of abnormal looking trees eight individuals were leisurely camping around a bonfire.

Differentiating himself from the rest of the group, was the most common looking individual, he was the shortest reaching about 1.60 meters of height. He had slightly pointed ears, olive colored skin and a dumb yet scholar like look on his face.

One might have normally recognized him as Dock, however he looked overall quite fatigued and presented various minor wounds around his body.

Surely this seemingly hell of endless sharp and dangerous trees, beast packs and lone criminals didn't have a good influence on his body. He could retain himself alive only thanks to Vix's help and the provisions inside of her spatial objects.

Indeed, the bonfire certainly wasn't maintained thanks to the native trees of this first strata of the dungeon. Yet their resources of normal wood wouldn't last infinitely, thus the cold nights of this sunless environment might become a real problem for the weak celidre. Being it almost three weeks that they had arrived here without their master, neither knowing what had happened to him.

Nonetheless, Vix and Zaha whom possessed a greater level of intelligence in comparison with the other five, almost beast-like, lessers, had assured Dock of Xeno being still alive.

Just two days ago they felt their bond suddenly weakening, signifying a perilous drop of Xeno's life force. He must have been fighting a dangerous creature. What kind of monster they couldn't know, surely it must have been something extremely dangerous, if even their master almost died, right?

At least, they thought of this, as the three of them have never really seen Xeno fighting with all of his might, hence couldn't know his true limits.

All of a sudden, while looking at the happily eating Vix, Dock observed her dropping the canine carcass she was clinging on while munching on it and madly screaming in pain. Her agonizing screech however, wasn't characterized with the classic tone she used to have still in Elkatra. It was not distorted at all, even the strident accent typical of her kin was greatly reduced, giving her almost a feminine voice. Initially startled, Dock rushed toward the companion that during this weeks had looked after him and slowly started to change, becoming more likable day after day.

[Vix! What happened to you!? Why is that you are suffering like this?]

Yet his pleads didn't reach her, on the contrary, the inexplicable pain she was feeling seemed to just increase.

[He is changing! Dock, you need to beware…]

Interrupted by another stinging sensation she couldn't end her sentence, leaving space for Dock's anxious question.

[Who are you referring to? W-Wait! I'll ask Zaha if she can donate you some of her fluids. Furthermore, why are we speaking telepathi-]

Then after grasping his arm and cutting short of Dock's ramblings, the now weak voice of Vix resonated inside of his head once again.

[Xeno! He is different, our bond and even him, as a whole. Dock, I know what you have done and were planning, however now it is not the right time. Do not trust me anymore, and be more discreet in front of him…]

As her voice quickly dimmed until reaching complete silence, Vix stopped writhing in pain for a few seconds. Then her body raised up, standing tall with her face pointed in a certain direction, which Dock saw just as pure darkness.

Then she started to pose in her quadrupedal position, her extremely wild and casual movements almost seemed a bizarre yet creepy dance.

"Finally we have awoken again! Having returned as my true self after almost three weeks, and in a moment of such ecstasy nonetheless!"

Her voice had now completely changed once again, it was distorted, strident and carried her usual crazed demeanor.

"Rejoice everyone! Finally our master has reached a new height, we must celebrate his debut!"

Hearing her words, the other six lessers which were quietly resting on the other side of the bonfire, not caring about their previous conversation until now, suddenly raised from their torpor.

The squad of of black creatures quickly crept toward the red monstrosity whom had just ended her speech.

Leaving Dock utterly speechless, the six joined Vix in her tribal movements and started to madly screech and shrill directed in an apparently casual direction. Their strange behavior left almost a bitter resemblance of them worshiping and celebrating inside of Dock's mind.

As the macabre screams of both veneration and elation reverberated into the dungeon, in the middle of a completely white room was present a huge chitinous yet sticky egg shaped structure. The walls of the container that surrounded it were now completely gone, eroded by the quick absorption of the cocoon.

Soon enough a ripple formed through its tissue, revealing a big silver hand and its claws tearing the chrysalis' surface apart.

A giant about three meters and a half tall walked out of it, having finally ended his slumber.

Xeno had now lost his pitch black appearance, being of a pure silver complexion. His overall physique now appeared quite skinny, showing his dense and chiseled muscles.

His previous tendrils that were usually wrapped around his forearms had now disappeared, as they now grew out of his back and coiled around of Xeno's torso. Thus forming a sort of armor in his upper body, constantly saturated with a flux of energy and constantly pulsating with a myriad of colors.

His elongated head changed too, as it extended even further down his back until it finally reconnected to his body at the end of his new gained armor.

Regarding his facial features, Xeno had undergone noticeable changes too. His face had become incredibly more sharp and hard, giving off a more intimidating vibe. On the center of his forehead the Eteth tear was nowhere to be seen, replaced by what seemed to be a strange yet familiar membranous apparatus. An eye.

It was a big vertical tightly closed eye, indeed it was quite a bizarre organ. As Xeno's senses confirmed it not be providing any apparent kind of sight. Furthermore, even injecting copious amounts of basic tier energy, the eye didn't neither open or react in any way, probably needing even more.

As such, Xeno, momentarily passed over it and examined the remaining change he could perceive. This time it didn't concern one his external characteristics, but one of his internal organs. Xeno's nano-heart, which had now grown into a much bigger size, almost reaching that of his normal one. Certainly that would both enable him to utilize a major quantity of purple energy and to increase its power.

Admiring through his senses the powerful beats of his purple lump of contracting muscles, Xeno decided to test such newfound strength. He quickly activated the circulation of his deep purple nano-energy which invaded his whole body, giving him a fresh yet inebriating sensation of strength.

Then he directed such flow toward his eye, which slowly started to throb, until it finally opened. Being completely purple, the vertical eye presented its white slit pupil which was frantically moving in all directions.

Suddenly Xeno felt an incredible increase in his spatial perception, having now an extremely detailed view of the room. Out of instinct he focused hard his attention on one particular point of the area. As he fixated this precise position more and more, Xeno suddenly felt a good chunk of his energies being sucked away, his heart fiercely pumping out the needed amount.

Then, almost as if a miracle had just happened, he swapped position with the location he was focusing on, more than ten meters away from the now sticky exit of the cocoon.