Chapter 6: Releasing the shackles

Fuming in frustration, Aziel stomped and kicked at the ground, causing the ground below him to slowly crack and cave in, gradually forming a crater.

*RUSTLE!* *RUSTLE!*

Lost in his anger-induced temper tantrum, he was brought back to reality when the nearby bushes shook suddenly.

Hearing this, Aziel quickly snapped his gaze in the direction of the noise.

From the bushes came a creature not much smaller in size than him. It stood on its hind legs, sporting small horns protruding from the sides of its head.

Seeing the creature, Aziel turned to face it, his grin grew from ear to ear. Due to his razor-sharp teeth, his smile could give nightmares to any modern-day man.

*ROAR!*

The creature, however, was not afraid to face such a nightmare-inducing monster. As their gazes met, it released a ferocious roar, trying to intimidate the strange-looking enemy.

Unfortunately for this hunter of the dark, it met Aziel in its worst possible state. He was still very angry with his earlier experience with that brute of a creature. He gladly accepted the challenge. Looking at the creature that had a similar body shape -minus the horns-, to his original form, he smirked.

'I was just looking for something to vent on... and here you go, offering yourself willingly!' He sneered inwardly. Realizing he haven't tested his newest and most missing ability as of yet, Aziel inhaled a large gasp of the cool night air, puffing up his chest.

Taking only a single instant to have it stored in his diaphragm, a powerful, primordial response erupted from deep within his lungs, expelling the used up air all at once.

"RAAAAAAAAAARGHHHH!!!!"

He released a roar so loud, it made the creature's previous war cry sound like a whisper compared to his.

This greatly intimidated it, causing it to take a few steps back.

His previous arrogance nowhere to be found, the horned predatory reptile turned around and began to escape from this fearsome opponent.

Aziel merely sneered at the sight of his escaping foe, bolting after it in the next instant.

Tacking it to the ground with full force, he grabbed it by the neck and slammed it against the ground, holding nothing back. He released his full uncontained rage upon the poor beast, tearing it apart as it was shrieking from the pain.

Aziel kept slamming it into the ground relentlessly long after it stopped shrieking entirely. Only when he felt satisfied and vented did he look up at his raised hand only to be met with the mangled and broken creature in his hands.

He raised the deceased animal above his head.

*BOOM!*

*SNAP!*

He slammed the creature into the ground, forming a small crater, exploding its already battered head into a gooey, mushy mess.

Without wasting time, Aziel pierced his clawed right hand deep into the fleshy heap.

His trait activating, the creature's carcass swiftly liquified and was absorbed by Aziel, causing his body to shrivel as it began to reform, assimilating the new changes on the fly.

He grew slightly taller, increasing his already respectable height just a couple of inches further. On top of that, he felt his sight sharpen, his hearing be more receptive. Suddenly the previously bearable stench of the blood-drenched mud became slightly more irritable.

His senses sharpened by a small volume. Suddenly he could feel, see and hear a lot more of the previously silent realm.

The change was so great that he began smelling all kinds of different things, from bugs to the many different creatures in the forest. His body tensed in anticipation.

Extending his claws, Aziel ran deeper into the forest, in pursuit of whatever he could put his claws on.

...

Shrouded by the darkness of the night, deep within the ancient forest, wails of creatures could be heard only to be torn apart and silenced within moments. Flashes of a blur could be seen flickering through the forest at unbelievable speeds, tearing apart anything it could find within its range, letting nothing escape.

The blurry figure, Aziel was still lost in his mindless rage, he was massacring the wide palette of creatures of this prehistoric world mercilessly, playing the role of a real menace, a disaster to the realm. A trail of dark liquified mess followed its every moss, his body was constantly absorbing the carcasses it came in contact with, adding more and more mass into his ever-growing reserve.

He did not hold anything back, Aziel would attack anything he could find, assimilating them into himself, gaining their traits. Enhancing the ones he already had, each creature he absorbed sped up the process of killing the next just by a minuscule amount.

His strength kept soaring, reaching the point that tearing apart any normal-sized dinosaur would be of no difficulty to him.

"AAAAARGH!" His primal roars echoed throughout the forest.

*CRACK!*

*SNAP!*

The grotesque, horrifying sounds of bones breaking and flesh being ripped apart could be heard. Aziel had finally released all his restraints, showing no mercy. In his eyes, these creatures were only the means to become stronger. He finally let go of all the shackles weighing down his heart.

Memories, visions of his past life kept on coming back. Images of his brothers and sisters, as they lorded over the vast, endless lands of all creatures besides the pestilence that was called humanity.

His large, yellow snake-like eyes squinted as drops of tears began to swell and escape from his corners. He gritted his sharp teeth tearing apart yet another unaware beast as he stormed through a nest similar to the one he was brought up.

(AN: The story about the last days of Aziel's last life alongside a lengthy introduction to the Dark Fantasy world of Nova is actually half done. The first half (roughly 4K words, is already written, whilst the second half is storyboarded. I did not want to add it to the start of the novel and instead am planning to use the 'Side Chapter Feature for it at a later date. It has a lot of characters that will come into importance much, much later. )

Not wanting to reminisce those painful memories, Aziel shook his head as he resumed his hunting. Gradually, the once boiling rage he felt began to subside. The more he killed a new, a more intoxicating feeling replaced it.

He was getting stronger at an incredibly fast rate, his body began to reform and grow exponentially. His height kept on increasing, reaching into the canopy of the trees, gradually reaching to be over 15 feet tall. He was euphoric from the sensation of the raw power welling up within him, slowly becoming more feral as the night prolonged.

It had gotten to the point of him hunting and attacking by pure instincts alone, the instincts of all the creatures he had absorbed began to take over.

For the entirety of the night, Aziel kept hunting, killing, and consuming, until an unexpected change took place.

"AAAARGH!"

His body suddenly began to overheat, rapidly releasing steam, causing his mindless craze to come to an abrupt halt. His heart rate was peaking and his lungs were contracting.

Aziel's body expanded uncontrollably, forcefully snapping him out of his absorbing frenzy, and causing him to fall and convulse on the ground uncontrollably.

His reserves reaching the turning point, the constant assimilation of traits did not have time to settle inside his body as Aziel kept consuming without rest for hours.

His vision turned hazy, his eyes began to blur, an immense amount of fatigue washed over him all at once, causing him to fall down to his knees, swiftly fading into unconsciousness...