Chapter 54: A New Race

Arlo murmured, melancholy settling over his features, but the golden notification panel soon snapped him out of his thoughts.

[There is no doubt that it is painful, Arlo.]

[But if you had not done this, then you would have died by her hands sooner or later.]

[Watching you leave with the Voraths or having to kill you with her own hands. Guess which one would have been more painful.]

[You chose the best path for both of you.]

"What about the cybernetics she paid for? And Surgeon Delaney’s life’s work that she gave me?"

"Can they simply move on from that? The thought of them giving so much to someone who ended up joining the enemy’s side..."

[All of that can be repaid a thousandfold in the future.]

[If you can find a way for the Voraths to return to their world, just as you will one day return to Umbrasol, then that will be the greatest repayment humanity itself could receive.]

Arlo realized it was the truth.

He knew ending the war was one of Ennessa’s goals, and her method was to eradicate all Vorath life.

But if he could return the Voraths to their original world, just as he would one day return to Umbrasol, the war would end.

Humanity would reclaim Earth, and the Voraths would return to their own realm.

[Still, it will not be so easy. But I trust that you will manage it someday, and that day is not far off...] the system said.

Arlo nodded, his conviction returning.

The day’s events had drained him both physically and mentally. He walked into the bedroom and collapsed onto the bed, quickly drifting into sleep.

______________

Few hours later...

Golden sunlight streamed through the window, illuminating the face of the young man sprawled across the bed like a beaten dog.

His eyelids fluttered open, and crimson light flashed through the room.

In an instant, Arlo was on the ceiling, his fingers brushing against the crystals overhead.

He twisted in midair and landed gracefully on the floor.

"Ahhh... now I feel more than alive..."

Arlo mused, drawing a deep breath of the mana-rich air and feeling his body rejuvenate.

"Now, let me see my Vorath form properly. I no longer have to hide it..."

He commanded,

"Activate Vorath Transformation..."

The air in the room shifted, becoming enveloped by a sinister aura.

Arlo dropped to all fours as the bones within his body writhed wildly, twisting and contorting, especially along his spine.

"AHHHHHHHHH!"

A scream tore from his lips as two sharp thorns ripped through the skin behind him.

His crimson-speckled eyes shifted to intense pitch black before changing once again to pure white, devoid of pupils entirely.

His skin shifted from white to an intense pale white.

His hands swelled, morphing into pale claws with steely nails.

His midnight-violet hair lengthened, cascading over his shoulders like a waterfall before shifting from violet to milky white, matching the new hue of his skin.

The thorns protruding from his back elongated further, growing like branches, and white feathers sprouted along their length until silence settled over the room once more.

"Ahhhh..." Arlo rose slowly to his feet as a pair of gigantic white, scaled wings draped over his upper body.

He slowly unfurled them, his white eyes flashing with milky light, and then...

VROOOOM

VROOOM

The massive wings flapped, and Arlo shot upward, tearing a hole through the ceiling and ascending higher with each beat until he hung in midair, his wings fully spread.

What was revealed was a muscular 2-meter-tall body undulating with bizarre astral blue mana.

"This is my Vorath form?" Arlo asked, confusion knitting his brow as he looked behind him at his wings, then down at his clawed hands and elongated toenails.

Beyond those three changes, there was nothing more.

No tentacles, no tail, no thorns on his limbs. He was simply a pale human with claws and wings, and nothing else.

"This isn’t how Voraths look!" Arlo declared, and the system’s words rang through his mind.

[I knew it!]

[Those Tears of Cthulhu are not the tears of an Eldritchian creature. How could a puny race obtain the tears of such an existence? Idiots...] the system mocked, dripping with disdain.

Arlo raised an eyebrow.

[Let me explain properly, Arlo. When Voraths are born, they are placed in those tears once they reach one year old, correct?] the system asked, echoing what Toma had told him.

"Yes..."

[But the same cannot be said for you. You are fully grown, your body stronger than normal, with room for evolution.]

[You were able to truly absorb the bloodline energy contained within the tears, which would normally transform your bloodline into that of a true Cthulhu, which I’m guessing is a line where the Vorath descend from.]

[But the tears are not Cthulhu’s!]

[I sensed something wrong with that pool the moment you entered. Still, the bloodline energy within it was potent, so I decided that whatever it was, you would still grow stronger, and that is what matters.]

[As your evolution progressed, I kept examining your form and realized you were shifting into something far removed from a Vorath.]

[It mystified me how your Vorath genome was being wiped out, your tentacles and strange organs being destroyed. The form you were taking was tearing apart your Vorath genome, almost like an enemy force.]

[When your evolution ended, the result mystified me even further.]

[Then there was only one race that fit what you had become. A race I believed no longer existed. But now, you are truly an embodiment of that race, and this is its basic form!]

The system rambled with growing excitement, and Arlo’s heartbeat spiked toward the end.

"And what race have I become?" Arlo asked, confused.

[Arlo, you are no longer a full Vorath. You are now half Vorath and half Fallen Angel!]

"A fallen what!?"

[Yes! A Fallen Angel. The tears in that pool are not Vorath tears. They belong to a Fallen Angel, a race long since wiped out by the Ag...] The system paused abruptly.

"By who?" Arlo asked, but the system remained silent.

[It does not matter. Simply know that you are half Vorath and half Fallen Angel.]

[You possess the Black Magic of a Vorath, but the superior form of a Fallen Angel. Almost a hybrid of both races...]

_______________

In a luxurious bedroom, two figures lay upon the king-sized bed at the center of the room, when all of sudden, one of them suddenly shot upright, his eyes wide with shock.

"What’s wrong, honey?"

The female voice belonged to Isadolla, who looked at Eboncrest with a confused expression.

She could see how tense and startled he was, but before he could answer, he leaped from the bed, the ground beneath his feet caving in, and then...

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

A gigantic hole was blown through the ceiling as Eboncrest appeared floating in midair, his nose shifting, and then...

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

The air exploded outward in a circular wave, and immediately, Eboncrest shot into the distance like a beam of light, rapidly disappearing into the horizon.

_____

"I can feel it. It is around here..."

Eboncrest muttered, looking down at the hundreds of buildings below, but the aura was diffused by some strange force, making him unable to pinpoint the exact location.

He flew chaotically through the air for some time before spotting a figure atop a distant building.

"I heard the sound of the room crashing, and Mother is greatly worried..."

The person was none other than Prince Demois, and a smile appeared on Eboncrest’s face.

"Don’t mind me, Demois. It’s nothing. Let’s return home now..." Eboncrest said.

Demois nodded, exerting strength beneath his feet and becoming a shooting star soaring through the air with pure physical strength, while Eboncrest flew straight behind him.

However, Demois could still sense how his father looked back with deeply disturbed eyes from time to time.

’I can swear it with my life. It was that aura. A clansman of mine has awakened that aura!’

Eboncrest thought, his heartbeat quickening faintly as he followed his son back to their palace.

__________

"Well, I don’t know what to say."

"Should I be happy or sad that you sensed something was wrong with the pool and still allowed me to go in blindly?"

"What if I had become a fish, or a crocodile, or some hideous monster that even the Voraths couldn’t tolerate?"

"What if I had lost my reasoning?"

"What would have become of me!?"

[Calm down. You’re fine, aren’t you?] the system replied as Arlo sat on his bed.

"True. But next time, before you lead me into something, at least ask my opinion and let me decide whether I’m willing to take the risk."

[If I had told you, you would not have risked it...] the system answered.

"Then I don’t want to risk it. I don’t know how the Voraths will receive me when I’m asked to reveal my true form."

"I don’t look like a Vorath, and now I smell like one, meaning I no longer fit in with humans either."

"The harder it becomes to belong to both races, the sooner I truly become an outcast!" Arlo declared.

[Well, you already are an outcast. You are neither human nor Vorath...]

"This isn’t funny..."

[Very well. I’ll inform you the moment I sense something abnormal before you do anything. Fine, I agree.]

the system finally conceded, and Arlo gave a satisfied nod.

"That said, you mentioned something hunted the Fallen Angel race to extinction. What was it?" Arlo repeated the question the system had skillfully avoided earlier.

[You will learn about it yourself, sooner or later.] the system replied, making it clear that it would not tell him.

"That’s fine, I suppose."

"But can you tell me why they’re called Fallen Angels?"

"I know angels. They are symbols of blessing and goodness back in Umbrasol."

"I would have been happy to become an angel instead. But a fallen one... I don’t know if that’s good or bad."

"Can you at least tell me whether I can one day remove that ’Fallen’ from my name and become a real Angel? An embodiment of kindness and purity, huh?"

Arlo asked.

[You are an ignorant idiot, that is certain.]