Re-Awakened :I Ascend as an SSS-Ranked Dragon Summoner - Chapter 517

Chapter 517: Widow – The fourth crown
Horror painted every face.

The Eclipse recruits who’d witnessed Valencia’s death stood frozen. Marcus’s blaster hung loose in his grip. Chen’s eyes were wide, unblinking. These weren’t soldiers—they were hunters who’d signed up to fight beasts, not twelve-foot space monsters that could bisect people with casual swipes.

Noah’s hand went to his ear.

“All units, listen carefully.” His voice cut through the comms. “Do not engage the Harbingers. I repeat—do not engage. If you encounter one, you run. Find an escape route. That’s an order.”

He didn’t wait for acknowledgment.

Noah exploded forward.

BOOM.

The shockwave hit first—a concussive blast that sent stones bouncing upward. Before they could fall, a secondary wave caught them, sent them higher. The permafrost cracked in spiderweb patterns radiating from where Noah had been standing.

He closed fifty meters in under a second. Excaliburn came around in an arc aimed at the Widow’s throat. Void energy screamed along the blade’s edge.

She wasn’t there.

The sword carved through empty air. Noah’s momentum carried him forward, past where she’d been standing, into space that should have been occupied.

Then pain.

BOOM.

[-20 HP]

Agony exploded through Noah’s back. The impact lifted him off his feet, sent him airborne with his spine arched wrong, face pointed at gray sky. He saw Storm fighting overhead. Saw clouds. Saw nothing.

He rotated mid-flight, turned the uncontrolled tumble into something he could work with. Hit the ground rolling, came up in a crouch twenty meters from where he’d started.

His back screamed. The Knight’s Grace had absorbed most of the hit—without the armor and the dragon buffs, that strike would have caved in his spine.

[Health Points: 3,500/3,520]

The Widow stood exactly where she’d been before, examining her hand like checking for damage. Blood covered her knuckles—his blood.

“Faster than before,” she observed. “Mother is impressed.”

Noah didn’t respond. He charged again.

This time he feinted left, blinked right, came in low with Excaliburn aimed at her knee. The void blade would erase the joint completely if it connected.

She jumped straight up thirty feet in a single bound that shouldn’t have been possible for something her size.

Noah tracked her ascent, already adjusting. Void Barrage activated. His free hand came up, fingers forming a gun shape. Void projectiles erupted from his fingertips—ten, twenty, thirty bolts of erasure energy converging on her airborne form.

The Widow twisted. Her body contorted mid-air in ways that defied anatomy. The void bolts passed through space she’d occupied milliseconds before. She landed behind him.

Noah blinked backward, creating distance. Spun to face her.

She was already moving.

Her fist came at his head. He got his armored forearm up in time to block. The impact drove him backward three feet, boots carving furrows through permafrost. His arm went numb from wrist to shoulder.

[-15 HP]

She followed up with a kick aimed at his ribs. Noah twisted, took it on his side instead of center mass. Still felt like getting hit by a freight train.

[-18 HP]

He slashed with Excaliburn while she was committed to the kick. The blade came within an inch of her extended leg.

She pulled back. Fast. Faster than nature should allow. The void edge carved through air where her shin had been once again.

“Close, precious,” she purred. “But mother knows what that nasty sword does. No touching, remember?”

Noah pressed forward. Excaliburn came at her from three different angles in rapid succession—overhead strike, horizontal slash, rising cut. Each one would erase whatever it touched.

She dodged. Ducked. Leaned back.

Her movements were economical, wasting nothing. She avoided the blade by millimeters each time, never committing to a full dodge when a slight adjustment would work.

The last strike came within a hair of her throat.

Her tail whipped around, caught Noah’s sword arm at the wrist. Not the blade—the hilt. She yanked, using his own momentum against him, and Excaliburn went flying. The blade tumbled through the air before embedding itself in permafrost forty feet away.

“There,” she said. “Much better. Now we can have an honest conversation.”

‘She’s so strong now. And fights so well than before. I have to beat her quick enough so I can help the rest of the team,’

Noah’s answer was a chi-enhanced fist aimed at her face.

She caught it. Her hand closed around his gauntleted fist, stopping the punch cold. They stood locked together, testing strength against strength.

Noah channeled Entropy Touch through the contact point. Decay energy poured from his fist into her palm, spreading like black cancer through her flesh.

The Widow looked down at her hand. Watched the decay spread up her fingers, turning healthy tissue gray and withered.

She smiled.

Then she headbutted him.

[-25 HP]

Noah’s vision exploded with stars. His nose broke. Blood poured down his face. She released his fist and drove her knee into his solar plexus while he was stunned.

[-30 HP]

Air evacuated his lungs. Noah folded around the impact, dropped to one knee.

The Widow examined her decayed hand. Flesh hung in strips from the bones. Then she raised it to her mouth and bit down, teeth severing her own wrist. The hand dropped. New flesh was already growing to replace it.

“See, precious? Mother heals. Always heals.”

And just like that she was on the attack again. Noah rolled sideways as her kick came down where his head had been. The impact cratered permafrost. He came up swinging—not void techniques, just enhanced strength and martial training.

Jab. Cross. Hook. Each punch carrying enough force to shatter concrete. She slipped the first two, blocked the third with her forearm. The impact made a sound like thunder.

He followed with a spinning heel kick that would have taken her head off. She ducked under it, came up inside his guard, drove her elbow into his ribs.

[-22 HP]

Bone cracked. Noah’s ribs broke despite the armor. He grabbed her extended arm, used it as leverage, drove his knee into her midsection.

She took the hit. Didn’t even grunt. Just looked down at where his knee had connected, then back up at him.

“Harder than last time,” she acknowledged. “Mother approves.”

Her tail came around like a whip. Noah saw it coming, tried to blink away. He reacted too slow.

The appendage caught him across the chest, sent him tumbling backward. He hit the ground, rolled, kept rolling as her foot came down where his head had been. Came up sprinting, heading for Excaliburn.

She appeared in front of him. Blocking his path. Moving so fast she might as well have teleported.

Noah didn’t slow down. He dropped into a slide, came in low, swept her legs.

She jumped over the sweep, came down with both feet aimed at his chest.

He rolled. Her feet hit permafrost with enough force to send shockwaves radiating outward. Noah came up behind her, grabbed her around the waist, and lifted her up in the air slamming her into the frozen ground.

The impact created a crater. Her back hit first, then her head. Permafrost shattered.

Noah didn’t let go. He lifted her again, slammed her down again. And again.

On the fourth slam, she grabbed his arms. Her fingers dug through armor, found flesh, squeezed.

[-20 HP]

Noah released her, tried to pull away. Her grip tightened.

“Where are you going, child?” She twisted, reversed their positions. Now she was on top, pinning him down with her weight and strength. “Mother isn’t finished with you yet.”

Her fist came down. Noah turned his head. The punch missed his face by inches, pulverized the ground beside his skull.

She raised her fist again. Noah activated Phase Step.

His body phased out of sync with reality for exactly two seconds. Her fist passed through him like he was smoke. He phased back in, drove his forehead into her face.

She reared back, surprised. Noah bucked, threw her off, rolled away, came up running.

Excaliburn was ten feet away.

He dove, fingers closing around the hilt. Rolled and came up with the blade ready.

The Widow stood where he’d left her, one hand touching her face where he’d headbutted her. She pulled the hand away. No blood. No damage. Already healed.

“You’re learning,” she said. “Mother is genuinely proud.”

—

Fifty meters away, Nyx and his three-horn were locked in combat that resembled two natural disasters fighting.

The Harbinger was fast—faster than most three-horns. But Nyx was faster. His dive bomb caught the creature mid-charge, drove it into the ground with enough force to crack bedrock. The three-horn threw him off, came up swinging. Nyx’s tail caught it across the face, sent it sprawling.

The dragon pressed his advantage. Magma bomb formed in his jaws, launched point-blank. The three-horn tried to dodge, wasn’t fast enough. The bomb detonated against its chest. Armor cracked. Flesh cooked. The creature screamed.

Nyx didn’t relent. He was winning.

Storm and Ivy weren’t having the same luck. Their opponents matched them blow for blow, neither side gaining clear advantage.

Diana and Lila’s Harbinger was learning their tactics, adapting mid-fight.

Kelvin’s KROME was taking damage, plasma burns scoring the mech’s plating as his three-horn proved smarter than expected.

But Noah’s fight was the center of everything. The eye of the storm.

—

The Widow moved again.

Not running—flowing. She crossed the distance between them in three steps. Her fist came at Noah’s head. He blocked with Excaliburn’s flat. The impact sent shockwaves up his arms. She followed with a kick. He dodged, countered with a horizontal slash aimed at her midsection.

She leaned back. The void blade passed an inch from her stomach. Her tail came up, tried to knock the sword from his grip again.

Noah saw it coming this time. Blinked backward, created space. Came back in immediately with an overhead strike.

She sidestepped. His blade carved through empty air. She grabbed his wrist—not the blade this time, the armored wrist—and twisted. Noah’s grip almost failed. He held on through sheer determination.

Her knee came up. Noah twisted, took it on his hip instead of his groin.

[-15 HP]

He kicked her knee. His enhanced strength connected solidly. Her leg buckled. First time he’d actually staggered her.

Noah pressed the advantage. Excaliburn came around in a rising cut aimed at her throat. She leaned back, the blade missing by millimeters. He followed with a thrust toward her chest. She twisted sideways, the point passing beside her ribs.

He was pushing her. Actually driving her backward. Gaining ground.

Then her tail caught him in the back of the knee. His leg collapsed. She drove her palm into his chest while he was off-balance.

[-35 HP]

Noah flew backward, hit the ground hard, rolled through the impact. Came up with Excaliburn ready.

Blood ran from his nose. His ribs screamed. Every breath was agony.

[Health Points: 3,325/3,520]

The regeneration from Ivy’s buff was working—he could feel wounds slowly closing because of his void energy. But not fast enough. She was landing hits faster than he could heal.

“You’re tiring, precious.” The Widow walked toward him slowly. Deliberately. “Mother can see it. You’re slower than you were five minutes ago.”

Noah spat blood. “You talk a lot about superior species. About how humans are weak. Pathetic. Inferior.”

He raised Excaliburn, settled into a fighting stance.

“But I’ve fought Kruel. A four-horn just like you. And you know what the difference is?”

She tilted her head, curious despite herself.

“Kruel didn’t need to talk. Didn’t need to play games. He just crushed everything in his path with raw power. No tricks. No need for this bullshit psychology.”

Noah’s grip tightened on his blade.

“You? You need the mind games. The ‘mother knows best’ routine. The manipulation. Because without it, you’re just another Harbinger with delusions of grandeur.”

The Widow’s expression didn’t change.

She simply vanished.

Noah felt the air pressure shift. Instinct made him blink.

She appeared where he’d been standing. Her fist went through empty air. She spun, tracked him, launched herself at his new position.

Noah could see something in her changed.

No more words. No more maternal act. Just violence.

Her fist caught Noah in the ribs. Through the armor. Felt like ribs cracked.

[-40 HP]

He slashed at her exposed side. She twisted, his blade cutting nothing. Her elbow came around, caught him in the jaw.

[-28 HP]

Noah’s vision blurred. He blinked away, created distance. She closed it immediately. They exchanged blows so fast it became a blur—punch, block, strike, dodge, neither giving ground.

His blade carved a line across her arm. Not deep enough for the void effect to take hold on time because once again, she pealed off her own. She healed it before his next strike landed.

Her fist caught his shoulder. His armor cracked.

[-32 HP]

Another hit. His breastplate spiderwebbed.

[-35 HP]

A third. The armor shattered.

Knight’s Grace broke apart, pieces falling away. The Void Shell disappeared. Now every hit would come through full force.

[-45 HP]

Her knee drove into his gut. All the air left his lungs. Excaliburn fell from his grip as his fingers went numb.

[-50 HP]

Her tail wrapped around his throat, lifted him off the ground. She held him there, studying him like a curious child examining an insect.

“Still think mother is just deluded, precious?”

She threw him.

Noah hit the ground thirty feet away, rolled, kept rolling. His body was completely in pain. Broken ribs. Shattered armor. Blood running from a dozen wounds.

[Health Points: 3,095/3,520]

He pushed himself up. Slowly. Every movement hurt.

The Widow stood where she’d thrown him from, watching. Waiting.

Void energy began engulfed the remains of Knight’s Grace, pulling the broken armor back into his storage. Better to have nothing than weight him down with useless armour.

He spat blood. Wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

Then he raised his fists, settling into a boxer’s stance. Guards up. Weight on his back foot. Ready.

The Widow chuckled. The sound carried genuine amusement.

“So you still have fight in you?”

Noah’s answer was the set of his jaw and the cold fury in his dark eyes.

She smiled.

“Wonderful.”