Book 2: Chapter 40: Patch 7.0: The Defiance of a Wolf and a Serpent

Fenrir has no idea what this new power within him is nor what it does. All he can tell is that it’s there. Though, as the kiss lingers on, he feels himself growing stronger, and he’s starting to be able to innately tell what it is.

Nell has turned him into her champion. He feels that just being around her is enough to make him considerably stronger now, and he can just sense where she is. She may be directly in front of him with her lips pressed to his own, but even if she were far away outside of sight, he knows that he would still be able to tell exactly where she is.

And then there’s his body. He feels his body changing, but as far as he can tell, the only noticeable changes are to his ears and tail. They both grow slightly longer and bushier.

Cassiel is the one to break up the kiss. “Al-alright! That’s enough, you don’t need to do it for that long,” she says, gently pushing Nell away.

“How was it, my hero?” Nell asks with flushed cheeks.

“How was… what?” Fenrir asks.

“My first kiss.”

“Never would’ve been able to tell it was your first.”

Cassiel turns around, grabs Fenrir by his collar, and kisses him.

“So jealous,” Serra teases.

Cassiel pulls back and looks into Fenrir’s eyes. “How was it?” she asks.

Fenrir wants to tease her by saying she has room for improvement or something like that, but he’d rather not get killed, so he gives an honest response instead, “As great as ever, Cass Cass.” Looking up at the smiling, still-flushed Nell, he asks, “So, what did that do? I feel strange, and I can tell a few things on my own, but I don’t really know what’s happened.”

“You are my champion now, my hero. You will be able to tell where I am no matter how far apart we may be, all of my strength is added to your own when fighting near me, you shall be next to impervious to water magic, you shall be able to both swim faster and breathe underwater, and because I am a monster as is the serpent, your feral spirit is stronger and will turn you into a monster more quickly,” Nell explains.

He looks himself over for any other physical changes. “I’m surprised I didn’t grow scales or fins or anything like what you’ve got if that’s what happened,” he says.

“I do wonder,” Nell teases. “Your feral spirit should be strong enough now to control yourself when you rampage. I could tell from that fight on the pier, when you bit that man’s ear off—which was very nice, I must say—that you were not in control. Now, you will stay in control when you give in to your feral side.”

“I want to test how strong I am. Hey, Bone,” Fenrir says, looking up at the green orc. “Can I punch you?”

Bonekraka shrugs. He is curious as to how much stronger Fenrir is now, so letting him get a single punch in won’t be too big of a deal.

“Oi, I have a better idea,” Tabitha interjects. Reaching into one of the crates they got, she pulls out a steel plate and holds it up with both hands. “You and the blondie were close before, right?”

“Yeah, we were,” Fenrir answers.

“Alright. Try punching this, Blondie.”

“I have a name, you know,” Cassiel says with a pout, but she still gets up and walks to in front of the plate. She balls her hand into a fist and punches the steel plate as hard as she can! There is a tiny dent left in it where she punched, but nothing more. While such a thing would normally most likely be painful, thanks to her having turned off all pain, all she feels is her hand going completely numb.

“Alright, now for the wolf,” Tabitha says, holding the plate up and facing Fenrir.

“You sure we don’t need that for something?” Fenrir asks.

“It’ll be fine. I wanna see what happens.”

“Alright, then here I go.” Fenrir takes a deep breath, readies his fist, and swings it into the plate!

His fist flies through the steel plate with ease and stops just a hair’s breadth away from Tabitha.

“You said I basically gain your stats when fighting near you, right?” Fenrir asks, looking back at Nell.

“Correct, my hero,” Nell answers.

“How strong are you again?”

“Well, I am strong enough that I do not need to use magic if I were to attempt escape, but it would be very unladylike. I may demonstrate, but only this once.”

“Sure. I want to see you fight.”

“Alright, my hero. Since you currently are sharing my strength with me, you are likely the only one capable of resisting, so please raise your hand and I shall punch it.”

Fenrir raises his hand as if he’s about to practice boxing with Nell.

“Are you ready, my hero?” Nell asks.

“Punch me with all you’ve got, princess,” Fenrir says.

Nell walks up to Fenrir, forms the very first fist that he has ever seen her make, and thrusts it toward his hand!

Fenrir is only able to see the transformation for a split-second before the blast from her punch sends him flying backward into the stairs, crashing through them and putting a dent in the hull.

As much as it may hurt, he just stares on in disbelief at the innocent-looking Nell whom was able to punch as hard as she just did! His vision is already starting to go black, but that doesn’t stop him from seeing the hand that she is now covering her mouth with alongside her still-human hand.

The hand that she punched him with may be humanoid in shape but is now a couple of times larger than before and covered in thick scales. The spaces between her fingers are webbed, and each finger looks more like a claw than a regular finger. This transformation extends up to her elbow as well, and for the first time, she truly looks monstrous.

Wait, when he thinks about it, didn’t a similar thing happen to him when he rampaged on the pier? He could have sworn he had claws, but when he came back to his senses, they were no longer there.

Fenrir may not be playing this game for the fighting, but he finds himself looking forward to the next time he gets to fight and go wild.

“Oi,” Tabitha says. “The hell do ya two think you’re doin’?! You’re bustin’ her up! Just because she can repair herself now doesn’t mean to go around and break everythin’!” she scolds them.

“S-sorry, it has been so long since I have done that, and I did not expect to injure him so,” Nell explains.

Serra stands next to her and grabs her transformed arm.

Nell looks down at Serra, expecting to be called hideous or horrifying like how she used to be called for showing this side of herself but instead gets called something she’d never expect.

“Hot,” Serra says.

"I - I have never been called that, but I am glad you think so!" Nell replies and hugs Serra.

“Short one has strange taste,” Bonekraka says.

Meanwhile, Cassiel helps Fenrir up and heals him. “You alright?” she asks.

“My ego isn’t, but the rest of me is fine. Thanks, Cass Cass. I can always rely on you to fix me up,” Fenrir answers.

“Of – of course you can rely on me, you bastard.”

“You’re going to get me into being degraded if you always call me that. Though, if I had to guess…” Fenrir leans closer to whisper something into her ear, “I bet you’re actually into being called names.”

He had to tease her about something; he has skipped so many opportunities that he could not let this one slide.

Needless to say, Cassiel’s hands go for his neck to grab and shake while she glares at him with teary eyes and burning cheeks.

“How many champions can you have?” Serra asks while Bonekraka groans from all the commotion, Tabitha complains to herself about how nobody listens and how everybody abuses the ship, and while Cassiel goes full-on tsun-mode on Fenrir.

“Only one. The boon achieved by being my champion is already quite powerful, so to be able to give it to more than one person would be far too strong. As long as he fights near me, then if both he and I grow more powerful, he will gain the increased abilities from us both. While I may not get anything from him, he has the power of two beings in one. He is already far stronger than most now without training himself much,” Nell explains.

“But what about when you’re not around?”

“Then he will not have the benefit of my strength which is why it is still important for him to train and grow stronger.”

“Fen, get good,” Serra says while looking over at him.

“After – after I’m done being strangled,” Fenrir coughs out the words.