Chapter 476: Shedding Into A Second Life

Julie was the first to snap out of her trance.

Her expression shifted from awe to sheer exasperation as she pointed a trembling hand toward Cassius, her voice rising.

"What the hell, Cassius?! What the actual hell was that?! How in the world did you even do that?!"

Skadi and Aisha quickly joined in, equally stunned.

"One punch, Master!" Skadi shouted, throwing both hands up. "One! That’s all it took! You’re telling me this thing that’s been tormenting villages for so many years just got wiped out in a single hit?!"

Aisha rubbed her forehead, muttering in disbelief.

"This is absurd...that was supposed to be a battle, Cassius. A legendary beast like that deserved at least a proper fight. You just...ended it."

"Do you realize what you’ve done?"

Julie gestured toward the fallen Leviathan, her tone half-incredulous, half-reprimanding.

"Do you know how many warriors died trying to take that thing down? You’ve just humiliated every last one of them in one strike! You didn’t fight the Leviathan—you erased it!"

Cassius finally stood up from the beast’s cracked skull and stretched lazily, his smirk never leaving.

"What can I say?" He replied, utterly casual. "I wanted to show off...and I did."

He brushed the dust off his coat, then turned toward them with a teasing grin.

"So, how’d I do? Impressive enough for my future wives?"

Julie bit her lips in irritation at how smug he was.

"Impressive?! I’ll show you impressive when I shove my sword through your haughty mouth!"

Aisha sighed heavily.

"I’ll tell you what I think." She said, crossing her arms. "I think it’s ridiculous! You knew you could end this in one hit, didn’t you? So why, why, did you let us waste all that time planning strategies and battle formations? You could’ve just told us to sit back and watch the show!"

"Yeah! I was ready!" Skadi nodded furiously, tail lashing behind her. "I was so ready! I sharpened my claws, stretched my back, got all fired up, and then Master, you just steal the kill like it’s nothing? What am I supposed to tear into now? A tree?!"

Cassius chuckled at their outrage, clearly enjoying himself.

"If I’d told you I could handle it on my own, you wouldn’t have let me. You’d say something like, ’No, Cassius, this is a team effort!’" He mimicked Julie’s commanding tone with exaggerated hand gestures. "So I just let you believe you’d have a chance to fight. Simpler that way, don’t you think?"

Julie’s eye twitched. "Simpler—?!"

"Besides." Cassius continued, grinning wider. "you did your part. The traps, the bait, the mist, perfect teamwork! And now, here we are: one dead Leviathan, one very satisfied Cassius, and three lovely women looking at me like I just committed a war crime...I’d call that a successful night, so why complain."

Hearing this, Julie blinked, then exhaled, almost laughing to herself as the adrenaline began to fade.

Her voice came out quiet at first, almost like she was trying to convince herself.

"Yeah...it is a successful night." She said softly. "A perfect night. No flaws, no losses, no injuries. Everything went exactly how it was supposed to..."

Her smile faltered.

"Then why..." She muttered under her breath. "Why the hell am I not satisfied with it?"

Aisha looked over, still catching her breath.

"Because it’s too anticlimactic, Captain."

She said bluntly.

"We got ourselves worked up, ready for an all-out battle, ready to risk our lives, and then..."

She gestured at Cassius, still standing smugly near the fallen Leviathan.

"He just finishes it with one punch. Like it’s nothing."

Julie looked at her, and Aisha continued, her tone sharp but not unkind.

"It makes us question our worth. You, me, Skadi, we could have thrown everything we had at that monster, and maybe we still wouldn’t have been able to defeat it. And then there’s him..." She sighed. "One blow. One. And it’s over. It’s not just anticlimactic, it’s humbling."

"Oh, Aisha, you’re really going all psychological on me now, huh?" Cassius turned to them, grinning as he folded his arms behind his head which made Aisha role her eyes.

Meanwhile, Julie gave a small sigh, shaking her head as she looked down at her sword, still glinting faintly under the moonlight.

"I guess that makes sense." She admitted with a wry smile. "I used to think I was close to reaching the threshold of true power. I was proud of that...proud of who I’d become. But after seeing what you just did, Cassius..." She glanced up, her tone oddly calm, almost resigned. "I realized I’m nowhere near it. There’s a whole other peak I didn’t even know existed."

"Don’t beat yourself up, Captain." Aisha crossed her arms. "Honestly, I don’t think anyone could ever reach his level. Cassius isn’t human, he’s a monster in a human body. And I say that with all the respect I can muster."

Julie chuckled despite herself, though it was tinged with bitterness. "Yeah. You’re not wrong there."

Skadi, on the other hand, had a completely different reaction. She marched straight up to Cassius, practically bouncing with energy, her tail flicking behind her.

"Master! Please, please let me train with you!" She begged, eyes shining. "I want to be just as strong as you! I don’t want to stand around doing nothing ever again! I want to punch things! Like you! And destroy them in one hit!"

"Oh? You want to be like me, huh?" Cassius raised an eyebrow, amused.

Skadi nodded eagerly, striking a pose and mimicking his earlier stance. "Yeah! I’ll be called the One Punch Wolf!" She declared proudly.

Cassius couldn’t help but laugh, reaching over to ruffle her hair.

"You’re utterly ridiculous." He said fondly. "But you’re cute, so I’ll allow it."

Before Julie or Aisha could say anything, another voice rang out, high, bright, and full of excitement.

"You did it! You really did it!"

They all turned to see Nala sprinting toward them, both hands raised in victory. She was practically glowing.

"You guys actually defeated the Leviathan!" She cried. "It’s finally over! The village is safe, the curse is gone—oh, by the Gods, you actually did it!"

Cassius turned toward her, smiling proudly. "Yeah, looks like we—"

But then, suddenly, his body stiffened.

"Cassius?" Julie called, noticing the sudden shift in his demeanor.

But without replying, Cassius actually did something else that completely caught them off guard.

Without warning, Cassius’s eyes snapped toward Skadi.

His hand shot out, grabbing her by the collar, and before anyone could react—he threw her—hurling her aside with a force that sent her tumbling through the dirt.

"MASTER?!" Skadi yelped, utterly confused as she crashed and rolled several meters away.

"What—? What’s going on Cassius?!" Julie shouted, equally puzzled by his sudden action.

But before Cassius could even respond,

CRASH!

The ground exploded.

The supposedly dead Leviathan moved.

Its massive tail lashed out in one final, desperate strike—and the blow slammed straight into Cassius’s chest, sending him hurtling backward through the air like a ragdoll.

Boom!

He crashed through several trees before disappearing into the forest with a thunderous impact.

And seeing this, Skadi froze, her wide eyes following the path where her master had vanished.

Then her voice tore through the silence panicked, desperate and from the bottom of her soul.

"MASTER!!!!"

Her tail lashed, muscles coiling as she bent her knees, ready to pounce toward the forest to rescue him.

But before she could even take a single step, Julie’s sharp command cut through the air.

"Skadi, don’t move!"

The wolf girl stopped mid-motion, teeth bared in instinctive defiance, but the tone in Julie’s voice made her hesitate.

Julie’s eyes, though filled with concern, were hard and steady.

"Cassius isn’t that brittle." She said firmly. "With how strong he his, he’ll probably walk that off. He’ll survive. But right now, we’ve got a bigger problem to deal with."

Skadi blinked, confused...until she turned, and froze again.

The Leviathan, the beast they thought dead—was moving.

Its massive body, which had been limp moments ago, twitched violently. Then the surface of its scales began to split and peel, flaking away like brittle armor.

A wet sound filled the clearing as the creature’s skin shed, from tail to head, revealing something horrifying underneath.

A new body.

Sleeker. Whiter. Fresher.

The Leviathan was regenerating, its entire form emerging anew from the hollow husk of its old shell.

"What the hell—!" Aisha’s voice cracked with disbelief. "No one told us about this!"

"That’s because no one ever made it this far." Julie said coldly. "No one’s ever damaged it this badly before. Looks like we’re the first to find out about its secret trick."

She then quickly raised her sword again, taking position in front of the others.

"Everyone, behind me! Don’t move!"

Both Aisha and Skadi snapped into position beside her, while Nala stumbled back, eyes darting toward the treeline where Cassius had vanished.

"C-Cassius..." She murmured. "He-He’s still—"

"Stay behind us, Nala!" Julie barked. "We’ll handle this!"

The Leviathan’s transformation completed with a sickening crack, its old shell splitting apart entirely.

The creature now gleamed like wet eyes burning gold, its body pulsing with energy. It lifted its massive head and locked its gaze on the group below.

Julie braced herself, expecting an attack.

But instead, the Leviathan hesitated. Its gaze flicked between them, its tongue flickering in the charged air.

Then, without warning—it turned away.

"What?" Julie breathed.

The beast didn’t attack. It retreated.

It began slithering backward, its entire body rippling with grace as it sped toward the lake at shocking speed.

Aisha blinked, stunned. "It’s...running away?"

"No!" Julie’s eyes widened. "Don’t let it escape! If it dives back into the water, we’ll never get another chance!"

In one swift motion, her blade flared green with mana. She leapt forward, spinning mid-air, and brought the sword down in a single, devastating arc.

Slice!

The air itself seemed to shatter as her strike connected—and a massive chunk of the Leviathan’s tail was severed clean off, spraying blood across the dirt.

But the beast didn’t even flinch.

It continued sliding toward the lake, leaving a trail of thick crimson behind it.

Aisha too thrust her wand forward, shouting a spell.

"Mother of earth, cast off your chains—let your fury rise and tear the sky! Gaia’s Rebellion!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The ground erupted with jagged spires of stone that shot up beneath the serpent’s belly, piercing deep into its flesh.

"Stay down—you bastard!" She yelled.

And Skadi, not one to be left behind, bounded up its half-shed tail and slashed wildly at its back, her claws leaving deep glowing gashes.

But the Leviathan refused to stop.

Boom!

It smashed straight through the earthen wall Aisha had summoned earlier, sending boulders flying as it crashed headlong toward the water.

"Dammit, it’s going to escape!" Julie shouted, sprinting after it.

The three of them pushed themselves to the limit, magic flashing and steel and fangs slicing, but the beast was relentless.

It reached the lake’s edge, blood pouring into the shallows.

Everyone stood frozen, thinking that it was all too late—until a voice rang out through the night.

"Not so fast."

They all turned.

Cassius.

He emerged from the treeline, his clothes torn—but his eyes burned bright, feral, and unyielding.

Before anyone could speak, he dashed forward with impossible speed, the ground cracking under each step.

As the Leviathan’s tail vanished beneath the water, Cassius reached it and grabbed ahold of it’s remaining tail, his hand sinking into the slick, bloodied scales.

"Where do you think you’re going, you oversized worm?" He growled.

And with that, both man and monster disappeared into the lake’s dark depths, the water exploding upward in a violent splash that drenched everyone on the shore.

"C-CASSIUS!"

"MASTER!!!"

Julie, Aisha, and Skadi screamed in unison, their voices breaking as the moonlight flickered over the turbulent water...