Re-Awakened :I Ascend as an SSS-Ranked Dragon Summoner-Chapter 284: Awaken 1

The arena floor cracked beneath Noah's feet as he reassessed his opponents. Both Kaiden and the false Lila were breathing heavily, their earlier confidence now tinged with wariness. Noah rolled his shoulders, feeling muscles coil with unused power, a predatory calm settling over him.

'I've been fighting like I'm in a sparring match,' he thought, watching Kaiden's skin ripple with vibrational energy while the impostor's darkened hair framed her cold eyes. 'Time to show them what happens when I stop holding back.'

Noah shot forward like a bullet, covering the distance to Kaiden before anyone could blink. Not chi-enhanced movement—just raw physical power that had been carefully hidden until now. His fist connected with Kaiden's jaw with a sickening crack that echoed through the arena. Kaiden's head snapped sideways, a spray of blood and saliva arcing through the air like red rain.

"Holy shit!" Kelvin jumped to his feet, nearly spilling his drink on the person next to him. 'That's not chi! That's pure Noah strength right there!'

Noah didn't pause, driving his knee directly into Kaiden's solar plexus with enough force to lift the larger fighter off his feet. Kaiden's vibration field flickered as he gasped for air, eyes bulging in shock. Noah followed with a vicious uppercut that connected with Kaiden's chin, sending him flying backward in a graceless arc.

Kaiden crashed into the barrier with such force that the energy field rippled like disturbed water. He slumped to the ground, blood pouring from his mouth, eyes unfocused as he struggled to regain his senses.

The false Lila didn't waste the opening, thrusting both hands forward as space warped around Noah. The air compressed like a vice, threatening to crush him where he stood. Instead of fighting against it with chi as he had before, Noah burst through it with raw speed, shattering her telekinetic hold through sheer physical force.

Noah was half surprised himself. Letting go of the rein on himself and now just using his true physical powers. But not just that, at level 26, he was getting to test out exactly how strong he'd become and so far, he wasn't disappointed.

His palm struck her sternum with devastating impact, driving the air from her lungs in an explosive gasp. The false Lila stumbled backward, eyes wide with genuine surprise.

Noah then with one arm pulled her towards himself and swung his head.

Bam!!!*

Before she could recover, Noah drew her arm, twisted sharply, and used her momentum to slam her face-first into the arena floor.

The impact left a crater in the concrete, blood spraying from her shattered nose. Noah kept her pinned, leaning close to her ear as she struggled beneath him.

"I know you're not Lila," he whispered harshly, his voice carrying a dangerous edge.

Her eyes widened in genuine shock before narrowing with hatred. She twisted beneath him, spatial distortions forming around her body like a rippling cocoon. The air warped violently, throwing Noah backward as a savage wave of force exploded outward.

[Health Points: 745/1000]

He landed on his feet, sliding backward across the concrete, one hand touching the ground to steady himself. The attack had caught him off-guard, but he'd managed to shield himself at the last second.

"Did you see that?" a spectator gasped. "He just shrugged off her attack like it was nothing!"

Kaiden was already back on his feet, vibration energy forming visible ripples in the air around his hands. He charged forward, roaring with primal fury, "You're mine, Eclipse!"

This time, Noah didn't dodge. He met Kaiden head-on, catching the vibration-enhanced fist with his bare hand. The impact created a thunderclap that shook the arena, but Noah stood firm, muscles straining as he held Kaiden's attack at bay.

"Impossible," Kaiden growled, blood seeping between his teeth.

Noah's eyes narrowed. "You have no idea what's possible," he replied, before delivering a headbutt that connected with Kaiden's already damaged face.

Bone crunched as Kaiden's nose shattered, blood exploding outward. Noah followed with a devastating combo—a knee to the stomach that folded Kaiden in half, an elbow to the back of his head that drove him face-first into the ground, and finally a brutal stomp that cracked the concrete beneath Kaiden's body.

The crowd went silent, the sheer brutality of Noah's assault beyond what most tournament matches ever reached. This wasn't the flashy, chi-enhanced exhibition they expected from him. This was raw, primal dominance.

In the VIP section, Commander Owen leaned forward, his eyebrows raised in genuine surprise. "Well now," he murmured, "that's interesting."

Miss Brooks remained stone-faced, though her colleagues noticed how her fingers drummed against her thigh—a rare sign of excitement from the stoic instructor.

The false Lila recovered her balance, wiping blood from her face with the back of her hand. Her eyes burned with hatred as she raised both hands, creating multiple spatial distortions that swirled like transparent blades.

"You're going to regret that," she hissed, her voice nothing like the real Lila's—harsher, more primal.

Noah didn't respond, simply settling into a fighting stance, eyes calculating as he tracked the spatial distortions. When she launched them forward like invisible missiles, he moved with inhuman precision, weaving between the warped spaces as if he could see their trajectories.

One caught his shoulder, twisting the air around his arm painfully. Noah grunted, feeling the pressure increase as his bones threatened to bend in unnatural directions.

[Health Points: 730/1000]

Instead of pulling away, Noah pushed forward through the distortion, using the twisted space to propel himself directly toward the false Lila. She tried to create distance, but Noah was too fast, closing the gap before she could establish another defensive barrier.

His fist connected with her stomach, driving so deep that the outline of his knuckles visibly distended her back. Blood erupted from her mouth as internal organs compressed under the impact. She doubled over, gasping, only for Noah to grab her by the throat and lift her bodily from the ground.

"Who are you really?" he demanded, tightening his grip.

She clawed at his hand, spatial distortions flickering weakly around them both. Noah pulled her close, eyes boring into hers. "Your powers aren't Lila's. You don't use them as effectively as she would. The real Lila would be out of this hold by now. Who sent you?"

Before she could answer, Noah sensed movement behind him. He hurled the false Lila aside just as Kaiden's vibrating fist passed through the space where his head had been a split second earlier. The near miss created a vacuum that pulled at Noah's hair, the sheer force of the attack evident even in its failure.

Noah pivoted, dropping low and sweeping Kaiden's legs from under him. As Kaiden fell, Noah rose with a vicious uppercut that caught Kaiden under the chin. The impact lifted Kaiden completely off the ground, his body going momentarily limp as consciousness threatened to leave him.

"This guy's a monster!" someone shouted from the stands, the crowd's shocked silence giving way to frenzied excitement.

Kelvin was practically bouncing in his seat. "That's it, Noah! Show them what you can really do!"

"He's really letting go isn't he?" Sophie said half with a smile of pure pride in her boyfriend and also worried. Her eyes continually looked at the screens showing the VIP area, particularly Albright's end. She could see how the old man appeared like he was about to burst.

The false Lila had recovered enough to rejoin the fight, her eyes now glowing with dangerous intensity. The air around her rippled with concentrated power as she gathered her strength for a massive attack.

"Enough playing around," she snarled, her voice distorting as space warped around her.

With a sweeping gesture, she created a series of spatial traps throughout the arena, invisible unless you knew what to look for—subtle distortions in the air, places where light bent unnaturally. Noah tracked them all, his mind mapping their positions with tactical precision.

Kaiden staggered to his feet, blood streaming from multiple wounds. His vibration field intensified, becoming visible as the air around him shimmered like heat waves rising from hot asphalt. "Together," he growled to the false Lila. "Take him down."

For the first time, they coordinated deliberately. Kaiden charged, his vibration field expanding outward in pulsing waves. Behind him, the false Lila channeled spatial distortions to herd Noah into Kaiden's path, closing off avenues of escape one by one.

Noah's eyes narrowed as he assessed their strategy. 'They're working together now. Perfect.'

He waited until the last possible moment, timing his move with surgical precision. As Kaiden closed in, vibrating fist drawn back for a devastating blow, Noah executed a perfectly timed sidestep. Kaiden's attack missed by millimeters, the force of his swing carrying him forward into one of the false Lila's spatial traps.

The trap activated, warping around Kaiden's arm and twisting it at an impossible angle. Bone snapped audibly, Kaiden's scream of pain echoing through the arena as his limb bent backward at the elbow.

"You fool!" the false Lila screamed, her concentration faltering as she witnessed her ally's injury.

Noah seized the momentary distraction, crossing the distance to her in a blur of speed. His hand closed around her throat, lifting her off her feet as he slammed her against the energy barrier. The impact made the barrier flicker dangerously, electric arcs dancing across its surface.

"Last chance," Noah growled, his voice low and dangerous. "Who are you?"