Beast Soul

"Great! I injured myself again!" Well, at least it wasn't an injury made by the monster, Agent Edgerton thought to himself. He then looked at his hand, and the sniper rifle was still in working condition, which made him breathe a sigh of relief. 'Good. I didn't break it on the first try!' He was careful this time. 

Then, after making up his mind, he climbed up the short slope of the hill and came up to the top, where he could see no one. 

Special Agent Edgerton took a few steps forward and then knelt down at the spot where he had previously stood just a few seconds ago, and touched the grass. He raised his hand close to his face and looked at his fingers, which were covered in blood. "Good," Agent Edgerton nodded his head. "I can already tell that this is going to be a good hunt!"

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A few minutes ago.

The transformed version of Noah was sitting on top of one of the tree branches, scanning the jungle, trying to look for any suspicious movements. 

'Come on, where the hell are you?' Noah was getting annoyed waiting, which was something new. Well, at least new for the transformed Noah. The transformed Noah was getting impatient because he didn't know when he would lose control of this body and it would revert back to the original Noah's hands. 

He wanted to put an end to this problem as soon as he could, for if the controls of the body returned to the original Noah once again, then there was no telling what his fate would be. 

Of course, neither of the Noah's wanted that to happen. The transformed Noah knew that his fighting abilities and quicker reflexes had a much better chance of getting the victory than what the original Noah possesses. 

"Hmmm?" All of a sudden, Noah's eyes widened for a split second, before they narrowed down and a serious expression appeared on his face.

"Oh? I guess I really did make the right choice by waiting for the person behind the scenes to arrive.." A sinister smile appeared on Noah's face as a terrifying aura erupted from his body and shot all around the jungle, similar to a sonic wave. 

"Hah.. Noah, don't fail me now," The transformed Noah said to himself as he leapt forward from the top branch, levitating in the air for a split second before falling down in a graceful manner. 

Tap! Tap! Tap!

He used the branches that were right below him to slowly move down the tree, moving carefully enough to not make any noise which might alert his enemy, and softly landed on the ground.

He lightly tapped the tip of his feet down on the ground and all of a sudden, his speed increased and Noah charged forward, passing through the jungle with such silence that one wouldn't even notice his presence.

Whoosh!

Noah began circling the location where the enemy presence was felt. He was trying to figure out who the person behind the whole tracking process was using his enhanced senses, which will give him a much easier view.

"Huh, that's interesting.." Noah squinted his eyes and whispered softly to himself, as to his surprise, he was still having trouble identifying the enemy, even while utilizing his enhanced senses. 

"But even if you can fool my eyes…" Noah's nose began to wiggle slightly as he squinted his eyebrows. Since he had the enhanced ability of smell, he could determine a difference in scents. And using this ability, he realized that there was a slight variation in the amalgamation of scents nearby, meaning that the enemy, although hidden, was still extremely nearby.

'Now, I just have to pinpoint your location,' Noah moved his head as he continued scanning the entire forest area. 

He had now cropped in on the surroundings and decreased the area which could very well be the spots that have a higher chance of being the enemy's hideout, but he still didn't have a clear idea of his correct location.

At least, not yet.

Noah continued circling the location, slowly decreasing the distance and closing in as time went on. 

"Come on, come on.." Noah could feel the scent getting stronger and stronger, and he knew that he was getting closer to the location of the enemy.

His eyes began to dark around violently, searching every nook and corner for any suspicious activity or weird motion. 

"Right there!" All of a sudden, his eyes widened and a smile appeared on his face. His gaze was now fixated on a certain part of the jungle, behind a large rock and next to a bunch of trees. Although it seemed as though there was nothing there, Noah could feel that something was off, as though there was a mistake. He couldn't pinpoint exactly what the mistake was that was drawing his gaze to it. It was a similar feeling to that of the uncanny valley, where it feels as though something is off even though it might appear to be perfect. 

Whoosh!

Noah knew that this could only be the work of the enemy, and he immediately braked his feet and then immediately changed his direction, heading for that exact spot.

Swoosh!

He raised his hands forward, which had completely been transformed into clawed hands, aiming right at the spot. However, right then…

"...Human?" Noah's nose moved slightly once again, and for a split second, his eyes, which were completely black, returned to white, and a sharp pain passed through his head which made him groan in pain.

"No, no, no… I'm not letting you ruin this!" Noah shook his head as he continued charging towards the spot where the enemy was, and right as his clawed hands seemed as though they were about to land a strike on the enemy..

BOOM!

A bright blue light enveloped Noah for a brief second, which temporarily blinded him. After the temporary blindness passed, suddenly, everything seemed to move in slow motion. Noah felt as though time had stopped. Another sharp pain began to emerge from within Noah. Except this time, it came from within his chest.

Whoosh!

Noah was flung back with intense force, causing him to slam against multiple tree trunks, breaking through every one of them before crashing onto the ground, bouncing up and down due to the intense force of the attack, before slamming his back onto a large boulder, which made it shake and cause a massive crack to form.

"Gah!" Noah let out a gasp and threw up blood onto the wet grass that were near his hands. He was breathing heavily, and his forehead was covered in beads of sweat. 

His eyes were now back to normal, and his hands and his legs had now regressed back into his old form. 

"F*ck!" Noah said with a rough and weak tone. He was clearly not in a great position to speak properly. He raised his hands, which took more effort than he had imagined, and then stared at them. Both his hands were trembling, but not because of fear. No, it was because of the tremendous energy that passed through his body, which almost made him paralyzed.

"Am, am I back?..." Noah spoke with a weak tone. This was not the transformed Noah, but the original Noah. He raised his eyebrows, confused by what was happening. He didn't know why he was back. Surely, it wasn't because of the attack, right?

"Gah!" A sharp pain entered into his head, which made him groan weakly and place his hand around his head, covering it from above. But right then, Noah's eyes turned completely black, and he immediately leapt up from the ground, his expression now serious once again.

"Oh good," Noah said while letting out a long and deep breath. "For a second there, I thought that I had completely lost control.." 

He didn't want the control to revert back to the original Noah. Not right now, at least. The attack that they suffered here, albeit the attacker being a human, was still extremely dangerous. Noah wasn't confident that the real version would be able to handle another attack of the same caliber.

He wanted to avoid such a confrontation at all costs.

With that, he took a step forward. However…

"Wha- What in the world is happening?" Noah was confused. He had moved his right leg forward, but for some reason, he couldn't move his left leg.

"Why isn't my leg moving?" He tried to make it move, but it was as though his leg had become completely paralyzed. 

"Move!" He said once again, this time with great focus and determination, and finally, the leg moved, which made him breathe a sigh of relief.

"Phew! That was unexpected!" He said with a relieved expression on his face.

"Oh yeah! Definitely!" All of a sudden, a familiar voice echoed in his mind, which made Noah widen his eyes in surprise. 

"Wait a minute? What?!"