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HP: Bloodraven Chapter 195 - Holidays and a Commitment Delivered (V)
🕑 Added 2025-06-29 20:36:33 +0000 UTCThe wind rolled in steady from the sea, brushing over the cliffside and rustling the grass. Clouds hung low in the sky, casting a silver hue across the rugged landscape. Below, the ocean heaved with powerful swells, crashing against the base of the cliffs in a deep, distant rhythm.
Suddenly, the natural stillness was broken by a crackle of sparks and a sharp sizzling sound. A portal, edged with glowing orange light, tore open in the middle of the grassy stretch. From it, three figures stepped out onto the cliff—Maverick, Ali, and Sarah.
"I’ve never seen space magic that stable," Sarah remarked thoughtfully.
The moment she stepped out, she turned and started to observe the orange ring still sparking in the air. With a hum and a nod, she watched it shimmer for a few more seconds before vanishing without a trace.
"Hey..." she looked over her shoulder, already walking toward Maverick and Ali. "You have to teach me that someday."
"Someday, sure…" Maverick added with a chuckle. Then, getting back to the matter at hand, he asked, "Teacher, how does he take the potion? Any specific instructions?"
"Not really," Sarah said with a lazy shake of her head. "Just gobble the thing down… oh, and before that—" she turned to Ali with a slight grin, "maybe take a dozen steps back. Okay?"
Ali raised a brow but didn’t argue. He turned and walked until he was about twenty feet away, then stopped and faced back again.
“This must be the southernmost cliff, right?” Sarah asked Maverick while looking around the area.
“Yes,” Maverick nodded. Seeing her carefree demeanor, he couldn’t help but sigh. “Teacher, are you really sure there’s nothing else to prepare?”
“Don’t worry.” She nudged him lightly with her elbow. “We’ve tested it on a lot of... well, um... subjects. I’m confident it’ll work.”
Maverick studied her for a moment. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her—he did. It was simply concern for his friend. But knowing Sarah, and knowing she wouldn’t joke about something like this, he let the worry go, then called out to Ali who was standing a good distance away.
“Go ahead... you can start.”
Ali didn’t hesitate. As soon as he heard the instruction, he uncorked the vial and gulped it down on the spot.
“Quite bold... Where did you find him?” Sarah smirked as she watched Ali. His resoluteness spoke volumes, and from that one interaction alone, she could see just how much trust he had for Maverick.
Maverick smiled and nodded in agreement. “It’s a long story…” he said, but then trailed off as he saw Ali suddenly clutch his chest, his face twisting in pain before he dropped to one knee.
Maverick frowned. “Teacher, is this normal?”
“Don’t worry. The first transformation will hurt a bit, but after this, it’ll be seamless—just like any other Animagus transformation.”
Maverick glanced at her for a moment, then looked back at Ali, who was now half-wailing, half-growling, crouched on the ground. Clearly, it was more than just a bit of pain.
Meanwhile, Ali was now feeling the full brunt of the potion tearing through his system. It was nothing like the transformations he had endured during every full moon. This was deeper. Harsher. Violent.
The magical potion was quite literally reshaping him—every bone, every fiber, every cell pulled apart and rewritten from the inside out. And it wasn’t just his body. The very magic flowing through his veins was being unraveled and reforged, raw and unstable, and it did not come gently.
“Haah… Haaa…”
He gasped, struggling to breathe as searing heat crawled under his skin. His muscles felt like they were being shredded apart, then stitched back together with burning thread—again and again and again.
Ali clenched his jaw as sweat poured down his face. He had thought he was used to pain—after all, he had endured the curse of lycanthropy month after month, every full moon, each transformation anything but pleasant. But this was entirely something else. If those nights had been a breeze, then this was a wild and unrelenting storm.
His legs gave out beneath him. He collapsed to the ground, one hand digging into the dirt, the other clutching his chest as if trying to stop something from tearing its way out.
Thump Thump!
Thump Thump!
From the very depths of his soul, he heard a heartbeat. If anyone who had gone through the ritual of Animagus transformation had heard it, they would have recognized something familiar—a resonance, like the call of their inner animal. Similar, but not quite the same. After all, this was no Animagus ritual.
Finally, the pain became too much to bear, and he let out a raw, guttural scream.
"Arrrhhhh!"
With a sudden force, he slammed both fists into the ground, the impact echoing like thunder—unconsciously fueled by pure magic.
Bam. Bam.
He continued to beat the earth for another half minute before his screams finally faded, leaving only silence.
A low, wailing sound of utter exhaustion escaped his lips as he lay there in a prostrate posture, bloodied fists resting on the ground and eyes closed.
Then, suddenly, his eyes snapped open wide.
His pupils began to change, the round shapes narrowing into sharp, vertical slits. His teeth grew sharp, and his body snapped upright toward the sky as he let out a long, piercing howl.
“Awooooooo!”
The call—whether a plea or an announcement—was something no one could mistake. It echoed through the air like the voice of something ancient. Yet, the bright sky and steady breeze softened the scene, making it far less tense and eerie than the usual werewolf transformations that happened at night under a menacing full moon.
“Interesting...” Maverick muttered, raising an eyebrow as he watched the scene. But his reaction wasn’t about what he saw—it was about what he was sensing.
Using his magical sense, he felt a strong surge of magical energy pouring from Ali, and it wasn’t small—it was more than the magic even a peak magus could radiate.
He chuckled softly, imagining what was coming next. Then, with a casual wave of his hand, he created a transparent magical barrier around himself and Sarah.
“What are you doing?” Sarah gave him a puzzled glance. From her perspective, this wasn’t necessary, especially since neither of them were simple mages. She herself was a powerful Greatmage, not to mention Maverick.
Maverick chuckled but said nothing and continued observing what he was now sure was an incredible dual transformation.
Woosh!
First came a shockwave like a sudden gust of air that slammed against the barrier, then—
Boom!
The earth beneath Ali shattered, ripping up grass and hurling debris in a wide circle around him.
“Son of a hex... is this really happening?” Sarah finally realized, and her eyes widened in disbelief.
“I believe so, teacher...”
While magic surged outward from Ali like a storm, his appearance began to change as well. His screams started to sound more beast than man—no longer just cries of a man in agony—as the first unmistakable signs of his transformation began taking hold.
Crack!
His body convulsed with a sharp, unnatural snap. Muscles bulged and stretched beyond human limits, veins pulsing with raw, volatile energy. His shirt groaned under the strain, seams tearing as thick arms swelled with power. His trousers split at the thighs, the fabric shredding like paper as his legs lengthened and thickened, reshaping into something far beyond human.
Boom!
Boom!
The violet magic escaping from him grew more violent as his transformation neared completion. A shallow crater had formed beneath him, as if he were the source of some great, unstable energy.
Crack!
Another sharp snap rang out like bone striking iron. His frame surged in size. Fingers stretched unnaturally, joints popping as his nails thickened into curved claws that scraped against the rocky ground. His chest heaved. Skin rippled and darkened, toughening as coarse fur burst through in patches.
His shoulders widened, spine arching as his features twisted and reshaped. He looked no longer human, but also not yet fully the beast.
Then, his face began to stretch, bones shifting beneath the skin. His jaw jutted forward with a crunch, and his teeth lengthened into jagged fangs. His eyes flared open, glowing with feral intelligence.
GRRRRRR!
Finally, a low growl rumbled in his throat—deep, primal, and building. It rose higher and higher until it tore from his lungs, erupting into a thunderous roar that shattered the momentary stillness and shook the cliffs like the cry of an alpha beast announcing its reign.
ROOOOOOAAAAAAAAR!
Booom!
An undeniable will descended over the area like a tsunami, commanding every creature in the vicinity to submit. In that instant, the innate power that lies dormant within all great mages surged forth from Ali—or rather, the beast he had become—marking not just his transformation, but his ascension to a rank beyond that of an ordinary mage.
"This is..." Sarah stood with her mouth half open, utterly stunned by the astonishing feat unfolding before her. The transformation had been a success—that much was clear—but never had she imagined she would witness the birth of another Great Mage today.
On top of that, what she was sensing now radiating from the creature was unmistakably the pressure of Dominant Spirit—something that, in theory, only fully manifests when a Great Mage breaks through to the rank of Archmage.
Of course, the monster beside her—no, not the beast, but her student—was something else entirely. Maverick was never someone she measured by conventional standards. She didn’t even try.
And Maverick—who had rarely shown surprise during everything that had just happened—was taken aback as well. Only slightly, though. He reasoned that this overwhelming change likely had more to do with the nature of the transformation than with Ali himself. Or perhaps it was simply a surge of pent-up power, finally unleashed during this first-ever transformation.
Either way, it didn’t matter. What concerned him more right now was whether it was Ali... or the beast that held control.
And speaking of Ali’s werewolf form—no, this monster looked nothing like the half-baked, scrawny, tortured creature he used to become during the full moon.
This form was something else entirely. Massive. Towering. Easily three heads taller than Maverick, with a far broader frame. His body was packed with muscle, wrapped in thick, coarse fur. He looked less like a man cursed and more like a beast born from power itself—bigger than even Greyback. More... complete.
A low growl rumbled from the creature’s throat as it slowly turned its gaze toward where Maverick and Sarah stood.
Maverick chuckled at the movement, sensing how the storm of magic around the beast had begun to settle—drawn inward and contained, as though it were now under control. That meant, most likely, it was Ali in control and not a mindless beast.
Sarah, on the other hand, swallowed hard. The werewolf’s piercing red eyes was locked onto her direction like a predator sizing up prey.
Then—
Thud.
Thud.
It started moving toward them, each step heavy enough to shake the ground.
Maverick curled his lips into a faint smile, then silently dispelled the barrier around them. He tucked his hands casually into his trouser pockets, as if the towering beast approaching them meant nothing at all.
Sarah, on the other hand, looked the exact opposite—tense. She quickly retrieved her wand from her storage ring and promptly stepped behind Maverick.
“That... uh... should we back up a bit? Or maybe shackle it?” she proposed, her wand trembling slightly as she aimed it at the towering, twelve-foot-tall beast approaching them.
Maverick didn’t answer her. He kept his gaze locked on the giant werewolf as it stepped closer and closer.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
The creature finally stopped just an arm’s length away, and for a long moment, silence stretched between them... heavy, with tension.
Each breath from the werewolf came out in deep, steaming bursts, like pressure escaping from a strained and dangerous vessel.
Neither man nor beast looked away. The world around them seemed to narrow, the sound of crashing waves and rustling wind fading into nothing. Time itself felt suspended, caught in the gravity of the moment.
Their eyes locked—unyielding, unflinching—like two titans standing face to face. Just a silent battle of wills, waiting to tip one way or the other.
“What’s happening...?” Sarah whispered from behind Maverick. She glanced at her student’s face and found only a smirk curling on his lips, his head tilted up as he stared calmly at the behemoth towering twice his height before him.
Once again, she was met with silence. She swallowed hard, and with the trembling hand holding her wand, she debated whether to wait for this unreliable student to act or cast a binding hex herself—until...
Boom!
She saw the giant werewolf suddenly dropped to one knee with a thunderous stomp, then lowered its massive head in a slow, deliberate bow.
She froze at the sight. It was... submission.
Complete, submission.
And then, she saw the beast—though still kneeling, it towered over them—begin to change. The dark fur started to pull inward, shrinking along with its massive frame. It was turning back into human form, but...
“Hey, kid… unless you’re into that sort of thing, you might want to conjure something to cover him.”
Comments
Dark_pheonix
Thanks for the chapter!
QuantumServer
Thanks for the chapter
