Re-Awakened: I Ascend as an SSS-Ranked Dragon Summoner

The black sand erupted like a geyser fifty meters to their left, massive chunks of earth flying through the toxic atmosphere as something the size of a building burst from the planet's depths. Noah's system immediately began screaming warnings that made his vision blur with cascading alerts.

[MASSIVE THREAT DETECTED]

[CLASSIFICATION: CATEGORY 5 ]

[DESIGNATION: TITAN BURROW SOVEREIGN]

[WARNING: EXTREME DANGER - RETREAT RECOMMENDED]

The creature that emerged defied easy description. It was clearly rodent in basic design—elongated snout, powerful haunches, massive digging claws that gleamed like polished steel in the dim light. But it was built on a scale that belonged in nightmares. Each of its claws was longer than Noah was tall, and its body stretched at least sixty meters from nose to tail.

The mechanical beast's hide wasn't uniform metal but a complex array of interlocking plates that shifted and adjusted as it moved. Bioluminescent patterns pulsed along its flanks in rhythms that reminded Noah uncomfortably of a heartbeat, while its eyes—each one the size of a transport ship's viewport—tracked their movements with scary intelligence.

"Category 5," Noah breathed, his void energy automatically beginning to circulate as his body prepared for combat. "This one's mine."

"Noah, we should—" Lucy began, but her words were cut off as the massive creature moved with impossible speed for something its size.

The Titan Burrow Sovereign didn't attack directly. Instead, it dove sideways through the black sand like a swimmer cutting through water, its massive form creating a wake of displaced earth that sent tremors through the ground. Noah lost sight of it for a crucial few seconds as it vanished beneath the surface.

"Where did it—" Sophie started.

The sand beneath Lucy's feet exploded upward.

Massive jaws emerged from below, closing around Lucy's waist with enough force to crush a starship's hull. Her Beast Gear suit's defensive systems activated immediately, energy fields crackling around the creature's teeth, but Noah could see the strain indicators flashing red on her armor's external status displays.

"Lucy!" Lucas shouted, lightning already crackling around his hands as he prepared to attack.

But the Sovereign was already in motion, its powerful legs driving it back toward the tunnel it had emerged from. Lucy struggled in its grasp, her own electrical abilities sparking against the creature's hide, but the beast's size made her attacks look like static electricity.

Noah did hesitate. "Reciprocal Swap is too dangerous—I can switch places with Lucy, but that puts me directly in those jaws while she's left exposed on the surface," he muttered, calculating options even as he moved. "Void Blink has limited range in confined spaces, and if I misjudge the distance..."

The creature was disappearing back into its tunnel, Lucy still trapped in its jaws. Noah made his choice.

"Void Blink," he said, disappearing from the surface and reappearing just inside the tunnel entrance as the Sovereign's tail vanished into the darkness below.

The tunnel system was immediately disorienting. Unlike the straight passages Noah might have expected, these burrows twisted and curved in complex three-dimensional patterns that seemed to follow no logical design. The walls were smooth, polished by the passage of massive bodies, but they weren't uniform—some sections were barely wide enough for the Sovereign to fit through, while others opened into vast chambers that disappeared beyond the reach of his Beast Gear's lighting systems.

'The thing isn't just digging random holes,' Noah realized as he pursued the creature deeper underground. 'This whole network is designed—defensive positions, ambush points, escape routes. Not just a den, it's a fortress.'

The Sovereign was moving through the tunnel system with obvious familiarity, its massive form navigating turns and obstacles that should have been impossible for something its size. But Noah could see the intelligence behind its movement patterns—it was taking routes that would limit his ability to use his void abilities effectively, keeping to narrow passages where a mistimed Void Blink could embed him in solid rock.

'Enhanced Null Strike in these tight spaces would be suicide—the void energy feedback could bring the whole place down on us. Void Barrage needs line of sight, and these corners are murder for that.' He grimaced as another twist in the tunnel forced him to slow his pursuit. 'And I can't get a clear read on Lucy's condition from back here—the thing's body is blocking everything, and without knowing exactly how she's positioned, Reciprocal Swap could make things worse.'

But the bad situation got worse. He could hear squeaking sounds from all around him. Movement that sounded like the stampede of an enraged keyboard.

The first of the smaller rats appeared as Noah rounded a corner into a wider chamber. They were clearly offspring or subordinates of the Sovereign—each one about the size of a normal bear, but with the same mechanical construction and predatory intelligence. Their optical sensors blazed red in the darkness as they detected Noah's intrusion.

'Pack behavior,' Noah observed, dodging as three of them attacked simultaneously. 'Just like real rats. Territorial, protective of the colony, coordinated assault patterns.'

He activated Entropy Touch, grabbing one of the smaller creatures by its snout. The mechanical rat's face began dissolving immediately, its component metals and ceramics breaking down at the molecular level. But even as it died, the creature's claws raked across his Beast Gear, leaving deep scratches in the armor's surface.

'They're not just copying animal behavior—they're improving on it. Real rats don't have claws that can cut through military-grade composites.'

Two more mechanical rats emerged from side passages, their movements coordinated in a way that spoke of shared tactical intelligence. Noah activated Void Barrage, purple projectiles erupting from his fingertips to punch holes through their torsos, but the narrow confines of the tunnel limited his field of fire.

'The whole planet makes sense now,' Noah thought as he pressed deeper into the tunnel system, following the sounds of the Sovereign's passage. 'The toxic atmosphere, the electromagnetic interference, the extreme temperatures—this isn't a world where organic life could evolve naturally. But mechanical life? Life that doesn't need breathable air or stable temperatures? This could be their natural habitat,'

The tunnel opened into a massive chamber, and Noah's breath caught in his throat. The space was enormous—easily large enough to house a small city—and it was filled with mechanical rats of every conceivable size and configuration. Some were as small as house cats, their optical sensors glowing like fireflies in the darkness. Others were the size of vehicles, their heavy footsteps creating rhythmic vibrations through the chamber floor.

And at the center of it all, the Titan Burrow Sovereign crouched like a mechanical mountain, Lucy still trapped in its massive jaws.

'Queen and colony structure,' Noah realized, studying the behavior patterns of the smaller rats. 'They're all deferring to the Sovereign, positioning themselves to defend it. This isn't just predatory behavior—it's some kind of programmed social organization. Did the Eighth do this?'

The implications were staggering. These weren't just sophisticated war machines—they were an entire civilization adapted for survival in conditions that would kill most organic life forms. The electromagnetic interference that made Sigma-7 unsuitable for human colonization would barely affect mechanical nervous systems. The toxic atmosphere that required environmental suits was irrelevant to creatures that didn't breathe.

'This is what happens when evolution doesn't stop at organic life,' Noah thought grimly. 'Give mechanical organisms enough time and environmental pressure, and they develop their own ecosystems, their own societies.'

More mechanical rats were emerging from tunnels around the chamber's perimeter, their optical sensors all focused on Noah with obvious hostile intent. He counted at least thirty of the smaller ones, a dozen vehicle-sized specimens, and three that approached the Sovereign's massive scale.

'Can't fight them all head-on—there are too many, and this space is still too confined for the big void abilities. Need to focus on the Sovereign, get Lucy out, then extract.'

But as Noah prepared to engage, he noticed something that made his tactical calculations shift. The mechanical rats weren't just positioning themselves defensively—they were studying him. Their optical sensors tracked his movements with obvious curiosity, and he could see data streams flowing between them in patterns of light that ran along their metallic hides.

'They're learning. Every second I spend here, they're analyzing my capabilities, developing countermeasures.'

The Sovereign's massive head turned toward Noah, Lucy still secured in its jaws but apparently unharmed—her armor's integrity fields were holding, and Noah could see her vital signs displayed on his tactical overlay. She was conscious, probably planning her own escape attempt.

'Great. Now what? Void Rifts might work to redirect its movement, but in this space the rift placement would be unpredictable—could end up trapping Lucy instead of freeing her.' He needed a different approach, something these things couldn't analyze and adapt to.

Something that didn't follow any rules they'd understand.

---

On the surface, the battle had taken on a different character entirely. With the Sovereign gone, the mechanical beasts' behavior had shifted from coordinated assault to chaotic aggression. They attacked in smaller groups, their tactics less sophisticated but their individual ferocity increased.

Lucas coordinated the defense with the efficiency of someone born to lead "Diana, Sophie—left flank. Uncle Dom, take the center with Lyra. Kelvin, how are those repairs coming?"

"Working on it!" Kelvin shouted back, his cybernetic arms extending additional appendages as he worked frantically on the damaged ship systems. The Beast Gear's power distribution was compatible with his mechanical enhancements, allowing him to route additional energy to his technopathic abilities.

His eyes blazed green with concentrated power as he interfaced directly with the ship's control systems, his consciousness diving into the electronic networks to repair damaged components and reroute around destroyed circuits. At the same time, a pair of additional appendages—mechanical arms that had sprouted from his torso like technological spider legs—fought off the mechanical beasts that tried to interrupt his work.

'Systems coming online,' he thought, his awareness split between repairing the ship's engines and using a mechanical claw to grab a wolf-sized creature that had tried to leap onto his back. 'Hull integrity at sixty percent, but the atmospheric processors are responding.'

The mechanical beast in his grasp began making sounds—not the usual whirring of gears or hydraulic hisses, but something else. A shriek that seemed to bypass his ears entirely and resonate directly in his skull.

"Jesus Christ, that's loud!" Kelvin cursed, crushing the creature's vocal apparatus to stop the noise. "What the hell kind of sound system do these things have?"

But even as the creature died, another one approached, and the shrieking began again. This time, Kelvin noticed something odd—none of his teammates seemed to react to the sound. They continued their fighting without showing any signs that they could hear the mechanical screaming.

'Only I can hear it,' he realized, his green-blazing eyes widening with surprise. 'My technopathic abilities are picking up something the others can't detect.'

The shrieking continued, and with it came something else—data streams, information patterns flowing through the sound that his enhanced neural interface was automatically attempting to decode. The mechanical beasts weren't just making noise—they were communicating.

And somehow, he was translating their language.

Spasms of pain shot through Kelvin's face as the information flow intensified. His mechanical arms continued working on the ship repairs, but his organic nervous system was struggling to process the alien data patterns. The shrieking grew louder, more complex, as if the mechanical creatures had realized he could understand them and were trying to establish communication.

'This is... this is impossible,' Kelvin thought through the growing pain. 'Third-generation awakened technopath shouldn't be able to interface this well with alien technology. Sure, on Raiju I could do some hacking but their tech has similar ground work as ours on earth. But somehow I'm ...'

Another mechanical beast approached, its shrieking joining the chorus, and Kelvin felt something deep in his consciousness respond. His technopathic abilities were evolving, expanding beyond their original parameters, reaching toward something that felt vast and incomprehensibly complex.

His eyes began to twitch, the spasm increased tenfold as he hung on tightly to the ship. The green glow around his hands began to spread, working through the suit he wore and giving it a green vascularization. The glow intensified up to his neck where the veins were all turning green too.

His hair stood up right, starting to glow green as well.

Lucas looked back to see what was happening to his friend.

'Impossible...Is that what I think it is? A soul..."