1 Hour - Blood Flames Coating!!!

Rustle! Step-Step-Step!!!

The sound of dry leaves getting trampled by hundreds of pairs of feet echoed through the valley, surrounded by low hills and a setting sun.

A long, white-haired, blue figure, with a bare, bleeding chest and a half-cut tail, was being chased by dozens of Acromantulas (-Giant Spiders from Harry Potter World-), backed by wizards and witches riding on Brooms.

On this white-haired figure's both sides, running on the dark tops of the low hills, were hundreds of Trooper Xenomorphs, always closing, always snarling, and always roaring toward him.

This white-haired and blue-skinned figure was, of course, Golduck-Kai.

But even though he had lost half of his tail, even though hideous wounds were running across his body like tattoos, there was a thrilling smile on Kai's face, his eyes sparkling along with the mind jewel on his forehead.

Kai kicked the ground, and his figure blurred.

With one light propulsion, he appeared over 200 meters ahead of his last position.

None among the group of Troopers chasing him could keep up with him. None could even touch him.

None could make him bleed, either.

Then what was the reason for his pathetic state? Or, better was to ask, who?

Shuu! Shu!!!

The world roared as if a storm had just come alive out of nowhere.

Kai's smiling eyes narrowed, making him look over his shoulder. There, from high in the sky, a giant figure was flying toward him.

Flying was an understatement, for its speed was so great that it rivaled Kai's raw acceleration.

This figure looked like no man, woman, or even a proper creature. Its entire body was covered in a teal, metallic skin. For ears, it had 2 gray spikes, and a longer spike was jutting out of its forehead. Its eyes were red and stony, and it had a pair of thick arms with three claws on the ends.

It was those arms that stood out the most. They were easily over 2 ft wide and reached the figure's knees. The arms were considerably thicker below the elbow and had a flat, blunt protrusion extending over the joint, too. [Image 1]

"Metang!" Kai mumbled, the smile on his face becoming a grin. "Or… it was a Metang once. Not anymore."

It was this figure who was the reason for the blood on Kai's body.

Those arms were scary, true enough. But they weren't the cause behind Kai running away like that.

Metang… was a Psychic Pokemon.

And no matter how Kai attacked it or approached it, he couldn't make a scratch on it using the 6 daggers. Much less needed to be said about using Telekinesis around it.

Kai's Ability was no match for this abomination. Not yet, at least.

The human-Metang-like figure suddenly opened its mouth, and all pores on Kai's body opened up.

This?! Fuck! Kai cursed, gritting his teeth.

Rumbleeee!!!

An enormous amount of Mana from the surroundings gathered in front of the figure's mouth, becoming a huge plasma-like ball.

And then it spat toward Kai, the ball becoming a beam. [Image 2]

Hyper Beam!!!

BOOOM!!!

A giant cloud of dust rose toward the sky, all hills, and the lifeforms over it, shaking under its might.

From the hills, the Platoon of Xenomorphs rushed toward the cloud of dust, saliva dripping off their mouths. The dozens of Giant Spiders vanished into it as well. Several Wizards and Witches flew around the cloud of dust, their wands out, their eyes murderous.

Chi-Chi-Chii!!!

The sound of steel tearing into the hard exoskeleton of Xenomorphs had become such a familiar sound to the ears that it was hard not to recognize it.

"Fire!" the human-Metang figure roared.

"Stupefy!"

"Confringo!!"

"Reducto!!!"

Friendly fire was OK until there was a guarantee that fellow soldiers were not getting affected by them. Acromantula was a magical species, only wounded and repelled by specific spells. And the Xenomorphs had no to little effect on their hard covering under the bombardment of these spells.

The sound of steel hacking apart flesh vanished, as expected by the attackers.

However, not only that, but all sounds vanished altogether. None could hear the Xenomorphs and their inhumane growls, and none could hear the rustling of Giant Spiders. It was as if this dust cloud was hiding a chasm in which all had fallen to their deaths.

And just when the sun went down behind the lowest hill, turning the orange-brown dust blue and black, a figure shot out of it, flying straight toward the abomination hovering up in the sky.

Kai was like a missile, his speed in a straight direction reaching 200 m/s.

One moment, there was no sign of him. In another, he had already closed up on the human-Metang figure.

The mind-jewel on Kai's forehead pulsated rhythmically, and six daggers vanished from his waist, their speed far surpassing his own.

There was no sign of them. Like ghosts, the six daggers became six blurs, attacking the enemy from six directions.

Suddenly, the red eyes of human-Metang shone blue, and the daggers were forced out in the open.

2 were aimed at the figure's eyes, 1 was aimed at the region between its legs, 2 were almost kissing its underarms, and 1 was nowhere to be seen.

Just as the audience wondered where the last dagger was, a thud sound tore through the silence.

A pristine, silver-colored dagger was nailed into a wizard's head, his eyes still popped out in disbelief. The dagger snatched itself out and disappeared, slicing necks, heads, eyes, and hands like a knife running through butter.

On the other side, some 30 meters away from this massacre, Kai was still rushing toward the human-Metang.

The five daggers aimed at the enemy trembled, two different Telekinetic forces pushing them in the opposite direction.

"Ahhh!" A suppressed low growl came out of Kai's throat as lifted his left hand, making a fist, veins pulsating on his forehead.

"HAAA!" The human-Metang figure lifted its right arm, pure metallic Mana covering it from the elbow to the claws. Metal Claw!!! [Gif 1]

As time stagnated, the two monsters punched at each other, the daggers shooting out like bullets.

Boommmmm!!!

Space trembled, hills shook, and a blue figure got sent flying from whichever direction it had come from.

Golduck-Kai's left arm was a mess, his back arched and broken. With a thundering sound, he impacted the earth, creating an even bigger cloud of dust and rubble than the one that had occurred under the wrath of Hyper Beam.

It wasn't the end, though.

"Haa-aaaa-aaaa!!!" the human-Metang roared, his entire body trembling like a boat amid a thunderstorm. If one were to look closer, one would have found that this figure's face matched Robb from the House Stark. But, with such a disfigured face, it was hard to tell.

Shuuu!!!

A brilliant, blue shine covered human-Metang as if stars were shimmering around him. His entire figure disappeared as a blue star-like glow blinded everything.

Under this blinding glow, the human-Metang outstretched its clawed, humongous arms, pointing them toward Kai in the dust cloud, and… fired itself. [Gif 2]

Meteor Mash!!!

Creakkkkkkkkkkk!!!

There was such a heinous power behind this charge that the very wind lost its flow. A great tempest arose out of nowhere, scattering the persistent cloud of dust.

When winds and dust vanished, Kai was standing tall in the middle of a crater, his back straight, his grin becoming wider.

Kai looked at the Meteor Mash, knowing there was no running away from it. He didn't want to run away, either.

He had been waiting for this to happen for so long.

This meteoric charge, this magical power, this murderous will, only these were worthy enough for Kai to see how much he had progressed in these… 8 years.

Hisssssss!!!

Like a jet, needle-like pillars of blood flames slithered out of Kai's mouth, all his muscles, bones, tendons, and even organs contributing to this power. His blue skin squirmed as if thousands of worms were wriggling beneath it, and the end of his white hair glowed yellow.

If it was before, then this would have ended here.

Not even a moment had passed since human-Metang had charged toward Kai, and he, in turn, had used the Selfless Breathing.

Suddenly, an earth-shaking boom rang out, but it was impossible to hear it, for it had happened within Kai; in his body. The pillar of Blood Flames became a bloodfall as Kai squeezed out an hour's worth of his power, his Spiritual Power, in a single moment.

1 Hour!!!

This was no empty number. Nor was it just a simple duration of time.

Kai's Selfless Breathing increased his raw power, increasing them several folds. If one were to assume that 30 minutes of Selfless Breathing increased Kai's strength by a factor of 1.5, then an hour of it increased them by a factor of 2.

Hissss!!!

The Blood Flames surged, coiling like red serpents and dragons.

Then an even more unbelievable thing occurred.

All those Blood Flames gathered around Kai's right arm, covering it from the tips of his fingers to the elbow.

A blood-colored gauntlet manifested on Kai's arm, shining with a serene, metallic sheen. However, it looked more like a skin-tight glove than a true gauntlet.

A blue meteor shone in front of Kai, replacing the entire world. Within it, the two colossal arms of human-Metang spun in front of its eyes, aimed at Kai.

It was then the gauntlet of Blood Flames pulsed as Kai made a fist, yellow thunder cracking in the corner of his eyes.

And he punched.

In this far corner of Island X, a blue sun rose as the night descended, spitting out blood-colored flames, scorching the souls and sights.

*

*

Crack!!!

In the cave, by the stream, Kai tore apart the metallic skin of the human-Metang, the six daggers running in and out.

On his right, in the distance, there were several such corpses. Some looked like Centaurs fused with Onix, some were hideous combinations of Witches and Fairy-type Pokemon, and some were hard to distinguish from horrors to beauty.

Yet, there was one thing common among them. All had their flesh, organs, skins, and skeletons removed, studied, and put back with a precision that no man could ever show.

Around 13 years had passed since Kai's arrival at Island X for the 3rd Stage. In those 13 years, 3 were outside the purview of his Life Halt Capsule's effects.

It was time to visit the Samurai's Hut.

Moreover, Kai had ample Points to not postpone it any longer.

"Hmm," Kai mused, looking at the fused organs. "They have made some progress. Haha!"

Some 8 years ago, Kai had gone through a substantial amount of shock upon doing an autopsy on the fused version of hulk-like Ser Gregor Clegane and Zapdos. Shock, because he had found these powers incredibly similar to his own, but infinitely weaker.

First, instead of enhancing the strength of the resulting abomination, this forced fusion brought down the overall power. After dozens of experiments, Kai had potent reasons to believe that this fusion decreased the overall power of two beings by 50%.

Second, though he had seen making them progress with time, it was also making the fused Being more irrational and less intelligent. So, in a way, it was like gaining power in place of intelligence.

"These are only experiments," Kai looked at the corpses, his eyes narrowing. "Both for me and them. A time would come when they would perfect their creation. Haha! Bitch! I am not sitting here with my dick in my hands, either. Come!"

Kai didn't know if the Systems had triggered this progression, or if such research on fusing man and creatures existed here forever. What he did know, however, was that by the time they would perfect this fusion, he would have unlocked more of his Items.

Or better. He might have already passed the 3rd Stage.

"Smarty!" Kai called, licking his lips. "To the Samurai's Hut, then."

100000 Points instantly vanished and a blue-black vortex appeared in front of him.

Kai stepped in, leaving behind a cave full of darkness, despair, cold, and howling ghosts.