Reduced To Ashes

__________ POV Narration__________

The people inside the cave were watching the spectacle in front of them with horror.

They looked as Ashton repeatedly dismembered and played around with a being they thought to be at the very pinnacle of strength.

It had only been one minute, yet it felt like an eternity for Zhang Lei. He watched his greatest creation and soldier become someone else's toy.

The scientist that had made the body modifications looked at Ashton with both anger and fear. The rest were just shaking in their boots.

As if it wasn't bad enough that almost all of their members were either dismembered and killed. Now they would also have to die.

All of them now regretted their decision to follow Zhang Lei. The promise of power was simply too strong a temptation in their eyes. Yet, that power seemed to be infective against the opponent they were currently facing.

Zhang Lei also recognized Ashton eventually. He chastised himself for already forgetting about someone as powerful as Ashton. Even then, Ashton being this powerful was beyond his expectations.

As well as him taking a younger appearance. But that revelation didn't change his current situation and predicament.

He could do nothing but grit his teeth and look at the situation before them, hoping that Ashton would eventually tire out and the beast would win by default.

__________ POV Ashton__________

'Shakti' huh? I've never heard of this energy in my life.

How exactly would a 'Nen' Beast be able to produce a special type of energy that actually suppresses Nen?

This is really sketchy, no doubt about it. I've been looking at the way this 'Shakti' reacts within the user. And, unlike Nen, it doesn't seem all that interested in protecting the body.

It constantly tries to infect the body of the attacker instead. My hand has lost its ability to use Nen a few times due to that.

I've also noticed that 'Shakti' seems to suppress my parasitic Nen. I can't seem to plant it within his body properly.

Well, this fight became prolonged like this only due to my curiosity. This thing isn't strong enough to give me this much power.

There are barely any reflexes, and even its instincts are extremely dull. I think every member of the Zodiacs could've actually dealt with this thing...

Well, maybe not. The Nen around its body is quite thick, even if not intentionally.

But it still wouldn't be able to kill any of them. It would just turn into a stalemate or they'd be forced to capture it...

"This has been very interesting." I took a step back as I shook the 'Shakti' away from my bloodied hand.

It seems to want to repel Nen, but if I let it touch a bit of Nen I can just simply shake it off. It's not even difficult.

It would probably be a bit different if it entered the body through a different path. It seems to follow Aura Nodes and even has the capability of closing them up.

I can easily re-open my nodes though, the bottleneck that Shakti creates on Aura Nodes seems to be artificial, and easy to break through(at least for someone with as much Aura as me)

Still, the process isn't exactly instant. It took me a second to do it properly...

So, I've concluded the tests I've done the last two minutes(coupled with my previous research): Shakti is really the perfect counter to Nen... Almost too perfect...

Shakti doesn't seem to act on the will of the owner, it listens to their commands, but it has autonomy. Almost as if it was a living organism.

It will seek to disable the Aura Nodes of any nearby Nen User. So, my earlier question remains. How would a NEN Beast, be capable of giving this type of power?

If this beast in front of me was actually intelligent, it would definitely have a fair chance at defeating me.

Extremely educative. I could definitely research more, but doing it on myself sounds quite foolish. I want to see how heavily it can affect a Nen User. But I don't have any to test this on...

For now, I've already deduced enough.

"What a curiosity... I guess I should see how it reacts to different attacks..." I clapped my hands and immediately spread out my Nen.

The Shakti seemed to immediately cover the beast's body, my En is unable to touch it through that barrier. (that's to be expected really)

The same can be said for all of the other people in the room. Including Zhang Lei. It seems the prince's reserve is actually only second to this beast's.

"Now~ To test out the next attack."

I imbued the earth around me in my Nen, turning the entire cave completely black as I looked the beast square in the eyes.

This is obviously 'Nature resonance'. I want to see if how Shakti reacts to some of my various special abilities.

The beast was already regenerated. It leapt towards me at an impressive speed. I moved the earth underneath me backwards.

Dodging a downward swipe of the beast's clawed lion arm in the process.

The earth cracked a bit, but it wasn't at all shattered like it was supposed to be. That's just because my Nen is currently strengthening the ground.

And, to my surprise, Shakti seems unresponsive to the Nen-enhanced earth. I was expecting the energy to try and infect the earth too. But I guess it's not doing any of that...

Maybe it could if the user commanded it, but that's not really something I can find out from this adversary...

Well, this is actually the only Hatsu I was interested in testing out. To see if it would react to the earth being covered and infused with Nen. And I already have my answers...

So, "Fun time's over." I sent more of my Nen into the ground as I raised one of my fingers and pointed it at the roof of the cave.

Following my movement, countless spikes sprawled out of the ground in an arc in front of me.

The beast was caught right in the middle, with different sized spikes penetrating its body and technically impaling it brutally.

And, to my surprise, the Shakti inside the beast's body reacted to the earth that had impaled it, it expelled the Nen out, leaving parts of the spikes weak(the parts inside his body, specifically).

The beast instinctively flexed its muscles and crumbled all of the spikes that had entered its body.

How exactly do I get rid of this thing? I could capture it, but I wouldn't get much with its lacking intelligence...

I watched as the beast healed itself again, this time much faster than before, it even made me raise an eyebrow.

The beast also sprinted at me as it howled, its bull horns were directly pointed at my chest. It seemed to pick up much more speed than before.

It certainly took me a while to notice. But this thing has been getting stronger as the battle progressed... And, its 'Shakti' seemed to increase the more it came in contact with my Nen.

This reminds me of the Ant King. This means that I need to take out this thing before it becomes uncontrollable.

I immediately pulled back all of my Nen, undoing Nature Resonance and rolling to the side.

I managed to avoid the beast's charge as it rushed into one of the walls of the cave.

The now regular cave wall couldn't withstand the strength of this beast, it immediately crumbled as the entire cave shook.

And I don't think this cave will keep itself up for much longer. I need to act quickly.

I dashed towards the prince and grabbed him by the head. He immediately started struggling. His Shakti also tried to enter my body.

But I didn't give it much time. I opened up my Void Space and threw the prince inside. I then removed all of my relics and looked at the wall that the beast had dashed into.

It was already coming out, looking blankly around, probably for its master(the prince). But that doesn't really matter anymore.

I quickly created a clone with 'Cell Splitter', I made it run away with all of its speed.

I wait for exactly twenty seconds. Dodging attacks and dancing around the beast. Then, after the clone took a certain distance from this place.

Then, I spread my En around once more, covering the entire cave and imbuing it with my Parasitic Nen.

After a second, I transferred my consciousness to my clone as I detonated the Nen and blew open the entire cave.

I was now 2 kilometres away from the explosion, and the wind of it almost blew me off my feet. I protected my body from any flying rocks with Ten.

The explosion was large and loud. It was definitely heard and seen by the nearby city. But it was also necessary. I don't want to have future issues dealing with a beast potentially stronger than me.

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