Growing up with the dream of being a monster hunter, Kai had always known that it was likely he would die young. He had imagined countless deaths and ways to avoid them. When he'd grown older, he'd accepted that his fate could very well be one of those imagined deaths.
He had never expected to be lying on a monster carcass with Hannagan Lantrian prepared to deal him a fatal blow.
"You know everyone can see you, right?" It took most of Kai's strength to gesture toward the city. "Even the ones who hate know what I did. Do you think you can keep leading the Hunters Guild after killing the savior of Monskon City?"
"I didn't expect it to end like this, Kai." Hannagan was still gathering mana in one fist, but he looked surprisingly regretful even with no audience to see his expression. "You were one of my favorites. When fate didn't smile on you, I tried to persuade you to adopt a better life instead of striving. And look where it brought you."
"Saving your city?"
"I've never seen an abomination like you before, but I know this sort of ambition. You won't ever be satisfied, and soon you'll start eating humans next. I can't allow that."
"You know, this would never have happened if you hadn't gotten banished." Kai wasn't sure why he was delaying the inevitable. He didn't want to die, but he didn't see any way out. It hurt to use his spiritual sight, but he looked just in case.
Na: Hannagan Lantrian
Total Power: 138
Grandfist Class: 64 (74)
Physique Level: F-9 (48)
Soul Level: 4 (16)
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The old man was cruel, but he wasn't weak. Over a lifeti of ruling the Hunters Guild, he'd grown strong and experienced. Kai was confident he could have taken him at full strength, but given his current injuries, one blow would finish him...
"Your type is always the sa." Hannagan's sorrow faded into anger. "You're never responsible for your own decisions, you're always forced by soone else. Well, this is where all your decisions led you."
Kai stared at the fist overhead. Even if he had the strength, he wouldn't crawl or beg. At least he had done one undeniably good thing in his life.
Just before the fist ca down, a surge of energy burst within the city. Both of them couldn't help but look, searching for one more threat. Kai saw only a dark flicker over the wasteland, then Hannagan Lantrian was thrown from the corpse.
The older man took several halting steps, eyes wide with shock. He started to open his mouth and only spat out blood. But Kai barely had ti to look at him, not with Zae Zin Nim standing beside him.
Most obviously, she burned with so much power that he couldn't question that she had broken through to the Nascent Foundation stage. He was surprised to see that her face was still covered in jagged black lines, but they looked more like scars than open wounds. The next change he noticed was that her hair seed to have been entirely restored: instead of uneven lengths, it hung around her shoulders in a glossy black. Before he could look at her too carefully, she bent down beside him.
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"Are you alright, Kai?"
"I'll live." He grimaced and rolled his shoulders. "Got a spike in my back. I didn't notice before, with the near death, but it's getting to ."
"Yes, you're clearly alright." She stared at him, but he thought there was so affection in that flat gaze.
Just as he was about to say sothing else, they were interrupted by a loud thumping sound. Hannagan struck himself across the chest again, then spat out a little more blood. He no longer looked so triumphant, but he hadn't released his mana.
"You think that's enough to take down, girl? Step aside and let exterminate him or you'll get hurt."
"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Kai said. "Have you used your spiritual sight?"
The old man paused, skeptical, but then looked more carefully. Kai took the ti to winch open his aching spiritual sight as well, hoping that Zae Zin Nim wouldn't disappoint him.
Na: Zae Zin Nim
Total Power: 365
Cultivation: Nascent Foundation 0% (250)
Coldfire Corona: 9 (19)
Blackblood Physique Level: E-0 (80)
Soul Level: 4 (16)
>
She didn't. The Nascent Foundation stage was even more powerful than he had expected, not to ntion that she had finally overco the disadvantage of her Physique. He wasn't sure why she was still scarred, but it was clear that her body was no longer her primary weakness.
"One absurdity after another." Hannagan finally lowered his fists, though he still glowered. "You have no part in this, foreigner."
"I do," Zae Zin Nim said. "You should leave."
"I suppose you're going to try to kill if I harm him?"
"I am going to kill you if you stay where I can reach you."
Hannagan took an involuntary step back. Kai wasn't sure how much power he had remaining, but the old man clearly wasn't willing to take the chance. After spitting at them one final ti, he turned and retreated over the wasteland with surprising speed.
Kai just lay back on the corpse for a while. The tension of having his death so near had been exhausting when he had nothing left, so that month of sleep was sounding nice. But Zae Zin Nim had clearly broken through and he didn't want to ignore her, so he forced himself back to his feet. It only hurt about as much as the entire previous fight combined.
"You are too tall." Zae Zin Nim looked upward at him with a frown. "Your new form appears strong, but you beca taller. You were too tall before, this is just excessive."
"Congratulations on your own breakthrough," he said. "At least, I hope congratulations are in order. You said your body would be remade, so..."
"Not as quickly as I'd hoped. I will not be able to fully transform my body until the next stage." Zae Zin Nim shrugged fluidly. "For now I needed to choose between my beauty and my health, so I chose the latter."
Hopefully that ant she wouldn't be in pain from her scars anymore, or spend ti vomiting black bile. Her comnt made him look again and he realized that it was more than her strength and her hair that had changed. She was no longer stick-thin under her robes, and to say she looked "healthy" would be euphemistic. Kai quickly forced himself to a simpler topic.
"You've gotten so much stronger. I thought I was catching up to you, then you just blow right past ..."
"I'm not so sure." Zae Zin Nim pointedly looked at the corpse beneath them, then at him. "I don't know if I could have beaten this thing, even had my advancent worked more swiftly. I was already taking a huge risk rushing the breakthrough."
"Well, next ti we can fight it together, then nobody will have to do anything ridiculous." Kai ran a hand through his hair and both only seed to get the other dirtier. "It looks like they have everything under control now, but no one is coming this way. I guess nobody is going to thank , huh?"
"Which is the reason you were doing all this, I understand." Zae Zin Nim nodded somberly.
"They all saw what I did outside the city, I suppose. I was banished before and I'm even more banished now. Anyone interacting with would be a pariah."
"You still have allies in the city who respect you. I suspect if we do not leave the region too swiftly, they will show up sooner or later."
"I hope so." Now that he thought about it, Kai really needed to thank Juray for her help, and he wanted to talk to Inafay one last ti. Even if they had parted on good terms, he wanted to discuss things with words instead of fists.
Tired of looking at the city that had rejected him, Kai carefully made his way down the corpse of the giant. Maybe his body had recovered enough to jump down, but his mind was too exhausted for that sort of thing. He had gone over a dozen steps before he realized that he didn't know which direction he was walking or why.
"I take it you're no longer dreaming of retiring as a veteran hunter here?" Zae Zin Nim asked.
"That path seems pretty well closed," Kai said as he glanced over his shoulder one last ti. "But I have no idea where I'll go next."
"Anywhere we want."
"Anywhere?"
"Well, you're going to take a bath before anything else. You are absolutely foul."
Kai laughed, and it hurt his throat, and the pain felt right.
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