Depthless Hunger Chapters 645-648

Chapter 645: Titans, Schers, Warriors

Fighting as a giant was different from fighting as a person, in more ways than Kai had expected. It wasn't simply a magnification of his ordinary techniques, as if the world had shrunk around him. All of his movents were sluggish, ponderous even though they covered vast spaces. When he swung out an enormous claw, ignoring the crimson beams rely scorching the surface, it collided with the Abhorroid like mountains clashing.

If he had tried to overthink every single action, he would have stumbled and failed, perhaps even crushed Hantron City with his own body. Instead, he leaned into his monstrous instincts, which seed to know how to move in a body like this... except unlike when he drew on his Savage Creed form, his mind remained completely focused.

Thinking so clearly as a monster felt strange, acknowledging his hunger for everything even as he fought to defend the ant-like people behind him. It completely stripped away his thoughts of having monstrous and human elents to himself: it was all just him.

When the Abhorroid unleashed an unprecedented cloud of black dust, Kai stabbed his tail into the ground and pushed himself to the side. Even that caused rockslides, and his movent tore through the earth as he moved to the flank of the monster.

He had raised an arm, instinctively gathering power for Tyrant's Claw, but he realized just how destructive it could be at this size. If any energy passed the Abhorroid, it could travel for leagues, potentially destroying cities.

Instead of launching it as a technique, Kai brought down all that power in physical form. His claws tore deep, puncturing past the Abhorroid's surface layers for the first ti, drawing dark ichor from it. For a mont, he thought that might be the end.

Then the wound opened, revealing a massive eye half the size of the Abhorroid's body. It unleashed a crimson beam unlike any he'd seen before, blasting him backwards. Kai stumbled, trying to catch himself on all fours before being driven down to the ground.

When the beam stopped, he was still intact, but Kai was keenly aware of how the phased chakra reserves within his giant body were diminishing. He couldn't keep fighting like this forever, maybe not even for long. Yet with the Abhorroid approaching, eye preparing for another beam, what could he do?

Kai pushed himself up, opened his jaws, and exhaled a transford version of Baleful Breath. At his current size it was apocalyptic, creating a sea of darkness and fla that ravaged an entire region of the wasteland.

For the first ti he saw the Abhorroid seem to panic, trying to move quickly and rise into the air. Even with its power erupting downward, it only lifted out of the flas slower, and when it rose into the sky, the lower half of its body had been severely burned. The upper half glowed brighter, however, and it hung within the clouds like a vengeful moon.

Using Baleful Breath like that had drained even more of his chakra, but Kai wasn't done yet. He rose to all four limbs in a monstrous stance and prepared to leap.

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..

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Hunting Fodajix through the countryside was annoying, but it proved more important than Omilaena suspected. She found him at an abandoned elite way-station, prying at one of the doorways that could be made into a portal. With his raw power, there was a slim chance he could have made it work sohow, so just as well that she interrupted him.

When she approached, Fodajix sensed her presence. The way he instantly drew his sword and adopted a defensive stance, Omilaena didn't think there was any point in trying to seduce him.

"So just what-"

She was cut off by his rushing attack. Of course she retaliated by throwing a needle at his eyes, but even at such close range, he managed to raise his sword and deflect it. He was using it one-handed and his other hand swept out toward her in a fist.

The attack was direct, and all the more effective for that. If Omilaena hadn't had so much experience sparring with Zin Nim and her palm strikes, she could well have been struck. As it was, she barely managed to weave around it, forming a knife and slashing at Fodajix's arm. She only managed one cut before he swung his sword back into range, forcing her to back off.

After that she kept her distance, and with her new power, she could maintain that. Unfortunately, his body really did seem similar to sothing like a Steel Titan, except phased. Only a truly well-placed attack could draw any blood, and his tunic seed to deflect more attacks than she had expected. Taking a risk, Omilaena managed to slash open the fabric and saw mail glinting underneath.

<

Na: Fodajix

Total Power: 2483

Ironeater: Feldspar Rank (1105)

Human Essence: 300

Brute Iron Physique: D-5 (335)

Soul Level: 7 (343)

Ring of Iron ( 100)

Trueiron Sword ( 100)

Mana Circlet ( 100)

Hidden Mail ( 100)

>

The bastard had a secret coat of phased mail that he'd been hiding this entire ti. She wanted that phased tal, but Omilaena realized that she was going to have to rein in her avarice. Fodajix was actually a dangerous opponent, too smart to be easily tricked or led into a trap. Unlike the others, who didn't understand the nature of their phased abilities, Fodajix had a strong grasp on his own limitations.

After they had fought for so ti, Omilaena failing to cause a solid injury and Fodajix failing to keep her in range, they stopped to regroup. Maybe it was ti for an entirely different tactic...

"What are you trying to accomplish?" she asked. "You bring back the monster, you start slaughters all over... those seem like distractions. What do you hope to gain?"

"Why would I tell you?" He stared back at her icily, but he wasn't attacking. Okay, so he was clever enough not to just babble his thoughts to her, and there were much smarter people who couldn't resist that.

"Because you're at a disadvantage. You have to know you're running out of allies and options. But we're spread thin too, so I'd be willing to cut you a deal. Work together with us and you can walk free at the end of this."

"Bullshit. I've killed your own people."

"Not my people, and the people on this continent kill each other all the ti." Omilaena shrugged, but she knew that wouldn't be enough, so she played her best card. "We need information from you. You know what happens when you see Kai, right?"

"I..." For the first ti Fodajix looked uncertain, though he didn't lower his guard.

"If we're right, sothing strange happened to you. Maybe you t a man wearing gray, or you ran into a gray power. I am very interested in that, in fact I'd say it's more important than just about anything else. You're the only person who can tell what I need to know, so if you cooperate I'll do everything I can to help you."

His sword lowered slightly. "And what sort of life is there for , after this?"

"That's up to you," Omilaena said. "If you switch sides, you could be a hero instead of a tyrant. Trust , I've done so bad things in my ti, but they're all willing to accept now. But in your place, I think I'd go to one of the other continents. You could live a good life there, free of all this."

"I..."

"Well, Fodajix? Do we keep swiping at each other, or do we act like adults and make a deal?"

For a mont he looked lost and alone... then his eyes hardened and his sword rose again. "No," Fodajix said clearly, "no, I don't believe you. I called for the slaughter of everyone, and I don't think you'll forgive that. There's only one way this can end."

It was a sha, because she really wanted to get more information about the outside world from him, including the gray power. But he was too dangerous not to take seriously, so that chance had evaporated. She'd almost had him, but it was too late.

Omilaena spun needles into both hands. "You're right."

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..

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Qi flooded through Zae Zin Nim's body, taking pathways she didn't fully understand, but it was hers in a way she had never felt before. She had taken a step off the narrow path, and the fires had engulfed her, but instead of destroying her, they had taken her to a new path.

When she had arrived in Floodisle City, she had known that she had limited ti. It shocked her how easily she had killed one of the invaders: she had been held back so long by the limitation of their threat, she had forgotten that the gap in power between them had only risen.

Yangix, however, would be the real danger, especially since he was threatening Cragrila and Wan Fei. Zae Zin Nim closed off her heart, which was roiling with untad emotions, and displayed only her old cultivator attitudes. It was certainly easy to fake against this man who had caused her so much trouble, who was battering two far worthier fighters with nothing but his undeserved power.

So when she unleashed the massive Coldfire Palm, she made it move slowly, knowing that Yangix wouldn't be able to resist throwing his own power against it. While he tried to fight her qi, Zae Zin Nim used the fact that she was obscured by fire to vanish.

Slipping around the side, she appeared beside Cragrila and Wan Fei, who were shocked to see her. It was easy to grab them both and carry them out of the way, depositing them on the nearest rooftop outside the range of her palm.

"You've done enough," she said quietly. "I'll take it from here."

anwhile, Yangix had finally overco her Coldfire Palm, managing to turn it back with a trendous flood of qi. He looked entirely baffled that she wasn't standing behind it, his eyes still searching the heavens as if he believed she had been putting her full strength into the technique.

Perhaps if she had, she could have destroyed him in the first exchange, but that would have led to unacceptable losses. Now he would be warier... but she didn't think that it would matter. Zae Zin Nim moved forward to finish the fight.

Chapter 646: Last Breaths

Once more, Kai and the Abhorroid clashed over the landscape as titans, both of them falling back. But Kai could feel the end approaching, his armor sloughing away.

He instinctively tried to drain all the power from the world around him and instantly knew that it wouldn't be enough. If he consud everything, all the mana and matter and people, it wouldn't buy him more than a second in this form. His ti was up.

Instead of trying to continue physically, he drew all of the remaining phased chakra toward his head and expelled it as the most potent stream of Baleful Breath that he could. As it unfurled from his titanic jaws, he could feel the rest of his body dissolving from the feet up, his very form expending itself on the attack. By the ti the stream of darkness ended, he was nothing but his normal body hanging in the air.

Baleful Breath burned across the Abhorroid, dealing it terrible damage... but one eye burned within the darkness. The beam caught Kai out of the air and slamd him to the earth.

For a while he just hurt, exhausted by his use of the other form. Even though he had been relying almost entirely on the phased chakra, it had taken sothing from his as well, and taxed his abilities to their limit. His monstrous hunger had risen another rank, which was an ironic comfort when he lay on his back, barely able to move.

This ti, the Abhorroid hadn't knocked him far from its location: the beam had slamd him down, not into the distance. The shadow was approaching him, slower than before due to all the monster's injuries, but inevitably. He might be able to fight, but if he couldn't get moving and those crimson eyes turned on him, he was finished.

The ground seed to disappear underneath him and Kai fell onto his back. He should have been able to react to such things, but the giant battle had taken so much out of him that he struggled to reorient himself.

"You alright, Kai?" Gunjin knelt beside him, and there was a portal overhead. Kai forced his neck to the side, locating the Abhorroid and the city: at range, but still visible.

There were tiny forms fighting the monster. Elites, he realized, hurling phased attacks at range. They were barely flickers of light against the monstrous sphere of the Abhorroid, but they were actually dealing damage. It was taking all they had, but they seed to be fighting it to a standstill.

"I'll live," Kai said, forcing himself up. "What's going on?"

"We're trying to win the battle, is what's going on." Gunjin snapped his fingers and Fornil and Juray moved from behind him. The healer raised a hand in front of Kai, restoring his burned and battered body, while Juray handed him a potion.

"It's your own mana and blood," she told him with a wry smile. "So I'm just giving it back to you, but I don't think I have anything else that can restore you."

"That's plenty," Kai said. He drank it gladly, the power flooding into his parched body.

"This is all we have," Gunjin told him, "because we're still fighting on a lot of fronts. Any chance you can use that over-sized form again?"

"Not a chance, not unless we can get more phased energy."

"In that case, I hope soone else has a plan, because I'm tapped and it doesn't look like that thing is going to stop."

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..

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As they fought over Floodisle City, Zae Zin Nim was struck by how different this battle was from the last. Her father had seed overwhelming, unstoppable, the pinnacle of cultivation. By contrast, though Yangix was far more powerful, he seed almost clumsy by comparison.

For the first part of the fight, he refused to engage with her in hand to hand combat. She thought that he was keeping his distance because he preferred to fight at range, until she managed to get close. When he attempted a palm thrust and she swept aside his arm effortlessly, she realized that it was because he couldn't fight her like this. He had looked skilled against unphased opponents, but his movents were rely competent, no more.

She almost managed to strike him then, but her palm collided with a surge of qi. Instead of destroying his organs, it rely sent him flying backward through the air. The rush of his qi hit her as well, but it only burned off part of her sleeve, leaving her arm untouched.

Unfortunately, she couldn't underestimate this opponent, even now. Her mastery of phases was strong, and increasingly comfortable after she reached Sky Soul, but his was automatic and constant. She needed to be careful to keep a handle on her new power as well, which sotis surged wildly in directions she didn't expect.

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"What... what have you done to yourself?" Yangix asked. He managed to draw himself up and stare down at her. "You may have obtained a little power, but... this is a terrible fire deviation. Your cultivation is forever-"

"I don't think you know what you're talking about," Zae Zin Nim said.

"You dare?" Yangix pretended to rage, but she thought she saw the insecurity behind the anger. "None of you in this miserable backwater have the slightest understanding of the truth of cultivation! You've seen how easily I took over this continent... you strut around calling yourselves Earth Souls and Sky Souls, but these are dead ends unworthy of true sects."

In response, Zae Zin Nim took a leap toward him. Yangix hurled another massive technique at her, but it struck her as unford, an imitation of other techniques with nothing to support it except raw power. She spun in the air, wrapping her Coldfire Corona around herself, and pierced through, driving much closer to him.

"I think you're wrong about that," Zae Zin Nim told him. "I think y-"

"You think - always think, never know!" Yangix let out a cold snort and then sneered at her. "True cultivators do not hesitate, they act, seizing-"

Again she leapt closer. This ti Yangix attempted to aim his finger at her, to explode her body with his first technique, but she was a shadow on the wind, never where his finger pointed. When he unleashed his qi, a rooftop exploded harmlessly and she was even closer to him.

"I think that if you could make your qi denser, you would, but you can't." Zae Zin Nim took a deep breath, circulating her qi within her dantian. "You're the one who took a cheap path to power, rushing to the second stage. If I reached the second stage right now, I would be far stronger than you, wouldn't I?"

"Preposterous!" Yangix tried to hurl another technique at her and hit nothing but air. "You couldn't possibly break through in this qi desert. Even trying is hopeless."

"I'm not going to try. I'm going to beat you here, and keep moving forward, and beco stronger than you've ever imagined. But you won't be alive to see it."

She took another leap, and this ti Yangix pulled out every trick he had. Walls of qi erupted in front of her and she braced herself, plowing through with the Pure Yin Shroud. But no sooner had she broken the walls than a flood of qi swept at her from all sides, forcing her to duck low, skidding across the ground.

Zae Zin Nim swept back up to her feet only a step away from him... but Yangix had his finger pointed at her. While she had been dodging, he had been building up all the qi he could in his finger, preparing his central technique.

"Die!" he scread.

"No." Zae Zin Nim raised a hand and felt the qi strike her, but she was a complete cultivator now, every elent of her power fused together with her Blackblood Physique. All his technique attempted to do was tear apart the opponent's body, and it could not overco her, so her hand pressed closer to him.

"That's... that's impossible..."

"This technique..." Zae Zin Nim reached out and grasped his finger. "This is amateurish."

She snapped it backward and Yangix let out a scream of pain. As he collapsed to the ground, coughing up blood, Zae Zin Nim realized that he expected all his opponents to be fragile because he was: all destructive power and no endurance, expecting every battle to end in an exploding body while he laughed and boasted. Now that he faced soone who was close to his equal, he folded.

But she wouldn't grow lax, not now. First Zae Zin Nim stomped her foot into his chest, cracking multiple ribs and making sure he was stunned. She could have killed him then, but she had a better idea.

"Cragrila?" As she called the na, she extended her hand to one side. "I'd like to borrow sothing back from you."

The Krysali woman appeared beside her and set the Deathwind Spear in her hand.

"Thank you." Zae Zin Nim stabbed the spear into Yangix and then copied both her spouses: she began to drain all of his life qi into the spear. "This should be more than enough."

"You're going to use his qi to ascend?" Cragrila asked.

"No, his qi is impure." That wasn't quite accurate, because she had abandoned simplistic ideas of purity, but it was definitely true that his qi was unsuitable. If she tried to take it into her dantian, she would only weaken her own cultivation... and she had told the truth, she was aiming for heavens far above Yangix. The only way to make use of his qi would be to filter it through another thod...

At last it was done. Yangix was a husk of himself, no longer phased, and Zae Zin Nim was too disgusted to even kill him. She turned back to Cragrila, keeping her grip on the spear that now thrumd with overflowing qi.

"There are still three invaders on the continent," she said. "I only have one potion, and I have to go... can I take this and trust you to handle everything here?"

Cragrila gave her a firm nod, as if they were back in the revolution. Behind her, Wan Fei limped closer, astonished, but when their gazes t, he bowed respectfully.

So Zae Zin Nim pulled out the teleportation potion and drank, hoping she wasn't too late.

Chapter 647: The Last, Smallest Pieces

Kai paced at the edge of the battlefield, his fingers flexing into claws almost subconsciously. He knew that he couldn't simply throw himself into battle recklessly, not against an oga-ranked threat like the Abhorroid, but he hated waiting while others were fighting.

The elites were doing well for themselves, but it was the most they could do to slow the Abhorroid down by battering it with ranged attacks. Kai had seen a few of them be struck by crimson beams and need to be evacuated, and that would only continue as it managed to regenerate more eyes. They were running out of ti and he still had no idea what was going on across the continent.

"We're running out of ti." Enalanis appeared next to them through one of Gunjin's portals, echoing Kai's thoughts. "Hantron City is mostly evacuated, but not entirely. If this continues, soon we'll be choosing between elites dying or civilians dying."

"This is what we prepare to avoid every incursion." Gunjin rubbed his forehead and glanced to Kai. "Can you take it on?"

"I'm recovered enough," Kai said, "but I'd only be slowing it down. We need to win."

"What about Omilaena?" Enalanis asked.

Gunjin shook his head. "Seen fighting Fodajix in the wasteland, but she hasn't been able to finish him."

"Then we are in a difficult position. I can return, but..."

Kai continued to pace, trying to consider alternate angles. If he went up against the Abhorroid again, this would probably be his last chance to change his monstrous essence. The problem was that to fight such a threat he needed to use basically all of his passive abilities, which left him with fewer skills, and even then he'd already tried most of them.

When a cultivator streaked from the north Kai automatically turned, assuming that sothing had gone horribly wrong and he'd need to fight yet another opponent. He realized a mont later that it was Zae Zin Nim: sothing in her soul had shifted, but it was definitely her.

She cut a wide circle around the battle, then landed beside them, holding Cragrila's spear beside her. It trembled with power, almost as if it was going to explode.

"Is Cragrila...?" he asked.

"She's fine." Zae Zin Nim leveled the spear at his chest. "Yangix is dead and this is all of his qi. I can't cultivate it, but I think you can consu it." She swung the spear sideways to the elites. "You need to buy him so more ti."

"You an it's ti for to break through?" Kai supposed that he shouldn't be surprised.

While the elites made final battle plans, Zae Zin Nim walked closer. When she got in range he reached out and squeezed her shoulder, and her hand rose to touch his, but that quiet smile was the only affection they had ti for. She urged him to sit down, then placed the spear across his legs.

"Your cultivation has always been a little different," she explained. "And the weaknesses are real. But when I was treating you like an ordinary cultivator, we weren't playing to your strengths. You need to take a step off the main path onto another one."

"Is that what you did?" he asked.

"I would be happy to tell you about that later, but for now I need to use what I learned on you." Zae Zin Nim set down several pills in front of him, including one that seethed with red energy, and more Heavenly Qi than he expected. "The pill is from Lostwreck. It would damage the dantian of anyone else, but I think you can overco it. The thing is, we aren't going to just get you enough qi, we're going to overload you. Your cultivation needs far higher quantities to show its true potential."

"Hence the spear." Kai gripped it with both hands and took a deep breath. "I'm ready."

He went through his usual cycle, trying not to think about the elites fighting to buy him ti, and then followed Zae Zin Nim's instructions. She ordered him not to cycle his qi normally but to reach for more, stepping over lines that he usually remained within, seeking more.

Sothing yawned within him, and he felt his dantian begin to shake... it would have collapsed on itself, but that was when he began draining the phased qi in the spear. It felt wrong, distorted, but he used his monstrous nature to consu it, transforming it from cultivation into raw power. Phased energy should have overwheld his soul, yet to his surprise his dantian grew to et it, drinking hungrily.

"Now you need to add monstrous essence as well!" Zae Zin Nim urged him. "You still have qi from the Heavenly Mountains and Lakes, right? Fuse it all together!"

That went against his instincts, but Kai's hunger would consu anything. He pulled the Sacred Dragon's Qi and Coiling Island Qi into himself, then swallowed the seething red pill. The combination caused a surge of pain through his body, and he was braced for an ordeal, but as soon as he began drawing in Heavenly Qi, everything ca together. This felt right in a way he hadn't expected, his dantian solidifying in a cavernous form.

Just like that, he'd broken through. Kai eagerly looked to his soul and was surprised by what he saw.

<

Na: Kai Clanless

Total Power: 1772

Monstrous Hunger - XVIII (sigma)

Cultivation: Gluttonous Soul 0% (600)

Savage Heart: 51 (512)

Physique Level: B-8 (540)

Beggar King's Robes: 4 (20)

Soul Level: 10 (100)

Dragon's Might - V (epsilon)

Behemoth's Heart - XIII (nu)

Thunderbird's Wings - XII (mu)

Tyrant's Claw - XIII (nu)

Manticore's Spine - VII (eta)

Baleful Breath - IX (iota)

Abyss Maw - I (alpha)

-

Void Gaze - X (kappa)

Famished World - VII (eta)

Mutefang's Stealth - XVI (pi)

Sahagin's Soul - XV (omicron)

Greatshark's Presence - III (gamma)

Monstrous Tail - VIII (theta)

Legion Bite - VI (zeta)

Wallcrawler's Feet - V (epsilon)

Abominalgum - III (gamma)

Sli's Immortality - II (beta)

Bloodtail's Armor - VII (zeta)

Voidshell Essence - VII (zeta)

Colossus Essence - I (alpha)

>

His cultivation hadn't reached Earth Soul, it said "Gluttonous Soul" and it granted him an unprecedented 600 Power. That brought his total to 1772, and his hunger was raging again, seeking more essence to fill itself.

"Incredible." Zae Zin Nim was standing nearby, smiling fondly, but he wasn't done.

Kai sank into his soul and began working with his monstrous essence, daring to try things that would have been impossible before. He had needed armor for a while, and he now had an excellent base for it: the Colossus. It might be an Insanity, but he had eaten the creature's core, so surely his soul could contain it now that it had the space.

Fortunately, he had been saving up other essence for a while: Bloodtail's Armor and Voidshell Essence were both prepared and ready, even developed over the course of his previous battles. Kai drew all three abilities into the center of his being, letting them consu one another to form a true armor technique...

Almost imdiately he realized that sothing was wrong. Bloodtail's Armor was perfectly matched to the others in nature, but it was weaker than a country destroyer and an Insanity. It risked being consud by the others as pure energy, not contributing its real potency, and that would make the resulting fusion unstable. But it was too late to back out now, not with so little ti...

Kai desperately looked through his monstrous essences for sothing else, but he had cleared out so much in this final rush. He even considered sacrificing a secondary ability to it... and then he saw what he needed: Wallcrawler's Feet.

He hadn't even intended to absorb that ability, it had just been from one of the monsters he ate during the first incursion. It had remained in his soul ever since, useless except for occasional silly applications. The ability might not be strong, but the essence had saturated in his soul for years... Kai fed it into Bloodtail's Armor and the fusion balanced itself out.

Then it was done. His soul was much emptier, but it had one shining new ability.

Shifting this new Void Colossus Armor into his soul was top priority, but he had to be strategic about his choices now. The Abhorroid was still an imnse threat, plus Fodajix was out there, and he wasn't convinced fate wouldn't throw sothing else at him.

"Are you ready?" Zae Zin Nim asked quietly. She watched without fear as he made his final decisions and transford one more ti.

<

Dragon's Might - V (epsilon)

Behemoth's Heart - XIII (nu)

Void Colossus Armor - I (alpha)

Thunderbird's Wings - XII (mu)

Famished World - VII (eta)

Tyrant's Claw - XIII (nu)

Abyss Maw - II (beta)

>

These seven abilities, forged through so many battles, would be those he used for the final fight. The end of the invaders, and in a strange way the end of the incursion. If he was going to defeat the trap that fate had set for him, it had to be with this.

"Tell the elites to retreat," he said to Zae Zin Nim, "then go find Omilaena. Be ready for anything."

He launched himself into battle, sailing through the air toward the ominous sphere one last ti. The Abhorroid turned on him, preparing an attack, but Kai struck it with his full force, and for the first ti the monster shuddered.

Chapter 648: The Final Battle

As much as Zae Zin Nim wanted to join Kai in his battle, she realized that he needed to do this alone. She might be able to fight a monster like that, but only Kai could defeat it, so she turned away to find Omilaena instead amid the rubble strewn across the wilderness.

It seed that she had finally brought about the mont that her old self had feared: now that Kai's cultivation was close to catching up, his power had surged past even her new strength. Yet she felt no fear now, not even when he transford into a literal monster. She knew that he would always be her husband... they had been in so many positions over the years, weaker or stronger than one another, that it hardly mattered.

The sa applied to her wife, who Zae Zin Nim finally spotted. It seed that Omilaena had finally achieved her new Physique, but Zae Zin Nim's own breakthrough had pushed her ahead in power again. And that didn't matter either... all she could think was that her wife looked lovely.

Omilaena was exchanging blows with Fodajix, neither able to end the fight. It seed that the invader had a suit of armor, enchanted with phased mana, which was quite powerful. Edges wouldn't penetrate it, even from phased attacks, but it was still just armor.

Before he realized she was there, Zae Zin Nim got into position. When Omilaena faltered briefly, falling back and leaving an opening, the invader pushed forward - and Zae Zin Nim landed just in front of him.

Her palm struck his chest with the clear sound of a bell, a perfect palm strike. It rippled through the armor, striking his internal organs. Not only that, the twisting destroyed the bindings of the armor, making the pieces fly off as the man was knocked backward.

Fodajix grimaced and clutched his stomach - the strike had damaged his organs, but not finished him. Zae Zin Nim simply returned to her combat stance and smiled as Omilaena slid in beside her.

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..

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Well, Zin Nim looked fantastic, and Omilaena was eager to find out more about what had happened later, but they had business to take care of first.

Now that she had backup, Omilaena could afford to keep part of her mind on the monstrous battle taking place outside the city. Kai had burst to a new level of power and he was hamring into the Abhorroid with renewed fury. He couldn't go toe-to-toe with it like he had as a giant, but he was flying around its beams with new speed and cutting deeper and deeper.

She couldn't let him show her up, so they had to take down Fodajix. Unfortunately, as soon as he realized he was outnumbered, he switched strategies to attempting retreat. Even with the two of them, it was difficult to pin down such a fast and dangerous opponent.

Abruptly Omilaena realized that she needed to change tactics as well. Their opponent was too guarded against their finishing blows, but he wouldn't be prepared for a secondary strike. Because so much of his strength ca from equipnt, it was possible to weaken him more than an ordinary fighter, enough that letting him escape wouldn't be such a loss.

So the next ti they exchanged blows, Omilaena intentionally ran in close. He had been prepared to swing his sword in a broad arc to ward her off and looked shocked when she got so close. But all she did was grab for his hand and forehead, catching his sword before he could swing.

Of course he punished her movent, kicking her in the sternum hard enough to send her flying, knocking her into Zin Nim. They tumbled together, rolled, and flipped back to their feet.. but Fodajix had disappeared into the rubble and hidden his presence.

"You let him go?" Zin Nim asked, frowning.

"Took these." Omilaena revealed that she had torn off his ring and circlet when they grappled. "Now he's weak enough that great powers, Sky Souls, or even Frontier elites might be able to take him down."

"I see. You an to focus our attentions."

They both turned as one toward the battle that still raged between monsters.

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..

.

Pushed to his very limits, Kai reveled in expending the full power of his abilities. He didn't know whether he would win the battle against the Abhorroid, and a savage part of him didn't care.

When he slashed with Tyrant's Claw, he imbued the technique with the full power of Dragon's Might, cutting a massive slash across the monster's body. Thunderbird's Wings took him from side to side, dodging around the crimson beams, and Behemoth's Heart ensured he could keep that up forever.

As soon as he got close, the Abhorroid began to breath out its fatal dust, but this ti Kai plunged directly into it. Famished World shielded him from the spiritual assault and the particles bounced off the Void Colossus Armor, then he slamd into the side of the monster.

That was what his entire strategy had been leading up to: Kai opened Void Maw and took a bite.

His teeth clicked together and a huge portion of the Abhorroid vanished, instantly consud. It reacted with unprecedented violence, unleashing enormous beams that hamred Kai to the ground, then kept raging down, driving him into a deeper and deeper crater.

Shielded by the Void Colossus Armor, Kai straightened up against the assaulting energy and grinned. That bite had just whetted his appetite.

As he launched himself back into the air to rejoin the fight, he was almost disappointed to see that Zae Zin Nim and Omilaena were coming, because he would have wanted to finish it himself. But no, they were part of him, and his pride as a warrior was completely overwheld by his hunger.

Even the two of them were pushed to their limits: Zae Zin Nim barely managed to deflect so of the attacks with Coldfire Palm, and Omilaena drained a significant portion of her energy into a needle that pierced deep into the monster's largest eye.

Using their opening, Kai plunged even deeper, diving into the monster's flesh. It tried to crush him, but he opened his mouth and ate and ate and ate.

.

..

.

After his escape, Fodajix realized that the woman had been aiming to weaken him instead of stopping him. It was a rational tactic, but she failed to understand that he had also switched strategies. Fodajix had completely abandoned the idea of surviving this battle.

No, all that remained now was bitter revenge, and he saw his chance.

Even combined, the three of them were hard-pressed to fight the enormous floating monster. It seed to require the sacrifice of the man, except that there was sothing deeply wrong with him, so he would likely survive. As the spherical monster sagged toward the earth, Fodajix watched, feeling for that unnatural energy.

If he knew one thing about higher powers, it was that monsters were opposed to all life. The man might appear human, and might even have fooled the others, but Fodajix knew that he was an abomination. Worse than the obvious monsters, for all the harm that he could do.

Part of Fodajix's mind was fully aware that there was another power manipulating his thoughts, yet that didn't bother him so much anymore. When the gray man had appeared on their ship, he had implied that he was using them as a weapon. Given the strange power that took over their minds, it seed obvious that this was their target. And, whether or not the thought was manipulated, Fodajix had to admit that maybe there was sothing to it.

If he was going to die, at least the abomination would be eradicated as well.

So Fodajix crept closer through the rubble, even as the others retreated. He stopped fighting the gray power, let it suffuse him. Pain and distress slipped away, replaced by purpose. When the spherical monster hit the ground and exploded, he ignored the energy that tore through him.

The key was to be the first person to the center. Even if the abomination survived being inside the monster, it would have taken an enormous amount out of him, and then the explosion would leave him nearly dead. That had been the pattern so far, but the abomination's allies had always covered for him.

Well, the obnoxious gnats had all fled, and the two won had to retreat from the explosion. Only Fodajix was close... he drew his sword as he ran and realized that it shone gray.

Monstrous flesh lay across the landscape, with an ugly knot at the center. All of the perverse distortion of the world vanished except there: the abomination was still alive, sohow. This might be the only chance to eliminate him before he grew too powerful to stop.

The gray light took over and Fodajix let himself beco nothing but a tool. His blade would sunder the monstrous flesh and leave nothing behind, he would beco vengeance, he would at last eradicate this stain on-

A claw exploded from the flesh, grabbing his neck.

Suddenly Fodajix was just a man again, struggling with the impossibly strong claws. He saw the abomination and realized that he had miscalculated: he wasn't weakened, sohow he was stronger, exploding with the power of the monster that had just died.

The jaws opened wide and the last thing Fodajix heard was the sound of teeth.