The sky hung low, choked with gray. Clouds swirled slowly, a quiet storm brewing high above the pine-covered cliffs. Cold air swept through the mountain pass like a whisper of death, brushing through the branches of towering trees and rustling the undergrowth.
Delson stood on a ridgeline, eyes sharp, unmoving.
His coat flapped lightly against his legs, blood-stained and torn from his last battle. Bruises still lingered on his ribs from Yamcha's final desperate flurry—an attack that had ended in his bones snapping and his body slumping like a marionette with its strings cut.
Delson had killed before. And now, something inside him was changing.
He could feel it. Not rage. Not pride. Something colder. More… exact.
The System of Anime Gods confirmed it.
[SYSTEM STATUS – LIVE MONITORING ENABLED]
Welcome back, Host.
Shadow Affinity – 63% (Stabilizing)
Dark Affinity – 46% (Locked – Cooldown: 38 Minutes)
Combat Mode: Fists Only – Reinforcement Active
System energy suppressed. No abilities allowed.
Objective: Evaluate physical aptitude. Target: Wild predator kill using fists only.
Emotional Sync: Stable.
Mental Drift Detected: Calculating effects…
Note: Prolonged exposure to kill-based evolution may increase emotional detachment.
Delson flexed his fingers. His knuckles cracked quietly. Blood still stained the ridges of his palms—Yamcha's blood.
"Suppress powers. Enhance fists," Delson muttered. "Let's see how far I've really come."
He turned away from the ridge, scanning the treeline. His eyes, honed by battle and further calibrated by the system's continual updates, saw more than a human should—movement between shadows, heat lingering in footprints, the tremor in soil.
Then...Pine needles scattered. A branch snapped somewhere in the distance. Heavy. Deliberate. He moved toward it.
Each step was silent, heel to toe, body low to the earth. Not a single bird sang. No insects chirped. The forest itself seemed to recoil from him.
Then, the growl came—deep and guttural, like the tearing of stone. Delson stepped into a small clearing. And there it was...
A bear.
But not an ordinary one. It was monstrous, easily over ten feet tall when upright, its shoulders wide as a van, its muscles coiled beneath thick matted fur. Jagged scars ran across its snout. Its left eye was milky white—long gone. Blood stained its maw, fresh and steaming. The beast had already killed something but it still seemed to be hungry.
Delson didn't care. He too was tasked. It was a perfect punching bag.
[TARGET IDENTIFIED: MUTATED MOUNTAIN BEAR]
• Age: 11
• Height: 3.2m
• Weight: 700kg
● Mutation Level: Class D Wild-Type
Threat Assessment: Moderate
Unarmed kill required. Challenge Rating: Acceptable.
The bear roared, shaking loose snow from the branches overhead. Delson took a breath. His left foot slid forward. His fists rose.
No hesitation. He thought to himself.
The bear lunged with terrifying speed, its front paw swinging with enough force to split a man in two. Delson dodged—not with fear, but with precision.
The claw passed within inches of his nose.
He countered with a swift, sharp punch to its extended limb, aiming for the elbow joint.
Crunch.
The sound was wet and crisp. The bear staggered slightly, caught off guard by the pain. Most creatures it fought never survived the first hit. Delson was different.
He pressed forward, keeping his stance narrow.
The bear lashed again. Delson ducked under and drove an uppercut directly into the bear's gut, lifting it slightly on impact. Then, he spun and slammed a vicious elbow into its ribs.
The beast roared in pain, blood flying from its jaws. Then it snapped its teeth at his throat. A given precision of determination and will of hunger.
Delson fell backward, rolled beneath the bear's bulk, and as it turned to crush him, he stood and drove his bare fist into the back of its knee.
The joint buckled. The bear dropped, one leg bent unnaturally backwards, breaking the joint instantly. Delson circled, fists ready.
His body was already bruised. His lip bled. A claw had grazed his shoulder. But his mind was ice.
[Vital Feedback: 11% Damage Accrued]
Pain Threshold Rising. Reflex Accuracy Improved.
Host shows no signs of fear. Adaptation successful.]
The bear screamed and charged again, blood mad. Delson slid aside—fluid as water—and delivered three lightning-fast punches to its temple, one after the other. The final strike sent the bear stumbling sideways. It dropped to one knee. He didn't wait.
He launched a flurry of punches, his fists a blur—ten strikes in under a single seconds. Jaw, eye, side, throat, shoulder. Each hit calculated, system-guided, reinforced by his growing speed and power.
Crack. Snap. Pop.
The sound of breaking bones echoed through the trees.
Delson slammed his knee into the bear's face, then grabbed its fur and drove its head into the dirt.
The beast convulsed. But it was still alive. Barely though. His system chimed in again.
[Status: Near Death. Finish it.]
Delson knelt beside the massive body.
He placed one hand on its skull. Closed his eyes.
"Not out of my will..." he whispered, "but because I want to see how much I've changed."
He raised his fist.
And with one final blow—drove it downward with all his weight, shattering the bear's skull like a watermelon.
Blood splattered on his coat. Bits of bone and brain scattered across the dirt and rocks.
Silence. Nothing moved. Only Delson stood, breathing steadily, his face unreadable.
[TARGET ELIMINATED]
Kill Method: Blunt Trauma – Fist Only
Kill Rating: Brutal
Efficiency: 92%
Reflex Sync: Level Up
Shadow Core Instability: +2%]
Delson stared at the mess he had created. The carcass of the bear scattered across the forest. He smiled. He wondered how he had come to be this strong. The system was providing him with insane strength. This was odd.
He got up and walked out. His primary goal was to defeat the Son Goku. He knew he had heard the name before but he could not remember how or when. He was about to continue thinking when his system buzzed.
[ Daily Quest: 1/2 Characters defeated.]
[Time: 12 hours.]
Damn! He didn't have enough time to search for another character. Perhaps he had to meet Yamacha for another face off with his friends if he had any. Yes. That was what he would do.
He smiled and turned around. He began moving towards the side he had come from. He was on his way back to Yamcha. This system was crazy but what could he say.