The crater hissed with steam. Shojiro stood panting, his oversized arm twitching as it began to deflate, muscle mass decompressing with the hiss of released pressure.
Across from him — a pile of viscera.
Unmoving.
Then…
Splurch.
Tendrils twitched.
The Brute was regenerating. Again.
Its muscle fibers began knotting back together, core-first. A glistening red orb reformed beneath the pulp, pumping matter back into structure like a living 3D printer.
Shojiro didn't flinch.
The demon lunged, screeching through the smoke, veins extended like grappling hooks. Shojiro tried to pivot — but…
His right arm—still recovering from Soma Core Overload—refused to move.
Too slow.
SLICE.
The Brute's blade-like tendril cleaved through his right shoulder. Blood sprayed wide.
Shojiro grunted — and stood still.
No scream.
No retreat.
Just silence.
The demon snarled in victory.
But then...
A rustle in the bush behind it.
Something moved.
An arm.
Shojiro's first lost arm.
Coiled, waiting.
Now alive.
Shojiro (quietly):
"…You looked the wrong way."
THRUST.
The detached arm lunged forward like a serpent—Ligament Drift fully coiled, Sarcomere Splicing perfectly timed.
The regenerated limb shot from the foliage, passed through the demon's distracted frame—
—and ripped the still-forming core clean out of its body.
CRUSH.
A splatter of wet meat. The orb imploded in the palm of Shojiro's dismembered limb before it dissolved into smoking ash.
The demon convulsed once.
Twice.
Then…
Nothing.
Shojiro exhaled through his nose as his arm slowly reattached itself to his shoulder — tendons snapping into place like tightly-wound cables.
Shojiro (smirking faintly):
"You think I throw punches just to win?
Nah... sometimes I throw 'em so you don't see the knife behind your ribs."
He stepped past the smoking carcass and rolled his right shoulder.
Shojiro (murmuring):
"Don't ever disrespect a muscle user's mind."
Post-Kill: The Suppressed Core
The demon's monstrous frame sagged, folding into itself like overcooked meat. Its final roar gurgled into silence as Shojiro stood tall, soaked in steam and sinew.
His body was a mess — one arm freshly reattached, the other bruised, muscles still twitching from the recoil of his last blow.
But he didn't fall.
He didn't pant.
He didn't even blink.
He simply cracked his jaw and exhaled through his nose, eyes narrowed with discontent.
Shojiro (low, muttering):
"…Still took too long."
Then came the flicker — a low green hum pulsing faintly from the base of his spine.
The Yggdrasil sigil — the source of his immortal regeneration — slowly brightened as if waking from sleep.
He'd turned it off.
Manually.
The entire fight.
For the past few minutes, Shojiro had been regenerating without the divine safety net that made the Chosen so terrifying.
His wounds, gashes, and the severed arm — all healed through sovereign muscular reconstitution alone.
No magic.
No spirit support.
Just raw cellular will.
He glanced to the side. In the distance, flashes of lightning, shadows, psychic screams, and aquatic vortexes shook the air — the others were still locked in combat with their respective demons.
But Shojiro wasn't even looking at them.
He was looking at his right hand.
The same arm he'd torn off. Hidden. Waited on.
The same hand that ripped the Brute's heart out after lying in ambush — like a predator muscle-fused into the terrain.
Shojiro (grinning):
"Reflex override synced.
Ligament drift… optimal delay timing is 3.7 seconds.
And that crush was only 63% output…"
He looked down at the pile of paste where the demon used to be.
Then flexed his bicep slowly.
Shojiro (chuckling):
"Yeah. That thing never stood a chance."
The wind howled across the battlefield, carrying the scent of ozone and blood.
Shojiro turned to face the others — now locked in deadly duels of their own.
His body lit up once again as he reactivated Yggdrasil's healing, the sigil glowing emerald and quietly knitting his frame to divine perfection once more.
But deep down, he'd already learned what he needed.
Even without it…
He was evolving.
Shojiro's Post-Fight Evolution
Unlock: Muscle Fibres Excretion
Unlock: Unlimited Mass Potential
The wind died.
The battlefield stilled.
And for a moment, Shojiro stood alone in the ruin he had created.
Then — it began.
His muscles began to quiver unnaturally beneath his skin. Not out of exhaustion… but response. Like something primal had been unlocked, stirred by the presence of worthy prey.
Shojiro (gritting his teeth):
"…What now?"
Suddenly — the skin around his shoulder split open.
Not from injury.
But from voluntary adaptation.
Thin, flexible muscle fibers — like strands of bio-cable — began slithering out of his body and onto the ground. They didn't rot. They didn't twitch mindlessly. They moved with purpose.
They wrapped around a cracked boulder…
…and lifted it — effortlessly — despite it being several tons.
Ability Unlocked: Muscle Fibres Excretion
"Muscle is not confined to the body. It is the body's will externalized."
Shojiro can now excrete controllable muscle fibers from any part of his body.
These fibers function like intelligent tendrils — able to grasp, bind, climb, throw, punch, or even form structures like bridges or armor.
Can be retracted or reabsorbed at will to reclaim mass and nutrients.
Can function like instant limbs, allowing him to fight even when fully disarmed or crippled.
But that wasn't all.
Shojiro fell to one knee, gritting his teeth again as his body started to bulk.
But not from training.
Not from food.
Not from Yggdrasil.
From nothing.
His muscle began multiplying — silently, aggressively — as if something had removed the biological limiters inside his DNA. The newly extruded fibers weren't just appearing — they were compounding.
His back arched.
Veins burst with golden-pink glow.
And his body began to expand in select regions — not grotesquely, but perfectly calibrated.
No longer bound by mass ratios.
Ability Unlocked: Unlimited Mass Potential
"What if every cell chose growth instead of rest?"
Shojiro can now generate limitless mass through VYTHRA-fueled muscular mitosis.
Growth can be concentrated into a single limb, his core, or full-body transformation.
The more adrenaline, exertion, or threat present, the faster his body adapts and bulks.
When triggered manually, Shojiro can temporarily increase his size, strength, and weight exponentially — without sacrificing speed or agility.
Optional sub-mode: "Compact Massing" — Instead of growing larger, the mass condenses, granting terrifying density and impact force (perfect for punches and dashes).
Shojiro stood slowly, watching the muscle tendrils retract back into his arms, now thicker and darker with pulsing growth lines.
Shojiro (smirking):
"So that's what you left me, huh… Brute?"
He cracked his neck, his shirt sleeves shredded from the growth.
No weapons.
No armor.
Just will and evolution.
Shojiro (grinning):
"Alright. Let's see who's next."