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The Golisopod staggered upright from the crater, mud and rain sliding down its cracked carapace.
A web of fissures spread along its flank where Kael's earlier blow had landed, and viscous green blood oozed through the seams, sizzling in the water.
Its black eyes locked on Kael burning with hate.
Kael's expression didn't change.
Outwardly calm, but the air around him shimmered as he quietly began to draw in power.
This enemy was dangerous, fast, armored, and relentless.
He couldn't afford even a heartbeat of carelessness.
"Focus Energy."
Tiny motes of white light winked into existence around him, swirling before sinking into his skin.
Each spark sharpened his senses, his muscles, his awareness the world slowing into perfect clarity.
In the games, [Focus Energy] increased critical-hit odds.
Here, in the real world, it did more. It attuned body and spirit, amplifying every stat for a short, burning moment.
A low screech erupted from the Golisopod's throat, insectoid and furious.
Then it lunged—
A silver blur tearing through the rain.
The monster's speed carved a glowing white line across the flooded road, mud and water exploding outward like a serpent of liquid steel.
Kael didn't flinch.
He moved lightly, tracing erratic steps that blurred his outline a dance of feints and pivots that left his opponent unable to pin him down.
The Golisopod's rush faltered, forced to adjust its angle again and again, bleeding momentum until—
Kael slipped to its flank, untouched.
The creature shrieked, incandescent with rage.
Its claws ignited in pale blue light.
"Razor Shell!"
Water streamed from the seams of its armor, spiraling down its arm before hardening into a gleaming liquid blade.
The rain hissed against its edge; even the air seemed to shear as it swung.
Kael's muscles tensed. He didn't evade.
Instead, he crossed his forearms before him, tightening every fiber of muscle until they felt like iron bands.
Scarlet fighting aura flared around his elbows, pulsing like molten light, and over it, a faint shimmer of ghostly violet energy formed a second veil of defense.
The blade struck.
Shhk—
Blue met red in a flash of sparks.
The spectral energy shattered first, then the fighting aura, then skin and bone.
Pain lanced through his arm; blood followed a heartbeat later, warm against the cold rain.
Kael's jaw clenched but his eyes blazed.
He'd taken the hit on purpose.
Now.
He twisted at the waist, channeling the pain into motion, into fury, into power.
"Payback!"
The red aura surged anew, darker and denser, rippling up his arm as muscle cords bulged and coiled.
The air vibrated from the pressure of his fighting energy, now fused with the retaliatory force of the blow he'd endured.
The ground cracked beneath his heel as he drove his body upward, every ounce of torque unleashed into a single, explosive motion.
A burning fist cut through the downpour, trailing red light—
And connected with the Golisopod's abdomen.
CRACK!
The sound split the air like thunder. The monster's body folded inward around the strike, carapace caving under the force.
Green blood burst from its mandibles as its feet lifted clear off the ground.
Kael followed through, eyes cold, rain turning to steam as it struck his skin.
The Golisopod arced high into the storm,
Its massive frame silhouetted against a flash of lightning before crashing back to earth in a shockwave of water and dirt.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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