When Cloud's vision recovered from that blinding white light, the stage was a disaster zone.
A full third of the alloy stage had melted and was still smoking.
Ryo Sakazaki knelt on one knee, gasping heavily, covered in wounds—clearly unable to continue fighting.
Kyo Kusanagi stood swaying.
His body was equally covered in injuries, his signature school uniform reduced to tatters.
He had won.
But barely.
"You're... strong." Ryo looked at Kyo with an accepting smile.
"So are you." Kyo smiled back.
Two elite warriors, in that moment, found mutual respect.
In the spectator area, Cloud watched this scene in silence.
His heart, which had grown somewhat restless due to his Absolute Domain and winning streak, completely settled in that moment.
He knew his path was still long.
After Kyo Kusanagi and Ryo Sakazaki's "Mars colliding with Earth" epic duel concluded, the KOF 94 quarterfinals finally came to a blood-pumping close.
The Final Four lineup was official—
Japan Team, Fatal Fury Team, Dragon Nation Team, and Psycho Soldiers Team.
Organizer "R" announced that to give competitors adequate time to recover (and to let repair crews fix the stage that had been blasted to smithereens), the semifinals would be held one week later at the Sydney Opera House in Australia.
When the news broke, the entire fighting world erupted.
Sydney Opera House?
What was the organizer thinking?
Holding the finals in a world-class arts venue?
Were they planning to have fighters perform "Symphony of Fate" or stage "Swan Lake"?
But regardless of the outside mockery, for Cloud, this precious week-long break was a godsend.
...
Australia. Sydney. A luxury oceanview hotel suite overlooking the entire Harbor Bridge.
Cloud sat cross-legged, eyes closed, completely still like a statue, deep in meditation.
His consciousness was immersed in the system space, excitedly tallying the rich "spoils" from this KOF journey.
"I hereby declare that Comrade Cloud has officially escaped poverty and achieved moderate prosperity!"
Looking at the long string of numbers on the system panel, Cloud nearly drooled.
[Source Points Balance: 68,500]
After completing the quest to defeat the Women Fighters Team, plus previous accumulated earnings, his treasury was fuller than ever!
Beyond Source Points, the biggest haul was the various skills and insights.
[Skill List:]
"Shiranui-Style: Crimson Crane Dance (Mastery)"
"Kyokugenryu: Flying Swallow Kicks (Mastery)"
"Psychic Powers: Mental Shock (Fragment)"
"Heidern Assassination Arts: Basic Footwork (Fragment)" (lifted from Heidern)
"Kim-Style Taekwondo: Leg Technique Insights (Fragment)" (stolen from Kim Kaphwan)
...
Over a dozen miscellaneous skill fragments in total, covering the essence of nearly every strong fighter in the tournament.
"System, I feel like a walking martial arts library right now—even if most of it's pirated excerpts," Cloud quipped mentally.
[Host, knowledge is power. It's time to convert this scattered knowledge into your true strength.]
"My thoughts exactly!"
Cloud's gaze sharpened instantly.
After watching Kyo Kusanagi and Ryo Sakazaki's "battle of the gods," his inflated ego from rapid power growth had been thoroughly sobered.
He clearly recognized that his current [Absolute Domain 10%] was nowhere near enough against truly elite fighters!
He had to... become stronger!
"System, activate [Skill Fusion]! Merge all my newly acquired skills into [Shiranui Battle God Style: Intermediate]!"
[Ding! Detected large quantity of high-quality skill fragments. This fusion will perform a complete overhaul of [Battle God Style]... Estimated cost: 20,000 Source Points. Confirm?]
"Confirmed!"
[Skill Fusion initiated! Deep analyzing "Shiranui-Style: Crimson Crane Dance"'s aerial balance techniques... Analyzing "Kyokugenryu: Flying Swallow Kicks"'s combo rhythm... Analyzing "Heidern Assassination Arts"'s one-hit-kill philosophy...]
Cloud's mind became like a supercomputer, running billions of calculations per second, deducing and reorganizing countless martial arts data!
Mai Shiranui's agility, Yuri Sakazaki's swiftness, King's precision, Heidern's ruthlessness, Kim Kaphwan's righteous power...
All their strengths were stripped, refined, and perfectly integrated into the [Battle God Style] framework!
After what felt like an eternity, when that massive data stream finally subsided, Cloud slowly opened his eyes.
His presence had subtly transformed again.
If before he was an unsheathed blade radiating sharpness...
Now he was a divine weapon hidden in its scabbard—edges concealed, yet far more dangerous!
[Ding! Skill upgrade complete! Congratulations Host! [Shiranui Battle God Style] has evolved into [Battle God Style: Forest of All Creation]!]
[Skill: Battle God Style: Forest of All Creation]
[Quality: Orange (Pseudo)]
[Description: Having synthesized the strengths of many schools, your martial arts have become a style unto themselves, showing the beginnings of grandmaster potential. Your techniques encompass all things—hard or soft, fast or slow, righteous or wicked—leaving enemies unable to defend!]
[Currently mastered ultimate prototype: Battle God Ultimate: Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.]
"Forest of All Creation... Night Parade of a Hundred Demons..." Cloud murmured. He could feel his understanding of martial arts had reached an entirely new level!
Now, his every punch and kick contained shadows of multiple styles, yet flowed naturally as one, leaving no seams!
"Still not enough!"
Cloud's eyes gleamed with hunger for power.
...
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