Cloud stared at the unsealing conditions and nearly coughed up blood.
All attributes at 200?!
Are you trying to make me cultivate until the end of time?! How the hell am I supposed to stack Spirit to 200?!
He knew he had... overplayed his hand.
Biting off more than he could chew, and now he was choking on it.
Still, even though the "Orochi power" was sealed, his bloodline had ultimately completed yet another ultimate evolution!
...
After resting for an entire day, Cloud dragged his still-weakened body to find Kyo Kusanagi, who was pumping iron in the hotel gym.
"Yo, little bro, looking better already." Kyo spotted Cloud and flashed a grin, setting down his dumbbells.
"Don't call me little bro." Cloud's eye twitched. "I came today to ask you... to guide my training."
"Huh?" Kyo blinked, then broke into an "I knew it" expression.
"Finally came around? Ready to return to your roots? No problem! Starting today, I, Kyo Kusanagi, will teach you everything about our Kusanagi-style techniques—holding nothing back!"
And so, during their final day in Sydney after the KOF finals, a peculiar scene unfolded in a certain luxury hotel.
The KOF 94 champion and runner-up were actually... gathered together for a "friendly" martial arts exchange.
Kyo Kusanagi, this "Child of Destiny," acted exactly like a devoted older brother.
He demonstrated and explained every secret technique of the Kusanagi-style ancient martial arts to Cloud—from "Style 100: Oniyaki" to "Ura Style 108: Orochinagi"—without holding anything back.
Cloud, meanwhile, leveraged the system's powerful Deep Analysis function and the monstrous comprehension his terrifying Spirit stat provided. He could mimic about seventy to eighty percent of each technique after seeing it just once!
This learning speed shocked Kyo all over again.
"Genius! You're absolutely the greatest genius in our Kusanagi family—no, in the entire fighting world for a thousand years!"
Watching Cloud already producing a rudimentary "Orochinagi," Kyo was moved to tears of joy.
"Dad! If you're watching from heaven... wait, no! Dad, when you find out, you'll definitely be proud to have two such outstanding sons!"
Cloud: "..."
He'd given up on explaining.
After the "instruction" session ended, Cloud's expression turned serious as he faced Kyo.
"Kyo, there's something I have to tell you." His voice was grave. "The organizer of this KOF tournament, 'R'—his true identity is the international arms dealer Rugal Bernstein."
"His purpose for hosting this tournament was to collect combat data on the world's top fighters and turn the defeated ones into... bronze statue collectibles for his personal collection."
"What?!" Kyo's face immediately darkened.
"Tomorrow, he's invited me to a banquet on his cruise ship, the Black Noah. This is a Hongmen Banquet—a trap." Cloud met his gaze. "So I need backup. Someone... powerful enough."
"Hmph, interesting." Flames ignited in Kyo's eyes. "Treating fighters like collectibles? This guy's... even more arrogant than me!"
He extended his fist and lightly bumped it against Cloud's.
"Count me in."
A confident, battle-hungry smile spread across his face.
"Let's see what kind of monster this so-called 'organizer' really is—together, as brothers!"
After Cloud reached this "united we stand" agreement with his newly "acknowledged" convenient brother Kyo Kusanagi, he politely declined Kyo's enthusiastic invitation to "grab a drink and celebrate our brotherly reunion" and returned to his hotel suite.
Please. Drinking with a guy who might start rambling about "family history" and "Dad's romantic escapades" at any moment?
He'd rather go back and sleep while hugging Mai Shiranui's long legs.
Of course, he only dared imagine that last part.
The moment he stepped through the door, he froze at the sight before him.
In his living room, Mai Shiranui, Yuri Sakazaki, and Athena Asamiya—three stunning beauties of completely different styles—sat around a table... playing Landlord.
"Bomb! Hahaha! I win again!" Yuri slapped two jokers onto the table with excitement, her face radiating triumph.
"Aww! Yuri, your luck is way too good!" Athena stared at her handful of singles with dismay.
"Hmph, luck means nothing." Mai tossed her cards down in frustration. "If you've got real skill, let's play mahjong! I'll show you what the Shiranui-style Dance of the Sparrow God looks like!"
Cloud gazed upon this scene—practically a "world-famous painting"—and felt his temples begin to throb.
Seriously?! We're going to fight the final boss tomorrow! Could you at least show some tension?!
This harmonious tableau made him feel less like he was about to fight an arms dealer to the death and more like he was heading to a dating show's final coupling segment.
"Ahem." He cleared his throat loudly, trying to get the three "internet-addicted girls'" attention.
"Oh! Cloud, you're back!" Yuri was the first to notice him, immediately fluttering over like a happy little butterfly. "Look, look! I won so much pocket money from Mai-sis and Athena-sis today!"
"Hmph, that's only because you kept peeking at my cards!" Mai sauntered over too, her soft arm casually hooking around Cloud's other arm—seemingly by accident.
"Cloud, you... finished talking with Kyo?" Athena set down her cards and gracefully approached, her beautiful violet eyes full of concern.
In an instant, Cloud found himself once again surrounded by three different fragrances, caught in that "happy" dilemma.
...
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