"This old man has lived several decades longer than you, and has some understanding of Dragon Nation's ancient martial arts." Chin took a drink, speaking slowly. "If young friend doesn't mind, this old man could... give you some pointers."
"How... how could I trouble you?" Though Cloud's words were polite, his heart was already blooming with joy.
This was a chance to mooch off a grandmaster-level "private lesson"!
And so, for the next several days...
During the day, Cloud engaged in "deep spiritual communication" with Athena.
At night, he studied the most orthodox Dragon Nation cultivation methods regarding the trinity of "essence, energy, and spirit" under Chin Gentsai.
Chin's teaching was completely different from Kyo's "combat school" approach.
He didn't teach techniques, only... "concepts."
He told Cloud how to integrate breathing with heartbeat with the "qi" between heaven and earth.
He told Cloud how to attach psychic power to fists and feet, delivering fatal strikes where "intent precedes the fist."
He even passed on his treasured Drunken Eight Immortals Fist to Cloud without reservation.
Under this grandmaster's unreserved teaching, Cloud's understanding of martial arts reached an entirely new level!
He began attempting to fuse the massive amount of fighting data plundered from Rugal with these newly learned concepts, creating... techniques that truly belonged to him alone!
...
However, while Cloud immersed himself in the pleasure of rapidly increasing strength...
This world was quietly undergoing strange changes.
The Amazon rainforest suddenly experienced century-rare snowstorms.
Egypt's Sahara Desert inexplicably suffered torrential rains, triggering massive floods.
Volcanoes worldwide began showing unusual activity, as if Earth had entered "menopause."
And these were merely the prelude.
One day, Chin called Cloud alone to the temple's rear hall.
His face no longer bore its usual drunken ease. Instead, it showed unprecedented gravity.
"Young friend." He looked at Cloud, speaking solemnly. "Have you felt that this world's qi has become... very chaotic?"
Cloud nodded. He'd noticed long ago.
"It seems some old friends are already impatient to awaken from their slumber."
Chin sighed, pulling an ancient, yellowed scroll from his robes.
He slowly unrolled it, revealing a mural filled with mysterious and ominous energy—
A silver-haired deity surrounded by eight figures of varying forms, all filled with evil energy. And beneath their feet were countless wailing, struggling humans!
"Young friend, have you ever heard of... the Hakkesshu?"
Chin's voice became incredibly low and hoarse.
"Eighteen hundred years ago, they nearly dragged this entire world into an endless abyss of nothingness..."
As a transmigrator, Cloud naturally knew this history. Moreover, at the Kusanagi household, he'd learned considerable secrets about the Hakkesshu.
The recent abnormal phenomena worldwide indicated the Hakkesshu were beginning to stir.
...
After Cloud sent Rugal—along with his expensive yacht—to feed the fish at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, KOF 94 finally drew a complete (and explosively artistic) conclusion.
The world returned to peace once more.
Fighters returned to their ordinary (yet filled with constant violence) lives.
And our protagonist Cloud—this newly minted, extremely "watered-down" and "melodramatic" original King of Fighters—completely launched into a "godly" training journey worthy of immortals.
He profoundly recognized that his measly [Absolute Domain 42%] strength made him an ant when the Hakkesshu arrived.
Forget opposing those future "gods" capable of destroying heaven and earth—even another drugged-up Rugal would make him kneel.
Therefore, Cloud very straightforwardly continued squatting in Japan—
Kusanagi Castle.
In his words: "Me, this long-lost younger brother, coming home to visit and learn the family's ancestral craft—perfectly reasonable, right?"
To this, Kyo Kusanagi—this newly acquired "convenient older brother"—naturally welcomed him with open arms and legs.
He not only arranged Cloud in the room next door with the best view, but also dragged him daily into "inhumanely brutal" "brotherly" special training.
As for Saisyu Kusanagi, the Kusanagi family head, after hearing his son's heavily embellished "tale of finding long-lost kin," he was completely dumbfounded.
He racked his brains for ages but couldn't recall where in Dragon Nation over twenty years ago he'd left such a "superior breed" with exceptional talent.
But...
When he personally witnessed Cloud execute that utterly pure Orochinagi and sensed the [True Blood of Kusanagi] within him that shared the same origin as his own, he... fell silent.
"Could it be... I got blackout drunk back then?"
Ultimately, this unreliable family head could only attribute everything to his damned, blurry "romantic memories."
...
Days flew by in this rhythm filled with "chaos" and "skyrocketing strength."
Each morning, Cloud would be dragged from bed by Kyo for hellish "flame collision" training.
Two men both possessing [True Blood of Kusanagi] fought in the Kusanagi training grounds until the sky darkened and sun and moon lost their light.
Golden Battle God Golden Flames and crimson Kusanagi Flames illuminated the entire back mountain bright as daylight.
"Oniyaki!"
"Oniyaki!"
"Orochinagi!"
"Orochinagi!"
The two were like lunatics playing "spot the difference," madly colliding with identical techniques, comparing whose flames were thicker, harder, longer-lasting.
Initially, Cloud was restricted everywhere due to unfamiliarity with Kusanagi-style martial arts.
But with [Heavenscorch Scripture's] powerful adaptability and the system's terrifying [Deep Analysis] ability, his progress speed was like riding a rocket!
From initial passive beatings, to barely holding his own, to finally fighting evenly!
This utterly "inhuman" learning speed once again shocked Kyo Kusanagi to his core.
...
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