Hugh felt the air around him get thicker, and skin felt prickly. He had to back away from Joub because of the aura he was emitting.
Joub's body started to split in half from his head down to his crotch. The halves split and formed into new bodies that were also divided into two. This process continued until there was an uncountable amount of Joub's body in the area.
From the quality difference of Joub's Desire, Hugh could tell that this was a skill. He distinctly remembered professor Kain telling them about the difference in power between first-year students and sophomores.
Sophomores have a skill of their own that they could use to turn the tides of the battle. Sophomores focused their efforts on sharpening their skills to be better equipped at fighting.
Hugh bit his lip. He was now overwhelmed and was at a disadvantage. He was already having trouble dealing with two bodies; it would be impossible to deal with tens of bodies coming his way.
He did not have any more seconds left on his armor, which meant it was on cooldown right now. The bodies simultaneously looked at Hugh as they started to run towards him.
Hugh got a chill in his neck and started to run to the opposite side of the Joub's bodies. He was slow because his own weight was tying him down. He could not use his armor to boost himself because he still had to wait for four more seconds.
The bodies ran in-sync. They did not trip on each other, which meant that Joub had full control over all his bodies. This gave Hugh a disadvantage because he could not use chaos to throw off the hordes of bodies coming his way.
Hugh panted as he ran away from them, with sweat pouring down the ground. He was doing his best, but it was not enough. The horde was getting closer towards him, and he could feel the tremor they produced on the ground.
He would be squished flat if they run him over, which would painfully kill him. He looked back, only to see the front line of the horde only a few meters away from him.
He had no choice but to use his transformation to survive this battle. He did not want to do it out in the open, but they forced his hand.
After a few seconds of running, the horde of Joub's bodies piled themselves onto Hugh's fat body. They used their numbers to suppress him completely. Joub now expected Hugh to be completely crushed under the pile of bodies.
One body stood behind and watched the show; this was the original Joub. After a few seconds of the bodies piling onto Hugh, Joub could feel a tremor in the ground.
He planted his feet in the ground and looked everywhere for the source and could not find it. Finally, he looked towards the pile of bodies and saw some bodies start to fall away from the stack.
Joub furrowed his eyebrows as he watched this strange occurrence. It felt like something was ready to burst out of there, but the only person inside the pile was Hugh. There was no way he could escape that, right?
*BOOM*
Like a big explosion, the bodies started to burst away from the pile to reveal Hugh's body. Joub did not recognize this guy.
Hugh had lost all of his fat and transformed it into power. His previous black hair had turned into white, and his sharp haw was enough to cut the tension in the air.
Hugh's uniform fit his muscular body that complemented his chiseled body. The edges of his muscles were made even more impressive by the shadow cast by the light above him.
Sweat was pouring down his body like it had an endless supply, accompanied by steam that rose into the air. Joub could not understand what had happened. He did not associate Hugh's fat body with this white-haired monster.
Joub could feel Hugh's aura, and it gave him the creeps. It almost seemed like it bordered around the first advancement, but that was impossible. He could clearly feel that this white-haired guy was unadvanced, yet his power exceeded that.
Joub felt danger coming off of Hugh's body. It was abnormal, and he could not comprehend it, which made him fear it. Hugh was just standing there, so Joub decided to fight him while he was unguarded.
Joub's bodies picked themselves back off the ground and ran towards Hugh with their fists extended. Joub decided to overwhelm Hugh with numbers.
Like before, the bodies started to pile themselves upon Hugh's body and beat him up. They used their fists, their bodies, and their legs to deal the most damage out towards him.
*BOOM*
In just one second, the pile of bodies bursted away from Hugh's body. Joub could feel that some of the bodies closest to Hugh's body were severely injured. He had never felt this kind of power before.
"Who are you?!"
Joub spoke out with all of his bodies. They created a screeching sound that directly attacked Hugh's ears, but it seemed like it did not affect him.
Hugh stayed silent as he observed the bodies around him. After surveying the land, he quickly turned his head towards one particular body.
Joub's heart stopped as he saw Hugh pinpoint his main body. He could not understand how he could do this, but before he could think about it further, he saw Hugh's body disappear.
His experience as a second-year told him to dodge away. He tried to move his chest out, but he suddenly saw Hugh appear right next to him with Hugh's fist aimed at his chest.
Joub had no way to dodge as he looked at Hugh's face up close. He memorized it and saw a striking similarity to Hugh.
If Hugh had lost all his fat and his hair had turned white, he would look exactly like this guy in front of him. Could this be true?
As he thought about it more, the more it made sense. Hugh had suddenly disappeared and was replaced by this white-haired guy. The most straightforward explanation was usually the correct one.
How was Hugh able to possess this kind of power? Hugh's Desire was his armor, right? Then how was he able to turn this strong?
Those kinds of questions rang inside Joub's head as Hugh's hands collided with his chest.
"You're the fat guy!!!"
*crack*
His ribs cracked and were destroyed under pressure. He was forced a few meters back as he vomited blood on the ground.
Joub fell and was incapacitated on the ground. Hugh stood over him without any words. It was not until Hugh felt cold air coming towards the back of his head that he dodged away.
Hugh looked back and saw Joub's numerous bodies coming towards him. They were still well and active, which meant that Joub was still okay.
Joub continued to barrage Hugh with his bodies, resulting in some of his clones dying on the spot. He did not worry as they got reabsorbed back into some other clone and healed it.
Hugh continued to defend himself from the attacks, and he would always go for Joub's real body. He was able to pinpoint them and injure them, but his clones were still alive.
This meant that Joub was able to switch from different clones to save himself from Hugh. This was a troublesome skill for Hugh because he only had a limited time for his transformation.
++++++++++++++
FAT RESERVES
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Estimated time remaining: 30 sec.
++++++++++++++
Hugh only had half of his time left; he needed to finish this as fast as he could.
Joub did not stop his barrage of clones. He wanted to exhaust Hugh's energy to win the battle, but it seemed endless.
Joub needed an attack that would turn the battle's tides, but that would cost him most of his energy. He needed to decide if it was worth it.
With a big breath, Joub decided to go for it. He waited for the perfect opportunity for his plan to work completely. With Hugh busy with his clones, he was able to prepare an attack.
As Hugh was punching away the clones, some of the clones reconvened into one spot. The clones put their bodies together and formed into one single body. Joub joined into the special body as he controlled their movements.
The special body sneaked into the barrage of clones. They waited for the special chance to attack Hugh until an opportunity presented itself to them.
The special body punched towards Hugh, and Hugh caught it with his hands. This was the opportunity that they wanted, so a special blade made of his own body launched towards Hugh.
With this, the blade successfully penetrated Hugh's body.