What he was doing truly was a gamble, a gamble that if he failed, he only had a thirty-percent chance of surviving. Being unable to use ki for a few months was the most optimal outcome in the event of failure.
But Igor being Igor, he would do it anyway.
"I'm going to start now, sister!"
.
|DxD|
.
Standing away from Aurelia, Igor was now fully focused on himself. His body was primed and his mind was clear. Despite the slight setback caused by using the Aura-Flowing State, nothing happened to his stamina. He was well fed, well rested, and had a positive mindset. There was absolutely nothing wrong that could go wrong with this attempt.
Spacing his legs apart and clenching his fists, he started powering up.
"HaaaaaaaaAAAAAA!"
GRUUUUU!!!
An explosive white aura burst to life around him. Like little vibrant wisps, his aura lashed violently around him. The power he generated alone caused a shockwave that had Aurelia widen her eyes.
"This…this is…peak-god class?"
She couldn't believe what she was seeing. She was absolutely sure that just a week ago he was still in the realm of high-god class. Yet with how stable his ki felt, he seemed to have been at the peak of god class for months.
She couldn't wrap her head around how he had such an explosive power level since whenever the blonde trained, he never bothered hiding his power. In fact, with how rigorous his training was, holding back on his power would not have been optimal.
But thinking back to his training conditions, Aurelia eventually figured it out.
[I see. He isn't wearing his weighted clothing nor is he being pressed down by gravity.]
Without being pressed down by gravity and weighted clothing, his ki was fully unrestrained, and it showed.
GRUUUUUU!
"HAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
The amount of ki he was emitting was enormous. From afar, he was like a giant grey-white flame. The size of his aura continued to expand as he powered up even further. His body was working to generate all the ki he needed to power up to his absolute max.
All his bones, muscles, and even his skin were infused with ki, leaving not even a lick of space between the particles and fibres. His senses and his brain's processing ability improved significantly, allowing his combat power to gain a qualitative increase.
With the quality of his ki having been enhanced by spirit control, his total strength increase was not any less than a hundred and fifty percent, a 1.5x power increase.
As Igor finally reached the maximum power level he could obtain in his base state, he closed his eyes in focus. The aura around him cascaded violently while he remained as calm as a lake. Like a controlled blaze, it was aggressive, yet ordered. The aura maintained a steady distance around his body with only the occasional flaring of ki.
Su Su Su Su Su Su Su Su
Then…
Shu!
In barely an instant, the aura around him suddenly vanished like it never existed. The massive pressure that was emanating from him also vanished like it was never even there. In one fell swoop, Igor took in all that power and pulled it into his body.
There was not even a lick of aura left behind, not even the faintest trace. In a superb ability of control honed by practicing his Yin-Yang Breathing Method, he masterfully controlled every single strand of his ki without failure.
But withdrawing it was only the start. With his veins overloaded with ki, the crucial part came now.
[Focus…]
Every drop of ki he had in his body was quickly collected…
[Focus…]
…and sent every single ounce of it towards his divine strand.
[Argh!]
Time seemed to slow down. The feeling of losing all his ki immediately made him feel weak and lightheaded. Without ki, his body would soon begin collapsing on itself. The timer had begun counting and the blonde was in a race against time, a race that he needed to win.
He directed all of his ki towards his divine strand. And as he expected there was a clog up.
[D-Don't lose focus, Igor!]
Although the feeling was very uncomfortable, this was the decisive moment. He had to use the clog up to "squash" his ki together and make it as dense as possible before he finally pushed it forward into his divine strand. There was no stopping this anymore. With his body having been bled dry of ki, only demi-ki could restore him to his peak state. Normal ki simply would not "flow" quickly enough to all his organs nor does it possess the subtle healing properties of demi-ki.
So it was all or nothing. Utilising his high-level ki-control, he masterfully manipulated all of his strands to "crash" into each other in such a small room that he effectively managed to clump them into one giant mass.
With everything done, he flooded all that backed-up ki into his divine strand like a massive tsunami. The clumps of ki had no reservations and entered the strand like a violent break-in. There was a delay as his divine strand was overwhelmed, but it quickly got to work. With such an overload of ki, it thickened considerably and began to "digest" the ki. It slowly grew bigger and bigger as it swallowed the ki like a massive leech that gorged itself on blood.
But as with all natural processes, what goes in, must come out.
FUUUUUSHH
An insanely dense amount of demi ki was "excreted" from the divine strand and in an instant, it flooded his body, quickly filling up the vacant space left behind by the ki that was pulled away. It seemed as if a breath of fresh life was breathed into his body which significantly powered him with enriched energy. Gradually, his power began to skyrocket as very high-quality demi ki was released into his network.
Back in reality, there was silence in the vicinity. Igor who was struggling to stand up now stood up straight. His fists that were clenched were now relaxed. An extremely dense mist of red aura was pouring out of his body. It hung tightly to him like a cloak yet "burned" like a gentle blaze in a breeze.
His power was rapidly increasing, yet there was no outward indicator of this happening.
6x!
8x!
10x!
14x!
18x!
24x!
30x!
38x!
46x!
50x!!!
His power skyrocketed before it finally stabilised at fifty-times his base power. Yet where there would be a violent aura around him, it was all calm. His eyes were still closed, his posture relaxed. None of his muscles were bulging and his body was relatively calm for someone who suddenly attained so much power.
Slowly, Igor opened his eyes. They were blood red in colour, filled with absolute authority. Just by gazing into them, one would feel an overwhelming pressure. But beyond that, there was immense…
[Killing intent?]
Aurelia could see it in his eyes. They exuded pure killing intent that made even her surprised. With the amount of people the blonde had killed throughout his life, the killing intent he had was very thick and it showed in those crimson eyes of his.
His entire demeanour seemed to have changed. That naivety he always seemed to have had completely vanished.
[What is this? He's like a completely different person.]
While Aurelia stared at Igor with a gaze of unsurety, the blonde gave himself one-second glances all over his body. Appearing satisfied he clenched his fists and immediately, the ground…began grumbling.
*Rumble* *Rumble* *Rumble* *Rumble*
Silence…
.
.
.
"KAIIIOOOKEN!!!"
GRUUUUUUUUUU!!!
Like a rocket, his power instantly soared to new heights and with the rising of his power, immense shockwaves were released. Catatonic winds were raised by the blonde's sudden power up, his very presence causing an immense pressure to descend upon the vicinity.
Along with his power, his aura simultaneously expanded. It was absolutely demonic in both its size and its intimidating radiance. The red mist that clung tightly to his body was now like a giant crimson bonfire that surrounded him like a massive shroud.
The outbursts of ki from his explosive power-up were massive, which in turn caused the ground to shake. This forced Aurelia who had "glued" herself to the ground using mana to utilise gravity magic.
70x!
80x!
90x!
100x!!!
His power continued to rise and with it, his hair. His long locks of blonde hair slowly rose up as demi-ki entered each individual strand. As each strand rose, they clustered together to form several large spiky locks of hair.
As more and more demi-ki was released into his hair, the gradually increasing density caused his hair to not only "spike", but also turn red.
"HoooaaaaaaAAAAAA!"
GRUUUU!
103x!
104x!
105x!
His power did not stop increasing. As it continued to rise, so did his aura as it lashed about violently. Yet unlike before, his skin remained clear, a clear showcasing that his body could still handle this power.
106x!
107x!
108x!
His power was now firmly in low-supreme class with absolutely no room for doubt.
109x!
110x!!!
GRUUUU! Su! Su! Su! Su! Su! Su! Su! Su! Su! Su!
As he finally reached its peak, his power gradually stabilised. At 110x his base power, Igor could genuinely feel the overwhelming strength flowing through him. His pupils had vanished, but he was still in control. The absolute power he felt made him grin cockily.
"Amazing."
He stood on the spot, his eyes closed as he savoured this feeling of this power churning through his body. Taking a deep breath, he took in a deep breath before looking down at his arms with those white eyes. Lifting his arms up, he clenched his fists a few times. Then in an instant, he punched out with his fist and the resulting shockwave, was humongous.
BOOOOOOM!
Without getting into any sort of stance or a wind-up, he released a simple jab that had enough power to kill his previous self in one shot.
"Hmph. Perfect."
There was no excitement in his voice. Rather there was arrogance in his tone. This was something Aurelia couldn't understand since it was drastically out of line with his normal character.
[He achieved so much power, and yet…]
It was abnormal for him to act like this. This was not in line with his personality and it worried her greatly. Igor was confident, but never arrogant. Yet looking at the wide grin on his face, she was sure that this was a side-effect of his current state.
As for the blonde, he was satisfied with his current strength. All the training he went through and the risks were not for nothing. Unfortunately, he could feel that he couldn't sustain this full-powered state for long.
"Tch. It seems more training will be in order from now on."
Gradually, he began cycling down his power level until he sat solidly at fifty-times his base strength. The red colour in his hair faded back to blonde, yet it still remained raised up. The immense aura he was emitting gradually shrunk until it became the misty shroud it previously was.
Slowly, the blonde opened his eyes, those crimson orbs glinting ominously in their wake.
"Bearable. I should last for about half an hour in this state."
Su Su Su Su Su Su Su Su Su Su
Igor was satisfied. That much was assured. But anyone who knew the blonde could tell that...
[He truly seems like a different person.]
.
AN
.
Today is Friday and different from this time, I will only (hopefully) be able to upload on Monday. Reason is because on Sunday I will be travelling.