Under Sage's watchful gaze, Kai approached a tree, his arm emitting intimidating black lightning. He then slowly threw a punch, making sure not to touch the tree. Just as he expected, the tree was completely destroyed, with splinters flying at terrifying speeds, taking down the surrounding trees they struck.
"It really is advanced Conqueror's Haki… the power boost is terrifying, like a [Ko] on steroids…" Kai remarked, deactivating his Conqueror's Haki and looking at the destruction with a hint of surprise.
"Certainly, and I think I can use that 'Conqueror's Haki' too," Sage commented while examining a hologram full of information that appeared in front of her. Kai added as he moved to another spot to continue testing.
"Let's try advanced Armament Haki. If it works the way I think it does, it will be quite terrifying, especially if I combine it with my aura abilities."
Soon after, Kai arrived at a more secluded spot, where he covered his right fist with Armament Haki. He focused all his attention on that sensation, trying to burn it into his memory, while simultaneously attempting to make it "flow" through his body, similar to how he maintained his Ten, which he now kept active all the time.
After a short time, Kai felt a strange sensation in his arm, though it was a bit faint. To avoid losing concentration, he quickly threw a punch towards the tree, though without touching it. Moments later, the tree exploded from within, leaving it completely shattered.
"It needs more work, but that effect at a distance, destroying the inside while leaving the outside intact, is definitely advanced Armament Haki. That slight delayed effect intrigues me—I could create interesting techniques if I can learn to control it…" Kai commented as he deactivated his Haki and analyzed the destroyed tree. Sage nodded, resting a hand on her chin.
"Indeed, some interesting abilities could come from that 'delayed action'."
"Now, the only thing left is to see if I can use 'future sight,' but I suppose the best way to test that would be against an opponent… well, let's leave that for later. For now, let's test the aura abilities."
…
…
…
A few hours later, Kai sensed Nemuri approaching the property, so he wrapped up his experiments and headed back to the house. He was somewhat surprised that Salem hadn't come looking for him, so he went to the large cat's room to check on him.
Upon arriving, Kai was utterly shocked to find a small cat with jet-black fur lying in a large dog bed on the floor, emitting the same voice as Salem, even with the same "intensity."
"Salem?" Kai asked hesitantly as Sage floated beside him, looking at the cat with equal curiosity.
Despite being called, the cat showed no signs of moving and instead continued lying in the bed, its body rising and falling rhythmically with its gentle breathing, forcing Kai to call out more loudly.
"Salem?!"
With Kai's loud voice, the small cat awoke from its slumber, then turned its head to look sleepily at the young man with blue eyes standing in the doorway, meowing in acknowledgment. It then got up from the bed and began stretching lazily.
"Why are you so small?" Kai wondered aloud as the small cat approached him, which made it aware of its new size, as it began to meow in confusion.
"Sage, examine Salem and try to figure out what's going on with him," Kai quickly ordered as he picked up the small cat in his hands, which looked up at him full of confusion.
"Right away, Master," Sage replied, flying towards the cat, placing her tiny hands on him while her wings glowed in different colors.
"Salem appears to be in perfect physical condition, but his DNA seems to have a slight difference, which has a pattern somewhat similar to 'quirks'." Sage commented shortly after, flying in front of Kai and showing him a holographic screen full of data. Kai could only ask, somewhat bewildered, while looking at the small cat in his hands.
"Did you awaken a quirk? How?"
In response to his master's question, Salem could only tilt his head cutely, as if he were also pondering a reason. Sage then commented thoughtfully while placing her hand on her chin.
"Could it be that Salem was somehow affected by the event at the gym?"
"It's very likely, although there's also the fact that he was already ridiculously larger than a normal cat, so it could very well be a combination of factors," Kai replied, equally pensive, which made Sage nod in agreement as she added.
"That is certainly a possibility, though a thorough investigation is needed to confirm it."
"You're right, although for now…" Kai turned to look at Salem, then asked with a tone of curiosity and uncertainty, "Can you return to your normal size, Salem?"
In response to his master's question, Salem meowed a couple of times, then began to tilt his head cutely as if he were checking something. It seemed he had found it because shortly after, under the surprised eyes of Kai and Sage, Salem began to grow in Kai's arms.
"Doesn't he seem bigger than before?" Kai asked uncertainly as he held the enormous cat in his arms, to which Sage nodded while replying.
"Indeed, he's about 8 centimeters larger than before."
"Can you make yourself even bigger, Salem?" Filled with curiosity, Kai put the cat back on the ground as he asked.
With an affirmative meow, the cat began to grow rapidly, soon reaching the size of a horse, causing Sage and Kai to look at each other with bright eyes before speaking simultaneously.
"We need to go outside!!"
"Let's go to the garden, Salem!"
As he hurried out of the room, Kai ordered with excitement, to which the enormous cat meowed in understanding while returning to his original size, then ran after his master with an evidently joyful stride.
"Well, the space seems big enough," Kai commented as he looked around, then turned to Salem and ordered excitedly, "Grow as big as you can, Salem!"
After an affirmative meow that sounded equally excited, the cat began to grow rapidly until it reached a height of about 5 meters, roughly the size of a residential streetlight, while in length, it was comparable to a bus.
"You look damn awesome, Salem!!!"
Seeing the enormous cat, which now resembled a giant panther with blue eyes, Kai exclaimed with excitement, to which Salem roared powerfully, equally excited, greatly frightening the gate guards and Nemuri, who had just arrived.
"What happened here?!!" Nemuri exclaimed, stunned, as she saw Kai sitting on the back of a monstrous black panther, to which the blue-eyed boy responded excitedly, shouting.
"Onee-chan, Salem awakened a quirk!!"
"What?!"
Everyone present couldn't believe what they were seeing and hearing. After all, it was extremely rare for an animal to awaken a quirk, to the point that only one of the guards had ever seen one during his years as a hero, apart from the world-famous Principal Nezu. It was a small dog that could extend its fangs.
"Kai, first, get down from 'Salem' so we can talk," Nemuri said, a tangle of emotions swirling inside her, before turning to the guards and speaking to them with a smile. "It seems everything is fine, it was just a scare, you can return to your posts."
"Of course, count on us if anything happens," one of the guards, a burly middle-aged man, commented with a smile, to which Nemuri responded in kind.
"Of course."
As the guards returned to their positions, Nemuri watched in astonishment as Salem shrank until he was about 30 centimeters tall, looking not much different from a normal cat. Salem leaped with great agility onto Kai's shoulder and stayed there, purring happily.
"Is that really Salem?" Nemuri asked as she walked inside the house, glancing at the small fairy on Kai's other shoulder.
"Yeah, I was pretty surprised too when I saw him so small a little while ago," Kai replied with a smile as he sat down on one of the sofas.
"And what's with that fairy?" Nemuri asked, full of doubts, while avoiding eye contact with Kai, who responded, sounding a bit unsure.
"It's Sage, though she's changed a bit."
"A bit? Going from a glowing sphere with wings to a fairy is more than just 'a bit'." Nemuri retorted, rolling her eyes before looking at the curious fairy and asking, "Are you really Sage?"
"I am indeed Sage, though I changed due to a certain incident yesterday," Sage responded in a serious tone.
Sage's words greatly frightened Nemuri, who began to sweat, terrified that the fairy had realized what she had done last night and would tell Kai—or worse, that he already knew. Her fear only worsened with Kai's question to the fairy.
"By the way, Sage, what happened after I 'fell asleep' at the gym?"
The moment Kai asked, Nemuri felt like the world around her stopped and everything started to crumble into pieces, which inevitably caused tears to well up in her eyes. But at that moment, Sage replied.
"The truth is, I don't know, Master. As soon as you 'fell asleep,' I was forcibly unsummoned until you called me again."
Sage's words almost made Nemuri cry with relief, but she had to hold back with all her strength, pretending to sneeze to wipe the tears from her eyes while Kai added thoughtfully.
"I suppose it was due to the change, though we need to figure out if my unconscious state affects you in any way."
"Indeed, though I must say it's unlikely. After all, I used to function 24/7, even when you were asleep," Sage commented as a holographic screen appeared in front of her, where she quickly arranged a virtual schedule, while Kai asked.
"By the way, now that you mention it, did the brute-force research stop?"
"Indeed, Master, but as soon as you called me, I reconnected to the servers and restarted all my operations."
"That's good," Kai nodded, satisfied, before noticing Nemuri, quickly realizing she had a somewhat strange expression, which led him to ask with a bit of concern.
"Are you okay, Onee-chan?"
"Yes, it's just that it's a bit hard to accept that Salem now has a quirk and even Sage looks so different." Nemuri commented in a calmer tone, which made Kai nod.
"It is definitely strange. By the way, did you take me to my room last night, Onee-chan?"
"Y-yes, when I got there, I found you sleeping in the gym, so I carried you like in the old days." Although Kai's question made Nemuri a bit nervous, she still managed to respond calmly, to which the blue-eyed young man thanked her with a warm smile.
"Thanks, Onee-chan," Kai said with a warm smile, which made Nemuri's heart race, before asking with curiosity, something that only made the beautiful woman even more nervous.
"By the way, Onee-chan, I was surprised you went out today; I thought you had today and tomorrow off."
"I am off, but I wanted to get something for the girls tomorrow, and I took the chance to buy a few things I was missing." Nemuri responded, seeming perfectly calm, as if there was nothing strange about the boxes in the car, to which Kai asked.
"Do you want me to help bring the stuff in?"
"That's not necessary, just make sure everything is ready so we can leave early tomorrow," Nemuri declined with a warm smile, to which Kai nodded before commenting as he got up.
"Alright, then I'll be training in the gym."
As the boy left the room with a cat and a fairy in tow, Nemuri could not help but let out a sigh of relief. She ran to the car and quickly brought in the boxes full of toys she had bought, then locked them up in her room.
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