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Under the sunlight, his skin was pitch-black so dark it reflected nothing.
Instead, it seemed to swallow the light whole, like a living shadow.
Compared to three months ago, his muscles were larger, tighter, and more refined but not bulky.
Every line across his frame was clean, direct, explosive.
One glance was enough to know his body carried terrifying power coiled beneath the surface.
A deep ghost-type aura pulsed quietly inside him, sealed tight under his skin.
Only a faint purple shimmer would occasionally flash across his surface hinting at the massive spectral energy lurking in his blood.
Three months of brutal training had buried the killing intent once burning in his crimson eyes.
Not gone… simply submerged.
Sleeping.
Waiting for the right moment to erupt like a beast breaking free of its chains.
Looking at the Heracross collapsed before him, covered in wounds, dripping thick green blood, Kael couldn't help but smile faintly.
He remembered standing on the summit of Blazing Peak for the first time.
In Infernape's eyes… he must've looked just as pathetic.
"Heh."
Kael shook his head, amused at the memory.
Those days were long gone.
The mountain that once felt impossible to climb, Blazing Peak, with its crushing gravity, was now something he could walk across freely, with no special energy, no tricks.
Just his own body hardened through inhuman training.
Infernape's hellish regimen had pushed his physical strength and endurance to the absolute limit of what his pre-evolution body could achieve.
On the summit, where the pressure felt like the entire sky was collapsing downward, Kael strolled casually toward Heracross.
He reached down, grabbed the beetle's massive horn with one hand, and with almost no visible effort lifted it off the ground.
Heracross had no business being on the summit.
One more minute and the gravity would've crushed it to death.
If Kael hadn't been here, the beetle might've died without anyone even noticing.
Still holding Heracross effortlessly, Kael moved through the gravity field as if it wasn't there.
A few light steps almost like skipping and he vanished from the mountaintop, racing down toward the base of Blazing Peak.
Less than five minutes later, he reached the exit.
He tossed the heavy, armor-plated Pokémon toward a waiting Hawlucha who had just finished training and was bowing respectfully.
Then Kael headed off on his own toward the dorm area.
He had graduated from his three instructors half a month ago.
No more fixed lessons.
No more guided training.
They had shown him the path.
Now he had to walk it alone.
"Master leads the way, discipline finishes the journey." That was the idea.
The three mentors had established the foundation he just needed to fill it with sweat.
Walking down the quiet path, Kael's mind drifted.
Three months.
Three brutal, exhausting, transformative months.
He had learned dozens of new skills, physical and spectral.
He had absorbed and neutralized the residue of those human experiments that once warped his body.
Two problems solved at once.
But now his growth had slowed.
He'd learned nearly everything the mentors could teach.
It was almost time to plan his next step.
Then—
FWOOOOSH!
A sharp tearing sound ripped through the air.
Wind-type energy condensed into a razor-sharp crescent blade, slicing through the atmosphere and coming straight for him.
The force shook the trees violently.
Loose stones on the road cracked under the pressure, leaving long scars in the dirt.
Kael didn't even look concerned.
He just sighed.
His right hand lifted slowly, muscles relaxed, posture casual, thumb against his index finger, other fingers curled inward.
Without even turning his head, he flicked lightly.
CRACK!
A chime echoed like stone striking crystal.
He had hit a precise weak point in the technique.
The massive wind blade instantly shattered, dissolving into bursts of turbulent air.
Dust and debris whipped wildly around him but a strange energy radiated from his body, flattening everything to the ground.
"How many times has this been now?" Kael called out, half-amused. "You trying again, Farfetch'd?"
"Hahaha…"
A sheepish laugh came from the bushes.
Farfetch'd stepped out, green leek resting across its shoulder, rubbing the back of its head in embarrassment.
"I, uh… just learned a new move from the master…"
"Wanted to try it out…"
Kael rolled his eyes.
"Oh great. So I'm your test dummy now?"
"Learn a new move, come straight to me. Figures."
Farfetch'd jogged up beside him, still grinning.
"Heheh. You're strong, right? Perfect for spotting flaws in my sword techniques."
Despite Kael spending most of his time training, he'd somehow ended up with a small handful of friends over these months.
Farfetch'd was one of them.
Most Pokémon avoided Kael out of fear—his aura, his stare, his ghost-tainted evolution all made him look dangerous.
Farfetch'd, however, cared only about swordsmanship.
A thick-headed, single-minded martial artist.
Perfectly oblivious to appearances.
After losing badly to Kael once, it immediately befriended him, classic Farfetch'd behavior.
Since then, it often sought him out for duels, hoping to refine its blade skills.
Kael didn't mind.
Endless training was exhausting sparring with Farfetch'd was almost… relaxing.
Or as relaxing as getting ambushed by wind blades could be.
And with the techniques he'd learned from Banette, these sloppy, wide-open attacks only needed one strike to dismantle completely.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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