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"Roar!"
A primal bellow erupted across the battlefield.
It carried the weight of ancient wars, heavy with bloodshed and survival, as if echoing straight from a prehistoric battlefield.
Pheromosa felt it instantly.
A fear deeply buried in its genetic memory was violently awakened. Panic surged through its mind.
Its relentless kicks halted mid-motion.
With a sharp push of its left leg, its tall, slender ivory body leapt backward, creating distance from Kael in a flash.
Its posture stiffened.
Blue-violet eyes locked onto the dark-gold figure with visible caution and lingering dread.
Kael slowly exhaled.
The crossed arms guarding his chest lowered at last.
Pheromosa's earlier barrage had looked overwhelming, brutal enough to crush most opponents. In reality, against Shield King Form, the damage had been minimal.
Even so, Kael had deliberately used Zamazenta's roar to force a retreat.
That choice was intentional.
At this level of combat, rhythm mattered.
For Kael's close-quarters fighting style, maintaining a clean and controlled tempo allowed him to unleash his strength smoothly and efficiently.
Once he dictated the pace, victory was already halfway secured.
Moments earlier, Pheromosa's terrifying speed had disrupted that rhythm completely. Kael had been forced into defense, locked under relentless pressure without an opening to counterattack.
That situation was lethal.
Without the overwhelming defense granted by Shield King Form, he might have been seriously injured before landing a single strike.
So he broke the flow.
By driving Pheromosa back, he reclaimed control and reset the battle's tempo.
Pheromosa narrowed its purple-red compound eyes.
The gaze was sharp, dangerous, like a blade's edge.
This was the second time.
The second time it had faltered before the same opponent.
The humiliation ignited something violent inside it.
Fury flooded its thoughts, burning hotter by the second.
At that moment, Pheromosa no longer cared about feeding or beauty.
It wanted only one thing.
To tear this enemy apart.
Even its obsessive cleanliness, usually ingrained in its instincts, faded beneath the weight of rage.
Its long, elegant legs slammed directly into the filthy ground.
No hesitation.
Boom.
The earth cracked beneath its step as fractures spread across a shallow crater.
In the next instant, its ivory form shot forward like a bolt of lightning, racing straight toward Kael.
Even faster than before.
Too fast.
Once again, Kael could not track it with his eyes.
The gold-wrapped white blur surged toward him, threatening to drag him back into another storm of attacks.
Then, at the critical moment.
Kael closed his eyes.
If vision could not keep up, then it would be discarded entirely.
Sight, sound, smell, taste, touch.
Five senses formed a living being's perception of the world.
Normally, they worked together in balance.
But when one or two were removed, the remaining senses instinctively sharpened to compensate.
That principle was well known.
Kael made use of it deliberately.
Since sight had become unreliable, he shut it off.
And beyond his natural senses, he possessed something else.
Aura.
Under Shield King Form, Kael's Aura surged dramatically, approaching the level of an elite Lucario trained in advanced Aura mastery.
A silent hum spread outward.
At extreme speed, invisible Aura energy expanded around his body, forming a compressed field within a ten-meter radius.
By densely packing Aura into a limited space, his perception sharpened to a terrifying degree.
Even microscopic dust drifting through the air became clear within his mind.
He traded vision for absolute awareness.
Wind howled past his ears.
The shrill whistle of displaced air grew sharper as Pheromosa closed in. Vibrations in the atmosphere intensified.
"It's coming."
Kael's body tensed.
Every nerve focused on the slightest disturbance.
Suddenly, a distortion rippled along the edge of the Aura field.
His muscles swelled.
Power erupted like a volcano.
Kael's left hand snapped upward.
His fingers closed in empty air with uncanny precision.
Cold.
Smooth.
Slender.
"Got you."
His eyes opened.
Crimson light blazed with lethal calm.
In his grip was Pheromosa's long ivory leg, firmly seized.
"What?"
Pheromosa's pupils shrank in disbelief.
Its speed was its pride.
Even within Ultra Space, few of its kind could follow its movements.
How.
How did this opponent, who moments ago could only endure its assault, now capture it mid-strike?
There was no time to think further.
Because the next instant.
Fire filled its vision.
"Fire Punch."
Blazing flames ignited around Kael's dark-gold armored arm.
Heat distorted the air as scorching shockwaves burst outward.
The fire burned bright crimson, infused with Kael's roaring battle intent, radiating lethal force.
Beneath the ornate armor, muscles bulged violently.
Raw power surged into his fist.
A piercing boom split the air.
The flame-wrapped steel punch tore forward, dragging red-tinted sonic shock clouds along its path.
Boom!
The blazing iron fist shattered the air itself.
Then slammed directly into Pheromosa's pale, fragile abdomen with unstoppable force.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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