Chapter 68: Eating the Devil Fruit
"Is that so?" Kyle replied, a smirk playing on his lips—a mix of disdain and pity. His tone was light, as if Raika's murderous threat were nothing but a passing breeze.
Raika's chest heaved with explosive rage. He had never been looked down upon like this. But the last shred of his reason held him back. Time. He was running out of time.
With bloodshot eyes, he glared at Kyle one last time, as if carving his face into a curse, then spun around and stormed off.
Kyle watched his retreating back, noting the slight stiffness in his gait. He was surprised. Given Raika's ruthless nature, he hadn't expected him to show such restraint.
"Looks like he's truly at his limit," Kyle mused. "He doesn't have the confidence for a deathmatch anymore."
Kyle considered finishing him off right there, but changed his mind.
"Whatever. Unless a miracle happens, he won't survive this place much longer anyway. Why waste the energy?"
The two moved forward in silence, one after the other.
Less than a hundred meters later, they passed through a barrier of thick, almost tangible lightning mist. The view suddenly cleared.
Before them lay the core zone. Unlike the violent chaos of the previous areas, this place was eerily calm. The air felt heavy, saturated with the pressure of thunder.
In the center stood a single, strange tree. Its trunk and leaves were brilliant silver. The leaves rustled without wind, creating a constant, pleasant crackling of static electricity. It was a living sculpture of lightning.
And at the very top of this "Lightning Tree" hung a single fruit.
It was deep violet-blue, its skin covered in profound, swirling patterns that looked like spiraling lightning bolts. It pulsed with a palpable, terrifying energy—the same Devil Fruit they had seen projected in the plaza!
However, when Kyle and Raika looked past the fruit to the final zone guarding it, their reactions were starkly different.
Even with his steady will, Kyle's pupils contracted slightly.
Raika, already injured, felt the blood drain from his face the moment he saw it. The flicker of hope in his eyes was instantly extinguished, replaced by a despair and terror that chilled him to the bone.
A broken gasp escaped his throat. "Th-This... It's... Raijamon?!"
A Deadly Cognitive Trap
Raika began to tremble uncontrollably. He remembered his father's face—the deep, etched fear as he spoke of this place after returning gravely wounded years ago.
Now he understood why the old man had only brought back a picture!
The Raijin Clan possessed high resistance to electricity and could even generate it internally. But that gift was also a curse. Electricity was a toxin to them; once their body's load limit was exceeded, they would end up just like the charred corpses in the previous zones.
Raika could feel the lightning energy inside him nearing critical mass. His meridians burned. He couldn't take much more, let alone this.
In his legends, the "Raijamon" (Thunder Serpent Vine) was the most bizarre and dangerous manifestation of lightning. It wasn't inanimate; it had a "hunting" instinct. Once it wrapped around a target, it would bite down like a viper, injecting destructive energy until the victim's life force was extinguished.
Even at his peak, Raika could barely handle five strands of Raijamon at once.
But here, in the hundred meters between him and the tree, the air was filled with thousands of writhing, restless Raijamon vines!
"Five... I could maybe withstand. But if two wrap me at once, the energy doesn't just add up; it multiplies geometrically!"
"It would kill me instantly!" Raika's mind raced, calculating the odds, and the conclusion broke him.
"Impossible... It's impossible to pass! This is a dead end! No one can cross this!"
Thump.
His legs gave out, and he collapsed to the ground in despair. All his ambition and ruthlessness were crushed by the impossible reality before him.
Kyle shook his head, watching Raika's breakdown.
The Prince's spirit was broken. His journey had ended. The earlier zones had drained all his potential and courage.
Just as Kyle was analyzing the flow of his own Aura, trying to find a weakness or pattern in the Raijamon field, Raika seemed to spawn a frantic, insane idea from the depths of his despair.
He slowly stood up, his voice raspy and dark.
"It's useless... Don't waste your energy. This is 'Raijamon.' An outsider with zero resistance can't possibly understand its power!"
As he spoke, unstable, blinding sparks began to erupt from his body—a clear sign he was burning his own life force.
Kyle understood the killing intent in his words.
The zone looked impenetrable. The wall of "Electric Serpents" was airtight. To pass, one would have to charge through, tanking continuous, devastating shocks.
"Kid, I'm sorry," Raika said with hysterical calm. "In my current state, if I tried to go back, maybe I'd have a 10% chance of survival. But now... I've changed my mind. I'd rather... kill you right here!"
The fear in his eyes was gone, replaced by the madness of dragging someone down to hell with him.
Kyle saw through him instantly. It was the classic "if I can't have it, no one can" mentality.
Kyle laughed. It was a laugh full of undisguised mockery and pity. "Raika, you're a coward. You don't even have the courage to try, so how do you know you can't pass? If you won't even attempt it, how are you any different from your father who stopped here?"
He paused, his aura suddenly spiking, an invisible pressure expanding outward.
"But I'm different. I was born to challenge... the impossible!"
Before the words faded, Kyle blurred into motion. He didn't look for a gap or a trick. He charged straight into the wall of writhing Raijamon!
There was no violent impact. No deafening thunder.
The moment Kyle's body touched the terrifying "Electric Serpents," something strange happened.
Like a stone thrown into a reflection on water, the Raijamon rippled... and Kyle passed right through them, unobstructed!
No damage. Not even a tingle of paralysis.
"A mirage... It's an illusion?!" Kyle realized instantly.
This final, seemingly deadliest trial wasn't testing physical resistance. It was testing courage and the wisdom to see through falsehoods!
"NO—!!!"
Behind him, Raika let out a scream that tore his throat, filled with endless regret and madness.
The lightning at his feet exploded, and he charged at Kyle with everything he had left, moving like a true bolt of lightning!
But it was too late.
Kyle's hand closed firmly around the violet-blue Devil Fruit.
He even had time to glance back at the crazed Prince, a mocking smile still on his lips, before he unhesitatingly took a bite!
A taste so foul it shook his soul exploded in his mouth. Kyle fought the urge to vomit and forced himself to swallow.
The next second, a sea of lightning energy detonated inside him!
The power washed over his body, every cell screaming and rebirthing in the transformation!
"Cannot turn into element... Not a Logia."
Kyle sensed the fruit's category instantly, but he wasn't disappointed.
He could clearly feel an unprecedented power coming under his control!
With a thought, he opened his palm. A highly compressed ball of blinding lightning formed instantly!
He tossed the ball forward. It flew a hundred meters in a blink.
Kyle whispered, "Thunder Flash!"
Zzzzt—!
His body seemed to become lightning itself. He formed a mysterious spatial connection with the ball he had thrown, vanishing from his spot and reappearing instantly at the ball's location, a hundred meters away!
"AAAAHHH! GIVE ME MY FRUIT!!" Raika watched Kyle use the power that should have been his with ease. His reason was consumed by jealousy and rage.
Roaring, he focused all his remaining life force into his fist, charging at Kyle with suicidal intent.
Kyle watched the mad Prince approach. The mockery in his eyes vanished, replaced by cold finality. "Time to end this."
He slowly raised his right hand, pointing his index finger at Raika.
His massive Aura surged to his fingertip at insane speed. Even more shockingly, the ambient lightning in the air was drawn in, fusing with the compressed energy!
Nen and Lightning merged perfectly, forming a tiny, silent point of ghostly blue light at his fingertip.
Just as Raika entered the ten-meter range, Kyle spoke a single word.
"Railgun."
PEW—!
A silent, incredibly thin beam of blue light shot out!
It had no thunderous roar, but it moved faster than thought. It ionized the air, leaving a vacuum trail in its wake.
Raika's charging body froze.
He looked down in disbelief at his chest.
A hole the size of a fist, perfectly smooth and cauterized, had appeared, punching clean through him.
Through the hole, he could see the scorched earth behind him.
There was no blood; the intense heat and electricity had carbonized the wound instantly.
He opened his mouth to speak, but only a rasping sound came out.
The last thing he saw was Kyle's calm, emotionless eyes, and the wisp of smoke fading from his fingertip.
Thud.
Raika, the ruthless, ambitious First Prince of the Raijin Clan, fell heavily to the ground, dead, his heart filled with endless regret.