Kamcy

  The forest was silent.

  The creatures stood there, confused. The smell of burnt wounds and charred flesh thickened the air, heavy and bitter in my lungs.

  I gnced at the scorched remains of the goril-caste I had just obliterated and noticed something important.

  The regeneration was slower.

  Burned flesh didn’t knit quickly. It bubbled. The charred meat twitched and struggled, bckened tissue attempting to reform — but nowhere near as fast as before.

  A weakness had been identified.

  Then I checked my reserves.

  Roughly thirty percent of my energy had been consumed by that single bst. My severed arm, though sealed, was still bleeding slowly. I hadn’t fully healed it. The blood loss was catching up to me.

  I was beginning to feel lightheaded.

  The creatures shifted uneasily before preparing to attack again — warier now.

  Seeing that hesitation, even in my condition, filled me with something close to ecstasy.

  I was ready.

  With a sudden lunge, the chaos resumed.

  I kept them at a distance with my whip, tearing into them as they charged. Whenever they closed in too much, I snapped the whip around a branch and swung away, leaping from tree to tree as we cshed below and above the forest floor.

  Whenever I felt cornered, I vanished.

  Cloak.

  I slipped from their sight, reappearing behind them, cutting them down before they could react. But the longer I fought, the more pressure I felt mounting. I was bleeding. Combat left me less time, less focus, less energy to dedicate to healing.

  Then the second goril-caste leapt at me.

  I pivoted into a powerful side kick, applying what I’d learned — pouring more energy into my legs for maximum impact. The moment my heel connected with its crossed arms, I felt bone buckle beneath the force. The creature was unched backward, arms caving inward as it crashed through the forest in a violent tumble.

  Before I could recover—

  A wolf-caste struck from behind.

  Its cws tore across my back, ripping through muscle.

  Pain fred.

  “You little motherf—”

  I roared.

  And something changed.

  The aura around me thickened.

  Pressure radiated outward in a violent pulse.

  The wolf-castes attacking me smmed into the ground as if gravity itself had intensified. Dirt cracked beneath their bodies.

  One whimpered.

  Another stepped back.

  I froze — not in fear, but in realization.

  The energy wasn’t just responding to commands.

  It was responding to me.

  To emotion.

  The angrier I became, the denser it felt. Sharper. Heavier.

  I let the fury rise — not wild or uncontrolled.

  Focused.

  Intentional.

  The nearest wolf-caste lowered itself instinctively, ears fttening as it retreated.

  The goril-caste I had kicked away paused mid-charge, feeling the pressure.

  I didn’t stop. I poured my rage into the energy, feeding it deliberately.

  For the first time since entering this forest—

  They weren’t charging.

  They were calcuting.

  I stepped forward.

  They stepped back.

  My breathing slowed.

  Energy coiled around me like a storm barely contained.

  Predator.

  Not prey.

  The red glow of the forest remained unchanged. The statue of my previous death stood somewhere behind me.

  But something fundamental had shifted.

  They felt it.

  And for the first time—

  They hesitated.

  Then they turned and ran.

  I stood there long after they disappeared.

  The moment I released the emotional pressure, the dizziness returned with twice the force. My legs nearly gave out.

  Still, I refused to fall.

  I gathered my items from my petrified corpse and began the long walk back to my cave. Every step felt heavier than the st. The urge to colpse and sleep gnawed at me relentlessly.

  But I kept moving.

  Eventually, the cave came into view. By then it was early morning.

  I stepped inside, scanned the interior for threats, and y down.

  I knew when I woke next, it would be in a new body.

  This one would be dead.

  But I wasn’t burdened.

  I wasn’t sad.

  I was going to thrive here.

  No matter what was thrown at me.

  --------

  BOOM!

  An explosion thundered behind me as I broke into a sprint, bone bde in hand.

  Roars echoed in pursuit.

  I pulled another handmade explosive from my pouch and tossed it without looking. Thanks to my technique, I didn’t need to see to know where it nded.

  [Dynamic Vision]

  I had finally named it.

  “Eat my guano nitroglycerin mix-up, bastards!” I shouted as the explosion detonated behind me.

  Spinning mid-run, my bone bde carved a crimson arc through a goril-caste, splitting it clean in half before I continued forward.

  Behind me were hundreds — wolf-castes, insectoids, goril-castes — charging like I’d personally insulted their ancestors.

  I leapt off the side of the mountain as they swarmed.

  [Cloak]

  With training, I could now maintain it during intense combat for nearly thirty seconds. Longer if I limited my movements.

  They thundered past me, blind to my presence.

  We were near the area I had officially named Twin Mountains — two identical peaks standing side by side.

  No deeper meaning. Just accurate beling.

  Dropping down between them, my cloak expired.

  They found me almost instantly.

  Good.

  That was the point.

  I boosted myself with energy and bsted forward, sliding to a stop just beyond the mountain pass. Turning, I faced the creatures charging through the narrow gap.

  Perfect alignment.

  Exactly what I wanted.

  I pnted my feet.

  This technique was inspired by a caste I still hadn’t conquered — the one that genuinely terrified me.

  I drew a deep breath.

  Energy gathered at my core.

  Warmth surged from my abdomen to my chest, glowing blue as electricity crackled along my skin. It traveled upward into my throat, building pressure.

  My hair stood on end.

  Static energy wrapped around me violently.

  I opened my mouth.

  Blue energy spun within, sparks dancing violently.

  I fired.

  [Incinerate]

  The beam exploded outward in a blinding fsh of light and heat. Electricity tore through the air as the beam carved forward, annihiting everything in its path.

  Creatures were reduced to ash instantly.

  Others, attempting to dodge, lost limbs — charred stumps spraying bckened blood before their bodies colpsed.

  For over two thousand meters, the ground was gouged open in a molten trench. Soil liquefied. Steam and smoke billowed upward. Electricity continued to arc across the carved path.

  The destruction was astronomical.

  I giggled.

  Actually giggled.

  What guy wouldn’t love watching things go boom?

  Sure, the technique consumed half my energy. Sure, I could only fire it twice on a full core. Sure, it required charge time.

  But it was cool as hell.

  Then—

  ROAAAAAAAAAAR!!

  The sound froze me.

  I already knew.

  Two massive bck hands gripped the peaks of Twin Mountains like toys. An enormous head rose behind them.

  Its face was white — skeletal, like a bird’s skull. Twin beaks pointed upward grotesquely.

  The ground trembled.

  The rest of its body emerged — a massive bck form resembling a manta ray fused to a colossal avian skull. Its eyes glowed an intense blue.

  The pressure it emitted crushed the air itself.

  Gravity felt heavier.

  It opened its mouth.

  Blue energy gathered in its throat — mirroring my own attack.

  I didn’t run.

  I couldn’t.

  Its killing intent dwarfed mine. Lightning shed around it, scorching the earth.

  Wind screamed from the energy buildup alone.

  But I wasn’t afraid.

  I gnced at the HUD floating beside me.

  [00:00:07]

  I raised both hands.

  Flipped it off.

  The world turned white.

  When I opened my eyes again, everything was white.

  I sat up slowly.

  My old workspace.

  One prison to another.

  A screen flickered into existence.

  Mr. Adeyemi stood there, calm and composed.

  I stared at him.

  Waiting for him to speak first.