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BAM!
Kael's arms ignited with a reddish-brown Fighting-type aura, muscles swelling as he locked both hands onto Arbok's gaping jaws.
A foul stench, like rotting venom, blasted out of the serpent's throat as if from a bottomless pit. Black, viscous saliva splattered across Kael's face and shoulders, sizzling with a corrosive hiss.
He gritted his teeth, veins bulging like twisted roots beneath his darkened skin. Arbok had gathered every ounce of its life force for this last, desperate strike and even Kael, whose power rivaled the strongest of his tier, struggled to withstand it.
The pressure was crushing. The floor beneath his feet cracked open as his legs sank into the ground, his spine bowing under the immense force. His grip on Arbok's jaws began to falter, the serpent's fangs creeping closer and closer, venom dripping from jagged edges sharp enough to tear steel.
It was like two colossal magnets being pulled together unstoppable, inevitable.
Then, with a sickening crack, Kael's overstrained muscles gave way. The sound of tearing fibers echoed inside him like snapping steel cables. Pain ripped through his body.
His strength wavered, his arms trembling. For a fleeting instant, despair flickered in his crimson eyes then hardened into unyielding resolve.
At that moment, the Hidden Ability within his system flared to life.
[Steadfast].
A spark ignited deep inside him small at first, like a firefly in the dark. Then it grew, fanned by Kael's indomitable will, until his Fighting-type aura roared like a wildfire.
Heat flooded through his body, his veins blazing, muscles pumping with new life. Steam hissed from his pores as his charred skin flushed crimson, energy surging through him stronger than ever before.
Kael felt like a machine brought back to life—every bone, every muscle, every drop of blood set ablaze.
The agony of torn flesh vanished, replaced by a furnace of raw power.
"RAAAAHHHH!"
He roared, muscles bulging, and forced Arbok's jaws wide open.
CRACK!
The serpent's fangs split under the pressure. Bone shattered, blood sprayed, and Arbok's massive head tore apart in Kael's grasp.
Its cold, sinister eyes dimmed, death flooding over them. The snake's body spasmed, then collapsed to the ground with a resounding thud.
Kael staggered in the aftermath, the flames of his aura sputtering out. Pain crashed back into him like a tidal wave. His knees buckled, and he collapsed onto the rubble-strewn floor, staring blankly at the cracked ceiling as dust drifted down.
This hadn't been his strongest opponent… but it had been his closest brush with death since his rebirth.
If not for the last-second awakening of Steadfast, he would have fallen with Arbok.
A faint smile tugged at his battered face. In the games, Steadfast was nothing impressive. But here in reality it had given him the strength to survive.
Exhaustion smothered him like a heavy blanket. His eyes slipped shut, and he sank into unconsciousness.
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The corridor fell silent. Arbok's giant body lay still, purple scales dulled, blood pooling around it.
Not far away, a guard who had been struck by Kael's [Confuse Ray] lay sprawled out, breathing raggedly, barely conscious.
From Kael's broken body, blood seeped out again, his makeshift muscle-sealed wounds tearing open. If left like this, he wouldn't last long.
Then—
Dark violet mist seeped from his skin, tendrils of Ghost-type energy rising like smoke. They twisted together, forming writhing, octopus-like appendages.
The tendrils slithered across the ground—then lashed onto Arbok's corpse.
The mist pulsed, sucking the life essence from the serpent's flesh. Its vibrant body dulled to gray, crumbling into ash as the nutrients were drained away.
The stolen energy flowed back into Kael, knitting bone, stitching muscle, halting the bleeding. His shattered body slowly began to heal.
Moments later, all that remained of Arbok was a pile of pale dust.
The tendrils quivered, unsated, then slithered toward the unconscious guards further down the corridor…
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