Aka and 29 returned to their rooms after the rituals and began talking. Before speaking, Aka thought, "My abilities," and opened his status to examine them.
Age = 18Strength = 13Endurance = 15Speed = 12Intelligence = 1Awareness = 10Spiritual Power = 0Physical Power = 31Potential = 10
His "Innocence" ability had disappeared. But at the same time, the "Killer" ability was gone as well, replaced by a new one called "Immoral," which read: "You no longer possess morality. If an action benefits you, you can do it without hesitation. Concepts such as empathy and mercy hold no meaning unless they provide an advantage."
He had also gained a talent related to "Player." Its description said: "Unless someone specializes in this field, they can no longer distinguish between your fake and natural reactions, and it becomes extremely difficult for anyone to rip off your mask." His talents "Practical," "Absorption," and "Hard-Working" were still there as well.
After Aka finished examining everything and explaining parts of it to 29, his lover told him about her own changes. It seemed the ritual had gone even better than 29 had hoped, and although she didn't explain exactly what she wished for, she would now be able to recover her physical power twice as fast as before. However, this came with a deadly drawback — expanding her vessel would now be much harder, because to develop the vessel she had to completely empty her energy and then continue drawing from nature while empty. But now, her physical energy regenerated so quickly that it almost never ran out. She also pouted a little, because Aka now probably had the largest physical energy vessel in the entire group and had surpassed her by one point, and he was bragging to her about it.
Once their joking ended, they became serious again and continued talking.
Aka: "What do you plan to improve over the next three months?"29: "My energy regeneration is absurd now. So I plan to train until I can maintain a constant level of physical power in my body at all times."Aka: "What do you mean?"29: "If I don't use it, the regeneration is wasted. So instead, I'll constantly concentrate a set amount of power into different parts of my body. That way I'll learn to control it more easily, and if I improve enough, I should even be able to use it like armor."
Aka: "That… that's actually brilliant. I should try it too — this might be the best method to get used to controlling physical power. Also, we should find out what abilities our teammates received, so when the time comes to betray them, we won't be putting ourselves at risk."29: "Has this ability already changed you so much, Aka?"Aka: "Why do you say that?"29: "You're talking about taking information from your friends so you can betray them safely."Aka: "And what's wrong with that? Am I wrong?"29: "You're not wrong… but the old Aka would never have thought like this."Aka: "But the old Aka also couldn't have run away with you, my love."
He hugged 29 and told her she shouldn't think like that, then they went to eat together.
The whole group was there, and when Aka entered, he greeted 32 with, "Good morning, boss." Both 29 and 32 were shocked, and 32 lowered his head, saying Aka shouldn't do that — that he was still the leader and nothing had changed. Then, one by one, they explained their new powers.
32, in addition to her incredible eyes, focused on improving her accuracy and had decided to dedicate herself to assassination. She invested in a stealth-type ability: if no one could see her shadow or was paying attention to it, she would merge with her shadow. However, while merged, she couldn't perform any physical actions, and when she returned to human form she would reappear in the exact position and state she had been in as a shadow.
33 improved his reflexes, to the point he was nearly untouchable. There would never again be a moment when he was "too slow to react." He had also learned the art of single-dagger combat from 29. And according to his theory, if his reflexes improved enough, he might eventually be able to perform multiple actions at the same time — like blocking punches with one hand while catching and throwing back a dagger with the other — though he hadn't tested it yet.
34, meanwhile, had chosen the strangest ability among them. If he sensed that someone was attacking him, his daggers would sink into his body and emerge from whatever part he wished. The greatest benefit of this ability was that he could now coat his daggers with physical power. Once a fight began, his daggers were no longer in his hands — instead, when he grabbed a punch, he could push a dagger out through his palm and cut with it, or if he fought barefoot, he could kick while producing a blade from his foot.
But his ability had a huge drawback: he would never again be able to use any other weapon, because he had specifically wished for "daggers." Using different equipment would render his ability meaningless. And the second problem was that he functioned best while nearly naked.
Aka was honestly shocked when he heard all this, because every ability sounded incredibly strong. But instead of being happy for them, he felt troubled — the people he had to kill were getting far stronger. Still, there was time, and in time he would discover every weakness they had.
While the conversation continued, Aka casually mentioned that he had awakened Physical Power and offered to explain how they could do it too. The team gladly accepted. They moved to a quiet training ground and sat down, and Aka told them to focus until they felt that same sensation the instructor had shown them. The moment they felt it, they were to spread it through their bodies and fight the air — or him, or 29 — and he began punching the air.
About five hours later, 32 awakened first and immediately began sparring with the exhausted Aka. But it was less of a fight and more like Aka blocking her blows and giving her advice. This continued for around two hours until 32 finally understood where to channel her physical power for better efficiency. She thanked Aka respectfully and began training against the air, while Aka continued practicing in front of his two friends.
Roughly eight hours later, 34 awakened and sparred with Aka next. Since he wasn't naked, he tried not to manifest daggers from anywhere except his hands and feet. Aka was surprised — even like this, 34's ability was frighteningly effective, and his daggers simply wouldn't break. If Aka's 31 points of physical power couldn't break them, likely no one here could. Aka continued giving him advice as they fought, and about an hour later, 34 finally reached enlightenment, thanked Aka deeply, and went to train alone.
Lastly, after about eleven hours, 33 awakened. He sparred with Aka and immediately showed overwhelming strength — even someone as experienced as Aka could barely touch him. But when Aka focused his physical power fully into offense instead of defense, even 33's incredible reflexes failed to anticipate it and he took damage. After that, he managed to channel his own power into his legs and feet and became frighteningly fast. He thanked Aka and left to continue training.
Aka noticed that although 33 woke up the latest, he reached enlightenment the fastest. He would probably be the one to cause Aka the most trouble — and fortunately, 33 himself wasn't aware of that. This suited Aka's new plan perfectly; he would quietly feed 33's inferiority complex, isolate him from the team as much as possible, and after everything was done… 33 would be the last one he eliminated.
Meanwhile, 29 had also learned her team's abilities. She sat them down to help them awaken physical power the same way Aka had done, while she continued testing and refining her own theory. Time flowed on like that.
Seven hours later, two members of her team awakened and began sparring with their leader to gain enlightenment. By then, 29 had already fully transferred her theory into practice and was freely experimenting with new applications.
Numbers 30 and 31 fought 29 together in coordination, striking her quickly and relentlessly. But 29 easily blocked everything with her body. Since she took no real damage, she didn't bother dodging and instead struck back whenever she wished. At one point, she suddenly began dodging again — and when the two got overconfident, she smashed their heads together and sent them flying with punches wrapped in physical power.
Still, they hadn't gained enlightenment yet. It seemed they were truly hopeless. So 29 ordered them to fight each other while she went to spar with Number 23, who had just awakened.
23 was a throwing-knife specialist, so he positioned himself at a distance and unleashed a storm of blades. But 29 didn't dodge — she charged straight in, took no damage thanks to her overwhelming regeneration and power, and flattened him with a single punch. 23 suddenly focused all his energy into his legs and leapt back so high his head nearly hit the ceiling, then landed and immediately thanked 29 before going to train alone.
29 continued sparring with the air. Two hours later, 30 and 31 finally reached enlightenment mid-fight, then thanked her and continued training on their own.
Three more hours passed, and Number 28 awakened. Just like in Aka's team, the last to awaken was the most talented and powerful. 28 used the same type of gloves and fighting style as Aka, so 29 was already very familiar with that rhythm. She could practically predict when 28 would gain enlightenment.
Eventually, 29 gave her an opening. 28 instinctively punched with her full strength, and even 29 was forced back three whole steps. But instead of anger, she felt proud. After bowing in gratitude, 28 went to fight the air — and an exhausted 29 finally headed to Aka's room.
Aka sat there silently, expressionless, deep in thought. But the moment he saw 29, he brightened up, smiling and clinging to her while asking for her thoughts — mostly questions like, "So how do you think I should kill this one?" 29 didn't scold him. She simply answered each idea honestly.
Then, as if struck by sudden inspiration, Aka hugged her tightly and said, "Let's fight." Of course, 29 didn't refuse — and they headed together to the empty, eerie training grounds.
If you've read or taken a look, thank you so much. If you have any thoughts — good or bad — please leave a comment. I'll probably see and reply right away. Thanks again, and I wish you a great day.