Teror Infinity Side B
Chapter 11 - 3, H.O.T.D Intermission
I swung my fist at full force at the face of my opponent. She side stepped a half a step and avoided the blow. I then quickly pulled back my arm and spun my body around into a full force kick.
I was no expert in using kicks in a fight, but my One-eyed Goul enhancements were no joke. If the kick landed the average man would go down 100%, but my opponent wasn't average and the kick didn't land.
My opponent grabbed my leg and kick the other to throw me off balance, and in that same motion swing/threw me away over fifty meters as if I weighted nothing.
After recovering from the terrible impact, I looked at my opponent to see that she was once again disappointed that I was defeated so quickly.
Aqua: Not good enough. Your speed and strength are there, but you couldn't keep calm and failed to bring out your true potential.
Shin: Is, is that really the case?
Aqua: Yeah. You have much more strength than before, so you couldn't control your attacks as you envisioned them. If you did then you could knock out a professional solider or world ranked boxer in a single blow. You need to learn how to control your speed and power within these last few days. You also have to learn to master your new abilities. Ki and Ghoul mutation. I have no attention of helping those who can't even survive one movie, so the new Players will be depending on you for the next movie. Understand?
Shin: Yes.
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Today was the fifth day of training and since God only gives us a 10 day break, there were omly five more days till the next mission. There was not a lot of time left and my progress so far has left much to be desire, and with an opponent like Aqua by my side it was obvious that I was lacking more then a few things.
I definitely felt that I couldn't control my own strength, my muscles the way I wanted to as it felt like I was in an entirely different body once I began to tap into my new found strengh. This was to be expected according to Aqua. She herself experienced something similar once she made her enhancements, but unlike me she didn't, couldn't have ever hoped to have acquired two rank B reward level enhancements like S Rating One-eye Ghoul and Advance Level Ki in one go after the very first mission.
First there was Ki.
Ki was rather interesting and it was just like how it was described in manga and novels. The punches I received from Aqua even when she was going easy on me could still knock a normal person out 10/10 times, but it was only painful at first. I would feel a warm sensation moving through my body which I realized was my Ki and the pain soon dissipated. From all the special powers that I knew now, it seemed like Ki had the best healing factor among them all.
During the last few day, even when I was eating and talking about our days of training with the others, I was still thinking of the training I was going through and eventually I figured out the functin of Ki for the most part.
Other than lessening pain, when I spread the power through the rest of my body, my speed and strength would triple, if not quadruple or higher.
That was the only time I could fight Aqua to some extent as a equal, but if she were to use Aura or her Werewolf strength then I was at the entirety of her mercy. I couldn't do anything against that kind of power that she displayed.
I also learned that after using up all of my Ki I could barely move for the next 10-15 minutes afterwards. It seemed like this could only be used in emergencies, but I know from stories like UQ Holder and The Breaker it could be sustained much longer, so maybe it was the way I was using it was at fault.
Whatever the case I didn't think I could solve this problem any time soon and definitely not before the next mission.
Also, in my spare time I would try to imitate the skills that consumed Ki to activate. I had already found that in the Support section within God's exchanges that there was a skill category. There I was able to find all sort of skills that you could exchange points for.
Soul Crushing Strike -
Rating 67.
Matching physical moment and Ki circulation to create an exceptional powerful Ki strike. A ki strike that can deal internal damage as well as crush bones. A proper Soul Crushing Strike causes a small sonic boom when unleashed, an explosion directly in front of the extended fist. An offensive technique from "The Breaker" universe. Requires 1500 Points and C rank reward.
Instant Movement -
Rating 74.
A basic foot technique to move from one place to the next with high-speed movement. Ki, Mana, Spiritual Power or Physic Power is used to jump from point A to point B as quickly as possible. 1700 points and C rank reward.
After Image -
Rating 59.
A advance application of Ki to create false images of oneself while moving. Requires 1000 points and a rank D reward.
Soul Crushing Strike, Instant Movement, After Image, Ryuseisuken and even Hadoken were available in the form of scrolls and books that could be absorbed, knowledge and all if one had the points, yet it wasn't that easy to learn them.
The skills could be learned without a training arc, but at the same time most, if not all of them needed rank rewards as well, with the offensive and useful skills needing a C rank reward or above.
Still, whenever I found the time I would try to see if I could use those kinds of skills without exchanging points for them. As one could expect, it was hard if not impossible for a person from a boring reality like mine to really understand this Ki manipulation stuff. Especially if one was not a battle genius like Touta Konoe.
I could somewhat understand Soul Crush Strike and Instant Moment since they were explained in great detail in the mangas in an easy to understand in a way.
Soul Crushing Strike was just matching Ki with physical moment perfectly, and Instant Movement was in its simplest form striking the ground with the foot powered by Ki to jump from one place to the next ( While there was a lot more to it, one could use a pretty shabby version of it like Touta did before meeting Kito ).
Next was my weapon as a Ghoul, the Kagune ( Shining Child ). Here, I was hopelessly made no progress at all.
A Kagune is a ghoul's predatory organ and functions as their weapon and claws.
It is as red as blood ( The colours are varied in the anime to distinguish the kagune of each individual, which is cool! ), flexible like the flow of water ( Also called liquid muscle, cool!! ), but firm and sturdy.
When released, a ghoul's physique is strengthened, they are more resilient and their mobility heightens. A kagune is composed of RC Cells, which flow just like blood, can become as they can be repeatedly hardened, softened and controlled at will by the ghoul ( Cool!!! ).
Although a ghoul's healing ability is high, the healing of wounds tends to be delayed if the wounds are inflicted by a kagune, and potentially are a weapon to counter those with similar healing factors ( My thoughts on the matter ).
The Kagune was one of the defining features of the Ghoul in 'Tokyo Ghoul', yet progress has been at a stand still as I still hadn't figured out how to use the my Kagune yet.
It was of the same rank as my Advance Level Ki, so it should make me many times stronger as it shouldn't be too weak, so I want to learn it as fast as possible, but like Aqau commented time and time again, I shouldn't have choosing a genetic mutation that was hard to learn and control.
No wonder it had such a low rating despite Ghouls being extremely strong and near immortal once you reach a high enough level.
In the manga the protagonist had to go through as major spiritual awakening to unlock his full potential, but I really hope that I don't have to be tied down to a chair and be tortured for an entire month to become a badass.
Still, it wasn't al bad being a Ghoul that can't get it up, or out as it is. Even without the Kagune just being a Ghoul and a S Rated one at that had benefits. Although I have not fully unlocked it, I could heal from practically any wound that I suffered from no matter what.
I could twist my foot into a bloody mess like Ken Kaneki, but if I am given a half hour of rest most nearly all injuries are healed, and if given an hour there isn't even any scars left over.
This wa both good and bad news for me as it turned out.
The good news is that among all off the members of this team, I might have been the hardest to kill, but the bad news was that after Aqau learned this she started going all out in our spar and I became a blood mess in the end.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Aqua said with my healing factor that came from being a Ghoul and my Ki energy the two of us could do more serious training to make up for my lack of talents. That was great and all, but in the back of my mind I couldn't help but feel that she just wanted an excuse to beat me up.
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From Aqua I did learn more about other enhancements and how they worked, specifically how hers worked during our many, many spars.
What I learned early on was that Aqua was the ultimate close range specialist you would never want to mess with.
Aqua's Wolverine Genetic Mutation made her hard to damage. She had an incredible healing factor comparable to my own, and as far as I could tell and almost infinite stamina. Also, with her adamantium skeleton it was impossible for her to suffer any really bad/impairing injuries that would hinder her during a mission, less the entirely of her flesh is ripped out.
Then there was the High Werewolf Genetic Mutation.
Aqua had at least three states of transformation far as I could tell. Her normal state, a wild awakened state were her stats are greatly increased ( Her eyes glowed yellow and her muscles grew slightly. She said she holds back from the full werewolf form since it makes her look like a wild, muscle builder. DON'T WANT TO SEE ON MY AQUA ), and the third and last of which is a strange full wolf form mutation thanks to her Wolverine Mutation and Nen ability ( I'll get to that ).
Aqua posses Nen/Aura from the HxH universe.
Like my Ki, her Aura makes her substantially stronger, but compared to my Ki which is a burst of power, Nen is a mild yet steady and lasting increase in power. To put it simply, Ki would win the hundred mile dash, but Nen/Aura would come out on top in a marathon ( What I liked most about her Nen was that her aura had color like the first anime, not that see through aura from the 2011 version. WHAT WAS WITH THAT? ).
When her Nen is active, normal attack against her are less effective and her attacks do a lot more damage to me if I am not equipped in Ki, just like how it was in the manga. When I do use my Ki enhanced body to attack or defend, my attacks become effective again and so do my defenses. This proved that supernatural/magic powers could effect one another and that non supernatural/magic attacks are far less effective. It would take pure overwhelming power from a high spec gun/Sci-fi weapon to damage someone equipped with a special power.
We would all be going into the worlds on manga, anime, novels and games from now on, and will face off against strange opponents, so this was good to know.
When I compared my Ki to Aqua's Nen, I felt a bit cheated, but that wasn't really the case. Compared to my Ki which was currently sort lived, her Aura lasted much in a fight and she even has the chance of developing her own original technique, Hatsu. But the truth was different after I conveyed my thoughts to Aqua.
Aqua agreed that Nen was much easier to wield and there were many applications for it like Ten, Zetsu, Ren, Hatsu, Gyo, En, Shu, Ken, Ko and Ryu, but Nen had a major down side.
Unlike with Ki, chakra and other kinds of powers it was impossible to learn skills. I could go to God and exchange points for a skill book or scroll, but for Nen that is specialized to the point that other Nen users can't ( Shouldn't ) learn the Hatsus of others, Aqua doesn't have the option to exchange points for Nen techniques.
Overall, what I learned about Aqua was that if she were ever to become an opponent I must defeat then I would be 100% screwed.
Aqua's Wolverine, High Werewolf and Nen compliment each other too well and when combined she become a frightening existence.
First of all, as a Nen user Aqua is an Enhancer, so her adamantium claw and Werewolf transforming which are already broken weapons, become so much more stronger. Also, when she invokes her Werewolf power while using Aura she also becomes a Specialist Nen user, and her new ability combines all three enhancements: Wolverine's Adamantium, Full Werewolf transformation and her Enhancer Nen ability.
That ten foot long, silver wolf that almost killed me in H.O.T.D was Aqua in her fully transformed werewolf state. She becomes a muscular car sized monster wolf with adamantium fur, claws and fangs and her body strengthened to the extreme with aura. It was OP in a way, yet there were down sides.
The first was that Aqua lost the ability to transform halfway, as an actual half human half wolf, a werewolf for the most part. Secondly, Aqua loses control of her self as a side effect ( Can only give herself simple suggestions like attack or rescue/DEVOUR Shin Kazama ) and in exchange she becomes te ultimate cold blooded killing machine that you would never wish to fight at close range. Lastly, whether she is injured or not Aqua would become incredibly exhausted when she turns back.
It was her final card to play in a emergency ( But doesn't that all make her more badass and sexy? ).
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As for everyone elses training went they did the best that they could as well.
High School of the Dead, or H.O.T.D taught us all that anyone of us could die at any time ( Almost seeing me, their central character die at the the hands of those undead had more of an effect then I expected ), so they did their best everyday.
Hikari lacked strength and stamina during the last mission and had to be carried, both figuratively and literally, but after her enhancements she has become more confident in physical ability. She could run and even join Misaki and I when we lifted weights, but as of now she was only at the level of a physically fit female athlete, not at the level of my badass heroine yet.
Hikari could now become the star of any average high school sports team with ease, but she wasn't at an Olympic or military personal level yet. Despite that, Hikari was quite proud of her new physical fitness.
I understood her feelings very well as somewhat of a shut-in myself, but when I complimented her on her physical ability and her work out effort to improve herself, Hikari used three of her five insults for the day.
What, did she think I was complimenting her body or something? Well, maybe I shouldn't have done so after she just took off her wet with sweat sports jacket ( She made in her room ).
Anyway, although her physical stats were so so, Hikari surprisingly excelled in shooting practice.
Once she got used to the recoil from shooting and some tips from Aqua she became the best shooter among us newbies. I was still the best within a certain short distance with my reaction speed, but there was no need to say so out loud, especially when Hikari's smile was cute when she won shooting contest against Misaki and I.
Misaki went hard core from beginning to end.
Whether it was weightlifting, running around the track, shooting practice or hitting the pool for a swim, Misaki did everything and could be said to be or MVP. Among the the four of us, Misaki was the most determined to gain 50,000 points and return back home to our real world without monsters or super powers.
He was the most determined to do so quickly, but he wasn't stupid. He knew he too would have to enhance himself with points just to survive, so he knew it wouldn't be any time soon, but he used his frustration at further motivation in his training.
Misaki, the former biker gang leader most excelled at CQC, close quarters combat. No need to even mention Hikari, but unless I went all out with Ki ( Could knock him out cold ) Misaki could take me in a fight despite having higher stats. I did sometimes win some times by using the fact the as a Ghoul I could risk taking a beating and plan out my tactics accordingly, but he was definitely the better fighter.
I should say as expected of Misaki. He was the guy who could blast THEM away with his fist even before the enhancements and now I bet he could out do those fictional main characters from H.O.T.D .
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Like this... Training my Ki, attempting and failing to unlock my Ghoul side, learning more about my comrades... Time moved went by in a flash. Our last day of training was over and tomorrow... Would be the day we return to that world.
The world of survival that God or the Devil came up with to test us, challenge us and push us to our limits for whatever grand purpose we could all care less about.
All that would matter tomorrow will be returning alive. Now, we enter the last night before our fight for survival
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Authors Note:
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The next chapter will be the last before I plan to go on a 2-4 week break to begin/finish up Shin's next mission. The next mission is decided and will begin Shin's path as a battle manga MC with extravagant battle scenes. The next chapter will be slightly longer, so I hope you all enjoy the last chapter of High School of the Dead Intermission Arc.