Ares placed a firm hand on Kaido's shoulder, locking eyes with him. Kaido did not waver not even for a breath.
Ares couldn't help but let out a small, exasperated laugh.
"You reckless bastard… Listen well. Without my permission, you are not allowed to die!"
His voice grew harder, carrying the weight of an oath.
"If you ever find you can't endure it anymore, then stop. No matter who the enemy is, as your elder brother, I will protect you."
The two exchanged a glance, then burst into laughter. Kaido's booming voice followed:
"I won't die so easily! I'll grow until no one in this world can take my life away. I'll become an immortal monster!"
"Worororo…"
Ares saw it clearly in Kaido's eyes this man would never retreat. He would throw himself headlong at his dream, no matter how insane the path.
If that was Kaido's resolve, then who was Ares to hold him back? Dreams were meant to be pursued, no matter how much blood they cost.
What Ares didn't realize was how deeply his own existence had shaped Kaido. His unyielding resolve, his relentless training, his insane determination all of it had stirred something in Kaido's core. Kaido bled and suffered not just for himself, but because he had witnessed Ares's madness and wanted to walk beside him.
"Go on, Ares-ani. Train. Don't mind me," Kaido said, forcing a grin through the blood and pain. "You can't waste time on me."
Ares nodded and returned to his place, flames once again engulfing his body. Yet starting over meant beginning at zero the heat he had built up dissipated the moment he stopped. His body's temperature plummeted.
Still, Ares made a discovery: each cycle of burning and cooling left his body more malleable, like steel shaped and reshaped by a smith's hammer. His muscles shrank from dehydration, losing elasticity, clinging tighter to his bones. His form twisted into something grotesque like a dried husk, a corpse walking on sheer willpower.
Not a corpse
a corpse with muscle, horrifying and monstrous.
Kaido was no better. His flesh torn open, his body smeared with blood, he looked like a demon risen from a battlefield grave.
The two of them trained like lunatics, day after day, reshaping themselves into monsters.
When they returned to their quarters, their appearance nearly gave Doctor Three-Goat a heart attack. The moment his eyes fell on them, he screamed in terror:
"Monsters!"
His whole body shook, the color drained from his face.
Ares quickly called out: "Doctor Three-Goat, it's me Ares!"
"And I'm Kaido," the other added with a bloody grin.
But the doctor only trembled harder, unable to reconcile the sight before him with the men he knew. One looked like a walking skeleton wrapped in shriveled muscle; the other was a heap of mangled flesh barely recognizable as human.
After several desperate attempts, the two finally calmed him enough to speak. His voice was still quivering when he managed:
"Y-you… how did you end up like this?!"
"This is our training," Ares said solemnly, his voice tinged with apology. "I'm sorry for frightening you, Doctor. But from now on, this will be a common sight."
He turned to Kaido. "Please, look after his wounds. I'm entrusting him to you."
With that, Ares bent at the waist in a deep bow. Kaido did the same beside him.
To the small-framed doctor, their towering bodies bowing low was a heavy gesture one not easily ignored.
But still, the doctor couldn't comprehend it. His voice cracked with disbelief:
"You'd disfigure yourselves like this for strength? If your bodies can't endure, what then? You'll die!"
He shook his head, his doctor's instincts rebelling. "There are many ways to grow stronger why this? You're like madmen!"
Ares only chuckled through his gaunt, corpse-like face.
"My dream… is to forge my body into the greatest blade in the world. Stronger than even the Supreme Grade Blades."
Doctor Three-Goat's jaw dropped. "What kind of dream is that?! Do you even understand what you're saying? The Twelve Supreme Grade Blades are treasures forged by countless master smiths over generations! Steel tempered a thousand times, crafted with the heart and soul of their makers! They are rarer than rare only twelve exist in the entire world!"
He stepped forward, incredulous. "But you, you're flesh and blood! A human body is fragile, delicate, complicated. How could it ever surpass steel?!"
Ares's gaze was steady, unwavering.
"Before I die, I will achieve it."
The conviction in his voice struck the doctor silent. He understood the meaning. Ares was ready to burn his very life on this gamble proof through suffering, truth through sacrifice.
After a long pause, the doctor whispered:
"Madmen. The both of you. Yet… you, Ares, possess the strongest vitality I've ever seen. Perhaps… just perhaps… there is a sliver of a chance."
He could not bring himself to crush such conviction.
"Sit down. Both of you. I'll examine your bodies," he finally said, regaining some composure. Whatever they were doing, he was still a doctor. He could not turn away from patients in need.
He hurried inside and returned with his tools, beginning his check. His brows furrowed in disbelief as he examined Ares.
"Ares, your recovery is monstrous. The rate of your cell growth and replacement it's unimaginable. You're regenerating burned tissue as though your body refuses to yield. But…"
He looked up gravely.
"Such growth demands colossal energy. If you want to survive this madness, you must feed it. Constantly. Keep your body in this state of growth at all times. If you fail to maintain it, the strain may destroy you from within."
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