Chapter 218: Hand-Crushing a Black Hole?
Let the Blue Demon fly for a while.
"Why would a Gourmet Cell Demon appear here?" Atashino asked, frowning in confusion.
"Gourmet Cell Demons hunt for ingredients throughout the universe, much like the Blue Nitro. It probably considered this cocktail its own property."
Kenji didn't expect a creature like this to be willing to share. Not everyone likes to share.
"Blue Demon's Grip!"
RUMBLE!
A loud thunderclap echoed through the sky as a giant, blue hand blotted out the stars. A terrifying pressure tore through space and stirred the clouds. The ground groaned; it seemed the hand intended to crush the entire planet within its grasp.
The Blue Demon was enraged. How dare an ant lay its hands on a god? Let me see how I cook you.
Kenji slowly raised his head, his gaze looking down on all creation.
"That's over by Kenji-kun's side. Do we need to go and help?" Setsuno asked.
"Haha, no need. My disciple's strength has already surpassed my own," Jiro said, shaking his head.
In the universe, Gourmet Cell Demons were not uncommon. If you ran into one and weren't strong enough, death was the only outcome.
"I've got you!"
The Blue Demon clasped the Bacchus Star in its palm, as if holding a small glass marble.
Hmph. How can you escape now?
"Is that so? I've grabbed you too."
A steady, powerful voice resounded by the Blue Demon's ear.
"?!"
The Blue Demon's expression changed, and it instinctively looked up. That one glance nearly scared its soul out of its body.
A cosmic dragon, a river of stars, lay coiled across the galaxy. Its massive draconic body was as deep and mysterious as the cosmos itself, covered in scales that glittered like the Milky Way, as if it were one with the starry sky. In its eyes swirled the afterimages of the universe's creation, and as it stared, one could see the birth and annihilation of stars—and a hint of mockery.
It had grabbed the Bacchus Star, but Kenji, transformed into Aurelion Sol, had grabbed it, and it hadn't even noticed.
It thought it was the mantis stalking the cicada, but it turned out it had run into the oriole. The giant stellar dragon claw seemed capable of holding an entire galaxy. The Blue Demon thought it had captured Kenji, but in reality, it was the one being held within Kenji's grasp.
Hiss... how can such a massive body exist? Did it activate its Martial Soul True Body? Even compared to the massive body of the Space Taipan, this was not inferior in the slightest. What an exaggerated size.
Kenji: This is Fa Tian Xiang Di.
"Become fuel for the stars!"
As Kenji's voice rang out, the stars themselves resonated in response.
Crack, crack.
The giant dragon claw began to close. The Blue Demon felt as if the entire starry sky were pressing down on it. The bones all over its body creaked.
"You've got to be kidding me!"
"Ten-Light-Year Spiral Drill!"
It hurled a giant dining fork toward Kenji. The high-speed rotating, spiral fork streaked across the universe like a comet, a move that could pierce planets and shatter their cores.
CLANG!
All thunder, no rain. When the fork struck Kenji's body, it made the sound of metal striking stone, but it didn't cause any damage. It didn't even pierce a single scale.
It wasn't a fatal blow!
A pure physical attack, with no other form of damage, was only effective if there was a huge disparity in strength.
"Starlight Condensation—Devour!"
A giant, perfectly controlled celestial black hole appeared in Kenji's dragon claw. The Blue Demon felt a super-strong binding force that could even swallow light, and its face changed drastically.
Hand-crushing a black hole? Coach, I want to report him! This guy is hacking!
The black hole in Kenji's hand was a true celestial black hole, not the gravity-simulated one created by the Herrscher of Rock.
"Aaargh!"
The Blue Demon let out a wretched scream. Pulled by the gravity, its body was torn to shreds, turned into fundamental particles, and devoured by the black hole. From the perspective of others, this process would be extremely slow; this was the temporal difference within a black hole's domain.
"What's wrong?"
Atashino noticed Kenji frowning and asked softly.
"This Gourmet Cell Demon was just a clone, not its main body. The main body's Capture Level must be in the hundreds of thousands," Kenji said. The ball of energy in his hand was the pure Gourmet Cell energy that had been refined by the black hole. It had no will of its own and could be easily absorbed.
"The Appetite is greedy. By splitting off clones, it can obtain more delicious ingredients."
Staring at only one ingredient was too much of a waste of time. It was better to use clones to cast a wide net. Since its clone had been refined by him, the main body would definitely sense it. Unsurprisingly, the other party would come looking for him one day in the future.
Kenji swallowed the gourmet energy in one gulp. It didn't have much taste, but it was better than nothing. His strength had increased slightly.
Time to enjoy the spoils of victory.
"Gulp—"
"Thousands... no, tens of thousands of fine wines fused into one flavor. My tongue is swimming in an ocean of liquor."
"The bitterness of absinthe, the fruitiness of brandy, the sweetness of baijiu..."
The flavor was too complex; Kenji could only distinguish a few. They were blended perfectly, yet lacked no sense of layering. The Bacchus Star's menu ingredient... it lived up to its name. One sip was like tasting all the fine wines in the world. It was the ultimate cocktail.
Jiro would definitely love this. If he hadn't already confirmed all the ingredients for his own Full Course Menu, this drink would certainly have been his choice.
His strength had increased by another wave. His current base strength, converted to a Capture Level, was probably in the 300,000 to 400,000 range. The more he ate, the stronger he became. In this world, a Capture Level of several thousand could already destroy a star. The Aeons had their stats and their mechanics; Kenji had his stats and his mechanics too. He was lacking nothing now.
"It tastes good, but most people wouldn't be able to enjoy it. One sip would probably knock them out for half a year. For those who can't hold their liquor, they'd be out for even longer," Atashino said, her brows rising as two red clouds appeared on her cheeks. Even she was feeling the alcohol go to her head, let alone someone whose Gourmet Cells weren't even fully awakened.
This cocktail could be renamed "Drunken Life, Dreamy Death." Given that the Blue Demon was guarding it, it could be given a Capture Level of 100,000.
Jiro had arrived, but he hadn't even said hello to Kenji.
"..."
This was within Kenji's expectations. With such a top-tier wine, Jiro's eyes couldn't be pulled away.
"What a fine wine!!!"
Jiro took a sip, and his sturdy muscles instantly swelled as if inflated, turning him into a small giant. Anything with alcohol was a suitable ingredient for Jiro.
"Master, your strength was enough to enter space many years ago. Why did you never leave Earth?"
To enter the dangerous universe, the strength of an Eight King was enough, as long as you didn't run out the door and pick a fight with a monster like the Cosmic Mammoth.
"There were too many things to do. When Ichi-kun first founded the IGO, I helped out. After that, I got used to the retired lifestyle, and I had descendants. Naturally, I didn't leave Earth," Jiro said.
Simply put, his mindset was no longer young. He didn't have that kind of drive.
At the end of the manga, after Toriko married Rin, he waited several years and then took Komatsu to space. If not for an absurd cosmic Camping Monster like the Tiny Shell, which could enter the Back Channel and the crevices of time, Rin would have had to wait many, many years to see Toriko return from space.
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