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One punch.
One hammer blow.
That was all it took.
The heavily armored Nidoking, once a walking fortress that ruled the battlefield like a living tank, collapsed under Kael's overwhelming assault, reduced to nothing more than a lifeless corpse.
After evolving into Machoke, the boost Kael received far surpassed what ordinary Pokémon experienced.
Part of it came from the brutal foundations he'd built over countless trials.
But the true difference, the decisive factor, came from the system.
Every level-up didn't just increase stats. It performed a complete bodily recalibration, erasing hidden injuries, correcting structural flaws, and pushing Kael's body closer to a theoretical state of physical perfection.
This wasn't new to him.
He had already experienced this phenomenon in a previous life during his Ampharos phase.
But this reincarnation was different.
The most significant change aside from his species was the presence of two Legendary-tier system artifacts.
Zamazenta's Heart (Fragmented).
Terrakion's Shatter-Shoulder Plate.
Both granted percentage-based enhancements rather than flat bonuses.
A 50% damage negation.
A 20% physical strength amplification.
Though the system never explicitly stated it, those percentages scaled directly off Kael's own body.
Before evolution, these bonuses had already pushed his combat power to frightening levels.
After evolving, when his raw strength and stamina multiplied several dozen times, the effect became downright absurd.
Take Terrakion's Shatter-Shoulder Plate as an example.
If Kael's pre-evolution strength was measured at 10, the armor would add 2 additional points during physical attacks.
But after evolving into Machoke, when Kael's baseline strength surged to something closer to 300 the same equipment now provided an extra 60 points of force.
The numbers themselves were only illustrative, but they made one thing terrifyingly clear:
The stronger Kael became,
The more monstrously powerful his equipment grew with him.
The same applied to damage negation.
The higher the incoming damage,
The greater the absolute amount that was nullified.
Both artifacts were, in every sense of the word, growth-type Legendary gear weapons that evolved alongside their wielder.
And Kael had only just begun to tap their potential.
Drip… drip…
Warm, viscous blood slid from Kael's clenched fist, splashing into the widening pool beneath his feet and blooming into dark crimson ripples.
A faint, mist-like violet aura rolled off his body, half smoke, half flame.
Combined with his towering, muscle-packed frame, now well over two meters tall, the oppressive presence he radiated smothered the forest clearing.
Not far away, floating above the ground, Grumpig was barely holding itself together.
It was known that the enemy was strong.
But strong enough to erase two elite teammates in seconds?
That went far beyond its worst expectations.
Grumpig respected Leavanny and Nidoking's strength. Otherwise, it would never have joined their squad.
But what it had just witnessed bordered on nightmare fuel.
A sense of absolute hopelessness began creeping into its thoughts.
Escape wasn't an option.
The space around it had been sealed by a strange, oppressive fluctuation Teleport wouldn't activate no matter how it tried.
Paired with the sheer brutality Kael had just displayed, one conclusion was unavoidable:
This was a fight to the death.
All Grumpig could do now was cling to a single hope—
Kael lacked experience dealing with Psychic-type Pokémon.
At the very start of the battle, Grumpig should have used Psychic to restrain Kael from a distance, creating openings for its teammates.
But it hadn't.
The murderous pressure Kael released upon entering the field had immediately triggered every danger instinct Grumpig possessed.
This wasn't prey.
This was a predator.
If Grumpig focused on control alone, and Leavanny and Nidoking failed to bring Kael down quickly, it would be trapped with no exit.
So it changed tactics.
It let its teammates engage first stalling, probing, buying time while it stayed back to charge a decisive Psychic attack.
Three-on-one, overwhelming force.
That plan might have worked.
But Grumpig had catastrophically underestimated Kael.
Two powerful allies were annihilated in moments, crushed beneath pure, unrestrained violence.
Now, its charged attack was ready but it stood alone.
Suppressing the panic threatening to tear through its mind, Grumpig sat cross-legged in midair. Its forelegs extended slowly, as if pushing against an invisible wall.
HUM—
The air warped.
Ripples spread outward like distorted water, tinged with faint pink light.
"Psychic."
A massive surge of mental energy erupted from Grumpig's mind, amplified through the black pearl embedded in its chest and crown.
The ground beneath Kael churned violently. Wet soil was ripped upward from below, leaves and broken branches spiraling into the air under the grip of invisible force.
The Psychic wave slammed forward with overwhelming pressure.
Kael didn't dodge.
Instead, he turned and faced it head-on.
Evolution enhanced everything.
Body.
Energy.
Mind.
But there was something else something most Pokémon never noticed.
A hidden force that grew quietly alongside evolution.
Aura.
The power born from will and spirit.
The same mysterious energy spoken of in ancient legends.
Kael had already brushed against it as a Machop.
And with system-boosted Aura Affinity—
Now, as a Machoke—
The growth he experienced in this domain was nothing short of terrifying.
The Psychic wave closed in.
And Kael stood his ground.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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