In space, Kiro could be seen streaking toward the planet where Boss 16 waited.
Boss 16 saw him coming, pulled out a smoke grenade, and set it off. Then he started to run. The smoke blotted out most of the view.
At that moment, Kiro landed in the middle of the smoke and scattered it with the force of his landing.
Kiro turned his head and scanned the area. Boss 16 appeared behind him and drove a slash into his neck, but it was useless. Kiro turned his head and stared at him, then lunged without a second thought and landed a punch on the boss's jaw.
Boss 16 shot upward, but in that same instant Kiro closed in and threw another punch. The Boss blocked it with his sword, but the pressure of the air shoved him backward.
Boss 16 slammed into the ground, leaving a small crater, and rose slowly, breathing deeply.
*That hit was really strong,* the boss thought.
Kiro watched him, his expression growing angrier, and a great pressure of air began to push against Boss 16. The air grew stronger around him and harder to bear. The boss realized it and tried to get away, but Kiro appeared in front of him and drove a punch into his torso. Without hesitating, Boss 16 used all four arms to seize Kiro by the shoulders and sides.
The force of the blow sent Boss 16 flying backward, with Kiro still in his grip.
They hit the ground with a dull thud, destroying the planet in the process. A great light flared around them, and Kiro was blasted violently toward another planet and crashed into it hard.
Boss 16 hung in the vacuum of space for a few seconds before his body slammed into a distant planet, one that looked like Earth. The gravity there was far stronger than Earth's.
When he looked up, he saw a glow in the sky slowly drawing closer. He looked away and touched the ground, driving his entire obsidian arm into it. The energy of the planet's core began to flow through his body, giving him more energy to heal and more strength.
Kiro landed on the planet where Boss 16 was. He walked over slowly and saw that the boss had his arm buried in the ground.
*This bastard really thinks he has a chance,* Kiro thought.
Boss 16 watched him approach, then pulled his arm out of the earth. The limb now glowed a deeper orange. He quickly drove a punch into Kiro's abdomen.
Kiro was sent flying, but he recovered his balance quickly and stopped dead, gritting his teeth. A great gust of air shoved the boss backward and into a mountain. A huge cloud of earth rose before Boss 16 burst out of it at eight times the speed of light and hit Kiro in the abdomen again.
Kiro spat and stumbled back a few steps, wiping the corners of his lips with his arm.
Boss 16 smiled and used his four arms to grab him and detonate an energy blast point-blank. Kiro was sent flying, tearing through three mountains and landing after the third, a great crater forming from the force. Kiro drew a deep breath, his rage taking control of his body once more.
His transformation suddenly shut off, and Kiro let out a grunt of pain before dropping to the ground.
*Ah, damn it, I have to kill him no matter what. I don't care if I end up exhausted!* Kiro thought.
He quickly got up, and a huge surge of energy exploded through him, his body overloading. He turned his head and met the boss's gaze.
Boss 16 lunged and slashed at his face with the sword. Kiro opened his mouth, and the tip of the blade touched his teeth. He instantly bit down on it, and the bite shattered most of the weapon. Boss 16 leapt backward, stunned by the strength.
*Oh no!* Boss 16 thought.
Kiro went into a frenzy and launched himself at about twelve times the speed of light. Boss 16 had no time to react. A punch landed on his face, his nose crunched, and he was blasted away with tremendous force. He flew out of the planet's atmosphere and crashed into another one.
It was a reddish planet, and at the impact its core gave a violent tremor before exploding. Pieces of the planet shot off toward other solar systems.
From the previous planet, Kiro looked up and jumped. He too left the atmosphere, and a huge chunk of the exploded planet appeared in front of him.
Kiro landed on that chunk of earth and started to run, crossing it quickly before scanning the area.
Boss 16 slowly opened his eyes. He was inside a bubble, and beside him stood the white knight, holding it in his palm.
"He really will kill you. From what I saw, in that uncontrolled state at 200%, he's far more powerful, even surpassing his own transformation, and that's from his base form," the white knight said, his voice grave and analytical.
Slowly he turned his gaze. Kiro appeared in front of him and landed a punch on his face. The white knight stayed motionless. The punch wasn't at his level, but it was very powerful.
Kiro shifted his gaze to his real target and went to 500% loss of control. His eyes seemed to burn with pure fire, and his skin turned a deeper red.
Kiro threw an Ultra Serious Strike and an Ultra Strike Plus at the same time, one with each fist.
The blow was so great that the white knight narrowed his eyes and was shoved back about thirty centimeters. The bubble shattered, and the energy tore through the barrier and killed Boss 16, erasing every trace of his existence.
At the same moment, Kiro turned on the white knight and hit him with the same techniques. A four-centimeter crack split his armor. The white knight let out a sigh as his body was driven back nearly two meters.
Kiro's eyes went wide, and then he fainted and drifted off into the vacuum of space.
*Hitting me with both fists and powerful techniques of his own at the same time... I swear he could destroy a solar system, or at most a "white star. "Hmm, I can't be exact,"* the white knight thought.
The white knight snapped his fingers and teleported Kiro to planet Earth.
On Earth, everything was silent. Naly's lips were slightly parted, and Boss 17 looked thoughtful. Worh and Sone felt that nobody should be able to withstand such monstrous force, that it was a death sentence. Eduin felt a chill run through him, along with an unease at the presence of the white knight on the screen. *He will be his equal?*
Suddenly a white glow began to appear near them, then faded to reveal Kiro.
Kiro's wounds were severe. Blood ran from his mouth, and his arms were badly swollen and burned a dark reddish color.
The scientist quickly brought a gurney, loaded Kiro onto it, and rushed him to the laboratory without paying attention to anything else.
"Leave if you want. Get stronger or whatever. We're not here to fight right now," Worh said suddenly, addressing Boss 17.
Boss 17 nodded, but he was about to have a talk with the white knight, and he vanished in a white flash. The white knight had sensed his intentions and teleported him for the conversation.
Worh, Sone, and Eduin went to the laboratory, stepped inside, and saw that Kiro was in a recovery capsule.
"It looks like he'll be like this for three days. The healing liquid won't be fully effective because of the tremendous physical and mental strain. It's fast, but so much strength was required that it would have left him a vegetable if I weren't here with my healing potions," Max the scientist explained.
The protagonists nodded and sat on the couch, watching Kiro's body through the glass.
Naly walked over to the table and began to eat, turning her thoughts over in her mind.
"The power scale just went on sabbatical," she murmured, processing the monstrous amount of energy that had been unleashed, a force that could be felt all the way to Earth.
Night fell and everything
was quiet. The protagonists headed to the special rooms to train in earnest, grim, and serious...