Pov Narrator.
After the explosion The place was turned into a field of destruction. In the middle of the blackened crater, What remained of Isagi could barely be called a body. More than anything, it looked like a skeleton in flames.
Well… not exactly. Before the explosion fully detonated, Isagi had managed to reinforce his body with cursed energy, trying to mitigate the damage as much as possible.
Even so, the result was brutal. He had lost an entire arm, and most of his chest simply was no longer there. His torso had been reduced to less than half, leaving broken ribs and bones blackened by the heat exposed.
His head was also in a terrible state. Much of the skull was destroyed and burned, with the flesh completely carbonized. Only one of his eyes remained visible among the remains. The rest was charred bone.
—Grrrr… That's why I hate the heat.
A rough sound escaped from what remained of his throat. The body began to move. Even in that absurd state, Isagi was still alive. His super regeneration was already working.
The missing ribs began to grow slowly, lengthening like white branches that extended from the remaining skeleton until reconnecting with the bones that were still intact.
Then came the rest of the skeleton. New vertebrae, new joints, new bone structures rebuilding one by one.
After that the tissue appeared. A red and wet layer began to cover the newly formed bones while muscles and flesh regenerated rapidly, filling the areas that had been completely destroyed by the explosion.
Finally, the skin began to close the process, extending over the new flesh while the regeneration advanced as if someone were rebuilding his body from scratch.
For the second time that day, Isagi's head began to regenerate completely.
The skull closed. The destroyed eye formed again. The burned skin disappeared under new fresh flesh. As he slowly stood up, his hair also grew back, recovering its usual shape, messy and spiky.
In a few seconds His body had returned to normal. Well… almost. There was something his regeneration could not recover. His clothes. His shirt, his shoes and practically everything he had been wearing had been completely carbonized by the explosion.
Only his pants had partially survived the disaster. Isagi brought a hand to his chest and began to pant, taking large gulps of air now that he once again had fully functional lungs.
The air went in and out with difficulty. It had been horrible. This was, without a doubt, the first time he had received so much damage and ended up in such a miserable state. He remained still for a moment, looking at the enormous crater of destruction around him.
—If it weren't for my regeneration I would be dead. I think I still have a lot to learn.
Isagi, with his hair completely messy and wearing only his charred pants, remained looking at his own body for a few seconds.
—Holy shit… I have abs!. —His voice came out full of genuine surprise.
It might seem like a stupid reaction in the middle of a freshly devastated battlefield… but the truth was that he had never bothered to observe his body carefully.
In his previous life, his physique had not exactly been something worth bragging about. But now… He brought a hand to his abdomen, lightly touching the well-defined muscles that extended from his chest to his stomach. And he could only say Something.
For an instant he seemed more impressed by his newly discovered washboard than by the fact that he had survived an explosion capable of wiping out half the street.
Isagi immediately raised his head. He set aside his new physical discovery and began to walk through the enormous crater that the explosion had left. Under his feet, the loose earth and fragments of asphalt crunched with each step.
The sensation of bare ground under his feet reminded him of how sometimes he walked barefoot in the street. A strange but curiously familiar habit. He kept moving forward among the remains of shattered concrete.
Then he saw it.
Isagi's eyes opened slightly.
—Son of a bitch. You're still alive.
Among the debris of the crater, the explosion demon was still there. Barely. His body was covered with deep cracks, as if he were a stone statue about to break into pieces. Entire parts of his structure had fallen off and his body no longer radiated the same energy as before.
Even the shine of his yellow eyes had weakened noticeably. The demon coughed a couple of times. A mixture of dust and yellow blood fell to the ground in front of him.
Even so He was still smiling. He slowly raised his head and fixed his gaze on Isagi.
—So… you're still alive… —he murmured with a tired smile. There was frustration in his voice.
He had been completely sure that explosion would be enough. The demon had bet that Isagi's regeneration had to have a limit. Some point where the damage would be too much to recover from.
But there was a small problem with that calculation. Not even Isagi himself knew what the limit of his regeneration was. The bloody orchid serum that had altered his body was something absurd.
In the movie Anaconda 4: Blood Face, the mutated snake had been able to regenerate even after being blown to pieces.
And the regeneration that Isagi had obtained thanks to that same serum, Was easily just as monstrous.
—Well it seems so… —Isagi finally said.
He raised his gaze toward the dark and cloudy sky that covered the city. The smoke from the explosion was still mixing with the clouds, forming a black stain that slowly dispersed with the wind.
—But to be honest… —he continued calmly— this is the first time I have received this much damage. —His eyes lowered again toward the demon. —You are the first demon who has left me in such a miserable state.
For a moment he brought a hand to his chest, remembering the sensation of his body being reduced practically to ashes.
—If it weren't for my regeneration… I would have lost.
Isagi had no problem admitting it. It was the truth. He had been careless. He had underestimated the demon's ability and paid the price for it. If he had not had his absurd regeneration ability… Right now he would only be a headless and armless corpse lying in the crater.
The demon let out a rough laugh when he heard him.
—So I was the first to hurt you that much? —he said between small laughs—. Ha! I guess it's good to be the first.
Despite his state, he still seemed proud. Isagi slowly closed his fist. Cursed energy began to accumulate around his hand, vibrating softly as he concentrated on his blow. He was not going to let the demon die simply from his wounds.
Not when there was a good possibility of obtaining a new ability. The demon understood it immediately. But even so He smiled until the end. Even when Isagi's fist shot forward.
The blow slammed directly against his face. The demon's skull was crushed brutally, sinking under the force of the impact. Fragments of his rocky structure broke apart while his head collapsed.
Bright yellow blood splattered the ground of the crater and also lightly stained Isagi's cheek. The demon's body remained completely motionless. Isagi slowly straightened up. At that same moment, he received his reward.
In front of him, a translucent screen appeared in the air accompanied by the familiar chime he had already grown used to.
[chime]
The system interface unfolded before his eyes.
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[Congratulations! You have killed the demon that embodied the fear that something might explode.]
[Reward: 7,000 EXP]
[Abilityobtained: Explosion]
[Ability — Explosion]
You can turn into a bomb or make explode anything that your cursed energy touches. The greater the amount of cursed energy present in the target, the greater the explosion generated.
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The wind of the alley blew softly while the smoke of the battle slowly dissipated. And now… That dangerous ability also belonged to Isagi.
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End of the chapter