บท 50: metamorphosis

Kei held 85 in his arms, and the latter took his last breath, the horrible stench began to reach Kei, he had cried for 20 minutes, and his heart once with moral thoughts, began to crack, "is there so much evil in the world? Following moral orders is not entirely good," in reflection, he passed unnoticed that his soul united completely, the original Kei, delivered a final gift, along with an intense thirst for victory, a thirst to be the strongest created from the inferiority he suffered at the hands of his brothers, and then after the transmigrated Kei occupied his body, the thirst always to be the best took root in his heart, like a tree of millions of years, resting on the earth of the world.

Kei stretched his body while leaning against a concrete pillar, meditating, with all his intensity, he failed to find the calm he always managed to find, so he dedicated himself to doing the only thing he could do, train, train, and train. He repeated his boxing poses, at least 50,000 times each while practicing all the martial arts he knew.

He had no perception of time, three months in a pit full of darkness, if he happened to observe the black shadows of his hands, only the smallest details of himself were visible, only with the corpses that joined him, he decided to dig some pits, to bury them in a common grave, and respect the minimum humanity of the people who treated him like brothers. He continued to occupy his mind, but the answer he so longed for never reached his heart, it was a punishment... for his actions, he had to understand that life is not good or bad, but now he did not believe especially in goodness, forgotten, he began to justify his actions.

-I have to temper my spirit, - thought Kei, who, during his metamorphosis, was adapting to his new memories, knowledge, and desires.

He trained again, once he took water and ate the provisions in the bags left by the other Niko while performing the same exercise routine, he would not rest until it was completed, 50,000 blows, each movement repeated to exhaustion. Until his muscles burned, changing to different learned training, in the small martial arts practice space, it doubled with such intensity.

He did not arrive at a clear answer.

He performed the battle ritual method while practicing his breathing, he fought infinitely many times against thousands of people, every day, or part of the day, he fought 120 times, again, organizing different styles, people, teachers, and trips, it was an unattainable fight, which he carried out during his stay, he slept little, because nightmares plagued his dreams, and he meditated a lot, trying to find answers to all his thoughts.

He made clear principles that he began to consider obvious, "in the world of martial arts, in the underworld the one who survives is the strong, even when intelligence is needed, strength is a vital factor for any negotiation" and "the weak do not control their lives" "accept life for what it is and live with it" "my fist: born to survive, now fight for my freedom"

Kei began to know himself, and his fears, he was a coward, he was afraid of death, fearful of being alone, afraid of being rejected, afraid of not being accepted, fearful for his family, he had many fears in his life. Repress your desires and control them, find peace in what you do, and leave greed, anger, and evil, evil attracts the soul and desires tempt, we have to be masters of our souls, master of our lives, and our freedom. Lost the soul, man becomes a demon, must be controlled, but must understand that there are demons that will not live in peace.

"neither good nor bad" "only the extremely unfair evil must be punished" "good must be rewarded" "understand the life of others" and "witholiveut understanding and comprehending everything beyond my existence can forgive me" Kei, released the burdens and accepted the deaths, longed to find, "Why do I want to win? A life cultivated in the martial arts is worthy, when it transcends, the freedom to survive, the freedom to understand, and the freedom to follow my principles.

Be free from money, use it for your loved ones, and be free from people who only ambition, the path of the martial artist is the path of maximum improvement.

Kei set his goals to learn all the martial arts in the world, aspire to martial victory, reach the pinnacle of martial arts, control his spirit, and temper it under the fire of his will. He dedicated his life to his fallen brothers; all of them wanted a place to live, a place to belong, and the world Kei belonged to was that of the downtrodden.

At first, it took him 15 hours to complete his exercises of 50,000 strikes; after a month, it took him 10 hours. By the second month, it still took him those same ten hours as he had fully adapted to his training. He increased the training to 100,000 strikes, which took him 25 hours a day to complete. He perfected it on the first and second days, sleeping four hours in calmness, for the first time without nightmares, and performed the same 100,000 strikes again. The second time, it took him 27 hours; his body was crumbling, but he did not give up.

During his morning practice, he managed 70,000 strikes in 16 hours when the door opened. His eyes, accustomed to the light, had to close immediately in anger, the deep laughter of the Other Niko was all he remembered. A being who deserved death above all else, a being without salvation, a being without control over the world.

-I won't deny that I didn't expect the outcome, - commented the Other Niko.

-I only did what I had to do, - replied Kei, continuing his exercises.

-You buried them all, - asked the Other Niko, glancing at the shallow graves in a corner.

Kei knew he was being assessed; he had to show a face, to act, he could not easily surrender. The Other Niko wanted a weapon, someone to prove that his methods were correct; however, Kei understood that his character could not present itself as a mere weapon, someone led by his thoughts, like a child without a path.

-I needed a clean place to train, - Kei commented passively, at least his dead brothers deserved a proper burial.

-I see, as I promised, tell me what you desire. Now power is within your reach, - said the Other Niko, his voice silky, very persuasive when he wanted to be. He was now pleased, as two of his new partners would witness his abilities, and being the center of attention was something that satisfied him.

-There is a martial arts style I saw during my time inside; they call it the blinking step. I believe complementing the Niko style with the formless style will enhance my fight against those of the ritual. I understood the shortcomings of the formless style and concluded that it requires a martial art. You see, people learn by obeying; in other words, a technique must be made one's own, and then you shed what you learned and incorporate it with other teachings to transcend. The formless style lacks training that adheres to a movement, whereas the Niko style does. By mixing them, you gain certain skills, but it remains incomplete, and you need to acquire more skills to integrate them into the formless style, - Kei explained.

-The formless style is perfect, - commented the Other Niko.

-I knew you would say that, but I learned to mix the skill I practiced the most, boxing, and combined it with the formless style and the Niko style. I call it formless boxing, - Kei stated, having developed an incipient boxing skill, different from anything normal or previously done.

The cat-like eyes of the Other Niko opened in delight; a new development, suspiciously stripping forms from a martial style, was perhaps the most contradictory thing he had heard that day.

-Before I show you the style, I reached a third conclusion while fighting in the ritual: the formless style is the first style of martial arts that the world developed. By incorporating their abilities and training their strikes, the reorganization led people to discover their style. However, when I fought against others in this cave, some began to copy my style. Those who master the formless style learn to mimic the styles of others because it is a recreational style, one of learning. From this style, martial arts emerged, - Kei explained.

-So, a master of formless martial arts is the next step, combining primitive instinct with the organization of martial arts, - said the Other Niko, nodding at Kei's words.

-That's why I believe the blinking step is the best way to learn good footwork but to refine the Niko style, we need to learn Jiu-Jitsu, Aikido, and the principles of movement, meaning incorporating through SHURAI: obey, shed, and transcend, - Kei remarked.

-I know someone who will teach us a similar style, the Koe style, - the Other Niko replied, - but first, show me your elimination percentage. -

Kei showed him the percentage he had mastered perfectly; his pupils turned white, and his sclera black, along with his skin turning purple. Kei managed to mitigate the effects on his body by controlling his two Ki, preventing his veins from bulging too much.

-Ohhhhhhhhh, it looks different,- commented the Other Niko.

-Harmony, I don't fully understand it, but I believe I am at 40% elimination. My body must accept elimination as part of my being, not as a forbidden technique. I call it programmed development; I started to control the percentage and use 1% of the elimination for as long as I could. In the end, I end up exhausted, but my body gets used to small doses, like an addict's syndrome, - Kei explained, in a falsehood, harmonizing his two Ki, the original Kei's DOU and the transmigrated Kei's SEI. By uniting them, he could use both Ki, and the power he gained was similar to the elimination, helping him manage it throughout the process.

Niko nodded, happier; he had acquired a genius of martial arts for himself.