Biohuman

Chapter 267 Ritsuka's Breakthrough

Valen's second lightning strike connected with Ritsuka. He flew away from the smoke billowing below him.

'He took a direct hit from Distorted Lightning. I wonder if he'll be okay. Should I stop the training?' Valen wondered. His mind replayed the smile Ritsuka gave.

"Huh. So that's how you're supposed to be." Ritsuka's voice echoed in his head.

"What does he mean by that?" Valen whispered. Ritsuka gasped. The clunk of metal shifted as he looked down.

"What the…" Ritsuka muttered.

"You want to wield more of my power, Yamada?" Angerfang's voice spoke. "I'll give you more power… You're worthy of that much." Ritsuka noticed Angerfang was gone. He frantically shifted, metal clanking.

"Where did you go?" Ritsuka whispered. He looked at his arms one more time and noticed red and silver armor on his body. "How did…" In the moment before Valen's Distorted Lightning strike, Angerfang's form shifted and merged with him.

'That's why I didn't feel anything.' The armor looked like something a tank and/or a warrior would wear. It was a little too loud for his liking, but he didn't have time to think about that. He wanted to play around with Angerfang's new form. He pushed out of the smoke cloud, revealing himself to Valen. Valen's eyes widened as he lowered to the ground.

"What is that?" Valen asked. Ritsuka looked down.

"I dunno." Ritsuka answered excitedly. "Cool, huh?"

"No wonder why I felt an energy shift at the last moment." Valen pointed a dagger straight at Ritsuka. "You shifted the scythe into that."

"Maybe. I'm not sure myself, but I'm pretty sure I heard her speak to me right before you hit me with that second strike."

"You heard her?"

"Mmm. Angerfang is definitely a her."

"Huh. I thought that was just something you called an inanimate object… Like a dude with his car." Valen shrugged, pulling back the dagger to his side. "Well, I guess we'll just have to continue then. For experimentation sake?"

"Mmm." Ritsuka nodded. Valen ran forward and hit Ritsuka. Ritsuka lifted to block and watched as the blow connected, sending him backwards. Lightning and the force pulled into him as he slid to a stop. He rushed forward, swinging punches straight for Valen. Valen dodged them, sending a couple more attacks back at Ritsuka.

'Did you just completely abandon your scythe for pure armor?' Ritsuka wondered. The armor shifted  on his arms. He swung forward and watched as a red crimson scythe blade flew out. Valen yelped as his misjudgement made him dodge instead of block. The scythe blade connected with his skin, drawing blood. Valen made distance instantly and wiped the blood.

"To think you could cut me. What else can that do?" Valen pointed. Ritsuka jumped forward with a scythe blade out on his right arm.

'I wonder if I can do 1000 Bites.' He thought. He cleared the distance faster than he anticipated as Angerfang responded to his thought. The left part of his armor along his arm glowed and another scythe blade came out. It reminded him of a prey mantis. He slashed, watching hundreds of tiny strikes grow from the strikes. Valen's body exploded in hits as 1000 Bites ate at him. The armor pulsed with red as Ritsuka watched Valen's body explode in lightning. He shielded his face, pulling out of the position.

,m 'He created a clone? He's totally a ninja.' Ritsuka's eyes looked around as he lowered his arms.

"Too slow!" Valen's voice appeared from behind. "Lightning Strike: Thunderclap." Ritsuka felt two strikes diagonally slash the armor, followed by a loud explosion. Ritsuka flew forward, bouncing as Angerfang pulled the energy in. He could actually feel the damage this time as the armor went up in gray smoke. He tumbled and stopped near a tree, the armor from Angerfang gone.

He coughed as Valen appeared above him.

"Huh, it's gone." Valen had gone for the last strike but immediately stopped himself seeing Ritsuka was defenseless. The dagger was a couple of inches from piercing Ritsuka's chest. He immediately pulled away, releasing the daggers as Ritsuka could feel himself disconnecting.

"Ah, crap." Ritsuka closed his eyes. He could feel a headache growing. "I managed to exhaust myself?" He tried hard to not disconnect from his body. Every time he went into DM exhaustion, he had multiple things happen to him. A growing headache, body aches, and/or a spiritual disconnect would happen.

He had unfortunately rolled into a spiritual disconnect. He tried to plant himself. He gripped at the dirt and tree bark around him. Valen kneeled and patted Ritsuka.

"He-hey! Are you okay?" Valen shook Ritsuka. Ritsuka's body wasn't responding. He was technically there but his soul had disconnected temporarily. He couldn't feel Valen shaking him, but heard every single word of concern. "Ah, crap. Did I go overboard? I should've asked him for his negative." Valen spoke in a mix of Fox tongue and English. "Come on, Ritsuka. D-did I go too far? Ahhh, the General is gonna kill me!" He shook his head.

"No… His friends might actually kill me! ESpecially the one called Lee Seng! That one's definitely gonna kill me!" Valen shook his head and grabbed Ritsuka. He lifted him up. Ritsuka felt himself fall out of his body, hitting the floor. Valen's ears twitched and he took a couple of steps back to reveal the soul Ritsuka rubbing his head.

"Can you see me?" Ritsuka asked, sitting up. Valen could tell there was something there due to his innate spiritual talent, but since he slacked on training his spiritual talents, he couldn't see or hear Ritsuka.

"What was that?" Valen pulled his eyes to the unconscious body of Ritsuka. "I need to get you back. Maybe one of the Savior twins can help you." He began to walk when the realization of what he said made him stop. "Shit, I have to find the Spirit and not run into the Vessel…" He cursed as he started to jog with Ritsuka in his arms. Soul Ritsuka could feel himself being yanked by his body and Valen.

"Wh-whoa, whoa!" Ritsuka shouted. He had forgotten he had a limited amount of space between his soul and body. If his body were to go farther than the threshold, his soul would be yanked along. He rolled and was pulled quickly across the forest floor, flying straight through trees as Valen quickly made his way back to camp.

It didn't take long for Valen to make it back to camp. People were chatting away as he quickly came to a stop. He noticed the rest of his teammates from the Village were here now. The attention drew straight to him as one of the seven-tailed Foxes moved over to him. It was Chrono. Her gray eyes met Valen's panicked eyes.

"What happened to the Human Valen?" Chrono asked.

"We were training and he had some breakthrough but he's unconscious and I don't know why." Valen wasn't the type to hold his guilt in. He immediately started to explain the situation to the silver Fox. She nodded as Valen quickly explained. Chrono looked over to the right of Valen and pointed.

"Why is he there and also in your arms then?" Chrono asked. Valen immediately turned and didn't see anything.

"What do you mean, Chrono? He's unconscious in my arms!"

"Can't you feel him, stupid?" Chrono pushed his head with two fingers and shook her head. She pointed at Soul Ritsuka. "He's right there. Next to you."

"W-why  is he there and in my arms? What happened?" Valen looked around.

"My negative happened because I exhausted myself of DM." Ritsuka answered.

"He says he exhausted himself of Dark Matter and his negative triggered." Chrono looked between the two.

"How do we get you back then?" Valen asked.

"I'm out of commission until I gain some energy back. Just let me rest somewhere for a bit." Ritsuka answered. Chrono told Valen and Valen's panicked face slightly lifted.

"You should place him somewhere until the–"

"Is the Vessel done with Ysa, yet?" Cori yelled, coming to a stop. She had Keng in her hands and Commander Chimera was behind her.

"Where's Halys?" Chimera asked.

"He went with Ysa and Victoria to oversee the kid's cleansing. What's wrong with him?" The black tailed Fox, Vedi answered, studying Keng. He had small burn marks which made him look at Cori.

"I think something's wrong with the vessel so Keng passed out as a result of it." Chimera told them. "Could you lead us in the direction they went?"

"S-sure, Commander." Vedi nodded. He turned to look at everyone else. "Continue, alright?" Vedi led Cori and the Commander towards where Ysa and the others went.

"Follow them!" Ritsuka told Valen.

"He wants you to follow them." Chrono told Valen.

"Huh? Why?" Valen asked. Chrono's eyes waited for an answer from Ritsuka.

"I need to know what happened to both of them." Ritsuka answered.

"He wants to know what happened to his friends." Chrono responded.

"But you're unconscious. You can't do anything in that state!" Valen told him. "You need to stay in the cabin in the meantime. You can't do anything right now, 'kay? I'll go check on your friends." Ritsuka began to complain when Chrono sighed and fully turned her attention to Ritsuka.

"You can't help your friends if you're in this state." Chrono bluntly told him. "Rest so that your soul connects to your body. Then you can worry about them. If the General and the Commander are going to be there, they'll be in good hands."