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Chapter 15 - Chapter 15: Forbidden Sadness

It began to rain, and multiple lightning bolts started striking the place where Sebastián lay unconscious. A huge cloud formed in the sky, and suddenly a bolt from that cloud struck Sebastián's body.

The lightning unlocked a new mode called "Forbidden Sorrow," also known as "Corrupted Sorrow," the most powerful and final state of sorrow.

Elsewhere, Worh, Sone, and Kiro arrived at the scene and witnessed the massive destruction caused by the Boss. From the shadows, Boss 17 watched the protagonists. Worh noticed him and began walking toward the shadows where the Boss was hiding. Sone and Kiro saw this and followed. Boss 17 let out a sigh and slowly stepped out of the darkness.

His technique was beginning to take form, along with a new ability called "Fatal Strike." This new ability was a punch charged with force that could hit the nervous system directly and weaken it.

Worh narrowed his eyes and shot toward him, leaving a rush of air in his wake. Within seconds he landed a punch to the Boss's face, and the Boss visibly reeled. Kiro had positioned himself behind the Boss and threw a punch at his back. The Boss stumbled forward and leapt into the air, dodging the second blow. Suddenly Sone appeared above in his ball form and slammed into the enemy's head.

Boss 17 was smashed into the ground. Worh, who had already prepared a punch, drove it into his stomach, and then Kiro hit him with another punch to the gut.

His body sank 40 centimeters into the earth, and his technique was nearly fully charged. The Boss took a breath, gripped the wall of earth, and struck it with his "Fatal Strike," destroying three meters of ground where he stood across a 60-meter area.

A massive crater formed, destroying thousands of houses and two entire cities.

The protagonists got away in time, and from atop a building they saw a green light rising from the hole. They could sense something moving. Worh realized it immediately, but before he could move...

Boss 17 emerged from the crater wrapped in a green aura. In a single motion he appeared behind the three protagonists and hit them with his technique, "Piercing Blood Stream." The streams shoved the protagonists forward and tore through their clothes, injuring the backs of Kiro and Worh, but Sone took the worst of it because of his durability.

The three were sent flying. Sone activated his ball form to drill into the ground, then leapt back to the surface. Kiro landed on his feet next to Worh, back to back. Then they turned around, their expressions more serious. Boss 17 looked at them with disdain.

He calmly climbed down from the building, rubbing his hands together, then concentrated his Fatal Strike into both fists. A single touch would be enough to make a person's breathing heavier and their heart race.

In one swift movement he went after them. Worh and Kiro started running at full speed. Boss 17 chased Kiro and caught up to him within seconds, then threw a punch that Kiro dodged with a jump. The Boss kept unleashing flurries of blows and consecutive punches without pause, and Kiro dodged with difficulty.

At one point the Boss hit him in the back, making Kiro lose his balance and breathe even harder. The protagonist fell to the ground and was met with a kick to the back, the Boss's full weight pressing on his spine. The bone cracked slightly, but Kiro quickly slammed the ground with force, shattering it and regaining control.

He looked at Boss 17 seriously and smiled. The air began to push against him, but with a single punch Kiro sent all that air back at the Boss with double the intensity. The Boss was thrown backward and crashed into a house.

"Looks like I really have to get serious, huh?" Kiro said in a deep, grave voice.

The sound of consecutive blows echoed from him. Boss 17 jumped and kicked the air with force, and in that moment a series of punches collided with the kick. The Boss took a step back. Kiro looked at him in surprise but said nothing.

Quickly, he said: "Strike Plus."

Boss 17 shot backward, tearing through multiple buildings, but that wasn't enough. A bolt of lightning struck him, grabbed him like paper, and then pierced through his arm. The Boss was stunned, and before he could think, Kiro appeared behind him and landed a heavy blow. It made him spit saliva and left him breathless for a moment. Then Kiro grabbed him by the arm and slammed him into the ground.

Suddenly, from far away, the two of them saw a glowing silhouette rising. It turned around. It was Sebastián, but controlled by the new level of sorrow. He raised a hand, and a 20-meter tsunami came after them at 100 kilometers per microsecond. Kiro immediately ran off at top speed, followed by Boss 17, both of them fleeing the tsunami.

Sebastián vanished in a flash and appeared in front of them. Boss 17 noticed in a second and threw himself on top of Kiro. The two of them fell to the ground, and at that moment Sebastián struck near them, destroying two countries behind them: Slovenia, Croatia, and 40% of Austria. The citizens of those countries were disintegrated instantly, their bodies evaporating. The tsunami stopped and dissolved.

Boss 17 grabbed Kiro by the arm and pulled him up. Kiro reacted and smacked him on the head, but quickly kept running alongside the enemy. Sebastián turned and brought his arms together, creating streams of water that began chasing Kiro and the Boss.

Kiro went to Germany and leapt into the air, throwing punches at the streams chasing him, which had the durability of a planet. With no other choice, he used a punch called "Plasma Strike."

The blow scattered the streams and sent them crashing into the ground, which exploded from the impact. The blast threw Kiro far away despite the distance between them, and he landed in Berlin and looked around. The citizens stared at him in confusion. A baker approached and offered him a hand, and Kiro accepted and got to his feet.

Elsewhere, Boss 17 kept running and ducking into different buildings to stop the streams. He began conjuring a new technique and hurled it at the streams with force. The new technique was called "Ice Fire." The water streams stopped, began to burn and freeze, and then simply disappeared in a small puff of vapor.

Suddenly he looked up at the sky, since his senses were at their peak and he felt a slight pain in his head. He saw lightning begin to fall and a bright star approaching him. In a thousandth of a microsecond, the star pierced his stomach and pushed him backward, sending him to where Kiro was resting.

He fell to the ground with a dull thud. Kiro rushed over to him but felt his body grow heavy. Sebastián had pierced his chest with one hand. Worh arrived and hit Sebastián in the back, forcing him to retreat and release Kiro. Without wasting a moment, Worh grabbed him with all his strength and fury and began pounding him at 700 kilometers per second, his fists overloading and catching fire. With one punch he sent Sebastián flying about 8 kilometers, leaving a significant scratch on him. Sebastián regained a bit of mental control, but within a few seconds he grabbed Worh's arm and nearly tore it off, until Sone appeared in his ball form with a yellow aura forming around his body. The attack was powerful enough that Sebastián's level 5 fury lost half of its control over his body, and he quickly struck himself. He vanished in a flash, damaging the protagonists and killing the Boss along with him.

Sebastián landed in Slovenia and began to walk. He pulled out a hood, put his hands in his pockets, and went off to wherever he was headed for the time being.

The next day, Worh was being treated at the hospital along with the other two protagonists.

"You've been a little confused waking up here out of nowhere, haven't you? Don't worry, you just passed out," the doctor said in a soft, reassuring voice.

Worh looked out the window, and a thought crossed his mind: *Where will Sebastián go? Or will he come back?* Those thoughts were interrupted by a nurse who came to bandage his arm. He felt calmer, and a little strange for feeling a kind of fondness for her when he didn't even know her. Setting his thoughts aside, he let her keep helping him.

Other countries around the world sent aid to the affected nations and began searching for survivors in the destroyed areas.

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