"No... impossible..." His lips were trembling.
"Nothing's impossible." Cloud slowly shook his head. "This world is just that cruel. If you want to protect what you cherish, you must possess sufficient power."
"So, Kyo Kusanagi, stop whining like some kid who hasn't been weaned."
"Train like your life depends on it!"
"Unless you want her dead."
With that, Cloud turned and left without another glance.
Leaving Kyo alone, kneeling beneath the waterfall, fists clenched so tight his nails dug deep into his palms, blood streaming.
In his eyes burned a towering fury and resolve that could incinerate everything!
Cloud's "demonic training" wasn't limited to Kyo.
Benimaru Nikaido—the self-proclaimed "beautiful man" and master of lightning—was dumped by Cloud into Antarctica's magnetic storm zone, under the pretense of "electromagnetic therapy for skin beautification."
After experiencing a near-death "shock treatment," his control over lightning reached an entirely new level.
Goro Daimon—the taciturn judo master—was taken by Cloud to the Mariana Trench to experience what "ultimate pressure" really meant.
When he emerged from the deep sea, his "Arashi no Yama" throw had become powerful enough to shake actual mountains.
The three members of Japan Team, under this "demonic coach's" torment, improved at rocket speed in their insane "competitive escalation."
Just as Cloud was enjoying this "raising characters" experience, an unexpected phone call interrupted his plans.
The call came from General Heidern's adjutant.
The content was urgent.
"Mr. Cloud, I apologize for disturbing you. But... General Heidern asked me to inform you... Leona has... had an incident."
"The Orochi blood in her body went berserk again, without any warning!"
"And... this rampage is more violent than any before! We've used every sedative available, but nothing can calm her down! She's completely lost her mind and is destroying the base!"
"The General... is out of options. He asked me to... request your assistance!"
"He says you may be... the only one in the world who can save her now."
Cloud felt like his recent life had turned him into a "996" corporate slave with no days off—and the kind juggling multiple jobs, at that.
During the day, he was a "demonic coach" responsible for "lovingly educating" Kyo and the others, pushing them into insane competition.
At night, he was an "emotional mentor" responsible for "deep discussions" with his harem, exploring life philosophy and the meaning of existence.
Now he'd gained a new title—"Gold Medal Firefighter."
"Leona went berserk again? Who triggered her this time?"
Cloud hung up, his face full of exasperation.
He felt like a father constantly cleaning up after troublesome kids—just finishing with one mess when another call came saying "your kid broke the neighbor's window again."
"Whatever. Who told me to be so kind-hearted and unable to bear seeing beautiful girls suffer?" He gave himself a noble excuse, and with a flash, vanished from Kusanagi Castle.
The Heidern mercenary force's secret base was located deep in some tropical rainforest.
The moment Cloud landed, a wild, chaotic aura saturated with destructive desire slammed into him.
The entire base was on maximum alert.
The alloy-reinforced walls were covered with crisscrossing claw marks and massive dents, as if some prehistoric beast had plowed through.
Countless elite mercenaries armed with gauss rifles tensely surrounded a massive training field enclosed by a special force-field barrier.
At the barrier's center, a petite figure raged like an uncontrolled typhoon.
Leona.
Right now, she'd completely lost her mind.
Her hair had turned a terrifying blood-red, her eyes crimson as blood, her body wreathed in ominous scarlet flames.
Her hands had transformed into razor-sharp blades, each swing effortlessly tearing through air and leaving deep gouges in the reinforced ground.
"V-SLASHER!"
She roared, hands crossing as a massive V-shaped blood-red slash slammed against the force-field barrier, making the entire shield shudder violently as if it might shatter at any moment.
"General! The energy shield can't hold much longer! Requesting permission to deploy C-class annihilation weapons!" An adjutant shouted urgently to a man nearby—eye-patched, stern-faced.
General Heidern's face was filled with anguish and conflict.
He watched the girl who had become a monster—his adopted daughter whom he loved like his own—his fists clenched white-knuckled.
Just as he was about to give the order he least wanted to give, a lazy voice suddenly cut in from behind him.
"General Heidern, dealing with one teenage girl throwing a tantrum requires this much firepower? Anyone who didn't know better would think you're fighting Godzilla."
Heidern whipped around. The moment he saw Cloud, his eternally frozen "ice mountain face" showed an expression of profound relief.
"Mr. Cloud! You're... finally here!"
"No choice—I'm the specialist, after all." Cloud patted his shoulder, then turned his gaze to Leona inside the barrier, his expression growing solemn.
"This rampage is... much worse than last time." He could sense that the Orochi blood within Leona was like a nuclear bomb had been dropped into it—it had completely boiled over. "What triggered her?"
"It was them." Heidern's voice turned icy. "Leona encountered three unidentified powerful individuals during a reconnaissance mission. According to the last visual data she transmitted, one of the men seemed to have some kind of resonance with her, causing her to lose control on the spot."
Cloud understood immediately.
"Yashiro..."
It seemed the Four Heavenly Kings of the Hakkesshu had begun moving in earnest.
And Yashiro, as a fellow "Orochi clan" member, his appearance was like a massive magnet instantly detonating the unstable "bomb" inside Leona.
...
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