Marvelous Martial Arts (A Marvel Story)

Although Mason could keep his Spiritual Domain on for a duration of time, it burned through his reserves quite crazily, as they had not improved that much with his breakthrough.

With the condensation of his Three Treasures, Mason’s capacities had about doubled, which certainly was a great improvement, but at the moment, it only represented about 8 seconds of sustained Spiritual Domain.

His reserves would most certainly improve quite rapidly in the near future, as he was only at the very beginning of this new realm, but Mason thought it wiser to let go of his Spiritual Domain as he approached the crash site.

However, Mason did not let go of his Chi, as the expenditure was much less, even approaching zero. All he was doing was revolve his Chi around his body, the dark golden flames came from his Fire Intent, which was free of expenditure.

Because he did manifest some Chi outside his body, it was not exactly zero, but as long as he did not fight, keeping it up did not cost him much.

Arriving at the crash site, he found the Immortal Beasts to be struggling to even get up, which was understandable. They were spiritual bodies to start with, and although they had somehow regained mass while inside the Eighth City, they remained very sensitive to Spiritual Energy. Moreover, their increased physical mass only worked against them, sending them to crash into the ground even faster.

Besides, they were not that willing to fight for Krahllak.

And speaking of the demon, it remained relatively unaffected by the fall and was pushing off Shou-Lao’s immense body when Mason arrived.

Krahllak dusted himself off, snarling, ”How utterly ridiculous. Using your ultimate attack at the very start? You ought to be taught a lesson, hammer- heh, you know what? You’ve proven yourself to be better than a hammer.”

Mason stopped, watching it placidly as he spoke, ”You’re not getting out of this one with words, demon.”

”Don’t sound so righteous, this is nothing more than petty revenge. Calling yourself the sun, how insufferably arrogant. You think taking this step makes you special? Being the best at throwing shit doesn’t make you any good.”

Mason actually smiled at that. ”Revenge? You think this is about personal revenge? Did the fall knock a few neurons loose? You are merely an inconvenience. I went after the Hand because they represented a danger to my family, and you are nothing more than the logical conclusion to that endeavor. I’m not ending you because I like it, but because you represent a danger, not only to my loved ones, but to many innocents as well.”

Krahllak was infuriated by this, pointing a finger at Mason and shooting out a beam of black light. Mason merely stepped aside to dodge it, while the demon screamed, ”Innocents? There is no such thing in this world, boy. You think any of these,” it spread out its arms to their ruined surroundings, and more precisely, to the people he had used as building materials, ”are innocents? Do you even know who gets locked up in here?”

”I certainly know that there couldn’t have been this many people imprisoned, meaning you dragged them here.”

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”And you think that’s something I could just do without any conditions? This place wouldn’t have trapped me for so long if I were able to bring in whoever I want at any time. The truth is that those are all people who made deals with me. Do you have any idea of the kind of depravity needed to draw my attention while I’m trapped in here? There is nothing but the greedy, lustful, wrathful here. Innocents? Don’t make me laugh!”

Mason still smiled serenely. ”Am I actually scaring you out of your wits? Do you think there is any universe where I let you live? I’m not getting out of here until I’ve burned you to ashes, and torn your soul asunder.”

Krahllak gritted its teeth, slashing out with both hands as it growled, ”You think you’re worth anything? I might have been isolated from my realm for a million years, I still hold power you could not begin to imagine.”

With the demon’s gesture, the space around them was distorted, and two giant maws appeared on both sides, shooting out blue flames.

Hellfire.

In response, Mason shot off the ground, reaching the Beast with extraordinary speed. He was already fast before, and now that he was about twice as fast as before, Mason was closing in on the speed of sound. He was not quite there yet, but he expected to hit it before the peak of his current realm.

The Hellfire still managed to lick his back, but much to Mason’s surprise, he barely felt it. It was more like a warm blanket than a raging sea of fire.

Although surprised, he focused on Krahllak and decided to use his new strength. Without manifesting any of his Chi, Mason hit Krahllak in the stomach with all his strength, which was about two tons if he felt it correctly.

The results, unfortunately, were disappointing. Krahllak stood its ground, the fat around its guts rippling and easily dispersing the power behind the blow as it forced Mason to retreat, while taunting, ”How is my Hellfire? Can you feel the sting on your soul? You are quite good at schooling in your expression, but there’s no need to fake indifference. You’re probably dying to roll on the ground in agony.”

Mason offered him a smile instead. He did not directly say he was not feeling anything from the flames, since he did not mind getting soaked in it, but he did not hide it either, because a part of him also wanted to taunt Krahllak.

Whether it understood or not, as Mason once more rushed, it placed both palms forward, as if to summon a Kamehameha. However, instead of Ki, it was more Hellfire that was fired, this time in a darker shade of blue.

Even if he wanted to, Mason could not have dodged it as his momentum worked against him, so he placed a hand forward to shield his face and cocked back the other, filling it with fiery Chi this time, to form a Star Fist. Spiritual Domain and Star Fist- those were the names Mason had decided to give his ultimate techniques that had become normal attacks.

This time, the Hellfire was not hot, but cold, which profoundly messed with Mason’s brain, because the reptilian part of him knew that fire was supposed to be hot. But while it did confuse him, it hardly had more effects than the hot version.

Because there was more of it, Mason was able to better tell how he was resisting it. Although it looked like a physical flame, it completely ignored his physical body, attacking his Spirit instead.

Maybe it would have hurt Mason before his breakthrough, but with that breakthrough, all three of Mason’s Three Treasures had experienced a qualitative change that altered their very nature.

Grinning as he came out of the flames unharmed, Krahllak only had the time to realize the utter ineffectiveness of his Hellfire before Mason slammed his Star Fist into his gut.

The results were dramatically different from before. As Mason’s Star Fist closed in on Krahllak’s gut, he felt its Chi almost as clearly as he would with his Divine Sense, and established a connection the moment his fist made contact.

Krahllak’s gut, which had dispersed his punch before, was turned useless as the entire force behind Mason’s fist was transmitted inward, targeting Krahllak’s internal organs. It would not have been much more dangerous for the average person, since Mason’s own Chi would protect their organs, but since Krahllak was an extra-dimensional demon, Chi acted more like poison than a healing balm.

Krahllak instantly paled as Mason’s punch ruptured many of its internal organs, sending it flying away as it vomited a large mouthful of blood and chunks of ruptured organs.

It tried to speak, but it could only manage a strangled scream.