FAMILY ABOVE ALL: BATTLING AGAINST GODS

After an unknown time, Arlo finally woke up.

Once more, he found himself on his bed, but it didn't take him an instant to realize who was responsible. 'Joe' he thought with a weak smile on his face.

<< You finally did it, boy. You did well!>> Old bro's voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

'Yes!' he realized. 'I did it!' He thought as he slowly sat up and looked at his hand.

His entire right arm didn't look as if it was cut off at one point.

Flexing his fingers, Arlo found his movements to be a bit stiff, but Old bro's voice quickly put his mind at rest, << It's a newly regenerated arm, so it will take some time for you to get used to it. >>

After testing his new arm for several minutes, Arlo finally grew bored of it. There was a very important matter at hand. One that was somewhat more important than regrowing his limb.

Yes!

It was time to break through!

<< Why don't you take a break? >> Old bro suddenly suggested.

"There is no need," said Arlo as he tried to suppress his excitement.

He quickly got out of his bed and sat on the floor in a lotus position.

Thinking about it, he was somewhat glad that the family had left the castle together with the maids because he didn't want his breakthrough to attract their attention. He still didn't know if his breakthrough would cause any ruckus.

It wasn't as if he and Joe were the only ones in the castle, as he could tell they were not from the state he always found Joe in.

He could guess there was at least someone in the castle, probably a guard to watch over the castle or them.

Also, the old maid occasionally came back, but he didn't care about her.

Taking a deep breath, Arlo willed Ki into his body as he subconsciously closed his eyes.

He already had an idea of how to break through.

In his fight with Bon and his sister, he felt something shatter within him when he absorbed more Ki than his body could hold.

Using the technique his father taught him, Arlo controlled his body to repeat the same thing.

Except this time, he wouldn't stop at 120% Ki.

Arlo felt every fiber of his body become filled with Ki, however, he didn't stop this time and continued to absorb it.

Well, he tried to.

No matter what he did, the surrounding Ki wouldn't enter his body.

It was as if there was no more space for them to occupy.

With a sweat-matted forehead, Arlo gritted his teeth and tried to compress the Ki already in his body.

After a long hour, Arlo felt he had somewhat succeeded.

So he tried absorbing Ki once more.

*Booom!* An explosion occurred in Arlo's body, as he felt a ringing sensation in his ears and almost blacked out.

Suddenly, all the Ki in his body started moving towards both his upper arms as they started forming some sort of tattoos.

While all this was happening, Arlo's mind was pulled into a strange space.

It was all grey around him, and strangely a question appeared out of nowhere in his mind.

'What is your true self?'

'My true self?' Arlo thought about the question for a long time but he couldn't arrive at an answer.

Back outside his body.

Eight tattoos of various forms started appearing on his arms, with four on both sides.

<< Heavens! >> The voice of old bro echoed out, but nobody was there to listen.

After a short while, the tattoos were completed, but instead of calling them tattoos, it was more apt to call them symbols with various outlines.

Four symbols each were formed on the back of both of Arlo's upper arms. However, the symbols were indistinct and only one was clear.

It was the symbol of a slime.

The artifact spirit's thought process was frozen at this point.

He couldn't believe what was going on.

Before he could regain his composure, something else happened.

The remaining Ki in Arlo's body suddenly surged toward the back of his neck.

They were forming an indistinct symbol; however, this time there was a difference.

This symbol was big, at least twice as large as any of the other symbols.

After a while, all the Ki in Arlo's body was used up.

At the same time, in the strange space, Arlo's eyes suddenly shone with clarity, as a gigantic image appeared before him.

With a deep smile, he whispered, "This is my true self." His mind was immediately pulled out of that space and he opened his eyes just in time to hear the voice of the artifact spirit…

<< Nine summons! >>

*****

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