Kaiser of the New World

What Kai was about to do next... he was actually nervous about.

He had no idea what was going to happen, all he knew was that it would definitely be incredible.

So, taking a deep breath, Kai closed his eyes, reached inside his soul and...

Grasped the sprouted seed in its centre.

Instantly, a golden shockwave was sent out from Kai's chest, followed in quick succession by another, and another, and another.

The drums of war pounded inside Kai's chest as his body started reacting. His body started to glow a light gold, with much heavier gold forming around his head.

A crown of thorns began to manifest on Kai's head, much like what had happened back when he fused with Failure all that time ago. Only unlike last time where the crown had been a mixture of green and brown, the thorns this time looked as if they had been dipped in liquid gold, an ethereal shine on it as it reflected the light of the flames behind Ezekial in all directions.

The crown solidified and sat on Kai's head. The transformation finished there. The golden glow dimmed a little, but there was still a subtle shine to Kai, making him look like an angel sent down on the mortal realm to punish those who had abused their power.

There was no extra wooden armour, no incredibly strong sword, no hair growth that made the ladies envious.

However, there was something that Kai wasn't expecting instead.

Please name this form.

The system... was asking him to name this transformation?

It made sense, he was the only one in existence that could do this, and it turned out that maybe the system actually had a heart, considering it had asked and not picked a terrible name itself.

Which was a good thing, as Kai felt he had the perfect name for this form, one that would perfectly honour Failure.

"Redemption."

The system accepted that answer instantly.

Special Mode - Redemption - Activated.

Kai felt his body surge with power. He became lighter, his thinking process sped up, he felt his Mana begin to circulate quicker. The transformation was... mind blowing. Was this what strength felt like?

But Kai couldn't help but grin even wider at the newest situation he received, because unlike last time, the system actually gave him the exact number of stats he received.

+5000 to all stats.

Then came the skills.

High Level Mana Manipulation (Epic) Obtained.

Flight (Epic) Obtained.

Mid Level Swordsmanship (Rare) Obtained.

Three seemingly random but incredibly useful skills, and Kai couldn't have been happier to receive that last one. Even though it was the only Rare skill, it would probably end up being the most useful one since because Umbra was gone doing her own job, Kai would have to hold Ezekial back using his own sword.

But Kai still wasn't done, there was still more upgrades that he had to get through. And unlike this transformation which would only be temporary, this power up would be permanent.

Because he was going to tap into his unassigned Stat Points.

Although he couldn't use all of them, he had a plan in mind and he had to have the exact amount of stats to do it, but he was still going to use as much as he possibly could without messing up his plan.

So, Kai carefully assigned all the stats.

He had to be incredibly careful and precise, all extra stat points in Will helping him think quicker.

Maths, he always hated maths, and he had never hated it more than the current moment because his entire life was relying on him being correct.

While he had been buying time for Remy to free the Plague Harbinger, there was another reason that Kai had to buy that time, that reason being that he had to Statshift.

During the final two weeks in the cell, he discovered that he didn't actually need to close his eyes to Statshift, it just made the process a little easier for him. Because this plan required him to be so precise with his stat, he had to buy that time to make sure he was correct.

The plus 5000 to all stats had messed it up a little though. He wasn't sure what was going to happen when he touched the seed in his soul, but it certainly wasn't that, especially since the 6% extra Mana from his Soul Core meant that stat increased by an additional 300 compared to the rest.

Adjusting his stats, Kai realised that all the additional stats he received actually made the process easier. He wasn't sure which stat actually helped with Statshifting, but while he could shift a single stat in twelve seconds before this transformation, he could now shift one in less than two seconds.

Which also meant that he could shift them in bulk in roughly the same amount of time.

In the span of ten seconds, which Ezekial had spent increasing the power of the flames behind him, Kai had perfected it.

His stats were now ready.

And they looked like this.

Strength: 5438

Dexterity: 5438

Constitution: 5438

Mana: 5438

Stamina: 5438

Will: 5438

Luck: 5438

Turns out he had been wrong, he had to use every single one of his 717 unassigned stat points to have all his stats be perfectly equal. It took a lot of brain power, he even had to adjust the bonus stats from Soul Flame to make it work, but it was all done now.

Well, not really, there was still one more skill that Kai had to used, and he had saved this one for last just because he had no idea how the boost actually worked.

Ignition.

Realising that he was inevitably running out of time before Ezekial attacked him, Kai used the skill. He was unsure of what the skill would actually do.

But he was extremely pleased when a menu popped up on his Status.

Checking user's level.

User's level confirmed.

Stat boost is limited as the user will not be able to handle the backlash.

Please select how much you would like to boost your stats by.

Kai was then greeted by a bunch of options. He was able to boost every one of his stats separately and boost them buy a different amount, which was a nice feature.

The boost began at 1.1×, but Kai quickly scrolled to the bottom, looking for what was the highest amount he could boost his stats by.

And he quickly found the answer.

Boosting all stats by 2×

Kai felt his body surge with even more power. His muscles throbbed, his lungs sucked in even more oxygen, his Mana was flowing like a river, even his mind was taking in details that he definitely would have missed if he hadn't boosted his stats to this degree.

Those stats now looking like this:

Strength: 10876

Dexterity: 10876

Constitution: 10876

Mana: 10876

Stamina: 10876

Will: 10876

Luck: 10876

Both Kai and Ezekial stared at each other, neither one making the first move. Kai was obviously going to be wary of the blue haired swordsman. Even though his stats had been boosted by an outrageous degree, gaining over 70000 overall, he had no idea what Ezekial's stats were like considering that he could only make out their Stat Sparks.

But even though they didn't want to admit it, Ezekial was somewhat hesitant to engage Kai. They had felt that aura eminate from them, this was not the sort of power someone who's only just gotten out of a tutorial should posses, much less someone who shouldn't hasn't been able to train properly for close to half a year.

Even more, they shouldn't have been able to break out of that cell in the first place. But they had, meaning there was obviously factors to them that Anastasia had missed when she interrogated him.

The snow continued to fall on top of them, but to a much lesser degree since it would get caught on the castle and edges of the cavern before reaching them.

"So, Cotton Candy, any chance you would just like to give up?"

Honestly, Kai wouldn't mind this scenario. Even though he had gone all out, he knew that in a few minutes time he would be on the ground writhing in agony from pushing his body too far. Worst part was, he wasn't even finished yet, he just had to wait for the perfect moment to use the final skill.

Ezekial scoffed as the flames behind his back grew even brighter, looking like they were about to explode.

"You believe that you stand a chance against me? What, you manifest some horrid crown and think that you're strong?

I'm going to enjoy bringing you to the brink of death."

Kai sighed and shook his head softly. Realising that he was on a timer, his grip on Esurient tightened as he looked back up at Ezekial with cold determination.

"How about this. One way or another, this fight will be over in less than five minutes, so let's see how it goes."

Ezekial grinned darkly in response.

"Just shut your mouth and attack me, vermin."

Not needing any more motivation, both Kai and Ezekial disappeared from where they were standing, leaving behind an afterimage where they previously stood.

Then, the sound of their swords colliding echoed throughout the entire city.

*Small Note*

Tomorrow's chapter might be a little later than usual, I'm not sure yet so I'll just give a warning.