"Hhmm?" Kufa turned her head toward Taku's direction. Kuda followed suite while whistling. "Wow princess, didn't know your bro had it in him. I didn't know he would go this far."

"What did you do?" Kufa's face turned red and she wanted nothing more than to burn the wh.o.r.e to a crisp. She was not sure what had happened, the events had taken place too far away, but the spike in zesa around Taku's location drew her attention.

"Let's just say I gave him something to even the odds. Anyway, he isn't important. Let's focus on us. Have to admit, you are pretty hot." Said Kuda with a glint in her eye.

"Disgusting." Said Kufa. The very idea of Kuda being s.e.xually attracted to her made her stomach turn. Kuda's sword rested on her shoulder as she replied, "b.i.t.c.h please, I've heard the rumours. You and I are alike, I know you are also on my team."

"It seems you are mistaken about something wh.o.r.e." Said Kufa as she landed.

Kuda raised a brow."What might that be."

"I am indeed into women, however, I am the hunter. Never the hunted. Plus, I never get with other lesbians." A snort escaped her lips while she dismissed such a heinous idea.

"Tsk tsk tsk princess." Kuda shook her head. "It is you who is mistaken. I am not a lesbian. I'm bis.e.xual. What a waste it would be to only pluck fruit from one tree don't you think? One needs a bit of variety in their diet. Besides, I know you are attracted to me. I can see it in your eyes."

"While your body is indeed to my liking, your existence is not!" Kufa covered her body in Nether Flames, as her aura rose, so did the temperature for at least a kilometer. Kuda raised her sword defensively.

Kuda was well aware that this was merely an avatar, but she still didn't dare underestimate it. The avatar only had a portion of Kufa's power but she was still a gold level talent. One who was quite capable of overcoming her limits. Kuda had done so, so she a.s.sumed that her enemy could as well.

'Always a.s.sume that your opponent is at least as good as you are, if not better, if you feel that they are threatening.' These were words given to her master, and she took them to heart.

Kufa raised a palm to the skies as zesa gathered around her. Within an instant, a gigantic palace made out of flames appeared in the skies. The structure exuded majesty, Kuda was like an ant in front of the gigantic construct, while Kufa looked majestic holding it up.

"Take this." Without sparing any more words, Kufa dropped the ma.s.sive structure on her opponent, hoping in the deepest recesses of her heart that she would be able to block it!

...

"Urgh." Nhamo groaned while holding his head, it throbbed and he shut his eyes tight. He hoped to somehow relieve the splitting pain. He knelt on one knee and tried to force himself to stand but to no avail, the pain was severe.

"What? What happened? Did I lose consciousness? For how long?"

Nhamo tried to look around, finding nothing but a sea of thick smoke. This was no regular smoke either. It somehow made a Kusakura powerhouse like Nhamo lose his bearings.

"What is this? Hmph!" Nhamo snorted while he gathered some zesa in his hand as he stood up.

"Ha!"

Nhamo clapped with all his might, creating a shockwave that dispersed the smoke near him. What was revealed made his pupils constrict.

Half of his squad, or rather what was left of them, littered the ground around Taku. To the left were charred remains that were smoking, with the occasional spark here and there. While the bodies to the right were charred with Nether Flames still burning, consuming the remainder of the corpses down to the bone.

Nhamo was well experienced with the Imperial Nether Flame, so he needed little more than a glance to identify it.

"This brat is royalty!"

Nhamo finally had an inkling of Taku's ident.i.ty, but it didn't make sense to him.

"Why would the Gumbo attack one of their own?"

Nhamo was a part of the Gumbo Family but he was a distant relative. He knew very well that the royal clans were tight knit units. There may be factions, but they valued their bloodlines, and did their best to cultivate their most talented heirs.

Taku's flame was so pure that the very sight of it made Nhamo s.h.i.+ver. He could tell that Taku must be part of the main line of succession, so why on earth was he being hunted like a stray dog?

All of this took some time to explain but happened in less than a fraction of a second. Nhamo gathered his wits about him and focused on the cause of all of these events.

"This! This is!"

Nhamo knew that Taku had taken a burning power pill, and he knew what the effects were.

"Shouldn't he be going berserk?"

Standing before him was a Taku completely different from what he knew. A white viscous liquid was leaving the boy's body, and parts of that liquid were changing into smoke that seeped into his surroundings.

Nhamo was a man who had been honed by hundreds of life and death battles. His intuition had kept him alive many a time, and this time it was telling him something.

"That liquid is dangerous!"

Taku was just as surprised as Nhamo, if not more. He thought he would be berserk, but it seems that the smoke interfered. Now it was not appropriate to call it smoke as it was currently in liquid form.

Taku's cultivation had entered Kudyara level. The first sub level of the Kusakura level. He had jumped 3 levels in power. And the results were quite pleasing.

"So as my power increases it changes state? If I become stronger will it become a solid? Just what on earth is this." Taku observed the liquid. Since he had no idea what it was he decided to call the ability Product X. So right now it was liquid Product X, with some gaseous Product X here and there.

The spike in power came with quite a few boons. For starters, Taku felt like his control over Product X had increased by leaps and bounds. It was almost as if it was now more than just an extension of his body. It had become another sense entirely.

Taku's control, power, and ability had experienced a qualitative and quant.i.tative leap, and he decided to make full use of it.

The soldiers from before were still there despite their numbers being hacked in two. Some were unconscious while others began to wake up. Taku realized that he had to take this opportunity, thus he decided to dispose of them while he could. Currently, Taku's zesa was at the peak of the Kudyara level, as this was the limit his current body could take. Most of the soldiers were also around that level, with some at the Kurima level, the level after Kudyara. Nhamo was the only peak Kurima warrior there, a cut above the rest, but Taku decided to dispose of the weaker ones.

The young man wanted to take advantage of his current state, so he started brainstorming on how to better understand his abilities as a whole. Meanwhile, Nhamo was inwardly screaming. Taku's aura was becoming more intimidating by the second. This was the suppression effect royalty had over others.

This was the same issue Maka had suffered when facing Kufa's avatar. It was an ability known as the Tyrant's Oppression. It had many effects, but at Taku's current level all he could do was intimidate Nhamo and his men. This intimidation was very effective, because it made one become unable to use their full ability.

Taku was unaware of the fact that he was emitting the Tyrant's Oppression, thus he didn't know the advantage he now had. Currently, with Taku's pure bloodline and his cultivation level, he was able to make Nhamo and his men one sub level weaker than they actually were.