Even the demon Og'tharoz was surprised to see Azrakthar in his new form, which was much more robust, muscular and frightening than his 'pure' form. So when Azrakthar advanced towards Kaizen, Og'tharoz instinctively thought of stopping him, but when he took the first step, Azrakthar seemed to turn into an intangible blur of movement, like a flash of memory.
Og'tharoz was fast, perhaps one of the fastest demons even though he had been retired for a long time, but even he was stunned by Azrakthar's new speed.
'He's achieved all this just by increasing his muscles?' he thought, surprised. 'I have to stop him, otherwise Kaizen will be in...'
Out of an overprotective instinct, or perhaps an unconscious underestimation, Og'tharoz hadn't noticed the difference in Kaizen, so he was sure that Kaizen couldn't overcome a physical force as oppressive as Azrakthar's. So, in those few millennia, he was able to stop Kaizen. Then, in those milliseconds, with Azrakthar moving towards Kaizen and Og'tharoz's eyes moving towards Kaizen, the Psyker literally disappeared in the fraction of an instant and reappeared just above the muscular demon.
"Don't let me out of your sight, or this could be the end of you." Kaizen said, already on top of Azrakthar, and landed a powerful punch on him.
What's more, Kaizen's punch that hit Azrakthar had such overwhelming force that it created a shockwave that made the ground tremble, cracking the earth beneath the feet of anyone who dared to watch the celestial battle. The ether around Kaizen seemed to vibrate in resonance with the blow, a golden energy pulsing like a heavenly heart and a thin gong sound echoing everywhere.
While Azrakthar was blurry-eyed, almost unconscious, and still being crushed by Kaizen's fist, Cephal, although thrown far, proved resilient. He rose from the ruins of the building and seeing this dimension of power that Kaizen had reached, he shouted:
"HAHAHAHAHA! You're all screwed! Look at this guy!"
Cephal's words were not just for the demons, but for all the Evolved and elite players who were watching the broadcast of this battle around the world.
Immediately, social networks exploded with comments about the incredible power Kaizen had achieved. Forums were buzzing with theories and speculation.
Comments flooded instant messaging chats, and the hashtag #KaizenVsAzrakthar dominated social media.
In Japan, a gamer called Takeshi, known for being the Captain of the White Moon Guild, put down his video game controller and took off his headphones to pay more attention to the broadcast that was playing on the fourth monitor in his room. "Um... Then a new chair will join the table."
In Russia, Yan, a player specializing in magic, muttered to himself as he watched this on the screen of his limousine:
"As always, so flashy Kaizen... Will you take your spotlight to the world of the Evolved now or will it be snuffed out before then?"
Meanwhile, players all over Midgard were also broadcasting their own streams, so there was a view of everyone's reactions in the squares of places like Holinda, the Tretidian Capital and the Vrikhodour Capital, among other smaller towns and cities. Even on the vast, unspoiled plains south of Vrikhodour, and even in the darkest corners of the human kingdoms, the audience awaited the continuation of the battle with bated breath. E
As expected, in the world's TOP 1 legendary guild, Kaizen's transformation had also become news.
Goldrudder was sitting in his office when one of his men entered, looking a little desperate, and said:
"Mr. Goldrudder, you need to see this immediately!" The guild member was carrying a screen showing the battle between Kaizen and Azrakthar.
Goldrudder stared at the screen for a few seconds, then rose from his chair. His lips curved into a subtle smile. "It looks like our comrade Kaizen is about to make history."
"Doesn't that worry you, sir? I know that Evolved appear every week, but it's not common for them to be strong at this level."
"Actually, it makes me excited." Goldrudder said, scratching his beard and turning around the table.
"Excited?" asked the man, surprised. "Why do you say that, sir?"
"Isn't it obvious? It was only a matter of time before another Evolved appeared as strong as me, that is if Kaizen isn't even stronger than I was when I became an Evolved, even though I've only been playing for a very short time. This makes me think that either he's working for someone, or he has a very strong motivation to become an Evolved, maybe both... And he'll have guidance on how to act from now on, whether with Cephal or with others... It will be interesting to have someone like that, because it seems like it will liven things up a bit and will force some others of us to come out of the shadows for the first time."
At the same time, in Rio de Janeiro, a player called Lucas let out an inaudible swear word while watching the broadcast, because his mouth was full of food. His fingers, normally nimble on the keyboard, stopped moving. He couldn't believe his eyes. "Kaizen... he... he's real? KHAHAHAHA!" He laughed, his eyes fixed on the screen as if he feared missing a single detail of this epic confrontation. "This guy is really good, I want to meet him at the next meeting!"
In the heart of London, Emily, an exceptionally talented information-gatherer, let out an involuntary sigh. Her eyes sparkled with fascination and she muttered to herself:
"This is going to change everything... literally everything."
Meanwhile, in Seoul, a group of elite players were gathered around a giant hologram of Kaizen's file, with all the information ever released about him. Among these players was Min-Jae.
"Who knew Kaizen would get to this point so quickly? Come on, work on getting more information about him, even if you have to scour the entire internet!"
The news spread like wildfire through gaming forums and social networks, and within minutes more hashtags, such as #BattleCelestial and #KaizenEvolved, became global trends. The world was watching the clash that would decide the fate of an entire Human Kingdom and victory was only a few steps away, yet defeat was only ten minutes away, because the sun was about to rise.