Ki Horizons - [Litrpg, Adventure, Power Levels]

It was do or die.

A monster of a man, more evil than anything I'd ever known approached me. The head researcher who'd cloned me more than a thousand times and killed me more than a thousand times. Countless people experimented on and dead lay at his feet.

A man with a power level in the triple digits, more than I could see. Anywhere from [101] to [999]. Someone Cooler had fought against and nearly died against, pulling out power far beyond me.

Weakened but not enough for someone like me to hurt, even if I could use Ki.

I held my arms up, focusing, a million and one things distracting me. My trouble breathing, my tired and exhausted body, the blood pouring out of me from so many wounds, the burns searing my body, my broken bones, and so much more.

It was hopeless and yet-

Cough

Cooler lay, practically dying behind me. A man cloned and born for the sole purpose of experimentation, the last survivor in a way. Just like me, just like so many others. A victim and an ally. A brother in arms. Not just for my own life, but for his too, I couldn't afford to give up. Not when he'd fought against this person the whole time by himself. Not when he had been so close to victory and freedom.

I blocked it all out, everything, the Director's words, the room, the pain, the numbness. I had no guide, no answer, no teacher. I'd not been taught this, deemed too dangerous. I had no true examples, my natural talent struggling to understand Ki currently. Like a mystery behind a locked door. But…

I did have one person I could learn from still.

Myself.

I'd done it once before, when things were dire, at power level [7]. I could do it again. I had to do it again. And yet…

Every step the Director took closer was one less I could afford. I had no idea what to grip, no idea what I'd been thinking then, no idea how I'd done it. I just- I had to do this! I was running out of time, I had to-

Another step.

Another.

Panic began to eat away at me as no blast or beam came from my arms. What was wrong? How do I do this? What can I do? How do I- How do I- How had I done this last time? What's going on?! What do I do?!

I'd been scared and I'd seen Ragual about to die and, and, and-

And I refused.

Was that it then? Was that what I needed to do? Alright, I refuse! I refuse for you to come closer! I refuse for you to live! I, I refuse-

Another step.

My heartbeat echoed in my ears as my eyes shook. No, no no no. Not like this. I don't want to lose like this, to die like this. Not down here, not in this chamber, not with someone I needed to protect behind me. I had to… to…

"A poor bluff." The Director said.

"Run… Mutai…" Cooler's voice, desperate and scared came from behind me.

Tears of frustration streamed down my face.

I'd been through so much, it hurt so much, everything was so much. It wasn't possible, it wasn't doable, it was Vega all over again. Beyond me, so utterly beyond me. I…

I…

I just want to live. I just want everyone to live peacefully with me. Why was that so much to ask for?

What did I need to do, why…

My life flashed before my eyes, taking in all the moments as the Director's ghastly visage came ever closer. A true reaper manifested, coming to take my life. Coming to take away everything. I…

I closed my eyes. Remember. Remember the feeling. Remember the sensation. Remember the dream. Remember…

"It's hard to trust someone with ultimate power."

Out of all the words… it's Ryu's who comes back to me.

"No one person can be that high above everyone else, so unstoppable against everyone else."

I'd disagreed. That was a mindset of fear.

"Rabahgahdan could've made everyone just as strong as him before putting limits on himself. He had that kind of power. He would've understood that, I think. The dragons, they were just afraid and greedy."

Good people strengthen people to the same heights. They don't push down. Trusting no one with Ultimate Power just means a bad person will find their way to it. Vega, The Director, The Smile Company as a whole, and so many more evil people out there. Villians, crushing anyone who tries to rise.

But Good People raise people up.

Vincent training till he bled with me.

Ragual fighting with me just to see my goal fulfilled.

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Master teaching me without holding back.

Cooler protecting me from the Director.

Powerful people, all helping me every step of the way. All raising me up. All making me stronger, happier, better. Brothers, teachers, defenders, and more. Who would I be without any of them? Not just dead, but lesser in all the ways that mattered.

I want to live in a world with them all.

A world without fear.

A world at peace.

The Universe seemed to endlessly expand all at once and…

I saw a golden road with rainbow edges as I touched the Ki Horizon.

Blue beams exploded out the end of my palms, a great storm of energy inside me becoming unleashed and slamming into the Director.

My eyes widened as I felt the Ki travel out of me, through me, and from me. Fully unleashing a shocking amount of power, enough to actually hurt the Mecha-Rex from before. Enough to do something, enough to-!

The Director continued to walk forward, unfazed.

My shock was total, but I didn't dare give up, pouring all of the energy inside me into the beams, forcing them to grow stronger and more powerful. I could feel the storm as they pressed out of me, exploded forward. And yet, they did nothing.

"I told you." The Director said over the sounds of my beams striking his bare chest. "You can't harm me."

"NO!" I screamed. I refused! There's no way, there's no way I was going to give it my all just for nothing to happen! He was weaker, he was, he was injured!

I could do this! I can do this! I had to do this!

My beams grew, the energy becoming rapidly streamlined, smoother, faster, better. My whole mind poured forth, dissecting it, finding the best way to make it grow, learning and learning and learning as fast as I could!

The beams seemed to grow more and become a different color, a more vibrant blue. The Director raised an eyebrow but continued approaching, He was less than ten feet away. No, no, not after all this! Not after I'd come this far!

So many fights, so many battles, so much blood, sweat, and tears, all to die now?

"I…"

I stared into those eyes, those horrifying eyes that only saw an annoyance, and felt despair start to envelop me. I was… going to die even after using Ki like this? I.. I…

"I… can't win."

My body shook and my beams nearly stopped. I can't win. None of this was something I should've been involved in and yet I'd been forced to. Assholes come to kill me once again. I wasn't strong enough yet. All I could do was go out in a blaze of glory. I-

I firmed up. If I couldn't win, if I was going to die, maybe I could at least hurt him a little bit. Give him some wounds to remember me by, even enough for Cooler to escape or even kill him! If I was to die here… so be it! But I refuse to go out with a crushed spirit. I'll do as much as I can as I embrace the end!

"I can't win." I said, accepting my fate with a crazy grin. "I'm going to die here but let's see if I can't take you down with me!"

The Director's eyes widened and I saw something that nearly made me laugh in ecstasy. Fear. Fear in his eyes as he-

"I refuse." A voice came from beside me as an arm grabbed my own.

My eyes widened in shock, turning to see Cooler standing there. His body had begun to truly be injured, the black veins seeming to try to melt straight out of him, but he stood.

"Cooler!"

"You can't win… but maybe we can."

The Director wasn't stupid, he tried to get out of the way but-

My Ki suddenly jumped in intensity, far beyond anything I could ever produce, slamming into the Director. No longer did he seem casual nor walk forward, now he raised his arm to block, as if he was being buffeted and pounded down upon by a mountain.

I stared at my own beams and Ki in shock, feeling power unlike anything I'd ever known. It felt like the slightest touch could utterly decimate me, even the smallest atom could unmake me. I turned to Cooler, his arm still on mine, only to see something more shocking.

The black… was receding. All across his body. No, no, not receding. I was… absorbing it?!

"This Ki… isn't mine." Cooler said, seemingly in a daze as it traveled out from him and into me. "I was just… borrowing it."

The black across his body lessened as his red markings went back to normal but they didn't simply disappear, they flowed down his body and through his arms and into mine where-

"AHHHHH!"

I screamed as pain erupted across me in a way I hadn't known was possible. If not for Cooler's arm on mine I would've collapsed. It was too much! Too much! Too much power!

"Hold on Mutai!" Cooler yelled in my ears as my beams grew black and the power went up and up and up. Double, triple, ten times, a hundred times! My body, my arms, they were going to explode again!

And the pain! It was like my soul was on fire! I was going to break!

"Fight it Mutai! I…" Cooler stared at the Director now struggling with all his might and the last of his Ki just to survive and Mutai, the first person he'd known truly free of this hell, his first true ally, nearly about to die.

"I need you!"

My soul shook.

"You… Monsters!" The Director said, barely able to speak as he fought for his life. "I'll kill you both!"

The beams changed. From black, they grew brighter and brighter, slowly going to blue. But they didn't stop there. Brighter, stronger, lighter. From blue to yellow. No. No, not yellow.

Golden.

"My name… is Mutai." I said, my voice echoing as if in a trance. My mind felt far and near. But my soul burned bright.

He needed me.

I was needed.

I could save him. I could save someone. I could save someone! I would save him. I wouldn't allow anyone else to die. I wouldn't allow evil to go unpunished. I wouldn't allow any more of my family to die in this world. For him, for others, for myself.

I was torn from my paradise and cast into hell but the answer had always been so simple.

I'd simply destroy hell.

"I am a Warrior! I am a Protector! And I won't let you destroy anyone anymore!"

"DIE!"

The Director screamed as the Golden beams burned him away entirely, but not just him. They kept going, blasting through what was left of the room and carving a hole through the whole facility. I fell back, my Ki fully unleashed, and carved a hole straight up and up and up!

I collapsed, my Ki totally spent, feeling worse than anything I'd ever felt. And that was saying a lot.

I simply breathed, blood and wounds leaking, taking it all in.

"We… We won!"

I looked to Cooler, but he wasn't looking at me. His eyes were staring up, enraptured, and… and he was crying.

I looked up and-

"Is that… the sun?"

I smiled wide as the mid day sun shone on us both.