Limitless: New Dawn

Arthur's figure vanished from where he stood and reappeared directly behind the golden ape's head. His movement was instantaneous as he drove his fist forward with enough force to pulverize mountains. The punch landed cleanly against the back of the beast's skull, yet the moment contact was made his expression changed. 

Instead of flesh and bone, it felt as though he had punched an indestructible wall forged from divine metal. A violent shock traveled back through his arm, making the bones in his hand crack audibly while the ape's head barely moved. 

Before he could even process what had happened, the beast moved one of its massive arms backward with terrifying speed, attempting to swat him from existence. Arthur immediately teleported away and appeared on the creature's blind spot. 

A silver flash appeared in his hand as he summoned his sword forged from Alloy-X and infused with Element-M. Dense Aether flooded the blade, causing the surrounding space to distort slightly. The moment he reappeared, he swung his blade. 

All that happened in less than a fraction of a second from him taking out the sword till him slashing. Unfortunately, the ape was faster than he expected. Golden light erupted around its body and a translucent golden barrier materialized at the exact point of impact. 

The sword collided against it and a deafening shockwave exploded outward, flattening countless trees throughout the forest. The barrier cracked a little but held strong, Arthur clicked his tongue in annoyance and teleported away once more before another gigantic hand could grab him. The beast’s battle instincts were absurd and its durability was ridiculous, though it was expected from a Moon Level opponent.

This time he appeared several kilometers away and stopped attacking. He curled two fingers into the shape of a gun while fire and lightning rapidly condensed between them. A tiny orb appeared, no larger than a marble at first, yet the energy contained within it continued increasing at a frightening rate. 

The problem was that the ape refused to stand still. The enormous beast crossed kilometers in an instant and appeared before him once more. He teleported again and again all the while the ape followed and chased after him relentlessly. Mountains shattered beneath its feet and ancient trees exploded apart from the pressure generated by its movements. 

Meanwhile Arthur continuously compressed more fire and lightning into the growing sphere. Every dodge bought him another fraction of a second, every second increased the orb's destructive power. 

Soon the sphere had grown to the size of a basketball while crackling arcs of blue lightning danced around crimson flames. The unstable energy distorted the surrounding air and threatened to detonate prematurely. He finally judged that it contained enough power. 

He vanished and appeared behind the ape once more. Without hesitation, he fired the Thunder-Fire Orb directly into its back. The ape's instincts screamed danger at it, and it was still fast enough to erect the golden barrier around its body barely a moment before impact. Then the surrounding area exploded. 

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM! 

The resulting detonation illuminated the forest as fire and lightning engulfed everything within several dozens of kilometers. The shockwave flattened mountains and uprooted countless trees. Even the ape was finally blown away, its massive body tumbling across the earth, carving a trench dozens of kilometers long. 

Arthur watched the beast closely through the dust cloud. As the golden barrier finally shattered and for a moment he thought he had finally injured the beast. Then the dust settled and the ape stood up. Its fur was scorched and patches of its skin were blackened and burnt. Other than that, it appeared almost completely unharmed. 

He stared at it for several seconds before rubbing his forehead. "You're kidding me." 

The ape answered with a roar so powerful that nearby mountain peaks collapsed. He sighed and slowly stored his sword away. He figured he was here for one reason, that is to become stronger, not to have a proper fight.

If he continued relying on techniques, teleportation, and superior versatility, then this battle would simply become another fight. That wasn't what he wanted, what he needed was pressure, an opponent capable of forcing his body to evolve. 

Looking at the golden ape, he finally made a decision. He would stop trying to win, he would stop trying to outsmart the beast. Instead, he would allow the creature to do what it wanted to do, beat him half to death. 

The thought would have sounded insane to almost anyone else. He himself found it somewhat embarrassing. Fortunately, nobody was around to witness it. Taking a deep breath, he rolled his shoulders and looked toward the ape. "Alright then," he muttered. "Come to daddy." 

The ape didn't understand his words, but it clearly interpreted the challenge. With a furious roar it launched itself forward again. This time Arthur didn't teleport away, he planted his feet firmly into the ground and raised his arms. The ape's fist descended like a falling meteor. 

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM! 

He felt his arms pulverized completely. His spine fractured and several of his vertebrae shattered before launching him through three mountains. Entire peaks exploded apart as he passed through them. His body finally came to a stop after carving a canyon nearly twenty kilometers long. 

If not for Pain Tolerance he would be screaming in pain at the moment. Blood poured from his mouth, and several of his internal organs had ruptured. Yet before he could even stand up, his regeneration knitted his flesh together. His bones began reconnecting and damaged organs repaired themselves. 

More importantly, Reactive Evolution immediately got to work. The ability began analyzing the damage, studying the force that caused it and causing his strength and durability to increase. He dragged himself out of the rubble while coughing blood. "Yep," he muttered. "Still feels weird."

The ape didn't give him time to recover, the beast appeared above him and slammed all four fists downward simultaneously. Arthur barely crossed his arms before impact, the resulting explosion created a crater dozens of kilometers wide. 

The ground beneath him collapsed, rocks in the distance cracked from the shockwave alone. He felt both of his arms shatter instantly. The force continued through his body and broke several ribs, yet compared to the previous attack the damage wasn't quite as severe as it should have been. 

Slowly his bones were becoming denser and his muscles were becoming tougher. It wasn't enough to matter yet, but it was happening slowly. The ape continued its assault relentlessly as he was sent flying again and again across the landscape. 

Sometimes the ape grabbed him and used him as a living club against the terrain. Other times it simply punched him into the distance before chasing after him and doing it again. Minutes passed in this manner and the once beautiful forest was rapidly transforming into a wasteland. 

Gigantic trees that had stood for countless years were uprooted, hills disappeared entirely. Through it all Arthur endured and gradually, something began changing. Twenty minutes into the battle the ape landed another devastating punch against his chest. 

Previously such an attack would have shattered every rib in his body. This time only three of his ribs broke which he immediately noticed, so did the ape. The beast paused briefly, clearly confused. Then it punched him again and the damage was even less severe than before. Arthur grinned despite the blood covering his face. "There we go." The ape responded with an angry roar and attacked even more aggressively.

The battle continued, half an hour passed, then forty minutes. By now Arthur looked less like a human and more like a bloody figure. His clothing had long since been destroyed, countless wounds covered his body which were rapidly regenerating. Yet beneath the damage, his physique was undergoing a profound transformation. 

His bones had become dramatically denser and his muscles contained far greater tensile strength. Even his organs had evolved to better withstand blunt force trauma. The changes weren't visible to the naked eye, but he could feel the difference every time the ape hit him. 

The creature launched another punch that smashed directly into his stomach. Arthur was thrown backward several kilometers. Yet this time he immediately stopped himself midair and landed on his feet. He noticed that for the first time since the battle began, absolutely nothing broke in his body and the realization made him laugh.

The ape looked even more confused than before. From its perspective, the fragile creature it had been smashing around for nearly an hour should have died dozens of times already. Instead, the human was standing there laughing. 

Arthur rolled his neck and stretched slightly. Slowly he raised his head and looked directly into the ape's golden eyes. "I think," he said while cracking his knuckles, "we're finally getting somewhere." Across the ruined battlefield, the golden ape growled deeply. For the first time since the fight began, it no longer looked at Arthur as prey but as an opponent.

For several seconds neither Arthur nor the golden ape moved. The battlefield that had once been a thriving forest now resembled the aftermath of an apocalypse. Hundreds of kilometers of woodland had been erased from existence. 

Entire mountain ranges had been reduced to rubble. Craters large enough to contain massive lakes scarred the landscape in every direction. The destruction was so extensive that even the distant bands of four-armed apes watching from afar had retreated further into the wilderness. 

Their earlier excitement had long vanished. Now they watched in complete silence, their instinct told them that the battle unfolding before them was no longer something they could watch safely. It had become a clash between monsters.

***

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