Just as he was pondering how to deal with this massive "technological empire"—
The bar door was pushed open again.
This time, the figure that walked in was cold, solitary, as if completely out of place with the entire world.
Sharp blue short hair covered half her face. A fitted military vest and shorts highlighted her explosive, healthy, athletic physique.
Her face held no expression whatsoever, like an ice sculpture that would never melt.
It was Leona.
She was travel-worn, clearly just returned from some battlefield, still carrying a faint scent of gunpowder.
When she saw Cloud, those cold, waveless eyes finally showed a ripple.
She didn't speak, simply walked straight to Cloud, then said in an almost commanding tone: "I... need your help."
...
South Town, seaside, an abandoned dock.
This was the "exclusive training ground" Cloud had selected for Leona.
"Your problem isn't about strength—it's about perception."
Cloud looked at this girl who suffered so much from her inability to perfectly control the "Orochi Blood" within her, and spoke slowly.
This was Cloud's third time helping Leona. This time, he was determined to help her completely overcome her power predicament.
"What is the Orochi Blood to you?"
"It's... a curse." Leona's voice was hoarse and low. "It made me lose my reason, hurt... the people closest to me."
Her eyes were filled with endless self-blame and pain.
"No." Cloud shook his head. "You're wrong."
He extended his hand. Under Leona's surprised gaze, a pure power filled with destruction and rebirth—"Chaos Divine Power"—manifested in his palm.
"Power, in itself, has no good or evil."
"A knife, in a chef's hands, can create delicious cuisine; in a butcher's hands, it can divide livestock; in a villain's hands, it can take lives. The knife is still the same knife. What determines its use is... the one holding it."
"The Orochi Blood is the same. It can become a curse that destroys you, or it can become... a power that protects you. The key is whether you want to be its slave, or... its master."
Leona froze.
"Come, attack me." Cloud withdrew his power and told her. "Use your berserker power. Don't suppress it. Let it... completely erupt."
"But... I'm afraid..." Leona's body was trembling slightly.
"With me here, what are you afraid of?" Cloud's face showed a reassuring smile. "Trust me."
Looking at Cloud's eyes—full of confidence and gentleness—another corner of the ice-like wall in Leona's heart melted.
She took a deep breath and nodded.
"—ROAAAAR!!!"
A howl filled with madness and violence erupted from her mouth!
Her hair instantly changed from blue to an ominous blood-red!
Her pupils also turned a bloodthirsty crimson!
The violent, destruction-hungry "Orochi Power" surged from within her like a dam breaking!
Riot of the Blood!
This was the state Leona feared most, and hated most!
"DIE—!!!"
After going berserk, Leona completely lost her reason, charging at Cloud like a crazed beast with murderous intent to tear everything apart!
Yet facing this attack that would make any top-tier fighter blanch—
Cloud simply stood there, motionless.
He didn't even blink.
Just as Leona's sharp hand-blade—capable of slicing through steel—was about to touch his throat—
Cloud moved.
He didn't dodge, didn't block.
He simply reached out and gently drew this girl lost in madness into his embrace.
"..."
Leona's frenzied attack instantly halted.
Her body froze in Cloud's arms.
She could feel a power more ancient, more domineering than the "Orochi Blood" within her, slowly flowing from Cloud's body into hers.
That power didn't try to suppress the violent "Orochi Power" within her.
It was "analyzing" it.
[Ding! Deep Analysis function activated!]
[Analysis Target: Orochi Blood within Leona Heidern (Gaidel Branch)]
[Analyzing underlying logic... structural principles... energy circuits...]
[Analyzing... 10%... 50%... 90%...]
[Analysis complete!]
[Conclusion: This bloodline power is essentially a cycle of life energy plundering and conversion. The berserker state occurs because the host's mental power is insufficient to process the massive energy that erupts instantaneously, causing the energy circuit to short-circuit and triggering a system crash.]
[Solutions: 1. Increase mental power capacity; 2. Optimize energy circuits, add circuit breakers; 3. Install an external CPU for auxiliary processing.]
Cloud looked at the system's solution—which read like "a programmer debugging code"—and understood.
His "Chaos Divine Power" was the perfect "external CPU"!
"Listen, Leona."
Cloud carefully guided the violent energy within Leona, directing it to flow along a new, more efficient pathway.
"Feel it. Don't resist it. It's not your enemy—it's part of you. Like your arms, your legs."
"Rage, madness, destruction... these are only its surface emotions. Beneath these emotions is... pure power itself, yearning to be controlled."
Under Cloud's hypnotic-like whispers and his domineering yet gentle power's guidance—
The violent, rampaging "Orochi Power" within Leona began to become docile and obedient.
She could feel herself truly "touching" the core of this power.
After an unknown amount of time—
The blood-red glow on her body slowly faded.
Her hair returned to blue.
Her pupils returned to calm.
She had actively emerged from the berserker state. And by her own will.
She collapsed weakly into Cloud's arms, gasping heavily.
But her face wore a smile of relief. Like glaciers melting, snow lotuses blooming.
...
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