Chapter 271 Jon Stones' Survival Journey And Evolution

At his last moments…

He chuckled. "I lost…"

"Do not defile me, give me the honor of dying a warrior's death".

Jon Stones was a man of few words. Despite being embroiled in the incredible emotion of the moment, those who really knew him knew that he would have faced death silently, he spoke because of one reason.

After centuries of pushing the limits of the Pugilist Class, evolving to become stronger than any other Pugilist, Jon Stones learned a few truths.

Apart from the truth of grit, he also learned the truth of self-preservation.

In Planet Darvis, despite being the supers with the toughest skins and most explosive hand-to-hand combat power, Pugilists had the highest death rate. There was a tendency for these block heads to not use their brain in battle.

They preferred bravely charging to death than calculating meticulously.

Originally, Jon Stones was once like that but as he grew stronger, he discovered that their approach was essentially flawed. No matter how strong a Pugilist was, there was always a stronger enemy.

If you could not survive against a stronger enemy, there were few chances of returning stronger to defeat and kill that enemy.

Faced with this epiphany, Jon Stones was able to adjust his approach.

After a century of growth, he was able to create the ultimate life-preservation skill that he intended to only pass on to his student before he died.

'Stones Specialty: Returning to Dust; Surviving as a Speckle!'

He whispered this and activated this incredible ability in his mind while Clown looked him down, he did not use it in the end because of Commander Kratos's decision to help him with others of his subordinates.

After their courageous display which only ended up in them dying all the more, Jon Stones realized even more how fragile Pugilists' lives were.

The sight of Kratos' death pushed him more into regret.

Amid his regrets, he fought his last desperate battle with Din and was overpowered. His extreme emotional state almost made him lose grasp of the ability, but the regret of Kratos' death pumped him to hold tight to it.

After Kratos' death, he received another epiphany.

This epiphany amplified his new Pugilist super way for self-preservation.

'Kratos died because he was too reckless, I can't leave his death meaningless'.

Bam!

As soon as Din dealt the killing blow and as his head separated from his neck, he felt his vitality rapidly draining from his body. Like he expected though, Clown did not leave him be, this Elementalists flooded his body with fire.

While his body was roasted to ashes, the ability took effect!

'Stones Specialty: Returning to Dust; Surviving as a Speckle!'

As his body turned to ashes, a speck of dust separated from his body. This speck of dust carried his remaining power, it carried his essence and escaped.

Unlike Daemon's also amazing Cell Transportation, this was even more untraceable, none of his enemies detected it as the speck of dust escaped.

It drifted with the wind towards the sea.

The longer it stayed in the air, the more its integrity weakened but luckily, a Tuna Fish swam nearby, attracting the attention of the speckle. Its strong self-preservation instincts were triggered as it instantly entered the Tuna's body.

Plop!

Just a tiny sound reverberated, even the Tuna didn't detect it.

…

Inside the body of the Tuna as a speck of dust was dark, very dark.

As soon as the dust survived, using its remaining energy, it started moving like a parasite. It aimed to infect one of the tiny cells but the fish's immune system was strong, after a battle that lasted 2 hours, the dust finally won.

As soon as it became a cell, exhausted from the battle, it fell into hibernation.

…

2 days later, the cell woke up and new instincts developed.

The cell developed a predator instinct towards other cells. Without hesitation, this cell started cannibalizing other cells. The other cells could not resist, this cell cannibalized so much until it became a super cell.

A few hours later, it evolved, turning into a deadly virus that invaded the immune system of the fish. In a day, the virus completely took over the fish.

Bzzz!

This was when Jon Stones' consciousness revived.

He was shocked. 'I survived…?'

Since over a century ago after he created this ability, this was only his 2nd time using it. First was against an opponent that he still felt humiliated around due to his carelessness, 2nd was the coalition of Black Masters.

A lot of things filled his mind but he shelved them and focused on survival.

This Tuna developed abilities that enabled it to cannibalize on other fish. From a fish, he took over the body of a shark. Then on the 3rd day, he finally recovered enough as he swam to the edge of the sea.

There, the shark's body collapsed and from its ruins came out a human.

Jon Stones was reborn!

As soon as he stepped foot on bare ground again and he breath the fresh air, the first thing that came to his mind was the regret.

'Why was I so obsessed with challenging myself…?'

'Why was I not content with my power…?'

'Why was I not content with keeping and protecting what I had…?'

'I didn't even get to reciprocate Eleanor's feelings…'

In the end, he simply sighed. "Ahh…"

By now, he already heard about the fall of the Pugilist Academy from fishermen at sea, he didn't have a home to return to.

Instead of going to visit any of his old friends though, Jon Stones decided to go on a walk, a long walk without eating around the planet. For days, Jon Stones walked the planet while thinking of different things.

Most of his inner thoughts were focused on his regrets after his defeat.

For a long time, he already felt invincible, this defeat served as a wake-up call to him. After surviving the fall from grace, a lot of things became open to him.

During the long walk, he got a lot of epiphanies.

Through just walking, Jon Stones grew stronger.

After days of the walk, he finally stopped, he came to a conclusion. "No matter how powerful I become, inherently, I am still a human".

"Humans are social beings…, I can't cut myself off from them".

His eyes shone in understanding. "The criteria to taking the next step for a superhuman of my level is embracing the uniqueness of my species as a human".

Instantly, Jon Stones opened his heart to emotions that he usually fought before. He opened his heart to love, happiness, and most importantly, contentment. "I'm a legend, I'm celebrated in my Planet".

As he made these changes, something instantly changed in his energy.

His Pugilist energy changed, it evolved.

After all these, Jon Stones walked to a random direction. After hours of walking, he found himself in a familiar pocket space, in a familiar hut.

…

On seeing him, Eleanor's eyes watered. "You survived…?"

"Eleanor". Jon Stones calmly turned to look at her.

The White Flame could no longer hold herself, overwhelmed by emotions, she ran forward before jumping into his embrace. Shockingly, Jon Stones did not push her back like a bitter sigma this time, he took her embrace!

Eleanor was shocked but she was too emotional to pay attention to it.

The embrace lasted a long time as Jon Stones let himself soak in the company of a beautiful female warrior who had loved him for a long time.

The more time he spent in the embrace, the more he realized how much he was missing. "So refreshing…"

"Huh?"

Eleanor wanted to break the embrace but he held her tight.

After a few more minutes, Eleanor asked. "You became stronger".

"Yes, I got an epiphany and made some realizations, I'm not yet at the Grade B realm yet but I am close, I think I am a Grade C+ superhuman now".

Eleanor was surprised but she kept on enjoying the embrace, who knew if Stones would come to his senses the next moment and push her away?

None of that happened though, instead, she heard something shocking.

"I love you too". Jon Stones voiced these words in such a strained manner like he was spitting out an atomic bomb but once he did, he relaxed a lot.

Eleanor froze as soon as she heard it.

"I mean it…" The masculine voice added a moment later.

Instantly, this female felt the heat in her body rising. It also affected Jon Stones as he became too drawn in the moment, they kissed.

From kissing, clothes were ripped apart.

For the first time in all his life, Jon Stones was about to lose his virginity!

This Pugilist was dragged into a deep world of euphoria and pleasure the next moment, pleasure unlike anything that he had experienced all his life.

While war threatened, these 2 warriors let their passion lead.

*****

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