Super Gene

“Why even bother? Losing is better than dying!” The fox woman sighed mournfully from the distance as she watched.

The seal was right behind Han Sen. He could teleport away before the punch came down on him, and it seemed like the only viable choice to ensure his own survival. But he didn’t. Instead, he carried on fighting with his now-broken body.

But considering how injured and outmatched he was, it seemed unlikely that any strength he mustered would be enough to withstand a punch delivered by Shale.

“He doesn’t know his place! Kill him!” Liyu Zhen clenched his fists into tight, white-knuckled balls. His eyes were red as he shouted spitefully at the video feed.

Li Xue Cheng was the same. This fight was about to end in exactly the way he had been hoping for all along. They were going to win the bet.

There was no way that Han Sen could avoid the punch that was coming down on him. And there were only two possible results of trying to block that blow: he could either die or be disabled. Whichever actually happened, Han Sen couldn’t reasonably carry on fighting. No one was going to stop Shale from reaching first place in the silkworm bout.

Pang!

Han Sen’s fist struck that scary punch. The armor that protected his fists and his arms exploded, and Han Sen’s entire body flew forward. As he sailed through the air, his Spell armor shattered to pieces like a broken vase.

“Game over.” Open Sky Elder was very sad to see this. He thought he had lost his Open Sky jewelry.

Exquisite and Li Keer’s faces changed. Han Sen’s heart never gave up hope. He kept sending them the message that he could keep on going, no matter the odds, but his self geno armor was broken, and his body was severely injured. Hopefully, he would survive, but he couldn’t keep on fighting.

Now, they could only pray that Han Sen didn’t succumb to the remaining force of the impact. Exquisite was tempted to leap onto the battlefield to save him from doom.

Many of the Very High people who had believed Han Sen was going to win were now all silent. Han Sen had tried his best, but there was too much of a gap between the powers of a King and a deified. Shale was too strong, and so they couldn’t blame Han Sen for losing. However, their hearts bled when they thought about everything they had bet and were going to lose.

Only Li Xue Cheng and Liyu Zhen were excited enough to start jumping around with glee. They almost hugged each other.

After this fight, they’d reap a bounty of rewards. The resources they were about to receive might support them all the way up to the deified butterfly class. And on top of that, they’d also lay claim to priceless treasures of untold might.

Pang!

Han Sen’s body slammed against the seal again. Liyu Zhen and Li Xue Cheng were ready to start clapping, but they suddenly froze in place.

They weren’t the only members of the audience who were staring in shock. Everyone was. After Han Sen’s body hit the seal, he didn’t fall to the ground. He just remained where he was. He was floating.

That broken body of his was releasing a weird shockwave that they could barely detect. Then, his form became shrouded in bright light.

But when they looked closer, they could see that it wasn’t a bright light. It was a cloud of white powder-like dust. And the white powder was gathering around Han Sen’s body.

In the blink of an eye, a white set of armor had wrapped itself around Han Sen’s body. The broken Spell armor was back, and it looked as good as new.

No. It was even more powerful than before it had been damaged. The symbol on the armor was shining brilliantly, releasing a scary presence. The holy light wrapped slowly around Han Sen’s body. He was like some god spirit from a holy mountain.

“He is becoming half-deified!” Exquisite and Li Keer were the first to react to this. They could feel that Han Sen’s power was exploding in the breadth of its magnitude.

“In the middle of all that, he became half-deified… This guy is too much.” Many of the Very High who were watching the fight looked absolutely stunned.

It was possible to level up during a fight, but leveling up required a lot of power to support. In Shale’s case, he had already taken in the Demon Fruit, and he was supremely powerful already. So, it made a certain amount of sense that he was able to break through during a fight and become deified.

But Han Sen’s body was entirely broken. His self armor had been wrecked. In that injured state of his, it should have been impossible for him to level up.

But Han Sen had become half-deified in that situation. It was a difficult thing to grasp.

“So what if he is half-deified? Half-deifieds are just another form of King class. He can’t fight Shale,” Li Xue Cheng snarled, gnashing his teeth.

He wasn’t happy to see this. He only hoped Shale still had what it took to kill his opponent quickly.

But Shale merely looked at Han Sen. He didn’t attack him like Li Xue Cheng wanted him to.

“You are a perplexing man. You became half-deified, even in the middle of all this,” Shale said while looking at Han Sen.

“It was just a stroke of good luck,” Han Sen said with a smile.

Shale shook his head with a grave sense of gravitas. “There is no such thing as luck in this universe. Luck is a rigged lottery. Any winner might think that they are lucky, but no matter how lucky they are, they wouldn’t have won if they never bought the ticket.”

Han Sen didn’t say anything. He really hadn’t been depending on luck.

Just before Shale’s last punch, Han Sen had finally come to understand the key that would allow the nine tiers of The Story of Genes to combine into one. He realized how to become half-deified. That was why he had taken that punch. That power was enough to make his Spell armor break completely and then rebuild itself.

“But what a shame. If you were deified, we could really see which of us is better,” Shale said with a look of regret.

“We can still find out, I think. Like I told you once before, our fight has not yet ended,” Han Sen said expressionlessly.

Shale shook his head and said nothing. He was happy to admit that Han Sen was strong, but half-deified was still King class. Han Sen wasn’t as strong as him. He still didn’t think Han Sen had enough power to challenge him.

“Brother Han, let us end this here. The Apollo Set can be set aside for now. When you become deified, you can fight me for it. And if you win, you can take the Apollo Set,” Shale said after a brief moment of thought.

A good opponent was like a fine wine; it needed time to truly reach its potential. Shale wanted Han Sen to become deified before he fought him again.

But Han Sen didn’t have the patience to wait that long. Seeing that Shale wasn’t going to attack, Han Sen decided to stop talking. Instead, he lifted his hand like a knife, then used Fang to strike at Shale.

Shale frowned. He had already decided to end the fight. He gathered up demonic powers again, and his fist became a demonic lion that went straight for Han Sen’s body.

Just like before, Shale’s fist blurred forward, and Han Sen’s power transformed into the demonic mirror of Shale’s own abilities.

“It is the same. Does Han Sen not understand that if his power is forced to match Shale’s, he can never beat him…?” Li Xue Cheng trailed off halfway through his statement.

The demonic power had definitely sunk into Han Sen’s body, but the powers that Han Sen was using for his attacks were not demonic like before. The Teeth Knife he lashed out with was still a purple knife. It was not affected by the demonic power.