As the fireball consumed them, Z'oelo and Muni finally broke their kiss and reveled in the sensation.
Because they were tied together, it felt right to come together like this.
Still, it was evident that Muni was an independent person as she could comprehend a separate Universal Rule.
Z'oelo wanted nothing more than to go back in for seconds, but after witnessing the might of a Universal Rule of his own he could understand how Klein was feeling.
It was as if they had to prove themselves worthy of their choice.
Just like how Barter's Ruler reverted to his pauper self, it turned out that just like how Universal Rule wielders could affect a facet of reality, they too were being influenced.
That begged the question: What comes after comprehending a Universal Rule?
The effect a Universal Rule had was based on its wielder.
So, if someone were to fully align with their Universal Rule then every action they took would have traces of it.
The Devine Couple were good examples as Edmond used what represented his nature and Evangeline naturally had an attractive disposition.
It just so happened that Klein had experimented and researched mofei to the point he felt overwhelmingly confident in his choice of Universal Rules.
Unfortunately for him, he only had the mofei core to produce mofei.
If not for this limitation, Klein could use his external manipulation to bolster the strength of his attacks.
Instead, he was left with only a single attempt at enhancing his core which did improve the quantity of mofei he could accumulate, but the danger of the experience warranted a break from such experiments.
As such, Klein aimed his focus on the quality and usage.
Determining the most suitable and cost efficient element was integral for his limited manipulation.
For the first time, Z'oelo looked up into Klein's eyes.
In that moment, both of them could see an insurmountable foe reflected in their eyes.
This so-called "insurmountable foe" was neither of the two, but a future self that could be briefly glimpsed.
Seeing this, the two knew that they had to fight to see to it that they became who they saw.
Since Klein was already in the air, Z'oelo rose to follow suit.
Rage had settled into his new position and remained silent for the time being.
It seemed he had been evaluating Z'oelo and so far received a pass for the time being.
Muni had long since responded to his subconscious desire and transformed into her living weapon form.
Unlike before, she turned into a simple bat with no edge to it at all.
Well, simple might not have been the best description as the bat in question was a deep red with shining, cerulean runes scrawled all about it.
Z'oelo knew that this was only a match to get used to their new power, so like Klein he limited the lethality of his weapon.
'Ready, Muni?'
'I was born ready.'
The two remained still for quite some time, but their auras were at their peak the entire time.
Klein's eyes were glimmering intensely, his mofei threatening to burst from within.
Z'oelo's battle spirit caused the air to ripple around him as the crimson flares of his ki emanated from his body.
"I'm taking bets! Who do you think's gonna win?! Haha," Theef yelled.
The crew looked among each other to see who would cave in first, but Null's answered came unexpectedly, "It's a tie."
Theef looked into Null's eyes much like how Klein and Z'oelo had just done, but instead of a future self he saw nothing.
More like he was not capable of comprehending the secrets Null held.
"Tch! You're no fun! I believe in you Klein! Time to bully the bully!"
"I've got Z'oelo," Tino curtly responded.
"Me too," Angie raised her hand, "It's hard to imagine anything but such a pretty guy getting beaten by such a scary looking guy."
"You guys seem to not recognize the disparity between comprehending a single Universal Rule and comprehending multiple," it was Barter's Ruler that spoke this time, "Klein will no doubt take down Z'oelo, but by how much is anyone's guess."
"But technically they have two Universal Rules, don't they? How is that much different," Angie asked.
"One is complex enough to need multiple Universal Rules to express his strength. The other is steadfast in his approach to comprehend a Universal Rule that pairs perfectly with his partner who also has comprehended a powerful Universal Rule," it was Edmond who spoke this time.
Evangeline chimed in, "There was also the Emotion that commanded the battle spirit. We've already seen how powerful the influence of the Emotions are, so doesn't that mean Z'oelo has the advantage?"
"It's not like all Universal Rules are the same," this time Oregon spoke, "Depending on the limitations of each Universal Rule, there's probably a ranking for each."
Hearing this, Ego chimed in, "That's something I'll look into. Seeing those around me, I've actually made a rudimentary depictions of each kind of Universal Rule. There are three main types: Energy, Ability, and Control."
They continued, "For energy types, they have power over certain energies like mofei or ki. For ability types, they have power over certain abilities like invisibility. Lastly, for control types, they have power over certain aspects like indominability."
The others all considered this and were excited to see the different depictions.
It just so happened that the two in the air acted as the conversation ended.
Klein emptied out his core as the mofei erupted from his figure.
Z'oelo held his bat tightly, his battle spirit converging in on his figure.
It was unknown who moved first because both of them were already before each other in the blink of an eye.
Klein seemed as swift as the wind, his body moving at quick speeds.
Z'oelo kept up, his instincts blasting as Rage did not allow him to underestimate his opponent.
Despite knowing that entering close range would put him at a disadvantage, Klein wanted nothing more than to have at it.
Z'oelo gladly welcomed him with a swing of his bat.
Crunch!
Klein had reacted before the bat was even in motion as he created an earthen armor around his arm.
The armor failed to protect him fully as his arm felt like it was about to shatter behind the force of the blow.
It went without saying that Klein's manipulation was capable of producing stone hard enough to contend with the strongest Stonemen.
Back to the matter of his bestial bloodline, even if he was not exactly aware of his body's condition, Klein could feel the latent strength of his muscles and bones.
Still, the fact that he felt this much pressure from a single swing made Klein fearful of a more serious attack.
And so, he launched his own offense as the stone heated and melted into lava that trapped the bat in its embrace.
The high temperatures were nowhere hot enough to melt the living weapon, but in the time Z'oelo spent trying to free her, Klein acted.
The lava rapidly cooled and instead, water overflowed to the point where Z'oelo was engulfed.
The water too cooled, resulting in him getting trapped in ice.
Klein separated himself from the ice and took a moment to breathe.
The ease he had switching between elements was many times more fluid as the Universal Rules behind each element powered each other as they were part of a larger whole.
Even as he was fighting, Klein was already assessing his new powers and their limitations.
'What would happen if I used the Universal Rule of one of the elements on another?'
He did not have the time to continue the thought as the icy prison Z'oelo found himself in started cracking.
'Looks like the Universal Rules work less when tied to the advanced elements. Seems like I can only find a Universal Rule for each of them.'
As he finished the conclusion of his assessment, he smiled and limited himself further by only using the primary forms of each element.
This way, he would actually be examining the Universal Rules at work.
"Urgh! I'm freezing my balls off! That's how you wanna play it, huh," Z'oelo aura grew more intense even to the point of melting the ice.
The heat he felt was merely a byproduct of Rage fueling his emotions.
With a swipe, the crimson ki slashed at Klein at speeds Klein could barely register even after nourishing his brain with the mind mofei.
A jet of air pushed Klein out of the trajectory of the ki blade, but before he knew it more ki blades raced towards him.
After bending his body at ridiculous angles and jetting more air from his pores, he still had to deal with Z'oelo's relentless onslaught.
'It should be like this,' Klein focused on his fingernails as he tapped into their Universal Rules.
He once again used earth to form armor, but this time the earth condensed further and further into itself becoming sturdier than before.
After deftly parrying the attack, Klein launched his own offensive with a blast of fire.
It started off small, but quickly spread wide enough to engulf Z'oelo.
Still relying on his Universal Rule to make the flames weaker as they touched him, Z'oelo shook his head, 'Seems like I'll have to beat it into him that he can't beat me with the cheap shit.'
He thought of a good idea and waited for Klein to cease his flames.
'Does this still not affect him? What kind of Universal Rule did he comprehend?'
Klein worked his mind overtime to figure out what Z'oelo was doing to mitigate the lethality of his attacks.
As he ceased fueling his flames, Z'oelo went to strike once more.
This time, Klein noticed an eager grin on his face, so he made sure to see through whatever trick he was planning.
Sure enough, as Z'oelo swung his bat he had less of a grip on it.
'So that's what it is. I guess I kind of am underestimating him.'
The idea Z'oelo had was to let Muni take control of the living weapon and attack with his fists simultaneously.
It was a solid plan, but he gave himself up long before he enacted it.
Klein did not even bother to block as he simply raised his hand to snap.
Snap!
At the same time, he used light mofei to flashbang Z'oelo.
"Fuck! My eyes!"
It was a good thing Muni did not see conventionally as a living weapon as she flew to his vulnerable self.
The living weapon then morphed into a shield-like construct that floated around Z'oelo.
To make matters worse, Klein also manipulated darkness to engulf Z'oelo, so that when he finally opened his eyes all he saw was black.
"What the fuck! You seriously blinded me you asshole," Z'oelo screamed in anger.
Klein and a few other crewmates laughed at the turn of events which only added to Z'oelo's rage.
'Hey, kid? You seriously wanna kick this pipsqueak's ass?'
'What are you talking about?! Are you blind as well, dumbass?!'
Rage let the insult sink in for a moment before coming to a decision.
Instantly, Z'oelo fell from the sky after being cut off from the battle spirit.
If not for his experience training with ki, he would have definitely broken a few bones upon landing.
Instead, he kicked the air before landing awkwardly on the arena floor.
'Knew it,' Null could just about figure out what just happened.
'Just let it take it's course,' Ego tried to mellow him out.
Seeing the struggle Z'oelo was in, Klein let the darkness disperse.
'You bastard!'
'You think you control me?! I'll ask you just one more time. Do you want to beat that pipsqueak or not?!'
Muni was not aware of their conversation, but she could feel his mood changing, so she asked, 'What's going on with the battle spirit? Are you making a fuss again? Seriously, I'm going to pummel you first before soloing that nerd!'
Rage laughed, 'There you go, boy! Just accept that this relationship is mutual. You embody my Rage and I lead you into the pinnacle of the cosmos.'
Seeing as this was his only outlet aside from a rare occurrence on Ego's part, Rage would willingly play his role in order to let loose.
'Fine,' Z'oelo relented, 'I'm no stranger to rage, but I'm in charge, no ifs, ands, or buts.'
'You must think I'm sweet, huh, boy? Like I'm just some eager uncle trying to support his own? I've seen It! I was born from It's own Emotions! Who the fuck do you think you are, tough guy?!'
Z'oelo wanted to bite back, but he was going against a higher being.
Even if he were to become Enlightened on the spot, Rage would towered above his presence still.
'Fine, fine! Damn it! If you're going to spit all that bullshit, just shut me up with your actions!'
'This is non-negotiable, boy. I still got plans of my own. You need me, not the other way around.'
He just would not give in to Z'oelo, but there was something bigger going on that only the most perceptive of the crew noticed.
'Alright, dammit! I'll even worship you if you can help me win against the nerd, alright?! Let's go now, before I change my mind!'
Without another word, he felt the power of the battle spirit reinvigorate himself.
With the battle spirit back and better than ever, Z'oelo soared back into battle with the living weapon in hand!
"Round two, motherfucker!"
It was just the beginning as Klein was more than ready to continue the fight.
"You're on!"
Once again, Klein snapped as flashbanged Z'oelo successfully but this time was different.
'Stay focused! You think I liked seeing white for all those eons?! This is nothing!'
This time, he was working together with Rage.
'Distract him, Muni!'
He let the living weapon go on her own while he gathered all of his willpower to resist the temporary blindness.
Muni probably controlled herself better than Z'oelo ever could as she showed no hesitation when facing Klein alone.
It was not just her Indominability that gave her such confidence.
Much like Gea, Muni carried a powerful soul within herself.
It was just that she rarely had an occasion where she could lay it bare to the cosmos.
'I'll get rid of his weapon first,' he thought without regarding her as a person.
"You!"
Muni saw the disregard in his eyes and could not contain herself.
Of course, Klein could not see her because she was currently in weapon form.
Those that did hear her tone knew that Klein had fucked up big time.
From a smooth bat, large spikes protruded from her form each ending in a point smaller than a needle.
'Oh, no.'
Klein wanted to run knowing full well the damage the spikes would cause.
"You ain't going nowhere, punk."
The living weapon raced to whack Klein and give him a few more holes to breathe out of, but speed was the one area he did not lack.
Whoosh!
One second he was about to get his ass punctured and the next, he was flying away at almost the speed of sound.
"Get back here!"
Muni did her job of distracting Klein well as Z'oelo had recovered in the few seconds the fight started.
'You've got a fine partner, boy. She almost reminds me of my little one.'
'You have a kid?! Damn! I sure feel bad for whoever had to deal with you.'
'Haha! My girl would love you, boy. You've probably heard of her before. She's a spicy thing, my girl.'
'Spit it out already! Which Emotion is she? And your kid too!'
'Maybe after the fight, boy. It's about time you help your girl out and put an end to this farce.'
Klein was still avoiding Muni as she chased him around the place swinging at every turn.
'Guess you're right. Let's do it then,' he got fired up, 'To me, Muni!'
The living weapon darted back into Z'oelo's hands and molded around his heated palms.
He shot towards Klein again, still not trying out any other refined attack moves because a bat was meant for bashing.
The stores of information on weapon mastery were still unexplored at this point, but it was still somewhat unserious at this point.
Klein had only used the bare minimum of his elements and their Universal Rules and he still overpowered Z'oelo until now.
'Punch out with your bottom left as a feint and swing him with your right arms!'
Guided by Rage, Z'oelo managed to outdo Klein's calculations.
Klein's battle experience could not amount to a deity that personified a violent emotion.
If not for his boosted mind, Klein would have been at his wits end, but his Reaction put even the Emotion in his place.
It had been a while, but his reinforced organs were being worked like never before.
They were outshined by the treasures that were Klein's fingernails, but he still operated them like when he pushed air from his lungs out of his pores.
'Just another matter I have to get into later. Ugh!'
If it were not for the nutrition that meibeasts gave, there would be no chance for his body to handle the saturation of mofei.
'Am I fucking stupid or something,' Klein hated that he neglected nature mofei so much.
That and his mind mofei he had to work on the most because the applications of each depend on the capabilities of the manipulator.
Theef applied mind mofei to beast taming while Klein simply saturated his brain without dictating a purpose.
Additionally, he never gave an organ to saturate nature mofei with.
He had only seen nature mofei in the flora of Mamon, so the applications on flesh were projects Klein had yet to get to.
But now, he found it perfect to saturate his mofei core with the nature mofei.
Nature mofei was the basis of life and could actually be split into two categories: plant mofei and life mofei.
The plant mofei that Klein was more familiar with could be seen thanks to his eyes, but life mofei was invisible even to himself.
That did not mean it was not able to be manipulated.
Instead of expelling mofei, Klein gathered what he had and made it all nature mofei.
Then, he condensed it all inside of his core and did something nobody was expecting.
With Impermanence, Klein punctured his chest with his left hand and ripped something out.
His blood still flowed like normal, but it avoided the area he tore into.
In his hands was his very mofei core saturated with nature mofei!
What was even more stupefying was what he did next.
Crunch!
He actually crushed the core in his palm and then snorted the powder!
Once in his bloodstream, the nature saturated powder traveled throughout the entire vascular system and spread its influence over his entire body.
His fingernail lit up and the insides of his mei veins were then filled with the life mofei contained within the nature mofei filled core.
If before he generated mofei passively with the core, he now imbedded his mei veins with the ability to gather mofei themselves and have the treasure fingernails store and release it themselves.
This was only possible due to the advancement that came from Void's influence.
The mofei core was not just making mofei out of nothing as it converted spirit energy into mofei like Null was able to do and Theef could not replicate— at least not yet.
'If you let him finish what he's going through, you'll only have less of a chance at beating him.'
'Pshh! Let him get stronger for all I care. I'll still be there to humble him in the end.'
'Idiot,' Muni could only berate him silently.