Cinnamon, the Mad Flea
Cinnamon. A wanderer from the flea tribe. The man who would one day rise to the ranks of continent-spanning supreme powerhouses, earning the moniker Mad Flea.
The greatest reason he could shake the world with his fame was thanks to the Lightning Spirit Rune.
"Cinnamon... To complete your ultimate technique... you must obtain a treasure imbued with the power of lightning..."
His sole connection to the world, the master who carried his father's scent. Those were the dying words he left for Cinnamon.
To find a treasure containing lightning qi. For the sake of perfecting his technique.
"But no such treasure could be found anywhere."
Even those that existed fell short of his standards. Lightning was ranked among the absolute pinnacle of all attributes to begin with. It was also infamous as the most difficult and volatile to handle.
Crafting a treasure infused with such lightning qi was impossible for anyone short of an extraordinary genius. And even if one existed, acquiring it with his own power was no easy feat.
"This is my only option left now."
The gaze of the continent-wandering flea turned toward the lightning tree. How could a tree emit lightning? There had to be some core source at its root.
"Watching the ant primal species wield lightning confirmed it for me."
The reason the primal species of the Lightning Forest carried lightning attributes. Everyone on the Abian Continent suspected it was the lightning tree. So why hadn't he thought to harbor lightning qi directly in his own body until now?
He'd fixated so much on treasures that it had rigidified his thinking.
And so he arrived at the lightning tree. Even the primal species took lightning directly into their bodies. There was no reason a powerhouse like him couldn't do the same.
But the lightning tree had a habit of protecting itself, so he couldn't touch it directly. Prowling around its base for a while, Cinnamon finally spotted the entrance to the cave where Ultio was hiding.
"The energy feels stronger here than anywhere else!"
Whether some lightning-attuned being lay beyond the cave, or the tree's core was hidden there. An indescribably sweet scent wafted from the entrance.
"It's just blocked by dirt... This is nothing."
After the journey to get here, mere dirt could never stand in his way.
Pow! Thud! Boom boom boom!
Cinnamon's action was simple. He just swung his fists and feet, smashing through the dirt blocking the entrance.
But that brute-force method reliably and swiftly crumbled the cave mouth.
He was on the verge of breaking through—just a little more digging, and a hole would open—when...
"Hm? What the hell?"
Unlike his expectations, the dirt kept piling up endlessly. Considering how deep he'd dug already, this made no sense.
It was definitely shaped like a blocked cave entrance, but this deep? He stopped digging and pressed his ear to the wall.
A faint sound of digging dirt and piling it up.
"Damn it, they're filling it from inside? Who's in there!"
The cave's owner had noticed his intrusion.
"In that case..."
Cinnamon surged his ether more fiercely. He'd been trying to conserve it since he didn't know what might happen, but this was no time for that.
Ziiing.
Tiny gear-like mechanisms sprouted from his legs, transforming them.
Partial Primalization!
Once the change was complete, he madly stomped the entrance with his feet. The dirt flew apart at incomparable speed.
Boom boom boom boom boom boom!
Amid the flashy sounds and scattering dust. The inside had sped up too, but the hole still hadn't broken through. The noises from within were growing louder, clearly unable to keep pace with his destruction.
"Almost there!"
Cinnamon's eyes flashed. As the sounds intensified, the presence inside grew ever clearer.
"Not a regular species... An ant primal, huh!"
There was a clear level gap compared to the specimens he'd seen on the way here. It felt nearly at Maturity Stage 1. But more thrilling was how saturated it was with lightning qi.
A being emitting such a sweet aroma.
"Time to end this..."
Cinnamon stepped back. He charged like a sprinter taking a running leap, then slammed both feet into the entrance.
Boom!
Rumble rumble rumble.
With a massive explosion, the wall sealing the entrance burst wide open.
"Finally!"
He grinned and stepped inside.
"It fled deeper."
The thing that had been frantically blocking the entrance must have realized it was futile and bolted inward.
"If it's dug a complex ant-nest maze, this'll be a pain."
Wasting no more time, Cinnamon dashed forward.
Boom, boom, boom!
Each step stretched his body in an optical illusion of elongation. Unlucky for someone else, but fortunate for him. It wasn't a labyrinthine ant nest with tunnels everywhere.
Soon enough, he spotted a chamber at the tunnel's end.
"Whoa!"
A huge exclamation escaped his lips. The chamber was filled with thick lightning qi unlike anything in the Lightning Forest.
"Tsurriririt!"
The moment he gaped and took a step forward.
Boom!
A flash of light, and an attack streaked in at lightning speed.
But before the ether-charged blade could slit his throat, Cinnamon lunged forward without warning, effortlessly dodging.
"Tsurrit?"
Ultio, having failed her ambush, showed confusion. She'd never even seen a flea before, let alone fought one. She had no idea it could perform such maneuvers without crouching first.
"Kukukuku... Kuhahaha! So it was you."
Cinnamon burst into mad laughter, his eyes gleaming with insanity as he eyed Ultio. He instantly recognized the massive lightning stored in her body.
The ideal form he'd dreamed of for so long.
"How did you store qi in your body?"
His eyes sparkled as he scanned the surroundings. The reason this being held so much lightning had to be hidden here somewhere.
"Tsurriririt!"
Pzzt pzzzzzt—Boom!
Then. Sensing he couldn't afford to think longer, Ultio swiftly generated lightning from her antennae and unleashed it.
"Tch."
Cinnamon drew daggers from both thighs, crossing them to block.
"This level of output?"
He muttered with ecstatic delight.
"Kuhahat, today I'll devour your inner core deliciously."
He erupted in mad laughter and charged at Ultio.
Boom!
Sweeping twin daggers.
Clang!
Ultio flinched in surprise, morphing her four arms into blades to parry.
"An Irregular? What a unique specimen. Such a shame to kill you like this!"
He sneered, lips twisting.
"Tsurriririt!"
Infuriated by the mockery, Ultio swung her blades more fiercely than usual, pressuring Cinnamon.
Pzzt, pzzzzzt!
Now able to infuse lightning into her blades. Each block sent numbing shocks through Cinnamon.
If he hadn't mastered lightning-related techniques, he'd likely be paralyzed.
That might have closed the gap from their realm difference. A true shame for Ultio.
"Fun moves! But you lack the depth to surpass me!"
Once adapted to Ultio's apostle-style swings, Cinnamon regained leisure and counter-pressured.
"Tsu, tsurririt!"
Ultio's pitiful cries echoed through the chamber.
Her exoskeleton, so formidable against Aleck, accumulated wounds over time.
At this rate, one limb would be severed soon.
But Cinnamon was cautious against this novel form, prolonging the fight. Otherwise, it would have ended instantly.
Inevitable, since Cinnamon had reached Maturity Stage 3.
Fleas weren't combat-strong, so he lagged behind other tribes' Maturity Stage 3s. But it was still Maturity Stage 3.
No matter how ancient Ultio's lineage, as a 3rd-instar larva not yet adult, she couldn't match a complete body.
That she'd lasted this long as a larva was absurd. A testament to the thunderwing ancient species' might.
Clang!
One of Ultio's blades finally shattered. The one she'd barely recovered after the Aleck fight...
"Nothing more? Then it's time to end this."
Cinnamon's eyes turned blood-red. He poured all his ether into the twin daggers for the finisher.
"Tsurririt!"
Instinct told Ultio this dire moment was mortal. She wailed sadly.
The moment Cinnamon swung his final strike.
Boom rumble—!
With thunderous roar, a lightning-charged sword wedged between them.
"Wh-what?!"
Startled, Cinnamon leaped back.
"Tsurrit! Tsurriririt! Tsurririririt!"
—Captain. Ultio. Overjoyed. Grateful. Love.
Ultio teared up at Aleck's back, cheering.
"You fucking bastard, messing with my little sister?"
Aleck stood between them. He glanced at Ultio's wounds, then leveled extreme fury at Cinnamon, sword aimed.
* * *
"Almost too late. That was close."
I sighed in relief at Ultio's state. Worth pouring ether until my circuits nearly burst to race here.
The horrific sight upon entering the chamber was unimaginable. That near-tragedy enraged me to my core.
One breath later, and Ultio would have suffered irreversible harm.
"Pfft, what's this? A runt mantis? You its owner?"
Cinnamon sneered, lips twisting. He seemed startled by the sudden intrusion at first. But spotting my mere Growth Stage, he scoffed.
"If you don't wanna die, leave the kid and scram. Good mood today—don't feel like needless killing."
He giggled leisurely, twirling his daggers.
"Same personality as ever."
I recalled when this guy, with his Lightning Spirit Rune and ultimate body, rampaged. True to Mad Flea, he bounded wildly across the continent.
No one could stop him, so most just fled. If they could.
Fleas could already jump dozens of times their size. Infused with lightning, he soared even higher, scattering bolts midair—a walking disaster.
Wherever he passed without a top powerhouse, devastation followed.
"Cautious, but drops guard once he feels leisure."
I thought power shaped that trait, but it was innate.
Moments like now, when cocky, were the best chance to drop him.
"Ultio, don't respond. When I ambush, harass him with lightning from behind."
Ultio nodded faintly to my intent. Good. Let's start.
"You really gonna let me go if I leave?"
I sheathed my sword at my waist, feigning no will to fight.
"Let you? This punk's talking down... Kuk, yeah. Get out before I change my mind. Don't be dumb and die over a bug."
He tossed and caught his dagger overhead repeatedly.
Why do they call others bugs when they are bugs too...? Was I misunderstanding this world?
"Now!"
The instant he tossed the dagger up again.
"Partial Primalization!"
My right arm sprouted a gleaming emerald mantis forelimb, blade razor-sharp.
Chanting the Wind Thunder Qi Circulation formula, I shot toward him like an arrow.
"...!"
Cinnamon's eyes widened like saucers. As his face loomed close, I swung my right arm full force.