Instinct Evolution!

He even went so far as to enter a deep meditative state, cutting off his connection to his body completely.

His Instinct seemed to sense that, aware that its owner had run away and abandoned it, leaving it to its own devices.

Of course Instinct wasn't a living thing, and lacked any thoughts, but naturally it didn't lack instinct, and right now it was saying that it may actually die.

But it lacked the higher thought required to try and come up with a solution, just dealing with the problem in the only way it knew how, which was to keep dodging.

However, with time passing, the puppet became even more refined, starting to understand how it moved, and coming up with countermeasures.

It didn't take long for some attacks to get close, a rare few even managing to land, sending Minos flying back, his bones creaking.

Still Minos didn't react, still hiding deep within his mind, forcing Instinct to try and deal with things on its own.

Watching this, everyone was confused, not understanding why Minos was just letting the puppet attack him relentlessly.

"It looks like that strange technique of his is starting to fail, but why isn't he reacting?" Orino said.

"That's a mystery, but given Minos's character, he must be plotting something again." The Seventh replied.

On the other side, Asumi didn't say anything, her eyes just squinted as she watched the fight intently, not wanting to miss a single moment.

Meanwhile, Tylia and Suki were biting at their nails, Minos's reckless behavior causing the two massive anxiety.

"Why isn't that bastard fighting!? My heart is going to explode if I keep watching!" Tylia shouted in exasperation.

"Relax, he definitely has something up his sleeve." Suki replied, though it seemed those words were more for himself than Tylia.

However, as time passed, Suki became less and less confident in his previous statement, the bruises on Minos's body piling up.

Even now as his body was on the verge of destruction, he still didn't react, his eyes tightly shut as if he was in a comatose state.

If he wasn't still moving, some people may seriously wonder if Minos was even conscious.

But Minos naturally couldn't feel everyone's worry, his mind still recessed in darkness as he let his body fight on its own.

While he was unaware of what was happening in the outside world, he could still feel the pain of every strike, and the injuries compiling in and on his body.

He was aware that he could only take a few more blows at most before his body failed completely, but even that wasn't enough to move him.

Suddenly, as Minos's body was knocked back once more, the puppet lunged towards him, its massive fist flying towards his face.

At this point, Instinct didn't have the strength left to dodge, only able to feel the wind of the fist scrap against it, signaling its end.

Minos also felt it, but rather than being afraid, a strange smile formed on his face, the moment of truth having finally arrived.

'So Instinct, what do you choose? Death, or evolution?'

'...E-evolution!' A voice responded, even causing Minos' shock.

While he was talking to his 'Instinct' as if it was alive, he was aware it was just an amalgamation of his senses and will to live, not an actual entity.

It lacked the intelligence or soul required to be its own existence, which similarly meant it should be impossible for it to speak, but Minos definitely just heard a voice deep in his heart just a moment ago.

As if confirming his thoughts, the strange voice once again spoke, its words soundless, yet instinctively understood by him. 

'I want to live, live forever…'

It's words seemed to resonate with the rest of his body, causing the emotions that he had long since suppressed to start moving.

'Tinka, Rinka, I can't live without them…!' His sadness whispered.

'This damned world, I'll destroy it for what they have done to me and my family!' His anger growled.

'What's the point? The world is big and scary, we can't beat it, it's better to just escape.' His fear thought.

'It's not over yet, I can still get everything back if I keep fighting!' His happiness exclaimed.

Soon enough, Minos was surrounded by a cacophony of voices, each of his emotions having suddenly come to life.

He didn't understand at first, but soon he also felt a similar sensation in his heart, as if the voices had awakened it as well.

His Heart Path, which had remained stagnant for years now, suddenly began moving, as if cracks were forming on it.

The 'cracks' rapidly expanded, covering his Heart Path in its entirety, to the point where it couldn't stand it anymore.

With a click, his Heart Path broke, though not to death, but rather to new life, like a butterfly out of a cocoon.

As it was reborn, so was Minos, suddenly understanding everything, the loud emotions immediately silenced by a single thought of his.

'So this is the next realm of the Heart Path… Who knew I'd have achieved it in such a way.' Minos thought, almost laughing to himself.

The Fourth Realm of Heart Path granted Minos an incredible ability, which was giving life to his emotions.

At this point, a Heart Path user's abilities have become so refined that they can physically manifest their emotions as avatars.

These avatars could act independently, their strength directly tied to the extent that emotion was experienced and understood within the user's heart.

While Minos may seem apathetic on the surface, he simply suppressed everything deep inside, so it went without saying that his emotions were quite strong.

As for what caused him to suddenly breakthrough, it was his will to live, or as he had started to call it, his Instinct.

While Minos knew nothing about the Heart Path given its mysterious nature, he knew that the will to live shouldn't be considered an emotion.

Instead, it had come to life independently, likely through the extreme pressure applied to it, coupled with Minos's Heart Path abilities acting as the final catalyst.

In simple terms, it was a one in a billion opportunity, one Minos only came across because he happened to meet all the other criteria.

While Minos was busy thinking, his Instinct was busy surviving, the fist from before having never stopped falling towards him.

Acting as the core, his Instinct immediately gathered all his other emotions, fusing them together into itself.

Even Minos wasn't quite sure what exactly his Instinct was doing, but as all the emotions fused into it, something shocking happened.

Minos's eyes suddenly snapped back open, but his familiar green and blue pupils had been replaced, instead each pupil like a rainbow prism, shining with a spectacular glow.

The fist which seemed impossible to dodge earlier, suddenly slowed down, Minos's palm shooting up rapidly and smacking it out of it's original path.

Of course it wasn't actually Minos making these moves, instead his Instinct had done it, fighting back for the first time.

With the move redirected, his palms began rapidly slamming down on the puppet, moving at a speed that made no sense.

But while the onlookers couldn't understand where this power came from, Minos understood completely.

Each emotion has its own special ability, and right now Instinct was making use of anger, which allowed all his physical attributes to multiply based on the rage he was feeling.

While Instinct lacked emotion of its own, it was just another extension of Minos, so it could naturally use his instead.

He had a lot of anger in his heart that he had never properly dealt with, and right now he was finally making good use of it, each blow relieving a little bit of rage from within.

Being pushed back for the first time, the puppet seemed slightly confused, but this naturally wouldn't stop its attacks.

Just as it was getting ready to slam back, it suddenly paused, having completely 'forgotten' what it was about to do.

It was only as Minos once again landed a heavy kick to its head did it come back to, though that previous moment was still lost to it, as it had never happened.

This was fear's ability, which Minos called 'Vanish,' allowing one to essentially erase their existence completely for a short duration.

And this erasure was complete, meaning even a dead thing like a puppet also forgot about Minos, despite not really even having memories in the first place.

Only people significantly stronger than Minos were immune to this move, otherwise they would similarly forget everything about Minos while it was active.

Even the crowd didn't notice anything strange, just surprised at how Minos seemed to suddenly 'teleport' beside the puppet to land a kick.