83. Kokuo
The magic power that Alex got from Nirvana has been fully used by the sealed Tailed Beasts. But strangely, not a single seal is broken even though the already unsealed Tailed Beasts said that it should be enough to break at least 3 seals.
"Is there a problem with the seals?" Alex is worried because it will affect all of them. Luckily for him, the problem isn't that serious. In fact, there's no problem at all.
"Well, there is no problem actually. As we said, it should be enough to break at least 3 seals and it's true. But we decided to not use it to break 3 seals. We used it to weaken all 5 seals at once because it was a very good chance to do it while we have that much magic power to use." Son Goku explains to Alex.
"But why? Won't it be easier to break 3 seals now and then break the other 2 seals later?" Alex is confused.
"No, it will actually get much harder. We've told you that the seals are getting stronger following the numbers of our tails. So it will get harder and harder as you go up the order of breaking the seals. It will take longer too to collect the magic power needed to break the seals. You might be able to collect enough magic power to break Son's seal in less than a year if you focus on it. But it will take you 3 years to break Kurama's seal with the same amount of effort."
Alex is surprised by Matatabi's explanation because he never thought that the seal would be that much stronger.
"Also, there's a problem with breaking 3 seals at once. If we do that, then 3 more of us will be unsealed completely and join us here, right? Do you remember what happened to you when Son was unsealed?" Isobu makes Alex remember when his body turned into lava when Son was unsealed.
"But you said it doesn't always happen."
"Yeah, it doesn't always happen but it can happen. The risk of it happening is bigger when 3 guys are unsealed at once. What do you think will happen to your body if 2 or even all 3 of them cause the same effects as when Son was unsealed? Do you think your body will be able to handle it?" Shukaku points at Alex's chest.
Alex isn't smart, but even he knows that if that really happens, his body won't be able to handle the effect.
"Also, even if that kind of effect doesn't appear, your body still won't be able to handle the burden of receiving 3 of us at the same time. So we can only come one by one and make your body adapt to our power before another one comes. Because of those factors, we decided to use Nirvana's magic power equally on all 5 remaining seals and weaken them all." Matatabi adds more.
".... Okay. Uh, so now they've gotten weaker, right?"
"Yeah, the last seal is still stronger than the others, but it has gotten much weaker than it originally was. With our average pace to collect magic power, it will take around 3 to 4 years until we can break the last seal."
"We still need that long?"
"It would take almost 7 years if we didn't get Nirvana's magic power, so don't be ungrateful because we've cut down half of the time we need." Son scoffs.
"I see. Hmm, half, huh? That means we need around that much magic power again, right?"
"Basically, yeah. But that was not an easy amount to collect normally. You will need another Nirvana, a device that can keep taking magic power from nature to get that much."
"Yeah, I don't know any other magic item like that. Maybe there's one or more out there, but I don't know them."
"Well, let's just do it at our pace. Think of the 3 or 4 year period to break the seal as your time to learn our next 5 siblings' abilities one by one."
"Alright, I think I understand."
As the Tailed Beasts say, the seals have weakened significantly now and just 2 weeks after the talk, the 5th seal is broken. Fortunately, unlike when Son was unsealed, nothing happens to Alex's body.
A gigantic white horse with a dolphin-like head, 4 horns, and 5 tails appear in Alex's soul realm. It is the 5th Tailed Beasts that finally gets released from its seal. The other 4 Tailed Beasts welcome their sibling's arrival and soon Alex also comes to the soul realm.
"Nice to finally meet you, Alex. My name is Kokuo, but humans just called me 5 Tails."
"Welcome to the team, Kokuo.... I don't know what to say because you already see everything that happened when you were sealed."
"It's okay, I understand. I've seen everything, after all, so yeah, you don't need to say anything. Let's just talk casually to know each other more."
"Alright."
They start talking about Kokuo's abilities and how he'll teach them to Alex. The Tailed Beasts have different teaching methods, so Alex needs to understand how they'll teach him before he starts learning their abilities.
Kokuo is explaining to Alex about his Boil Release when suddenly, Alex feels his body is getting hotter and hotter. His skin gets redder and then steam starts coming out of his pores.
"W-what happens?"
"Seems like my Boil Release is affecting your body. It's a late reaction, maybe because your body is already used to heat because you've used Matatabi's Fire Release and Son's Lava Release that generate intense heat. They gave you a strong heat resistance. But Boil Release is still a different type of power, so it still takes effect even if it's late. I think your body will get used to it quickly though because of your strong heat resistance."
As Kokuo says, the side effect disappears quickly and his body returns to normal faster than when he turned into lava because of Son's Lava Release. It's thanks to his strong heat resistance that he doesn't even know he has.
"Wow, I didn't know I had heat resistance."
"You receive traits from having our abilities. They appear slowly as you get used to our power. It's the same case with your great physical growth and enhanced senses. Our presence in your body is affecting your body. But the changes in your body don't happen instantly, they need time and processes. Also, they are affected by what you do, in other words, you need to work to get them. What you get is potential and you need to work hard to get the results. Even your senses need to be trained by being used continuously to get strengthened. Nothing is instant and free." Matatabi explains it as usual.
"So the heat resistance is also the result of me using your abilities?"
"Yes, the better you can use my Fire Release, Son's Lava Release, and Kokuo's Boil Release, the better your heat resistance will be."
Alex actually already gets a strong heat resistance just because of Matatabi's, Son's, and Kokuo's presence in his body. But Matatabi doesn't want him to be complacent with his training, that's why she says that.
Their lives here depend on Alex because in this world, they are just parts of Alex's power. They might be powerful beings in their original world, but in this world, they are basically just bundles of abilities with life.
They can't live on their own and as parts of Alex's power, their powers also depend on Alex's level. The stronger Alex is, the stronger they will be too. Because of that, they need Alex to keep getting stronger because strength is very important in this world.
But they also want Alex to be a decent human being. So they don't just teach him how to get stronger, but also how to be a good person. Fortunately for them, Alex is not an evil person, so they can live alongside him without any problem.
Alex starts training to use Kokuo's abilities after Kokuo is unsealed. Just like with the other Tailed Beasts, Alex can transform into Kokuo in different modes. Mini mode, humanoid mode, partial mode, and the Full Transformation mode which he avoids to use because it uses too much magic power to turn into giant creatures.
Besides, he still hasn't had a use for Full Transformation modes because he doesn't need to fight giant enemies again since he fought Deliora together with Ur.
But unlike then, he now has enough magic power to still use the Tailed Beasts' abilities in their full forms, although he still can't do it for too long because of the very high magic power consumption.
Alex is training to use Kokuo's abilities while still doing his activities as an S-Class Mage. He also still trains Wendy and even helps his other Guild Mates train. Everything goes quite well and without his realization, it's finally the end of the year and it's the time for the X779's S-Class exam.
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Ch. 133. Zeref