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Amado finally finished the preparations. In front of Code stood a cylindrical containment chamber, filled with a greenish liquid that glowed faintly under the laboratory lights.
"Enter," Amado ordered without ceremony, adjusting his glasses as he checked the monitors. "Once the process begins, you won't be able to get out until it's finished… or until your body collapses."
Code didn't hesitate. He removed the upper part of his clothing and stepped into the chamber.
The liquid was cold, viscous, and smelled of chemicals he couldn't identify.
"Kaguya's DNA will be injected directly into your bone marrow," Amado explained as he connected tubes to Code's arms and neck. "Your skeleton will be reconstructed from the inside. If your body can't withstand the pressure… your bones will explode outward."
Code closed his eyes.
"Begin."
The injection:
Amado pressed a button.
The liquid inside the chamber changed color, turning dark red.
Code felt something hot entering his veins.
Then… the pain came.
Burning.
It wasn't like training with Jigen.
It wasn't like a normal wound.
It was as if every bone in his body were melting and being reforged at the same time.
Code clenched his teeth, but an involuntary scream escaped his throat.
"Your bone structure is changing," Amado reported with clinical coldness, watching the monitors. "The calcium in your body is being redistributed. Density increasing by 340%… 370%… 400%…"
Code slammed both fists against the walls of the chamber, leaving cracks in the glass.
"Control your strength or you'll break the containment!" Amado shouted.
But Code was no longer listening.
His vision turned white.
The pain was absolute.
Inside his body, his bones were breaking down.
His spine creaked.
His ribs arched outward.
His fingers trembled violently.
And then…
CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.
From his knuckles, his elbows, his shoulders… small white protrusions began to emerge.
Bones.
Sprouting from his skin like spikes.
Amado frowned.
"The body is rejecting the excess bone material… it's expelling it outward."
Code roared in pain, slamming the chamber again.
Blood mixed with the containment liquid.
"Your heart rate is at 220… 240… If it keeps rising, your heart will explode," Amado warned.
But Code refused to collapse.
He bit his own tongue until it bled, using the pain to stay conscious.
He remembered why he was here.
Isshiki crushing Naruto and Sasuke.
Jigen overwhelming him in every exchange.
The absolute power of Ōtsutsuki taijutsu.
"I'm not… going to fall… here…" Code growled through clenched teeth.
Suddenly, something changed.
The Karma on his body began to glow intensely.
The white patterns spread across his skin as if they were alive, covering his arms, his chest, his face.
Amado leaned forward, surprised.
"What…?"
The Karma wasn't rejecting the DNA.
It was adapting to it.
Like a living technology, Karma began integrating the new genetic material into Code's body, stabilizing the mutations, controlling the chaos.
The monitors began to stabilize.
"Impossible…" Amado murmured. "The Karma is… rewriting your genetic code to make it compatible?"
Code didn't answer.
He just breathed.
Deep.
Slow.
The pain was still there, but it was no longer unbearable.
His body was adapting.
Hours later, the liquid in the chamber became transparent again.
Amado opened the containment.
Code dropped to his knees on the floor, panting, his body covered in dried blood and sweat.
But when he raised his right hand…
Small bone spikes protruded from his knuckles, white as snow, sharp as blades.
He stared at them.
Then retracted them back beneath his skin.
"It works…" he whispered, barely believing it.
Amado approached with a tablet in hand, scanning Code's body.
"Your bone density has increased by 520%. Your skeletal structure is now comparable to a high-resistance composite material. And most importantly…"
Amado paused.
"Your Karma integrated with Kaguya's DNA. It won't reject it. It assimilated it."
Code slowly stood up, feeling every fiber of his renewed body.
He was stronger.
Heavier.
More lethal.
"When can we proceed with Jūgo's DNA?" Code asked bluntly.
Amado looked at him with disapproval.
"Your body needs time to stabilize. If we try the second injection now, it will kill you."
Code walked toward the exit, leaving a trail of blood behind.
"Then tell me when. I have no intention of stopping here."
Amado sighed.
"Two weeks. You need at least two weeks."
Code didn't respond.
He simply disappeared through one of his marks.
In one of his secret hideouts, far from Kara, Code looked at himself in a broken mirror.
His skin was paler.
His eyes had a strange gleam.
And when he clenched his fist tightly…
CRACK.
Bone spikes emerged from his knuckles, elbows, and shoulders, covering his arm like natural armor.
Code smiled.
"This… is only the beginning."