--
Even with Ren's willpower, the pain brought by this breakthrough still overwhelmed him for a moment.
Ren wasn't a stranger to pain. With the kind of abuse he subjects his body to on a daily basis, pain was an old friend to him.
Practicing martial arts without feeling pain? Impossible. That is not a thing, and it will never be.
And although Ren had been spoiled by how bad it's going to be once he reached this stage, even that hasn't prepared him for what it's truly like.
Ren nearly lost his grip to reality with how painful it was. His whole body practically imploded once he lifted his tight hold on his chakra.
When he said that, he was suppressing his own breakthrough. He truly meant it. Ren never dared to relax his control over his chakra because if he did, it would simply overflow and his breakthrough would commence. He's been holding it like this for a long while now.
It was all to participate in the tournament.
