After finishing his talk with Mefilas, Rhodes used his fifth monster power-up on Mefilas.
A flash of golden light enveloped Rhodes as the system energy once again enhanced his body. Every cell was empowered with Mefilas's strength, further boosting his physique.
His soul level also increased, and Mefilas's soul energy brought an enormous leap, almost as much as all previous monsters combined.
As an intelligent cosmic being and a master of telekinesis, Mefilas's soul was exceptionally strong—enough to make Rhodes a true super lifeform.
Most importantly, Rhodes gained psychic powers. Though not as strong as Mefilas himself, they were still incredibly overpowered.
He now had teleportation, telekinesis, super telepathy, memory alteration, and human hypnosis—all of it.
He experimented immediately: teleportation, remote object manipulation, invisibility. His telekinesis could now control a spaceship, a whole city, and even rewrite everyone's memories.
And as his psychic strength grew, these powers would only get stronger—perhaps even surpassing Mefilas one day.
He had one more big upgrade: complete fusion with Cosmic Phoenix Baton.
After the Mefilas enhancement, Rhodes went to the Cosmic Phantom Beast Martial Arts Compendium and let Baton, now the Cosmic Phoenix, fuse with him.
"Very good, Master! Your life level has reached the limit for ordinary beings. Your soul is now beyond many super lifeforms, fully able to bear the Phoenix's power. After fusion, you'll be able to use my strength," said the Cosmic Buffalo.
To truly use the Buffalo's full power, you had to reach the ultimate lifeform level.
After five monster upgrades, Rhodes's body was unimaginably strong. With transformations, Miklas's power, and Gomora's brute force, a full punch could unleash tens of thousands of tons of force.
He could even use telekinesis to tear apart wild monsters with ease—his combat power now utterly dominated monsters.
"I'm looking forward to the Phantom Beast's power. Let's begin, Baton!" Rhodes said.
"Yes, Master! Let's start," Phoenix Barton replied, turning into a fiery red energy and merging into Rhodes's body.
Instantly, cosmic phantom beast energy began transforming Rhodes's cells, raising his life level and synchronizing with his soul.
Rhodes's body began to swell, and in a flash, he became a 55-meter-tall giant.
The Cosmic Phoenix's energy formed a red armor around him, looking awe-inspiring and imposing.
Golden-red and blue-white flames appeared in his hands; now, Rhodes could use the Phoenix's rebirth fire and blue-white fire.
With Baton's power, he could also produce the special screech that suppressed Tyranids. Even though the Great Devourer claimed it wouldn't work next time, fusion with a host would only make such powers stronger.
In this universe, Rhodes was the Tyranids' nemesis!
After the upgrade, he could now become a giant at will, weighing 45,000 tons, flying at Mach speeds, and wielding terrifying psychic power.
Reaching the super lifeform level, Rhodes felt completely different. His vitality soared—viruses deadly to mortals were nothing to him now.
He was now on par with the Primarchs—able to arm-wrestle even those with awakened god-souls.
If he fought Guilliman again, he felt he could at least tie, maybe even win.
His super shockwave, when giant, was even stronger than Gomora's original. Now, he could add Phoenix fire to it, and the rebirth flames could rapidly heal his wounds.
With the Buffalo's powerful punch technique, unless Guilliman relied on his turtle shell, he'd get pummeled.
"Baton, do you have any Phantom Beast martial arts?" Rhodes asked.
The biggest benefit of a Phantom Beast was its matching martial arts.
"Sorry, Master! I've only just become a Phantom Beast. I can control my energy and talents, but to develop my unique techniques, I'll need to work with you," Phoenix Baton replied.
Most Phantom Beasts only developed their martial arts after thousands or tens of thousands of years and many hosts, with top martial artists helping them.
For now, Baton could only boost Rhodes to super lifeform and grant mastery over two flames and the special screech.
"That's fine. We'll work on it together. We're both blank slates," Rhodes said.
No worries. They'd train together over time. Even just these abilities were a huge benefit.
Rhodes planned to let the Cosmic Phoenix fuse with Elena later, boosting her life level too.
"Master! Your body is now super lifeform class. Your soul still needs tempering, but you can now barely perform a proper Buffalo punch," the Cosmic Buffalo said.
"Really? How strong is my punch now?" Rhodes asked.
Maybe on par with the normal little Taurus, or even stronger?
"It uses less energy than your super shockwave, but its power should be similar, maybe even greater. Ordinary monsters couldn't withstand a single blow," the Buffalo said.
Now Rhodes could finally perform a true Buffalo punch—before, he only used a fraction of the power, good for ordinary beings.
Now, it was fit for fighting super lifeforms.
"After fusing, can you further boost my body?" Rhodes asked.
"Sorry, Master. Phantom Beast energy can only raise ordinary lifeforms to super lifeforms. This lets Phantom Beasts choose better hosts in their youth. Normally, they choose super lifeforms," the Buffalo explained.
Ordinary cosmic monsters had this ability, but it was pretty useless to Phantom Beasts and only a roundabout way to help ordinary beings. Only when first born, or when spotting a being of great potential, would a Phantom Beast fuse and raise their life level.
Now that Rhodes was already a super lifeform, Phantom Beast energy wouldn't boost him further.
"I see! What does it take to evolve into an ultimate or final lifeform?" Rhodes asked.
"It comes down to opportunity. For so many years, I've never found a suitable ultimate lifeform, let alone a final one. Crossing from super to ultimate is extremely hard. In the Land of Light, only the Ultra King has done it, not even the Ultra Father.
Also, Master, I must correct a misconception: life level doesn't always equal combat strength. A powerful super lifeform can beat an ordinary ultimate lifeform; the latter just has a higher life level, not necessarily more power," the Buffalo explained.
For example, ultra-beasts technically lack souls; they're bio-weapons fused with normal lifeforms—just an ordinary soul. Yet some super lifeforms aren't their match.
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