The Strength to Bear- Part 2

After an encounter with a mysterious spirit, Kumatetsu is ready to reap the rewards; and he's just barely gotten started. Enjoy!

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Kumatetsu knew little of spirits— no spirit ever taught him anything about fighting, now did they? Spirits had no bodies to fight with, no strength of their own, so they weren't anything that he would bother with; let Hyakushubo deal with spiritual matters. He had fights to win. But this spirit that was now whispering in his ear, he was different. 

The bear warrior had made a deal with the spirit— it would use its power to fill Kumatetsu to the brim with strength. The results were impressive and immediate; his ruddy red fur bristled as his body, already capable of amazing feats, grew. He was used to utilizing his true form; the burly, overgrown form he used for sheer brute force. But the spirit was showing him how to wield that same strength without tiring himself out; he simply could stay at that state of enhanced strength.

His arms were thickly roped with brawn again and again, heavy layers of beef that billowed up and out with inflated biceps and slab-like triceps. His chest, shoulders and back widened, pectoral muscles heaving with his deep, grunting breaths, the sprawling vista of his back growing thicker with hilly knots of muscle. With legs thicker and more impressive than the trunks of the trees around their camp, Kumatetsu needed no prodding to test his new found strength; he tensed the burgeoning muscles in his thighs, hamstrings taut as bowstrings, and with a well-aimed kick, his foot connected with the bark and cut right through the wood, splintering the tree.

"Gahaha! You see that, Kyuta?" Kumatetsu declared triumphantly. He pumped his arm, patting down a bicep ripe and round as a melon. "These Lords think they know strength— bah! They should be coming to me for lessons!"

His young apprentice stared at the bear, looking back to Hyakushubo, a pig monk. "What's he doing? Shouldn't he be worn out from keeping himself big like that?"

Hyuka stroked his chin. "Hm… There is something else at play, here. Watch him, Kyuta— strange things happen to those that come into these woods." He looked around the tree line, watching and waiting for something beyond Kyuta's understanding. "Keep an eye on him— I don't think this is the last we've seen of such things."