18:00
Nanjo, Okinawa, Japan.
The sky is already dark, but you can hear the sound of winds whistling one after another. In an old dojo here, you can see a 12-year-old boy standing in a horse stance while punching the air repeatedly. Each time he punches, the wind will whistle, and the sweat keeps pouring from his head to his back, making his cloth wet and small puddles of sweat start to accumulate under his feet.
Losing track of time, suddenly the old dojo door slides open. "I'm home!" The voice sounds from the front door, making the boy stop his training, straighten his Karate Gi and make his way to the front door.
"Uncle you home? I thought you had some monster outbreak clearing operation in Hokkaido" Wiping his sweat, Tamotsu Raiden looks at the middle age men who enter the front door.
"The operation ended early, we had a lot of help from the main clan in Hokkaido, they even show off their new rising star" he says, looking at the boy covered in sweat and smiling, "I see you still working hard, mastering your dad's martial art".
"Well, the only thing that they left me when they passed away is this martial art legacy" he said, flipping the old worn-out scroll. "No matter how many times I read the instructions, I still can't integrate chaos into my move".
On the worn-out scroll, you can see the kanji "Formless Technique".
The formless technique has several starter moves that are very direct and exist in every great technique that has been developed to this day. For example, he learns how to control his breathing, open his stance to add stability, add speed to his punch, and many more things. And at the end of the scroll, one sentence is written in kanji "Assume Formlessness".
"Well, that's to be expected, even I who had spent 20 years comprehending the technique, can't comprehend it. Unlike your father, a genius, he mastered the technique by the age of 18" He touches his chin, reminiscing about the past. "How about we spar, I remember that your dad's first epiphany is while fighting Granddad. You should see the duel between them, Granddad is always a hot-blooded man. He always tries to solve problems with his fist. When your dad keeps forgetting the scroll instructions, he gets angry and decides to challenge your dad to a duel. Raiden! Ready up!".
The middle age men make their way to the dojo's main area. While walking, the wooden floor keeps creaking. The dojo looks like it almost collapses, but the condition inside the dojo is very clean, and all the equipment in the dojo is very old but well-maintained.
"So, who wins in the duel?" Raiden looks at the middle age men.
The middle age men look at the boy in front of him, the boy looks too mature for his age "Well, your dad tried to turn down granddad's challenge, but your granddad grabbed the family sword and started to slash at him. To defend himself, your dad used the formless technique to dodge and block the strike. To Granddad's surprise, your dad is like a loach, he is so slippery that Granddad started to get annoyed and kept striking at him crazily. Granddad keeps on striking until he wears out himself, so in the end your dad won by default". The middle age men straighten his karate Gi and start stretching his body.
"Is that all?" Raiden looks dumbfounded at the middle age men. "I thought you said he got epiphany? What? Did Dad just realize Granddad does not have infinite stamina? If that's the epiphany, I don't need it." He looks at the middle age men like he just got game.
"hahahaha, well, of course not, if I tell you it's not going to help you, you need to have your own epiphany to breakthrough your limits" The middle age men laughed and said, "Let's spar first, if I feel your martial art progress is good, I'll tell you the full story".
"Let's start! Report your name following the dojo tradition" The middle age men stand opposite of Raiden "Tamotsu Abe the captain of the 2nd Squadron of the Ryukyu Clan, the practitioner of Ocean Wave Palm Technique".
Standing opposite Tamotsu Abe, the young boy opens his stance "Tamotsu Raiden, the head of Tamotsu Dojo, the practitioner of Formless Technique".
Abe takes a piece of coin from his pocket and says, "When the coin touches the floor, the match begins. Remember! I might not be as good as your dad, but I did inherit my father temper. If you are not up to my standard, I make sure that you never practice the formless technique. I am more willing the technique is being forgotten than let the technique is being labeled as useless"
"Don't worry, uncle, I might be mediocre at best. But I make it up with hard work." Raiden said while formulating the technique in his mind.
"Well, if you fail to learn the formless technique, you can swear an oath under the Ryukyu Clan and just learn their martial art. Big clan likes them has many techniques that they give their people to practice" Abe said while raising his shoulders.
"If I, as the only heir of the Tamotsu Dojo, give up learning our own martial art, I might as well perform Seppuku." Raiden smiled while replying to his uncle's suggestion.
Raiden's dad is the head of the Tamotsu Dojo, while Abe denounces himself from the Tamotsu Dojo to join the Ryukyu Clan. Because of the granddad's love for his child, he lets his uncle keep his family name, but at the same time, he will lose all his privileges in the dojo. Thus, Uncle cannot practice formless techniques and cannot inherit the dojo. Because of that, when Raiden's dad passed away, Raiden, as the only heir of the late dojo head, was eligible to inherit the dojo as the head of the Tamotsu Dojo.
"If Granddad is still alive, he will be happy to have such an honorable grandson." As Abe finishes speaking, he flicks the coin into the air.
"I'm not so sure I want to meet him" Raiden said while keeping his eyes on the flying coin.
When the coin hit the floor, Abe started the first strike.
"Ocean Palm Strike!"
A 1-meter water palm shot from Abe's hand flies straight to Raiden. This is the effect of martial art techniques that have been integrated with chaos. Chaos can be used to strengthen one's body, it can be found anywhere after The Abyss started to open on earth, along with countless monsters that are more proficient at using Chaos than humans.
In Abe's case, he has more affinity with water and practices the Ocean Wave Palm Technique. He can stimulate Chaos to integrate with martial art techniques to conjure water palms out of his move.
Raiden opened his step and slid to the side, dodging the water palm, seeing that his first attempt failed to hit Raiden. Abe increased the intensity of his move, the 1-meter water palm turned into a 2-meter water palm.
Seeing the size of the water palm increase, Raiden tries to close the distance between him and Abe. "With each step I take toward him, my area to dodge keeps getting tighter" Raiden grumble.
"Come on! Dodging is not going to make you win if you think it's going to be a battle of stamina. Trust me, I can keep on attacking for weeks but, I don't know about you" Abe said while smiling and looking at his nephew.
Knowing his limits, Raiden becomes more eager to finish this fast. With a 5-step distance from Abe, Raiden turns toward Abe and dashes straight toward Abe.
"What? Are you that eager to meet your dad!" Abe said while shooting another water palm.
"Uhh! If I dodge, I will lose the momentum to go forward, yet if I endure the strike, it will surely knock me back." Raiden gritted his teeth, seeing the attack come, ready to brunt the force of the attack.
Suddenly a word rang in his ear "Assume Formlessness!"
Raiden's hand moved from crossing his arm to receive the strike, he slid a little to the right while he let the attack strike his left arm slightly.
Surprisingly, the water palm diverted itself to the left after hitting his left hand.
Seeing an opening, he closes the distance between them and throws a straight right to Abe's face.
Abe, having more experience in battle, responded calmly by striking another water palm toward Raiden.
Before the water palm form, Raiden already block Abe hand to the side and strike a straight palm strike to Abe's solar plexus.
Abe quickly responded by protecting his solar plexus, but while waiting for the strike it did not come.
Seeing that Abe is ready to receive his attack, Raiden twists his hand inside and strikes Abe's chin with his palm.
"Guhh!" Abe's head turned upward upon receiving the strike.
Not letting the opening go to waste, Raiden followed with a straight right punch.
"You cheeky brat!" Before the strike landed Abe had already taken 5 steps backward " You really thinks that I gonna let you strike again"
"Now that I know that you are lethal up close, you're not going to have the chance to come close again." Abe opened his steps, ready to send Ocean Palm Strike.