With Pariston's sudden change in attitude, Auren begins paying closer attention to his opponent.
Is he serious, or is this just another bluff? I guess I'll find out... I don't want it to end so soon—it felt so damn wonderful to finally beat up this guy, even just once.
Despite the shift in Pariston's demeanor, Auren doesn't slow down. He keeps advancing confidently, ready to attack and finish the fight.
As if nothing had changed at all, Auren delivers strike after strike, mixing in more of his practiced combinations.
Pariston, still holding a defensive posture, continues to parry and block the attacks. He's clearly taking damage—not because he's unskilled, or making mistakes, but because of his slight disadvantage in both Aura output and physical power.
So it was a bluff. Time to end this, then.
A little disappointed, but still fully focused, Auren keeps pressing forward, attacking calmly and without hesitation, pushing Pariston further and further back across the floor.
Just as Auren settles into a steady rhythm, Pariston suddenly breaks the flow—dodging one of Auren's strikes at the last second and countering with a Ko punch, directly aimed at Auren's face.
Caught off guard, Auren barely manages to shift most of his Aura into his forearm using Ryu, raising it just in time to block, his own arm pressing against his face as the strike hits him. Even with his guard, the sheer force of the blow sends him flying backwards several metres. He lands hard, the impact jarring, and his entire arm throbs with numb pain, blood running out of his nose.
"I'd say that was a clean hit! One point for Pariston, making it 9–1," Netero announces cheerfully.
"Are you mad?" Auren snaps. "If you hadn't dodged my attack, you'd be crippled... or dead. This is a spar!"
"Thank you for your kindness, Auren, but it was never a question whether I'd dodge the attack. I'm one hundred percent confident it wasn't even a risk," Pariston responds, calm as ever.
"Continue!" Netero yells out. "No need to hesitate, Auren. If anyone deserves a little pain, it's the rat."
"Chairman... how could you?" Pariston says, lifting his hands as if genuinely insulted.
Shut up.
Auren presses forward again, despite his dissatisfaction with the situation, avoiding any irritation, as he calmly and skillfully attacks, not losing his reason.
Even with flawless technique behind each strike, Pariston no longer looks overwhelmed. He's slowly finding his rhythm, no longer just blocking, but smoothly parrying and dodging Auren's blows, as if the earlier pressure is beginning to fade.
I need to change up my attacks. Outside of sword techniques and claw techniques, my other strikes are too simple... he must have analyzed my fighting style.
There's nothing left I haven't revealed—except... more movement techniques.
Auren begins incorporating short bursts of Rhythm Echo, only creating two afterimages this time. He keeps using the same punches, kicks, and combos—but shifts his movement patterns, weaving unpredictably and breaking the tempo of his strikes. With each step, he alters his rhythm and positioning, subtly generating duplicates to confuse his opponent.
For a moment, Pariston falls back into defense, forced to react to the barrage. But suddenly, he bursts forward, ignoring the afterimages entirely. Spinning mid-motion, he kicks backward with precise timing—landing a clean strike to Auren's chest, who was approaching from behind, ready to strike.
For the first time, Auren is the one sent flying uncontrollably.
He crashes onto the floor, the breath knocked from his lungs. Slowly, he pushes himself back to his feet.
"Clean hit and down!" Netero yells, clearly enjoying himself. "This is more fun than I expected. Maybe I should sign up for the next Battle Olympia! 9–3! You still need one more point, Auren!"
Wiping blood from the corner of his mouth, Auren rises. The last kick hit harder than he expected. His chest aches as he still feels the impact from Pariston's kick to his chest.
He's using risky attacks. Dodging, and countering with either Ko or full-on Aura-heavy offense. It's high-risk, high-reward—crazy, almost recklessly aggressive. But that's not all... something's wrong.
I have used new movement patterns, and he didn't see them before, I am sure of it. At first, I thought he analyzed my style and predicted my attacks, but this can't be it... is he using some sort of Hatsu? Is he guessing my unknown moves from seeing my other moves? No, he wouldn't take such a risk. It's unrealistic to guess new movements he hasn't even seen before.
"I'm so sorry, Auren, but I have an important meeting in half an hour, so I'm afraid I will need to continue," Pariston says, stepping forward.
"How about I make you miss it," Auren replies flatly.
Pariston smiles. "I'm afraid that's one meeting I simply can't miss... as much as I'd like to."
"Hoho, I haven't had a meeting in two weeks," Netero chimes in cheerfully. "It's good that the young people are doing all the annoying work."
"It's Beans who does all your work and takes over your meetings," Pariston retorts, but before he can finish, Auren rushes forward, aiming to take advantage of the moment.
This time, he doesn't attack with a fist, a kick, a knee, or the edge of his hand. He simply thrusts forward with a single finger, carefully shifting Aura into it just before driving it straight toward Pariston.
Pariston, noticing the shift in Aura just in time, attempts to dodge. He barely succeeds—but not entirely. Auren's finger grazes his arm, slicing clean through his shirt and leaving a thin bloody line behind.
"It's shallow," Netero calls out immediately. "No point!"
Damn, he just wants to see more. That was a clear hit. I might want to punch Netero almost as much as I want to punch Pariston himself.
I didn't want to reveal this technique... Normally, I'd first morph my arm and hand into a claw before using it. But I can use it without it, since I've trained my fingers to the limit. If I channel enough Aura into them, I can pierce through steel. It doesn't even have a name, but I remember seeing something like this somewhere. Let's call it... finger gun.
"Continue!" Netero yells again, clearly still eager to watch more.
"What a deadly technique," Pariston remarks, watching Auren closely. "I'm not sure this fits into the kind of Hunter Association I want to create."
"Shut up and fight," Netero babbles. "Or your body will end up with even more holes to leak your lies from."
The fight resumes. But this time, Pariston—now paying very close attention—begins to move differently. He evades with perfect timing, reading Auren's movements almost too well. His tactics gradually shift from defense to offense, forcing Auren to block instead.
Even though Auren takes no damage, he struggles more than before. He moves and weaves through the space between them, trying to find an opening, trying to stay unpredictable—but Pariston always seems to know where he's going, countering and striking at just the right moment.
Despite the pressure, Auren manages to guard properly, keeping himself from taking any real hits.
Then, Pariston steps back for a moment and raises his right hand, using Ko, a massive amount of Aura gathering into it.
"I suppose only this will do," he mutters, giving a small shrug.
"Don't blame me then!" Auren replies, launching a blast of Aura straight at him.
As if he expected it, Pariston jumps high into the air, pushing off the ceiling and flying toward Auren, his right hand still glowing with dense Aura.
Caught off guard, Auren tries to dodge, stepping to the side. But Pariston is too fast. Auren just barely manages to block.
The impact is strange—there's no pain. No force from the punch, as if he got hit by a soft glove. Instead, Pariston suddenly spins mid-air, lashing out with a kick, using Ko on it.
Auren reacts instantly, shifting nearly all his Aura into his torso, before he takes the kick full-on.
The blow slams into his side and launches him backwards. He crashes hard against the ground.
"Critical hit and down!" Netero announces gleefully. "9–6. Can you continue, Auren?"
"Yes," Auren replies at once, forcing himself up slowly, rubbing the left side of his torso where the pain lingers, sharp and burning.
Did I break a few ribs? Well, not a problem.
Now I'm sure... he knows what I'm planning. There are two possibilities. Either he's using a Hatsu, which seems unlikely, since he's actively using Ko—using all his Aura to maintain it—or...
I need to pay attention.
Auren, despite the sharp pain in his side, rushes forward once again. Pariston is still using Ko, stretching out his arm in a taunting manner and dodging all of Auren's attacks with precision and unbridled confidence, countering skillfully with a full-force punch whenever he sees an opening. Auren manages to block, but the impact still forces him back several metres each time.
I've used Gyo a couple of times... but now I need to really focus and take a closer look. I have to give it everything, or I will actually lose. He's not just using Ko—not consistently at least. I can feel it. If he were, I'd be taking way more damage from each hit. And that still doesn't explain how he's able to read all of my movements, even the ones I've never shown before. If I want the truth, I need to take a risk.
Auren charges again, pushing his attacks further, mixing up his movements even more. He suddenly thrusts forward with a left-handed finger gun, but buckles under the strain mid-motion—his own pain stopping the strike, Auren moaning in pain.
Pariston, however, just smirks.
"Nice try," he says calmly, stepping back.
He saw through my feint? How?!
He's reading my Aura... but how is he still using Ko? How can he read my Aura and fight at the same time? Wait—his Ko attacks are actually not that strong, at least not all of them! Some of them are real, but others just appear that way. That's the key.
He's shifting Aura to his eyes. He's doing it quickly, far faster than I expected, and he is hiding it with In. Just a fraction of a second. Much faster than I can react. He's insanely skilled. If I copy that approach, I'll know for sure. I'm skilled at Ryu—but now, I need to be more careful. I can't fight like he does. I didn't train for that level of risk.
Auren presses forward immediately, mustering as much Aura as he can. Quietly, he activates In, hiding the fact that he has shifted more than half of his Aura into his eyes—enough to see through In and properly see his opponent's Aura.
How about that?!
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