A huge explosion rocked the corner, causing the building to collapse under a shower of debris. Through the smoke and dust, Max emerged with a leap, carrying a woman, a child, and an adult man hanging from his back.
As soon as he landed on the asphalt, he set the three down safely and, without wasting any time, ordered them:
'Get away from here, now!'
His eyes moved quickly, scanning the area. Panic was widespread. Civilians ran and screamed. Smoke, glass, distant sirens.
'The bastard got away... he fled outside the evacuated blocks...' he muttered angrily, clenching his teeth.
No more than five seconds passed before several patrol cars appeared, braking suddenly. Armed officers got out of the vehicles and surrounded Max.
The young man took a step back reflexively, raising a hand to his face, tempted to cover it...
'Jump and run?' asked an officer, his mouth agape.
A car hit Max in mid-air, dragging him towards the ground. However, the young man spun around, landing firmly on his feet. He held the vehicle with both arms and gently placed it on the ground, as if carrying a fragile box.
'Twelve minutes have passed... and my body hasn't stopped burning...' Gorgo muttered under his breath, beads of sweat sliding down his forehead. He watched Max from afar, hidden behind a half-collapsed wall. 'And to think I had him on the ropes...'
Max calmly turned his head, fixing his gaze in Gorgo's direction, even though he was well hidden.
<< After his moment of clarity and reaching Zenkay, Max managed to expand the range of his 'Radar' technique to about twelve metres, detecting Gorgo by the robust form his Ki was taking. >>
'Shit...' Gorgo exhaled, his pulse racing, as he watched Max start running straight towards him.
In seconds, Max dodged the wall, wrapped his arm around the big man's neck, and with an explosive jump, dragged him to the rooftop of the buildings.
Gorgo reacted quickly, hitting Max in the chest with his elbow, forcing him to retreat with the push.
Both remained standing, firm, face to face.
Max held his chest with one hand, feeling the blow vibrate through his rib cage. Gorgo, for his part, kept his palm on his neck, resentful of the previous pressure. Their gazes clashed like crossed swords.
Gorgo's plan had stalled in its third stage. Frustration gnawed at him. Not only was Max still alive... he seemed impossible to defeat.
'This is very frustrating...' Gorgo confessed, clenching his jaw. 'You're too persistent... This should have been easy. That's how I planned it.'
'I'd like to say the same,' Max replied coldly, 'but instead of frustrating... it's been annoying.' I came here to fight, not to chase ghosts.
Then Max reached out and pointed to a road that disappeared into the distance.
"Are you going to keep running? That road takes you out of Kyoto. Get out of here, if that's what you want. I'm giving you this one chance..."
'I won't tolerate this disrespect,' Gorgo growls, digging his fingers into the ceiling, tearing off a piece, but he is met by Max's fist, right in the middle of his stomach, forcing him to let go of the piece of ceiling. This allows Max to grab it in mid-air, spin around and hit the big guy with it.
From among the flying pieces, Gorgo's fist emerges, hitting Max in the middle of the face and causing him to crash into the air conditioners.
He quickly gets up, but as he takes a step forward, he staggers slightly. Max's eyes open in surprise; he accidentally let himself get hit in the face.
His head felt heavy. 'Shit... I'm an idiot...' Max says, his gaze clouded.
Even so, he raises his fists, ready to keep fighting. Despite being dizzy, he had no intention of backing down.
Gorgo smiled at his new advantage, a knife with a bone handle stuck near his foot, preventing him from advancing.
'You're the cocky one who hospitalised my grandfather...' says an unknown voice. 'I'm going to have to castrate you so that confidence can be cured...'
Both turned their heads to the left, alerted by a sudden sound.
A young man dressed in a beret, white shirt, red neckerchief, and country trousers landed on the rooftop with a clean, confident jump.
'Leonel...?' asked Max, not quite believing what he was seeing.
'I told you I owed you a favour, didn't I?' replied Leonel Kawaki, with a broad smile, scratching his forehead with his finger, as if he had just arrived at a party and not a battle.
'What are you doing here? Get out of here! This is very dangerous!' shouted Max, staggering on his feet.
'Are you stupid or just pretending?' Leonel replied with a puzzled look. 'Didn't you see me just jump two floors as if it were nothing?'
Max blinked, confused.
'What does "stupid" mean?'
Without warning, Gorgo stretched out his arm to grab the knife on the ground.
But Leonel reacted instantly: he kicked his forearm with precision, preventing him from reaching it, and in the same movement picked up the knife, jumping back just in time to dodge the big man's brutal blow.
'Are we fighting together... or am I fighting alone?' Leonel asked, wielding his knife with a confident smile.
'What can you do?' Max replied, raising his fists, unsteady on his feet.
'Me?' Leonel took a second to think about it. 'I have a knife.'
He raised the weapon naturally, as if that were more than enough.
Max watches him, panting, his pulse racing.
'It's hard to think... but it's very convenient to get help right now,' he thinks, looking away at Gorgo, who was already taking a defensive stance.
The knife began to dance in Leonel's hand, spinning like an extension of his arm. His smile was as wide as it was dangerous.
Gorgo swallowed hard.
'Wait a minute... Grandfather? Is this brat the grandson of the crazy old man with the machete?' he muttered, backing away slightly.
He didn't have time to think any further. Max suddenly appeared with a direct punch, forcing Gorgo to throw his head back to dodge it.
As he was getting up, a blade flashed dangerously close to his face. He ducked just in time to avoid the knife slash.
But he couldn't dodge Max's straight kick, which hit him in the chest, forcing him to take several steps back until he was at the edge of the roof.
Max's fist glowed gold for a moment before impact. The blow sent Gorgo flying, crashing violently onto the asphalt.
Still dazed, the big man rolled to one side, narrowly dodging Leonel's downward thrust. With a growl, he dug his fingers into the street and ripped up a strip of asphalt, tripping the gaucho.
The gap opened, and Gorgo raised his fist to finish him off.
But Max fell right in the middle, taking the brutal blow without flinching. The impact made him crackle, but his presence protected Leonel.
The gaucho reacted instantly, jumping forward. His knife cut Gorgo's arm, causing the colossus to retreat with a cry.
'No matter what I do...' Gorgo muttered, backing away as he dodged more slashes. 'I always end up losing... always.'
His thoughts travelled back six years, to when he faced Richarzon in that boxing match. He was on a streak of fourteen consecutive defeats, longing to regain his lost respect and help his friend. But that victory only sank him further. He frowned, clenched his fist, and began to review all his recent defeats: Max's beating, the old man's intimidation with his machete, Richarzon's fracture.
He unleashed a blow against the floor, opening a crack that unbalances Leonel.
Determined to break the streak, Gorgo stood firm in the ring, throwing a punch that Leonel dodged by throwing himself backwards.
...
'Did you just ask Gorgo... to become a monster?' asked Richarzon, lying on the stretcher, looking at his plastered knee.
'Yes...' replied Do'cientos, his voice firm.
The sound of stifled laughter broke the silence. Do'cientos frowned.
'What's so funny?'
'Gorgo can't be a monster, even if you ask him to be,' replied Richarzon, amused. He'll get into character, he'll kill without question... but to be a true monster, he has to enjoy it. He has to want to kill. And that's never going to happen!"
'We'll see about that...' replied Do'cientos, crossing his arms. 'He already killed an entire dojo of young people, just because I asked him to.' My monster is creating itself.
'Sir... your manipulation will never last forever,' warned Richarzon, seriously. 'Gorgo will stay in character for a while, convincing himself that what he's doing is right... but he'll get fed up. His remorse will return. If you wanted a monster, you should have brainwashed him when you injected him with the serum.'
'That would have been stupid. And you wouldn't have let me do it...'
'Exactly,' said Richarzon, closing his eyes calmly. 'I would have smashed through that glass case separating us... and beaten up anyone who got in my way.'
'You give me such confidence as my employee...' criticised Do'cientos.
'I'm a lovely person,' joked Richar. 'You should know who you're hiring... Gorgo did all his jobs successfully and without complaint, but he never seemed comfortable doing them... at some point, he'll hesitate and question it, but he won't back down...'
...
Leonel did a somersault on the ground, dodging by inches the punch that hit with brutal force, cracking the asphalt as if it were volcanic rock. He quickly propelled himself backwards, positioning himself to throw his knife, but a flying piece of pavement forced him to intercept it in mid-air with a clean slash.
Meanwhile, Max landed two powerful blows to Gorgo's abdomen, forcing him to take a couple of steps back. The young man moved out of the way in time to dodge the counterattack and regained his distance.
Gorgo covered his face with both fists and began to advance slowly, swaying from side to side like a street boxer, his gaze fixed on Max.
'What is he...?' Max wondered as he backed away, avoiding getting close to Gorgo.
Leonel was about to attack, but an electric roar echoed in the distance like a storm, only instead of water, it was lightning falling, surprising him, as he seemed to recognise it.
'Did Baldur lose?' he wondered as he saw the electric wall approaching the three of them with full force.
'NORDOR!' Gorgo shouted with relief.
Leonel rushed to try to stab Gorgo, but the sprinter's silhouette stood in front of him, holding a gun, pointing directly at his forehead. Only the shot was heard, followed by the gaucho falling to the ground, while Max tried to block and dodge the continuous blows that Gorgo threw with swings from left to right.
'I'm back!' shouted Nordor, bursting in with a crooked smile and his body covered in bruises, wounds that still burned from his previous confrontation with Max.
Without giving him a chance, he launched a lightning bolt that the young warrior barely managed to catch head-on. The discharge pierced him like a spear of fire.
'Shit...' Max exhaled, staggering with difficulty. 'This... is happening too fast... and I'm still not over the dizziness...'
A flurry of blows struck him mercilessly. A punch to the face, followed by another lightning bolt that burned his back, sent him reeling backwards. With the last of his energy, Max responded with a direct blow to Gorgo's face and launched a Ki sphere in Nordor's direction.
But Gorgo didn't flinch.
<< That burning sensation he endured for 12 minutes and 31 seconds finally came to an end. Gorgo had achieved his new adaptation to the force. His body readjusted to Max's power. >>
<< Max Songoku, brilliant soldier, bearer of the Zenkay who had raised his power beyond its limits... made a mistake. His moment of lucidity, that brilliant instant, diverted him from the winning plan: to defeat with a single blow. >>
The sphere was easily evaded by Nordor, who responded with another lightning-fast strike. The impact caused Max to fall backwards to the ground, covered in wounds, gasping for breath with his eyes half-closed.
With his body reeling and his strength depleted, Max rolled across the floor at the last second, dodging a brutal stomp from Gorgo that shattered the pavement where he had been lying. He stretched his hand forward and, with a quick gesture backward, reclaimed control of his energy sphere. It returned like an unleashed comet, striking Gorgo hard in the back, who was thrown forward with a sharp grunt.
'You're not going to beat me!' Max roared with fury, his pupils turning a vibrant crimson red, burning with rage and resistance.
But at that moment, Nordor appeared behind him with devilish speed. He wrapped his arm around Max's neck, immobilising him for a second, and with his other hand, he plunged a syringe directly into his neck, emptying its contents in a matter of seconds.
'Gah!' Max growled, yanking the device off.
With a roar of rage, he slammed Nordor against a nearby wall. Without letting up, Max spread both arms and launched a flurry of energy attacks in a frenzy that lit up the place with constant bursts. The shock waves shook the nearby buildings. Nordor fell to his knees, covering himself, barely conscious.
He held the side of the injection, feeling no pain or threat.
'I don't know what that was... but I'm worried...' he said in a low voice.
Gorgo approached Nordor and helped him up, but he could no longer stand. His arrival would only be momentary, and he had accomplished his mission.
'What did you inject him with?' Gorgo asked him.
'Before I got here... I raided a pharmacy and grabbed a lot of bottles of midazolam... I injected him with about 30 milligrams...' he replied with difficulty. "He's immune to bullets, and if we're beating him, he goes crazy... if we put him to sleep slowly, he'll lose... what's more. He's already lost..."
'30 milligrams is a lethal dose... he'll die...' whispers Gorgo, watching Nordor fade away again.
'Fuck... that hurt!' exclaims Leonel, pulling the bullet out of his forehead with a grimace, revealing that he didn't even have a wound.
Gorgo slowly turned his head, watching the gaucho with wide eyes and a drop of cold sweat running down his temple. The scene made no sense: Leonel was still standing, and Max, now with crimson-red eyes, looked like a beast out of control. All of this put Gorgo back at a disadvantage... again.
At that moment, Leonel noticed something on the floor: a syringe. He picked it up, examined it closely, and frowned as he read the label.
'Cajeta...' he muttered.
'Hey, did they stick this in you?' he asked, serious for the first time in the entire fight.
'Yes... why?' What is it?" Max replied, still breathing heavily.
'A sedative, man. Midazolam. You're going to fall... asleep. Or dead, I don't know how much they gave you,' Leonel explained, his face hardening.
Max's body tensed immediately. His red eyes opened a little wider, and for the first time in the entire fight... he was afraid.
'My body is already getting heavy... shit... what do I do?' thought Max, as his eyes regained their natural colour.
His breathing became erratic. He felt stupid. In part... he deserved it. But to die? No. He couldn't accept that it would all end like this.
In the distance, Gorgo stood up firmly, ready to resist. He knew that if he could hold out for just ten more minutes, the sedative would do the job for him.
'How come you're not dead?' Gorgo asked the gaucho, without letting his guard down.
'Bullets don't affect people like us,' explained Leonel, adjusting his hat. "When you grab something, you end up covering it with your energy without meaning to. That's what hurts us. The same thing happens with a gun. But with a bullet, no... if you don't envelop it with your energy, or find a more elaborate way for it to pierce our skin... it's going to be hard for you..."
With that, he looked at Max and winked. The message was as clear as the sky before a storm.
The blade of the knife glowed with an intense yellow light. Gorgo barely had time to react, jumping to avoid an energetic slash that split the wall in two as if it were paper.
As he landed, Gorgo looked up... just in time to see Leonel and Max running away at full speed.
'I'm tired of this!' Leonel shouted as he ran. 'Why didn't you do that before?!'
Max asked, feeling the weight in his legs.
'I've only recently mastered ki, my reserves are very low, I didn't do it before because if I get tired, I'll be screwed!' he replied.
'What's the plan? I won't be able to move any longer!'
'Get to a pharmacy and ask a pharmacist how to block the effect of the sedative...'
Gorgo followed behind them, but he couldn't catch up. The difference in speed worked in favour of the improvised duo.
When they reached the first pharmacy, Leonel rammed the door with his shoulder, making it creak against the wall, and headed straight for the counter.
'I need help, now!' he shouted at the pharmacist, who jumped in surprise.
Turning towards the entrance, he saw Max collapse to the floor, on the verge of losing consciousness.
'Hurry up, man, he's dying!'
The pharmacist, trembling, went to the back and brought back a labelled bottle: Flumazenil. He took a syringe and injected 10 milligrams into the vein in his arm.
The sedative had been working in Max's body for too long. Although the dose of Flumazenil was correct to counteract much of the Midazolam, it was too late to keep him awake. >>
The inevitable happened. Max fell into a deep sleep, without convulsions, but completely immobile. His breathing was so soft that it barely lifted his chest, and his pulse was imperceptible.
'Get away from him,' Leonel ordered the pharmacist, stepping forward with a fiery look as he watched Gorgo arrive.
'You bastards...' Leonel spat, his eyes burning, the knife clenched tightly in his hand.
Gorgo lowered his gaze and for a moment stared at Max's motionless body. He looked closely, searching for the slightest movement, a sign of breathing. Nothing. Leonel's expression, as firm as a tombstone, only confirmed what he feared.
For Gorgo, Max was finally dead.
At last, the third stage of the plan had been accomplished.
He had fallen for the deception.
Leonel tensed, ready to fight... but the big man simply took a colossal leap and ran away, disappearing into the shadows of the city.
In the distance, police sirens could be heard. Leonel didn't know whether to feel ignored or grateful. Perhaps a little of both.
Gorgo already had his next step in mind:
<< ❹: Go to the Water Dojo and kill Baldur Brauner. Only then would he end this tedious mission. >>
<< The problem... is that Baldur isn't in his dojo. Instead, there are... >>
'Hey, Oliver... I'm hungry... Shall we go home and see what Master Baldur has cooked?' asks Gouten, rubbing his belly.
'I'm thirsty... That's not a bad idea,' replies his cousin calmly.
'Let's go then!' says Gouten, walking towards home.