K tightened his jaw as Vince stepped forward, every inch of the battlefield groaning beneath the Taishin Master's unstable but thunderous aura.
The ground cracked in spirals where his feet landed, each step a declaration:
He was still here.
Still standing.
Still willing to break the world before letting his students fall.
But K cold strategist, battlefield genius, predator of weakness was not shouting now.
He wasn't sneering.
He wasn't mocking.
His thoughts churned fast and sharp
(I know I can't beat Vince the Wandering Fist…
Not when he's whole. Not when he's at full power. He didn't earn that title through luck, he earned it through dominance.)
His fingers twitched once.
A bead of void energy spiraled around his wrist like ink dragged by gravity.
Vince stopped a dozen meters away, breathing hard, blood dripping from his fingertips.
But he still smiled
that maddening, reckless, fearless smile.
"Done thinking, boy?" Vince said.
K's eyes narrowed.
