Akio stood in the middle of the market, his fists tight, yellow sparks pulsing around his body. On the other side, Akira stood calmly with his hands in his pockets, a wide, excited grin on his face.
While watching the sparks, he said:
"What's this? Looks like we have someone with a very interesting Vakin here!"
Akio lifted his chin, his smile is widening despite the anger burning in his chest:
"You haven't seen anything yet!"
He moved in the next instant. He vanished, shooting towards Akira like an arrow, too fast for a normal eye to follow. His charged fist swung straight toward Akira's face… but there was no face.
Akira disappeared before the punch touched him. Only a heartbeat passed before Akio felt the air shiver behind his ear… something appeared there. Then came the strike. A kick hit his back with precision, slamming into his spine and sending a shockwave through his body, launching him toward a nearby restaurant. The wooden table shattered under him, food scattering as cups clattered on the floor.
Akio got up immediately… not angry, but smiling. As he brushed the dust off his shoulder, his eyes gleamed with excitement:
"Oh, you're fast… but you won't surpass my speed. The speed of lightning!!"
Akira replied with cool indifference, as if he wasn't taking any of this seriously:
"Huh, lightning speed? You were slower than I expected."
Sparks lit up around Akio's feet, electricity rising across his skin. His voice sharpened:
"I was just going easy on you!"
He raised his hand toward the sky as lightning gathered in his palm.
"{Shaking Thunder Bolt!}"
The ground exploded beneath him, pebbles breaking apart as a circle of electricity flashed… then Akio vanished again. No one saw the movement… only a streak of yellow ripping through the air. He appeared above Akira in the next breath.
His blazing fist came down toward Akira's face with impossible speed. Akira moved this time. He looked up… and smiled. He caught Akio's fist with one hand. Akio's eyes widened.
"W–What?!"
Akira smiled, cold and confident:
"You're strong… but you still don't understand anything about real combat."
He shoved him with a single hand. Not a normal shove… but a focused strength hurled Akio through the air like a cut puppet. But before hitting the ground, Akio twisted midair, sparks slicing around him. He landed on his feet without losing balance, standing tall again.
Despite his excitement, something heavier pressed on his chest.
'If I could use my sword… this would be easier. But no… I can't draw it here. If anyone saw it, they'd confiscate it immediately under Makia's laws. Damn it… I have to rely on my Vakin alone. I need to fight as if I have no weapons.'
He raised his head, anger pulling at his features as he tightened his fists:
"I'm starting to hate your face already!"
Akira smirked, enjoying the rising tension:
"Oh? Is that because you know you can't even touch me?"
Akio grinned with confidence, lifting his right hand. Sparks ignited across his skin, and electricity is howling around him:
"No. It's because you're too arrogant… and someone needs to put you back in your place."
His eyes turned into a sharp, glowing yellow, and the lightning mark on his forehead pulsed with inner light.
Akio's expression hardened.
"Get ready… now I'll show you real lightning speed."
In a flash, the entire market burst with electric blue light. Tiles shattered beneath his feet. Sparks leapt from rooftops to the stone ground. His blue hair lifted as power tore through the air around him.
"I've had enough… time to shut you up!"
Akira raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised but still smug:
"Oh? Finally taking this seriously? This should be fun."
Akio vanished. Akira's eyes widened for an instant before something hit him.
Akio's voice came from every direction, as if the sparks themselves were speaking:
"{Storm of Multiple Thunder Strikes!}"
Then the explosion happened. A lightning punch tore through the air, smashing into Akira's abdomen. It wasn't a single hit… but a chain of electric shocks firing into his nerves, one after another, faster than any human could endure.
Akira dropped to his knees, breath knocked out of him. His hands reached for his stomach instinctively, but his muscles wouldn't respond properly. His whole body trembled, a burning sensation crawling under his skin.
Akio rested his hands on his hips.
"What's wrong? Feeling the true power of lightning?"
Akira tried to lift his head… but his muscles refused to sync with his commands. The strike had scrambled his nervous system, forcing his body into an unfamiliar slowness.
In a broken voice, he asked:
"Wh–… What did you do to me?!"
The sparks still burrowed inside his muscles. He shut his eyes, bearing the pain, then muttered:
"Not bad, kid…"
Akio answered with confidence:
"Don't underestimate lightning again, you werewolf."
Akira narrowed his eyes, wiping his mouth slowly:
"Heh… looks like you think well during battle, don't you?"
His words came out strained, but he stood. His muscles began to recover bit by bit. His red eyes reignited with sharp intensity. Finally, he straightened his entire presence shifting into one ready to attack.
Akira's voice dropped, his appearance is beginning to change:
"You're getting full of yourself, kid. Since you showed me your lightning Vakin… I'll show you the true power of a werewolf."
It wasn't an empty threat. Akira's red eyes sharpened further as the gloves on his hands tore open, his arm muscles expanding from within. Black claws emerged… long, carved, their edges gleaming like freshly sharpened steel.
Muscles across his arms and chest swelled. His fangs that were usually hidden behind his mocking smile, now showed… feral and sharp.
Akio watched the transformation intently, his sparks dimming for a moment:
"Huh… you've had those claws and fangs from the start? Why didn't you use them?"
Akira grinned:
"Because I didn't consider you a threat… until now."
He vanished instantly, his voice echoing from nowhere:
"Let's see if you can keep up with me now!"
Akio tried tracking him, but even his senses faltered. Akira was much faster than before. He appeared right in front of Akio, slashing toward his chest, but Akio barely dodged.
Akio gasped as he stepped back:
"This isn't even a Vakin! His physical strength just spiked insanely!"
Akira stepped forward and said:
"Scared? Good… because I'm not done yet."
He shot forward again, then… BOOM!
A swift strike sliced part of Akio's jacket, leaving a sharp line across his shoulder. A shallow wound… but a clear warning.
Akio touched the cut with two fingers, lifting his head with wide eyes:
"He actually managed to hit me?!"
Akira licked the blood that had splattered onto one of his claws, smiling with obsession:
"Oh, you finally bled… good. I'll cut you even more soon."
Akio wiped the blood off his shoulder as sparks surged around his arms again.
"Huh? Is that all you've got? You barely scratched me!"
Then both of them vanished. The battle was no longer on the ground. Their shadows appeared in the air, then disappeared. A lightning strike here. A claw tearing through the wind there.
The citizens had retreated far away, staring at a fight unlike anything they had ever seen. Ann stood with her arms crossed, calmly chewing popcorn as if she were watching a stage performance. Ken lit a fresh cigarette, blowing smoke without showing the slightest reaction.
Akira laughed mid-attack:
"This is fun! This is so much fun!!"
Akio answered with a smile that mixed challenge with pure madness:
"Finally… someone I can push myself to the limit with!"
Akira replied in a low, feral tone:
"Your limit? Then let me show you mine."
And then his gaze changed. His voice dropped to something that didn't sound like his own:
"It's time for real hunting."
Akio grinned with raw excitement:
"Then… I won't hold back anymore!"
Akira leaped… yet Akio vanished again and appeared to his right.
"{Internal Lightning Burst!!!}"
He pressed his fully charged hand against Akira's chest. The electric detonation wasn't just a blow… it was an attack that went straight inside the body, making the nerves scream.
Akira's body convulsed violently, sparks bursting out of him as if his bones had turned into snapping wires. His knees slammed into the ground, and the sound that escaped him was a strangled, animalistic roar of pain. Parts of his clothes burned from the shock, and the skin beneath flushed red.
"Aaaaaaah!!!"
Akio stepped back, his body still blazing with lightning, watching Akira gasp on his knees. He looked at him with a calm confidence, clearly tasting victory.
With cold clarity, he said:
"I didn't think it'd be this easy… I expected more from you, werewolf."
Akira slowly lifted his head. His body trembled from within, yet a stubborn, reckless smile formed on his face.
Between broken breaths, he said:
"H-h… you think… I'm finished?"
Akio raised an eyebrow slightly:
"You're still standing? I like that."
Akira's eyes gleamed as the muscles in his chest and shoulders twitched unnaturally, as if something inside him was trying to break out.
In a low, unsettled voice, he said:
"Something… has awakened inside me… and I have you to thank for it."
It wasn't an empty threat. A thick red aura began to leak from his body, like smoke rising from an invisible wound.
Not far from them, Mabushi couldn't just stand by and watch Akio fight alone. His nature didn't allow stillness or being a spectator. He started moving around the market as if searching for a problem to pick.
A heavy, irritating thought slipped into his mind:
'Why him? Why does this idiot get a proper fight… and me? I'm just standing here like a statue?'
He clenched his teeth, watching lightning tear the air around Akio.
'That fool… he doesn't even know how to use his Vakin properly, yet he gets a strong opponent? This is unfair. Completely unfair.'
He ran a hand through his hair with boredom, then exhaled sharply:
'I'm not here to watch. I wasn't born to be a spectator. If I can't find an opponent… I'll make one.'
Mabushi walked deeper into the market, his steps dripping with irritation, passing a man carrying a bag of fruit. He stopped. Looked at the bag. Then at the man.
'This… looks perfect.'
He approached slowly, then bumped his shoulder into the man's with a clear, deliberate impact… a direct invitation to a fight.
The man blinked in confusion:
"Watch where you're going!"
Mabushi blinked back slowly, leaning closer to his face as if he hadn't heard him properly:
"What did you say?"
The man repeated with annoyance:
"I said watch—"
Mabushi's hand cut him off, grabbing the front of his shirt. A provoking smile curled on his lips… the smile of someone who had finally found what he was looking for.
In a low tone, he said:
"I was thinking… since you bumped into me, maybe… I should rearrange your teeth. Just so I don't feel like I wasted my time here."
The man panicked, tugging his shirt back:
"What's wrong with you?! I didn't do anything to you!"
Mabushi raised his fist slowly… the man trembled, but that didn't deter him at all. He was about to strike when something moved faster than his punch.
A sharp shout ripped through the air:
"Mabushi!"
And suddenly—BOOOOM!!!
Ann's fist that was loaded with fury, slammed straight into Mabushi's cheek. His body flew back like a rag doll, crashing into a vegetable cart, rolling across the ground before ending up sprawled on his back, completely stunned.
The man who was about to be punched froze in place, unable to understand what had just happened. Ann stood between them like a steel barrier, her shoulders tense, her eyes sparking with anger.
She pointed at Mabushi, still trying to process the hit, and said sharply:
"Are you insane?! People are running from Akio's fight and you are looking for a victim?! Seriously?!"
Mabushi tried to raise a hand to point at her, but pain beat him to it:
"W-wait… he… he attacked me first!"
Ann gave him a look capable of crushing the last speck of lie in his soul.
"Shut up. If you want to fight, I'll teach you how to pick an opponent… not a man carrying fruit."
Laughter rippled through the onlookers as the man with the fruit bag backed away slowly, clutching it like it was a treasure he barely escaped with.
As for Mabushi… he stayed on the ground, staring at the sky with a face half shocked, half miserable, before muttering under his breath in annoyance:
"That punch was illegal… she attacked an innocent citizen…"
But Ann raised her fist again, and he swallowed the rest of his words immediately.