Chapter 271: Magical Handshake~
Early morning.
At the edge of the octagonal ring in the Kure Village Central Plaza.
One old, one young—
The [SAINT OF WAR], Gouki Shibukawa (155cm, 47kg);
And;
The [SOUL COMBATANT], Ren Shiroki (187cm, 101kg).
Both wore faint smiles, their right hands extended and locked in a firm grip. To
a casual observer, the scene looked perfectly harmonious.
"Heh..."
Watching from the sidelines, Fusui Kure squinted and smiled. "Ren-chin came here
so early. It seems he couldn't wait for the festival to officially start to pull
Shibukawa-sensei into a 'game'."
"Since they're shaking hands at the edge of the ring, I take it Shibukawa-sensei
has accepted the challenge?"
However, beside her, Official Sonoda let out a nervous gulp and shook his head.
"That isn't a pre-match handshake, Kure-san. The match... has already begun!"
"—Eh?"
Fusui's black-and-white eyes widened in surprise. It was only then that she
noticed that although a considerable amount of time had passed, the two men's
hands remained fused together as if they were glued.
"Wait... what's happening?" Fusui looked back and forth, unable to grasp the
physics of the scene.
Ren Shiroki's posture was frozen. Beads of sweat began to roll down his
forehead. "I can't... let go."
"Hahaha!"
Shibukawa squinted through his glasses, his grin turning mischievous. "You said
'as I thought'? So you knew! What a shame, I was hoping to make it a surprise~!"
Ren admitted frankly, "You've already succeeded in startling me—"
"There's a difference between a surprise and a shock," Shibukawa teased, arching
an eyebrow. "A 'Surprise' is a gift. But you, Ren-kun... you walked into this
'Shock' of your own accord. That makes this a Trap!"
"To dare to step into Gouki Shibukawa's trap... are you ready, kid?"
Ren swallowed hard, his lips pulling back into a grin. "Nice. That's perfect!"
"Oho~!"
With his left hand still tucked casually in his pocket, Shibukawa's expression
remained serene as he suddenly exerted force.
Zip!
Under the bewildered gazes of Fusui and Sonoda, the 101kg Ren Shiroki was
physically suppressed. First, his legs were forced into a deep, awkward crouch;
then, his entire torso was tilted backward until his shoulder blades hit the
sand.
THUD!
The 47kg little old man had, with a single right hand, flattened Ren Shiroki
against the floor. He continued to apply pressure, forcing Ren's hips to rise
into a desperate bridge just to keep his neck from snapping!
"—?!" "..."
Fusui stared, her jaw hanging open. Sonoda tightened his fists.
"There it is. Aiki!"
Sonoda whispered the explanation to Fusui, recalling his tactical files.
"Shibukawa-sensei has a specialized Aiki technique for handshakes. He forces the
opponent to their knees and renders them immobile before they can even process
the threat."
"You remember Biscuit Oliva, the 'Unchained'?"
Sonoda swallowed hard.
"Before we arrived here, Shibukawa-sensei shook hands with Oliva. Even the man
with the world's greatest physical torque was forced to one knee the second
their palms touched!"
Shibukawa studied Ren with a squinted eye, then gave his right hand a sharp
flick forward.
"Haha! Take this~!"
Whoosh!
Ren was upended. He was launched into a backwards roll, tumbling like a wheel
for four or five revolutions across the octagonal ring before finally coming to
a halt on his back.
Clatter-rattle—
Dust and sand billowed up along the path of his tumble. At the starting point,
Shibukawa maintained a follow-through posture, his right finger pointing toward
the sky with effortless grace.
Fusui and Sonoda were both paralyzed by the sight. They murmured in unison: "So
that is... an Aiki Master..."
"Phew—!"
Ren Shiroki exhaled a cloud of heat. He stood up slowly, spitting a bit of grit
from his mouth and rotating his numbed right arm.
"Nice. That was incredible!"
Ren bared his teeth in a wide grin. "What a bizarre technique. It felt like
magic!"
"It's not a tackle like Wrestling, and it's not a pin like CQC. Rather than a
joint lock based on anatomy... it felt like an attack on my very Reflexes!"
"Through our hands, you used me as a medium to apply 'Weight.' It felt like a
massive boulder was pressing down on my entire existence!"
"Impossible to evade! Impossible to block!"
Ren's excitement was palpable, making Shibukawa feel a bit bashful. The old man
pushed his glasses up his nose, the lenses reflecting the morning sun.
Seeing the "spar" seemingly conclude, Sonoda stepped forward to play peacemaker.
But before he could take a second step, Ren moved.
"..."
Ren extended his right hand toward Shibukawa once more.
Sonoda froze. "Wait... you want to go again?!"
Ren gave a helpless, bloodthirsty laugh. A sharp glint flickered in his eyes. He
couldn't hold it back. "When it comes to 'Reflexes' and 'Unconscious'
reactions... I just had a thought."
"Ho-ho. It's good for the youth to use their heads—"
Shibukawa let out a low chuckle. He stepped back onto the ring and extended his
hand again, gripping Ren's palm just as he had before.
The next instant, as Shibukawa prepared to apply the torque for a second pin, he
felt an anomaly.
"Hm?"
In the whites of Ren's eyes, red veins surged outward like living chains,
tightening around his pupils until they vibrated with terrifying intensity.
[ENGINE]—MAX OUTPUT!
In that heartbeat, Ren's intense conscious will seized total control of his
biology. He purged every scrap of the "unconscious." He deleted his reflexes.
In this state, there were no "automated" responses for Shibukawa to exploit. No
matter how much weight the master tried to project through the handshake, Ren's
body no longer "accepted" the command to collapse.
If he wasn't one-shotted, he had a chance!
"HYAH—!"
Ren roared through gritted teeth. His muscles surged, pushing upward against the
pressure. His posture was warped and awkward, but he was standing his ground
against the Aiki.
Yet, even so, Ren was still being snared. He couldn't reset his posture; the
"Weight" was still there, pinning his right side.
In the heartbeat of crisis, Ren followed the momentum of the twist. He spread
his arms wide, pivoting his entire mass.
[ZANGIEF'S DOUBLE LARIAT]!
WHIRL!
A simple, brutal wrestling maneuver became the key to breaking the "Magical
Grip."
Shibukawa performed a quick backward hop, laughing as he cleared the path of the
spinning double-fist. He looked entirely unbothered.
"Hah... Phew... Hah..."
Ren panted heavily. A sharp, rhythmic pain throbbed inside his right arm; it
felt as though the bone had been on the verge of snapping like a dry twig. Cold
sweat drenched his back.
Even if the [ENGINE] could purge the unconscious, it didn't do a damn thing to
stop the pain!
"—Oho!"
Shibukawa flexed his right hand, recalling the sensation of the grip. He sighed
in admiration.
"Ren-kun... what kind of training have you endured? What kind of obsession
drives you to be able to override your own biological reflexes? You're barely
human, aren't you?"
Ren couldn't even draw enough breath to answer, his face flushed red from the
agonizing strain.
Shibukawa grinned. "I suspect... if I had actually snapped your right arm, your
entire body and your left arm would have 'Released' instantly. I would have
taken a punch that probably would have taken my head off."
"Maybe I could have dodged it? Or maybe I'd have a broken neck. The curiosity is
almost overwhelming—"
The little old man gave a wicked, teasing smirk. But after a moment, he
scratched his temple and waved a hand. "Nah. Forget it. This isn't a duel to the
death. I've got too many toys left to play with to end it now!"
"Ren-kun, let's put away the 'Lethal Arts' for now. Let's try something else,
shall we?"
"..."
"Yeah. After all, it's a festival. Not a execution."
Ren nodded, standing straight and resetting his breathing.
Now it was the turn of the spectators—Fusui, Sonoda, and the other police
officers—to be confused.
What do you mean, 'not a duel'?!
That murderous handshake had nearly crippled a man. If that wasn't a duel, then
what the hell was it?
Looking at the bewildered faces of the crowd, Ren and Shibukawa paused, both
putting their hands on their hips and shaking their heads in unison.
Shibukawa laughed. "What's this? Did you lot really want to see a bloodbath?"
The audience froze, then immediately began waving their hands and heads
frantically in denial. Fusui and Sonoda were leading the charge.
"No, no, no—!"
Neither Ren nor Shibukawa getting hurt was the desired outcome. For the
spectators, a clean, injury-free "game" was the best-case scenario.
Ren looked at the protesting Fusui. He found her panicked reaction adorable and
couldn't help but laugh.
"Exactly. Since we said we're going to 'Play,' we might as well show off the
rest of the toy box. Let's have some fun."
He turned back to Shibukawa. "So... just a casual game?"
Shibukawa roared with laughter. "No problem! Let's keep it casual~!"
The statement brought a wave of relief to the crowd, but their hearts jumped
back into their throats a second later—because the "Casual Game" of these two
was anything but.
Gouki Shibukawa tightened his fists. He dropped his waist, his chest opening
wide as his forearms extended diagonally downward.
Ren Shiroki followed the pact, deactivating the [ENGINE]. Instead, he dropped
into a heavy striking stance.
The two auras merged. Their Airspace (Air Superiority Zone) expanded violently, grinding against
one another until the very atmosphere seemed to buckle under the pressure.
The next heartbeat—
"TAKE THIS!"
Ren's 36 trillion cells ignited in perfect synchronization. He launched his
heaviest, most focused punch.
[STRIKE AT THE APEX]!
BOOM!!!
Ren's fist whistled through the air.
And then—
Ren Shiroki was launched backward like a projectile!!
WHOOSH!
(End of Chapter)
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