Chapter 324: I Can Definitely Understand
CRACK-BOOM!!
Fists and feet traded in a frantic blur, unleashing a non-stop drumbeat of
heavy, muffled impacts. Blood mingled with sweat and saliva, spraying from Ren
Shiroki and Raian Kure's bodies as they moved, painting the air in a scattered
crimson mist.
Zip!
Ren adjusted the distance with a quick shuffle. He launched a high-velocity Muay
Thai scan-kick.
[SAGAT'S HIGH SCAN KICK]!
BANG!
Raian snapped his right arm up to block. His hyper-tense muscles were radiating
a biological heat so intense it felt like he might burn Ren upon contact.
Ren gritted his teeth and pressed forward. The moment his left foot touched the
sand, he drove off his right heel, putting the torque of his entire mass into a
right straight.
[DRIVE IMPACT: SHOCKWAVE]!
In that same heartbeat, Raian lunged into the impact. He met Ren's fist head-on
with a demonic grin, driving his forehead forward in a savage counter-headbutt.
THUD!!
Ren took the full force of the skull-strike. Blood erupted from his nose, his
features scrunching together in an involuntary wince of agony.
The Kure announcer finally found a gap to shout: "RAIAN HAS ENGAGED THE
HEADBUTT—!!"
"HA!"
Raian gave him zero room to breathe. He took a heavy stride forward in pursuit,
his waist twisting as he fired both fists vertically in a dual-dragon strike.
[KURE FAMILY TRADITION: MOUNTAIN BREAKER]!
BOOM!
Ren was hit simultaneously in the face and the solar plexus.
Yet, despite the trauma, his pupils continued to vibrate with a high-voltage
hum. His consciousness was essentially on fire, his [ENGINE] pushing his biology
to its absolute limit.
"MISSION START—!"
Ren roared. He unleashed a horizontal barrage of hand-chops, his arms moving
like a human gatling gun as they hammered against Raian's skull.
*[MACHINEGUN CHOPS]!
Raian's facial skin rippled and deformed under the impacts, yet his
black-and-red eyes didn't even blink. Like a demon from a fever dream, he stared
straight through the hits.
He fired back with a high-speed combination of his own, fists and feet targeting
every inch of Ren's frame.
Bang! Pow! Crack!
Splurt—!
Ren spat blood, his vision beginning to cloud from the sheer volume of damage he
was absorbing.
But a second later, as Raian closed in for the kill, Ren's hands shot forward.
He clamped them around Raian's neck in a vice-like grip.
A desperate gamble?
No. That wasn't Ren's style. It was the entry for a Muay Thai clinch-knee.
"DIE!!"
Ren's arms bulged with effort, his veins throbbing as he violently shook Raian's
head to delete his recovery frames. He snapped his right knee upward in a
relentless sequence of strikes.
[SAGAT'S TIGER KNEE]!
THUD!
The knee slammed into Raian's face.
Ren's teeth were nearly grinding to dust. A low, guttural roar erupted from his
throat as he delivered hit after hit.
"RAID! RAID! RAID!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Raian tanked at least five heavy knee strikes. Half a tooth was pulverized, and
his throat was being crushed by Ren's clinch, his oxygen supply hitting zero.
Yet, the Devil was still smiling. His expression grew more manic, more
bloodthirsty with every hit.
"GUUGH-ROAAAR—!!"
Because his throat was constricted, Raian's roar sounded distorted and inhuman—a
sound that made the spectators' skin crawl.
His entire body ignited with power. His core coiled like a high-tension spring.
He threw his weight back, his heels driving into the sand as he yanked Ren's
arms with him.
Using that freakish, 100% [REMOVAL] torque, Raian upended Ren. He hoisted the
youth into the air and slammed him back-down into the sand behind him.
KRA-KOOM!!!
Ren hit the floor hard, blood spraying from his mouth as the impact rattled his
spine. A wave of lethal crisis flooded his mind. He frantically performed a
tactical roll to his feet just as Raian lunged again.
Bang! Bang!
The trade resumed. They entered a gruesome cycle of offense and defense, blood
spraying in wide arcs as the iron-scent of a slaughterhouse filled the plaza.
"――!!"
But slowly, the audience began to notice the shift.
The [REMOVAL] unlocked the brain's safety limiters to maximize physical output.
At 100%, Raian's stats were a biological impossibility. In a pure exchange of
raw torque, a gap was forming between the "Fighter" and the "Devil."
Ren was being systemically suppressed.
BOOM!
Their fists crossed, both landing flush on the other's face. The force made
their eyelids and lips ripple.
But it was visibly clear: Ren was taking the heavier trauma.
Is it over? Many spectators thought. This was a festival bout, not a war.
Against a 100% Removal Raian, the fact that Ren was still standing was already a
miracle. No one would mock him for falling now.
"..."
But Ren Shiroki didn't share their concern. Even after taking two heavy punches
that should have put him in a coma, he couldn't stop the feeling rising in his
chest.
Ah... this is it! This is the feeling!!
"GYA-HA!"
Raian had the high ground. His strikes were becoming a blood-soaked blur of
annihilation.
An elbow to the spine. A kick to the temple. A knee to the ribs. A palm-root to
the gut.
It was an level of pain that should have made a man wail for mercy, yet Ren
Shiroki was genuinely happy.
Combat...
Once you seek the answer to 'What is Strength,' the search never ends. Martial
Arts might not be the final destination... but they are the fuel for the
journey!
鬥技者, Assassins, Yakuza, Mercenaries, Police, CQC, Doctors, Convicts,
Pro-Wrestlers...
The "Strength" he had tasted from each of them was like high-octane fuel being
dumped into his [ENGINE]. It was driving him to the next horizon!
"GRAAAAAH!!"
Ren roared, throwing a desperate punch that Raian swatted aside before
delivering a massive counter.
And then there's you! Raian-kun! Your 'Strength' is the same! I know that at
some point—whether it's the next second or years from now—your soul will make me
weep with joy!
I've been moved by so many!
Doppo-san's 'Lag'... Shibukawa-sensei's 'Concussion'... Jaku's 'Eye of
Self-Preservation'... Seki-aniki's 'Receiving Counter'—!
They are all magnificent expressions of Strength!
"DIE!"
Raian unleashed a massive haymaker that caught Ren flush on the jaw. He followed
up with a brutal pursuit, his fists intending to crush the "Soul Combatant" out
of existence.
But as the hit landed, Ren's lips curled into a smirk that mirrored the Devil's
own.
"Heh..."
A thin trail of steam escaped his mouth, the ink-wash lines in his vision
swirling to outline a new phantom.
Dee Jay stood nearby, his arms crossed. For once, the Superstar looked serious
as he watched his student duel the Devil.
[You're taking a hell of a beating, Buddy!]
[But for you... this is just the right tempo, isn't it?]
Dee Jay tightened his own fist, a wide grin breaking across his face.
[Remember this: in Music and in Combat, your ability to amp the Audience is
everything!]
[But you can't just play to the crowd! You have to pull the crowd... and the
opponent... into YOUR Rhythm! Into your beat!]
[If it's you... I know you can hear it. Hah-heh!]
The next heartbeat—ZIP!
Raian's right hand swept horizontally, fingers clawed as he reached for Ren's
stomach, intending to gut him.
Ren drove his left elbow downward while simultaneously snapping his left knee
upward. He caught Raian's wrist in a biological "pincer," stopping the claw
dead.
Raian's momentum stalled for a fraction of a second.
The masters in the front row leaned in. Even that tiny stutter in the Devil's
flow was a target-rich environment for a fighter like Ren.
Ren is moving! What is he going to do?!
Zip!
Ren fired a left straight. It hit Raian flush on the face, but the movement was
incredibly light—almost a tap.
The spectators were confused. Even Raian paused, his confusion quickly morphing
into a manic rage at being "toyed with." An opening like that, and you use a
love-tap? You're looking down on me!!
ZIP!
Ren fired a right elbow. Again, it was a light, high-speed strike to the temple.
Slap!
Raian's head snapped slightly to the side. He felt the blood drip, but his rage
peaked. He prepared to retaliate for the "insult" by tearing Ren's head off.
But then he realized... the second hit had landed just as easily as the first.
It was as if Ren had locked onto his recovery frames with absolute precision.
"HA!"
Raian made a split-second decision to trade. He pulled his right fist back for a
world-ending haymaker.
But Ren had already drive off the floor. He dropped his weight and coiled his
core like a high-tension spring. He exploded upward, his right fist firing in a
focused, vertical arc.
[RYU'S SHORYUKEN]!
BOOM!
The strike was a heartbeat faster than Raian's. It buried itself under the
Devil's jaw with surgical precision. The impact was so clean and deep that
Raian's head was snapped vertically, a spray of blood erupting from his mouth.
The announcer gasped. "Wha... WHAT WAS THAT?!"
Ren lowered his fist, blood trickling from his own bruised knuckles.
That feeling of 'Catching the Beat'...
He took a deep breath, his eyes locking onto the dazed Raian.
"The appropriate move, at the appropriate time... it magnifies the effect. Even
techniques that should be easy to block become impossible to miss if you hit the
'Beat'."
Ren tightened his fists. Sweat and blood slicked his skin, his left eyelid was
swollen shut, but his eyes were radiating a brilliant, golden light.
"I feel it now. This... is the [LINKED TIMING] (Me-Oshi)—!!"
(End of Chapter)
☆☆☆
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