Chapter 411: The Art of the Cord-Cutter!
Zip!
After completing his aerial flurry, Kosho Shinogi drove his heel into Ren
Shiroki's thigh, using the impact to kick off and leap backward. He reset his
distance by several meters, landing perfectly balanced on the sand.
At the same time...
Drip, drip, drip...
Ren Shiroki's arms, shoulders, pectorals, and even his upper thighs were
suddenly mapped with a dozen bleeding gashes. His skin had been sliced open,
fresh crimson welling up and tracing the lines of his muscles before dripping
onto the floor.
"He—He's been slashed!!"
Sayaka Katahara gasped into the microphone, her voice echoing through the Arena.
"Kosho Shinogi's strikes have carved Ren Shiroki's flesh! He's been cut to
ribbons in a single pass!!"
The bloody sight made the spectators' eyes widen. Some felt a jolt of terror,
others shock, and a rare few felt the dark electricity of the Pit's true nature.
"Nice!"
A warrior who steps into the Pit expects to lose teeth, break nails, and bleed.
They might even lose control of their own biology. But to bleed this much, this
early, was a rare and terrifying omen. This was the unique lethality of the
"Cord-Cutter." Whether it was a hand-blade or a foot-blade, Kosho's Karate was a
cutting art that rivaled forged steel.
"Just looking at it makes my skin crawl!" Sayaka shuddered.
She had seen [RAZOR'S EDGE] Rihito's matches, but Rihito relied on the
superhuman grip of his fingers to tear. Kosho Shinogi replaced the very concept
of a "hit" with a "slice." In terms of pure technical pressure, Kosho was on a
different plane.
"Shiroki's scarred physique just earned a dozen new honors! This is the Shinogi
Style! He has literally turned his limbs into blades!!"
Kosho pivoted side-on, his lead left arm held forward and palms open, facing
down. He shifted his weight slightly forward, settling into his signature
stance.
His expression was as cold as a morgue.
The shock of the crowd, the shriek of the announcer, and even the grizzly state
of Ren Shiroki—none of it touched his focus.
Ineffective...
Kosho was certain of it. Even though he had broken Ren's skin and drawn blood,
those were merely surface-level lacerations. Ren's defensive posture had
protected every vital point, and his aura had remained unbroken during the
aerial assault.
In fact... if I had retreated even a millisecond slower, he would have caught me
with a counter-assault. I might have been dropped right then and there.
Despite his composure, the pressure of facing Ren Shiroki was staggering.
Beautiful!
Kosho couldn't contain his technical joy. He was living for this moment.
His master—the previous head of the Slashing-style Karate—had once asked him:
"What is the strongest weapon on the human body?"
The answer: "The terminal points. The sharper the point of contact, the more
devastating the impact!"
Sharpness, through training, could rival a blade.
From that day on, Kosho had entered a state of obsessive training. He didn't
need a master to whip him; he pushed his hands and feet to the point of
structural failure every single day. Driven by pure mania and technical passion,
he eventually achieved the impossible: he "bladed" his own limbs. He could slice
through the canvas of a heavy bag with a flick of his wrist.
After Kosho reached that stage, his master arrived at his home in formal attire.
He handed Kosho a small, cloth-wrapped package. Inside were the master's own
primary fingers—he had severed them to symbolize the passing of the mantle.
The master said: "The burden on my shoulders is finally gone." He retired that
night.
Kosho Shinogi had achieved mastery.
The master, returning to his role as a simple elder, offered one final blessing:
"Just keep on fighting until the end."
Master, I am fighting. And I will never stop. Baki Hanma, my brother Kureha,
Shibukawa-sensei, the Convicts... And now, Ren Shiroki!
"Kosho Shinogi is back in his slashing stance!" Sayaka cried, sweat beading on
her brow as she turned her gaze to the other side.
"Ren Shiroki hasn't stopped moving! He doesn't even seem to notice the blood!
He's back in his signature neutral guard!"
"Side-on, guarding the ribs, lead arm low—the ultimate all-rounder! Striking!
Parrying! Grappling! He flows through his styles like water!!"
The crowd watched as the two men closed the distance again.
"He doesn't care about the blades! A combatant has the heart to face the steel!
Ren Shiroki is ready to hit back!!"
Screee!
Ren's rear foot dug into the sand. His lead foot slid forward, torque exploding
through his frame as he executed a high-speed lunge.
[DRIVE RUSH]!
Voom!
Ren was a blur, closing the distance in a heartbeat. He led with a vertical left
jab.
[RYU: UPPER THRUST]!
Zip!
Kosho raised his arm, using his elbow to bat Ren's forearm away. He intended to
counter with a finger-blade, but Ren gave him no window. The next flurry was
already live.
[LUKE: TRIPLE STRIKE]!
Thud-thud-thud!
Ren unleashed a high-volume barrage of heavy punches. Kosho was forced into a
total guard, his feet skidding backward as he tried to bleed off the kinetic
energy. But before he could reset his balance, Ren pursued him into the pocket.
[RYU: UNBREAKABLE TRIPLE STRIKE]!
A mid-section hook, a low sweep, and a left side-blade kick fired in a perfect,
high-frequency chain.
Whish-whish-whish!
The speed was astronomical. The pressure was so immense that Kosho could only
barely intercept the blows. The spectators watched in disbelief.
"He's a beast! He's too fast!" "He's pinning the Cord-Cutter into a total
defensive frame!" "There are no gaps in the rhythm!"
[The Stands]
[THE BUSHIN] Doppo Orochi let out a soft laugh, explaining the mechanics to
those around him.
"It's not that there are 'no gaps.' Gaps are a physical necessity—you can't
strike and retract at the same time. Every move has a recovery frame."
Doppo thinned his lips. "But Shiroki-kun is a Continuous Striker. He links his
moves with such grounded, rhythmic solidity that the 'Gaps' become traps. It's a
classic high-level press."
"Normally, a fighter like this relies entirely on speed and ignores their own
conditioning. They focus on hitting the weak spots."
"But Shiroki-kun... his hands and feet are as hard as iron. He isn't just fast;
he's heavy."
Doppo squinted his one eye. "I haven't met them, but Shiroki-kun's Masters must
be some incredibly strict bastards~!"
Thud-thud-thud!
Ren's pressure continued, driving Kosho toward the edge of the pit. The MMA king
was inches from the wooden perimeter railing.
Kosho was in a dire spot, but he remained calm. He was looking for the one-frame
window.
Finally—Now!
[GUILE: BURNING STRAIGHT]!
BOOM!
Ren fired a heavy cross. Kosho braced his arms, taking the impact to
intentionally create a moment of "Block-Stun." In that heartbeat, Kosho leaped
into the air. He used the wooden railing behind him as a springboard, launching
himself into a second, higher jump.
Zip!
He flipped over Ren's head, returning to the open space of the arena center. As
he descended, his fingers snapped into a spear-hand aimed at Ren's back.
Whish!
Ren pivoted on his heel, his feet skipping to build torque as he sensed the
entry. He evaded the spear-hand by a hair and fired a spinning back-fist.
[CAMMY: QUICK SPIN KNUCKLE]!
POW!
The fist slammed into Kosho's nose, spraying blood and forcing him back.
"Hah...!"
Ren exhaled a plume of hot air. His left arm dangled limp, losing its shape as
he entered a state of Soul-Level [RELAXATION].
[ED: PSYCHO FLICKER]!
Whish!
Ren's left arm snared Kosho's right wrist mid-motion. He disrupted the
Cord-Cutter's balance, yanking the 81kg fighter toward his own chest.
"HAH!"
At point-blank range, Ren unleashed a massive downward elbow.
[SAGAT: TIGER CRUSH ELBOW]!
THUD!
The heavy impact caught Kosho on the bridge of the nose. A geyser of blood
erupted as the bone shattered. The shock was so great that Kosho's pupils began
to quiver.
The scene was every bit as grizzly as Ren's own lacerations!
But Kosho Shinogi's willpower was a biological anomaly. Even through the
"Concussion Magic" and the blinding agony of a broken face, his limbs didn't
stall.
His remaining peripheral vision caught a microscopic gap in Ren's defense.
Kosho's left palm rotated outward. His index and middle fingers snapped into a
rigid fork, driving through the pocket toward Ren's neck.
SHICK!
In a heartbeat, Kosho's fingers pierced the skin of Ren's throat. With a
high-torque twist of his wrist, he hooked the internal line and yanked.
Ren's left pupil went dark. It was as if someone had flicked a switch in a
sealed room. The vision in his left eye dissolved into total blackness.
"REN-CHIN?!" Fusui Kure shrieked. She had her [REMOVAL] active and had seen the
movement with terrifying clarity. She swallowed hard. "It's the Cord-Cut! And it
was... even more precise than the one he used on Meguro!!"
Doppo Orochi leaned forward, explaining the mystery to the girl.
"In a standard Karate thrust, the palm faces up, the fist rotates 180 degrees
into the target. That rotation allows the strike to 'bore' into the flesh."
"A master of the Cord-Cut uses that rotation to hook the nerve. But if you only
do it that way, there's a moment of lag when you yank the line."
"Kosho Shinogi's unique stance solves that. He raises his elbow unnaturally,
turning his palm almost entirely outward before the thrust. That allows him to
achieve a full 360-degree rotation at the moment of impact!"
"He generates double the torque. He doesn't just pull the nerve; he shears it
through the skin!"
Dr. Kureha Shinogi watched his brother with pride. "Kosho's technique is
evolving in real-time. From the flaws of his youth to this new, perfect
stance... he is faster and sharper than ever."
"Shiroki-kun has just lost his sight on the left side. He's blind in one eye."
The veterans—Katsumi and Shibukawa—exchanged a look. They were frowning in utter
bewilderment.
"So..." Katsumi scratched his head, looking at the ring. "By all the laws of
combat, Ren should be at a massive disadvantage right now, right?"
"So why is Kosho the one being pulverized?"
"—"
The question left everyone silent.
Despite losing half his vision, Ren Shiroki hadn't stalled for a single frame.
He had caught Kosho in the recovery frames of the Cord-Cut. His fists and feet
were currently an unrelenting storm of kinetic energy.
[SATSUI CHOICE—LINKED TIMING]!
Ren didn't care about his vision. He had "Read" Kosho's recovery lag. He
unleashed his kickboxing Super Art.
[DEE JAY: SUNRISE FESTIVAL]!!
"SHAA!!"
Ren led with a driving right knee to Kosho's abdomen, followed by a left hook to
the face, a spinning back-fist, a heavy right cross, and a high-line roundhouse
kick. He finished the sequence with a dual-fist barrage that hit like a piston.
The "Grand Performance" of strikes poured out like the notes of a frantic
carnival.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-BOOM!
Kosho was beaten back, his feet nearly leaving the sand. Blood sprayed from his
mouth, nose, and eyes, coating the floor around him.
The group in the stands could only cross their arms and tilt their heads,
confused and impressed.
"I guess losing an eye... just isn't enough to slow Ren Shiroki down, is it?"
"Not enough... not even close..."
☆☆☆
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