The atmosphere had lost all color, leaving nothing but black and white—a monochrome world drained of life. The only new shade came from the triple blazing rings encircling Xiao Yong Huo's fist, their crimson glow bleeding across the crater as they expanded, melting the edges and the earth below into rivers of glowing lava.
Above, Kiba hung in the air like a judge at execution. The dark shadow sphere within his stomach-maw pulsed with raw violence, wrapped in a steaming purple aura. It was ready.
Waiting only to be released.
Xiao Yong Huo:"...Now let's get this over with."
And in that moment—with one final stare down—Xiao's left hand hardened slightly against the earth. Then he launched himself into the air.
The ascent was nearly soundless at first, his body moving before the sound could catch up. He drew his right hand backward—the arm carrying the blazing rings—as he rocketed upward like a missile. A roaring tornado of fire trailed behind his fist, building, charging, preparing to unleash hell.
At nearly the same instant, Kiba's monstrous stomach-maw opened slightly wider. The dark sphere within erupted—not as a beam, but as a heavy ray of purple light, darkness coated in violent radiance. The very air around Kiba vibrated, warping under the pressure as the ray shot downward, straight at Xiao Yong Huo.
Xiao's eyes remained laser-focused.
He didn't dodge. He didn't flinch.
He punched.
His fist met the ray with an echoing thud—the blazing rings flaring on impact. Instantly, the rings warped around the beam like bracelets of fiery tornadoes, gripping the violet destruction mid-flight. The collision erupted into a shockwave that tore through the air, shaking everything—the surrounding landscape, the shoreline, the ocean beyond. Waves churned uncontrollably. Gusts of wind screamed across the battlefield.
And there, suspended mid-air, the power struggle began.
Xiao pushed against the ray with all his might, his teeth clenched, his blazing rings burning brighter with every heartbeat. The ground below trembled. The sky above flickered between black, white, and crimson.
He would not yield.
Meanwhile, Finn was blasted by the shockwave. His body bounced off the ground twice, sliding backward across the ground,while he was clutching Xiao's straw hat tightly in his hand. His gaze flickered toward the Blazing Will Temple in the distance—now fully consumed by the purple-barrel and its creeping fog. His teeth clenched in frustration as he got back up.
"We're out of time."he said with his gaze flicking back to the clash above
"We're out of time."
His gaze flicked back to the clash above as he fought to keep his footing, the quaking earth threatening to throw him down with every tremor.
Back above, the clash continued.
Neither fighter seemed to have the upper hand. The stalemate held—Xiao Yong Huo's fist drilling against the ray, his teeth clenched, the blazing rings burning Red-hot around the violet beam. Kiba's pure white eyes narrowed to slits, his fists hardening at his sides as he leaned his upper body forward, pouring more of his shadow-fueled power into the attack.
As Neither yielded. Neither fell.
The air between them screamed.
Narrator
The clash appeared evenly matched—both attacks colliding in a deadlock of crimson and violet.
But knowing this, there is more to Xiao Yong Huo's ultimate technique: Blazing Rings / Blazing Fist.
It is a form of Reiki control he mastered during his travels—a method similar to that of mages and sorcerers. Unlike ordinary Bu no Ryū users(martial artist), who can only manipulate Reiki within the body for physical enhancement, mages and sorcerers wield Reiki outwardly, shaping it into spells. Xiao, bound by his martial artist's path and lacking access to conventional spellcraft, refined that knowledge into something entirely his own.
He learned to manipulate Reiki outwardly—shaping it into three invisible rings around his wrist. These rings spin at an insane, high velocity, fast enough to engulf fire in their wake. The heat is so intense it melts earth on contact.
But such power comes at a cost. The technique drains a huge portion of his Reiki.
This is Blazing Rings / Blazing Fist.
And it now collides with an attack Kiba has wielded since before his sealing—an attack known as the Void Cannon.
The Void Cannon is devastating. According to the Emperor of that time—the strongest Bu no Ryū user of his generation, who fought Kiba alongside his elite soldiers and Elder Nakami (the Second Supreme Elder Monk before Xiao Yong Huo)—this assault required all of those legendary individuals just to intercept it.
Its destructive potential is enough to wipe out the entire Bugie no Kuni (Land of Martial Arts)—a continent on the map.
And now, Xiao Yong Huo has stopped it. Alone.
Which, effectively, makes Xiao the strongest.
----
The sound of the clash filled the air like iron sharpening iron—a violent symphony of void darkness and crimson red fire, the only virbrace of color left in the black-and-white world. The exchange lasted nearly two minutes.
Then, Xiao's Blazing Rings—clinging to the void cannon like bracelets of fiery tornado—began to flicker. A sign: he was almost out of Reiki. As in that momtA look of defiance lowered across his features as he murmured under his breath.
"...Hm."
In that moment, Xiao started to lose ground in mid-air. His attack flickered. He was being pushed back.
But then he ground his teeth and roared, defiant and loud.
"SHAAAA!"
His eyes locked laser-focused on Kiba. His flame intensified. Miraculously, the Blazing Rings began to drill through Kiba's void cannon—heading straight for the demon. Thoughts raced through Xiao's mind.
Like hell I will give up... This is my all... MY RESOLVE... SHAA!
His internal roar matched the one tearing from his throat.
"SHAAA...!"
---
Finn stood still, watching. One of his fists clenched hard at his side—gripped with something close to belief, to unwavering faith. His intense, furrowed eyes followed his master closing in on victory.
But as Xiao continued to tear through the void cannon, Kiba's eyes narrowed slightly—something close to frustration flickering beneath his hollow demeanor. The shadow cloak around his waist pulsed softly.
In the same instant, a whip-like black shadow tentacle lashed out. It streaked toward Xiao's face, attempting a vertical slashing attack that would split the Supreme Elder monk in two.
But Xiao was already pushing forward with his blazing right fist. He raised his free left hand to shield his face—sacrificing it.
The tentacle chopped clean through his forearm. His hand and half his arm fell away, severed from just below the elbow. A wet pool of crimson splashed across his face, covering one of his eyes. Yet he still pushed forward, his right fist still drilling through the void cannon.
"Ah... Sensei..."
The words escaped Finn's lips in a breathless whisper as he watched his master's arm get severed. The shadow tentacle dissolved upon impact.
---
Nevertheless, Xiao drilled through the void cannon completely—ripping through it like paper. He overpowered Kiba.
His fist connected with the demon's monstrous stomach-maw.
The Blazing Rings—those spiraling tornados of fire—connected with a huge, silent thud that erupted into a massive explosion, like the foot of a giant cracking solid earth. The fire vaporized Kiba to ash—burning him to instant nothing, barely an atom left behind as the World's Atmosphere color returns with the night sky shining more bright now.
Xiao hung in the air for a moment, posed unintentionally after the killing blow. His flames were gone. His Reiki drained. His fist pumped slightly black with smoke, a bead of sweat rolling across his knuckles. His arm was extended forward in a clenched fist.
Then, finally, his body went limp.
Eighty-five feet up, he began to fall—cold air drifting around his bare chest, his head aimed toward the earth.
---
Finn rushed forward into a sprint, his features now masked with relief. He clutched Xiao Yong Huo's straw hat hard in his hand. His eyes stayed locked on his master falling from the sky.as He ran to catch him before he crashed.
Just then, a blur of shadow streaked past Finn's features, shooting up into the night sky. The next thing he knew, a splatter of blood hit his face from above. A gasp escaped his lips.
"Ah....?"
He confessed the words into the empty air while brushing the blood off with his forearm, wiping it from his eyes—yet some stains remained on his face.
Then his gaze drifted slightly his face leaving the the sky to ground level,as His eyes went hollow. His face turned almost pale as the reality hit him.
It was a monster.
Standing on four legs, pitch-black with rough, scaly reptile skin and glowing purple predator eyes. It stood about eight feet tall, with razor-blade teeth lining its horrific maw from start to finish and deadly claws on all fingers.
The monster clenched Xiao Yong Huo in its mouth. Teeth sank through his stomach—his lower body held inside the jaws while his upper body hung out. Xiao's gaze lingered lazily on Finn, his eyes slowly beginning to falter as blood slipped from his lips.
"N... NO... DAMN YOU...!"
Finn's utterance came raw and broken, his eyes wide. He charged forward toward the monster, still holding tight to his master's straw hat in his left hand. His right hand stiffened at his side, fingers rigid.
As he ran, all five fingertips flickered wildly back and forth—yellow steam-like aura engulfing each tip.
"REIKI BUKI RYŪ: CRAFT... CLAYMOOORE!"
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