The vibration in her mesmerizing emerald eyes was now not just a physical tic anymore; it was a goddamn strobe light. Hwayeon looked like she was entering a new state of crazy.
...Can I fix her? Merun wondered, watching her land a powerful kick to his neck and somersault back. Probably not..
Hwayeon landed, her left leg buckling for a fraction of a second. The rebound from Sanchin was no joke. Every time she hit him, she was essentially punching a mountain that punched back with equal force. Her fingers were bruised purple, and her knuckles bloodied.
"You... who are you?" she demanded.
Her voice had lost that flat, metallic calm. It was sharp now, realizing that she was not just facing any random martial artist.
"If you surrender now, I'll tell," Merun said, giving her a cheeky tilt of the head.
It felt like she finally snapped. She shut her eyes, and the air around warped and Merun could almost hear the faint beating of her rumbling heart. The annoyance and pride she'd been containing flared into an oppressive aura that made the nearby snow vaporize instantly.
When her eyes blasted open, the world skipped a frame as she disappeared.
Merun didn't even have time to register the lack of a sound cue before she appeared right behind his shoulder. His tail screamed. But he didn't bother turning; he just prepared to tank the hit while throwing a blind elbow back. A classic trade. He had Sacchin, after all.
But the CLANG never came.
THUD
Instead, a sharp, searing heat bloomed on his posterior delts.
"Wha—"
Her finger thrust hadn't bounced off. It had pierced! It wasn't the same vibration strike anymore; she had condensed her power into a point so small, so impossibly sharp, that it found the microscopic gap between his tensed muscle fibers.
She ducked under his elbow like she was made of smoke and stayed in his blind spot.
THUD THUD THUD THUD THUD THUD
She turned her arms into daggers. Every strike was a precise, high-speed thrust aimed at his armpits, his throat, the soft tissue behind his jaw—the places where Sanchin's iron-like density was hardest to maintain perfectly. Her eyes were manic and she fought like her hands weren't injured at all.
What's even more frustrating to Merun was that could see the movements—his eyes were tracking the white blur of her dobok—but she was too close. She was operating in the "pocket," that dangerous inch of space where most fighters lose their leverage. Every time he tried to swing, she was already under his guard, peppering him with tiny, stinging wounds.
The damage wasn't lethal, but it was stacking. Fast.
It was the death of a thousand cuts. He'd move back, and she'd drift with him as if they were tethered by an invisible cord. He'd lunge, and she'd simply not be there, only to reappear a millisecond later with a jab to his kidney.
"RAAAH!"
BOOOM
Merun stomped the ground, putting every bit of his leg strength into a shockwave meant to uproot the entire clearing. The earth shattered, boulders rising into the air as the permafrost gave way.
Hwayeon didn't lose her rhythm. She simply stepped off a rising piece of debris, sky-walking gracefuly in the air. She used the chaos as cover, coming down on him from an angle that shouldn't have existed.
He swung a heavy hook, the force of it clearing the mist in a wide arc, but she was already pressed against his chest, her emerald eyes inches from his mask, vibrating with a wrathful, focused light.
She wasn't trying to break the mountain anymore. She was trying to find the fault lines and split it open.
Then Merun flew up into the sky, but still she followed, using the air as leverage. He didn't stop her. He allowed her to keep stabbing, those spear-like thrusts peppering his chest and arms as he rose higher into the freezing clouds.
What the is this style? Merun thought, his breath starting to hitch with frustration. I'm being smothered by a ghost!
I'm being... overwhelmed?
ENOUGH.
Merun ignited his fiery red aura, the heat turning the falling snow into a wall of steam. He didn't swing. He locked his gaze onto her, funneling every ounce of Saiyan bloodlust he possessed into a single, crushing stare.
Hwayeon's emerald eyes widened. Her body froze mid-air for just a second as the sheer weight of his killing intent hit her like a physical blow. It was the only opening he needed.
BOOOM.
Merun brought both fists down in a massive hammer-smash. He caught her square in the back. The impact was heavy, sending Hwayeon screaming back toward the earth. She hit the ground with enough force to crater the clearing, a massive plume of white mist and dirt swallowing the forest floor.
Merun stayed in the air, his chest heaving as the adrenaline hummed through his veins. He closed his eyes and took a deep, breath of the thin mountain air.
He looked inward, picturing his body and the chaotic flow of ki left behind by her vibration strikes and stabs. He began to cycle his energy, a violent, purifying rush that flushed out the impurities and disruptions.
His Saiyan cells, fueled by the battle, went into overdrive. All the tiny, stinging punctures across his torso began to itch, then knit together. It didn't heal; Saiyans have the same amount of healing factor as a normal human. But the wounds stopped bleeding as it had freshly clotted.
This wasn't from hungry pain, but from the healing ki that Bankei taught him. It basically purged all impurities and encouraged the body's natural healing to do the rest.
From the mist below, a white blur charged back up at him.
Hwayeon's hair whipped wildly in the wind, but she skidded to a halt in mid-air. Her eyes darted across his chest, his arms, and his neck.
She looked shocked. Every wound she had painstakingly carved into him was gone.
Her emerald eyes trembled once more.
"...All bleeding stopped?" she whispered.
Merun stared at her as she gazed in disbelief.
"If you're surprised now, you're not gonna like this," Merun stated plainly.
In order to thoroughly beat her, he needed more. He closed his eyes, focusing on his heart, reaching for the raw, volatile emotions required to fuel the his old technique.
Divine Arsenal.
You will be suppressed.
He searched for that spark of genuine, teeth-grinding fury.
He thought about his own murder—the cold, visceral memory of his life being cut short. The rage he never got to release. It was there, a dark, heavy weight in his gut, but now... it felt distant. Like a movie he'd watched a thousand times. The pain had been dulled by how grateful he had become to be reincarnated in Gaia.
He looked for the "Pig"—the trauma of the Erymanthian Boar that had nearly broken him... But he'd slaughtered enough of them in Owari to turn that fear into a chore. The trauma had been replaced by the smell of bacon and manual labor. All it made him feel was a tinge of hunger.
He tried to get angry at the noble system. The injustices, the labor camps, the wars... It was wrong, sure, but he knew the world wasn't that simple. Not all nobles were monsters, and his sense of justice was more of a code than a burning hatred. If there are rotten apples in a basket, you don't throw all the apples away.
He even tried to hate his own weakness. He was a twelve-thousand-plus power level being pushed to a stalemate by a girl a whole realm under, with half his power level! He should be humiliated. But as he looked inward, he realized he wasn't mad. He was humble. He knew he was still growing. He was actually... enjoying himself.
Merun opened his eyes and sighed, his red aura flickering slightly, turning mellow orange, and eventually becoming invisible.
Shit, he thought.
I have nothing to be that mad about.
The mind of a well-adjusted modern man was a lot more stable that he realized.
He looked at Hwayeon, who was still hovering there, her bruised hands trembling as she tried to understand what he was capable of. She looked ready to break, but Merun just felt a weird sense of calm.
"...Can you try making me mad?," Merun muttered under his mask.
Hwayeon's emerald eyes snapped back to focus, her brow furrowing. "What are you babbling about?"
Merun tapped the side of his scouter.
[MERUN FURUTSU - 12500>>15625 ENHANCED - MARTIAL SENIOR]
A 1.2x boost... so the technique is still very much in effect, just very weak... and quiet. But that should still be enough.
"Nevermind," Merun said, cracking his knuckles. "You on for round 2?"
Hwayeon hissed, her pride flaring back up, refusing to backdown even when Merun was.
Her green eyes shimmered. "Come."