CHAPTER 29: MIGHT IS LIFE
4th Floor. Kujo Building.
Kaji Takaomi had often thought about one day buying a VIP ticket to a world-class MMA fight, just to see the athletes enter the ring from a few feet away.
He never imagined that his wish would come true tonight—in this dark, blood-soaked hallway.
Step... step...
Ren Shiroki walked forward, his pace measured and steady, like a gladiator stepping onto the sands of the Colosseum.
Kaji's voice trembled with disbelief. "Baku-san... is he... is he really going to...?"
Is there actually a human being brave enough to fight that monster?
Before Kaji could finish his thought, Madarame Baku clapped him on the shoulder. "Don't just stand there, Kaji-kun. We need to start running."
"Huh!?"
Before Kaji could process the words, Baku—and Akagi Shigeru—turned and sprinted toward the far stairwell.
Kaji instinctively followed, his heart hammering. After a few paces, he looked back and saw Ren standing alone. "Baku-san! We're just leaving him? What if something happens to him!?"
"I am going to... Win!"
Baku wiped a smear of blood from under his nose. "From the very beginning, my goal hasn't changed. I came to this building to win the stake!"
"Wait... are we just leaving Ren-san to die?" Kaji gasped.
"What!?"
Baku stopped for a split second, looking at Kaji with a mix of pity and amusement. "Kaji-kun, you have a very dark mind. Why would I sell out a teammate like that?"
"Then why are we running!?" Kaji shouted, his face turning red with frustration.
"Because if we stay, we'll just be in his way," Baku explained matter-of-factly. "We don't know the first thing about combat. Standing there would just give that monster a second target to use against Ren-chin."
Kaji blinked. "...Haha. Right. That makes sense."
He had almost forgotten. This wasn't a shonen manga. There was no "Power of Friendship" stat. In the real world, a civilian standing near a high-level brawl is just a liability.
"So now what?" Kaji asked. "Do we just escape?"
"Hah... huff..."
Baku was already out of breath, but a sharp grin cut across his face. "Kaji-kun, we could just leave. But don't you want to see it? Don't you want to see that old man regret his entire life? I want to see the look on his face when he realizes he's lost everything."
Kaji felt a chill run down his spine.
Beside them, the Man of the Divine Realm let out a low, chilling chuckle.
"Yes... simply leaving isn't enough," Akagi murmured, his eyes reflecting the cold fluorescent light. "This gamble needs to get a lot more interesting."
The two "Deviants" clearly had a plan that didn't involve the front door.
4th Floor Corridor.
Ren Shiroki and Rodem faced each other.
Their height and weight were nearly identical, but their physiques told two different stories. Ren's muscles were fluid and rhythmic; Rodem's were jagged, tensed to the point of deformity.
"Kill... KILL!"
Without a second of posturing, Rodem lunged. He held the combat knife in a reverse grip, his boots thunderous against the concrete.
Ren didn't retreat. He tightened his core, his rear foot slamming into the ground to propel his entire weight forward half a step. He unleashed a straight punch with everything he had.
[DRIVE IMPACT: SHOCK STRIKE]!
WHOOSH!
The short-range lunge was so fast it seemed to warp the air. It carried the kinetic energy of Ren's entire 94kg frame. Against "Nioh" Komada, this strike would have been a fight-ender.
But Rodem simply reached out his right hand. With dynamic vision that defied biology, he tracked the punch and caught Ren's fist in mid-air.
THUD!
The shockwave of the punch vibrated through Rodem's arm, but his body barely shook. Without a moment's hesitation, he swung the knife toward Ren's throat.
Ren saw the counter coming. He didn't back off; instead, he used his trailing leg to push deeper into Rodem's space. He brought his left elbow up in a violent, horizontal arc aimed at Rodem's sternum.
[DRIVE COUNTER: PIERCING ELBOW]!
CRACK!
The elbow connected squarely with Rodem's chest. The monster was forced back three steps, his boots skidding across the floor before he stabilized.
Drip... drip... drip...
Ren looked down. A thin "red line" had appeared on the blade of Rodem's knife. On Ren's left forearm, a jagged, bloody gash had opened.
The elbow had pushed Rodem back, but it had come at a price. Ren was bleeding.
5th Floor. Office.
Yagyo, the Referee, stared at the monitor. He watched the exchange with a flicker of genuine surprise in his eyes.
"The fighters of the Kengan Association are hand-picked by the world's most powerful corporations," Yagyo observed quietly. "The best among them are monsters who can dismantle armed squads with their bare hands."
"And yet, a man who crushed a Kengan veteran just a few days ago has been wounded in the first exchange."
Yagyo let out a breath. "Rodem, the 'Executioner' of the Kujo Building... he is as feral as the rumors suggest."
"Hahaha!"
Q-Taro beamed at Yagyo's praise. "Comparing Rodem to a mere 'weapon'? You aren't wrong, Yagyo-san!"
He leaned back, eager to humiliate the Referee's earlier "Absolute Might" speech.
"During my days as a mercenary, I had access to classified military files. There were records of experiments involving the 'Sensory Fields' of the human brain. By rewriting those fields and introducing specific chemical catalysts, they could trigger the body's latent potential, pushing it to the absolute biological limit."
Q-Taro narrowed his eyes.
"You've heard of cases where people suffer brain trauma and suddenly become geniuses at math or painting? The military wasn't interested in art. They wanted Might."
"They developed a drug called Dihydroxyphenylserine. Through artificial intervention, they effectively re-coded the human brain."
"That was the 'Super Soldier' project."
Yagyo raised an eyebrow. "So... Rodem is a military experiment?"
"No," Q-Taro shook his head, his smile turning sickeningly wide. "The subject of the experiment... was my own son, Marco."
Yagyo stiffened.
"The experiment was a success in terms of physical power," Q-Taro explained. "But the cost was high. Marco's IQ plummeted. His sense of ethics vanished."
"But for some reason, the boy became stubborn. He stopped following my orders. He refused to kill. He was a 'broken' tool."
"Then, one day... perhaps from the stress, or the side effects of the drug... a trigger was born. Whenever a needle pierces his skin, it forces his mind to fracture. A second personality emerges."
"The perfect, ruthless soldier I always wanted: Rodem!"
Yagyo nodded slowly, his gaze lingering on the monitor.
The story was depraved. Using one's own child as a lab rat was a level of evil that even the underworld found distasteful. But Q-Taro—this demon in a tailored suit—used that very violence to maintain his throne.
Even the Lie Eater, who had devoured every member of Kakerou, had to respect the fundamental rule of this tower.
Might is Life.
This planet rotates on a vortex of violence.
"So..." Yagyo whispered, looking at the wounded Ren Shiroki on the screen. "You, who seek the meaning of 'Strength'..."
"Can your 'Might' overcome Rodem? Can it defeat a power fueled by pure human malice?"