CHAPTER 128: WHICH IS HARDER?
A wet, bursting sound echoed through the parking garage.
SQUELCH!
Fresh blood geysered from the inner side of Ren Shiroki's right forearm, splashing across Akoya's white gi and stone-cold face. The red spray made the officer's expression look even more demonic.
"He's... he's bleeding out!"
"Look at the volume! Did he hit an artery?!"
A wave of panicked murmurs swept through the crowd of debtors. But the "Professionals" on the sidelines—specifically Takeshi Wakatsuki—saw the mechanical truth.
"No. It's not a fight-ender," the Wild Tiger noted, his eyes narrowing. "That move uses the friction of the knuckles to snag and tear the epidermis. It's designed to cause maximum pain and bleeding while doing minimal structural damage."
Fusui Kure nodded in agreement. "It's a psychological strike. Because it only tears the skin and the surface vessels, the bleeding looks catastrophic, but the muscle beneath is still functional. Ren-chin isn't disabled... yet."
"Tch...!"
Ren's right arm throbbed, a cold, stinging heat spreading through his nerves. He let out a sharp hiss of air, but his left hand didn't release Akoya's wrist.
"That's not enough to stop me, Akoya-bro. Compared to the Boss's Vice Grip, this is a massage!"
Ren didn't retreat. He used his right hand—the one that had just punched Akoya—to snake around the back of the officer's head. He yanked Akoya's face downward, simultaneously driving his own knee upward with the force of a hydraulic piston.
THUD!
Akoya's left wrist was pinned, and his right arm was crossed over his chest in a defensive knot. He couldn't clear the path. The knee connected squarely with his face.
Blood erupted from Akoya's nose, coating his eyes and blinding him for a split second.
"MMA?" Wakatsuki raised an eyebrow. "Earlier he was using Kung Fu and Karate... Shiroki Ren has a very diverse curriculum."
"But he's right. To break Akoya's Aegis Guard, you have to bypass the 'Shield' logic and force a close-quarters scramble. Speed is the only answer."
ZIP!
Ren kept the pressure high. He tightened his grip on Akoya's head and wrist, pivoting his hips to throw the giant off-balance. He chambered his knee for a second "Kill-Shot" aimed at the bridge of Akoya's nose.
BAM—
The sound of the second hit was different. It wasn't a solid thud.
Ren's movement froze mid-frame. Akoya had rotated his right wrist with inhuman speed, sinking three fingers directly into the open laceration on Ren's right forearm.
GULP!
Akoya's fingers dug deep into the raw muscle, pinching the exposed nerves and squeezing the wound to force more blood out. It was a literal "Meat-Gouge."
"GAH—!?!"
The white-hot agony was so intense it bypassed Ren's pain suppressors. He was forced to release his grip. He slammed a boot into Akoya's knee to create space and back-dashed three paces, his chest heaving.
Ren's right arm hung limp at his side. A steady stream of crimson traced a line on the concrete.
It was a gruesome sight—the kind of pain that would make a normal man faint. Ren stood there, his jaw trembling, his teeth bared in a snarl of pure agony.
Nozomi Tenma's knuckles were white. "His personality is garbage. And his style is even worse!"
Ren took a jagged breath, his expression slowly settling back into a calm clarity. He flexed his fingers. They still worked. "Damn... that really, really hurts..."
"Hmph!"
Akoya snorted, clearing the blood from his own nose. He wiped his fingers on his gi and settled back into his Aegis Guard.
His dead, icy eyes locked onto Ren. "This is the torture of Justice. Do you have any further commentary, maggot?"
"It hurts like hell!"
Ren rotated his wrist. He dropped into a side-stance. His right arm was held in front of his chest, his left arm held lower, his weight shifting in a rhythmic, high-frequency bounce.
Unlike Ryu's static, rooted form, this stance was modern. It was fluid. It was the stance of an MMA fighter.
"Hmm? He's going back in for a frontal breach?"
Wakatsuki frowned. "That's a mistake. Akoya will just open more wounds."
Cosmo looked confused. "Is 'The Ripper' that dangerous?"
Wakatsuki nodded. "Akoya isn't fighting to win the match right now. He's fighting to interrogate. He views Ren-kun as a criminal, so he's applying pain for the sake of the 'Purge.'"
"Think of it like getting a tooth pulled without anesthesia, Cosmo. Over and over again."
ZIP!
Akoya lunged. He fired a low-line leg sweep.
Ren slipped to the right, but Akoya's 75ms reflexes caught the opening. His left hand snaked out, his fingers hooking back into the wound on Ren's arm. He jerked his hand outward, trying to peel the skin from the bone.
SQUELCH!
The laceration was torn wider. Blood sprayed the deck. Agony flooded Ren's brain.
Ren ignored it. He pivoted and launched a high-line spinning kick.
THUD.
Akoya raised his right arm to block. Simultaneously, his left hand blurred, his knuckles grazing Ren's shin as it passed, opening a second deep gash on Ren's leg.
SQUIRT!
As Ren finished the kick, a new arc of blood was painted across the ring.
"Aha!"
Ren lunged again, driving a left elbow into Akoya's face. It smashed the officer's nose once more.
Akoya tanked the hit. He caught Ren's bicep with one hand and fired a "Ripper" punch with the other, carving a line across Ren's chest.
SHING!
At the peak of his reach, Akoya shifted his grip. He extended two fingers and drove them into the fresh wound on Ren's sternum.
CRUNCH.
The fingers dug under the skin, hooking into the pectoral fascia. Blood began to bubble around the entry point.
Next second, Akoya's left hand flattened. He splayed his fingers and slammed his palm into Ren's chest, using his 114kg mass to drive the youth into the concrete.
BOOM!
Ren hit the floor on his back. The impact was so heavy it caused his pupils to vibrate. Akoya's massive palm stayed pinned to his chest, preventing his lungs from expanding. Ren was suffocating under the weight of the law.
The crowd erupted in cheers.
"YES!"
"CRUSH HIM, AKOYA!"
"KILL THE MAGGOT!"
Akoya leaned his weight into the pin, his face inches from Ren's. He looked for fear. He looked for a plea for mercy. He wanted to see a criminal break.
But Ren Shiroki was staring at him with a look of pure, unadulterated curiosity.
"If you can ignore the pain," Akoya whispered, "then I will simply remove your ability to function."
"I will take your temple with this next strike."
Akoya pulled his right fist back to its anatomical limit, his muscles coiled for a terminal blow.
ZIP!
The iron fist descended.
At the last microsecond, Ren tilted his head. The strike missed his temple by a hair, slamming into the concrete with a sound like a hammer hitting a stone.
Ren didn't waste the window. He whipped his right elbow around, slamming it into the side of Akoya's face.
BANG!
The impact was massive. Akoya was knocked off the pin, stumbling back several paces as blood geysered from his mouth.
Ren nipped back to his feet. He wiped the blood from his lip and let out a long, satisfied breath. He began to bounce on the balls of his feet, his rhythm faster and more energetic than before.
"Akoya-bro... don't be silly. I'm perfectly sane. I can feel every bit of that pain."
"But pain is just... part of the 'Flavor' of a scrap, right?"
Ren shook the blood from his arms and legs. He slapped his chest, leaving a bloody handprint on his skin, and grinned. He looked like a mess, but his "Might" was redlining. He was in peak condition.
"Did you really think a few 'Scratches' would stop me?"
"This isn't your private torture chamber, Officer. And I'm not some purse-snatcher you caught in an alley."
Akoya let out a cold snort. "This is no longer a match. It is a terminal execution."
"No. That's not what I mean."
Ren shook his head, settling into a new, aggressive MMA stance.
"I'm saying... do you really think that beating up a criminal is harder than fighting a Martial Artist?"
Akoya blinked. "What?"
Ren's center of gravity dropped. A new, vibrant aura began to coalesce around him.
It was a style that blended modern MMA with the brutal efficiency of military CQC. It was a rhythm that belonged to a man named Luke.
Ren looked at the "Coach" in his mind and nodded.
"Akoya-bro... you've got it backwards."
Ren's voice was full of a terrifying, joyous conviction.
"A martial artist spends every second of their life figuring out how to survive a brawl. We are infinitely harder to break than someone who just wants to commit a crime."
"Class is in session!"
☆☆☆
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