Chapter 452: The Next Second of Me
As a martial artist, no matter how clear their chosen path might be, they will
always encounter certain unavoidable clashes—rivalries where a winner must be
decided.
For instance, the father-and-son dynamic of the Hanma bloodline. And just as
inevitably, the entanglement between Kiryu Setsuna and Ohma Tokita.
"At our starting point? To finish... me?"
Kiryu Setsuna muttered the words over and over, his eyes wide and unblinking as
his mind raced back through the years.
In the past, driven by the desire to be killed by an Ohma consumed by [THE
ADVANCE], he had deliberately struck Ohma's heart to trigger a violent rampage,
nearly getting his own neck snapped in the process. Only the timely arrival of
that "evil" man, Tokita Niko, had disrupted his plan.
Kiryu's ultimate ambition was to be utterly destroyed by a rampaging,
Advance-driven Ohma—to be obliterated by his personal "God of Destruction."
For that, Kiryu had been willing to sacrifice everything. And right now, the
current stage looked like the ideal realization of that wish.
"Finish me... Yes, break me just like you did back then, Ohma-kun..."
Kiryu whispered.
Every time he recalled that sensation, his entire body would tremble. A
feverish, morbid flush would rise to his cheeks, and a sickly, obsessive smile
would curl his lips, accompanied by a trail of drool. Eventually, his excitement
boiled over into a physical response, a distinct bulge forming beneath his
trousers.
From a distance, the local outlaws of the district witnessed the display and
shuddered in absolute revulsion.
Even in the lawless Ward, that level of deviance is on another tier.
They glanced over at Ren Shiroki, assuming he'd be disgusted. To their surprise,
Ren's expression was completely normal. He just looked mildly amused.
Ren shrugged mentally. Well, it's not the weirdest thing I've seen this week.
His mind drifted to another old friend—[THE FREAK] Mitsuyo Kureishi.
That cherry-haired eccentric didn't just obsess over specific individuals; as
long as someone had bones worth breaking, Kureishi's body would react with the
exact same manic, physiological euphoria. Compared to that true-born
bone-collector, Kiryu's trauma-induced obsession almost felt standard.
Ren sat on a broken chunk of concrete, muttering to himself, "My friends are a
weird bunch. But I suppose that's just how it goes."
The outlaws broke out in cold sweats.
What kind of neighborhood is this?! Are people from the outside world actually
crazier than the criminals inside the Ward?!
While they were spiraling in panic, a chilling, supernatural coldness descended
over the courtyard.
Everyone turned their attention back to the combatants.
Kiryu had caught sight of Ohma's stance—specifically, the Niko Style
fundamentals embedded within it.
Memories flooded back. He recalled the day he had witnessed the "God" he
worshipped reduced to a mere child, being gently patted on the head by Tokita
Niko. In Kiryu's warped, religious perspective, that act had been the ultimate
desecration—the "Curse" of Tokita Niko robbing his God of his terrifying
divinity and turning him weak.
Desire curdled into bitter grievance; grievance gave birth to homicidal rage.
Kiryu flung his arms wide, his internal aura twisting violently as an icy frost
seemed to coat the air around him.
He snapped his head toward Ren's direction for a fraction of a second, his voice
dropping into a raspy, unhinged hiss.
"Tokita Niko... You really are still alive, aren't you...?"
The moment was profoundly unsettling, sending a shiver down the spines of the
outlaws hiding in the shadows.
Kiryu's eyes twitched as he hallucinated. He saw Tokita Niko miraculously
resurrected, lurking in the perimeter crowd, waiting to sabotage his reunion
with Ohma.
"Get away!" Kiryu shrieked, lashing out at the empty air. "Don't you dare ruin
this for us!"
Ohma's expression turned heavy with sorrow, quickly hardening into absolute
resolve. "Don't worry. Nobody is going to interrupt us."
"Ah... Is that true?" Kiryu's manic eyes darted back to Ohma, a mix of terror
and ecstasy playing across his face. "Really, Ohma-kun? We won't be bothered
anymore...?"
[THE BEAUTIFUL BEAST] Setsuna Kiryu vs. [THE ASHURA] Ohma Tokita.
The duel at their "Starting Point" inside The Inside was officially live!
"Ah... Ahh..."
Kiryu hyperventilated, his chest heaving with manic joy. With a violent jerk, he
tore away his blood-stained white shirt.
Beneath the fabric, his porcelain-white skin was free of unnecessary fat. Every
muscle fiber looked like a strand of braided steel, lean, elongated, and primed
for explosive violence. Madness and lethality fused together into a single,
terrifying portrait.
"Ohma... Ohma-kun...!"
Kiryu threw his arms wide, his voice dripping with psychotic adoration. "Come
on!! Let's begin!!"
Whish—!
Without waiting for a response, Kiryu detonated off the dirt. He moved like an
invisible ghost, employing the Fox Shadow style's [SHUN] (Instant) footwork—a
technique that exploited the micro-second a target blinked to manipulate their
blind spots.
Zip-zip!
He closed the distance in a heartbeat, unleashing a blinding flurry of twin palm
strikes.
[RAKSHASA'S PALM]!
Ohma didn't blink. He dropped his weight, his muscles locking into dense,
iron-hard resistance.
[NIKO STYLE: KIMA-KATA - INDESTRUCTIBLE]!
BAM-BAM!
The spinning torque of the palm-strikes slammed into Ohma's chest. The kinetic
energy tried to twist his skin and flesh into a spiraling knot, but the
[INDESTRUCTIBLE] held firm, diffusing the worst of the shearing force.
Still, the friction left two burning, red spiral abrasions across Ohma's
sternum.
Tsk...
Ohma slid back half a step, but he didn't yield. He countered with a high-speed
jab.
"You haven't changed at all, Kiryu," Ohma muttered. "You're still trapped in the
past."
"You don't understand!" Kiryu shrieked, his palms spinning like augurs as he
launched a secondary assault. "The Niko Style made you weak, Ohma-kun! It's a
shackle holding back your true form!"
"If you want to survive me, you have to use [THE ADVANCE]! Use the rampage!
Become the destroyer!"
Whish!
Kiryu's palm grazed Ohma's cheek, the torque tearing a shallow line of blood
through his skin.
Ohma didn't flinch. He channeled the [REDIRECTION KATA], his arms flowing like
water as he caught Kiryu's wrists, redirecting the devastating spin outward into
the empty air.
[FLOWING EDGE]!
Clap!
"The Advance?" Ohma's voice was cool, stripped of all emotion. "I used to rely
on that crutch. But I don't need it anymore."
"I don't need a rampaging heart to find my strength."
"My Master taught me how to live. And that means moving forward, not tearing
myself apart."
Ohma's eyes flared. He twisted his hips, throwing a heavy hook that caught Kiryu
squarely in the ribs.
POW!
The impact knocked the wind out of Kiryu, sending him stumbling back.
Yet Kiryu just laughed—a high, broken sound of absolute bliss. "That punch... It
was too clean! Too soft! That's not the beast I fell in love with!"
"Show me the demon! Show me the monster that tore through my organization!!"
[The Sidelines]
Ren Shiroki leaned against a ruined pillar, arms crossed, watching the exchange
with intense fascination.
"The Rakshasa's Palm..." Ren murmured. "It's essentially a high-torque drill. If
you try to block it with standard muscle tension, your skin and flesh get
unspooled. You have to use [INDESTRUCTIBLE] to match the density, or use
Redirection to slip the torque."
Beside him, Himuro Ryo exhaled smoke. "That guy Kiryu is completely out of his
mind. He's not fighting to win; he's fighting to be murdered."
"Yeah," Ren grinned. "Which makes him the most dangerous kind of opponent. A man
with nothing to lose will always find an extra frame of speed."
In the clearing, Ohma and Kiryu were accelerating.
The ground around them was being torn apart as their feet ground into the dirt,
carving trenches into the earth.
Thud-thud-thud!
Kiryu's strikes were getting faster, his desperation mounting as he realized
Ohma wasn't going to use [THE ADVANCE]. He was relying entirely on the precision
of the Niko Style.
"Why won't you use it?!" Kiryu screamed, his face a mask of tears and blood.
"Are you looking down on me?!"
"No," Ohma replied, his breathing steady, his rhythm unbroken. "I'm just
fighting you the way I am right now."
"Because..."
Ohma's eyes locked onto Kiryu's.
"The me of the next second... will always be stronger than the me of the
present!"
☆☆☆
-> 30 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you