Naoya's form blurred for a split second before vanishing completely from my sight.
Thwack! Thud! BOOM—!
It was a speed I couldn't even track with my eyes. Three heavy blows slammed into my abdomen, chest, and shoulder in the blink of an eye. This was his Cursed Technique: Projection Sorcery. It allowed him to divide one second into twenty-four frames, pre-designing his movements and forcing that trajectory onto reality.
But that was all it was.
Without budging an inch, I casually spat out the cigarette butt I'd been holding in my mouth. My body, trained unnaturally for a fourteen-year-old, combined with a massive coating of Cursed Energy, didn't even take a scratch from Naoya's initial hits before he could build up proper momentum.
"So, it's started."
I muttered indifferently, throwing a wide, lumbering punch toward Naoya.
"Ha! You pathetic slug!"
Naoya scoffed and activated Projection Sorcery again. As if mocking my predictable fist, he evaded it by a hair's breadth and rapidly circled into my blind spot. A vicious smirk spread across his face, certain that he had perfectly flanked me, but then—
Zip—
At the end of his planned trajectory, I was already there, staring at him with bored eyes.
I had used extreme weight shifts, mimicking the refined essence of the Shark-Swimming Technique. By utilizing Cursed Energy manipulation and the explosive elasticity of my lower body, I had tracked the destination he had pre-set into his twenty-four frames.
"...You piece of shit!!"
Panic flickered in Naoya's eyes as he realized his movements had been read. Foul insults erupted from his mouth as he reflexively threw a punch toward my face.
BOOM—!
The moment his fist touched my cheek, the true nature of Projection Sorcery kicked in.
'Here it comes.'
The rule of Projection Sorcery: Not only the user, but anyone touched by their palm—or their strike—is forced to abide by the '24 frames per second' rule. If they fail to execute those movements correctly, they are trapped within a frozen frame of animation for one second.
Naturally, even if I knew the theory, there was no way I could perfectly design twenty-four precise movements in that split second on my first try.
Crack—!
With a sickening sound like glass shattering, my body hardened, trapped within a thin frame suspended in the air.
"Hahaha! Got you, you fucking moron!"
Seeing me frozen and defenseless, Naoya erupted into a crazed laughter and began a merciless onslaught.
Fists and kicks accelerated by Projection Sorcery exploded against my body like a boxer punishing a heavy bag.
Pummel-pummel-pummel—!! BOOM! CRACK—!!
As the sounds of impact echoed through the garden, his suppressed inferiority complex began to pour out like a burst dam.
"Where do you get off acting like the Head of the Clan, you side-branch trash?! Do you really think someone like you can ever become the next Clan Head?!"
THUD—!
Naoya's kick buried itself deep into my abdomen.
"I! I am the legitimate heir of this Zenin Clan! Even if my father and Uncle Ougi have lost their minds, I won't be fooled! You're just a bug who got lucky with a bit of Cursed Energy, so you think you're hot shit?!"
WHAM—!
My body was launched into the air by the continuous strikes, but Naoya followed me relentlessly, layering frames over reality to hammer his fists into me again and again.
"A lowly mutt like you belongs at my feet for the rest of your life! Crawl!"
Admiration for Toji, who had been overwhelmingly stronger than him. And at the root of it, a toxic, deep-seated inferiority. Naoya was venting that twisted emotion with every fiber of his being, using me as his personal punching bag.
"Do you hear me?! You son of a bitch!!"
It was as Naoya's vein-popping scream echoed through the garden.
The 'one-second freeze' penalty of Projection Sorcery expired. The moment the constraint of the frame dissolved, my body landed on the ground.
CRACK—!!
Immediately planting my feet and rotating my hips, I slammed a heavy right hook into Naoya's jaw while he was still busy shouting like a moron.
"Ke-hurgh...!"
His jaw spun at a grotesque angle, rattling his brain. Naoya's eyes briefly rolled back into his head, and his body went stiff. His acceleration was completely shattered by a single, CE-infused blow.
I casually cracked my neck and took a slow step forward.
"...!!"
Sensing a primal threat to his life, Naoya snapped his eyes open and threw a reflexive punch.
But with his acceleration gone, a punch like that looked like nothing more than the flailing of a toddler throwing a tantrum.
Grab—
I easily snatched his incoming fist with my bare hand.
Then, crushing his hand with my grip, I forced my fingers between his, locking our hands together in a forced palm-to-palm bind.
"Aargh! You—you crazy bastard, let go!"
Naoya thrashed, trying to pull his hand away in horror, but the interlocked grip, reinforced by my Cursed Energy, didn't budge an inch.
I grinned at the Naoya who was now tethered right in front of my face and whispered.
"Do it again."
"...What?"
"That fancy Projection Sorcery of yours. Use it again."
At my provocation, Naoya's face flushed red with shame and fury.
"Die! You low-class mutt!!"
He activated Projection Sorcery again through our connected hands.
I still lacked the finesse to mentally and physically replicate the '24 frames per second' rule on my own.
Clink—!
Once again, with that unpleasant sound, my body was trapped and frozen inside the thin frame.
"Die!! Just die already!!"
With his right hand still firmly interlocked with mine, Naoya swung his free left hand and both legs like a maniac, pummeling my frozen form.
Thud-thud-thud! BOOM! CRACK—!
Accelerated strikes slammed into my body, but he couldn't blow me away. Because his hand was stuck to mine. The moment the one-second freeze ended, I spat out blood and shouted with a pair of crazed eyes.
"Again!"
"Wh-What is wrong with you, you lunatic...!"
Clink—!
Projection Sorcery activated once more. Another one-handed barrage from Naoya rained down.
"More!"
"Aaaaagh! DIE!!"
Clink—!
The sounds of colliding bone and tearing flesh filled the garden. But while the one doing the hitting was drenched in cold sweat, his breathing ragged, I—the one getting hit—was actually looking down on him with eyes flashing like a predator's.
"More! More! Come on, Naoya! Give me everything you've got!!"
"Uwaaaaaaaaah!!!"
Terror, humiliation, and the absolute exposure of his inferiority. Naoya completely lost his sanity, thrashing like a beast. He threw his entire body into his kicks and punches, not even caring if his trapped wrist snapped in the process.
But that desperate struggle was over.
Clack—!
In the air behind my back, the massive Dharma Wheel turned once with a heavy metallic sound.
'...I can see it.'
In that instant, the '24 frames per second' trajectory forced by Projection Sorcery began to be drawn in my mind like a vivid blueprint. The Wheel had finally adapted perfectly to the rules of his technique.
"Die! DIE ALREADYYYY!!"
Forcing the rule once again, Naoya threw a desperate left hook with everything he had left.
But this time, my body didn't freeze. I synchronized my movements perfectly with the twenty-four frames he had designed, and with perfectly natural motions, I parried and guarded every single one of his strikes.
"...Huh?!"
Seeing his absolute technique nullified, Naoya's face went pale with horror.
I roughly released his hand from the interlock and, in the same motion, buried a heavy, weighted kick into his stomach without mercy.
KRA-BOOM—!!
With a thunderous impact, Naoya's body was sent flying. He tumbled violently across the ground, barely managing to come to a halt on one knee.
"Cough, wheeze, ha... ha...!"
The arrogance from moments ago was nowhere to be found. Looking down at the dust-covered Naoya panting for breath, I flashed a bloody, mocking smile.
"Oh, Princess? You're already exhausted?"
I beckoned him with a blood-stained hand.
"You still have a dance to finish."
"...You son of a bitch!!"
With those words, the last of Naoya's sanity evaporated. His eyes rolling back with murderous intent, he let out a beastly roar and accelerated to his absolute limit once more. The explosive speed of Projection Sorcery. His barrage of strikes descended upon me like a localized storm.
Pummel-pummel-pummel—!!
However, since Mahoraga's Dharma Wheel had already adapted to the rules, his movements were nothing more than predictable slow-motion to me.
Standing my ground, I began to deflect every single strike using only my right hand.
Clack, tap, thud! Before the accelerated punches and kicks could even land, they were swatted away on their exact trajectories.
And with my remaining left hand...
"...!!"
I casually and slowly brushed back my bangs, which had become messy from being a punching bag earlier.
Not only were his most desperate attacks being blocked with one hand, but seeing his opponent have the leisure to fix his hair caused Naoya's pupils to shake violently.
After smoothing my hair back, I finally reached out toward the left hook Naoya was aiming at my face.
I wasn't guarding or parrying. Very lightly, as if shooing away a fly, I simply 'tapped' his fist with my fingertips.
Just before Naoya could execute his technique, I made contact first, forcibly stealing the timing of the Projection Sorcery blueprint.
Whirrrrrrrr—!
Instantly, the sound of an old movie projector film spinning at high speed echoed in my head.
[Retrieval of contacted arm]
□ 1 □
[Unable to set frames due to panic]
■ ■ ■ ■
[Checking breath]
□ 2 □
■ ■ ■ ■
□ . □
■ ■ ■ ■
□ . □
■ ■ ■ ■
[Striking fist]
□ 24 □
Crack—!!
As the forced frame sequence ended, a sickening rupture echoed in the air.
Naoya, whose timing had been stolen, failed to design his twenty-four frames in that split second. His body was devoured by his own technique's penalty, leaving him frozen in a grotesque posture in mid-air.
Within that one second of frozen time.
Trapped in the frame and unable to move a muscle, Naoya's eyes trembled with disbelief.
'He... he used my own technique against me...?'
Watching the clear shock and despair pool in his slitted eyes, I executed my perfectly pre-set twenty-fourth frame.
At the end of the second, my fist was thrust mercilessly toward his frozen face.
KRA-BOOM—!!
"Ke-hurgh...!!"
With a blunt, bone-crushing sound, my fist landed dead-center in the middle of Naoya's face.
The sheer impact shattered his nose and sent his eyes rolling back. Without even a chance to resist, he keeled over and slammed his face directly into the dirt.
Flop.
The frantic sounds of combat ceased, leaving only the sound of blood dripping onto the garden soil.
I walked over and placed the sole of my shoe mercilessly on the back of the head of the Naoya, who lay prone in a mess of blood and dust.
Grind—
"..."
With the precious legitimate heir of the Zenin Clan twitching faintly beneath my boot, I caught my breath with an indifferent face.