Page 1
The old man sees Thian on the ground.
He steps forward.
A punch connects with Ginzo's face — with unexpected force.
Ginzo answers. One step. Another. They close in. Rapid punches back and forth at terrifying speed — each one knowing the other's style.
Thian pushes himself up.
"Grandfatherrr—!"
He grabs the old man's hand and stands at his side.
Page 2
Thian launches from behind. He grabs Ginzo by the waist. He lifts him and drives him into the ground from behind with his full weight.
Ginzo tries to rise.
The old man leaps over Thian — comes down with his full weight onto Ginzo's head.
Ginzo blocks with both hands. His face tightens.
"Damn!"
He punches — sends Thian back. He stands.
A charge of electricity coats his hands slowly.
The old man breathes deep.
Inside his mind: if I use it again I might die. Damn that.
"COME ON—!"
He appears in front of Ginzo suddenly.
Page 3
A punch from the right sends Ginzo flying left.
He rights himself with difficulty.
Thian — surprised by the old man's speed — runs. He lines up beside him. They charge in a straight line toward Ginzo — side by side.
Thian leaps.
The old man grabs him and hurls him toward Ginzo like a spear.
Ginzo catches Thian's fist. He raises his electric hand. He drives it into Thian's stomach.
Thian spits blood. He falls.
A Stone Mantle punch from the right.
Page 4
Ginzo deflects it.
He answers with three punches to the old man's chest. One after another. Without mercy.
The old man staggers back from the pain.
Thian slams his fists into the ground — screaming as he forces himself upright.
"AHHH—!"
He stands. He charges at Ginzo.
Page 5
Thian kicks Ginzo with his foot.
He steps back — face completely destroyed. But his eyes are still burning.
The old man stands beside Thian. Both hands in front of him.
The two of them face to face with Ginzo.
Punches from every angle. Ginzo fights them both with terrifying efficiency. Deflect. Dodge. Return. At a speed that has no right to come from a body this wounded.
Page 6
Ginzo punches Thian in the face.
Thian drops — on the edge of losing consciousness.
At the last moment he grabs Ginzo's arm as he falls. He drags him down with him.
The old man falls on top of Ginzo.
Punches exchanged on the ground. All three rolling. Dirt and blood covering everything.
Thian — face down. Gasping. He looks left. He looks right.
Page 7
He spots a knife lying on the ground.
He stands. He runs. He grabs it.
He runs toward Ginzo and drives the knife into his hand.
Ginzo stops.
The old man above him. Looking at him.
Page 8
Punch. Punch. Punch.
The old man strikes Ginzo in complete silence. No shouting. No stopping.
Every blow carries the weight of everything behind it.
Ginzo's face is completely red. Blood everywhere.
The old man's hand is red.
He stands.
He breathes with difficulty.
Page 9
Thian looks at the old man.
He has never seen him like this before. In all the training. In all the battles that were described to him. Even in the hardest moments — the old man was always something else. Cold. Steady. As if above all of it.
But now.
His red hands. His broken breathing. The wounds across his body.
This is the first time Thian has seen the old man as a human being.
Page 10
"Where is Mabu?"
The old man looks left.
Thian looks.
Mabu — sitting slumped against a tree. Unconscious.
Without hands.
Thian doesn't move.
"No… that can't be Mabu."
He walks forward slowly.
"Mabu…"
Page 11
Thian stands in front of him. The tears in his eyes don't fall.
His face is marked with the aftermath of every punch. His body hurts.
But he doesn't feel any of it right now.
He touches the place where Mabu's hand used to be. He finds his heartbeat. He knows he's alive.
"We have to go. Now. Immediately."
He lifts Mabu with both arms and braces him against himself.
Page 12
The old man sits on top of Ginzo. He doesn't move.
He looks at his face.
This face. That knew the way to his home. That took his wife.
Everything across all those long years has arrived at this moment.
He speaks in a voice so low that only Ginzo hears:
"Everything you took from me over all these years… will not come back. But you will not take anything else after today."
Thian passes beside him.
"Grandfather. Mabu's condition is critical. We have to go. And your own condition isn't good either."
The old man stands. He pulls the knife from Ginzo's hand.
He raises it.
Page 13
Elsewhere.
A forest at the edge of the village.
The black knight emerges from between the trees. He stands at the village's edge.
He looks behind him.
"Come out. I know you've been following me for a while."
Page 14
Number Five steps out from the undergrowth.
He raises his hands toward Marnos.
"Marnos. You are one of the most dangerous individuals on our wanted list."
He shouts suddenly.
Holes appear in his hands from every direction.
Page 15
The knight hasn't moved from his spot.
Number Five looks at his hands.
The holes spread across them — Magnetic Resonance Strike.
He directs a long-range punch toward Marnos. A massive air vortex launches.
Marnos raises his hands. He deflects.
Page 16
But the force of the impact sends him flying backward. He crashes through the wall of a village house.
Number Five leaps and reaches him. Rapid punches. The house breaks apart piece by piece from the resonance sound.
Marnos screams in pain.
Then — the white aura appears across his body.
He stands in the middle of the punches.
Page 17
He throws a punch at Number Five. The aura gives him a shield that deflects the resonance.
He runs after Number Five.
"Don't you know this is a Zuu counter-shield? It blocks that kind of power."
Number Five stops.
A doubled resonance wave launches. Far stronger than before.
The entire ground beneath Marnos rises.
Page 18
Marnos moves right at terrifying speed. On the verge of reaching Number Five.
Number Five claps his hands together.
A sonic-air circle trembles in front of him. Marnos's hand crashes into it.
Stops.
Marnos tries to pull his hand free. He can't.
"Your time is up."
Number Five punches the circle repeatedly. It grows. He kicks it. It fires — away from him. Marnos tears his hand free and tries to escape the sphere.
Page 19
The sphere begins pulling everything in front of it toward it like a magnet.
Marnos drives his fist into the ground. His hand tears through the earth. He holds on with everything he has.
The sphere collapses inward on itself.
The earth disappears from beneath it.
Then—
EXPLOSION.
Air tears the entire side village apart. Trees. Stone. Everything flies.
Page 20
Marnos visible in the center of the explosion. Clinging to the earth. On the verge of being swept away.
The explosion ends.
The massive damage is revealed.
Marnos lying on the ground. His armor destroyed. His eyes red. Blood seeps slowly from both his ears.
Page 21
He drives his fists into the earth.
"No. I don't want to use it. But I have to. I have to."
Number Five moves toward him at speed.
On the verge of the final strike.
The black knight looks at him with calm.
"I die by my own hand. Not by anyone else's."
Page 22
Something changes in the black knight.
An internal shot: his own Zuu circuit appears. The Zuu cables that carry energy to the heart become visible.
The Zuu begins pumping in reverse — Marnos seals the circuit around the entire body with one locked position. Instead of flowing out, it's pulled inward. Gathered into two nodes at increasing speed.
The heart begins to slow.
One beat. One beat. Stop.
Page 23
The Zuu gathered in the two nodes spins at tremendous speed.
Faster. Faster. Faster.
The heart on the verge of stopping completely.
The black knight completely still. Not moving. Not breathing.
Number Five stops. He watches with tension.
"What is he doing?" Is he dead—
Page 24
Both nodes release at once.
The Zuu launches through every part of the body at indescribable speed — simultaneously.
The heart beats once — with a force that shakes the air.
BOOOOM.
The black knight stands — from the touch of a single finger. He screams — a scream that splits the forest.
Number Five is struck with disbelief.
The earth behind Marnos disintegrates completely.
Marnos disappears.
He reappears behind Number Five — at a distance that cannot be measured.
Number Five's head rolls across the ground.
Continued in Chapter Twenty-Six