Chapter 227: Dire Straits
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 227: Dire Straits
In the past, to the ordinary people who watched GOF, Ivan was famous by the nicknames God of Destruction (Angolmois) or the Tsar. But to the godfather of the Russian Red Mafia, he had another, more infamous name.
And that was…
The Thunder Emperor, Ivan.
Despite being a martial artist who wielded Thunder Ki, which possessed a Yang attribute, the lightning flowing through his body was tinged with the distinct blue of Yin energy.
Because of this easily recognizable trait, it was even joked that members of rival mafia organizations would tremble at the mere sight of the color blue while walking down the street.
"Hoo—I can't even remember the last time I had to get this serious."
If the characteristic of Kim Yoo-Sung's Ki was Indestructibility, specialized for defense, then the characteristic of Ivan's Ki was Thunder Roar, specialized for offense.
It was, quite literally, a battle between spear and shield.
*
Ivan, emitting blue lightning from his entire body, gave off the aura of a final boss you'd only see near the end of a shonen manga.
Even though this was supposed to be a rom-com world, it felt like his art style was completely different from everyone else's.
'Time to make my move.'
Now that I'd taken the Ghost Pill, I didn't have much time left. There was no leisure to just stand around and watch his transformation.
After waiting just long enough to not draw complaints from the audience, I changed my strategy from fighting mainly with counters to moving in first.
Honestly, I had no other choice.
I had to make full use of the Ghost Pill's five-minute time limit.
"Hup!"
The moment I stomped my foot, my fist shot forward.
It was the Rushing Hammer, one of the basic forms of Baji Quan.
Fuma Kotaro had told me to forget all the half-baked techniques I'd learned if I wanted to master Nagi, but I couldn't betray the teachings of Meiling, who had trusted me and taught me Baji Quan.
And the reason I suddenly used Baji Quan in this situation was to catch Ivan off guard, as he likely thought I could only use Hayate.
CRACK!!
'A clean hit!'
The familiar impact resonated through my fist.
With my physical abilities massively boosted by the rampaging Yang energy, landing a blow on a vital point like his navel should have sent a powerful shock through his internal organs.
But—
"Is that all you've got?"
Ivan stood before me, looking down as if I were pathetic.
"Kuh!"
Clenching my teeth at the sight of him looking completely unharmed, contrary to my expectations, I began to pour out the most relentless barrage of attacks I could manage.
From the first form, Kamaitachi, to the seventh form, Ryunobori.
I unleashed all seven techniques of Hayate at once.
I mercilessly slashed him with hands wreathed in wind and relentlessly battered his body—which was now no different from a giant target—with fists and feet cloaked in gales.
However—
"Why! Why won't you go down!"
Despite taking all those attacks completely unguarded, Ivan remained standing. Hearing my grief-stricken shout, he twisted the corner of his mouth into a smirk.
"Nanomachines, son."
Then, with a great twist of his waist, he threw a punch wreathed in blue lightning.
BOOM—!!
When I came to my senses, my body was flying through the air.
Clang!
If it weren't for the battle cage installed to protect the audience, that one attack would have knocked me out of the ring.
As I shook my dizzy head and got to my feet, Ivan approached with heavy, deliberate steps.
He raised both hands and spoke.
"Last summer, both of my wrists were damaged beyond recovery. Their condition was so severe that even the world's most renowned doctors could only shake their heads."
"..."
Thinking back on it now, maybe I had gone a little too far.
Any other body part might have been different, but for a fighter, the wrists are as precious as life itself, and I had shattered them.
Of course, he tried to kill me first, so I considered it self-defense, but things are never as simple as they seem.
Didn't he just admit with his own mouth that he'd been sharpening his knives for revenge?
"...So how did you recover?"
No matter how often nanomachines are portrayed as all-purpose medical devices in subculture, that's only if they've actually been developed.
This wasn't 2077. There was no way a country on Earth in 2017 had developed nanomachines capable of completely restoring shattered bone fragments...
"Because Russian science is the best in the world."
"Ah, yes."
With the results standing right in front of me, I couldn't really argue.
"Anyway, since I had to implant these nanomachines for my injury, I decided to test a few things. I found some very interesting functions among them."
Like this one.
With those words, Ivan ripped off his tattered clothes.
"What the...!"
My eyes widened at the unbelievable sight.
And for good reason. Ivan's body, which I had just been beating relentlessly, was as pristine as if nothing had ever happened.
Perhaps pleased by my reaction, Ivan let out a short laugh and explained.
"Thanks to a function that hardens parts of my body at will, I have now obtained a defensive power that is equal to, or perhaps even greater than, yours."
In other words—
"Any chance you had of beating me vanished the moment this began."
It was a truly arrogant declaration.
In a way, it showed just how confident he was in the performance of the nanomachines implanted in his body.
I had been keeping track of the time ever since I took the Ghost Pill. I glanced at the digital clock outside the stage to check how much was left.
'Three minutes remaining.'
A long time, if you think about it. A short time, if you don't.
I decided to bet everything on these three minutes.
"Hoo—"
I closed my eyes and focused my mind. The Yang energy throughout my body began to move in the direction I willed it.
The first condition for Nagi is to feel the wind flowing through my body.
At first, I thought it was a rather abstract concept, but one thing I realized during my training was that wind is, in essence, the flow of a fluid.
The wind flowing through my body.
By becoming conscious of the process of my blood circulation, I became able to observe my own inner self.
'Control the wind in your body perfectly! Do that, and you'll be twice as strong!'
Whenever the line between my conscious and subconscious mind blurred from endless fighting, Fuma Kotaro would shout those words, pushing me onward.
Then, as if by magic, my clouded mind would clear, and I would momentarily regain control over my lost body.
I suppose maintaining this state continuously is the realm of Nagi that Fuma Kotaro spoke of.
But in the end, I never reached that level, so all I could do was imitate it like this.
Flash!
The moment my eyes shot open, I began to move my arms.
The technique I used was Hayate, same as before.
But it was also Jinrai.
According to Fuma Kotaro's explanation, Gale (Hayate) and Swift Thunder (Jinrai) are two sides of the same coin.
Though they have different names, they are martial arts born from the same root.
If Hayate is fighting with fists and feet, Jinrai is fighting with a sword.
In that case, what if—
I imitate a sword with Kamaitachi?
I raised my wide-open palms to a slanted angle.
What I was about to perform was a technique Fuma-senpai had shown me before.
Fuma Style Jinrai, Third Form
'Flash Blade'
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and lightning for lightning.
Jinrai, a martial art that imitates not wind but lightning, possessed a slightly faster attack speed than Ivan.
But that was enough.
In the world of masters, 'slightly faster' is like Zeno's paradox, where the tortoise can never be caught by the rabbit.
Therefore—
"Uwoooooooh!!!"
With a roar that I dragged up from the depths of my lungs, I swung both hands.
If once isn't enough, I'll strike ten times. If ten times isn't enough, I'll strike a hundred.
No matter how tough his body is, if I cut him that many times, he's bound to get at least one scratch.
"Kuh! A useless struggle!"
Ivan, whose guard was insanely tough, likely from hardening his arms with nanomachines, shouted as he immediately attempted a counterattack.
But using Jinrai's footwork, Raishinpo, I had already retreated backward before he could even extend his hand. The moment his attack missed, I closed the distance again and continued my fierce assault.
As time passed, his guard began to open up, little by little.
Psh! Psh!
His forearms, perhaps finally reaching their limit, began to show wounds.
'Faster! Even faster!'
Just a little more. With just a little more time, I felt like I could defeat the man before me.
But—
At the exact moment five minutes had passed, the power that had been surging through my body began to drain away like a receding tide.
'This is bad.'
Just as Fuma-senpai had described, I wasn't so weak that I couldn't lift a finger like before, but the rate at which my Yang energy was depleting was beyond imagination.
'It feels like I've become a leaky pot.'
The ocean of Yang energy had already shrunk to the size of a river.
It was obvious that in a little while, it would become a pond, then a puddle.
'If only I had one more minute!'
I could have broken through that tough guard and landed a solid blow on Ivan.
A wave of belated regret washed over me, but I couldn't turn back time.
As I stopped my attack and stepped back, Ivan twisted his lips into an amused smirk.
"Looks like the effects of that strange medicine wore off, huh?"
"Who knows?"
I forced a smile and tried to bluff, but it didn't fool him one bit. Ivan cracked the knuckles on both hands and slowly approached.
"Grit your teeth, kid."
My is going to hurt a bit.
BOOM!!