"I get the distinct feeling that you're treating our Shiranui-style ninja arts as something incredibly sketchy."
Mai Shiranui was thoroughly speechless, yet Li Ke remained completely unapologetic.
To be objective, the Shiranui-style combat gear was optimized for high-speed movement and agility. From a tactical standpoint, its lightweight nature allowed for the swift, acrobatic maneuvers the style was known for, though it lacked the defensive protection of traditional armor.
Li Ke recognized that such a specialized style required a specific mindset to master. While it might struggle against the sheer brute force of the Kyokugenryu Karate practitioners—who focused on overwhelming power—it offered a unique advantage in versatility and speed.
In his view, the most fascinating aspect of the Shiranui style was its integration of mobility and aesthetics, creating a fluid form of combat that was as much an art as it was a discipline.
"Yeah, that makes sense," Li Ke replied.
His interest in the Shiranui style mirrored his approach to breathing techniques: he wanted to understand the underlying principles of how energy moved through the body without necessarily committing to the spiritual traditions of the clan.
"You're very pragmatic. But listen—the Shiranui arts are about more than just movement," Mai explained, her tone turning serious. "It is a lineage dedicated to pushing the human form to its limits and uncovering the hidden potential within. We combine flame manipulation with advanced physical techniques. Our ancestors even developed forms specifically for dealing with supernatural threats, not just human opponents."
Mai felt a slight flicker of hesitation as she spoke. In the current era, actual encounters with the supernatural were rare, making those specific "exorcism" techniques more theoretical than practical in her daily life. Like Li Ke with his basic drills, she possessed the knowledge, but the opportunity to test it against true monsters was a relic of the past.
Mai drew her fans and settled into a balanced Shiranui-style stance.
Li Ke watched closely, keeping his thoughts to himself. He knew that almost every major school claimed to hold the secrets of human potential, but he was eager to see if the execution lived up to the reputation.
He signaled for her to proceed.
"Watch the footwork. This is the foundation of our strikes," Mai said.
She began to move through a series of complex katas, demonstrating how the Shiranui style utilized momentum. She explained the mechanics of weight distribution, how to transition from a defensive posture into a counter-strike, and the precise way to circulate internal energy to maintain balance during rapid rotations.
This was the essence of the Shiranui legacy—the subtle refinements passed down through oral tradition that could never be fully grasped just by reading a manual. It was about the "how" and the "why" of the energy flow rather than just the outward appearance of the move.
While many styles shared similar strikes, the way they regulated energy and handled transitions defined their unique identity.
"So that's the secret to their fluid transitions..."
As Li Ke observed her, he began to cross-reference her movements with his own knowledge. He realized that the true path to mastery involved synthesizing these various philosophies into a cohesive whole.
Because every martial arts lineage has its own unique strengths and shortcomings, and every practitioner's time is limited. A martial artist who excels at leg strikes will inevitably have upper-body fist techniques that look lackluster by comparison. Different schools naturally prioritize completely different methods of attack.
In Li Ke's eyes, the Shiranui style felt a bit like it was "cutting corners."
Most of Mai Shiranui's techniques relied heavily on leg-strength throws, elbows, and knee joints. However, the vast majority of these attacks required her to utilize her own body weight and the centrifugal force of rapid spins to build momentum. She was essentially using rotational inertia to amplify the destructive output of her moves.
This was a tactical workaround designed to compensate for a natural lack of raw physical strength. Compared to Li Ke's own combat style...
They were absolute polar opposites.
They didn't align at all!
Li Ke's personal combat style leaned far closer to the Kyokugenryu philosophy of overwhelming power. The highly technical, precision-based nature of the Shiranui style felt far too slow for his taste, and its design was visibly hyper-focused on fighting human opponents.
It relied on capitalizing on an enemy's attack window, using extreme speed to exploit their openings. Rolling maneuvers and mid-air pivots were incredibly frequent in the Shiranui style. Its wide, sweeping attacks were limited to a few specific leg strikes meant to shatter a foe's guard, which left the practitioner highly vulnerable to being caught off-balance. Most of her options involved either rolling away to slip out of the enemy's line of sight to catch them off guard, or spinning in mid-air to generate power for an elbow strike, knee drop, or a locking setup to transition into a follow-up throw.
Li Ke also observed Mai's technique for shifting her momentum while airborne. This specific airborne redirection was the true crowning jewel of the Shiranui lineage. To be completely honest, he was incredibly envious of this specific mechanic.
This was practically a double jump!
Mai was an absolute agility-type fighter, an extreme specialist. The moment she encountered someone whose raw stats completely eclipsed her own, she would suffer a crushing defeat. For a hyper-balanced "stat-monster" like Li Ke, as long as his own agility met the baseline threshold, Mai wouldn't stand a single chance of winning!
"No wonder she's considered a second- or third-rate martial artist back home... The structural flaws of the Shiranui style are just too glaring."
However, just as Li Ke was about to call a timeout to ask her to just teach him the secrets behind that double jump, Mai suddenly took a massive, deep breath and let out a sharp battle cry.
"Chou Hissatsu Shinobi Bachi!"
The next instant, Mai's body propelled forward with explosive force. Utilizing her mid-air redirection technique, she dropped like a lightning bolt onto a thick wooden training post. The exact moment she made landfall, she twisted her body into a deep, low crouch—her hands clamped tightly together right at her hip, arching her back sharply and putting the soft, pale curves of her hips on full display.
Li Ke, however, knew better than to mistake this for some cheap distraction tactic. Mai was actively channeling a massive surge of fiery chi directly into the core of the wooden post. The volume of energy she was forcing out was too immense to dump instantly, requiring a sustained window to inject it fully. This highly exaggerated, arched posture was the natural physical byproduct of her hands tightly compressing and driving that volatile flame energy forward.
Furthermore, the low crouch effectively allowed her to duck underneath any immediate counter-attacks from a foe.
She repeated the sequence several more times. Every single one of those seemingly eccentric, provocative poses was actually an engineered body mechanic designed to facilitate the rapid injection of her explosive chi.
By the end of the demonstration, Li Ke could see the truth clearly through his transparent vision. The interior of the heavy wooden post had been entirely hollowed out and permeated by her fiery energy. The exact microsecond Mai snapped her energy back and leaped to the side, the dormant chi erupted violently from the inside out, creating a roaring pillar of flame that shot straight into the sky!
This technique was undeniably the absolute ultimate secret of the Shiranui lineage!
The entirety of the Shiranui style's tactical mastery was distilled perfectly into this single execution!
Having unleashed the strike, Mai stood panting heavily as she turned to face Li Ke. Her exceptionally generous chest heaved dramatically with her labored breaths, swaying so intensely right in front of him that Li Ke felt a powerful urge to step forward and steady them with his own two hands.
"Wow. That is seriously impressive!"
Li Ke offered a genuine, heartfelt compliment. Strip away the mid-air redirection physics, the methodology for converting raw chi into physical plasma, and the final armor-penetration mechanic of driving explosive energy directly into a target's internal organs, and the Shiranui style would be nothing more than an average, utterly mundane martial art. Its core principles wouldn't even hold a candle to ancient, foundational Chinese arts like Tai Chi, Jeet Kune Do, or Bajiquan.
But these three highly specialized supernatural mechanics instantly elevated it far above any mundane combat technique he currently possessed, even outpacing Rias's inherited family swordplay! When combined with a functional system of internal energy circulation and specialized stat-boosting katas—such as specific breathing patterns designed to temporarily spike strength, speed, and durability—it was undeniably a bona fide system of superhuman martial arts.
To put it simply, the moment a martial art became capable of generating and manipulating actual chi, it transcended into the realm of the supernatural.
After all, Rias's family swordplay was fundamentally just basic swordsmanship wrapped around standard magic application; it lacked any unique, intricate physical mechanics of its own.
"Hmph! Let's see you try to claim our Shiranui style is only good for girls to use as seduction now!"
Seeing the serious expression Li Ke maintained, Mai Shiranui's competitive spirit flared. She stood tall, brimming with pride for her lineage. To her, the Shiranui style was a legacy of power and grace, and she was determined to prove its worth beyond mere appearances.
"Just because the Shiranui style emphasizes agility doesn't diminish its effectiveness in high-level combat," Li Ke replied, standing his ground. "However, one cannot ignore that its aesthetic elements often overshadow its technical depth in the eyes of many."
Li Ke spoke with conviction, his mind already dissecting the mechanics of the style. Mai glared at him, her frustration mounting as she struggled to find a verbal counter to his blunt assessment.
"Li Ke, you really have a way of getting under someone's skin!" she exclaimed, her hand tightening around her fan.
"I am simply analyzing the tactical reality," Li Ke said, gesturing calmly. "Many of these kinetic redirection techniques exist in other disciplines. The concept of internal energy detonation is powerful, but it isn't unique to the Shiranui school."
Crossing his arms, Li Ke delved deeper into his critique. He recognized that while the Shiranui style was refined, it faced stiff competition in a world filled with diverse martial arts. Mid-air redirection and elemental chi manipulation were rare, but not unheard of among the elite fighters of the King of Fighters universe.
"Your style relies heavily on rotational force to generate power," he continued, his tone becoming more academic. "While this provides a high degree of mobility, it also introduces predictable patterns and recovery frames that a master technician could exploit. The physical demands of the style prioritize certain body types, which is perhaps why it has developed the reputation it has."
Mai found herself silenced by his logic. She wanted Li Ke to represent the Shiranui name in the upcoming tournament, and his honesty—though brutal—was exactly what was needed to identify the style's systemic vulnerabilities.
Li Ke's goal was to help her optimize the school's training. He knew that by integrating advanced physical conditioning methods—perhaps even secrets he could adapt from his knowledge of the Arad continent—he could help the Shiranui style reach a new level of martial excellence.
But as the saying goes... swallow your pride for a moment and you'll only find yourself seething later; take a step back and the loss feels even bigger.
Listening to Li Ke's endless lecturing, Mai Shiranui couldn't help but reflect on her choices. She had spent the middle of the night pouring her heart out to teach him the Shiranui style—a legacy she guarded as her most sacred treasure. Yet, instead of gratitude, all she got was a barrage of knit-picking criticism. Even though she had open-mindedly shared every single secret art with complete generosity, her internal fury spiked to a point where she genuinely wanted to delete him from existence.
"...However, it must be said that your Shiranui-style special techniques do have—huh?"
Li Ke was just about to offer a genuine compliment when he noticed Mai's eyes flashing completely bloodshot. Clamping her steel fan firmly between her teeth, she launched herself high into the air, letting out a muffled, incoherent scream through her jaw.
"I am going to kill you!!"
Golden chi erupted across her entire body as she went into a full power surge. The sheer force of her aura sent her hair whipping wildly in the wind, and her loose tunic fluttered aggressively. It looked as though the sheer pressure might finally breach the fabric's defenses—yet, against all laws of physics, it held!
Li Ke had personally inspected that uniform before; he knew for a fact there was absolutely nothing inside structurally reinforcing it!
But he didn't have time to ponder the mysteries of anime physics. Facing a fully charged, completely enraged Mai, Li Ke braced himself for impact!
Chou Hissatsu Shinobi Bachi!
Fueled by pure rage, Mai descended upon Li Ke like a meteor, driving her elbow down hard toward his shoulder. Furious as she was, she didn't actually intend to take his life; she merely wanted to beat some respect into him and force him to acknowledge the absolute authority of the Shiranui lineage.
Unfortunately...
Neither her movement speed nor her raw reflexes could outmatch Li Ke's stats.
In the microsecond she plummeted toward him, Li Ke's specialized combat state kicked in. With a fluid side-step, he smoothly slipped past her opening strike.
Mai made landfall in a deep crouch. The moment her elbow missed his shoulder, her martial arts instincts screamed that her trajectory had gone completely awry!
In truth, she hadn't completely mastered the complex physics of this Super Special Move just yet!
Acting on instinct, she immediately adjusted her center of gravity to prepare a low, explosive rear-impact strike, aiming to execute the next sequence of her offensive kata.
However, she was already a step too late. Li Ke had pivoted back toward her, his hand snapping out to clamp firmly onto her wrists, pulling her arms outward to completely neutralize her counter-attack.
As Mai drove her hips backward to initiate the thrust, her upper body lost all forward momentum due to Li Ke tightly pinning her arms. Consequently, her exceptionally full, highly athletic hips slammed with immense force right into Li Ke's groin—making direct, violent contact with his spear, which had politely hardened earlier during her dance-like martial arts demonstration.
The moment that all-too-familiar, rigid mass pressed firmly against her lower back, Mai's mind blanked out entirely. As the crushing realization of exactly what was happening caught up to her, her cognitive functions shut down completely, leaving her entire body stiffening in absolute shock.
Sensing that incredibly lush, shapely impact, Li Ke's mind instantly flashed back to their previous encounter in the 7 Days to Die world, vividly recalling the incredible sensation of driving against those exact curves!
Though their initial intimacy in that world had been relatively brief, the memory remained etched perfectly in his mind, ranking a close second only to his multi-day marathon with the Alexstrasza!
The explanation was simple: it felt absolutely phenomenal, and because it had been cut short, it left him profoundly unsatiated. That brief taste was more than enough to leave him constantly reminiscing!
Flooded by the sudden rush of pure muscle memory, Li Ke subconsciously grinded forward a couple of times. Only then did he snap back to reality, remembering that they were both still fully clothed, and the woman pinned in front of him had absolutely not consented to another round.
The soft, intense friction left him trapped in a state of high tension—deeply aroused, yet completely unable to find a proper release.
Two layers of fabric were far from enough to completely mask the smooth, hyper-elastic contours of Mai Shiranui's hips, nor could they lessen the intense draw of her soft curves. Yet, the barrier served as a stark, unavoidable reminder: he couldn't actually cross it.
He was standing right at the threshold, but entering was entirely out of the question.
This agonizing clash between profound disappointment and overwhelming desire left him trapped in a state of sheer, restless frustration, fueling an incredibly urgent, impatient craving for more. The presence of the fabric served as a physical reminder of the boundary between them, a barrier that Li Ke could not cross. He stood close, but the emotional and physical distance remained absolute.
This sense of being so close yet unable to connect left him in a state of restless tension, caught between the reality of their conflict and the impulse to offer comfort.
Li Ke dithered for a brief second. That precise window of hesitation was finally enough for Mai to break out of her stupor. Her entire body began to tremble violently as her own memory bank forcefully dredged up the difficult emotions from their past encounter.
It was an experience that had been deeply humiliating and utterly catastrophic to the peaceful life she once knew!
It was the event that had led to her permanent separation from Andy Bogard!
Sensing the tremors running through her frame, Li Ke spoke up with caution.
"Uh... look, would you believe me if I said this was a complete accident? After all..."
Before he could even finish his sentence, tears began cascading down Mai's face. He released his grip on her wrists. Instead of running away or attacking him, Mai slowly collapsed onto her knees. Covering her face with both hands, she began to sob.
"Hey now..."
Li Ke squatted down beside her, staring at the trembling form of the kunoichi. He pondered the situation heavily before offering a solution.
"How about you just strike me once? If it makes you feel better, I won't defend myself."
He knew that with his dragon fire and Life Return techniques, he could recover from a significant blow, even if she struck with serious intent.
But Mai didn't move to attack. Instead, she fixed him with a tear-stained, exhausted gaze.
"You total bastard! Why is it that the moment I run into you, everything goes to hell?!"
Every pillar of her past existence felt like it had been dismantled by this man, yet it had happened in a way where he maintained a logical, blameless posture throughout the ordeal.
She found it difficult to properly direct her anger, and that made her even more infuriated.
"If nothing else works... I can take responsibility for the trouble I've caused," Li Ke offered, trying to find a way to resolve the tension. "I told you before—if it helps, you can direct your resentment toward me. It's not like we're on equal footing in a fight anyway."
"You piece of work..."
Mai suddenly let out a sharp laugh through her tears, born of sheer exasperation.
"On what grounds do you think you can just 'take responsibility' for me?! You haven't actually done a single thing wrong! From the beginning, I've been the one reacting to you, and you don't even have an obligation to help me with my clan's legacy!"
She felt a deep frustration. Who did Li Ke think he was? Why did he constantly accommodate her? She wasn't someone who required constant coddling, yet his persistence was breaking through her defenses.
"Uh, well, it's mostly because beautiful women get special privileges with me..." Li Ke admitted, stating his absolute golden rule of life.
Beautiful women always had a free pass in his book! And the ones he had actually been intimate with got even more leeway!
"You bastard, we only slept together once back then! Don't overstep your bounds! Do you honestly think that just because you got lucky with me, you have the right to keep coddling me forever?!"
She was furious—absolutely livid!
In her exasperation, she reached out and aggressively yanked Li Ke by his collar.
"You aren't my father! You aren't even really my friend! On what grounds do you keep putting up with me?! I treat you like this, and you don't even get mad! Didn't you claim to be a staunch believer in gender equality? Come on then! Punch me!"
Li Ke felt her explosive rage was entirely irrational. Yet, looking at her completely broken down like this, he couldn't bring himself to actually throw a heavy punch to her face, even if a harsh reality check would be the fastest way to snap her out of it.
Besides, a girl actively begging to be punched was just...
"That is easily the most unhinged request I have ever heard in my entire life."
Li Ke raised his arm and clenched his fist. Under Mai's tense, nervous gaze, he leaned forward and gently tapped her forehead with his knuckles.
"There. You've been punched. Are you clear-headed now? Or..."
Li Ke's finger pointed directly toward Mai's chest, which was heaving dramatically with her rapid breathing.
"Do you want me to touch you here instead? Let's get one thing straight—if you actually invite me to touch you there, things won't end cleanly. You'll end up pregnant. Come on, stop being angry. Your biggest dream is to revitalize the Shiranui lineage, isn't it? I already said I'll help you."
Li Ke was being entirely serious.
He was willing to swear on his own character to fulfill that promise!
At the end of the day, Mai was someone who had survived a life-or-death crisis alongside him, and she was an iconic figure he had fantasized about back in his original world. Even if they didn't end up as partners with benefits, Li Ke genuinely wanted to be her friend.
After all, he was incredibly eager to visit the King of Fighters world eventually, and staying on excellent terms with Mai Shiranui was a massive tactical advantage.
And of course...
He was still deeply, unapologetically infatuated with her body.
Seeing that Li Ke was still acting like a shameless rogue even now, Mai suddenly felt a wave of clarity. Li Ke was a thorough, unadulterated scoundrel, and she was officially the most unfortunate soul on the planet!
Her worst luck lay in the fact that she kept running into this lecherous degenerate, found herself entirely unable to refuse his genuine goodwill, and possessed absolutely zero means to resist him as he dismantled her old way of life.
But as for herself...
Staring at Li Ke, and then down at her own hands, Mai realized she had to admit a fundamental truth.
Deep down, she truly needed a dependable figure to lean on.
Because that was how she had been raised since childhood.
First, she had relied on her grandfather, then she had relied on Andy. In the future, even if she married someone else, all she really wanted was a partner who could help her revitalize the Shiranui clan—someone who genuinely loved her, whom she loved in return, and whom she could completely trust.
This absolute bastard...
Looking at Li Ke's face, Mai recalled the subtle, complicated jealousy she had felt earlier upon seeing him acting close with Shinobu. She instantly felt like a deeply hypocritical woman.
The moment that realization struck her, her grip loosened from his collar, and she let out a long, defeated sigh.
"Forget it..."
"Huh?" Li Ke stared at her, completely bewildered.
"I accept my fate. From now on, you can do whatever you want..."
Mai shot Li Ke a look of profound disdain. With another heavy sigh, she suddenly raised her leg, kicked Li Ke square in the chest to knock him flat onto the floor, and marched back to her room with her head held high.
Meanwhile, Li Ke was left processing the sudden assault.
"If you're accepting your fate, why the hell did you kick me?! Hey! Get back here and explain yourself! Why did you kick me?! What did you figure out that earned me a boot to the chest? Do you think my patience for your bad moods is infinite?! Explain yourself, or I swear I'll squeeze your chest flat!"
He yelled out his grievances toward her closed door, thoroughly annoyed. He was treating her like a comrade, and she was treating him like a tool?
How was he supposed to just take that lying down?!
But Mai merely offered him one final, unbothered glance through the closing gap of the sliding door before shutting it completely. She threw herself onto her futon and, for the first time since arriving in this world, drifted into a deeply peaceful, secure sleep.
She decided that Li Ke was actually a pretty decent guy.
Accepting her fate didn't seem so bad after all.
And Li Ke...
Li Ke honestly thought the woman had completely lost her mind.