Chapter 218: The Secret of the Tiger
BOOM!
The explosive roar of the [STRIKE AT THE APEX] echoed through the night, causing
the very air to shudder.
"What a devastating impact!" Katsumi Orochi stared, unable to look away. "Did
Ren-san develop another finishing move after our match? Truly terrifying..."
Simultaneously, the observers noticed that the moment Ren unleashed that punch,
he had clearly seen through Dorian's rhythm. The feints generated by the
hypnosis could no longer mislead him. He didn't even need time to shake off the
trance anymore; he was processing the reality and the illusion in parallel.
Gaolang narrowed his eyes. "Ren's current state..."
Ren maintained a bladed stance. His left arm was held low near his waist, his
right arm tucked against his ribs with the fist guarding his jaw. His lead
shoulder was slightly raised, and his body appeared deceptively relaxed—a state
of "controlled limpness."
His pupils were vibrating violently due to the [ENGINE], and his eyes were a map
of red veins that looked like iron chains. Yet, his expression was identical to
his muscles—relaxed and serene. There was no trace of malice or strain, only
absolute, singular focus.
"I could not give Ren an answer regarding his struggle with the Satsui no Hado,"
Retsu Kaioh murmured. "But it seems he is using that very 'struggle' as a lens
to see through the opponent's lies!"
"Phew...!"
Ren exhaled a cloud of hot breath that shimmered like white mist in the cool
night air. He looked at Dorian.
"The Satsui no Hado brings an impulse to terminate the opponent's life. I'm
simply using that impulse as a data point. I see where the 'Killing Intent' is
aiming, compare it to what my eyes see, and then I choose my own response."
"This... is the [SATSUI CHOICE]!"
While Ren spoke, Dorian looked down at his left hand.
Except for his thumb, all four fingers were shattered. The joints were bent at
grotesque angles, twisted together in a mangled mess of flesh and bone. Blood
sprayed from the ruins of his hand. It was a sickening sight.
[Satsui Choice]? I see.
Perhaps because of the agonizing pain, or perhaps because he didn't want the
others to hear his inner turmoil, Dorian's thoughts remained internal.
During a battle, Dorian was always haunted by doubts: What if I had done this?
If I used that trick, I would have won...
But he realized that for Ren Shiroki, those doubts didn't exist. They were
replaced by: "How do I want to do this?" and "Which move should I use next?"
"I see now... we truly aren't the same kind," Dorian whispered to himself.
Then let us test it. Can you truly make me accept reality? Can you give me the
gift of a 'True' defeat?!
SNAP!
Dorian extended his right hand and snapped his fingers. He had used this cue
many times tonight—sometimes as a feint, sometimes as a hypnotic trigger. It was
an ambiguous variable that forced the opponent to hesitate, leaving them open to
a follow-up.
Zip!
Dorian lunged forward with a massive stride, unleashing a high-roundhouse kick
aimed straight for Ren's temple.
However, under the "Seeing-State" of [SATSUI CHOICE], Ren felt the impulse. The
internal "Killing Intent" was screaming at him that the kick was real. It
matched exactly what his eyes were seeing.
No hypnosis. The snap was a feint.
In that case... let's go with this!
Zip!
Ren dropped into a deep crouch and performed a forward roll. Like a street-style
breakdancer, he used his back and core as a pivot point, spinning his legs in a
low-level horizontal sweep from left to right.
[JAMIE'S PHANTOM DRUNKEN DANCE]!
THWACK!
Ren's shin slammed into Dorian's anchored right leg. The giant's balance
shattered, and he began to fall. But in the heartbeat before he hit the ground,
he snapped his fingers again.
SNAP!
At the sound, Dorian appeared to spring off the ground instantly, his right fist
tightened as he unleashed a high-speed straight punch.
"Hah!"
[SATSUI CHOICE]—READ!
Ren was facing a "punching enemy," but his muscle memory and the dark impulse
were urging him to punch downward at the floor. It completely contradicted what
his eyes were telling him.
Hypnosis detected!
Zip!
As Ren stood up, he suddenly dropped his weight back down. Using his right leg
as an anchor, he lunged forward into a deep bow-stance and drove a heavy punch
into the asphalt. Over 36 trillion cells ignited in a single microsecond.
[STRIKE AT THE APEX]—MAX POWER!
BOOM!!!
The punch slammed into the road with the sound of a detonating grenade. A hole
the size of a fist erupted in the pavement, and spiderweb cracks raced outward.
Dorian's head was resting on the asphalt exactly one inch away from the crater.
He hadn't stood up at all. He had remained prone, gasping for air. If Dorian
hadn't sensed the lethal danger—realizing Ren had seen through the
hallucination—and twisted his head aside with everything he had, his skull
would have been turned into a red smear.
The combination of reality and illusion isn't working?!
Dorian's eyes bugged out. He couldn't accept it. He grabbed a handful of gravel
and threw it at Ren's face.
Clatter!
Ren raised his forearms in a tight guard to block the stones, using the momentum
to step back and prevent a follow-up sneak attack.
Dorian, as expected, had planned for that. Seeing Ren retreat, he performed a
bridge, drove his heels into the ground, and sprang to his feet.
SNAP!
In that same heartbeat, another finger snap.
Dorian flipped and landed in a vertical split-stance. His right leg was extended
vertically toward the sky, the sole of his foot facing the moon. His legs formed
a perfect straight line, with the right heel poised to drop like a guillotine.
In Kenpo, this kick is known as the "Single Stick of Incense Toward Heaven"!
Ren's consciousness went into overdrive. He felt the impulse of his own muscles.
[SATSUI CHOICE]—ACTIVATED!
The Satsui no Hado unique to Ren Shiroki—the one born from his own journey—urged
him to sidestep half a pace and then launch a low-level scan-kick.
But Ren didn't just surrender to the impulse. He didn't become a slave to the
killing intent. Instead, a question popped into his mind.
Why?
Why sidestep half a pace against a vertical drop?
He realized: Dorian's "heel-blade" was likely longer than it appeared. A frontal
evasion wouldn't be enough to clear the range. This was a judgment born of Ren's
own technical mastery and the dark impulse, operating beyond the reach of
hypnotic suggestion.
Should I just do it? Should I stop thinking and just follow the impulse? It
would be easier, wouldn't it?
NO!
The Satsui no Hado had placed the "Choice" before him. That was enough.
Even if the "Killing Intent" was persistent, even if the "Resolve to Kill" felt
like iron chains binding his limbs and trying to puppet his movements... for Ren
Shiroki, the Dark Hado was not the "Only Correct Answer." He "couldn't bear" to
let it be the only answer.
If there's only one way to finish a fight... how boring would that be?!
The moment that thought surfaced, the "chains" of the Hado blurred and
dissolved, transforming into countless ink-wash lines that drifted harmlessly
around Ren's body.
CHOICE!
Zip!
Ren suddenly stepped forward instead of sideways. He raised both hands, cupping
them together like a Muay Thai clinch, and clamped them tight around Dorian's
raised right knee.
"HYAH!"
Ren's core twisted. He shook Dorian's extended leg violently from side to side,
destroying the giant's center of gravity and shattering the hypnosis.
Sure enough, a hidden blade had extended from the heel of Dorian's right shoe—a
surgical steel spike the length of a palm. He had been hiding it all night for
this exact finish.
No wonder the Hado told me to sidestep!
But now that Ren had closed the distance and secured the knee, the leg had no
room to generate downward force. Dorian could do nothing but watch as Ren shook
his balance like a ragdoll.
And then... the Knee!
A standard clinch-knee targets the head or the stomach. But because of Dorian's
current awkward split-position, Ren's knee strike drove straight into Dorian's
groin.
THUD!
Dorian's face turned a deep, sickly purple. Veins erupted on his forehead as he
clutched his crotch, stumbling back in a desperate roll.
Blood sprayed from his lower body, and white foam began to leak from his mouth.
He curled into a ball on the asphalt, letting out an agonizing, high-pitched
shriek.
"GAAAH—HK!!"
In the distance, the ink-wash lines swirled to reveal the phantoms of Ryu and
Sagat. Sagat still refused to look at Ryu, his gaze fixed on Ren.
[[Satsui Choice], hm? To turn the tables and view the Satsui no Hado as merely a
part of himself... he truly is your disciple.]
Ryu gave a faint, humble smile. [I am merely a guide. My own level is still
unrefined; I am not worthy of being called a Sensei yet.]
[Hmph.]
Sagat let out a low snort.
[Techniques are born in battle, and they grow in battle. Some are forged from
the fire of the opponent's own soul. They change, they are refined, and they
finally take form in the heat of a duel.]
The towering silhouette of the "One-Eyed Tiger"—the unshakeable Emperor of Muay
Thai—crossed his arms.
[If you seek strength, boy... then continue to challenge the unreachable peaks!]
After pounding the ground in agony more times than he could count, Dorian
finally recovered enough to stand. He clutched his bleeding groin, his legs
shaking.
But he was met with a relentless, high-speed knee strike.
POW!
"GUUGH—?!"
Dorian's abdomen was crushed. Ren caught him in a clinch again, shaking his head
to disrupt his recovery frames. Just as Dorian focused entirely on defending
against the next knee strike, Ren shifted his rhythm.
He seized Dorian's head with his left hand. He tucked his right arm, aiming a
vertical overhead elbow strike straight at Dorian's skull. Three strikes in
rapid succession.
Each one was heavier than the last.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
For the final blow, Ren released Dorian's head. He pulled his right elbow back
to its maximum limit, channeling every ounce of torque from his hips into one
final downward smash.
Ultimate Art: [SAGAT'S TIGER BRUTALITY - HAMMER]!
BOOM!!!
Blood sprayed from Dorian's nose and mouth. In his dazed state, he tried to
retreat, but the motion left a fatal opening. Ren lunged with a lead-leg front
kick to the solar plexus.
BANG!
"URGH—!"
The kick made Dorian retch uncontrollably. He dropped into a half-crouch,
paralyzed by the internal trauma.
Ren twisted his waist. With terrifying speed and surgical precision, he
unleashed a low-level right scan-kick, aiming for the exterior of Dorian's left
knee.
POW!
The pain made Dorian's face contort into a mask of horror.
Ren didn't stop. He followed up with two more consecutive low scans to the exact
same spot.
BANG!!
CRACK!!!
On the third strike, a sickening sound of splintering bone echoed through the
quiet street. It was a sound that made the observers' skin crawl.
Dorian's left patella had been pulverized. His knee buckled inward at a
completely unnatural, 90-degree angle.
Lethal Secret Art: [SAGAT'S TIGER CONQUEROR]!
(End of Chapter)
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