Kairo exploded forward.
Despite the blood running down his ribs and the agony tearing through his leg, his movements remained fluid. Every step flowed naturally into the next. His fists, elbows, knees, and feet moved as though they belonged to a single current, refusing to stop no matter how much pain his body endured.
Danzeki stood his ground.
His expression remained calm.
His eyes never left Kairo.
The first punch came straight for his face.
Danzeki tilted his head.
The fist missed by a hair's breadth.
A second strike followed instantly, then a spinning elbow aimed for his jaw.
He caught Kairo's wrist with one hand and guided the elbow harmlessly past his shoulder before releasing him again.
Kairo refused to slow down.
He pivoted.
His injured leg screamed beneath him, but he ignored it.
His right foot whipped around in a sharp roundhouse.
Danzeki leaned backward.
The kick sliced through the air just in front of his nose.
The moment his feet touched the ground again...
Kairo was already there.
A straight punch.
Another.
Another.
A relentless barrage.
Danzeki blocked each strike with almost graceful precision.
Palm.
Forearm.
Elbow.
Palm again.
Every impact echoed through the forest.
THUD!
THACK!
WHAM!
Neither fighter gave an inch.
Then...
Kairo suddenly shifted his rhythm.
Instead of another straight punch, his shoulder dipped.
His body rotated.
His fist curved inward from an unexpected angle.
Danzeki's eyes widened.
Too late.
CRACK!
Kairo's knuckles smashed directly into Danzeki's nose.
Blood burst into the air.
The impact forced Danzeki several steps backward.
For the first time...
His composure cracked.
Kairo seized the opportunity.
He rushed forward again.
One punch.
Then another.
A third.
Each strike came faster than the last.
Danzeki wiped the blood from beneath his nose.
"...Not bad."
The next instant...
His expression hardened.
Kairo's right fist flew toward him.
Danzeki slipped outside the attack.
His own fist shot forward.
Kairo lowered his head just in time.
The punch rushed over his hair.
"I dodged it—"
WHAM!
A second fist slammed into the side of Kairo's face.
He had never seen the left hand coming.
His vision exploded.
His body staggered sideways.
Now it was Danzeki's turn.
He advanced without hesitation.
A straight punch.
A hook.
An elbow.
A knee.
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Every attack flowed together with terrifying precision.
Kairo raised both arms.
THUD!
THAM!
BOOM!
Each impact shook his guard.
He barely managed to block one strike before another arrived from a completely different angle.
His feet slid backward through the dirt.
Blood continued dripping from his ribs.
Then...
Danzeki disappeared from directly in front of him.
Kairo's eyes widened.
"...Where—?"
WHAM!!
A vicious body hook buried itself into Kairo's wounded left ribs.
Pain exploded through his body.
"AAAAAGH!"
His scream echoed through the forest.
Before he could recover...
Danzeki grabbed a fistful of Kairo's ponytail.
With one violent motion...
He hurled him through the air.
BOOM!!
Kairo crashed into the trunk of a towering tree.
The bark shattered.
Wood splintered.
Dust burst outward as the entire tree trembled from the impact.
For several long seconds...
Silence.
Only drifting dust filled the clearing.
Danzeki slowly turned toward the broken tree.
A faint smile crossed his face.
"...Satisfied."
Gradient streams of red and green Seikon pulsed beneath his skin once again.
The energy spread through every vein in his body.
The pressure surrounding him intensified.
Across the clearing...
Kairo groaned.
"...Ngh..."
He forced one knee beneath himself.
Blood dripped from his forehead.
Another stream escaped the corner of his mouth.
His left ribs burned.
His bandaged leg had completely reopened, blood soaking through the cloth before falling onto the forest floor.
Even breathing hurt.
Danzeki watched him without moving.
"...There's a clear difference between us."
His calm voice carried through the clearing.
"My Seikon Flow makes me stronger."
"Faster."
"More versatile."
"As long as I remain calm..."
"...you cannot beat me."
Kairo remained kneeling.
Blood dripped onto the earth beneath him.
Slowly...
He lifted his head.
A small smile appeared across his bloodied face.
"...I know."
He pushed himself upright.
Every muscle trembled.
Every wound screamed.
Yet somehow...
He stood.
"I knew there was a difference between us..."
"...from the very beginning."
Kairo drew one slow, unsteady breath. The pain in his ribs flared with every inhale, his injured leg trembling beneath him.
"But..."
The thought of dying here crept into the back of his mind.
Faces surfaced one after another.
Morri.
Tera.
Yomi.
The people who had carried him this far.
No.
Not yet.
He hadn't crossed forests, endured pain, and survived every trial only for his journey to end beneath these trees.
His body screamed for him to stay down, but his resolve refused to listen.
He slowly lifted his head, his eyes hardening despite the blood running down his face.
"...I'm not dying here."
His eyes met Danzeki's without hesitation.
"...as long as I'm still standing..."
"...I'll keep fighting..."
"...until my last breath."
Silence.
Then...
Danzeki smiled.
"...Good."
His feet shifted apart.
Faint gradient red-and-green veins glowed beneath his skin as Seikon continued its endless cycle between mind and heart. The spiritual current never ceased—it flowed continuously, waiting only for the moment its focus would be redirected.
Then...
His concentration shifted.
Without interrupting that endless flow, he directed its emphasis toward his lower body.
His knees bent.
Once.
Twice.
He bounced lightly on the balls of his feet, rising and settling like an athlete preparing to explode from the starting line.
Each movement felt measured.
Patient.
The muscles in his legs coiled tighter with every bounce.
The earth beneath his feet groaned.
Thin cracks quietly spread across the forest floor.
Kairo narrowed his eyes.
"...He's preparing something."
Danzeki's smile deepened.
"...Watch carefully."
For the briefest instant...
He became perfectly still.
Then—
His foot drove into the ground.
The Seikon released.
BOOM!!
The forest floor shattered beneath him.
A violent burst of force launched his body forward, the focused release of Seikon propelling him like an arrow loosed from a bow.
Kairo's pupils shrank.
"He's ...Gone?!"
No...
He hadn't disappeared.
He had accelerated beyond what Kairo's eyes could immediately follow.
The next instant—
Danzeki stood directly before him.
His right fist had already begun its path.
Around his forearm, the surrounding atmosphere twisted into a violent spiral, compressed into a dense vortex by his Atmospheric Armament.
Universal Seikon empowered the body.
Atmospheric Armament amplified the strike.
The fist connected.
BOOOOOOM!!
The punch buried itself deep into his stomach.
His eyes rolled upward.
Saliva burst from his mouth.
Every ounce of air exploded from his lungs.
The compressed wind detonated the instant the blow landed.
The shockwave hurled Kairo backward like a rag doll.
He smashed through one tree.
Then another.
Then another.
Wood exploded into splinters.
Branches rained from above.
Only after crashing through several trunks did his body finally skid to a stop across the forest floor.
Silence returned.
Danzeki slowly lowered his fist.
His smile disappeared.
He looked at his own hand.
"...I hope..."
"...I didn't overdo that."
He rubbed the back of his neck.
"Oh well."
"The kid did push my buttons."
....
Several moments later...
He casually walked toward where Kairo had landed.
Broken branches littered the ground.
The trail of shattered trees led directly to the battered boy.
"...Hm?"
Danzeki stopped.
"...He's still moving?"
Kairo's body trembled violently.
Blood poured from his ribs.
His forehead was drenched crimson.
His leg left a dark trail beneath him.
Yet...
He planted one foot beneath himself.
Then another.
Slowly...
Painfully...
He stood.
His head remained lowered.
Blood dripped steadily onto the forest floor.
After several long breaths...
He lifted his face.
A weary smile appeared once more.
"...Remember..."
"...what I told you..."
"As long as..."
"...I'm still breathing..."
"...I'll keep fighting."
For the first time...
Disgust crossed Danzeki's face.
He studied Kairo carefully.
No Seikon Flow.
No spiritual aura.
Nothing.
"...How..."
"...is he still standing?"
The question lingered only briefly before he sighed.
"...I warned you already."
"There's nothing personal about this."
"I'm only following orders."
His red-and-green veins glowed once more.
The air surrounding the clearing began spinning violently.
Leaves rose from the forest floor.
The wind screamed.
"This next attack..."
"...should finally put you to sleep."
Kairo slowly raised his eyes.
Blood streamed down his face.
The atmosphere trembled beneath Danzeki's growing Seikon.
Then...
Danzeki stopped.
The Seikon swirling around his body faltered.
The screaming wind...
...vanished.
The countless leaves suspended in the air drifted silently back toward the forest floor.
Silence.
A silence so complete it felt unnatural.
Danzeki's expression changed for the first time.
His eyes narrowed.
"...?"
He slowly turned his head.
Someone...
...was approaching.
Footsteps.
Soft.
Steady.
Neither hurried nor hesitant.
Each step echoed through the quiet forest with an almost unsettling calm, as though the battle, the blood, and the destruction around him meant absolutely nothing.
The bushes parted.
A lone figure emerged from between the ancient trees.
His hands rested casually inside his pockets.
His pace never changed.
Never quickened.
Never slowed.
He simply walked forward, his gaze drifting across the shattered clearing—the broken trees, the blood-soaked ground, and the two battered boys standing opposite one another.
He came to a stop.
For a brief moment...
No one spoke.
Even the forest seemed to hold its breath.
Then...
The newcomer tilted his head ever so slightly.
"...What..."
His calm eyes moved from Danzeki...
...to Kairo.
"...are you two doing?"
The words were quiet.
Almost casual.
Yet they cut through the silence more sharply than any blade.
Several meters away, Kairo's vision wavered.
Blood trickled into his eyes.
He blinked once.
His sight remained blurred.
He blinked again.
Slowly...
The stranger's face came into focus.
A memory surfaced.
The cave hall before the Survival Examination.
The silent boy who had stood apart from everyone else.
Kairo's eyes widened.
"...It's you..."
His cracked lips parted.
"...Toka...!"