His last words lingered in the silence as a cold gust of wind whipped through the cavern, carrying a wave of fine dust as the fractured stone pillars high above let out a long, deafening crack.
Toka maintained his guard, his eyes locked on the exaggerated expression painted across Haramuci’s face. Slowly, he exhaled, dropping his high stance and relaxing his shoulders.
"Mm-hm," Toka murmured, rolling his wrists. "My goodness."
Haramuci tilted his head, his eyes narrowing. "mmm"
"What?" Toka asked, his tone dropping into a cool, unimpressed flatline. "Am I supposed to be intimidated?"
"You say what?"
"You speak of death as an ultimate, inevitable price," Toka said, taking a measured step forward. "But the truth is simple: Those who aren’t guided properly will fail. Power isn’t the problem. Ignorance is."
Haramuci stared at him for a second before bursting into a loud, mocking laugh. "HA! Such heavy words coming from a kid!"
"Who's he calling a kid?" Toka thought, his brow twitching slightly.
"You see, my point is..." Haramuci continued, his laughter fading into a cold, pragmatic sneer. "Breaking your body and soul past its limits just to ascend to a higher stage, even at the cost of staring death in the face, come on now!
It’s not worth the risk. Well... at least not for me." Clenching his fist.
"You see, even though a Stage One like me is limited compared to a Stage Two that has the grounding to develop a secret technique... my body, even at this level, is still at its absolute peak."
He smirked, taking in Toka's battered frame. "Yes, you heard me right. I feel tremendous!"
"What a fool," Toka thought, his jaw setting. "Such ignorance."
Before his thought could fully form, the fine dust settling at their feet rippled outward in a quiet, sudden ring.
Toka’s breath hitched as his senses flared, anticipating a blinding straight punch tearing through the haze toward his face. Reacting instantly, Toka retreated half a pace, raising his open right palm to meet the incoming strike.
Haramuci’s heavy fist slammed directly into Toka's palm. But his punch hit an invisible wall of dense, vibrating resonance circulating around Toka's palm. The forward momentum of the strike died instantly, its concussive force dissipated across the kinetic seal.
Haramuci landed back on his feet, pulling his fist back and flexing his fingers as he stared at Toka with newfound deliberate focus.
"Your wind palm technique..."
Toka held his breath, his eyes steady and unreadable.
“You used the technique to shatter my throwing knives earlier,” Haramuci said. “Then, you attacked me from behind with the same technique the moment I let my guard down. And now... you’ve just stopped my punch.”
A slight smile tugged at his lips as he tilted his head, his eyes gleaming.
“Tell me... your technique isn’t merely for defense, is it?”
Toka let out a low, irritated hiss between his teeth.
“So I’m right.” Haramuci chuckled. “By my calculations, I predicted that your last attack would take a heavy toll on you, especially considering the current state of your body. Oh well… I guess that’s what I should expect from a Stage Two user!”
Toka slid his right boot back half an inch, anchoring his balance as he steadied his breathing. He refused to let a single trace of tension betray his face. "Oh, yeah?" he replied softly. "Good thing you've got sharp eyes."
"Hmm?" Haramuci raised an eyebrow.
"I hate to pull you back to reality," he said, his voice dropping into a calm, measured register as he smoothly sank into his fighting stance. "No matter the disadvantage... you just can't beat me."
Haramuci’s face went strangely still. The mocking smirk vanished completely, leaving his features entirely blank as he stared at Toka without uttering a single word.
"I could strategize around using Matsukaze’s final form, the Fūjin Secret Art..." his mind racing behind his steady gaze. "But I still haven’t fully recovered the energy I spent in my last battle..."
Haramuci remained motionless, his unblinking eyes pinned directly on Toka's stance.
"What the hell is he staring at?" Toka thought, his jaw clenching slightly.
"Hey, Tera."
From the shadows behind the stone throne, Tera emerged into the light once more. Without breaking his eye breaking, He slowly raised his hand, extending a single finger toward the far corner of the hall
"No one gets out," Haramuci commanded.
Toka’s eyes darted sharply in the direction Haramuci was pointing. His breath hitched as his heart sank, Benji was already hauling Yomi’s limp body toward the narrow opening in the outer wall, just a few paces from freedom.
Tera nodded without a word, instantly rushing to intercept them before they could make their escape.
"Eyes on me," Haramuci's voice cut through the air.
He whipped his gaze back to the front just as Haramuci brought both fists up in front of his face, his knuckles cracking as he locked his fingers into a brutal, heavy guard. His eyes narrowed into two razor-sharp slits of pure malice. "You say I can't beat you eh?" he purred, "Well... I’m curious to find out.”
"That bastard!" Toka cursed inwardly, his mind racing. "He saw right through..."
Before the thought could complete, a straight right fist whistled through the air, driven directly at his face.
Toka’s torso snapped backward into a deep, instantaneous backbend. The displacement of air whistled sharply over his face, his eyes catching the dark, predatory gleam in Haramuci’s gaze, wide, hungry, locked in with the unyielding focus of a predator closing in on its prey.
Haramuci’s momentum carried him past, but both fighters planted their boots and pivoted back toward each other in the same fluid motion.
Turning his back into the rotation, Haramuci whipped a brutal rear elbow strike toward Toka’s head. Toka brought his left forearm up, absorbing the heavy impact against his guard.
Without pausing, he drove a low, surging uppercut straight for Toka’s exposed midsection.
Toka swayed smoothly to his right, letting the strike skim past his ribs. As Haramuci’s right side opened up, Toka’s right hand shot forward, seikon energy flaring instinctively across his open palm as he drove it straight toward Haramuci’s flank.
The strike connected, the sudden burst of pressure detonating against Haramuci's side and blasting him back a few paces.
"Didn't connect!" Toka hissed, as he re-established his balance.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
He looked up just as Haramuci surged forward again without a second's hesitation, launching a rapid, alternating barrage of heavy jabs. Toka threw his arms into a cross-guard, catching the relentless stream of blows directly against his forearms as the force pushed his boots back across the cracked stone floor.
The muffled, rhythmic crackle of fists echoing from the center of the chamber vibrated through the stone floor, showering fine particles of dust over Benji’s hair.
Fumbling in the shadows of the escape passage, Benji worked frantically to secure Yomi against his back, using a length of coarse rope to bind her limp arms around his shoulders. His hands trembled uncontrollably, the knot slipping through his slick, sweat-stained fingers.
"Come on... hurry up, Benji," he muttered under his breath, his teeth digging into his lower lip. "Stop shaking, damn it... everyone's counting on you..."
With a fierce yank, he finally secured the binding. A sharp exhale of relief burst from his chest, and he planted his hands on the ground, preparing to haul their combined weight toward the narrow opening in the wall.
"Not another step."
The cold, flat voice froze the blood in his veins. Benji turned his head slowly, his breath catching as his eyes locked onto Tera standing just a few paces away. She stood over his kneeling form, the tip of a wicked, low-grade steel knife pointed directly at his face.
"Te... Tera..."
Her jaw was clamped shut, her sharp features set in a strained, deeply hostile glare that seemed entirely alien to him.
"Tera, what are you doing...?" Benji rasped, his eyes wide.
"What does it look like?" she spat, her eyes widening into a fierce, unblinking edge as her grip on the hilt tightened.
"But it's not right!" Benji snapped back, his voice tearing through the ambient roar of the collapsing chamber. "You know that!" His throat hitched, his tone dropping as he bowed his head under the sheer weight of betrayal. "We're... we're still a team, remember?"
"Team?" Tera let out a bitter, lifeless scoff. "Are you stupid? Would a teammate be pointing a knife at your face?"
Benji slowly raised his head, looking up into her darkened gaze. His voice dropped to a low, raw whisper.
"But you won't..." He swallowed hard, his eyes pleading. "You won't actually do it..."
Tera took a deliberate step forward, lowering her stance as the blade caught the dim light.
"Go ahead," she hissed, her voice cutting like glass. "Try me."
Midway through a fluid dodge, Toka’s eyes flicked across the dusty expanse straight toward the far corner of the cavern. Through the haze, he caught sight of Tera standing over Benji’s kneeling frame, a blade pressed toward him.
Toka’s pupils dilated. "Benji!"
"Don't you take your eyes off me!" Haramuci roared, a heavy fist already tearing through the air toward Toka's face.
Toka’s instincts snapped back into place a fraction of a second before impact. He slipped sharply to his left, letting the knuckle skim harmlessly past his cheek as his left palm shot out, trapping Haramuci's wrist mid-strike.
Without breaking momentum, He yanked the captured arm toward his shoulder, pivoting his hips and stepping directly into Haramuci’s guard. The sudden rotation pulled Haramuci off balance, his arm coiling tightly over Toka's shoulder as he dropped into a low, rooted squat.
He drove his left elbow straight upward into Haramuci’s exposed abdomen.
As Haramuci doubled over from the brutal blow, Toka followed through in one fluid motion, thrusting his open right palm upward beneath Haramuci’s jaw. The concussive force of impact, snapping Haramuci’s head back with a sickening crack and sending him staggering backward into the dust.
He held his stance firm, cupping his jaw as his eyes locked onto the unshaken gaze on Toka’s face. He swept his thumb across the side of his lips, wiping away a thin streak of blood before a wild grin broke across his face.
"That's more like it! Come on!" Haramuci roared, lunging forward.
Toka set his back foot, bracing as Haramuci closed the distance in a blur. A heavy right came whistling toward Toka’s face; he parried with an open palm, but Haramuci’s left was already surging through the gap. Toka deflected the follow-up, only to be met with a relentless, surging barrage.
The two crashed into a furious exchange. Fists snapped toward faces and ribs from every angle, blurring into a chaotic rhythm of violence. One strike was slipped by an inch, another knocked aside, only for an immediate counter to slice through the air. They shifted, ducked, and twisted through the brawl, neither man offering the other a single second to draw breath.
As the velocity of their attacks surged, their Seikon began to react. Haramuci’s light green aura flared wildly across his forearms and knuckles, while Toka’s radiant, dual red-green Seikon surged violently through the visible veins of his arms.
The air between them fractured with deafening series of heavy, concussive impacts rattling through the cavern like a rhythmic hammering. Dust swirling into vortex around their boots.
Suddenly, Haramuci snapped a wide, vicious fist toward the side of Toka’s head.
"A wide hook?" Toka thought, his instincts kicking in as he immediately slipped his head to the opposite side to dodge the arc.
His eyes widened a fraction of a second too late. "No! It's a feint!"
The wide punch vanished, and before Toka could reset his guard, the quick right hook came straight through the blind spot, driving brutally into his ear. The agonizing impact rattled Toka's skull, sending a flash of white through his vision. But before he could stagger back to absorb the blow, Haramuci snatched Toka’s lead wrist in a iron grip.
Haramuci yanked him forward, leaning into the momentum with a straight right aimed directly at his nose. Toka, operating on pure instinct, threw up his free hand, catching Haramuci’s incoming punch mid-air.
For a fraction of a second, the chaotic brawl ground to a sudden, rigid halt. Both fighters stood locked at point-blank range, gripping each other's wrists.
"Hmm?" Haramuci’s eyes darted down.
Through his tight grip on Toka’s wrist, he felt a vibration buzzing straight into his palm. Toka’s wrist was sending a rhythmic tremor through the flesh, a distinct signal. With a sudden, violent twist, Toka ripped his arm free from Haramuci’s grasp.
As Toka’s arm recoiled back to his side, Haramuci didn't wait. "He’s opening his technique!" His smile widened into a manic grin, thrusting his lead hand forward, his energy instantly surging into the hardened veins of his wrist and forearm.
Before Toka’s Spiritual Wind Rhythm could fully manifest beneath his palm, Haramuci stiffened his fingers into a rigid, spear-like knife-hand and drove it directly into Toka’s retreating wrist.
The pre-emptive strike detonated the unreleased energy mid-manifestation. A shockwave exploded between their arms, the backfire tearing through the localized flow and blasting Haramuci backward across the stone floor.
Toka collapsed to one knee, clutching his right arm as a guttural scream tore from his throat. The disrupted energy had shredded the tendons in his wrist, leaving his hand limp and useless at his side.