Four years ago, somewhere in Mindanao, Philippines. Punyawit Kaemkratok was sent as a squad leader to eliminate a certain politician. Punyawit's body was unnaturally clean for a hitman, no scars, no deformations, and one could say he had the perfect body.
In the Southeast Asian underworld, Punyawit was known to be one of the most efficient, and one of the fastest hitmen. The fists of the underworld's bodyguards couldn't catch him, bladed weapons couldn't slice him, even bullets couldn't graze him. He was graceful yet deadly. His mastery of Muay Thai was beyond anything anyone had ever seen, being able to deliver maximum damage even at the edges of his body. He was the perfect killing machine. That was until he met Leonardo DeGuzman.
On this mission, in what felt like the blink of an eye, his entire squad got wiped by a man who wasn't even wearing any gear. As his teammates fell to the ground, he noticed that they had their throats either slit or crushed, and that there were cuts on their uniforms. He deduced that he had a concealed weapon and proceeded accordingly.
He was wrong. With just his knuckles, Leonardo scarred Punyawit's eye. Punyawit tried to retaliate, but what he saw was not a man, but a monster in human form. He was smiling, with blood dripping out of his mouth. Punyawit realized that he had bitten chunks out of his teammates. He tried to fight back, but Leonardo threw him onto the ground, knocking him out.
He woke up in a nearby hospital. He doesn't know why Leonardo didn't kill him, but he didn't dwell on the fact. His body had just been scarred, he can no longer fight the way he used to. He went back to Thailand in order to rebuild himself. Over the past four eyes, he had now adapted to seeing out of only one eye, and his body was strengthened even more, proving that he could surpass perfection. All so that he may take revenge on the monster that took the lives of his group and his sight.
But the Leonardo in the present was very different. His expectations of a monstrous being were shattered upon seeing him with Bartolomew, Jack, and Narso. "Is this the same guy?" He thought to himself. He was devastated, to think that a regular guy decimated him and his elite squad.
Still, he wasn't going to let this new persona get in the way of his revenge. He wasn't just going to beat Leonardo; he was going to kill him.
Jack and Leonardo head down the entrance hallway.
- "That guy's dangerous, don't underestimate him just because you've beaten him before."
Jack says.
- "Don't worry, I got this."
Leonardo says with a smile on his face.
- "Oh and, good luck."
- "Thanks."
Leonardo enters the arena where Punyawit is waiting for him. He can feel the animosity emanating from his glare.
- "And now, round 2, match 3! Leonardo "Halimaw" DeGuzman versus Punyawit "Lethal Weapon" Kaemkratok!!!"
Punyawit spits in Leonardo's direction.
- "I hope you're ready to die."
Leonardo stares him down.
- "There's not a day where I'm not."
Leonardo gets into position, and Punyawit obliges.
- "Fighters are you ready!?"
- "Yeah."
- "Let's do this."
- "Then…BEGIN!!!"
The fight begins, and both fighters clash with low kicks. Leonardo jabs to keep Punyawit at a distance, but Punyawit hits him with a middle kick to the torso. Leonardo counters with a knee to the solar plexus, which Punyawit blocks. Leonardo then leaps up and uses his other knee to hit Punyawit in the temple, throwing him off.
- "An explosive kick festival right off the bat!"
Punyawit shakes off the damage and goes for an elbow strike. Leonardo tries to parry, but it was a feint and Punyawit hits him with a spinning elbow to the face, stunning Leonardo. He follows up with a flying knee to the face and a back kick to the chest, sending Leonardo back.
- "Oh! Punyawit's relentless! He's not letting Leonardo get any hits in."
Leonardo spits out blood.
- "What's wrong "Halimaw"? This too much for you?"
Punyawit taunts Leonardo. He replies with silence.
- "Come on, what are you doing? Where's all that bloodlust!?"
Punyawit shouts as he engages with a knee. Leonardo tries to block, but it was a feint for an elbow strike to the temple. Leonardo shakes it off. He notices something is off with Punyawit.
- "Is that really all you got!? Where's the monster that beat me four years ago!?"
He shouts with a monstrous smile. It seems that in his obsession with beating Leonardo, he had adapted a bit of the monstrous persona that Leonardo displayed that day. Saran, in the stands, notices too.
- "The Punyawit Kaemkratok…smiling?"
He thinks to himself, as this had been the first time he witnessed such a thing.
- "What do you make of this, Luthfi?"
He asks.
- "I don't know, this is definitely strange behavior from Punyawit that's for sure."
- "Yeah, we've sparred a couple of times and I've seen his matches personally, but he has never smiled once. Just what is Leonardo to him?"
Leonardo takes a deep breath.
- "Sorry to disappoint you, but I've left that life behind."
He recomposes and gets back into position.
- "You can still call me a monster, if you'd like."
He says with a slight smirk on his face. This irritates Punyawit. He goes in for another elbow strike, but Leonardo pulls back. Punyawit follows up with a leg sweep, putting Leonardo off-balance. Punyawit winds up a downwards punch.
- "Punyawit's going for a nasty follow up to that leg sweep!"
Leonardo bares his fangs and pulls back even deeper. He dodges the downwards punch and double kicks him in the torso, sending him back.
- "What an unbelievable counter from Leonardo!"
Punyawit recomposes and sees the look on Leonardo's face. He smiles devilishly.
- "There we are."
Jack notices.
- "Leo! Snap out of it!"
He shouts. Leonardo slaps himself
- "Sorry, but I'd rather not lose control."
He says as he gets back into a proper fighting stance. Punyawit clicks his tongue.
- "Whatever, I'll return you to your original state and beat you at your best!"
He jabs, Leonardo blocks. Leonardo follows with a cross, but Punyawit parries. The two fighters throw heavy straights, both connecting to the other's jaw.
- "Damn! A heated exchange ending with a clash like that!"
Both back off.
- "You're stronger than this, and I know that."
Punyawit says, once again taunting Leonardo. Leonardo just chuckles.
- "Hey, credit where credit is due, you're plenty strong yourself. If I faced you a year ago, you probably would've gotten your revenge."
Leonardo says as he gets back into position. Punyawit charges with a knee strike. Leonardo blocks and counters with a low kick to the thigh, but Punyawit blocks too. Punyawit backs off.
- "Oh yeah? A year's not enough to bridge that gap! For four years I've trained to counter you in every way possible!"
Leonardo smiles.
- "And yet I'm still getting hits in. You've countered the me from the past, but meeting a teacher who was compatible with me has accelerated my growth as a fighter."
Leonardo goes in with a low kick. Punyawit blocks, but it was a setup for a jab, stunning Punyawit. Leonardo follows up with a back kick to the torso, heavily damaging Punyawit and sending him back.
- "Sorry, but you'll be fighting no "monster" today."
Leonardo says, as he approaches Punyawit. Punyawit spits out a bit of blood.
- "Fine, beating you like this won't satisfy me, but I'll beat you regardless!"
Leonardo goes in for another jab, Punyawit parries. Punyawit counters with an elbow uppercut, Leonardo pulls back just before it can hit him. Leonardo gets him with a hook to the body, but Punyawit slices his eyebrow with an elbow to the face.
- "They're equally exchanging blows!"
Punyawit engages with a jab, Leonardo blocks high, leaving his torso open. Punyawit uses this opportunity, kneeing him in the solar plexus. Punyawit then follows up with an elbow uppercut and a flying knee kick to the jaw, sending Leonardo back.
- "Damn! And the exchange ends with Leonardo's face getting smashed in!"
Leonardo wipes the blood dripping from his nose.
- "Damn, this guy is strong. Can't believe I have to go all out this early."
Leonardo recomposes. Punyawit is staring him down as he gets closer. Leonardo sends a middle kick, Punyawit blocks, but he can feel the weight. Punyawit counters with an elbow, Leonardo dodges and hits him with a hook to the jaw. Punyawit's legs start to wobble, but he counters with an elbow up top, which Leonardo blocks. Leonardo pushes the elbow away and his Punyawit with a massive straight to the face. Punyawit tries to recover, but Leonardo follows up with a dropkick to the face, sending Punyawit flying.
- "A nasty dropkick from Leonardo lands clean on Punyawit's face! I wouldn't be surprised if that knocked him out!"
Jack clenches his fist and smiles.
- "Nice, he didn't need to show his full arsenal yet."
He raises his arms up.
- "Don't let your guard down, Leonardo! No way would that be enough to take him down!"
He shouts. Leonardo gets back up and into position. Just as Jack said, Punyawit gets up as well. He tries shaking the concussion off, dusting himself off in the process. He gets back into position as well.
- "Looks like Punyawit isn't out of the game just yet!"
Punyawit takes a deep breath and rushes Leonardo.
- "LEO WATCH OUT!"
Jack shouts, as Punyawit, seemingly faster than before, hits Leonardo with a flying knee kick to the jaw.
- "Oh! Punyawit somehow slipped through Leonardo's guard and got him with an amazing flying knee!"
Punyawit looks even more focused than ever. Following the flying knee, he lights Leonardo up with a barrage of punches and elbows, cutting his skin with each strike. Punyawit ends the combo with a calf kick, Leonardo flinches.
- "Punyawit's showering Leonardo with a crazy number of attacks!"
Leonardo puts his guard up, but Punyawit jumps in the air and hits Leonardo with a 360-degree roundhouse kick, breaking Leonardo's guard, landing straight to his head, which sends him into the ground.
- "HOT DAMN! PUNYAWIT JUST MADE LEONARDO EAT STRAIGHT DIRT!"
Punyawit looks down at his opponent.
- "Get up."
He says, kicking him to the side. Leonardo's vision blurs. He looks around on the ground, and sees what seems to be Jack, shouting. He can't quite make out the words, but it feels like he's telling him to get up. Leonardo does so, but the 360-degree kick had done quite a lot of damage.
- "Oof! Looks like Leonardo's not in any condition to continue fighting!"
Leonardo takes a deep breath, recomposing himself.
- "Sorry, Mr. Jack."
He mutters to himself. Punyawit approaches him.
- "I'm ending this."
Punyawit winds up a 12-6 elbow strike, but Leonardo explosively intercepts the blow and hits Punyawit with a jab to the jaw. This temporarily knocks Punyawit out, and he falls to the ground.
- "What!? Where's Leonardo getting this speed from!?"
Jack realizes what's going on.
- "No, no! Leonardo snap out of it!"
-
He shouts, but to no avail. Punyawit has pushed Leonardo too far, and he has now returned to being the monster he used to be. Punyawit wakes up and rolls out of the way, as Leonardo was attempting to stomp on him.
- "Punyawit's back up again! But what's going on with Leonardo!?"
Punyawit notices. He smiles in reply.
- "Yes, this is just what I wante-"
Punyawit is interrupted, as Leonardo hits him with a spinning backhand, sending Punyawit back.
- "Shut the fuck up."
Leonardo says, as blood drips from his own monstrous smile. Punyawit wipes off the blood from his cut lip and returns to smiling.
- "I'm going to kill you! Let's go!"
Jack looks on in worry. He continues shouting to try to pull Leonardo out, but it's not working. All he can do now is sit back and watch as his student slowly tears both his opponent and his own body apart.
Leonardo hits Punyawit with a wide swing to the face. Punyawit retaliates with a straight to the nose. 1-2 from Leonardo, Punyawit ducks under both and hits him with another elbow uppercut. Leonardo counters with an overhand right and follows up by digging his fingers into Punyawit's side.
- "Oh my! What's gotten into Leonardo!?"
Punyawit places his hands on Leonardo's head, trying to gouge his eyes out, but Leonardo pulls back and delivers a headbutt to Punyawit's nose. Punyawit staggers, and Leonardo follows up with a full power straight to Punyawit's face.
- "What a bloodbath! Just what is going through their heads!?"
Punyawit uses the straight's power against it, as he uses it to increase the power of his spinning elbow which lands right on Leonardo's temple. Leonardo's knocked off-balance, and Punyawit follows up with a knee and an elbow to Leonardo's head.
- "Damn! Leonardo's getting pummeled once more!"
Leonardo backs off and recovers. Punyawit follows but Leonardo goes back in to rock Punyawit in the face with a hook to the jaw.
Punyawit tries to counter with a straight, but Leonardo grabs his arm and hyperextends it, dislocating Punyawit's arm. Punyawit screams in pain, but hits Leonardo with a high kick to the temple, sending him back. Punyawit holds his arm in pain.
- "Damn! The fight is still heating up! But how will Punyawit fight like this!?"
Jack is still trying to make Leonardo snap out of it, but Bartolomew and Narso appear behind him. Jack looks back at them.
- "Barto? Narso? What's up?"
Narso points at Leonardo.
- "Look closely."
Jack looks at Leonardo.
- "He's not in the same monstrous trance as he was against me. His hits are precise and deadly."
Narso says. Jack grimaces.
- "That's not the problem! I know that! It's just, when he's in this state he burns his stamina like crazy! Using 100% of his power in each swing is going to make him burn out quick!"
Jack shouts. Bartolomew and Narso look at each other.
- "We shouldn't have underestimated him. Why did we even think he didn't know about what was going on with Leo?"
Bartolomew says.
- "Never mind that, get Leonardo's attention! That usually snaps him out of it!"
Jack says. The two join Jack in shouting at Leonardo, but once again their shouts fall on deaf ears.
Leonardo goes for a back kick, but Punyawit dodges. He swings wide with his dislocated arm and fixes it with centrifugal force, and with the same arm he clocks Leonardo with an elbow to the temple.
- "Holy! Punyawit just fixed his arm back in place!"
Punyawit goes in for a low kick, but Leonardo pushes forward with a straight to the jaw. He then lights Punyawit up with a barrage of punches to the jaw and body. He ends the combo with a front kick, but it barely grazes him as Punyawit dodges the kick.
Punyawit gets some distance and sends another 360-degree roundhouse kick. Leonardo's guard is even tighter now, but he still gets hit and is once again sent to the ground.
- "Leonardo is in the ground once again! That 360-degree kick is no one's fool!"
Punyawit drops to his knees as well.
- "What's this!? Has Punyawit reached his limit too!?"
His vision blurs. The blood loss from Leonardo's finger stab is finally getting to him.
- "No…I must finish him!"
Punyawit says, struggling to stand. Bartolomew, Jack, and Narso are shouting for Leonardo to stand back up. The referee raises his arm.
- "And the winner is-"
Punyawit drives an axe kick into the ground, kicking up a ton of dust, and stopping the referee from calling the match.
- "Stop this match and you're next on the list."
He threatens the referee. The referee puts his hand back down.
With all the time that was bought, Leonardo gets back up, and he is no longer in the state he was in earlier. He coughs up blood. The monstrous state temporarily numbs the pain, but now it's all coming back to him.
- "Leonardo! He's just as tired as you! Finish this!!!"
Jack shouts. Leonardo shakily puts his guard back up. His knees are about to buckle. He's in a bad position, but Punyawit isn't any better off. He's trying to act composed, but his knuckles are bruised, his body is in tatters, and he can only see a faint silhouette resembling Leonardo.
- "The fighters have certainly gone the distance with this one! But who will make it out on top!? This country's very own "Halimaw"!? or the "Lethal Weapon" hailing from Thailand!?"
The two fighters approach each other for the very last time. Whoever gets the first hit in this last exchange wins.
- "DO IT LEO!"
Bartolomew, Jack, and Narso all shout in unison.
Punyawit winds up an elbow strike, which lands clean on Leonardo's face.
- "NO!"
Jack shouts. Leonardo takes the blow, and uses Punyawit's body against him, throwing him onto the floor. Leonardo gets on top of him and starts choking him. Punyawit starts gripping Leonardo's arms as hard as he can. Punyawit starts losing consciousness.
- "No..! Four years of my life…gone up in smoke!"
He thinks to himself. He continues struggling to stay awake, but he starts getting flashbacks of his life so far.
He was raised in an underground facility in Thailand where kids were raised to be fighting machines. They were used for different purposes, to be martial arts champions, to be hitmen, to be assassins, and to be bodyguards for the ultra-wealthy. Punyawit was the strongest to ever come out of the facility. He was "perfect."
But once he came into the real world, he was overwhelmed by how different everything was. Then, a memory that was once washed away by the countless tests he endured appeared in his mind. It was the memory of his first ever mission.
With nothing but a fake name, he was sent to a school, disguised as a student. For his first test, he was to assassinate the chairman of the school, who was also a very rich man who opposed to the organization's business. He had to find a way to eliminate this man without alerting the teachers or students.
This proved to be difficult, as upon transferring to a class, his classmates immediately warmed up to him. They were amazed by how muscular and athletic he was at their age. He even caught the eyes of the girls. His heart was overwhelmed too, as he had never had any relationships that didn't involve heavy bodily abuse.
He had fun. He loved every one of his classmates, but as fast as he had found the warmth of love, it was immediately taken away from him.
The organization's higher ups sent other assassins to the school, to eliminate Punyawit. They had been watching every step of his. From their perspective, Punyawit had lost sight of his true purpose and tried to live a normal life.
The assassins invaded Punyawit's school, taking the students and staff hostage. The assassins were no match for Punyawit though, as he took them down with ease. Despite the normal life he now had, he couldn't erase the years of training that he was put through. He slaughtered the assassins one by one, and as he smiled looking back at his friends, what he saw were not the warm and fuzzy smiles that they once had, but what remained were cold and fearful expressions. They were terrified of Punyawit.
He tried to explain to them, but as he approached them covered with blood, it only made them even more scared. Punyawit looks at his hands and starts shaking. He had done his fair share of killing at the facility before, so why? Why was he trembling at the sight of blood? A few more assassins showed up, now with the head of the chairman. With them, was the head of the organization itself.
- "Come back."
These words were enough to shake Punyawit to his core, and he instinctively started walking towards them, when one of his classmates stood up.
- "Wait! Where are you going!?"
She shouted. Punyawit stopped in his tracks. The few months of warmth and love he had felt were overwriting the years of abuse and conditioning. The head nods his head as a signal to his assassins. They grabbed Punyawit and brought them back to the head.
- "Oh and, no witnesses."
The head and the assassin holding Punyawit leave the room, as the other assassin killed Punyawit's entire class. Punyawit broke free of his grip, grabbed his knife and slit his throat. He then threw it at the head. The head slapped it away, but it was a diversion as Punyawit grabs the assassin's gun and starts unloading its entire magazine into his head. Punyawit quickly escaped the scene before the police arrived.
Despite escaping the organization, he still wound up in Thailand's underworld as a hitman. He had forgotten the warmth of love.
When he met Leonardo on that fateful day, he thought that they were similar. Men with no real purpose, just carrying out the orders of those with money. That was why it shocked him to see Leonardo happy with Bartolomew, Jack, and Narso.
- "Ah…how nice. Maybe…maybe this means I can live like that once more."
The referee grabs Leonardo.
- "You can stop now! He's going to die if you go any longer!"
Leonardo falls to his knees. The referee raises his arm.
- "And the winner is…LEONARDO "HALIMAW" DEGUZMAN!!!"
The referee then calls for emergency medical care as Punyawit is bleeding out on the ground. Bartolomew and Narso carry Leonardo on their shoulders. Jack wipes off Leonardo's blood and sweat.
- "Let's get you patched up."
He says as they carry him to the infirmary.