Chapter 21: Akira vs Igris
Narrator's POV
Akira slammed violently into the wall after taking a powerful kick from Igris. He barely had a moment to react before the crimson knight lunged at him again. Akira threw his arms up to guard, reinforcing them with cursed energy to absorb the impact.
But Igris didn't stop. A barrage of punches rained down with relentless brutality, each strike shaking him to his core.
[Notification]
[-200 HP]
Akira frowned at the glowing message before him.
("Hide damage notifications.") he thought irritably, dismissing it. He didn't need constant reminders of how much health he was losing mid-fight.
The last punch shattered the wall behind him completely, sending debris and dust flying everywhere. But Akira wasn't beaten yet. A defiant grin spread across his face—he'd grabbed Igris's arm at the moment of impact.
Using the knight's own momentum, Akira clenched his fist tight and landed a brutal punch straight to the helmet, forcing Igris to stagger backward. The knight skidded across the floor but quickly regained his stance.
"That actually hurt…" Akira muttered, wiping the blood from his lip with the back of his hand.
(He's not holding back. This is serious… The hard part's over. Now comes the brutal part.) he thought, feeling the tension spike in the air.
Then he saw it—Igris's eyes flashed a deep crimson red. His presence expanded, heavier, more oppressive.
In the blink of an eye, Igris was in front of him again, his speed and strength multiplied. Every strike sought a fatal opening, a single mistake to exploit. Akira held firm, blocking where he could, dodging on instinct, enduring the storm with everything he had.
Igris grabbed Akira by the face and slammed him into the wall. Without releasing his grip, he sprinted forward at full speed, dragging Akira's body across the stone, leaving a long trail of cracks and debris. At the end of the hall, he released him—only to spin and unleash a devastating roundhouse kick that sent Akira flying like a bullet.
The impact was so violent that the wall crumbled in an avalanche of stone and dust.
When the chaos settled, Akira found himself sitting on the throne that Igris had been guarding. He spat blood and smiled faintly—exhausted, but unbroken.
In front of him, Igris walked forward with steady, commanding steps. With a single motion, his massive sword flew from where he'd left it, returning to his grasp as if it had never left.
The knight raised it high. To him, the fight was over. He would grant his opponent an honorable death. The blade came down in a perfect arc—aimed straight for Akira's neck.
But just before the edge could touch him, Akira's hand shot up and stopped the sword mid-swing, his grip unshakable.
"Think you've already won?... You'd better think again," he said, his smile defiant.
In the next instant, Akira clenched his fist and drove it into Igris's abdomen with all his might. The impact exploded with crackling black lightning, sparking wildly across the room.
"Black Flash!"
The blow sent Igris hurtling through the air, slamming into the far end of the hall. Akira rose to his feet, eyes burning, his body radiating a dense, dark energy.
"This is just the beginning, crimson knight—Igris!" he shouted, stepping forward as a massive wave of cursed energy erupted from him, shaking the entire chamber.
He wouldn't hold back anymore. He'd give everything he had. The real battle was about to begin.
Igris slowly stood among the rubble. He hadn't expected Akira's power to surge so suddenly. That wild, dark energy surrounding him crackled like a restrained storm. The knight's eyes narrowed. He knew now he'd have to fight with everything he possessed.
"Quicksilver!" Akira roared with a grin.
In an instant, his body vanished in a flash of blue. The next moment, he was right in front of Igris. The knight barely had time to react—he blocked Akira's punch, but the force still drove him several steps backward.
"System! Play One Punch Man Opening 1!" Akira shouted excitedly.
[Notification]
[Now Playing: "The Hero" – One Punch Man OP1]
As the roaring music filled his mind, Akira felt a surge of confidence rush through every nerve in his body. Moving in sync with the beat, he dove back into combat with renewed ferocity—blocking Igris's strikes with surgical precision before landing a powerful kick straight to the knight's helmeted face, forcing him to stumble back.
But Akira didn't stop there.
Fueled by adrenaline—and vengeance for every hit he'd taken before—he charged forward. He grabbed Igris by his long crimson plume, spun several times with titanic strength, and hurled him with a feral shout.
Igris's armored body shot through the air like a missile, crashing through multiple stone pillars one after another until he smashed into the far wall, shaking the entire structure.
Akira grinned with fierce determination as he reactivated Quicksilver. After managing to execute a Black Flash, he finally understood the flow of his cursed energy. He could feel it—taste it—control it with instinctive clarity.
He clenched his fist, his blue-tinted figure slicing through the air faster than sight. In a blink, he was once again before Igris, who had barely begun to stand. Before the knight could react, Akira unleashed a punch infused with pure dark energy.
"Collapse!"
The blow landed like thunder given form. Cursed energy exploded outward, spiderweb cracks spreading through the walls as the ground trembled violently. Igris took the full impact—but when he tried to counter with a knee strike, Akira caught it midair with his other hand, stopping it cold.
"This ends now, Igris!"
With a final burst of rage, Akira gathered every ounce of cursed energy into a single fist. A black aura crackled around him, distorting the air like reality itself was fracturing. Then, with a deep exhale, he drove the punch straight into Igris's chest.
The result was catastrophic.
A storm of dark lightning tore through the chamber. The impact didn't just send Igris flying—it launched him across the vast hall, through several walls, until his body embedded itself deep into a distant chamber's stone, leaving behind a crater shaped like his form.
Akira stood tall, panting heavily. Sweat trickled down his forehead, but his smile didn't fade. The battle still echoed in his chest… yet he knew—he had given it everything.
---
End of Chapter