Chapter 200: This Side Toward Enemy
Dorian gripped his lighter, arching his back and yanking with all his might. The
internal mechanism of the lighter shrieked as it retracted the high-tensile
fiber wire.
Zip!
A short distance away, Doyle, still locked in a stalemate with Gaolang, hadn't
even realized what was happening when a thin "red line" suddenly appeared on the
inside of his right forearm.
His skin had been sliced open!
Splurt!
Blood sprayed as Doyle's arm was yanked violently toward Dorian, dragging his
entire body into a collision with Gaolang.
The sudden chaos caught all four men off guard—including Dorian himself!
While being knocked back by Ren's initial heavy blow, Dorian had used the smoke
from the grenade as cover to secretly loop his fiber wire around Doyle's wrist.
With Dorian's raw strength combined with the razor-sharpness of the wire, a
sneak pull should have been enough to sever a human limb instantly.
Dorian's original plan was to use Doyle as bait to snare Gaolang, eventually
dragging them both into a trap to ambush Ren Shiroki.
But the plan hit a snag at the very first step. The fiber wire couldn't cut
through Doyle's wrist!
Bang!
Doyle was yanked off-balance, his arm crashing into Gaolang. The sharpened wire
tightened and contracted, slicing through the skin of Gaolang's biceps. The Thai
master was forced to retreat, shedding momentum to prevent a deeper cut,
retreating toward Dorian alongside the stumbling Doyle.
"――?!"
Dorian blinked, about to shift his angle to keep pulling, but Ren Shiroki got
there first. Ren lunged with a high-roundhouse kick that slammed directly into
Dorian's jaw.
[SAGAT'S HIGH SCAN KICK]!
BOOM!
Dorian's cheek was pulverized, blood spraying from his mouth. He stumbled
sideways, but his hand clutching the lighter yanked back instinctively.
Schwing—!
The wire retracted further, dragging Doyle and Gaolang into a tangled collision
with Dorian and Ren. As the lines tightened, they sliced across Ren's back.
Crash!
The four men went down in a chaotic heap, their blood mingling as it sprayed
across the pavement.
Rob Robinson stared, his jaw hanging open. He didn't even know what kind of
sound he was supposed to make anymore.
Very quickly, the four men on the ground scrambled to their feet almost
simultaneously. Ren, Gaolang, and Doyle immediately flexed their limbs, checking
to ensure no more wires were looped around their bodies.
Dorian, anticipating this, had already clicked the mechanism to retract the wire
back into the base of the lighter.
Click!
The base cap snapped shut. Dorian tossed the specialized lighter into the air,
catching it casually as he toyed with it.
Tch...
He spat out a blood clot and manually reset his crooked nose with a sickening
crunch, his eyes scanning the three men before him.
Ren Shiroki's back had a jagged gash, blood soaking through his T-shirt and
staining his pants. Gaolang and Doyle were also wounded. Gaolang had the most
surface cuts; the retracting wire had caught him in an unexpected "pincer,"
slicing his arms in multiple places.
But Doyle was the most severely injured. His right forearm had been sliced
nearly halfway through, the wound deep enough to expose the bone—it was a
gruesome sight.
"..."
Dorian studied Doyle and chuckled. "I see. You've had iron-bone implants in your
wrists?"
Doyle's brow was furrowed in pain. He clamped his hand over the brachial artery
in his right arm to stem the bleeding, trying to flex his fingers. His movements
were sluggish. "Tch... the nerves were almost severed..."
If he hadn't had the metal skeleton implants to snag the wire, his entire right
hand would have been on the floor right now.
"A magnificent tool, isn't it?" Dorian toyed with the lighter, smiling at the
three.
"Since the beginning of time, humanity has sought to create and perfect superior
things. We have developed and evolved to reach this very day."
"Stronger, faster, heavier, lighter, bigger, smaller, further..." Dorian spun
the lighter around his finger.
"This fiber wire is a masterpiece that costs tens of thousands of dollars per
meter. It's used to create life-lines for astronauts; naturally, cutting through
human flesh is child's play for it."
"It is thinner than a hair, making it impossible for the human eye to track. It
is incredibly resilient; no ordinary blade can sever it."
"Isn't this the very definition of 'Ultimate Technique' that the Martial Way
seeks?" Dorian pulled out a fraction of a millimeter of the wire, showing it off
with a grin. "And now, this 'Ultimate' is held in my hand, utilized in real
battle."
"So—" Dorian looked at the three of them.
"Ren-kun, the cut on your back will be hard to stop, won't it? Any large
movement will likely tear it open further."
"As for you two, though you've suppressed the arteries, your wounds are clearly
much deeper."
"So... do you gentlemen still wish to continue...?"
"..."
Hearing this, Doyle smiled and stood up, about to turn toward Dorian. But he was
suddenly caught flush in the face by Gaolang's lead jab.
POW!
Doyle's head snapped back, blood spraying from his nose as he stumbled. He
stared in shock at Gaolang. The Thai master, though covered in blood from a
dozen cuts, hadn't taken his eyes off Doyle for a single second.
His "dead-fish eyes" were as calm as a frozen lake. It was as if the previous
chaos hadn't happened at all.
"The battle was started by you. Don't go looking elsewhere."
Gaolang kept his arms tight against his ribs, using the pressure to stem the
bleeding from his own arteries as best he could while he pressed his assault on
Doyle. As long as the vile criminal was standing, Gaolang's honor as a Royal
Guard wouldn't allow him to stop—even if he had to face an army of ten thousand!
Zip!
Gaolang lunged again, his fists a blur as he pursued Doyle.
As this was happening, Dorian watched with an amused expression, rubbing his
chin. "Oh, truly magnificent—"
Before he could finish, Dorian suddenly plucked a single hair from his beard and
blew it toward Ren Shiroki's eyes.
Fwoosh!
Ren's back was injured, and the move was incredibly fast and subtle. He couldn't
dodge in time; the stiff hair pierced his left eye.
Dorian grinned and launched a front-kick, but Ren's left palm slammed down on
Dorian's foot, pinning it.
He can still see?!
Dorian was stunned. He looked up to see Ren's eyes wide open. Even with a bloody
tear leaking from his left eye where the hair had struck, Ren didn't even
flinch.
His pupils were vibrating at high speed—
[ENGINE]—MAX OVERDRIVE!
By overriding his unconscious blink reflex, Ren had seen Dorian's "dirty trick"
with perfect clarity!
"TAKE THIS!"
Ren's core tightened as he lunged forward, slamming his forehead into Dorian's
face.
[ZANGIEF'S HEADBUTT]!
BANG!
Dorian's head snapped back as blood sprayed. His nose, which he had just reset,
was pulverized once again. Ren followed up with a relentless barrage of heavy
punches.
[LUKE'S TRIPLE IMPACT]!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Dorian was sent reeling. Ren immediately plucked the beard hair out of his own
eyeball, blinking away the bloody tears. The corner of his eye twitched with
pain.
"Incredible!" Ren flexed his wrist, signaling for Dorian to come back. "Come on.
Let's keep going."
Dorian, lying on the ground, suddenly burst into a fit of belly-laughter.
"Hahahaha! Shiroki-dono, our way of fighting... truly, we are of the 'same
kind'!"
"Hah?" Ren's brow furrowed.
He still hadn't figured out how to handle the Satsui no Hado, and now he was
being called a kindred spirit by a man like Dorian. The insult burned.
The moment Ren stepped forward—
Zip!
The prone Dorian performed a bridge, his feet snapping upward like a scorpion's
sting, aiming straight for Ren's throat. Ren shifted half a step to evade,
intending to counter with a stomp, but Dorian's other foot drove into the
ground, flipping his entire body backward.
Whoosh!
Dorian performed a mid-air rotation, vaulting toward the battle between Gaolang
and Doyle. Doyle, who was being systematically dismantled by Gaolang's jabs,
didn't see Dorian coming. Dorian snatched him from behind in a savage bear-hug.
Dorian's left elbow snaked around Doyle's neck while his right hand seized
Doyle's right hand, his fingers locking into the gaps between Doyle's fingers
to prevent the convict from triggering any of his internal mechanisms.
"Gah—!?" Doyle struggled, but he couldn't break free. The pressure on his throat
was suffocating, blood and saliva leaking from his mouth.
Dorian didn't stop. He used Doyle as a literal human shield, charging forward to
ram into Gaolang and Ren.
"The police will be here any minute. Why don't we cooperate, Doyle-dono...?"
Dorian whispered in Doyle's ear, but he stopped a safe distance from Ren and
Gaolang, offering a serene smile. "You seem to have an interesting weapon
installed in your chest area. It's as dangerous as a Claymore Mine."
"—THIS SIDE TOWARD ENEMY."
He pivoted Doyle, aiming the convict's chest directly at Ren and Gaolang. "Good
luck, you two..."
Doyle realized what Dorian was doing instantly, and Ren reacted a heartbeat
later. Ren grabbed Gaolang, who had been about to pursue, and yanked him back
into a desperate backward leap.
The next second—
CLICK!
Dorian squeezed Doyle's fingers, forcibly triggering the convict's internal
chest-mounted mechanism.
A blinding flash erupted from Doyle's chest, followed by a thunderous
CRACK-BOOM. A massive explosion tore through the air. Doyle had a layer of
high-explosive powder hidden beneath the skin of his chest!
Captured by Dorian, Doyle had been turned into a living tactical mine!
BOOM!!!
The explosion ignited, flames and rolling black smoke engulfing Ren Shiroki and
Gaolang. Robinson, watching from a distance, could no longer see his friends.
Through the haze, Ren and Gaolang remained standing in defensive postures. Both
had been pelted with shrapnel and scorched by the blast, blood dripping onto the
pavement in front of them.
"This... this..." Robinson's body trembled, paralyzed by the horror of it.
Suddenly, he noticed two figures running toward the scene from the distance. One
wore a blood-stained white Karate gi; the other was bare-chested with tied hair.
Seeing them brought a wave of relief to Robinson. He waved his arms frantically,
screaming for help.
"HERE! CALL AN AMBULANCE!"
The two men who had been pursuing Dorian—Katsumi Orochi and Retsu Kaioh—arrived
just in time to see the violent explosion.
They also saw Doyle and Dorian leap from the smoke, both wounded but mobile,
fleeing in two different directions to make their escape.
(End of Chapter)
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