Chapter 337: Rhythm Shattered!
The Soul Combat Hub had been a revolving door of guests on this cold, rainy
night. But as the downpour finally tapered off, a heavy, oppressive silence
settled over the dojo.
Arisa was busy in the kitchen.
In the living room, Ren Shiroki and Yanagi Ryuko sat on opposite sides of the
table. Neither of them had touched their tea.
When Ren suggested moving to the outdoor arena, Yanagi felt a cold sweat break
across his skin, followed immediately by a stinging sense of humiliation.
Whether it was Baki Hanma or the Ren Shiroki standing before him, they both
seemed to have shed their "rookie" scent. They no longer looked at him as a
"threat"—they looked at him as a task to be completed.
Swish—
Yanagi gripped his pant legs, his knuckles turning white as he tried to hide the
trembling of his hands.
"You brat... what kind of nonsense are you spewing?"
Yanagi's face darkened as he forced a mocking, condescending smirk. "No matter
how much you or Baki 'mature,' you're still just martial artists. You people are
naive beyond belief!"
"A duel doesn't need an arena. If you really want to cross blades with me, then
we start right here."
"You want to play the hero? That's just a fancy way of saying you're opening
yourself up to a cheap shot—like this!!"
Whoosh!
Yanagi suddenly lunged forward, grabbing his teacup and throwing the scalding
hot liquid directly into Ren's face to seize the initiative.
Splash—!
Ren didn't dodge in time. He was drenched from head to toe.
Yanagi's heart leaped with joy. He prepared to follow up with a lethal [VACUUM
PALM], only to stop dead in his tracks. Ren hadn't flinched. He hadn't even
blinked. He sat there, completely unbothered.
—How is this possible?!
Even the toughest street brawler couldn't ignore the thermal shock of boiling
water to the face. But Ren looked like he'd been hit by a light mist.
As Yanagi stood frozen in confusion, the tables turned.
Swish!
Ren grabbed his own cup and threw his tea back at Yanagi.
Still reeling from shock, Yanagi couldn't react. He let out an instinctive,
pathetic shriek: "Waaah!"
But a second later, he froze again.
—It's cold?
The tea was ice cold? Which meant... the water he'd thrown at Ren was cold too?
"..."
Yanagi's eyes bulged as Arisa's voice drifted in from the kitchen. "Yanagi-san,
I'm not an amateur. Did you really think I'd serve boiling hot water while my
brother was about to get into a fight?"
Yanagi stood there, stunned into silence.
Ren burst into a fit of laughter, slapping the table so hard it rattled. He
threw Yanagi's own mockery back in his face.
"Yanagi, you 'lethal' types are so naive it's almost cute!"
"You're so scared that you can't even notice the small details anymore!" Ren
laughed until tears pricked the corners of his eyes.
"My sister's luck... she earned every bit of it. She held this dojo together
while I was down. She handled threats, stayed hopeful in a crisis, made powerful
friends, and learned to analyze a battlefield better than some pros."
Ren stood up, his gaze turning razor-sharp. "She knows exactly what cards she's
holding. What about you, Yanagi?"
Yanagi had no answer. His face was a mask of rigid, frozen fury. He watched Ren
walk toward the door and found himself following—he no longer had the stomach to
try a 1-vs-2. He didn't even know why.
The courtyard was well-lit by street lamps and the Hub's external floodlights.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The two men walked out, their feet sinking into the rain-slicked grass as they
approached the outdoor sand arena. The sand was high-grade and meticulously
maintained; even after a storm, it didn't turn to mud. It offered perfect
traction.
Ren bounced on the balls of his feet, testing the surface. He looked satisfied.
The night breeze was cool, carrying the scent of wet earth.
In contrast, Yanagi Ryuko looked like a man walking to the gallows. He stepped
onto the sand, facing Ren. He lowered his center of gravity, feet shoulder-width
apart, arms snaking forward. His left hand was tucked near his waist while his
right hand was raised, palm level with his eyes.
This was the unique stance of the Way of the Void (Kuuda), optimized for the
Poison Hand and the Whiplash Arm.
The skin of Yanagi's right hand was a sickly, bruised reddish-purple—the
unmistakable mark of a seasoned Poison Hand user.
Both fighters were set.
Arisa walked out onto the porch to watch the match.
Drip... drip...
Water fell from the eaves, a stray droplet hitting her cheek. She shivered
slightly in the night air.
Suddenly, a shadow moved in the darkness beside her. A heavy black suit jacket
was draped over her shoulders. Arisa turned to see the elegant old gentleman,
Hikoichi Yagyo.
"Thank you, Yagyo-jiisan."
Yagyo offered a gentle smile. "Think nothing of it, Arisa-sama. You are a valued
regular at my establishment. I cannot allow you to catch a cold."
Arisa mumbled under her breath, "Actually, I'm not really a regular for the
'coffee'... it's just that your ice cream is amazing."
Yagyo's eyes thinned. "And the coffee?"
Arisa looked away guiltily. "The coffee is... okay?"
Yagyo's eyes narrowed further. "The. Coffee."
Arisa squeaked, "It's great! I'm just not used to the taste yet!"
Yagyo looked satisfied. "My, my. It seems I must develop some new blends more
suited for the younger generation."
In truth, Yagyo wasn't being difficult. He could see how tense Arisa was, and he
was intentionally distracting her to settle her nerves. Arisa realized this and
let out a long breath. "Thanks for staying with me, Yagyo-jiisan."
Yagyo smiled. "As a Referee, whether it is a high-stakes gamble or a visceral
brawl... I live to 'witness' such things."
Arisa looked at the arena. "A witness as strong as you, Yagyo-jiisan?"
"One must be strong enough to survive the witnessing," Yagyo replied, bowing
slightly like a perfect butler. It was his favorite mode of operation.
He turned his focus to the two men on the sand.
"Shiroki-sama has changed," Yagyo appraised. "The scent of a green youth has
vanished. He has reached a new level of understanding in the realm of
'strength'."
Gulp—
Yanagi swallowed hard. He began to shuffle forward, closing the distance between
him and Ren.
But the next second—
"HEY!"
Ren let out a sudden, thunderous shout that made Yanagi flinch. "Yanagi! Are you
still that scared?!"
Yanagi's heart hammered against his ribs. He couldn't shake the "1-vs-2" feeling
from earlier; his mind was a tangled mess of paranoia.
"Yanagi, you have mastered the lethal arts of Kuuda. So why are you trembling?"
Ren's left foot slid forward. "It's because your mind is full of petty tricks.
You aren't focusing on the 'process' of the fight anymore."
Watching from the porch, Yagyo couldn't help but admire the display. "Yanagi
Ryuko is completely overwhelmed. Shiroki-sama is truly... elegant."
But then, Ren's expression shifted.
Ren burst out laughing. Because he was in such peak condition, his eyes crinkled
with manic delight, and his combat aura surged so violently it felt like the
space around him was warping.
"Yanagi, even if you're a dangerous, pathetic convict... I can't help but enjoy
the hell out of this process!"
That smile was terrifying—far more predatory than anything Yanagi had ever
projected.
Yagyo cleared his throat awkwardly. "Well, perhaps 'elegant' wasn't the right
word. But undeniably powerful."
"Yanagi, that purple-red hand of yours... that's the [POISON HAND], right?
Compared to Li Kaioh's, yours looks a lot more... rotten."
Ren settled into his stance: left arm low, right arm guarding his ribs. "I guess
that's one of the differences between the [YIN HAND] and the [YANG HAND], isn't
it?"
Yanagi's face twisted with a mixture of fear and fury. He let out a jagged,
hollow laugh.
"Scared? You think I... facing a brat like you... am scared?!"
"Fine! In that case, I'll let you experience it for yourself! The Poison—"
Before he could finish his sentence, Yanagi lunged. He thrust his poisoned right
hand forward, a definitive kill-shot.
But to his horror, Ren had anticipated it perfectly. His feet dug into the sand
and twisted, pivoting his entire body into a lateral glide.
[DEE JAY'S FEINT SWIVEL]!
Whoosh—Whoosh!
It wasn't just a feint; it was a high-speed repositioning maneuver. In a
heartbeat, Ren had evaded the Poison Hand, circled to Yanagi's blind spot, and
reached out with his left hand—grabbing a massive fistful of Yanagi's hair.
"Gah?!"
Yanagi's head was jerked back and forth. He swung his right hand wildly, trying
to tag Ren, but the boy was always an inch out of reach, staying glued to his
side.
"Yanagi-san, I don't look down on your techniques. After all, years ago, you
were the man who blinded one of Gouki Shibukawa's eyes."
"Shibukawa-sensei warned me about you personally. And you did poison Baki-kun to
the brink of death..."
Ren continued his casual mutterings before suddenly jerking his hand. With a
sickening rip, a massive clump of Yanagi's hair was torn out by the roots,
flecked with blood.
Yanagi's vision swam with pain as he hissed through his teeth. He swung his hand
back in a desperate counter, but Ren had already leaped back, resetting the
distance.
Hearing Ren "praise" his past exploits felt like a slap in the face. Yanagi's
eyes twitched with manic rage.
"You... bastard...!!"
He spat the words out, but before he could even finish, Ren lunged again. A
faint boom echoed as Ren's feet broke the sound barrier.
[DRIVE RUSH]!
It's here!
Yanagi focused everything on defense, preparing to parry and counter with a
Poison Hand strike to Ren's skin.
But the next second, Ren's rhythm changed. He stuttered his step, creating a
visual hallucination of a lunge. Before Yanagi could adjust, Ren snapped two
fingers of his right hand forward.
It was a surgical strike, finding the tiny gap in Yanagi's guard and flicking
the very tip of his chin.
[JAMIE'S TENSHIN]!
Snap!
The impact rattled Yanagi's brain inside his skull, inducing an instantaneous
concussion.
"—?!"
Yanagi had been so focused on landing his Poison Hand that he had no answer for
this technical speed-strike. His vision blurred, and through the ringing in his
ears, he heard Ren's voice.
"Hahaha! Yanagi-san, the Poison Hand is amazing. Kuuda is a terrifying art. I've
never looked down on those things."
"—But that doesn't mean the 'Yanagi Ryuko' standing here right now is strong."
Yanagi's rhythm was shattered. He tried to clear his head, only to find Ren
already standing directly in his personal space.
In his dazed state, he tried to retaliate, but Ren's fist arrived first. It
buried itself into Yanagi's face with a dull, heavy thud.
POW!
Yanagi's head snapped back. Blood erupted from his nose, and several teeth were
launched into the sand as he was sent flying. He hit the ground hard, skidding
across the arena.
Thud—
Ren shook the blood from his knuckles and grinned.
"The one I'm fighting isn't the 'Way of the Void'... it's you, Yanagi!"
☆☆☆
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