Akira was still feeling the aftershocks of the Inner Lightning Burst. His muscles twitched violently, his chest rising and falling as if he were forcing his body to keep going. The sparks Akio had planted inside him worked slowly, like a nervous execution device… yet through all that pain… he laughed.
Akio spoke as the electricity around his body dimmed slightly:
"What is this feeling?"
Akira lifted his head.
"I was having fun playing with you… but since you made me bleed—"
He tilted his head, his red eyes burning like two blazing orbs:
"—I'll have to use this technique."
His fingers shifted back into claws, sharper than before. The muscles in his forearms swelled, veins tightening across his chest. A faint steam rose from his skin.
Akira lowered his head a little.
"{Fist of the Enraged Werewolf.}"
He vanished… then pain struck. Akira's punch smashed into Akio's face, sending him flying backward. Wooden crates shattered behind him as he rolled through crushed fruit and broken wheels.
Akio wiped the blood from his nose. Scratches marked his cheek, yet he smiled, electricity surging around him once more. Across from him, Akira returned to a ready stance.
Then… they clashed. Claws against lightning. Animal strength against electric speed. Every strike carved new holes into the market, every step rearranged dust and stones. People fled. Some collapsed from the pressure alone.
Ann raised an eyebrow:
"I didn't think he'd fight this seriously."
Ken exhaled smoke:
"The kid is still an idiot… but he's not bad."
The sound of impacts grew louder until Akio shouted sharply:
"I'm going to break you, you stupid thug!"
Akira answered with a hungry grin:
"Let's see you try."
Akira stepped back. The steam around him thickened, devouring the air. His shoulders expanded as if his body was preparing to unleash its final burst. Akio raised his right hand, sparks swirling, concentrating, flashing with power.
They launched forward… air split, ground cracked, sparks exploded—then BTTTCHK!!!
Everything stopped. The dust settled… revealing the ridiculous truth: Akira and Akio had charged so fast that their legs collided mid-air in a stupid, uncalculated crash.
Both of them fell flat onto the ground in the most embarrassing shared moment of idiocy.
Ann lifted her popcorn with a deadpan look:
"Disappointing."
Mabushi covered his mouth, laughing:
"I knew it would end stupidly."
The entire market stared at them, stunned by the fact that a knee-to-knee collision had ended the fight.
A strange silence spread, as if everyone was trying to process what they had witnessed.
Then a vendor muttered softly:
"Huh?"
No one understood. People exchanged confused looks… until a child giggled. Another laugh followed… then another… and the market erupted into unstoppable laughter. Even those who had run away paused in the alleys, looking back before laughing despite themselves.
Akio stood up first, brushing dust off his face:
"Damn… that was embarrassing."
Akira rose seconds later, his shoulder still trembling in pain:
"I didn't expect that… lightning boy."
Akio tugged awkwardly at his coat:
"Neither did I… you wild mutt."
Akira looked at him—despite the blood, sweat, and burns, he smiled, not aggressively this time. Just an acknowledgment of how utterly stupid the situation was.
Akio extended his hand:
"My name is Akio. What's yours, you idiot werewolf?"
Akira reached out immediately to shake it:
"Akira. Nice to meet you."
A few steps away, Mabushi stood alone, drowning in disappointment.
He raised an eyebrow:
"I waited all this time for a legendary fight, and you fall because of… knees?"
He pointed at them half-heartedly:
"Seriously? That's it? Even I fall smarter than that."
To his right, Silvara watched with folded arms.
She said calmly, with a hint of mockery:
"Humans think they're strong… then lose because of bad timing and worse physics."
Ann's eyes widened, popcorn slipping from her hand.
"Whaaat?! What?! Did they just become friends?!"
Ken put out his cigarette on the ground.
"Looks like Akio found himself another rival in stupidity. Wonderful… today I witnessed the dumbest end to a deadly fight."
Ann glared at him:
"Fight again! Start over! It can't end like this! The market was supposed to explode or something!"
Akio stood and dusted off his shoulder:
"Well, Akira… looks like we're tied."
Akira, trying to stand straight, placed his hands on his hips with forced seriousness:
"Yeah… a tie. Let's say it was a strategic plan."
Whispers spread among the crowd… a mix of shock, frustration, and suppressed laughter. Ann dropped onto an empty wooden chair, visibly defeated.
She raised her hands in surrender:
"Really? A tie? Where's the explosion? Where's the storm? One of you was about to kill the other a minute ago!"
But instead of fighting again, or even admitting how humiliating that moment was—they fell further into chaos. They faced each other… and started an insult war.
Akio pointed at Akira's messy hair:
"What is that? A hairstyle or a bird nest? Have you washed your hair this week?"
Akira crossed his arms, smirking heavily:
"At least my color is natural. You, with that blue hair… you look like someone dumped a bucket of paint on you."
Akio pointed at Akira's fangs:
"And those teeth? You look like a rat trying to act like a scary monster."
Akira nodded toward Akio's sparking aura:
"And you look like a human battery that failed to become a respectable lightbulb."
Akira extended his hand toward Akio and said with a half-serious tone:
"Since we're… friends now… let's see who's stronger. Hit me."
Akio raised a brow:
"Hit you?"
Akira smiled wide, sharp, and reckless:
"Yes, with everything you've got. I want to see if you can make me scream."
Akio charged his fist with lightning and smirked:
"You asked for it, mutt."
BOOOOM!
A direct punch to Akira's face. But instead of falling… he laughed like a man enjoying his own pain.
He wiped the blood from his mouth:
"Ha… nice. My turn."
He hit back. Hard enough to shake the air… but Akio didn't move.
Akio stared into his eyes and smiled:
"That all you've got?"
And just like that… the fight turned into a face-punching contest. No defense. No smart moves. No strategy. People grabbed their heads. Some laughed. Some screamed. Some left the market convinced the world was collapsing intellectually.
Finally, Ken muttered under his breath, commenting on the spectacle:
"Today… I lost faith in human intelligence."
But suddenly… a woman in the crowd shouted, her voice trembling between anger and an old wound:
"Hey, you two! Did you forget about Yukaji Ken and start laughing at this nonsense?! Don't forget he murdered my husband!!"
The atmosphere flipped. The mocking, the chaos, the insults between Akio and Akira… all vanished as every eye turned toward Ken.
The woman stepped toward him, hatred in her steps, tears shaking her lips:
"How can you stand there so calmly? You really are a monster with no heart!"
His expression didn't change, but the crowd didn't wait for his response. People began gathering… some with sticks, some with stones, others with clenched fists. Everything they once feared… reawakened in an instant.
An old man with a face carved by rage stepped forward until he was right in front of Ken:
"You killed more than 500 innocent soldiers! That's why you'll pay now! There's no place for scum like you here!"
A shout. Then another. Voices are merging into a single creature with one mouth: Ken is the enemy.
Ken closed his eyes for a long moment. It wasn't withdrawal. It was something closer to suffocation… a feeling that had been rotting inside him for years… now returning like a blade pressed against his ribs.
And with his eyes shut… that night came back. The one he never forgot. He was thirteen. Walking along a dirt road toward one of Cirrus's military outposts. His steps steady. His face empty except for the hard, merciless anger that turned a child into the shadow of a killer.
In his left hand, he carried his red flame sword. At the gate, soldiers were relaxed, grilling meat, trading jokes. Their laughter echoed. They never knew death was walking toward them.
"Huh? What's that?"
One of them said when he saw the boy standing there.
"A kid…?"
Another voice muttered.
"Is he lost? Or looking for his par—"
He didn't finish.
Ken vanished. Only a flash of red remained… then tearing sounds. Screams erupted. Blood sprayed through the air. Limbs fell before their owners understood they were gone.
"AAAH!!"
One soldier collapsed, clutching his severed hand.
"AAAAAAH! Fire! It's inside me!!"
"My body…! My body is burning!!"
The sword didn't just cut… it punished. Fire devoured them from the inside out. The rest froze in place, horror carved into their faces.
'How could a thirteen-year-old kill this many men… this fast? This brutally?'
But Ken didn't let them ask that question. The moment his eyes landed on them, he closed in without mercy. Broken screams. Fire curling around bodies. His strikes reached them before they realized he moved.
Soldiers fell one after another… cut apart, their limbs and insides burning, dying while still feeling the heat crawling through their bones.
"Impossible! He's not human!!"
"He's a demon!!"
Some tried to flee, but Ken swung the flaming blade, unleashing a wave of fire that swept across the yard, burning everyone who attempted to run.
This wasn't a fight anymore… It was extermination. Among the wreckage and corpses, Ken saw a man crawling away. His face… familiar. For the first time since the massacre began, Ken stopped. His pulse spiked. His eyes widened.
A memory slammed into him. A gunshot. A muffled sound. Dan's head bursting before his eyes. His brother's blood across his face. The soldiers' footsteps. Their cold laughter.
The man crawling before him now… was the same soldier who killed Dan. The moment the man met Ken's eyes, he recoiled, dragging his mangled body across the dirt.
"Wait— I-I have a family…! I didn't mean to kill anyone…!"
His voice trembled, no strength left in it. But something in his excuse lit an even darker fire inside Ken. Ken approached slowly, each step deliberate, his sword dripping blood.
He whispered in a voice low, grim, and clearer than any scream:
"Family…?"
He stood over the man… he was no longer a child in any sense.
"Did you think of my family when you blew my brother's head open in front of me? Was killing a child that easy for you?"
The soldier collapsed. His hands shook. His chest tightened. The next moment, Ken vanished from his sight.
Then returned.
The man felt a sharp pain… and saw his arms gone. Cut clean off at the elbows, blood spraying in scorching steam.
He couldn't scream. He couldn't breathe. Another second… and his legs vanished too.
His limbless body fell, gasping like someone desperately clinging to a life already slipping away. He lifted his head weakly toward Ken.
The boy looked down at him with a cold smile. A smile without mercy… without hesitation.
Ken spoke in an even tone:
"It wouldn't be fair for you to die quickly."
Then he drove the sword into the man's chest slowly. As if wanting him to feel every moment of the fire blooming inside him, spreading through his ribs, eating his heart before it stopped beating.
The soldier's final scream tore through the air… then faded, swallowed by the ruins. Silence fell. Ken stood among the bodies. He looked at his hands… blood dripping, mixing with ash.
Then, without understanding why… a sound escaped him. A short, broken, twisted laugh. The laugh of a child who shattered from the inside… with nothing left but madness.