Suiryu is strong.
He knows it himself.
He knows that he is strong.
He can single-handedly defeat a demon-level monster that would normally require an S-Class hero to intervene.
If it were a lower-end dragon-level, he might even be able to take it on.
He has a clear awareness of his own talent and potential, and he takes pride in his skill.
Look at this. Even though he spent years just fooling around without so much as training properly, A-Class heroes aren’t even a match for him.
If A-Class heroes are only this much, wouldn’t he win easily against an S-Class too?
That kind of confidence comes naturally to him.
What use are heroes, anyway? They lose even to strong people like me, who are just ordinary men.
That industry is already beyond saving.
Heroes are simply weak beyond words.
They’re only heroes in name; there is no such thing as a real hero.
Uplifting ideals, a sense of justice, and all that.
It’s all just a facade.
He comes to face that cold reality.
In the end, only the strong survive.
And I’m one of those strong ones.
Even that arrogant thought crosses his mind.
But this confidence, this awareness, this arrogance—they aren’t baseless.
Because it is only what is natural.
He has never once lost in his life.
Against monsters or against humans.
He can barely even remember the last time he bled.
Most enemies were finished with a single kick.
At least the last time he fought seriously and bled was about six years ago.
That was why he came to this Super Fight too.
Sure, the prize money mattered, but more than that, he wanted to meet good fighters and enjoy a satisfying match.
Especially someone like that Wolfman who had appeared in the previous Super Fight.
Being strong is fun.
That was how strong Suiryu was.
No.
He was strong.
Thwoooom—BOOM!!!
“Kgh...!”
A violent impact slammed into his abdomen again.
With a wet fwoosh, bright blood burst out of his mouth.
He staggered and stumbled backward.
Despite the relentless beating, there were no obvious external injuries.
But inside was a different story.
It was a disaster.
The flow of power circulating through his body had been completely thrown off, tangled together into a mess.
Several muscles had stiffened and twisted, refusing to move properly.
That was because the opponent had been striking the vital points that restricted his body’s movement.
He knew enough about human weaknesses to predict where the attacks would come from each time.
And yet.
Even after raising his guard and trying to evade, he couldn’t block a single blow.
He knew where and how he would be attacked, and still he couldn’t stop it.
“Hraaaaaah!!!”
He squeezed out every last bit of strength and charged.
Forcing his stiffened body to move, he clenched his fist and threw it.
But.
The opponent smiled.
With a cruel grin that seemed to tear across his face, he countered.
A hand spun and coiled around, sliding up the fist he had thrown like a snake and aiming for Suiryu’s face.
He passed through the opponent’s charging attack and landed his own strike.
It was clearly the same martial art that the A-Class hero from earlier had used.
And yet.
The difference in completion and mastery.
And the difference in the user’s skill.
Pow!!
“Ghk!”
It was overwhelming.
Was this martial art called Snake Bite Fist really this terrifying?
After taking a blow to the face, the distance between them opened up, and everything in Suiryu’s field of vision seemed to tremble and shake.
His awareness of the world spun around, and for a moment his mind went blank in a groggy state.
But the opponent did not attack again, almost as if mocking him.
He only wore a sadistic smile and spoke in a calm, almost whispering voice.
“Get up. I’ll give you five seconds.”
If not, I’ll really kill you.
He didn’t actually say it, but Suiryu instinctively felt that was what he meant.
Staggering, Suiryu barely managed to get back on his feet.
The silent crowd erupted into shouts again, and Suiryu charged in response.
So that’s it. They’re cheering me on.
They’re placing their hopes in someone this battered.
He drew something like momentum from that and accelerated.
He didn’t know why, and he didn’t know how, but the atmosphere of fighting spirit was beginning to boil up in him again.
But there was one thing he didn’t know.
The crowd currently had no idea how badly Suiryu had been hurt.
To them, it only looked like he had been pushed back for a moment in the exchange, fallen, and then risen again with a flourish.
They had no doubt he would get back up.
That was because all the spectators in the front rows who had grasped the true nature of the fight had already fled.
They knew.
This was not a fight.
It was just play.
A lizard monster with red scales was toying with Suiryu like an innocent child playing with a toy.
Just that simple.
“Agh...!”
BOOM!!!
One hit.
Before he could even throw a punch, a knee came flying in like a cannonball and smashed into his side.
With that single blow, the fighting spirit that had been rising collapsed, and pain like every bone in his body had been shattered flooded his mind.
The sensation that his body was splitting apart and crumbling from the inside out.
In the end, a scream that sounded like a battle cry burst from his mouth.
“Graaahhh!!!”
Two hits.
He cut off the scream and clenched his teeth against the pain.
He stared down the opponent who had closed the distance.
Spinning, he threw a roundhouse kick with a shout.
But.
This time, a straight punch came charging in from the front and slammed into his abdomen.
KWAANG!!
“Huk...!”
Three hits.
He staggered backward, trying to open the distance.
Suddenly, the opponent’s figure vanished from his sight.
Before he could even prepare for the killing intent he felt from behind, a side kick stabbed toward his back.
Bang!!
“Kuh...!”
Four hits.
He tried to fall forward, but even that was not allowed.
The opponent appeared at his side instantly.
Moving at a speed so fast it was hard even to perceive, he placed a leg beneath Suiryu’s tilting torso as if supporting it from below.
Then he sharply bent his knee and drove power into it, striking the pit of Suiryu’s stomach and launching him upward.
“Agh...!”
His mind, drifting toward the darkness, was forcibly awakened.
That was because a specific pressure point had been struck with precision.
But.
It was already too late to prepare for anything.
The reason his consciousness had been forcibly jolted awake was to intensify the pain even further.
To smash cold reality into a warped line of thought.
Before he could even flail in midair, the distance had already been closed long ago.
In the span of 0.03 seconds, in a fleeting instant.
A knee struck his side from the flank.
A straight punch slammed into his abdomen from the front.
Before he could even swing his arms, a side kick from behind hammered into his back.
Before he could even fall, a knee from below shot up into the pit of his stomach and lifted him again.
Once he had been launched high into the air, only then did he begin to fall.
The acceleration from gravity pulling his body down.
And the monster’s straight punch, coming in even faster than that.
He could do nothing to resist.
He could only watch helplessly as the fist approached.
[Combined Ten-Strike Shattering Burst Life-Fist]
And then.
His vision went black.
“Kyaaaaaaah!!!”
“Suiryu!!”
“R-run!!!!”
“Aaaaaah!!!!!!”
[Why... why is this happening....]
I look down at Suiryu, who has crashed through the arena and fallen.
He is utterly wrecked, unconscious as if dead.
I land lightly beside him.
And then... I fall silent for a moment.
My thoughts have become complicated.
I start to say something, then just shake my head.
Instead, I watch the spectators scrambling to flee and give a bitter smile.
“...Did I go too far?”
I barely made any external injuries.
At most, some bruising and swelling.
But.
The inside might have been a little... severe.
I tore through his blood vessels and muscles, and some of them I smashed along with the bones.
He’ll probably be stuck in the hospital for a while.
He might even be left with PTSD from the pain of having his whole body shattered.
Still, it’s within the range of recovery.
But.
“...You’re still not there yet, you know?”
Get up.
If I had only wanted to make him unable to fight again, I wouldn’t have stepped in.
I’m going to kill his life as a martial artist here.
I’ll tear and sever every muscle and tendon, then ruin his pressure points.
I don’t care what pain he feels in the process.
First, I should make him stand up.
I bring my fingers together sharply and strike at the back of his neck with a finger jab.
My target is a specific pressure point.
If I pierce it precisely, his mind will be forcibly awakened—
“Hraaahhh!!!”
KWAANG!!!
“...What?”
A straight punch flying in from right beside me knocks my finger jab aside.
Thanks to that, my hand only pierces the empty floor.
But.
That isn’t the important part.
The person who blocked me is....
“...Snack.”
“Oh? You remembered my name.”
The other man gathers his palm, now red and smoking.
It’s Snack, who had collapsed earlier.
“...Weren’t you unconscious?”
“I was. But that’s not a reason I can’t get back up.”
With the flexibility of a snake, Snack pulls his body back, and in his hand is Suiryu, limp and unconscious.
He sets Suiryu down behind him, then turns his gaze back to me.
He places a fist against his chest.
“If you’re going to keep touching this guy, you’ll have to beat me first... monster!”
“Heh... but you know you can’t beat me, don’t you? You lost to him too.”
I pull my arm out of the ground with a smooth motion like flowing water.
My hand was pushed aside by the surprise straight punch, but it still grazed the back of his neck.
That means I succeeded in pressing the pressure point a little.
Looking at Suiryu lying there, his eyelid twitching faintly, I deliberately put on a cold smile.
And then.
I ask loudly enough for the fallen ordinary man to hear.
“At best you’re an A-Class bottom-ranker, and I’m a top-end demon-level monster. Do you really think you can stop me when you’re not even an S-Class hero?”
“...Ha. That’s a funny thing to say.”
Of course not.
I know my own level.
I know my strength won’t work against you.
I know that even though I trained like I was going to die to catch up, the gap has only become impossibly wide.
I can’t win.
I probably can’t hold out for long either.
But.
“That still isn’t a reason not to stand here and stop you.”
“...Is that so? Why?”
In response to my question, Snack gives a short, heavy answer.
Simple, clear, and obvious, yet not obvious at all.
As natural as a living thing breathing every day.
“Because I’m a hero.”
...Excellent.
A truly excellent hero.
So dazzling it almost feels brighter than the sunlight pouring down on us.
So.
I have no choice but to answer that straight will with my own.
I step one foot back.
I extend the other foot forward.
I spread my right hand into an open palm and raise it, and set my left hand before my chest.
Bending my body, I take up the familiar stance of Snake Bite Fist.
And the same is true on the other side.
Both of us push off the ground beneath our feet.
Like two snakes flowing toward each other, we rush in.
And at one point, we collide.
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