The dojo fell deathly silent. Erioh Kure’s expression was especially grim, and inwardly he cursed Raian for being an idiot. The brat had spent so long crushing opponents with brute strength that his brain had turned into muscle.
Against an expert like Luke, whose true depth was impossible to gauge, how could he open with a wide, forceful move like Mountain Breaker? It had far too many openings and could easily be countered with grappling techniques.
Erioh had expected Raian to suffer for using Mountain Breaker, but what truly alarmed him was that Luke had neither countered with grappling nor dodged. Instead, he had seen through the flow of force in Raian’s muscles and redirected it with exquisite skill. That was why, after his attack failed, Raian had been left completely exposed.
Two seconds later, Raian regained consciousness and discovered that he was kneeling on the floor. He looked up to see Luke standing before him, gazing down at him with an indifferent expression.
I was actually knocked unconscious?
Amid his shock, fury blazed within him. When Luke raised a hand and crooked a finger at him, Raian felt as if every blood vessel in his body were about to burst.
Yet, to the surprise of every Kure Clan member, the normally volatile Raian did not roar in rage. He was unnaturally quiet.
He rose to his feet, his pitch-black eyes locked tightly on Luke. His anger had transformed into icy killing intent. He was serious now.
Watching Raian like this, the corner of Luke’s mouth curled up unconsciously. "So holding back was worth it after all. Looks like you can trade a few more moves with me. Come on, let me experience the mysteries of the Kure Clan’s martial arts."
By now, more and more people were gathering around the dojo. Raian, the Kure Clan’s strongest active fighter, had been beaten to the ground and left unable to rise. That was explosive news.
For thirteen hundred years, the Kure Clan had continuously refined and optimized its bloodline through marriages with powerful people. By now, they had become a race of superhumans without a single weakling. In terms of physical ability, every person present could be called superhuman.
And Raian was a superhuman among superhumans. With his ability to use one hundred percent Removal, no one had ever seen him suffer a setback in all these years.
But now, they were seeing someone stronger than Raian. That young man stood in the center of the dojo like an immovable mountain.
Steady.
That was the only word the Kure Clan members could think of. Raian sensed it too. It felt as though he was not facing a young man around his own age—perhaps even younger—but an old grandmaster who had immersed himself in martial arts for seventy or eighty years, one who possessed physical abilities no weaker than his own.
Facing Luke felt like facing an abyss. He could never tell how deep it truly went.
As they faced off, their invisible auras collided. For the first time in a long while, Raian felt pressure. Sweat trickled down his forehead.
The next instant, the silent standoff shattered. This time, it was not Raian who moved. It was Luke!
Luke exerted force in an instant, shattering the wooden floor beneath his feet. He moved so fast that many Kure Clan members could not even see him clearly. In the blink of an eye, he had closed the distance between himself and Raian.
A steel fist shot forward, carrying the majestic force of mountains and seas. Before the punch even arrived, its pressure blasted toward Raian’s face.
There was an important concept in martial arts: seizing initiative before the opponent’s initiative. Raian had intended to read the signs before Luke attacked, then strike after him yet arrive first and defeat him. But Luke’s attack was too fast—and showed no warning whatsoever!
At the critical moment, Raian raised his left elbow from below and smashed it upward toward Luke’s fist. This move was called Buddha Slayer. It was originally meant to attack an enemy’s throat, but he was using it defensively now.
Though Raian had lost the initiative, he believed he had made the perfect response. An elbow against a fist—at this distance, Luke would have difficulty changing his move. The collision would surely favor him. Luke’s fist was about to be crippled!
Bang—
Just as Raian thought he could reclaim the initiative, agonizing pain exploded from his elbow. His body staggered backward under the clash of force, and from the corner of his eye, he saw Luke’s fist.
A grayish-black gleam with the texture of metal shone over that fist. It had not suffered the slightest damage in its collision with his elbow. Instead, Raian felt as if his bones were about to crack apart.
Before he could even process it, a fierce gust struck again. Luke’s foot had arrived. Raian could only assume another defensive stance, raising his arm to shield his side.
Tremendous force coursed through him at the impact. Raian had barely stabilized himself when Luke’s next attack came again.
The spectators stared in stunned disbelief. Raian had clearly gotten serious, yet even in his full Removal state, Luke was beating him so thoroughly that he could not fight back at all.
After losing the initiative, Raian could no longer find a chance to retaliate. Luke’s offensive came like a violent storm, his attacks unpredictable and impossible to guard against.
If Raian had not truly been a genius in combat, he would likely have had his defense broken and been knocked down within three moves.
Even so, after dozens of exchanges, Raian began to falter. A prolonged defense would inevitably fail—an unchanging truth since ancient times.
During one exchange, Raian exposed an opening. Luke stepped into his inner range, deflecting Raian’s fist—a move that combined offense and defense—with one hand, then driving an inch punch into Raian’s heart with the other.
Removal also depended heavily on blood pumped by the heart. With his vital point struck, Raian’s movements instantly stiffened, and his body lost balance as it stumbled backward out of his control.
Luke followed with a triple inch-punch combination, every strike landing on Raian’s heart. As Raian completely lost his balance and fell backward, Luke stepped forward again, his spear hand thrusting downward directly at Raian’s throat.
"No!"
Amid Fusui Kure’s cry, Luke’s spear hand stopped just before Raian’s throat, while Raian’s body crashed to the floor with a heavy thud.
Luke straightened and smiled toward Fusui. "I told you, I only came for a martial arts exchange. I have no intention of killing anyone."
As he spoke, he stomped down on Raian’s heart. The floor beneath them completely shattered. Raian, who had tried to counterattack, coughed up blood, and the purple color rapidly receded from his body as his Removal state was forcibly undone.
Luke looked down at Raian beneath his foot. "Sneak attacks during a spar aren’t a very good habit. Still, I’d like to see your assassination arts someday."
"Luke..."
With his vital point severely damaged, Raian no longer even had the strength to roar. In his black eyes, Luke’s figure gradually blurred.
Clap, clap, clap—
Applause rang out in the silent dojo, coming from the thin old man.
"A truly wonderful match."
Erioh Kure, head of the Kure Clan, rose to his feet with a smile. "The younger generation truly is formidable. I should also thank you, Luke, for teaching that arrogant brat Raian a lesson on my behalf."
This battle had genuinely shocked Erioh. He felt that even his younger self would have found it difficult to defeat Raian so cleanly and decisively.
Luke looked barely over twenty, yet he had already attained such profound mastery of martial arts. That was truly rare.
"Take that disappointment away and treat his injuries. After this fight, he should understand that there is always someone stronger. Secret techniques are not invincible. If he does not properly hone his martial arts, he will lose someday."
Erioh ordered his clansmen to carry Raian away, his tone filled with emotion.
He had suffered defeat once in his youth as well. But without that defeat, he could never have gained true strength. It was precisely because he had lost that he returned to the clan, painstakingly refined every kind of combat technique and secret art, and became a supreme master.
Raian now greatly resembled the Erioh who had just become the First Fang of Metsudo—relying only on one hundred percent Removal and his physical prowess to crush opponents, neglecting technique. When he met a truly top-tier master, he would suffer for it.
That was why Erioh’s thanks to Luke had been sincere. Luke’s defeat of Raian would make Raian stronger.
"Then, would the legendary First Fang of Metsudo care to exchange a few moves with me?"
Luke looked at Erioh Kure. In terms of skill alone, Erioh was unquestionably one of the greatest masters in this world.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register