Author's note: Here we are again with another update, not much to say at the moment so let's begin with the show already. Re-uploaded this chapter to fix some errors and misspellings that had escaped my notice.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, any material or copyright depicted in this story belongs to their respective owners.
FALL OF YAMI
FINAL ROUND
PART 2
!
Akira Hongo VS Kenshiro
As soon as his opponent was ready, Hongo launched himself at Kenshiro tossing an overwhelming barrage of multiple strikes with his fist. The Hokuto successor met the aggression without hesitation and parried all of the attacks coming at him with great accuracy. The people watching were only able to see hundreds of blurs flying everywhere being met by just an equal quantity of opposite blurs coming from each fighter.
KUMADE REMPA!
Seeing how his assault was proving fruitless, Hongo decided to break their stalemate by lifting his left leg up before slamming it violently into the ground with great strength as to destroy the earth and send a powerful shockwave right at his opponent. Kenshiro had no choice but to cross his arms in front him and brace himself against the attack that struck him with great force and pushed him several yards backwards, his feet dragging the entire way as he resisted as best as he could against the hostile destructive forces slamming against him.
FRONT KICK!
Kenshiro had no time to rest however, because as soon as the shockwave died down and he brought his arms down, did he found himself about to be struck by a spinning knife strike coming straight at his face…
SUPER-HUMAN FIST FLYING SWALLOW SPINNING SWAT!
Kenshiro barely was able to avoid the attack by leaning backwards, the spinning strike passing very close in front of his eyes, enough as to feel the air pressures blowing in his face. He immediately retaliated with a kick, striking the offending arm which immediately lost all motion and strength as it went limp. The limb was simply left hanging from Hongo's socket, who despite being wearing sunglasses; one could clearly see the expression of surprise in his eyes.
HOKUTO GOKIN BUNDAN KYAKU!
北斗鋼筋分断脚
(Steel Muscle Cutting Kick)
Hongo jumped backwards and put some distance between him and his opponent, he then turned his attention towards his unresponsive arm. After assessing the damage done for a moment, he turned towards Kenshiro. "It appears Hokuto Shiken is as effective as the rumors said, clearly it is a remarkable style." He said with inscrutable stoicism, not worried in the least about his unmoving arm hanging limply by his side.
Kenshiro acknowledged his words with a nod. "Indeed, for two thousand years Hokuto Shinken has stood as the truly undisputed invincible art in the world. You will find it to be no easy task to guard against it…" He said stretching his muscles as he took a guarded stance once more.
"I see… Let us put that statement to the test." Was all that Hongo said before he stabbed his limp arm on several points with the fingers of his other hand, regaining the movement of his paralyzed limb. Hongo then leaped back towards his opponent using his incredible speed to create an overwhelming number of after images and surround Kenshiro compleately with them. All of the Bunshin then pounced upon Kenshiro like a bank of piranhas on a prey, every single one of them launching an attack.
INYOU, KYOKUHA JURRIN!
Kenshiro didn't despair despite the apparent inminent danger that he now found himself currently in. "HAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" He just took a long breath before he unleashed a veritable endless storm of kicks all around him and destroyed every single one of the attacking after images. The Bunshins dissipated under the assault as Kenshiro kept launching his attacks until he found the real Hongo.
SENREN KYAKU!
千連脚
(Thousand Group Leg)
Once he finally managed to find the real Hongo, Kenshiro proceed to redirect his attack towards him. However, he didn't expect to find such a sudden strong resistance once his leg managed to connect in full on Hongo's side. The sensation of feeling his leg suddenly stoping his motion in cold against the sunglassess wearing grandmaster leaved him helpless in a sudden state of shock, as to allow Hongo to counterattack by flexing his muscles and deliver a powerful straight right at Kenshiro's chest with all the strenght of his constricted musculature behind, sending the potential Hokuto sucessor flying away through several yards.
SEINKENTSUKI!
Kenshiro struck the ground with great force, blowing a great quantity of dust and debris away. He rose back to his feet with a grunt, wondering what had just ocurred. How did his opponent managed to withstand his kick with such seemingly ease.
The pointed eared headmaster must have seen his confusion reflected on his face, for he made sure to comment on it. "What is it? You seem hesitant all off a sudden… You better don't start taking your attention away from our battle…" He said, before he rushed at Kenshiro again, traversing the distance between them in an instant as he launched a spinning Knife-strike that was supplemented with one of his knees pushing over the elbow of his attacking arm.
GOD HAND LEG WAVE TWIST THRUST!
Kenshiro leaped to a side to avoid the incoming strike just in time. The attack struck a mount of debris and steel refuse that was behind Kenshiro (A leftover from the collapse of the building under construction) The spinning knife-strike simply rammed through it like it wasn't even there, sending pieces of masonery and steel beams flying everywhere. Hongo kept running forward without stopping due to his attack own momentum and rammed into a second identical mount of debris, and then a 3th, a 4th, a 5th and finally a 6th before he managed to come to a stop, kicking an enourmous cloud of dust and leaving a long trail of destruction marking the pass of his attack. The people watching around the world could only stare gobsmacked at the power of the long eared Karate master.
Hongo didn't let go from his offensive that easily, and as soon as his motion came to a stop, did he blasted towards Kenshiro again with another powerful spinning Knife-strike. Kenshiro decided to take the initiative and leaped towards his opponent to avoid the incoming attack and retaliate from the air with a diving Kick. He smashed into Hongo with great force and managed to interrupt his attack, but once more he found his strikes to be unable to cause any lasting damage on his enemy. As he pondered on this, the long eared grandmaster counterattacked with another of his infamous Knife-strikes at close range. Due the extremely close proximity between the two, Hongo's strike didn't manage to gather much momentum or create the centrifugal forces necessary to punch through Kenshiro's body. But it was strong enough for him to sink his four main offensive fingers deeply in the left side of Kenshiro's abdomen, making the imposing young fighter grunt at the sudden wound, even though the position had been rather akward making Hongo stab him with his fingers being wide open instead of closely together.
SENSEN BODY!
Kenshiro pushed himself away from his opponent, bringing a hand to cover his wound as he gazed cautiosly at Hongo. "How…? I must assume you must be using so kind of technique to shrug off my attacks, even my own brothers are not reckless enough to allow themselves to be hit by one of my punches in full…"
Hongo faintly smirked at that statement, pleased that Kenshiro had picked up on his trick. "Fuh… You are correct, the reason I'm able to withstand your attacks is because of my Sensen Body. A technique that allows me to harden all the muscles of my body at once making them stronger than steel; you cannot see the technique in action because of my coat, so allow me to make a demostration…" Hongo said before he began to unbotton his coat and discard his clothes until he was bare-chested just like Kenshiro.
The long eared grandmaster then moved towards a nearby pile of debris and grabbed a very large and thick steel beam from it. Hongo grabbed it with both hands and held it aloft above his head with his two arms completely stretched upwards. He then released a loud heave, making all the muscles in his body to suddenly harden and constrict at the same time, displaying all of his impressive musculature that indeed seemed more solid than any metal, before he plunged the thick steel beam downwards into his own abdomen.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
CLANK!
To the surprise of all the people watching the transmission, the heavy steel beam bent and buckled against the hardness of Hongo's abs, showing without a doubt that his muscles were as he had claimed, harder than steel. The sun-glassess wearing master kept stabbing himself with the steel beam into his abdomen several more times, until the once straight and solid bar of steel was nothing more but an oddly shaped and flattened piece of refuse. The people around the world could simply stare with an expression of o_0!
!
In the Kanto Region…
0_o!
!
In the temple where the Norns lived…
0_o!
!
Up in heaven in the Yggdrassil control room
0_o!
Even Lynd was impressed…
!
Down in Nifelheim
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Only the laughter of a certain snow-haired Daimakaicho could be heard, echoing ominously throughout all of Nifelheim and scaring the hell out (No pun intended) of every single one of her underlings.
!
In certain abandoned building, with a certain blonde demoness.
"Fucking shit! That was so awesome!"
!
In a certain café in Shinjuku…
0_o!
!
Down in the office where the souls of the dead are sorted out with a certain infant wearing a hat marked Jr.
0_o!
!
In a certain dojo where a certain Pig-tailed martial artist lives…
0_o!
The pig-tailed martial artist in question…
"Woah… cool!"
Certainly the people around the world were rather impressed by Hongo's physical prowess.
!
Back on the devastaded construction site, Hongo simply discarded the deformed piece of steel to a side under the gaze of a mind-boggled audience. "You see… As long as I'm using my Sensen Body, none of your attacks will be able to hurt me!" He boasted with complete certainty.
Kenshiro showed no worry at his opponent's declarations and simply replied. "If your muscles are indeed stronger than steel, then the strenght of my own punches will have to be greater still to break through them." He stated with absolute unflinching conviction.
Hongo just raised an amused eyebrow and said. "Oh…? And how do you intend to accomplish that?"
Kenshiro brought himself to stand right again and took his hand off his wound, standing proudly in front of his opponent. "A normal human body, no matter how much is trained, can only use 30% of its strenght at most. But thanks to the techniques of Hokuto, I am able to utilize the remaining 70%." He stated before taking a long breath, suddenly his muscles began to constrict and harden; their bulk and mass increasing exponentially. One could see how the muscles strenghtened separated and grew at least 3 times that of their normal size. By the time Kenshiro's muscles had stopped growing, the young successor of Hokuto had turned from an already formidable and burly man to a literal mountain of muscles, making for an equally awe-inspiring and terrifying sight and causing men all around the world to suddenly feel their masculinity threathened.
TENRYU KOKYU HO!
転龍呼吸法
(Art Of Dragon's Breathing)
The expression of all the people watching the fight after witnessing such astounding display of raw power could only be described as, Jaw-slacked.
!
In the Morisato Residence, the Norns and their mortal friend were also flabbergasted by the shocking display of sheer physical power, especially a certain little and spunky goddess of the future.
"Whaaaaaa….!? H-how could he get so big!? It dosen't make any sense!? I've never seen someone so big before!" A rather stupefied Skuld said as she pointed at the TV. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Urd suddenly began to laugh after hearing that statement from her younger sibling, and fell to the floor on her back as she clutched her stomach.
"Why are you laughing!? Stop IT! Urd No Baka!" Said Skuld as she snapped at her elder sister who simply couldn't stop the droves of boisterous laughs that came out of her throath. The goddess of the past finally grew quiet once the little goddess of the future smashed her technological advanced mallet into her head.
!
In Kanto, the collective armies of students could only stare with bugged-out eyes and an expression of Woah! Dude! They could only gape in disbelief after seeing Kenshiro's shocking grow spurt. Most of the boys like Kenichi that were watching the feed began to feel rather intimidated as a sudden rush of male impotency began to wreck at their pride. Well except Nagi who was equal parts envious as he was impressed.
"Goddammit! I wish I'd be that buffed!"
The ladies on the other hand, were dumbfounded by a sudden rush of contradictory feelings; they felt scared and intimidated by the impressively frightening bulk of Kenshiro. But at the same time, fascinated and marveled by the fine specimen of desirable grade S (Not A… S!) beef-cake right in front of them. To say they were showing interest would be an understatement.
Both Ryuubi and her tomboyish friend Chouhi, were simply unable to resist the mindblowing sight of pure manliness being displayed in front of their eyes. Their mouths simply hanging limp as they watered down with a flood of drool that fell from their chins into the ground, their faces looking as if about to burst due to how red they were. Their eyes suddenly rolled to the back of their heads and they lost all conciousness as a massive fountain of blood suddenly surged from their noses, drenching all the people that were standing in front of them with their vital liquid before both girls were knocked down on their backs into the ground by the pressure escaping from their faces.
SPLURT!
SPLOSH!
-AH! WHAT THE HELL!?-
-What is this thing? Is it blood?-
-HEY! Who forgot to wear a tampon!?-
-Why I am suddenly covered in blood? I'm not in my days-
-The fuck!? You're not even a girl dude. Or is there something you wish to confess?-
-Somebody should close her legs before we all drown!-
Kanu turned and kneeled in front of the downed girls with a concerned expression. "My friends, are you alright!? Answer me!"
!
And let's not start with the goddesses up in the Yggdrassil control room, who were also impressed at Kenshiro's physique.
Crono could just stare at the screen with a hypnotized gaze as she struggled with some akward feelings she had never felt before, her face a nice shade of cherry red. "Lynd-Sama, I don't know why… But I find the sight of this shirtless, bare-chested man to be rather… Yummy!" The valkyrie-in-training said to her superior officer at her side as she kept staring and began to fantasize about how much she wanted to touch those muscles right now.
Behind Crono, the other 3 goddessess on their seats could only agree to that statement with a numbed nod on their blank glazes. "Ah-ha…"
Lynd didn't reply immediately to her subordinate, as she squirmed uncomfortalby in her spot for a moment because she too was finding herself bothered by the sight in front of her. She grudgingly had to admitt that her underling had a point with a nod of her blushing face. "I guess you're right Crono…" She succintly said before returning to the transmission.
!
Back to the battle, Hongo simply took a look at the results of Kenshiro's technique and commented. "I see… Most impressive certainly, well then, there is only one way to know for sure which of our techniques is superior." He calmly said as he took a combat stance.
Kenshiro showed his agreement with a wordless nod, before taking a stance of his own. "Then, let us resume our battle." He said before both combatants rushed at each other.
Hongo charged with another of his spinning knife-strikes with his left hand towards Kenshiro, who didn't even blinked at the incoming deadly attack and met it head on. Just as he was about to be struck by the drilling hand, did Kenshiro evaded the attack by lunging low and to a side before he flung himself at the right of Hongo's abdomen. Kenshiro struck with a Palm-strike setting his open hand completely on Hongo's side and began to exhert pressure as he used his other hand for support by grabbing his right wrist with it.
The attack didn't seem to do any harm to Hongo, who let out a victorious yell at seeing the apparent failure of his opponent's technique. "It's useless! Nothing can break through my Sensen Body!"
….!...
The boast of Hongo came to a jarring halt as he began to feel something was wrong. He turned to look at the invading hand that was grabbing him and trying to break through the hardness of his muscles. There was a brief intense struggle, were the people watching could clearly see the expression of incredulity in Hongo's face, and then the fingers of Kenshiro began to sink inside the Karate master's flesh. Slowly but surely, Kenshiro began to close his hand inside Hongo's body, his fingers breaking and tearing through the muscles in their way until they closed completely into a fist before the young Hokuto successor punched his entire hand inside the long eared man's abdomen in a show of raw physical strenght and blood. The audience watching could only gape even more at such feat of unbelievable power.
HOKUTO KORETSU HA!
北斗鋼裂把
(Steel Rending Grasp)
For a moment, both combatants remained locked in this position, everybody watching believed this was going to be the end of the fight, as Kenshiro kept pushing his fist more and more inside Hongo's guts who was actually flinching at the pain. But then the Karate surprised them all when he lifted his arms in a horizontal L position and began to retaliate with a simultaneous barrage of short ranged spinning knife-strikes with both hands. Kenshiro was caught of guard by the counterattack, but he reacted quickly and pulled his bloodied fist away from inside Hongo's abdomen, a trail of blood being left behind.
JINENKEN-NEJIRI NUKITE!
Kenshiro did his best to try to avoid the barrage of spinning knife-strikes as he tried to move away from his opponent, but Hongo was not going to let him go that easily after the damage he had inflicted on him, so he went after him and harassed him with dogged determination. Kenshiro lifted both of his arms to block the double knife-strikes by setting his own on the crook of the offending limbs, yet despite that Hongo almost managed to stab him in the chest, if he had reacted just a millisecond too late the long eared man would had without doubt skewered him already. Kenshiro pushed his opponent off him with a kick to the stomach and both combatants took the chance to catch their breath for a moment as they stared fiercely at each other.
"I am impressed that you managed to counterattack despite the grievous damage that I inflicted upon you. Either your resistance to pain is extraordinary or it is the result of some secret technique I am unaware of…" Kenshiro said in an impassive tone.
Hongo acknowledged his statement with a nod. "You are correct yet again; it's thanks to the secret breathing technique Naizouage that I was able to weather the worst of your attack. This special technique allows me to raise my internal organs up to my ribcage to protect them from damage." The glassess-wearing man said as he leaved himself open to show his body, some lumps underneath his skin were clearly seen moving from his chest down into his abdomen, giving credence to his explanation about the Naizouage.
"I see… So that is the reason why you were able to retaliate so quickly. Thanks to that technique, I failed to do any kind of critical damage to your vital organs and all I did was simply pierce your skin." Kenshiro pondered out loud, figuring out exactly what had ocurred.
"Even though you managed to break through my Sensen body, with this technique I was able to render your own attack useless… But enough of this; let us continue with our fight." Hongo said as he took a somewhat relaxed defense stance, bending his right left slightly forward.
Kenshiro agreed with a nod and took a stance of his own once more. He carefully approached his opponent, being on the lookout of whatever other trick the Karate grnadmaster may pull, as he by now was clearly aware that Hongo was a very resorceful opponent. Kenshiro approached the other long-eared man with measured steps; Hongo bid his time by following the younger man movements. Once they both were back in striking range did Hongo acted by charging at Kenshiro with a step forward, the impossing successor of Hokuto prepared for the attack and became ready to retaliate. Only to be caught completely off-guard by the fact that Hongo was moving backwards instead of forwards and launched a kick with the leg that seemed to be in the front, but in reality was in the back.
GAMAKU!
The kick struck Kenshiro full on the head, who could only look at the assaulting limb in shock as it connected on his brow. 'An optical illusion!' He thought as he reeled a little from the impact, but he shook it off promptly without letting his guard down, a good thing since Hongo was soon upon him. Kenshiro tried to leap away knowing he was in a disadvantage, but Hongo pursued him with a barrage of multiple upward knife-strikes as he tried to intercept the young Hokuto successor in the air. At least, Hongo was attacking with normal knife-strikes instead of his more destructive spinning ones; thank the heavens for small mercies.
METSUJOU RAIGOU NUKITE!
Kenshiro did his best to protect himself against the assault despite his disadvantegous position by counteracting with his own fast barrage of hand-thrusts while in mid-air, using a technique he had witnessed and been victim off during a sparring match with his now estranged third brother Jagi. Just as Hongo's knife-strikes tried to pummel his upper chest and head, so too Kenshiro's own Knife strikes tried to strike the long eared Karate Master in those same areas, making for a fast-paced exchange of blurring attacks that parried themselves completely against each other.
HOKUTO SENJU SATSU!
北斗千手殺
(Thousand Hand Murder)
Both fighters separated and landed back into the ground after their exchange. Kenshiro stumbled a little and fell down on one knee, blood running down the side of his face due to a cut on his brown, as Hongo had managed to land several hits on him leaving him a little beat up.
The sunglassess-wearing grandmaster smirked from his position, believing himself the victor of their last exchange, only for him to suddenly spat blood and almost collapsing into the ground. Hongo immediately looked down in alarm to check upon the condition of his body, only to his surprise, to find that Kenshiro had too managed to land many hits on him as the welts that suddenly began to appear all over his chest and abdomen could attest to. And it seemed the young Hokuto successor did also landed them with great accuracy, better than Akira's own, as every single one of them had struck in a vital point on Hongo's body, it was pretty clear to him that Kenshiro's attack had been more devastating than his own. The Karate Grandmaster was not amused by this discovery and turned to glare at Kenshiro with seething anger.
Hongo took out his sunglassess for the first time in the entire day and stared at Kenshiro with heathed resolve. "Enough! It's time for me to end this!" He said before he pushed himself back up with some effort and faced Kenshiro again with his Gamaku technique one more time, believing it would give him an advantage against the Hokuto practitioner as the technique had already proved effective against him. He was surprised when Kenshiro managed to block the kick from the correct leg this time using only one finger.
"A technique already employed against Hokuto does seldom manages to achieve the same results twice. You will need more than just an illusion if you wish to defeat my style." Kenshiro stoically said as he rebuked his opponent attack and pushed the offending leg aside.
Hongo frowned a little at seeing his techinque was no longer effective, but he remained impassive and decided to change his strategy. "I see… Then I guess a change of tactics is in order." He said before he began to take several long breaths as he raised both of his arms and held them in a vertical L position at both sides of his body in a defensive stance, keeping his hands stretched and on the ready for anything.
MAEBA NO KAMAI!
"Come! Face me and show me the strenght of your style!" Hongo said, daring Kenshiro to attack him.
The young practitioner of Hokuto accepted his challenge, but not without taking a cautious approach first, he took a moment to asses the stance of his enemy before rushing at him with a barrage of punches to test his defenses. All of Kenshiro's strikes were blocked with ease as all that the pointed eared master had to do was to bring his arms down or up to parry all of the incoming punches. Kenshiro rammed up his speed, increasing the intensity of his assault, but the result was the same, Hongo had effectively created an unbreachable defense against any attack.
Kenshiro's train of thought was interrupted as Hongo tried to land a kick on him as a counter attack; the burly man simply evaded the attack by leaping calmly backwards a little, putting some distance between the two fighters and bringing another pause to their battle. "Your defense is certainly impressive, but how you expected to win this battle if you only remain on the defensive?" He asked with a pointed look.
"Why don't you keep attacking me and find out?" Was Hongo simple reply.
Kenshiro suspected something was afoot, but had no other option than to keep trying and find a way to break through Hongo's defenses. He once again went to confront his opponent with another flurry of attacks, but Hongo's defenses blocked or diverted every kick and punch sent on his way. Kenshiro was about to think which technique would be appropiate to counteract the long-eared man stance, when suddenly; Hongo struck by rushing at him as he diverted one of Kenshiro's punches, leaving the brawny fighter open to an attack.
The eyes of the Karate master seemed to shine with a terrible light as he unleashed his counterattack upon the defenseless Hokuto successor. Hongo took advantage of his current defensive stance to raise his arms completely into the air before he began to repeatedly strike all over Kenshiro's body with an overwhelming barrage of both kicks and punches. The imposing young man could do nothing but endure the rain of blows that pummeled him all over, he tried to resist the best he could, using the fortitude granted by Hokuto to withstand the tide of pain. A last punch sent him spiraling into the earth, Kenshiro managed to at least get back to one knee after impacting into the ground. He had managed to weather out the storm, but it had clearly taken its toll on him as his entire body was filled with bruises and scrapes, blood dribbling down the corner of his mouth.
SHINCHI NENGEN RYU CHOURYOU KANKUU SHUURINI!
"As you can see, even if you have managed to break through the thickness of my muscles. That is not the only defense I have." Akira declared, raising his arms back up in an L position at the sides of his body in the effective Maeba No Kamai stance.
Kenshiro just looked up back at him from his kneeling position with a determined stare. "Then I guess I'll have to break through this new defense too." He simply said.
Hongo didn't want to admit it, but he was concerned about that declaration. He now clearly realized why Hokuto Shinken was know for being the true undefeatable art in the entire world, if he made a single mistake, he knew his defeat would be all but inevitable. "I don't know what tricks you may have up your sleeve, but I will not let you land on me any of your techniques. With the Maeba No Kamai I can divert or block anything thrown at me without any danger." He replied, putting a calm front.
"We shall see…" Was all that Kenshiro said before getting himself fully upright again. He then joined both of his hands in front of his face in a meditative stance and began to concentrate, his Ki increasing and slowly becoming more and more visible as he focused his energies for his next attack. Once he was done, he charged at his opponent without further ado.
Hongo stood at the ready, prepared to block any attack that Kenshiro may try against him. Kenshiro struck towards him with a simple vertical chop with his left hand, Hongo brought down one of his arms to try to block the attack, but was utterly surprised to see his opponent's arm passing trough his own as if it wasn't even there like somekind of ghost. Hongo didn't have much time to try to decipher what had just happened, as Kenshiro was attacking now with his other arm. Akira brought his remaining limb down to block, but just like last time, the arm of the Hokuto successor seemed to become ethereal and passed through his own without being hindered whatsoever. Once more a shocked puzzled look fell upon the Karate's Master face, only for an elbow strike to land in full on top of his head.
KENTO SHADAN!
拳盗捨断
(Fist Stealing Discarding Resolution)
Akira was pushed backwards a few steps due to the strenght of the blow, his face still locked in alarmed surprise as he still could not comprehend how Kenshiro was able to break through his defenses. "Wha-What happened!?" He asked incredulous, he tried to raise his arms back up again and resume his defensive stance once more, but failed and found himself unable to lift his arms in the air. "What is this!? What is wrong with me!? My arms feel so heavy and weak when I try to lift them above my head!?" Hongo said in shock as he struggled greatly to keep his arms aloft in the air only to fail miserably.
Kenshiro answered him calmly. "It is the result of my Kento Shadan… A technique that allows me to penetrate through an opponent's defenses and weaken their arms as to make them unable to raise any kind of defense any more, you will find that your arms do not have the strenght to resist any kind of attack nor able to use them to protect yourself any longer." He said with certain finality.
Hongo just glared, not amused by that answer. "Then I guess I'll have to defeat you with one last decisive strike before you have the chance to do the same to me. As they say, the best defense is a good offense."
Kenshiro just shook his head in a negative. "It's useless; the strenght of Hokuto can't be defeated that easily by any other art. You have witnessed this already; you should back down and admit your defeat. I'm not eager of destroying such a remarkable martial artist like you." He pleaded, trying to dissuade Hongo from continuing the fight, lest things keep excalating and he became forced to put down the long eared master in a more permanent fashion.
Hongo was not of the mind of giving up however, and declined the offer of the younger martial artist. "I'm sorry, but I'll have to disagree, it's not in my nature to walk away from a battle while both I and my opponent still stand on our feet. Let us end this once and for all, I need not my arms to defend myself, nor would I wish to finish this battle without having witnessed the full scope of Hokuto." He said preparing to charge at Kenshiro again.
The formidable young warrior could only let out a tired sigh. "If that is your wish…" He said before taking a stance of his own.
With no further words, Hongo launched himself towards Kenshiro, who answered the challenge and moved to meet his agression head on. Kenshiro lashed towards the long eared man, believing he had no more means to defend himself, but at the last moment Hongo stopped in cold and changed his stance, easily sidestepping Kenshiro's attack by a narrow margin. The young Hokuto practitioner could do nothing but stare in surprise for a moment as he realized he was now at a disadvantegous position with Hongo flanking him from a side.
DAKKI KUZUSHI GAWASHI!
Hongo, having succesfully gotten inside Kenshiro's space after evading his attack, could not help but gloat in glee. "You're mine!" He said, before raising his arms at shoulder level in a horizontal L position again, and rammed them forward with two of his infamous spinning knife-thrusts right towards Kenshiro's chest trying to impale him. Knowing that at this distance the other man could do nothing to try to block his attack.
GOD HAND INYOU KYOKUHA NUKITE!
Kenshiro could do nothing to try to evade the attack at this short distance, in act of desperation, he brought a hand up to restrain Hongo's left spinning arm to keep it from skewering him alive. The feat had not been easy but he managed to struggle steadily, but greatly, against the centrifugal energy being created by the spinning arm.
But despite that small victory, Hongo was still undeterred; in fact the young Hokuto successor had just been played right into the Karate master's hands. "That was just a feint! This is the real attack!" He declared before ramming his other spinning arm in full right in Kenshiro's chest.
For a moment, all the people watching the fight remained silence in shock, believing Hongo had killed the Hokuto successor. Those of frail sensibilities simply took their gaze away or covered their eyes, unable to stomach seeing the dead of such a great man. Everybody was caught by surprise, when despite all odds, Kenshiro was still standing after that last attack.
….!...
"What!?" Hongo exclaimed in surprise, discovering only the tip of his three lead fingers had managed to pierce Kenshiro's chest, right above his left bicep, because the young Hokuto sucessor had managed to catch Akira's spinning arm by the wrist with his other hand just in the nick of time. "Impossible!?"
All the people watching were left speechless, gaping in disbelief at seeing Kenshiro restraining the struggling arm of Hongo in his grasp. Three fingers stabbing him by their tips as both fighters began to desperate push against each other, trying each one to become the sole victor of their combat. The two combatants struggled greatly for a moment, but then Hongo rammed his knee into his elbow to give more strenght into his arm and sinked his fingers even deeper into Kenshiro's chest. The formidable young warrior reacted to the pain for just a moment, but then a look of resolution fell upon his face and he redoubled his efforts against Hongo's assault. His muscles constricted even more and he began to slowly, but steadily overcome his opponent.
Hongo struggled with all his might against Kenshiro's strenght, but he could do little to withstand against it and his arms were pushed, struggling and trembling away from the powerful young Hokuto practitioner. For a moment, he could only just stare at the younger man that was restraining his arms aloft and pushing him away at the same time. "H-how!?"
Kenshiro did not replied and just kept applying more and more strenght to push Hongo back, taking out his three stabbing fingers off his wounds to leave another 3 puncture marks atop of his bicep to accompany the other 4 running down his side. Once he had effectively gotten the long eared man off him, did Kenshiro let go of Akira's wrists, only to stab all of his stretched fingers at the base of each of his palms. Hongo looked puzzled for just a second, before all of his hand fingers suddenly exploded, clumps of blood and muscle tissue bursting forth in sprays of gore and fragments of bones left hanging from torn flesh, Kenshiro having utterly destroyed his opponent's ability to launch more spinning knife-strikes. Hongo could do nothing but scream in shock and pain.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
GOSHI RETSU DAN!
五指烈弾
(Five Finger Fury Bullets)
The people watching could just stare gobsmacked at this turn of events, every single one of them paralyzed by shock and awe after witnessing the terrifying efficency of Hokuto to utterly destroy any opposition. Kenshiro did not stop his counteroffensive just there and tossed a mighty straight punch right at Hongo's face, to normal eyes that punch seemed to divide into many and the long eared Karate master found himself being pummeled by a barrage of thousands of punches striking him all over his face. One last mighty punch striking him in full before sending him flying several yards and crashing with a pounderous impact into the ground.
HOKUTO SENJUKAI KEN!
北斗千手壊拳
(Thousand Hand Destruction Fist)
Hongo despite his wounds, managed to stand up again refusing to surrender, no matter that his hands were completely destroyed. "No! I will not let it end like this!" He yelled, forcing every single ounce of strenght he had left to stay upright.
"Please, cease this senseless resistance and accept your defeat. I have already taken from you your means to attack and defend, I do not wish to continue causing you harm." Kenshiro said trying to be diplomatic and end the fight before he found himself forced to break the long eared man completely.
But Hongo was never one to give up no matter the odds. "Never!" He said before he blasted towards the younger man with all the strenght left in his legs. He then struck by lifting a single leg and launching hundreds of kicks with it as he moved it around in a swirling spiraling pattern creating a small vortex of kicks that crashed into Kenshiro in full.
UZMAWASHI ZANRIN GERI!
Kenshiro just took the brunt of the attack without flinching and braved through the rain of blow to retaliate with his own attack, his muscles bulging a bit more as he let his fury fuel his actions and give him strenght. He let out a yell and unleashed his own storm of punches that overwhelmed and broke through Hongo's own barrage of kicks before sweeping him aside under the sheer number of attacks.
"AHTATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATAATATATATATATATATA…WACHA!"
HOKUTO HYAKURETSU KEN!
北斗百裂拳
(Hundred Crack Fist)
The inert body of Akira Hongo simple fell into the ground and didn't tried to get up again, his lights finally been turned out. Mills Lane approached to call out the fight. "He's out! The winner of this fight is the Hokuto style!"
Akira Hongo VS Kenshiro
Kenshiro Wins
K.O.
The tall imposing young man let out a tired sigh as he let go of his technique to use all of his body strenght, his muscles reducing back to their normal size. "I find no joy in having brought so much pain to such formidable warrior, but I am honored to have fought against him in honorable combat." He simply said, before going to check on the condition of his downed opponent.
!
The reactions at the end of this combat did not wait. Pan was openly giggling (Yes, giggling) in merriment after watching the end of the gruesome battle. "Now that is what I call a fight! I'm so happy right now; I really enjoyed the battle between these two, it made my blood run hot. Hongo certainly did well despite his loss."
At her side, Kushinada was standing waiting at the ready despite her own battered state. "You are pleased with the result of this battle even though Hongo was unable to achieve victory in your name, my mistress?" She asked in the most polite tone she could muster, it would not do to displease her new master so soon after having her life spared just because she didn't watched her tongue when she had tried to voice her… grievances.
"Of course! There was no shame in his defeat! He gave his all to try to win and never backed down despite things turning sour for him. He fought like a true warrior and gave us one of the greatest battles ever to be witnessed in the face of this planet for our enjoyment. I say he did a damn good job even though he lost in the end, and it's not like his opponent hadn't it easy and did not had to put some serious effort to earn his victory." Pan simply retorted nonchalantly.
Kushinada had to admit her new master had a point, she did had enjoyed the battle and was pleased to see again two real fighters fight with all their strength after so many decades. She nodded. "You are certainly correct my master, it was quite thrilling to see such competent fighters face each other with all their might. I suppose you will be giving Master Hongo the proper medical care to fix the damage to his hands. I can only imagine it would be quite the laborious task."
Pan just bristled at that observation from her new personal enforcer. "As I had mentioned before, the medical advances of my race are so above the standards of this world. His hands having exploded is nothing, I just have to collect all the bone fragments from his fingers and put them back in the correct place before healing him, or I could simple re-grow some new bones to replace the ones he lost, or clone him some new hands altogether. To fix his destroyed hands is but a mundane task to me." She said with no small amount of arrogance.
Kushinada just acknowledged her words. "Your knowledge and discoveries are certainly impressive my master."
!
The rest of the world was simply gaping jaw-slacked after seeing such unbelievable combat; Kenichi was the one who surmised the general opinion with a single sentence. "That was the Manliest fight ever!"
And that is all for now. Truly I originally hadn't contemplated to dedicate this entire chapter to Kenshiro's fight since you all have already seen I like to alternate between all the fights that are happening at any given time, but once I started I just simply couldn't stop and kept going until I had this thing ready.
Anyway, I hope you don't mind that I had Kenshiro hog the entire spotlight in this chapter. It's just that, the manliness of the Fist of the North Star cannot simply be ignored by just mere mortals. As always, leave a review and tell me what you think.