Chapter 3

Watching the spectacle take place in front of them, the audience were in awe. "Ladies and Gentlemen, it appears as though Kiagi has become engulfed in a blinding light" The announcer said placing a hand over his forehead. "What could this possibly mean for the Cat-Fist master; Ranma Saotome?"

Suddenly a massive lightning bolt tore away from the light and crashed into the ground with devastating force. The explosion caused bolts of energy to scatter around until a small crater was left in the middle of the fighting stage.

This is bad Ranma thought to himself as he looked on towards the crater and spotted a blue light permeating from the centre. At first, the light was kneeling but slowly began to stand up as the energy around it began to spark chaotically before finally stabilising and taking something resembling human form. The creature was cold looking with grey skin and a slight shimmer as though stardust flowed through its veins.

"Is that you there, Kiagi?" Ranma asked moving closer towards the creature. But it said nothing and slowly lifted its head to stare at him with a pair of piercing silver eyes.

"Yo Kiagi, you plan on talking to me?" Ranma shouted again as he began to lose his patience. But the creature said nothing and continued staring blankly. It was as if it was in a hypnotic trance, completely unaware of the world around it.

"What happened to Kiagi?" Soun said as he looked on in disbelief and leaned over to akane's seat. "I've never seen anything like this before."

"Me either daddy." Akane said turning round to face her father. "But I think Ranma's in trouble."

"This fight has taken a rather strange course, ladies and gentlemen." The announcer said, looking on at Kiagi's new form in disbelief. "I don't know what has happened to Kiagi, but as we look down at this creature taking his place, I have a great amount of concern for Ranma Saotome's wellbeing"

"Fine then," Ranma said, his patience finally gone, as he leaped forward to begin his assault. "Have it your way!"

Launching himself, Ranma prepared to strike the transformed sorcerer with all his might. But before he could make contact, Kiagi effortlessly stepped out of Ranma's way and cracked the back of his head with a hard backhand, causing his momentum to throw him completely off course and almost out of the ring. Thinking quickly, Ranma dug his heels into the tiles to stop himself from being victim of a ring out.

Watching her father teetering on the edge, Kaori was equally in danger of falling off the edge of her seat. "Daddy!" She screamed, startling her mother and grandparents behind her. "Don't fall!"

"Dont fall, She says!" Ranma said to himself teetering on the edge of the stage seconds away from losing. "Easy for you to say, sweetie." Finally, balance was restored and he managed to jump back onto a more secure area of the tiling.

"That was scary!" He sighed slumping down to his knees before looking behind him to see that Kiagi was still stood in the centre of the stage in the same statuesque position as before. "He hasn't even moved. He could have tried to take advantage and win but it's like he doesn't even know where he is. Just what the hell's going on here?"

"Just what the hell's going on here?" Ryoga asked looking on in disbelief. "Kiagi could have easily got a ring out there, but he didn't even look back to see where Ranma landed after he hit him."

"I know." Akari answered watching the fight in the same manner as her husband. "I'm not sure about this, but I don't even think he's concentrating on the fight anymore. His face just looks completely frozen."

Standing up, Ranma was somewhere between shocked and offended by Kiagi's utter lack of response.

"Don't you mock me, Kiagi!" He shouted, darting forward and unleashing a vicious onslaught of punches, kicks, elbows, knees and just about everything else he could throw at the sorcerer with all his might.

But to his surprise, Ranma's attacks hit only air. Nothing had connected with its target as Kiagi managed to dodge every single attack without any effort.

"I don't believe what I'm seeing, Saotome." Soun said, his hair standing on end from the shock "Ranma gave everything he had and Kiagi has avoided all of his attacks without even trying."

"Indeed." Genma said folding his arms. "It's almost as if his body is reacting entirely on its own."

"That's because it is." Kho Lon said from behind them.

"Kho Lon?" Akane said turning to face the old woman behind her father and father in law "Where did you come from?"

"What are you talking about?" Kho Lon asked back "I've been here for three hours. Your father in law stole my popcorn!"

"So that's where I got this." Genma said, throwing another kernel into his mouth before being smacked on the top of the head with the old woman's stick.

"Give me that!" She snapped stealing back her now half empty carton of popcorn. "In 3000 years of amazon history, I've never met anyone with as much greed as you, Genma Saotome!"

"Anyway," Akane interrupted "You said that Kiagi's body was reacting entirely on its own?"

"That's right child," Kho Lon answered "I may be wrong, but it looks as though Kiagi is using a technique called Mushen. It's a state of mind where the user's body relies entirely on Instinct without having to waste time thinking about a defence or a counter. It's said to be impossible but using this form, Kiagi has somehow managed to tap into Mushen's amazing properties. Problem is it takes a lot of energy to use this ability and this creature form appears to be siphoning a lot of Kiagi's life-force. If this keeps up, he risks burning himself out completely. "

"It's a pity Ranma doesn't know that." Soun said "if he did, he would just have to wait for Kiagi to drain himself off and he can win."

"But there's no telling how long that could take." Akane said "Ranma could end up using all of his strength first."

"Indeed." Kho Lon said "Whatever happens now, we are definitely in the closing minutes of this fight. And we still have no idea who's going to win."