Chapter 4: Kazuya vs Lung! The Dragon and the Devil, Part 4

The newcomer frowned.

"My name is Armsmaster."

Armsmaster? What an arrogant name. He only carried a halberd, so at most he was a master of one weapon. Anyway, Kazuya wasn't going to give him much. Getting into a fight between two monsters with a toy like that was the height of stupidity.

If he wanted to commit suicide, Kazuya didn't see it as a problem at all, but he would still demonstrate the depth of that man's stupidity anyway.

"Although it's not like you should care," the self-proclaimed Armsmaster continued. "You're fighting against that monster, Lung. You should accept any help you can..."

He had had enough.

Kazuya snatched the halberd from Armsmaster's hands as easily as taking candy from a baby; then, he snapped it over his knee. He split it in half effortlessly. With both arms, of course. More than enough time had passed for it to regenerate. Due to the helmet, he could only see half of Armsmaster's face. But his lower half suddenly became extremely expressive.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I don't need anyone's help, especially not from a weakling like you, who relies on weapons instead of his own body. So get out of my way."

The fight would have been inevitable if Lung hadn't intervened. The self-proclaimed master of arms went flying over the fountain, of course, over the lampposts and power lines, engulfed in flames like a comet descending to earth, but he was doing just the opposite. He soared even above the buildings. Kazuya quickly lost sight of him.

"Pathetic. Not even worth talking about."

—

Taylor watched Armsmaster flying, cloaked in a mantle of flames, above the buildings. She swallowed hard. She had stayed even after finding out that her swarm's poisons hadn't been enough to bring down or at least weaken Lung (she didn't want to think that they had weakened him and he was still monstrously strong), but that awful sight helped her make a decision.

"Screw this. I'm out."

She turned around and descended into the alley through the fire escape, just as she had climbed up in the first place, since she didn't have an incredibly useful power.

I wish I could fly, of course, like anyone.

Or at least stick to walls like a spider.

—

Kazuya shrugged. Well, that's it, problem solved. Although the annoying little man had suggested that there was more cavalry on the way, maybe he would be able to finish this fight before they came meddling where nobody needed them.

He cracked his knuckles.

"Okay, where were we?"

Lung laughed.

A strange, deep laugh. The strangest thing would be if it wasn't strange. After all, his face, his mouth, his throat, everything about him was becoming less human. If his name and tattoos weren't enough clues, by now anyone would understand the final point of his transformation. Eventually, he would look like a dragon, not like a human being.

Or something like that.

Oriental or occidental, his face didn't resemble any dragon he had ever heard of.

Well, he didn't care.

He didn't think he would last long enough against him to see his final form anyway. Although he had to admit that he had never thought he would come this far and there he was, still standing, still more than willing to keep fighting.

Well, time will tell.

"I don't want anyone to interrupt this fight. So come with me to the skies. Unless the idiots that man mentioned can fly. In a different way, of course. Then I won't bother moving. I won't move an inch."

"Just one."

Kazuya shrugged again.

"That's fine by me."

And he soared into the clouds. Lung followed closely obediently. He was eager for a worthy fight and wouldn't do anything to spoil that opportunity. He understood him perfectly.

"My blood burns too," Lung said. "The last time I got this excited was against Leviathan." He laughed again, high on the battle rush. "I must be really excited, since you're the first person in a long, long time I've talked about that with. You're the first in years to have the honor of knowing it."

"Leviathan, is that name supposed to mean something to me?"

"You're really strange. That you can understand me perfectly despite the progress of my transformation is one thing, or that Armsmaster understood you even though you're speaking Japanese. That could easily be the result of a power. However, there is no one in this world who doesn't know about the Endbringers. Not a single person. Or at least there shouldn't be."

"If I don't know them, they can't be that important," Kazuya said without a second thought.

However, it wasn't true. That had planted the seed of doubt in Kazuya's heart. He didn't even want to consider something so ridiculous, but a possibility that would explain all the strange things so far had come to mind. He just didn't want to believe it.

There were things in this world beyond science, but it was still too ridiculous a possibility.

He wouldn't accept such a thing until he was forced to.

Lung opened his eyes wide.

He shook his head.

"Anyway, it's not like I'm proud of what I did then. The Endbringers are forces of nature. There's no point in fighting against them. But you, you're incredibly strong. And as human as I am. That's enough for me. I don't need to know your story. Satisfy me, don't make it easy for me!"

"Satisfy you? Know your place. You're just an appetizer before my fight with my real enemy."

"I've never been defeated. Not once. As I fight, I become stronger and stronger. Eventually, I surpass my enemy. It's inevitable. So I don't even know the limits of my power. Will you help me discover them... or will you be crushed like everyone else?"

"You need to wake up. However, by that point you'll be torn to pieces."

The two winged monsters took off, crossing the ten meters that separated them in an instant to collide in the middle. Even the clouds trembled. The terrible battle had actually only just begun.

They both cared little about the victims and other collateral damage, but at least at this height, it would be more difficult for them to be interrupted.

They exchanged a series of blows in rapid succession. The best defense was a good offense. That was being demonstrated here and now. They weren't defending themselves, but as a consequence of attacking, they were canceling out each other's attacks. Fist by fist, kick by kick.

A stalemate.

The question now was who would make the first mistake, and that was Kazuya. It was embarrassing, but Lung pierced through his guard and delivered a hammer blow to his head, clasping his hands together. His superhuman strength, aided by his incredible size as well, sent him flying downwards. Like a shooting star.

They had agreed to take the fight to the skies to avoid interruptions, but was Lung already trying to force him into a crash landing?

Well, he couldn't expect Lung to hold back just for that. Besides, nothing stopped him from soaring back up immediately. It took him a moment to recover from the blow, he had to admit. He was about ten meters away from hitting the ground, but then he grabbed a lamppost.

It bent, but held his weight. Kazuya made sure of it. He circled it a few times. Just enough to build momentum, to launch himself back towards his enemy.

It was hard to read Lung's expression with his face so transformed, but he seemed surprised.

He tried to punch through Lung, but didn't even get the chance. Perhaps he would have had enough power, but the beast dodged his mighty punch. Oh well, it was worth a shot. He had covered quite a distance before attempting the punch, of course, but he was fast.

The problem was, they both were.

The fight had progressed to the point where normal humans would struggle to keep up with their movements with their eyes.

Lung claimed he grew stronger the longer he stayed in battle. He hinted that maybe he had no limits. Of course, limitless power was absurd. And even if such a thing existed, Devil's Power would still reign supreme for one simple reason.

Lung needed to get stronger.

Kazuya was as strong as he could be from the get-go. He wasn't holding back in the slightest, yet he couldn't kill him, but he would before he could get stronger than him.

He knew for certain as the fight couldn't last for days.

Still...

Kazuya smiled. A smile of joy, but not innocent, far from it.

Why wouldn't he be happy?

This was the ideal opponent, the forge's fire he needed to temper his iron fist.

That was all, however.

Even now, Kazuya didn't even consider the possibility of being defeated.

After all, Heihachi was a human who matched the power of the devil gene with nothing but training and sheer determination. If he couldn't even beat this dragon, he wouldn't stand a chance against him.

However, things ended surprisingly quickly. It wasn't anything special. Simply put, no one could defend themselves 100% of the time, and Kazuya had the speed and strength necessary to exploit any opening to the fullest. And exploit it he did. His fist drilled into the dragon's chest like a rock drill, even sending sparks flying.

Kazuya felt his iron fist slide between the ribs, forcefully bending them aside to make way. He felt it reach the creature's heart and shatter it. There was no doubt. It only took one mistake. Just one mistake. Lung couldn't even launch a final counterattack to try to drag him down to hell.

His entire body went limp and fell forward. The only thing supporting him was Kazuya's arm piercing through his chest. So, when he withdrew it, Lung fell to the ground.

His landing formed a crater of considerable depth. Undoubtedly, he had crushed his heart, but the transformation wasn't reversing. On the contrary, the scales began to grow faster, covering the black hole in his chest. Shortly after, the man who he had presumed dead stood up, albeit not without some difficulty.

Not even that had been enough.

For the first time in decades, Kazuya laughed like a child again. He assumed a battle stance.

"You haven't had enough, huh? Come here!"

—

Taylor couldn't make as clean an exit as she would have liked.

She bumped into something and upon raising her head, she saw it was someone. A very tall man with a biker helmet, his head engulfed in darkness. Once again, she couldn't really talk, but that kind of outfit screamed villain. More importantly, he wasn't alone. He was accompanied by two girls, a effeminate boy with a theater mask and a staff...

And some mutant beasts vaguely resembling dogs.

Why?

Why me?

Kazuya vs Lung! The Dragon and the Devil, Part 4: FIN

Two in February, two in March… Is this now a bimonthly series? By the way, it's a bit annoying that you can only distinguish whether it means twice a month or once every two months from the context.