A Fight That's Been A Long Time Coming...! (Part 2)

I didn't let him get too much momentum as I charged at him myself, the two of us colliding mid-way like a bunch of mad wildebeest.

We clashed, muscle to muscle, bone to bone, hands grabbing onto the other's and pushing, trying to use brute strength to overpower the other. This wasn't a fight of technique or martial arts but one of brute force, of strength.

Our clash resulted in a stale mate, the two of us pushing against each other and causing the ground beneath our feet to crumble and crack, splitting under the force we were exerting. Pushing with everything I had in my base form, I heard my joints popping and my muscles releasing refreshed cracks, finally getting a stretch after so long in that weighted suit.

"Ah?! This is good! A real damn good warm up!" Yujiro shouted, his lips drawing back and baring his teeth to he world like a beast. Though I couldn't say much as I was doing the exact same thing.

"Haa?! Just a warm-up?! Don't get arrogant on me, OLD MAN!" I roared as I entered Overdrive, pumping it to the max I could without Seidou Goitsu to back it up. My skin turned red like it was covered in blood and heat billowed off of my body in waves, distorting the air around me and even making the grass at our feet slowly start turning brown under the heat.

The two of us continued to push against the other, one of us trying with supreme effort and the other effortlessly holding the other off. The former was obviously me, while the latter was Yujiro.

Okay, he wasn't effortlessly fending off my pushing, but he wasn't using more than 10-20% of his power. But that's what made it even more fun. It allowed me to try my absolute hardest against someone. To excavate every little bit of power from every fiber of my being...it was truly refreshing and nice.

My muscles tensed and flexed, my feet digging into the ground and I actually found that Yujiro's veins were beginning to show up on his arms. This made me smile as I decided to bring an end to our primitive clash of strength with a high-kick to Yujiro's chin.

His body was lifted off the ground with the force of the kick and because he'd lost his ground to push against, I pushed him back, sending my foot out for another kick, but this time toward his stomach. That kick, combined with the push, sent him flying back, even through a few thin trees.

Though none of it did any damage to him, I smiled even wider. A few years ago, I'd have been crushed well before I could even do anything like what I did.

What better way to see my growth than to test myself against the strongest creature, huh?!

"Haha! A pretty cheap shot!" Yujiro laughed as he charged back at me, throwing a simple punch which caused the air around me to go wild and violent like a hurricane was passing through. Smirking, I met his charge but instead of taking the punch or dodging it, I deflected it with my hands, using a mixture of Chinese Kenpo, Sambo, and Rotation Defense from Karate. It's a stance I call 'Aegis'. A stance that emulated the ultimate shield, able to block or deflect any attack I come across.

And just like the ultimate shield, I have a technique that can be used as the ultimate spear, meant to crush defenses.

"Longinus!" I gave a short shout, before throwing out a spear hand that seemed to glint in a metallic light under the sun in a slightly red color.

In truth these were some of the stances of the 'Nishimiya Style'. 'Aegis' was my defense form, as you might have guessed. 'Longinus' however, was my anti-defense form that focused on quick and sharp attacks that packed a decent amount of power. But instead of raw power it focused on cutting power. It basically turned my hands into spears. So, it could double as both my anti-defense stance and my killing stance.

Anyway, Yujiro's eyes went a little wider in curiosity, but he still moved his head out of the way slightly, "Ha..?!" but it was too late as I still left a deep cut across his cheek and it was now spewing out blood.

But would I give him a rest just because I hit him? Hell no.

I sent spear hand after spear hand at Yujiro, throwing in some feints every now and then, and even sending out kicks which embodied the special characteristic of the 'Longinus' stance aka cutting power. I was practically like a spinning storm of sharp edges. Edges so sharp they could cut the strongest creature. So, instead of taking them head on, Yujiro dodged back forth. Though he didn't move from his original spot.

That pissed me off a little, and I picked up my speed, adding in the footwork of another of one of my other stances which was focused on upping my explosive movement speed and agility.

I flashed around Yujiro, throwing faster and faster spear hands at him, the air splitting and making a whistling sound, like bullets were flying through the air at Yujiro. His body was a blur as he dodged each and every one of my attacks, spotting the feints easily enough, not even bothering to acknowledge them.

Smirking, Yujiro spoke out while dodging, "This is good. But you're not going all out yet, are you? I've seen your other form - the one above what you're using right now...let me force you to use it--!" before he could finish speaking, my speed suddenly increased by leaps and bounds, and a leg sweep forced Yujiro to jump above the sweep, but as he saw my smirk, he released he'd fallen for it.

Spinning my body around, I switched to my heavy hitting stance and sent a kick straight at the same place I'd hit earlier.

Yet the force behind the kick was much stronger and a lot more deadly. A show of this, was how the air whipped around my foot, exploding out of the way, as if to move out of the way of a giant blunt weapon.

But Yujiro, not one to be caught by surprise for long, slammed his feet back into the ground before grabbing my foot with both his hands, his arms bulging alongside his veins as a smile spread wide across his face in an inhuman way. He truly looked like a battle-hungry Ogre like this.

*BOOM!*

The ground behind both us exploded like a meteor had hit the ground, flying up into the air. The ground shook like a earthquake was underway, and the force that dispersed through the ground knocked over some of the trees around us, clearing an area of around 20 meters, with all the trees having feel over within that diameter.

When the dust had cleared, the ground was cracked, torn up, and in a mess. It was truly like I said - it looked like this was the site for a meteor strike.

But the thing that truly put a smile on my face? Yujiro had been knocked back a foot or two.

"Ha..ha...hahaha....HAHAHAHAHA!" suddenly, Yujiro began to laugh as his grip on my foot continued to tighten, "Good! You've truly not disappointed me, Yukiro!" he roared with laughter, in his usual arrogant and boisterous way.

Pulling my foot from his grip, I slipped into the stance I just used to cause this kind of destruction.

I call it 'Mjolnir'. A stance that focuses on heavy strikes and hardening the body to be like metal when I throw a punch, making it feel like my opponent is actually being hit by hammers. It's main goal is to destroy the opponent through brute strength, and destroy it does. Anything I've hit with the punches from this stance has broken. Wood, rock, metal - I hadn't found anything that could resist the hits. Even Ogata-sensei tried to dodge the strikes when possible.

But here my father is, blocking the strike and still being alright enough to laugh about it.

...Tsk. He's a real bastard sometimes.

"Yukiro!" he shouted, his face savage and full of battle intent, "Power up to your strongest and come at me! Make my blood boil and rush! Make me feel fulfilled with this fight!" he roared before charging at me.

"If you wanted me to come at you...WHY ARE YOU CHARGING, OLD MAN?!" I roared in return, flexing my legs and blasting at him to meet his charge, mixing my 'Mercury' stance with my 'Mjolnir' stance to have both explosive speed and agility, and overwhelming destructive power. This was something I'd thought up after remembering the Niko Style. That style mixed it's Katas together, to make stronger moves, so I tried it, and after a lot of trial and error, I found a way to mix the stances together.

Though sadly I could only mix two at a time. But I feel like I could eventually make one, ultimate stance. Eventually, I'd only have one stance. Maybe then I could think up a suitable name for the style. Though the Nishimiya Style is good enough for now.

Right now, however, I had to settle with just two stances combined. Let's see how it holds up against my father.

We traded blows, Yujiro giving up on dodging all together, and just letting me wail into him. He repaid the favor but with me occasionally switching out the 'Mercury' element of the combined stance with 'Aegis' I could hold on by deflecting some of his stronger punches and hardening my muscles for the weaker ones.

Though those punches still hurt like a bitch. The me before the underwater training...his bones and muscles would've snapped under this bombardment.

...But it was so fun! So exciting! My heart was beating in my ears and the booms were felt in the depths of my very bones! The Hanma bloodline ran through my thickly, and it only made me more excited the more the fight went on.

We flashed around the place, destroying the trees, the rocks, the ground - everything was torn up when it came between us. Two demons fighting to see who was better and both smiling like mad men while they did it, hitting each other with hammer-like fists and destroying their environment without a care.

"Ha...ha...YU-KI-RO!" Yujiro got out, his breath heavy and rough, but not from exhaustion. No, rather, it was from excitement, "I'm gonna use 70% of my power in this next punch...you better survive it!" he roared and before I knew it, he was in front of me, swinging his hand. It was so quick, I could barely see the fist - it was a blur to my eyes.

Though I adapted and reacted quickly enough, throwing up a cross arm guard in front of me in the shape of an 'X'.

I felt the punch hit me, and through the guard, I could see Yujiro's eyes glowing red as he bared his teeth in a animalistic snarl. I couldn't see it, but I could feel that Yujiro...was using his Demon Back. He'd gotten semi-serious in this punch, and all the years of training I'd underwent came flooding through me. Every cell that had been imprinted on through the training, forged by it, flared, burning up whatever potential they had, fueling my guard, all to resist the force I felt hitting me.

I hardened my arms through the use of 'Aegis', making them like metal, no, I made them harder than metal. I made them as unbreakable as I could.

Yet as the punch hit my guard, I felt minute cracks spread throughout my arms almost instantly. As the force traveled up my arms and to my shoulders, I felt them buckle, the cracks spreading there. The force seemed to fill my body and I felt it destroying the abnormal physique I was so proud of. The bones of steel and the muscles of iron...were breaking under the force.

I felt despair at how after so much training, I still wasn't enough. One punch at 70% strength, had put me on the ropes instantly.

But most of all, I felt despair for my family.

What if Yujiro decided my strength wasn't enough? What if while I was injured he hurt Shouko-neesan and mom? What if I wasn't good enough and it got them killed?

*Ba-dump...*

I...I refused to let that happen. Yujiro sent another punch, slamming it into my guard with the force of a mountain behind it. But I refused to give in.

If my bones were turned to dust, I'd hold them together through pure muscle power. If my muscles were torn, I'd keep standing through pure willpower...and I'd never let that break. As long as I still had something to protect. People to go home to after all this training...I'd persevere. For them...I'd persevere.

*Ba-dump...!*

I don't care what he does...I.Won't.Lose.

*Ba-dump!*

Not now. Not ever.

This is the day where I decide to stop losing. I lost to Alexander when I first met him. I lost to Sogetsu countless times when we practiced Chinese Kenpo. Ogata could use his tricks to get a win on me, or by countering my superior physique with superior skill. Doppo used to wipe the floor with me when I first started training.

And...Yujiro Hanma. He'd always beaten me...without even fighting me.

*BA-DUMP!*

But not anymore.

As I thought about all I would lose if I couldn't at least make him go 100%...I felt something within me just snap. A limit of sorts.

Seidou Goitsu, which had been passively active, increased it's intensity by ten fold, making my Dou Ki burst out with even more vigor, while compressing my Sei Ki even further. It sharpened my mind and my body even further, and then...something weird happened. It was like having this intense, amped up version of Seidou Goitsu active at the same time as Overdrive, broke through a limit, and combined both of the forms.

My Ki, the Ki that surrounded me, was no longer the orange color associated with Dou Ki, nor the purple color associated with Dual Ki...but a pure, blood red color. It poured off of my body like a fountain of blood but behind me, unbeknownst to me...

It formed a Demon's face.

Instinctively, I formed the stances together for one punch. One punch with everything I had.

One punch to keep everything that meant something to me safe.

As I swung my arm, I felt my muscles and bones collapsing under the strain of using this weird new form, alongside the 4 combined stances but I pushed through it, and ignoring a punch that Yujiro sent at me, I slammed my fist right into Yujiro's face. His eyes widened before he smiled, showing his grit teeth. His punch hit me, but it didn't stop my attack, my body cracking all over, extending a few centimeters in height and overall size because of the amount of Ki flowing through my system.

I couldn't feel the pain of the damage and I felt nigh-invincible. But that was just an illusion of power, or a special effect of this new form.

But ignoring that, I pushed through, and Yujiro went flying backwards. He hadn't had enough time to prepare himself and as he was limiting himself to 70% of his power, he couldn't resist the force of my current punch.

My fist had sunk into his face, causing blood to burst out of his nose and a slight snapping sound could be heard:

I broke his nose.

He went flying through the trees behind him and I felt my vision darkening. I'd pushed myself too far. I exited the weird form I was in, and the pain came flooding it, making my ears buzz and my knees buckle, yet I stood strong, my determination to not lose and put my family in risk, at an all time high right now.

But no matter how strong my willpower was, my vision continued to get darker.

"Guess I lost...huh...?" I whispered, my shoulders drooping as energy lost my body and pain assaulted it, "Sorry...mom...Shouko-nee...san..." and I was out.

. . .

POV Change - Yujiro Hanma

Hahaha! What a strong little bastard! That punch actually broke my nose! How long has it been since someones been able to do that?!

I rushed back to where he was and seeing him standing still, I went to charge at him...yet stopped.

He was unconscious...yet I could feel a hint of danger from him. Heh. I felt a smile spread across my face, but unlike my usual savage smiles, this time it was a gentler one. Relatively, at least. "This kid...he's surely got the Hanma Bloodline in him!" I roared with laughter, my 'gentle' smile disappearing, replaced by my usual one, "What a monster. To be so young yet hit me so hard...Even if I didn't go all-out against him, he shows potential. I guess I'll leave his family alone for now," I mused to myself, but as soon as I said, Yukiro dropped to the ground, as if the reason for his determination had been settled.

Smiling, I shook my head at the family-loving brat as I chortled. Why does it seem that my kids are always so loving? Apart from Jack, Yukiro and Baki are both very good kids who show more compassion than necessary. Maybe that's what gives them the drive to get stronger?

Seeing how Yukiro turned out, maybe me having left Emi alive was a good thing for Baki after all?

Feeling someone approaching from deep in the woods, I took one last look at Yukiro before flashing away, wiping my bloody nose with my shirt, all the while, a smile on my face.

A few more years and he'll definitely be a brilliant fight!