Chapter 114: Painful Training

The day of the tournament arrived and the teams were preparing to fight.

Miu's group arrived accompanied by Saeko and Rei as they were eager to fight martial artists.

I let them do what they wanted as Saeko's words affected me more than I thought.

If I continue to protect them too much they will not be able to grow and improve which could make me bored since the increase of my Madness of Egoism to 90% I have realized that my attachment to living beings has decreased and I am only interested in people who are willing to do anything to get what they want, in short, I am attracted to selfish people.

Even if I allowed them to have fun, I contacted Yuriko to send some mutant beasts that would be transported via a submarine that I got with the help of the mafia and the Yellow Queen. The power of technology and money is overwhelming in a civilized society.

With the resources that keep coming to this world from the apocalyptic world, I can start the Third World War at any time so this tournament can be the trigger to start and end the Story of this world.

I let the pieces settle in this strange world-dominated chess set that I am putting together and looked at the combat arena.

There are a total of 17 teams. Originally there were 16 but when I added my name it made an odd number of teams.

Diego did not bother about that and included me as a wild card participant, normally that could annoy the public, but it has been stated that to even things out if I defeat my opponent he will not be disqualified and in case someone defeats me I will be disqualified plus I will have to do twice as many fights compared to the other teams.

Bastard Diego, that idiot just wants to see me put on a show.

Kenichi joined his friends in a team called the Shinpaku Alliance.

Originally Kenichi wanted to fight alongside Miu while Kenichi's friends wanted to recruit Kaname and Kisara but the women in my harem know that I am a bit possessive and they formed their own team made up of only women.

Frankly, it doesn't bother me if they make male friends, I will simply alter those boys' nervous systems so that they are powerless like Kenichi's father and if they still try to make a rapprochement with my lovers then I will make it look like a tragic accident.

Right now Kenichi and his friends were fighting with a group of veteran soldiers.

Kenichi's alien-like friend whose name I didn't bother to remember had angered Diego by interrupting his show and as punishment Diego made them face dangerous people.

I told Diego that Kenichi would win since those soldiers were used to guerrilla warfare instead of duels, but he said that he was fine as long as it was entertained.

Something I found out is that even if Kenichi is no longer the protagonist, he still has some of the power of the plot armor in the form of the Power of Friendship.

How did I know?

When Kenichi's friend who practices boxing was in a bad situation, Kenichi yelled to cheer him up and suddenly the boxer had a power surge.

Stupid Power of Friendship, it doesn't make sense.

I sighed internally, there are still many that I do not understand about the operation of the Plot and Destiny.

So the fights continued as Navi continued to explore the island for traps and the location of Yami's experts searching for Shigure.

Sayo, Kaede, Shiro, Yellow Queen, and Shigure were in a VIP area watching the tournament attentive to any possible problems.

I spoke to Shigure about that idiot Tachibana to find out what her opinion would be if I killed him.

Shigure didn't want him to die as they were once like brothers, but she mentioned that if he really tried to push her away from me then it would be Shigure herself who would finish him off. After that, I made sure to pamper my adorable Shigure a lot.

On a side note, I improved my technique to go from the fist of life to the fist of death so it was possible to use both martial arts paths without side effects in the same way as I use Ki Dou and Ki Sei.

Now I am raising the possibility of combining the Rasen, Anti-Rasen, and Madness, but it is quite complicated at the moment.

Navi found Raki and Tachibana (Yami's weapons experts), they were both watching the tournament in boredom.

Besides them there were 20 martial artists in level Master, apparently, now experts grow on trees.

Even though Yami's group was dangerous, I was disappointed not to find Mikumo. She should be hiding too well or she hasn't made it to the island yet, but that's okay, I want her to see me fight to get her attention.

I kept looking at the tournament with boredom. Kenichi's group won by showing good strategy and teamwork. Miu and my girls also easily beat a group of Chinese martial arts.

Renka seemed to have talked to the girl from that team. Seeing the expression of my cute Chinese kitten, Saeko must have convinced her to look for more candidates for my harem.

I like Saeko's dedication, but sometimes I think she can be a bit over the top.

The tournament progressed and I felt like sighing as I saw Hayato clowning around pretending to be a 20-year-old boy.

If Hayato had a body modification skill like mine then he could do this, but he doesn't have it and his disguise technique is embarrassing.

I understand that many martial artists have peculiar personalities, but seeing a man over six feet tall, with muscles of steel, wearing a silly superhero mask, and pretending to be a teenager was disturbing.

When Hayato won the match he looked in my direction for a moment. His mask prevented me from seeing his eyes, but knowing him he is surprised to see me here.

No, it wasn't a surprise, it was like he wanted to tell me something, I don't know what it is, but somehow I have a bad feeling.

Ah, now that I think about it Miu didn't hide her ring...

This is going to hurt.

The fights continued and Diego once again proved to be a son of a bitch who loves to watch the world burn.

"For the next event we will introduce the first wild card battle!" - The female presenter shouted excitedly. - "Fighter Garyuu X impressed us with his great fighting skills, he is one of the only two participants who entered this tournament as individual fighters so this is a great opportunity to see his skills. The next match will be a 1 vs 1 battle!"

Diego, you fucking bastard...

"Wild card contestant Luis Santos will face 20-year-old lone wrestler Garyuu X!" - The presenter was genuinely excited.

I sighed wondering what Diego is thinking, if he organized this it is because something good will come out of my fight with Hayato, but still this is a problem.

"This is good?" - Tsubaki asked from my Core of Existence.

"No, it's not" - I sighed. - "But Hayato will not use more power than the level that I use, if I fight suppressing my abilities until the Expert level he will do the same, but even if we both do not use Ki and focus on using techniques, he can beat me"

My only advantage is my [Ogre Body] that together with my black blood allows me to resist a direct fight against Hayato as long as he does not use Ki, the problem is that I do not know his entire repertoire of techniques and I can lose at the slightest carelessness.

The most troublesome thing is that in a prolonged fight I will lose as I cannot use assassination tactics against Hayato or my relationship with the other dojo masters will be damaged.

"Easy, I'm here" - Tsubaki spoke softly.

I wanted to smile, Tsubaki is more and more affectionate which helps me to reduce my migraine.

"Okay, let's go" - I walked towards the combat arena.

I'm wearing a basic karate uniform so I reached into my shirt to pretend to pull something out.

Tsubaki appeared in my hand in the form of a ninja sword. Since she will not be able to transform during this fight I prefer to use this sword to focus on speed.

"Exciting, woof" - Madness sounded excited, this fool is turning into a fighting maniac.

Well, whatever, Hayato isn't going to kill me so some broken bones aren't a problem.

I got to the center of the arena where Hayato was standing, his towering presence being destroyed by the stupid child superhero mask.

"Ohohoho, it's good to see such a brave opponent to enter this tournament without teammates" - Hayato acted as if we knew each other so I followed the game.

"I just want to improve my skills as there is a mission that I must fulfill" - I spoke full of determination and resolve like a hero fighting for justice.

This took Hayato by surprise and he asked with genuine curiosity. - "Oh? And what is that noble mission?"

"A girl that I love, we are currently in a relationship, but to be with her I must defeat her grandfather" - I spoke filled with nobility and affection.

"..." - Hayato stood still for several seconds and then spoke enthusiastically. - "Hohohoho that is a moving goal, but maybe the grandfather of your beloved will not be very happy so you must prepare to receive a beating"

"I will do anything for her" - I showed an expression of absolute determination, then I used the sound technique Hayato taught me to speak in such a way that only he could hear me. - "I will even help her discover the truth about her parents"

Hayato fell into deep silence and then took a fighting stance extending his arms in the form of a bear grip.

I won the match with words, now I will show my determination and strength.

Martial artists can get to know each other better by fighting so in this fight I must show Hayato my determination to be with Miu, if I do things right then Hayato will not try to stop me in my noble mission to unify the world.

"Fight!"

With the shout of the presenter through the microphone I launched myself towards Hayato keeping my arms close to my body.

Hayato has the advantage of range and weight so I must be fast and unpredictable in my attacks even if I must sacrifice the strength of my blows with that.

When I got into Hayato's attack range, I jumped to the left, then kicked the ground to propel myself forward, kicked the ground again to propel myself to the left, and turned my body to attack Hayato's back.

With the tip of the sword I aimed at an acupuncture point on the thigh that would paralyze Hayato's leg, but when my attack touched Hayato's thigh I focused the black blood on my right shoulder to protect myself.

"Good idea, but you lack speed" - Hayato commented as his palm hit my shoulder throwing me two meters away.

I fell to my feet and looked at Hayato who was standing as if nothing had happened.

Now I realized that the Hayato I attacked was just a residual shadow generated by high-speed movement.

This will be a problem, even with my enhanced senses I couldn't see Hayato's movement.

Since Hayato is too fast, one option is to use counterattacks while I lessening the impact of his blows.

There is a Chinese martial arts technique called Shaorii or Xiao-Lee which consists of completely relaxing the body to allow the force of the blows to be distributed outside the body as if the person were a leaf in the wind.

So far I have not used this technique since my fighting style is of the violent type and this technique practically leaves the body unprotected, but now I do not have many options.

I imitated the pose of a frog and then used a spring effect to propel myself towards Hayato.

In midair, I relaxed my internal muscles while holding my attacking stance so Hayato won't notice what I plan to do.

"You must not be so hasty and impulsive" - ​​Hayato thought that I chose to attack directly so he did not dodge my attack and gave me a palm blow to my right arm which was where I was holding the ninja sword.

I received the attack. When the force of the blow hit my arm, I used the black blood as a cushion of water to distribute the force of the blow through my body avoiding the vital organs.

In less than a second, I used the Hamon waves to make the vibrations in my blood go to my left fist allowing me to hit back at Hayato's wrist.

When my fist hit Hayato's wrist I used Rasen to increase my strength by doing an impromptu Giga Drill Break. Since I didn't gather enough spiral power my attack was less than a tenth the strength of a real Giga Drill Break, but combined with the strength of Hayato's strike it was a decent strike.

Hayato was unaffected by my attack and stepped forward allowing him to flex his arm to gain momentum.

Hayato turned his palm to use the back of his hand to hit my abdomen.

When I received the blow to my abdomen I brought my arms and legs together to hold Hayato's arm and not move away from him.

With my black blood, I redirected half the impact towards my arms and legs so that the force of the attack hurt Hayato's arm, but I couldn't redirect the entire attack so I felt my insides shake.

Hayato did not continue attacking and instead began to speak. - "Your Shaorii is good, but you still can't relax your body because you are thinking about how to counterattack, you should think less and use your instincts more"

"You sound like a wise man instead of a 20-year-old" - I laughed wryly even though I felt like a cat hanging on the edge of a cliff.

"Hohohoho, don't think about it too much" - Hayato started to laugh and then shook his arm to throw me a meter away.

Hayato rolled up the sleeve of his martial arts uniform and I saw that there was a slight bruise on his arm just below his steel arm guard.

"Not bad" - Hayato sighed in admiration. - "For being so young your achievements in martial arts are admirable"

Hayato readjusted his sleeve and then used his sound technique to give me a message. - "Show me that Miu has good eyes to choose a man and in return maybe I will not hit you so much"

I used the same sound technique to answer. - "I'll do my best, grandpa"

"..." - Hayato sighed. - "Don't call me grandfather, at least not for now"

It seems that my talent combined with my words of being willing to help Miu find the truth about her parents had a good effect on Hayato.

Even if he is unwilling to re-admit me to the Ryozanpaku, at least he is not that reluctant about my relationship with Miu.

Hayato must think that even if I choose the wrong path, I do it for the good of others and because of my protective and kind personality, I will make sure that Miu is happy.

The days I spent acting like a good and noble boy to the point of wanting to throw up are paying off.

I smiled. - "I will show you that Miu not only has a good eye, she is also capable of facing her past without fear"

Hayato didn't respond and this time he was the one who attacked. He appeared in front of me in the blink of an eye and launched a low kick towards my legs.

I relaxed all my muscles and used Shaorii, making my body spin several times in the air as the force of the impact turned into centrifugal force.

In midair, I used Spin to increase the speed with which my body spun as it propelled me towards Hayato like a drill.

My body pierced Hayato's figure showing that it was again an afterimage. I used Spin in the opposite direction forcing my body to stop spinning which caused cracks in some of my bones, but they were healed by the black blood and Hamon.

Before hitting the ground, I did a Ki platform in my palms to have a base to hold me in the air and double-kicked backward as Hayato had appeared behind me.

Hayato used his hand to support my feet and then lifted me up and then slammed me to the ground.

I couldn't use Shaorii to disperse all the direct hit to the ground so I hardened my bones with black blood and Ki to lessen the damage.

The ground was filled with cracks when my body hit the ground, but my bones didn't break so it didn't matter.

Hayato released my feet and spoke with his sound technique. - "The Shaorii is a good technique that combines defense and attack, but it is weak against attacks that cover the whole body since you do not have how to distribute the force of the impact, keep that in mind"

I stood up and dusted myself off my clothes.

"Thanks for the advice, I'll take it into account the next time you use me as a punching bag" - I exclaimed sarcastically.

Hayato is helping me train by showing me the flaws in my way of fighting, but it's obvious this damn old man is having fun.

"Hohohoho, it's exciting to have such a nice fight" - Hayato started laughing out loud giving me a bad feeling. - "Let's do our best in this fight!"

I can swear I saw his eyes glow with light through the mask.

Hayato became a blurry shadow and appeared in front of me in an instant. I did not dare to use Shaorii so I contracted my muscles while using my arms to protect my abdomen.

"Hohoho you have good reflexes! But it is useless to be able to block if you are not able to withstand the recoil of the blows "- Hayato was laughing as he kicked me in the abdomen throwing me at three meters.

Before my body stabilized in midair, Hayato appeared behind me, held my right shoulder, and hit me on the ground causing my body to be crushed by the momentum of two different attacks.

Although we are not using Ki and we only fight with brute force and techniques, Hayato has greater combat experience as well as better control of his strength.

Even if my physical strength is comparable to his, the difference in size and the way Hayato takes advantage of each movement makes it difficult for me to resist his blows.

"When facing a bigger enemy it does not matter if you are strong since you will have a weight disadvantage, what you should do is find a way to connect a blow without the force of the impact being distributed" - Hayato let go of me leaving me lying on the ground.

The ground was a special type of reinforced concrete that can resist explosives, but now there was a small crater caused by my body.

I stood up and shook my body making my joints creak.

I threw the ninja sword at Hayato's face and he easily stopped it with two fingers. I took advantage of the fact that his hand was at an angle where his arm blocked his view and I rushed to attack the blind spot with my fist.

I used the Basaltic Fist to attack his kidney, but when my fist hit Hayato's body it was like hitting a cotton pillow. I didn't feel the slightest resistance as Hayato's body moved like a leaf in the wind.

I didn't have time to back off as Hayato's body spun in midair and he used the force of my blow to kick down my shoulder, pinning my body to the ground.

"This is how Shaorii is used~" - Hayato spoke like a child who made a joke.

I used Hamon to prevent my brain from shutting down, that blow knocked me unconscious for half a second and if it weren't for the black blood I would have been unconscious for half a day.

I tried to stand up, but my whole body was not responding. The vibrations from the blow had shaken all my organs preventing me from getting up, even the solidified black blood could not avoid the vibrations inside my body.

"I think this was good training, but you still have a lot to learn" - Hayato spoke with a happy voice.

He seemed proud of my current strength, but that's not enough, I need him to be completely on my side, I need to show that I have the potential to inherit his title 'World's Strongest Man'.

What should I do?

The vibrations won't stop and I can't stabilize my blood, my head hurts and my vision is getting blurry….

Vibrations ...

Hamon ...

Hmm, that gives me an idea.

"It's going to hurt, woof" - Madness knew what I thought and sounded excited.