Chapter.20: A Man’s Firey Spirit

The students were awe-struck at his fighting spirit. Tatsuya was impressed at his effort, even Hiro had to give a bit of credit for Ryuji's determination. He didn't want to back down even in the face of someone superior to him in every.

The BI Club members were sobbing in admiration for their Captain's fighting spirit. Even with his limitations, and acknowledgment of his own weaknesses, he still wanted to fight on. He didn't want to back down even if it killed him.

One of the female students got up from her chair to cheer Ryuji on.

"Sakurai-San, hang in there!"

Other students got up to cheer him on, and Ryuji saw everyone supporting him. He felt surprised at first but also he felt appreciation for the cheers, even for a meathead, he felt proud of their belief in him.

The BI Club members continued to support Ryuji, they owed their confidence to him and how much he looked after their safety when they would be picked on.

Ryuji's sister could see how much people relied on him. She gave a half-approving look, she was impressed by the inspiration he gave others.

Alexandra clapped again, she gave a smile at Ryuji's spirit and how it motivated everyone around him to cheer for him.

"Bravo boy, you hear those chants seems everyone wants you to keep going. Try not to be unmanly and let them down will you."

Ryuji got mad again, but this time he wasn't going to let his temper get the best of him. His eagerness to charge without thinking was what was beating him. He needed to keep calm and only show signs of defiance when it was to trick Alexandra.

"Shut up old hag" Ryuji charged forward once more, and Alexandra was prepared to make another tackle to stop his momentum.

"What's he doing, he knows that's not gonna work?" Tatsuya was disappointed in the strategy Ryuji was displaying.

"Hmm, watch carefully. He's not doing the same thing again. This time he has a plan." Ren commented, finally speaking up after being silent the whole time.

Ryuji came close to Alexandra, she was about to tackle him again, but he covered his entire body in stone, still charging forward.

"That won't work boy, you really a kinniku-baka." Alexandra pressed on, she shattered the armor Ryuji made with her sheer strength alone. Ryuji wasn't in there however, he was gone. He ejected himself from the armor at the last second to distract Alexandra, Ryuji had sidestepped his way behind Alexandra during the decoy's destruction. Alexandra was caught off guard, she tried to react to avoid him, but Ryuji threw a fast jab at her face finally scoring a solid hit.

He didn't stop there, he threw hooks, combination blows, and then a strong uppercut to her chin, knocking her back from him.

"Oh, boxing I see. So that boy is actually trying to use some kind of fighting style. I can tell he's a natural brawler, but seeing him make an effort to switch it up is admirable. Figures he goes with boxing with his body type and personality." Barnaby said in admiration of Ryuji's efforts.

"Indeed my friend. That boy's fire is blazing like a true warrior. The cheers and support from his fellow classmates have given him new strength. He surely will seize victory now." Gentaro following with his own praise.

"Buddha bless this young one's soul in battle." Akira said with a light prayer for him.

Megumi looked at her fellow instructors, she didn't want to speak up to ruin the mood, but she was anything but brutally honest in situations like this.

"Doesn't matter. He still won't win."

"What is your deal? Can't you show the boy some support, if just a little?" Barnaby snapped getting tired of the negative reinforcement from Megumi.

"Nope, not even a little if it's not gonna change anything. He may have a man's fighting spirit but he's untrained and young. He's just going by instinct alone, which isn't bad, but it's not even close enough. Alexandra has seen many battles and trained endlessly. Between the two it's like the quote 'Fear not the one who mastered 1,000 kicks at once. Fear the one who masters one kick a 1,000 times. Or something like that *hiccup*."

"Get to the point you lush!"

"Point is, he's someone who's trying to use new tactics he's only winging in this match against a fighter who put her body and soul into her style. Who do you really think will win? The rookie hero who just bought new equipment or the final boss who slayed all their enemies."

The instructors were silent because Megumi was right. Ryuji had raw talent in brawling and a strong spirit but he still didn't have the training needed to fight properly against Alexandra.

Alexandra smirked, she was excited he hit her, finally, he was showing some progress.

"Very good boy. Now, let's really give them a show."

Alexandra grabbed his face, Ryuji tried to break free but her grip strength was fierce, and the veins in her hand and forearm pulsed viciously. She started flinging him across the ring like he was a whip, Ryuji looked light in weight as he was being easily swung around. His body was being slammed so many times it was scary, even the impacted sounds that echoed loudly were frightening.

Everyone was worried his bones would break, or even shattered like glass. The last slam he was given made his eyes go completely white for a minute from how much damage his head was going through. Alexandra followed up, with a devastating elbow drop to his chest, after which she jumped up in the air and delivered a powerful leg drop to his upper body. Ryuji was knocked out again, his body twitched from the pain throughout his limbs.

"*sigh* Disappointing. You had potential boy, I guess you really don't have a manly spirit after all."

Alexandra began to slowly walk off, everyone tried to cheer Ryuji on, but he wasn't getting up. Ryuji's body was unconscious but his mind was still racing with thoughts.

'Damn it, damn it, damn it, it can't end like this. I don't want to lose. I don't want to be a loser anymore. I want, I want to, I want to…..I WANT TO WIN!'

The light in Ryuji's eyes burned bright. He staggered to pick himself back up, everyone was shocked he was still willing to fight.

"Sakurai-San, get her!"

"Hell yes! Get up Ryuji. Show her what a man's spirit is."

The Club roared out to Ryuji getting the crowd behind him as well.

The crowd cheers grew more. Ryuji even started to tear up. He felt their passion and belief in him. Alexandra looked over at Ryuji, his legs shaking in exhaustion, but his eyes not faltering.

"I was wrong. You really are manly. Well then, I guess that means you deserve to go out like one."

Alexandra bent down into a crouched stance, the muscles in her legs and buttocks tightened, soon she took off like a rocket heading for Ryuji.

"Oy kinniku-baka, get out of the way. She'll break you in half." Tatsuya tried to warn him out of concern for his life.

"He won't do it. That guy is a brute and a fool. But he's no coward, if he is to go down it be with his head high." Hiro began to admire Ryuji's determination more. Even he had to admit Ryuji had something most didn't have a lot of at his age. Guts!

'I won't back down! I don't care anymore what others think of me. I'm proud of myself. I'm not a mistake, I'm not a mistake!'

Ryuji flashed back to his childhood. When he was younger his older sister was always mean to him for no reason. He never understood why, when he asked her when they were still kids she explained it to him.

"Aneki why do you hate me so much? Why don't not you like me?"

"Why don't I like you? It's because you're so damn weak. Our dad was the leader of the most notorious biker gang here in Tokyo, Hangman Corps, he was the strongest here protecting the people. How, how is it someone as noble and strong as him birthed an idiot like you? You're a mistake on his memory."

Ryuji could never get that word out of his head no matter how hard he tried. He didn't hate his older sister Naomi for saying that. He just wanted her to acknowledge him and his strength. He wanted to feel like everything he worked for wasn't for nothing. That he wasn't a stain on his dead father's memory.

Ryuji felt an overflow of strength in his body, it felt like a flowing surge bursting magma. He tried to imagine his body as unbreakable, something stronger than stone. Something strong enough to fight back against an unstoppable opponent that could fight back against her strength, giving him offense and defense.

Alexandra was almost near him, her charged kinetic energy from the run turned into a powerful spear tackle aimed for the midsection. If it connected, she would not only injure Ryuji, but possibly break his spine.

"This is it boy. I hope you're prepared!" She announced as she unleashed her power at Ryuji.

"Grrr, don't….underestimate….ME!" Ryuji threw a punch he put everything he had into, his fist connected to Alexandra's head as she slammed into it. Everyone heard a loud bang, they thought she destroyed his arm and won the fight.

That wasn't the case, the next sight shocked everyone. Alexandra was falling backward, blood had come out of her nose. Everyone in the crowd had no idea what happened at the moment, till someone in the Body Improvement Club pointed out to everyone what they saw.

"Look! His arm. Look at it."

Everyone saw it, but they didn't believe it. Ryuji's arm turned into metal. Even the instructors apart from Megumi were shocked. Megumi smirked, she was impressed he did that because Ryuji's unwillingness to give up unlocked his true Esper ability.

Ryuji didn't stop to admire his arm, he ran to Alexandra to get her into a hold. He wrapped his arms around her into a bear hug, pressing her ribs with his might. Alexandra regained consciousness, she began to hammer fist Ryuji's back. Ryuji's back now began to turn into metal in retaliation, his entire body soon followed in the transformation, having now been morphed into a metal figure.

"Level Up. Skill advancement. Unique Skill full feature unlocked. Skill; Elemental Chassis acquired."

The screen announced in a manner to the standard female game voice heard in every video game. Ryuji realized he gained a level in that moment, not only that but his real Esper Ability had been born as a result.

The shock in awe ran high in the stadium, even Alexandra didn't see that happening.

"My turn now!" Ryuji tossed her aside with tremendous strength. He got back in a boxer stance and flung a flurry of punches at Alexandra. Alexandra put her guard up, the punches were starting to hurt her now, and her density in muscles was not enough anymore. She felt proud of Ryuji at the moment, but she didn't want to lose either. She grabbed Ryuji's arms in an instant. She twisted them inward of his body to restrict his movement with an indomitable grip. Next, she forced his body up against hers.

Alexandra then jumped up in the air, she flipped them both upside down forcing them into a spiral rotation. Ryuji couldn't break free, he realized his head was aimed perfectly at the ground intentionally. He couldn't break out, the grip with too perfect to loosen up at all.

"Moscow Piledriver!" Alexandra shouted her signature move.

They slammed into the ground, the impact shook the arena, and the dust trail blew everywhere.

Everyone tried to see what happened in the dust cloud. The sight cleared up, Alexandra was victorious, and Ryuji was on the ground knocked out. All the students cried for him, they knew he tried his best. It was a sight they couldn't undermine.

His Club sobbed for his loss, but they were still proud of his effort and how much he refused to go down easily.

"That poor kid, he really gave it his all." Barnaby saluted Ryuji in his effort. He felt bad for him after all he went through.

"I told you, he was going to lose." Megumi chided.

Barnaby had enough, he was ready to pull out one of his guns, till Gentaro stopped him to let Megumi finish talking.

"But, he took a step forward. Realizing one's weakness and wanting to overcome it is a growing phase. Whatever problems he had with himself looks like he broke free from them. He should be proud, now he can move forward and be stronger." Barnaby and the others were impressed with the wisdom Megumi gave, but the moment was ruined when she belched out loud.

"S'cuse me. Oh hostess, be a dear and bring another ten cases with 20 ramen bowls with siracha sauce in them please."

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!!"

Barnaby shouted in complete embarrassment.

Ryuji lay on the ground, he was speechless, he covered his eyes with his arm to hide his disappointment with himself.

Alexandra walked up to him, she extended a hand in faith.

"You did well, I can see now that you unlocked your real power during our fight. You must not have realized what it was because of how untrained you are. But don't worry, I'll help you, I'll make you the ideal man even I can fall for. Right, Tovarish(comrade)."

Ryuji looked up at Alexandra, even with the muscles, she still had the face of a gentlewoman. She looked cool to him in his eyes.

"Hmph shut up old hag," Ryuji commented, not as an insult this time, more like a friend joking with another friend.

He accepted Alexandra's hand and let her help him up. The crowd cheered for him again. They didn't care he lost, just that he didn't give up and fought his best.

"Sakurai-San, you were so cool."

"Oy Ryuji, you're still strong, don't ever lose again."

Ryuji could see the crowd. He wouldn't admit it but he was thanking them in his heart. He gave a half smile for their appreciation for him.

"Bunch of idiots." Ryuji whispered with a satisfied smile on his face.

Naomi watched her brother stand up, she wiped her eyes with her jacket sleeve.

"Guess he wasn't a mistake after all. The little meathead." She said with approval for her younger brother finally stepping up in his growth to be like their father.