Story 1 Martial Glory, Chapter 21

The sound of the overhead fan filled my ears and for a long moment, I wondered if I had died again. But as I opened my eyes, I took in the surroundings of Akisame Kōetsuji's clinic and thus I knew I was still alive.

'Pity, after all. Dying as a warrior in the Baki Universe can lead you to being Isekaied to a fantasy world.' I thought with some humor before taking a deep breath as I flexed my body to see if I had any pains anywhere.

And after not feeling any pain... And realizing very importantly that I didn't have tentacles or some other mutation from whatever bioweapons were used on me. I carefully sat up with a grunt on the side of the thin clinic bed.

I raised up my hand and clenched it into a fist and then with a whizzing noise threw the punch into a palm strike outwards to test my reflexes in moving so many parts at once.

'It's wrong...' I thought with a frown at mentally replaying the motion. I had inherited the memories of the use of the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist technique, and Kyotouryuu. My very body was changed to fit those martial arts with my bloodline being of the Hanma and Fūrinji blood.

My body was a temple for martial arts and it was only a matter of refining my potential and gaining the use of Ki that made Masters and Grandmasters so dangerous to reach that level. 'My joints... They seem to have solidified and become more like an elastic rubber or fiber than just flesh?' I thought as I began flexing the other parts of my body in concern and noticed that my entire body had seemingly been changed internally.

My body even with the warrior bloodlines of Hanma and Fūrinji was still human at its core, but now I wasn't sure what the hell I got infected with. After all, Resident Evil had dozens of viruses, molds, and parasites that could do anything from turning someone into a base zombie. To even give someone immortality, a gestalt mind with them controlling countless beings, control over magnetism, and the ability to shapeshift.

I simply had no idea what I was infected with to begin with.

My sigh as I recollected my thoughts seemingly was a catalyst as I heard a door open up and Akisame's voice reached my ear. "It is good to see you sitting up... But I insist you lay back at least for now." He said as he walked into the room and I nodded and without an argument laid back in bed making him chuckle.

"Hmm, unlike other martial artists, you aren't trying to jump out of the window of the hospital treating you... You show promise in the field of intelligence at least." He joked as he sat on a chair he dragged over to my bed and then began inspecting my body with him asking the obvious questions.

'How is your breathing, any aches and pains? Do you remember your name and the approximate date, who is your master here in Ryouzonpaku?'

All fairly simple questions and then came the meat of things. "Master Akisame, I noticed my joints are... Weird now." I said with a frown as I turned my arm and the Jujutsu master blinked as he watched my arm spin from a straight fist all the way around back into a fist giving me a whole extra ninety-degree amount of rotation.

Which with Martial Arts having drilling punches that could peirce through the tensed muscles of martial artists. That was a huge thing there, along in being able to increase the power of my punch by more than double. But then I surprised Akisame more as I demonstrated how I could indent my knee allowing a kick to snap forward with great speed to even my vision.

Though that was just what I had figured out for now. But that was obviously a great deal of change compared to before with Akisame holding a fist to his chin as he thought for a minute before speaking. "Hmm. You were asleep for a good three days Jake, truthfully I was going to pull in a favor from someone I really... Really didn't want to, to come to check on you. But as for your changes?" Akisame shook his head as he spoke bluntly. 

"Without opening you up to examine your changes directly, we simply need to put you through your paces to find out your new limits and see what that virus has done to you." He finished evenly and I nodded in understanding.

With Akisame watching me closely I got to my feet without any issue and then after putting on some exercise clothes, he took me outside to the workout equipment the Masters made for the disciples to use. "Go ahead and pull the ropes." He said pointing me to the ropes that were tied to a series of rocks, boulders, and rusted plates and with the rope hung up over a large steel pipe and pulley so by pulling a rope you would pull the material up into the air on the other end.

I automatically went down to the larger rocks I had some trouble with before the change to see my baseline and when I clasped my hand around the rough rope and pulled it. My mind went 'Heh?' As I managed to pull the large rock up with barely any noticeable effort at all making me almost trip as I had braced myself to lift up the two-hundred-and-fifty-pound rock into the air.

"Double the weight Jake," Akisame ordered with a frown entering his eyes even though his face was plain. But I could tell something was bugging him and obviously even I was a bit disconcerted at the ease I lifted it.

I walked over to the stack of metal plates that represented five hundred pounds and then with some care I braced myself and then even as my feet dug into the ground due to the force I was using to pull the plates into the air, I truly lifted the metal plates with only a bit of strain. The strain an average person would typically perform in lifting up a cinderblock really.

A chuckle rang out and as I lowered the stack of metal plates I looked over at Akisame who grumbled in some amused confusion. "Very troubling indeed. For countless years martial artists have trained their disciples to gain strength while refining their martial arts to match their bodies in order to meet and form a perfect union of body and soul... But you started with a perfect memory of your martial arts, and now. Your body has outgrown your prior control over your martial arts."

Another voice cut in and I recognized the cool detached voice of Shigure as she spoke. "He is fine?" She asked simply and I found her sitting crouched within a nearby tree making my lips twitch as she gazed down at me with her short dress exposing too damned much.

Akisame however literally just shrugged as he announced infuriatingly. "I have absolutely zero clue! He was infected by a bioweapons virus that has obviously mutated his body to some extent, I cannot tell the full extent of the changes... Actually Jake, you spar with Shigure at your best, let me see the extent of your changes Haha!" He spoke with a chuckle while Shigure fell silently to the ground with her pulling a full-sized wooden sword from between her breasts somehow.

"I kinda wanna live another day." I muttered wryly but Akisame snorted and patted me on my shoulder.

"Bah, get in there young man, you need to control your body and we need to learn what has happened to you. As your normal life is over young man, the martial arts world has taken note of you for surviving the virus and for winning your first Kengan match against a disciple of another Master." He said pushing me towards Shigure heartlessly.

But even as I squared up to fight Shigure, I heard Akisame mutter under his breath. "Now to just keep him out of the grasp of Mikumo Kushinada." 

My blood ran cold at the reminder of that old witch of a monster. A female Grandmaster who was ninety years old who looked to be in her late twenties maybe thirties and that reminder made my mind also leap to something else... Kaku Kaioh, the last Sea Emperor who won the World Martial Arts Tournament a hundred years ago with the inclusion of the life extension techniques of the combined universes could literally still be in tip-top shape!

This universe was too damned scary!