Then they moved…
Their fists flashed and grazed flesh and armor, narrowly avoiding direct hits. Each was probing the other, testing. Kazuki swung a right roundhouse, and Vali mirrored it—a clash of legs that detonated a shockwave around them like a goddamn bomb went off.
"Tch!"
"Heh."
That smug glint in her eyes said, 'Anything you can do, I can do just as well.'
It pissed Kazuki off. 'Alright then, bitch, try this on for size.'
He switched tactics. This time, he came in low with a left roundhouse. Vali blocked it with her right arm—but it was a feint. Riding the momentum, Kazuki spun his body and nailed her with a brutal right roundhouse to the side of the head.
"Gah—!"
—Fuwa Enmei-ryu: Double Dragon Kick—
Vali staggered. A perfect opening.
Kazuki didn't waste a second. He blasted forward and unleashed the devastating:
"Tiger Cannon!"
However…
『Divide!』
'Shit.' Vali's cursed Divide reduced the technique's damage. It barely scratched her.
Facing her in person now, Kazuki realized just how nasty that ability really was. He immediately threw a right straight punch—
『Divide!』
Halved again. But this one was just bait.
As her gear tried to neutralize his power, Kazuki bent his elbow mid-thrust and drove it straight through her armored chest.
—Fuwa Enmei-ryu [Snake Breaking Mountain]—
"GUAAAHHH!!"
This time, Divide didn't save her. The elbow strike slammed clean into her torso, rupturing her white armor. Blood sprayed from her helmet's mouth-guard, painting her pristine white plating with violent crimson.
Cracks spread through her armor like spider-webs. Chunks fell away.
And yet…
She didn't fall.
She just… Laughed.
"Ahaha… AHAHAHAHA!! Incredible! This is Fuwa Enmei-ryu!? This is no modern sport—it's a brutal, ancient martial art honed for centuries with one purpose: to break the enemy. And it's beautiful… absolutely fucking beautiful!! Tonight is perfect!"
'What the fuck…' Kazuki knew she was a lunatic, but this was on another level.
Compared to Issei's perverted dragon energy, Vali was a different flavor of freak entirely.
"Come on then, let's keep going!" she screamed, eyes wild. "Let's make this a fight to remember! Let our blood boil and our flesh dance!"
Vali, the psychotic, came flying at him again. Despite eating a Double Dragon Kick and a direct Snake Breaking Mountain, she was still up and fighting.
No—worse—she was enjoying it.
'Is she even feeling pain anymore? Or is her adrenaline numbing everything?'
'Fine… I'll finish this in one blow.' Kazuki thought.
His eyes sharpened. He needed one clean shot to knock her the hell out. He waited for his opening.
Then it came…
In the middle of their frenzied exchange, Vali threw a sharp left roundhouse. Reflexively, Kazuki used Fuwa Enmei-ryu's evasive defense: Floating Step, leaping in the opposite direction.
But just as he moved—
『Divide!』
—he heard that damn robotic voice. And then, pain.
A sharp, bone-rattling impact slammed into the side of his head. The world blurred.
And then everything went dark…
Bottom of FormYumi stood frozen, her mind rejecting what her eyes were seeing.
'Kazuki-senpai—that Kazuki Fuwa' Yumi's thoughts rushed, the man she loves was on the ground, unmoving, having taken a blow from Vali and gone down like a collapsing tower.
"Th-this can't be happening... What the hell just went down!?"
Issei's voice cracked with disbelief, echoing what every member of the group was feeling.
Kazuki wasn't just strong—he was the one who crushed Riser Phoenix like a goddamn fly, who humiliated a fallen angel general like Kokabiel. He was the unshakable pillar of dominance for their entire generation.
And now?
Now he lay motionless on the ground, taken down by the White Dragon Empress.
The image felt like a nightmare—a grotesque lie burned into reality.
"You saw it, didn't you, Yumi? That technique Vali used?"
"I did... Xenovia. No doubt about it. That was Double Dragon Kick."
The moment she said it, the rest of the group gasped in horror.
Not surprising.
They were all Knights, warriors specialized in speed, and even they could barely track that move. The fact that they had to rationalize what they saw showed just how absurd it all was.
"And worse..." Xenovia's tone darkened. "It was stronger than Kazuki-senpai's original."
"What!? That's bullshit!" Issei shouted, teeth clenched. "That move is just a cheap ripoff! How the hell is Vali's version stronger!?"
"It's the halving, Issei," Akeno said quietly, her sultry voice unusually grim.
"Halving…? What do you mean, Akeno-san?"
Xenovia stepped in to explain, cold and sharp.
"Vali used her Divide ability right after Kazuki's left roundhouse landed. She didn't halve Kazuki-senpai's attack. She halved his defense."
"But wait, she didn't even land the kick clean. Kazuki-senpai guarded—"
Issei stopped. His eyes widened.
"Exactly," Xenovia confirmed. "He guarded—and still got shredded. Vali halved his defensive output just before impact. That's why it hit so hard."
"That's not all," Yumi added. "You remember the Fuwa Enmei-Ryu's defense technique, Floating Step?"
"Yeah… that thing where you avoid damage by throwing your body to the opposite side of the attack?"
"Right. Senpai uses that move almost unconsciously. But what happens if you throw your body straight into a kick… like that?"
"Shit…! Then he basically walked straight into a fucking counter!?"
Exactly.
His guard got halved. He moved straight into the impact zone. The result?
Vali's imitation of Double Dragon Kick hit harder than the fucking original.
Even a beast like Kazuki couldn't stay conscious after that kind of double whammy. Hell, if he wasn't built like a war-hardened demigod, he might've even been dead.
"KAZUKI-SENPAI!!"
Yumi screamed, her body already leaning forward to sprint toward him—
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