“Oh, we finally got a challenger.”

Ishma walked out of an abandoned store with a heap of snacks. Regis was behind her with a single soft drink.

“I win the bet. I said Shòuxíng would be the first to find us.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll give you my fav snack as a reward.”

She threw Ishma a bag of barbeque chips at Regis.

“More importantly, are we going take turns fighting him? Because it would a beat down if we ganged up on him.”

“Most likely, Miko will fight him. So sit back and watch the show.”

“Again?! I wanna fight too!”

Meanwhile, Miko and Shòuxíng were facing off.

“You stink of blood. Even more than me.”

He smiled.

“Did you enjoy killing your way to Hana? Although, I’m sure she didn’t want to go with you. Isn’t that why you came here to reclaim your life that we in this city destroyed?”

Shòu threw a quick punch at Miko’s face. Miko sidestepped the punch and hit him with his elbow.

“Now, now. Why don’t we have a heart to heart before we try to kill each other?”

Shòu threw a kick which Miko leaped back to avoid.

“What? You’re not in a talking mood?”

“Don’t fuck with me right now.”

His eyes were sharp as they locked on Miko.

“I want a serious fight with everything I have. That’s the only way I can move forward.”

“…..I see.”

Miko’s eyes lost its playfulness and he took a fighting stance.

“My apologies. I’ll fight seriously.”

“….Thanks.”

Shòuxíng rushed at him and threw a punch at his face. Miko didn’t attempt to dodge. He faced the fist head-on and threw a punch of his own. Their fists clashed with an explosive sound and Shòuxíng’s arm was blown back.

“?!”

He was visibly shocked while Miko didn’t hesitate with his follow up. He took a step forward and slammed his fist in Shòuxíng’s exposed ribs and rocked him to the side before lifting him off the ground with an uppercut.

(What the? How is he this strong?)

These were Shòuxíng’s thoughts as he watched Miko’s fist rushing towards his face. With a loud thud, his upper body was forced into the ground by a punch. He laid out on the floor in a daze.

“What are you so surprised about?”

He looked up at Miko who looked at him with no strong emotion on his face.

“Did you really think that you were invincible because you got some control over the power inside you? Don’t make me laugh. You just started to crawl while I’ve walked barefoot through the flames of hell to get the strength I have now. I won’t be defeated by a brat throwing his weight around!”

Shòuxíng had to roll out of the way to escape from getting his head crushed by Miko.

“You know, Shòuxíng. I can read you like an open book. You tried your best to revert to your old self to become stronger but you couldn’t. You got the strength you wanted but your egos started clashing. Shòuxíng and kaido are fighting for control.”

“I’m Shòuxíng.”

“No, you’re neither. You can’t fully accept any of your identities which is why you’re in front of me now. After all, you got Hana so why are you still trying to fight me? Isn’t that just stupid?”

He pointed at him.

“I’ll tell you why. You’re confused and you think that fighting people who know you well will help you figure out who you are. If you can kill those you consider your friends in cold blood then you’re truly too far gone and you’ll continue to live as the mad beast Shòuxíng. Basically, you want me to wipe your ass for you.”

He pointed at himself.

“Unfortunately for you, I’m a terrible friend. Even if I know your struggles, if you come at me with the intention to kill, I will beat the living shit out of you. Whether you end up dying or not is up to your luck.”

He started walking towards Shòuxíng.

“To be honest, I don’t care about your inner struggles or identity crisis. This is a fight, so I’ll naturally beat the opponent in front of me. But while I’m a terrible one, I’m still your friend.”

He finally showed Shòuxíng a smile.

“If you don’t want to get kill, evolve.”

Miko accelerated towards him and thrust his fingers towards his face. Shòuxíng had to bend his back to avoid getting his eyes plucked out. Miko quickly aimed a kick at his crotch which Shòuxíng barely avoided. Miko released his claws and tried to tear out his throat but Shòuxíng swat his hand away in panic.

“Miko is aiming for his vitals to rattle him. He intends on torturing him both mentally and physically.”

Ishma spoke with a proud tone.

“He’s doing something unnecessary for someone who says he doesn’t care about his friend’s problems.”

Tia appeared out of a golden light and said.

“Meaning?”

“It’s just like you said. Miko intends to break his opponent. But in this case, breaking will be a lot harder than killing.”

Shòuxíng quickly found himself on the defensive. Miko wasn’t giving him any time to breathe. But, he didn’t plan on just taking a beating. If he didn’t have breathing space then he just had to make it; by all means necessary. He took a step forward and blocked Miko’s fist with a headbutt. He then kicked Miko in the stomach and forced him back. He accelerated and threw a punch at his face. Miko punched him before his punch could connect and forced him back. He then swung his leg like a whip. Shòuxíng blocked the kick with his left arm and slammed his fist in his face and forced him into the ground. Shòuxíng stomped his chest and the ground burst underneath them.

“?!”

A blue light appeared from below. Shòuxíng leaped back to avoid a burst of blue flames. He then had to dive to the side to avoid another burst of blue flames. He glanced over and saw that the flames had scorched the earth until it was pitched black.

(That was an ordinary fire attack right? He said that he had mastery over his mana control when we last fought…)

He looked around and the area was filled with tiny blue lights. The lights suddenly turned into giant blue fireballs.

“Isn’t this just ridiculous?!”

The fireballs came at him from all directions. Power surged through his body as his skin slightly reddened. He threw lightning-fast punches in all directions. The fireballs attacking him were extinguished in mere seconds. Miko popped up at his side with flames covering his fists.

“Burn to cinders.”

He released an onslaught of flaming punches. Shòuxíng’s body danced as the punches rocked him. Burns started appearing all over his body and his feet dug into the ground from him trying to stand his ground.

“Ahhh!”

He roared and started trading punches. His fists clashed with Miko’s and blue sparks flew between them. His fists soon started hitting Miko who showed no signs of stopping his assault. The two stood their ground and entered a straight-up slugfest.

Dull sounds rang out as fist continued to clash with flesh. They only separated when Shòu got a clean hit to Miko’s chin and made him stumble back. He stepped in and throw a punch with all of his weight behind it and flung him to the ground. Miko’s body bounced off the ground but he somehow sprung to his feet immediately after.

“……..”

He silently wiped the blood from his nose and smiled.

“You’re gonna need to do better than that if you want to win.”

The image of five dragons appeared behind him.

“Quinta-Dragon Martial Arts.”

All the dragons disappeared except for the azure one. Shòuxíng’s eyes became serious when he saw this.

“Come, Behemoth.”

The image of a giant red beast appeared behind him. He took a step forward and the ground burst open.

“Give me your best shot.”

Miko accelerated with a sonic boom and quickly cut the distance between him and Shouxing.

“Flood Step!”

*BOOM!*

He started rained down lightning-fast attacks on his opponent. Punches, kicks, palms strikes, knees strikes, etc. He mercilessly threw everything at Shòuxíng.

“Ahhhhh!”

Shòuxíng roared and countered with similar attacks.

*BAM!*

He was forced back by Miko’s momentum. His feet created trails in the earth from him trying to hold his ground. Despite being pushed back, he refused to be overwhelmed. A beastly roar came from his body and he pushed forward while attacking and was able to stop Miko’s momentum. Kicks clashed with punches, palms clashed with fingers, elbows clashed with knees. Explosives sounds rung out and the earth shook. Blood danced in the air and reflected the fading sunlight.

*Bam!*

The two separated after punching and kicking each other away. Shòuxíng’s body was covered with bruises and Miko was the same.

“My Flood Step was actually stopped. Not bad.”

Miko praised the heavily breathing Shòuxíng.

“….It took my all to stand up to that and yet you seem fine. What kind of joke is this?”

“I told you, didn’t I? If you don’t learn to continuously evolve during this fight then you’ll die. With that said, let’s kick it up a notch.”

He lowered his center of gravity, drew his arm back, and took a deep breath. The azure aura around him then gathered at his palm and swirled like a vortex. Sensing danger, Shòuxíng rushed towards him.

“River Delta!”

Miko thrust his hand forward and Shòuxíng suddenly felt like a river was rushing towards him to swallow him whole. A vast amount of azure aura crashed into him and tried to push him away. However, he held his ground. He used all of his strength to pierce through the aura and to reach Miko.

“Not bad!”

Miko took a step forward and Shòuxíng suddenly felt like he was rushing towards in death. He saw countless serpents pouncing at him.

“Flowing Serpent Strike!”

Miko straightened his fingers and thrust them at Shòuxíng with lightning-fast speed. Without even thinking, Shòuxíng started throwing punches. His fists clashed with Miko’s fingertips causing a series of explosive sounds.

“Argh!”

Shòuxíng felt like he was punching knife edges and with how fast the attacks came along with the azure glow around Miko’s fingertips, it looked like he was being attacked by a den of snakes. He knew that at this rate he’ll lose his fists. But he didn’t plan on retreating. Since retreat wasn’t an option then he could only defeat it head-on.

“Fafnir!”

His fists turned to gold and a golden dragon appeared behind him.

“Gold Rush!”

Shòuxíng’s punches suddenly became twice as fast. The weight behind each punch was several times before as well. The azure snakes pouncing at him were quickly torn to pieces by his punches.

*BAM!*

Miko’s arms were blown back and his eyes widen. The only thing he saw in front of him was gold.

*Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*

Shòuxíng rained down an onslaught of fierce punches on Miko, which rocked him all over his body. When Shòuxíng stopped Miko’s body started tilting forward. Shòuxíng clenched his fist tightly and hit him under the chin and into the sky. His body flew across the ruined town and crashed into the mountain of corpses he created.

“Hah~! Hah~! Hah~!”

Shòuxíng stood there breathing heavily with his fists bleeding.

(That’s the first time I’ve used Fafnir’s power like that. I can’t believe how powerful it was.)

He grinned.

“Looks like you’re having fun.”

“?!”

Shòuxíng spun around and was hit by a beam and sent flying through the air. He landed on his feet with burns over his body. He glared at who attacked him.

“You two seem like you’re having fun. It makes me jealous.”

Jin showed Shòuxíng a grin.

“I’m sure you don’t mind if I join in-?!”

*Bam!*

Jin’s head was grabbed from behind and slammed into the earth while he was talking.

“Of course not, Jinny Boy.”

Miko held Jin’s head down with one hand while stooping, and wiped the blood from his face with the other. He leaped back and avoided a beam fired from Jin’s back.

“You bastard! I’ll kill you!”

Miko landed on a boulder with a cocky smile.

“So that’s your goal for the day. How productive.”

Shòuxíng was shocked to see him so carefree after taking his punches. He started wondering if he took any damage at all.

“Anyway, another idiot has joined the fight so I guess I’ll have to put in twice the effort.”

A devious smile stained his face.

“It’s time I take out the big guns.”