Mirko kept attacking me furiously, leaving a trail of destruction and deforestation wherever we went.
She seemed to be slowly increasing her strength with each kick, on top of getting faster and faster, making it harder for me to dodge.
I started to fight back however I could, whipping my Rinkaku at her and trying to find an opening to counterattack.
I landed a few hits, but she didn't slow down and kept pressuring me.
My Rinkaku spun and struck her in the middle of another charge, forcing her to block with the side of her arm.
I took the opportunity and switched to my Koukaku, blocking a kick, but Mirko used the surface of the Koukaku as support to leap above me.
The force of her jump pushed my arm and my Koukaku downward, so all I could do was look up as Mirko spun in the air and delivered a heel strike straight to the back of my neck.
'Ugh.' I fell face-first onto the ground, and since everything was spinning, I decided to stay there for a moment.
"Nice try."
"Hmm…"
'I'm not that hurt yet…' Maybe I could actually learn something from this lunatic, she's really good at holding back.
Slowly, I began to get up.
Seeing that, Mirko said:
"Your movements are too stiff, stop fighting your instincts."
I tilted my head to the side, not understanding what she meant.
"Tsk." She scoffed, and without any warning, she raised her leg high.
I quickly got out of there, using my Rinkaku to latch onto trees and pull myself away.
Her leg came down, striking the ground, and a massive cloud of dust rose from the impact.
Out of the dust cloud, Mirko appeared like a human missile, throwing a flying kick that I barely managed to dodge.
A line of trees was destroyed, but I didn't have time to observe the damage, since Mirko came at me again.
Now she was taking this more seriously, her speed had increased a lot, but despite the earlier display, her kicks hadn't become much stronger.
I brought out my Kagune in a hybrid between my Rinkaku and Koukaku, trying to maintain a balance between agility and defense.
The two Rinkaku tentacles brushed past her cheek, and Mirko immediately took advantage, counterattacking through my open guard.
She hit my ribs cleanly, but unlike before, she didn't give me time to recover.
I raised my Koukaku in front of me, which now, due to the dual use of my Kagune, was a Kagune gauntlet with a medium shield on the upper side.
Mirko delivered a Spartan kick against my Koukaku, cracking it slightly, but it regenerated instantly.
I tried to grab her with my Rinkaku, but Mirko simply jumped over and dodged. However, in doing so, I managed to land a punch on her face with my Koukaku.
She staggered back a little, but still kept that maniacal smile on her face.
Mirko then delivered a heavy side kick against my Koukaku, sending me crashing back into a tree again.
'Too strong…' The biggest problem was that Mirko was more agile than me, and absurdly more experienced in combat.
She kept hitting me several times, while I could only focus on defending, since she had now gotten smarter about my counterattacks.
It was getting really irritating. She was specifically targeting my torso and my face, and refused to explain what she wanted from me.
So I let myself be carried by irritation.
I deliberately opened my guard and let her kick my face. When her leg sank into my face, I grabbed it.
I felt my Kagune tingle, urging me to impale her right there, but as always, I resisted the urge and kicked Mirko in the stomach.
'Wait…' I froze as I realized what had just happened.
Mirko staggered to the side, holding her stomach and grunting in pain.
She quickly recovered and returned the kick while I was still processing. This time, I let myself fall to the ground, deactivating my Kagune.
"Damn, nice kick." She rubbed her stomach, making a face, but snorted in amusement when she saw me lost in thought on the ground.
"So you finally noticed, huh?"
I nodded.
"What are the first things your body tries to do when you're fighting?"
"Pierce, tear, and aim for vital points…"
She gave my leg a light kick.
"Then hit those places, you idiot," Mirko mocked.
I felt a vein pop on my forehead.
"How the hell am I supposed to hit someone's vital points without killing them?? You damn ol—"
She kicked me harder this time, making me roll on the ground.
"You already hold back enough, but you hesitate against your own instincts, and that slows you down, besides—" Mirko then caught what I was about to say.
"Who are you calling old! You little brat!! I'm in my prime!!!"
She started stomping the ground angrily, clearly holding herself back from kicking me repeatedly.
But Mirko stopped her outburst when she noticed the bruises on my body regenerating, then stepped back a bit to give me space to stand.
"It's ridiculous, think of it as if instead of using my legs, I was forcing myself to fight only with my fists."
I dusted off my costume.
"I saw you fighting at the festival, you made the same mistakes there as you are here."
"..."
"Sigh, you're so dumb…" She shook her head in disappointment, but I noticed the line of her mouth holding back a laugh.
A vein popped on my forehead again.
'This old hag…'
Her seriousness returned, and then she pointed at me, speaking in an accusatory tone.
"And you're all stiff too, you're clearly holding back."
"...Sigh."
I released my Rinkaku, but unlike before, the four tentacles now had sharp tips.
In fact, this is how my Kagune really is. In everyday situations, changing my Kagune to something softer doesn't hinder me at all, but in combat, where I need to measure my strength, read my opponent, and think about what to do, it slows me down.
"Yeah, that's more threatening."
"Show me the other one, the hand one."
I switched to my Koukaku, now looking like the same gauntlet as before, but with a wider shield and a large sharp spike at the end of the fist.
Mirko whistled upon seeing my Kagune.
"Try to hold back enough not to kill or seriously injure someone, but do it while fighting the way your instincts guide you."
'Isn't she one of the heroes with the most cases of "excessive force"?'
"Sure, for me, as long as you don't kill your opponent, it's fine, HAHAHAHA."
'Yeah… she is.'
"Well then."
"Can you keep going?"
"Uh-huh," I replied.
"Then let's go, we don't have much time, and it's not every day I get such a good training dummy." She cracked her neck, taking some distance from me.
Tec
'Well…' I looked at my Koukaku, its sharp tip faintly gleaming in the sunlight.
'This isn't such a bad experience after all…'
I turned to Mirko and raised my Koukaku in front of me, taking my stance.
'I should be able to learn something from this crazy woman.'
─── ◆ ───
[A/N]: Just one additional note: of course Kaneki isn't going to start slitting people's throats, he still needs to hold back, but now he has one less thing on his mind when it comes to fighting, which helps a lot.
If you'd like to support my work and receive bonuses such as 5 to 10 advanced chapters, spoilers, early access to my new books, polls, and more, check out:
P @ t r 3 0 n - Condor7