"Hmph!!"
"Kuh!!"
Sakana and Igo exchange hit after hit in the ruined city. With each miss, a shockwave shakes the city and causes more rubble to be created from falling buildings.
"Grind."
"Kuh!"
His switch technique must have some sort of requirements or limitations. He only uses them in absolute danger.
The King of Curses deduces correctly that Igo Heita's Amenotejikara has some limitations.
1. The young man could only switch places with his own constructs.
2. Each construct can be used as a target only once.
3. A construct continuously decays and lets out its energy until it turns to ashes in the wind.
If the young man wants a construct to hold for a considerable amount of time, then he would need to gather a considerable amount of energy before turning it into a construct. This, of course, drained energy from him. One of the things the young man has to be content with is that he doesn't have a large tank, he just regenerates faster than others.
"Poke."
The young man quickly balled himself up. In this position, there is no straight line between the top of his head and the bottom of his feet that directly goes to his body, which would invalidate the condition needed to activate Poke. Although it does leave the young man in a vulnerable position.
His follow-up attack after failing Poke is coming. This time, I'm ready.
The young man had expected the King of Curses to use any attack other than Poke to strike him in such a vulnerable position. But to his and the onlookers' surprise, Sakana followed through with the attack. It's just that the target is around the young man rather than him.
*Stab* *Stab* *Stab* *Stab* *Stab*
So it leaves a physical hole if it hits an inanimate object.
Time for the next step of the preparation.
Sakana makes a fist with his upper right hand and turns it around with the palm and the back of the hand facing to the side. The young man notices this and prepares himself for the incoming new attack.
Is this like a sand coffin? Planetary Devastation? Or is this something else entirely?
Sakana holds his fist above until the young man lands on the ground, and she immediately swings his upper right arm down. The young man quickly deduced that it was an attack that would come from above from Sakana's little movement, so he put his arms above him in a defensive position.
"Tampered."
He was right. As the next moment, a heavy force hit him from above and pushed him down. The force was enough to sink the young man up to his knees, even though he was standing on solid asphalt.
"Kuh!!"
As if to make the situation worse, Sakana closes the distance in an instant and delivers a powerful blow to his stomach that sends him flying.
"KOKUSEN!!!"
"GAH!!!"
*THUD*
"Kah! Pant!! Pant!! Pant!!"
"Again!! Tamper–"
*BAM*
Before the King of Curses can activate her technique again, Igo Heita causes an explosion at the bottom of his feet to propel himself up. Igo Heita was entirely prepared to propel himself to the side if Sakana followed through with her attack, but he noticed that the King of Curses changed her hand shape to activate Poke instead.
She didn't follow through… Or can't.
"Poke."
*BAM*
The young man stretched his arm to the side and caused an explosion there to propel himself in the other direction. Sadly for him, he wasn't fast enough to reposition his body, and he got hit by Poke. Luckily for him, tumbling down from the momentum managed to break the technique.
"Tampered."
Unlucky for him, the conditions needed to fulfil Tampered were fulfilled, and he got hit on his back, pushing him onto the earth.
I have a good guess as to what is needed for Tampered to be used. I just need to test it.
*POP*
The young man uses Amenotejikara to teleport himself to safety. The King of Curses quickly scans her surroundings, but finds no one.
Huh? That's new. He always teleports somewhere close. Is he preparing for something new?
The King of Curses is on high guard. Fighting someone who can teleport means that an attack can come from anywhere and anywhen. Sakana tightened all of her fists and lowered her center of gravity just before,
*POP*
"Jajanken: Rock!!!"
"GAAAAHH!!!"
The young man immediately threw a powerful punch that blew the King of Curses back hundreds of meters. Sakana can feel that his attack is less about dealing damage and more about getting her to where he wants her to be. That suspicion gets stronger when the young man rains Sakana with small fireballs that both of them know would never kill the King of Curses.
What are you planning, Igo Heita?
The King of Curses activates Grind around herself to slash the fireballs before they hit her. As she was thinking about her next move, the young man made his.
*POP*
What!? Another teleportation at such a short timespan!!
"Jajanken: Rock!!"
The young man delivered a powerful uppercut right on Sakana's chin. Once again, it wasn't an attack meant to kill but to position one's enemy, which rings bells inside the King of Curses. She looks all around and notices the abandoned high-rises.
He is not going to do what I think he'll do, would he?
"Explode."
*Clap*
The young man claps his hands, and the next moment, explosions happen at the base of each of the high-rises. The buildings tilt inward and quickly fall to encase the King of Curses.
"Do not underestimate me, Igo Heita! Grind."
Sakana was still traveling up from the punching force when the buildings fell all around her. She activates Grind and cuts everything to pieces and rubbles.
What's next, my future sperm factory!!?
Sakana looked down and saw the young man jumping from rubble to rubble, quickly shortening the distance between them. Every time he put his feet on a piece of rubble, he exploded it, which propelled his body even faster up.
"Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!"
The young man once again released a barrage of small fireballs toward Sakana. Sakana once again uses her Grind around herself to attack the fireballs before they can touch her body. The young man uses the chance to bullet himself at Sakana, past the slashes around her, and punches her in the face.
"BUH!!"
The punch caused the King of Curses to spin like a Beyblade and reorientate her all over the place. The young man landed on the rubble on the other side of Sakana, and then he propelled himself toward her again before delivering another punch.
"GUH!!"
The young man repeats the sequence over and over again, making the King of Curses forget which way is up and down.
Tch! I've had enough of this!
The King of Curses bid her time. There's only one technique she can use to stop Igo Heita. Poke is rendered useless because Igo Heita now rarely ever let body create a straight line, and he Grind can't create deep enough slashes that would stop him in his path.
Tampered needs at least 60% of the target's body or their feet to be touching an inanimate object. Once the condition is met, Sakana can create an invisible hammer that would compress the target's body against the inanimate object. The young man always landed a rubble before propelling himself toward her.
Hhhhuuuuhhh… A little bit more… A little bit more… Now.
"Tampered."
"KUH!!"
The young man felt his body crushed by something invisible against the rubble under his feet. The force was enough to shatter the rubble underneath him and push the young man away. But that's what the young man was seeking.
I understand it now.
The young man's suspicion about what was needed for Tampered to be used has been answered. The thing is, his body reorientation wasn't necessarily upright. It's closer to being upside down than upright, which helps the young man crack the mystery of Tampered.
The young man refocused himself on trying to kill Sakana once he figured out her latest technique, unbeknownst to him that the last Tampered had unlocked Sakana's last technique.
"Brew."
"Huh?"
The young man put up his guard once he saw Sakana's body start pouring water in massive quantities. The water was boiling as evidence of the steam rising, while the water gathered up and created a serpent-like body. The serpent bolts toward the young man at high speed, which only leaves him a small timespan to dodge.
*BOOM* *SSSHHHHHH*
"GAAAHH!!"
The young man pointed both of his palms to his left and created an explosion to push himself to the right, but he wasn't fast enough, and his left arm was engulfed by the boiling-water serpent.
Thankfully for him, being a fire bender, being burnt is a normal Wednesday for him. The young man easily shrugged off the burning pain in his left arm as he waved hand signs to deal with the new technique.
"Katon: Goka Messhitsu!!!"
The young man spewed a concentrated fire from his mouth toward Sakana. Both of them understand that Sakana's water serpent would do little to the fire coming at her, but Sakana tried regardless. The boiling water serpent vaporizes before it even touches the great fire stream.
*FFFFWWWWWOOOOOOSSSSSHHHH*
The fire stream completely engulfed Sakana and pushed her down to the earth. She landed with a massive explosion, and her surroundings are flooded with sea flames.
"Kukuku!! You really are something else, Igo Heita!!"
"Huh?"
Amongst the sea of melted stone, Sakana stands tall with burnt scars all over her body. She stood the tallest with both of her upper hands creating a hand sign in front of her chest.
What's this time?
"Ryoiki Tenkai: New York Brasserie."