AN - said this last chapter, but ill say it for this once too, this. is my best chapter yet, also my longest.
-[6 Days Later, 1 Day Before Finals] – [POV 3rd]-
"So… Genya. You know who I'm going up against in the finals?"
The two sat across from each other in the small, and only, restaurant within the Zenin Family Compound. The air was quiet, only interrupted by them talking.
"-Yeah. You remember Tatsuya?"
"The Second Seat? Not the First?"
"Yeah. He beat the First Seat, Shigeru Zenin. Managed to somewhat counter his Cursed Technique. though, He was a similar amount injured as Shigeru and also had to be rushed to the RCT specialist."
Kazuhi frowned slightly.
"Mmm. What's his technique again?"
"Despair. Depending on how strong you are, he can numb your senses or nerves. atleast, As long as you're within his vision."
Kazuhi's expression stiffened annoyingly.
"another thing," Genya continued, stretching slightly, "he made a binding vow. Instead of needing to fully see you, he just needs to look in your direction, however, in exchange it costs more cursed energy."
"...That's... overpowered."
Kazuhi exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair.
"How the hell am I supposed to beat that? Only thing I can think of is getting in close… overpowring him in raw strength and durability."
"Yeah. Zoning won't work," Genya replied flatly. "He's like me. Uses dust, blind spots… waits for your instincts to drop before striking... or atleast when he's trying."
"…Fuck."
.....
-[1 Day Later – Finals]-
Dressed in Akashi attire, knuckle bandages wrapped tightly around his hands, Kazuhi repeated his warm-up from a week prior.
Then suddenly, interrupting his warm up, was the intercom blaring out.
"EVERYONE GET READY FOR THE FINALS OF THE 97TH AKASHI TRAINING TOURNAMENT!"
The stadium erupted.
a huge amount of Clapping and shouting following the statement.
"ALRIGHT EVERYBODY! TWO OF THE MOST PRODIGIOUS STUDENTS IN AKASHI HISTORY! SUCH STUDENTS WHO HAVE EVEN HELPED REDEFINE WHAT WE CALL PRODIGIES!"
"COME FORTH, KAZUHI ZENIN! AND TATSUYA ZENIN!"
From opposite ends of the arena, the two emerged.
Eyes locked against each other giving off animosity that was layered between emotions.
"KAZUHI!"
"TATSUYA!"
The crowd roared their names, but neither of them cared.
the reason such hostility befell them was mainly due to Tatsuya. after the first training session of being at the Akashi, Genya told Kazuhi about how Tatsuya liked preying on those younger than him by manipulating them, for reasons unknown to them.
as such, Kazuhi continuously got into one-sided fights against Tatsuya. so much so that they the head of the Akashi had to reform there schedules so they wouldn't cross paths anymore.
Kazuhi has never beaten him before.
however that was without them using their cursed technique, as well as multiple months ago.
his first win may be now.
They stepped into the white circle at the center of the field.
"How did someone as weak as you even make it this far?" Tatsuya sneered. "You cheat your way up?"
Kazuhi didn't hesitate to retort.
"I could say the same to you."
They both shifted forward ready to fight, until they were cut off.
"Not yet," the referee cut in sharply. "Fight when it starts."
"…Tch."
Both stepped back in sync, eyes never leaving each other.
"PARTICIPANTS, GET READY!"
Cursed energy surged about the centre. The air around the fighters felt heavier.
"3!"
they adjusted their stances.
"2!"
Kazuhi frowned slightly, he didn't recognize Tatsuya's stance.
"1!"
dead silence.
"GO!"
...….
Kazuhi's legs gave out instantly.
He collapsed.
'the fuck-'
his leg's were completely numb, Kazuhi couldn't feel them at-all
'what the fuck, this feels so unnatural!'
He forced cursed energy into his hands as fast as possible to try and distance him and Tatsuya, barely managing to fire off a blast.
Tatsuya maneuvered around the blast with superhuman speed.
In the next instant, Tatsuya was right in front of Kazuhi cocking his fist back and surging it forward.
A devastating punch.
-CRACK-
Kazuhi was launched across the stadium, barely catching himself on his now working legs.
"-ghk—!"
small droplets of Blood came out of his mouth.
'That bastard… made me cough blood…'
His eyes sharpened.
'Three seconds. That's probably his limit… at least from what i can tell.'
"A VIOLENT FIRST STRIKE BY TATSUYA! KAZUHI IS SENT FLYING!"
'They're… commentating? seriously...'
'Ignore it. Focus.'
They charged towards each other.
Kazuhi secretly built up a high-output beam in hopes of tricking Tatsuya by baiting him to turn his leg's 'off'.
but suddenly, his arms went numb.
The cursed energy, without being able to be held together, dispersed.
'shit. either Tatsuya saw through my plan, or... maybe he has a time limit on affecting the same sense'
Tatsuya's inhuman speed left him only Five meters away.
Control returned to his arms just in time to barely block a punch that may have ended the match.
They clashed rapidly
punch after punch, fakes being read and counters being parried and deflected
Neither gaining much ground.
until on one of Kazuhi's fakes, his vision blurred, almost not being able to see.
'Shit—!'
said blurry vision caused him to overextend his punch.
A brutal kick slammed into his stomach.
bringing about a loud curse within his mind and flinging him another 10 metres away
-wheeze-
'FUCK!… that hurt the most out of any attack so far!'
Pain flowed throughout his stomach.
'that's definitely a bruise'
he recovered himself and created distance, to take advantage of said distance he started charging a Max-Output Blast whilst forming a barrier.
however manipulating multiple constructs at once means he cant move while they are present or they may break.
Tatsuya, taking advantage of Kazuhi being stood in place paralyzed his legs while rushing towards him, expecting both the barrier and Beam to break when he fell.
The barrier shattered.
However—
The beam didn't.
while falling kazuhi shouted with anger.
"MAX OUTPUT: SWELLING BLAST!"
The beam exploded outward, expanding and folding in on itself making itself larger and larger until it reached the size of a house, however also weakening it's power.
the beam stormed towards Tatsuya, who, as a last ditch effort, tried to stop by it paralyzing Kazuhi's arms.
despite the beam not being powered by kazuhi's cursed energy anymore.
it didn't disappear.
it continued raging towards Tatsuya, eventually hitting him head on, arms barely blocking the beam as it passed through him.
Tatsuya having to grit his teeth throughout it
"..."
When the beam finally dissipated, Tatsuya's arms were charred and were bleeding, but. he definitely wasn't out of this fight yet.
'…Fuck that hurt-'
Already running up to him was Kazuhi, who, despite being slowed due to his injuries was able to get to Tatsuya in time before he could re-activate his cursed technique on him.
his hatred for him allowing him to land a devastating punch to the stomach that flung Tatsuya across the field.
-SMASH-
Tatsuya landed on the ground and slowed down, recovering from such a punch.
'Goddamnit, fucking weakling! I won't accept this..."
"I WON'T LET YOU WIN!'
* Binding Vow – Tatsuya Zenin sacrifices 50% of his current Cursed energy reserves. – in exchange he receives enhanced speed, strength and durability for the rest of the fight he's currently participating in. *
With that binding vow in place, Tatsuya, while Kazuhi was charging another Max Output Blast, Blitzes in-front of Kazuhi with his fist cocked back, said kazuhi could only barely even think in time.
'he's too fast- What the fuck... how did he get-, wait Genya mentioned him using binding vows in previous fights, shit-'
Interrupting Kazuhi's thoughts was a fist blitzing towards his face, too fast to dodge or block.
-CRACK-
The punch hit with a loud crack, causing Kazuhi to fly back-first into the edge of the stadium, embedding himself slightly into the wall.
Vision starting to fade.
'no.. I wont let this happen... I cant...'
'I won't lose…'
'NOT TO A BASTARD LIKE HIM!'
Through sheer willpower alone. kazuhi was able to pull his dishevelled body out of the Wall, falling onto one knee while breathing heavily and thinking.
'With how much cursed energy I've used so far and how injured i am, if i made a binding vow similar to his now, it wouldn't be able to match his own and I'd lose my only win condition, even with my higher output... FUCK! What do I do?'
after another second of intense deliberation he seemingly made up his mind.
he looked up towards the centre of the field while charging another max output beam. seeing Tatsuya arrogantly jumping up and down in one spot with a slight smile on his face, waiting for Kazuhi to attack.
Kazuhi, who had finally finished charging his attack, did something for the first time in this life...
...he uttered a binding vow. one that he believes, will allow him to win.
* Binding vow – Kazuhi Zenin Sacrifices 90% of the rest of his Current Remaining cursed energy. - In exchange his Cursed technique's attack 'Max Output Swelling blast' will have the same power as his 'Max Output Border Blast'. *
'This... This will be the attack to finish this battle...'
Tatsuya, noticing the huge jump in cursed energy within the beam immediately understood what happened.
'That Bastard used a binding vow. no matter... it's power is similar to the one he used at the start and not the last one he used that caught me off guard. heh- ill just dodge it again.'
Kazuhi finally shot out the beam, and despite Tatsuya's expectations of the beam being the same as the one used against Genya, it wasn't.
"MAX OUTPUT SWELLING BLAST!"
"RAHH!"
It kept expanding, folding over itself as the previous one had done, however this time, it's power stayed the same throughout, despite getting bigger it was just as strong.
'Impossible. Did he- ah... the binding vow was about using the same strength as his 'border blast' in the form of his 'swelling blast'
The beam closed in. Tatsuya, trying to dodge, wasn't able to in time as the beam expanded to the size of a house in half a second.
The beam hit him head on.
similar to the previous blast Tatsuya was hit by, he blocked it.
pushing more and more cursed energy into his forearms to try to persevere through the attack.
As this was ongoing kazuhi felt his head become numb and his eyes start to blur again, almost causing him to faint once more.
When the beam finally ended, Tatsuya stood there, arms bruised and charred with him looking extremely fatigued. But still not out of the fight yet.
'He... How did he not faint from that...'
'shit...'
"-ghk- blergh-"
Tatsuya threw up splatters of blood.
while doing so he glared at Kazuhi.
Kazuhi, who, was much more weakened than him, couldn't continue the glare and started to faint, until suddenly, Tatsuya Blitzed towards him and punched him in the stomach,.
his hardest punch yet.
causing Kazuhi to throw up blood on him.
Kazuhi, who was stuck on Tatsuya's fist like a donut was just about to faint like he almost did previously, until.
due to being arrogant and believing it was over, Tatsuya taunted Kazuhi one last time.
though, unknown to Tatsuya, this time may have pushed him beyond his breaking point...
"You'll never be able to beat me... you are just a mistake your father didn't mean to create"
getting closer to his ear for the last sentence he whispered.
"Your worthless..."
....
Kazuhi, after said taunt only focused on the part when Tatsuya said he was, a mistake his father created, he didn't think about naohiro of course, he barely knew him after all,.
no. He thought of his original life's parents, his real parents, the caring, boisterous and kind parents that would never hurt a fly.
The same parents who had been brutally murdered a few years before he died.
He remembers the blood splatter on the wall caused by the bullet that pierced his mother's head, he remembers his father's dead body, pierced by a knife, hovering over him, holding him, protecting him even after death.
He remembers the anger he felt towards the murderers.
He remembers fighting to get them found, to get them put in prison.
He remembers them never being found, the police officers being corrupted and not looking for them in exchange for money...
"-This is the end, Kazuhi"
This same despair and anger Kazuhi had felt all those years ago had started to re-emerge within him, causing his cursed energy to bubble up, voraciously responding to his negative emotions, empowering him for One Final Attack.
Tatsuya threw his fist towards Kazuhi's face expecting it to ragdoll him across the floor and allow him to be the winner, giving him the first seat he's always wanted and believed he deserves.
The fist didn't land.
Kazuhi's Palm wrapped around Tatsuya fist, stopping the attack before it could reach him.
"Huh. what-"
Tatsuya was unexpectedly cut off by Kazuhi's other hand slowly crumpling into a fist while cocking back and then suddenly starting to fly towards his stomach.
before Kazuhi's fist was about to hit, pulling on all his negative emotions that built up over this fight, no. over his life.
Kazuya did something that a majority of sorcerers never do in their entire life.
something every sorcerer dreams of happening.
something that has over 1 in a million odds of happening.
something that causes even the air itself to hum, As if harmonising with the attack itself.
Kazuhi's eye's shot open.
His battered fist lit up.
Red lightening-like effects with black outlines surged around it, as if screaming that this is was final attack of the match.
the attack that shows the finality of his reincarnation.
the attack that solidifies his placement in this world.
of course such an effect has a name, one which, for the first time in his new life.
Kazuhi proudly shouts with all his heart.
"BLACK FLASH!"
-BOOM! -
Almost in slow motion to kazuhi, Tatsuya body unnaturally contorts around his fist, before, at supersonic speeds, launches off into the wall
-BANG!-
such a large impact creating a large dust cloud, that when cleared, showed Tatsuya on the floor.
laying down, finally defeated, blood pouring beneath him completely unconscious
Kazuhi, now awakened finally understood something about his life.. no. his future...
'So this is what sorcery is for those at the pinnacle...'
'I'm sorry mom... dad... for not being able to give justice to your death's...'
'This life will be my Justice to you- '
Just as Kazuhi utters the thing that had been weighing him down for the last years of his life, the burden he could never fully escape, even reincarnating couldn't remove it.
he finally slowly faints, causing him to fall towards the ground.
however, while doing so, the heavens themself seemed to open up and shined their light on him, as if they were accepting such a request...
.....
both of the victors being fainted left only one person to State the finality of this fight.
"HOLY SHIT WHAT A FINALE THAT WAS! A BLACK FLASH AT SIX YEARD OLD! THAT'S UNPRECEDENTED WITHIN THE ZENIN CLAN'S ENTIRE HISTORY!"
"REFEREE! ANNOUNCE THE WINNER!"
Upon him being mentioned, the Referee, in disbelief, quickly announces the winner of the finale.
"AS OF THE 97TH AKASHI TRAINING TOURNAMENT."
"THE PERSON WHO IS CURRENTLY THE BIGGEST PRODIGY OF THE ZENIN CLAN!"
"KAZUHI ZENIN WINS!"
An immense amount of clapping and cheering was heard, people shouting his name as though he could hear them.
"KAZUHI!"
"KAZUHI!"
"KAZUHI!"
....
however under all the noise, Naohiro Zenin silently smirked as Naobito, who was next to him, chuckled and gave him the money he had then owed Naohiro.
.
.
.
"Urm- is someone gonna bring them to the RCT specialist?"
.....