The Legendary Master and Takashi stood face to face. It was a terrifying standoff: six hundred years of ancient experience standing directly against ten years of grueling, relentless hard work. A hellish life and hellish training had forged this moment. It was a life so torturous that no ordinary person would ever even want to imagine it, and today, the ultimate result of that agonizing existence was about to unfold right in front of them.
A vast, tense distance stretched between the two warriors. They stood far apart, eyes locked. The Master's massive great sword, flawlessly forged from the core of the Levan Spirit Wolf, rested heavily on his back. On the other side, Takashi's Shapeshifter weapon remained completely sealed inside its diamond box, kept at the ready so it could be drawn and unleashed at any given second.
Slowly, both took a single step forward. The momentum began to build. Then, they broke into a sprint, dashing aggressively toward each other. Light, hand-to-hand combat initiated. Swift, calculated punches were thrown. They were exchanging the very same techniques drilled into their bones during those hellish training sessions. Takashi was not playing openly yet; he was still holding back. The Legendary Master was launching rapid attacks, and Takashi was blocking every single strike, though a few managed to graze his skin.
But this was merely the beginning. As the seconds ticked by, the speed and ferocity of the attacks began to violently accelerate. As the strikes grew faster and heavier, the very atmosphere around them began to shift. The sheer impact generated by their collisions birthed intense shockwaves of air pressure. Because of this suffocating force, dust, dirt, and heavy particles from the ground began to explode and fly into the air. Along with the accelerating speed, a massive surge of adrenaline and excitement filled them both.
It had been an eternity. After a very, very long time, the Legendary Master had finally found an opponent who could actually push back and give him a real fight. Even Hayato, despite his power, would eventually fall behind the overwhelming, crushing weight of that 600-year-old experience. But right now, standing in front of the Master was the sole heir to those six centuries of knowledge. If Takashi did not clash with him today, there was absolutely no one else known to exist in this world who could stand against the Master.
This absolute superiority was not just because the Master possessed 600 years of knowledge, or because he had lived for six centuries and seen everything life had to offer. No, he possessed an overwhelming, unfair advantage: the absolute specialty and main property of his Spirit, the Golden Lion, was completely rooted in Butsuri Shiritsu (Physical Rhythm). Because of this unique trait, the Master's proficiency in Butsuri Shiritsu while fighting was flawless, far surpassing even the greatest warriors in existence.
Every single attack from the Master was heavily engaging. Until now, Takashi's focus was solely on trying to gauge and feel the true impact of the Master's blows. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the Master's voice boomed.
"Is that all? Don't hold back. Use your full power."
It had always been a deeply ingrained habit for Takashi to first analyze his opponent, hiding his true strength while carefully calculating the enemy's limits. He had mastered that perfectly. But standing across the field was the one man who knew his every single secret. That trick was never going to work here.
Takashi understood immediately. The Master already knew. The very moment those words were spoken, the Master took a single step back, channeled a massive amount of power, and unleashed a devastating punch. The speed of that strike was so blindingly fast that Takashi didn't even have a fraction of a second to comprehend it. Because the fight had been light and casual up until now, continuing like that would have remained mere child's play. The complete and absolute assessment the Master wanted would never have been achieved. So, the Master forced the real fight to begin.
A crushing, violent blow connected. The shockwave generated by the sheer force of that single punch was so intense that the leaves of the surrounding trees began to shake violently.
Now, Takashi got dead serious. He was no longer just defending; his real counter-attacks began. Every single strike he threw was devastatingly powerful, perfectly measured, and precisely calculated. The Master finally began to feel the suffocating, heavy weight behind the incoming attacks.
To take this fight to the absolute next level, the Master started pouring in his own massive strength. His agility was unbelievable, an absolute marvel to witness. Takashi had never seen this specific form of the Master before, especially the way he fought when relying entirely on raw physical technique without heavily expending magical power. The sheer force of the Master's attacks made it abundantly clear exactly how serious this had become. Retreating was no longer an option for Takashi. The question didn't even arise.
Takashi engaged fully. He started pouring maximum physical strength into every movement, but before his strike could even land, the Master's fist slammed directly into his chest. The terrifying impact sent Takashi flying far backward through the air. He crashed brutally into the dirt. While rising from the ground, Takashi slammed a fist violently into the earth. The sheer force of his punch caved the ground in, creating a deep crater. That crater left a permanent imprint on the earth a direct result of his boiling anger. He didn't get angry easily, but today, something felt completely different.
After standing up, Takashi gathered every ounce of pure power straight into his legs and activated the Butsuri Shiritsu Speed Boost technique. An explosive effect of energy, crackling like wild lightning, erupted from his feet. He violently pushed the earth backward and dashed toward the Master with blinding speed.
His muscles had hardened far beyond their already bedrock-like state. The Master was prepared for any impact. Just before Takashi's fist could land on his body, the Master quickly erected a solid barrier. Takashi's punch violently collided with the defense, shattering the barrier into countless pieces in a single strike.
This was no longer a trivial sparring match. With every single attack, the shockwaves of air pressure generated by the blinding speed and raw impact were growing exponentially. The pressure became so catastrophic that the leaves on the trees weren't just shaking anymore they began to rip and fall. It was worse than the harshest autumn season, torn away as if they had never possessed any life or been a part of the trees. And with every consecutive shockwave, the torn leaves were blown incredibly far away.
The Master then activated Butsuri Shiritsu within his own body. His ancient muscles tightened and hardened. His agility spiked, and his attacks became blindingly fast. Whenever the Master stepped forward, pushing off the earth, crackling golden lightning began to violently erupt from his footsteps. The destructive impact kept climbing higher and higher.
The Master aimed a lethal punch straight at Takashi's chest. Takashi instantly copied the Master's exact strategy and erected a barrier, but it was not enough. The Master's heavy fist shattered the defense and landed squarely on Takashi's body. He was sent flying through the air, crashing brutally into the solid side of a mountain. They had fought so intensely that they had dragged each other far away from their original starting point.
Before getting up or recovering was even possible for Takashi, the Master had already lifted his foot from the ground to launch the next assault. Because in a true war, an enemy will never show mercy. Takashi had to get up quickly on both feet before the Master arrived to block the incoming attack, so he could deliver a brutal counter-strike. But he did not try to stand normally. Instead, he slipped rapidly to the side, completely dodging away from his original spot.
The Master's devastating punch slammed directly into the empty earth. The ground instantly caved in, forming a massive, terrifying crater five to seven meters wide and incredibly deep. The sheer apocalyptic impact of that crater was an open, blatant warning: this was Takashi's absolute last chance.
Before the dust from the crater even settled, Takashi channeled overwhelming power into both hands. He leapt forcefully from the ground and launched straight at the Master. And then, he delivered his very first fully conscious, calculated, and solid punch square to the Master's chest.
Because of that catastrophic strike, the rigid, hardened armor on the Master's chest shattered into pieces, revealing the clothing beneath. The Master was sent flying backward through the air, violently slamming into a massive tree. The impact was so great that the thick tree trunk snapped and broke instantly. Yet, despite that, the 600-year-old veteran still stood tall, completely unyielding, like a solid rock.
The condition of the surrounding environment was a complete wasteland. It looked exactly as if bloodthirsty beasts had rampaged through the area, launching chaotic attacks. Countless trees and boulders had been annihilated, and the ground was littered with an unbelievable amount of deep, jagged craters.
But this was merely the beginning. The true atmosphere of destruction was just about to form, and the real fight was still waiting. Right now, the sheer impact of the shockwaves was only reaching a radius of one or two kilometers. They hadn't even started drawing upon their Shin energy yet. This was just a demo. The real picture, the true nightmare, was still waiting to unfold.
[The Legendary Clash Continues in Chapter 34...]