The House of Evolution's combat trial room was genuinely impressive, at the very least in terms of its size. A gigantic cubic chamber, completely white and — judging by appearances — incredibly durable as well. Having led us here, Asura walked unhurriedly to the center of the room and, smiling his crooked, unhinged grin, looked at me and Bang.
"Spacious, isn't it? This is the most convenient place in the entire complex. They let us fight each other here to find out who's stronger. Although..." — his eyes narrowed. "I always win... anyway, let's get to killing each other. Who's first?"
Exchanging a glance with Bang and giving him a brief nod to show I wanted to try fighting alone, I made my way toward the center of the room. Sensing the monster's powerful aura, I tried not to rush, keeping my full attention fixed on his grinning figure. And for good reason. Because, having apparently grown bored and not even waiting for me to reach the center, Asura suddenly vanished from his spot — simultaneously reappearing at my back.
Spinning around, I barely managed to apply the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist technique in time to deflect the blow already flying toward me. The monster's clenched fist slammed into the floor. There was no question of redirecting it back at Asura — I simply hadn't had time to calculate the correct angle of force application, let alone execute a proper technique.
And then the strikes began raining down on me in a relentless hail. Unlike the King of Beasts, Asura didn't use large-scale attacks and made no attempt to hit me from all directions at once. On the contrary — his fighting style, if it could even be called that, consisted of painfully simple and repetitive blows, always aimed exclusively at the upper body or directly at the head.
An enemy relying purely on raw destructive power — the ideal opponent for someone using Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist. And yet... I was inevitably being pushed backward, deflecting the monster's attacks only to receive a fresh volley in the same instant. Finally, nearly backed against the wall, having deflected yet another series of blows, I sensed that for a fraction of a moment Asura had actually opened up. My fist immediately drove into the monster's body and... dealt him no damage whatsoever. And then a counterstrike came right back at me — one I no longer had time to parry. A hand coming down from above knocked me off my feet and drove me into the floor.
Well then...
"Hha-hha, is that all you've got?" — Asura's laughing voice reached me right after his blow.
For a moment, a completely obvious thought flashed through my mind — that perhaps this fight really was beyond me for now and I should leave the task of dealing with a Dragon-level monster to Bang. But clenching my teeth with a grinding sound, I immediately drove that thought back to wherever it had come from. No, that wouldn't do — you don't get strong by only fighting those you can easily beat.
Get up! He's only hit you once!
Biting my lip hard, I rolled sharply across the floor and sprang to my feet. There was no point looking down at my hands. I already knew they were trembling. Not from fear — no — simply because even using my teacher's techniques, I had still been unable to completely avoid the consequences of my opponent's attacks. They were too powerful, and my own style, conversely, was not yet developed enough to compensate for such a large gap in raw might. And yet, one thing I understood clearly. If I backed down now — I would never be able to rise again. And so...
Pulling in as much air as I could, I charged at my opponent with a roar — the opponent who had already turned his back to me.
"Eeeeaaaa?!" — apparently somewhat surprised by this turn, Asura twisted his neck and head back over his shoulder and, with a crazed grin, swatted at me with a sweeping blow.
I neither blocked it nor deflected it. Instead, I abruptly shifted my center of gravity — something I had learned to some degree during my training with Suiko — and sliding across the arena floor, I not only slipped out from under the trajectory of my opponent's attack but ended up directly beneath him, immediately driving my foot into the spot where a human's groin would be. There was no visible effect — the House of Evolution's strongest fighter didn't even stir — but I wasn't even thinking about that. Attacking with an unbroken sequence of kicks, I never stayed in one spot for even a moment, exploiting both my smaller size and the monster's own bulk. Around the tenth blow, it seemed to me that Asura's leg trembled ever so slightly. I was given no time to verify this claim. Because the creature, apparently tired of chasing me around beneath itself, suddenly leaped and, pushing off the wall, came hurtling straight at me like a rocket.
Simply dodging was no longer an option — the monster's fist was too large. There was no time to go sideways either — I would have completely exposed myself to the next, potentially lethal attack. Frankly, I was afraid to block the blow while standing in place, because if my own mastery failed me, I risked becoming a bloody smear flattened across the pristine white floor. And so, clenching my fists and gritting my teeth for a moment, I pushed off from the ground and hurled myself toward the enemy.
Naturally not head-on, but angling slightly to the side... and, to my surprise, it worked. Flying past the incredibly fast rhinoceros beetle, I deflected his limb just enough to avoid the attack, then — spinning in midair — drove a kick after him.
My heel connected directly with the creature's horn, and this time I clearly noticed that while the blow hadn't dealt him any visible damage — unlike all my previous attempts — Asura had definitely felt it... having no time to process any of this and relying solely on fighting reflexes that delivered information far faster than conscious thought, I landed back on the arena floor and without wasting a single extra moment, charged toward the monster who was just landing.
A moment later, his strikes came raining down on me with renewed force. Only now, I wasn't merely retreating and deflecting them to the sides while praying the recoil wouldn't kill me — I was attacking the monster myself, mostly with kicks, in order to always be ready to deflect his lunges with my hands. And the longer our confrontation went on, the better and more confident I felt. My strikes grew more and more numerous, while Asura — however much he strained — simply couldn't land another hit on me. But the main thing wasn't even that. Gradually, each of my blows not only found its mark but also dealt some damage — minor, barely perceptible — to the creature's nearly impenetrable hide.
Knowing perfectly well the principle that water wears away stone, I began landing strikes on the same spot over and over, only occasionally surprising my enemy with an unexpected feint. Simultaneously deflecting his own attacks with ever greater success — and at a certain moment, I redirected Asura's fist not merely off to the side, but directly into his own bloodthirst-contorted face.
The triumph of my technique over the enemy's raw power was instantly built upon. Taking advantage of the first and only second of paralysis the rhinoceros beetle had shown since the start of our fight, I abruptly redirected all my inner power and — completely opening up — thrust both hands forward, then, planting my feet into the floor, spread my palms and released all the energy available to me through them.
Even the laboratory floor cracked from the discharge — but that wasn't the main thing. Asura Kabuto, who until this moment had seemingly barely registered my efforts and had only refrained from killing me in a single blow because of technique's superiority over his brute force — now didn't merely stagger as he had when his own fist connected with his face. His entire massive bulk lifted from the ground and after flying dozens of meters, slammed back-first into the wall. A second later, his chest plate cracked.
"So you're not invincible after all." — baring my teeth, I took another deep breath, preparing for the fight to continue.
The blood within me was boiling, and every thought was concentrated solely on the enemy. So far, my efforts had only been enough to barely graze him — not even wound him, just graze. But who said this was my limit?! My technique is strong — far stronger than it was before coming here. And before me is nothing but a dumb mountain of muscle and mindless rage — am I really incapable of defeating it? What nonsense! Of course I can!
Filled with certainty and simultaneously fully aware that stopping now meant undoing everything I had already managed to achieve, I charged forward. And for the first time since our recent encounter, Asura's face displayed something entirely unlike his usual sadistic smirk or bloodthirsty snarl. It didn't even particularly resemble simple surprise. Fear — that was what could be read on his taut expression.
Of course it wasn't fear of me specifically — in that sense I assessed myself quite realistically. But it was fear of something this creature had never known before — the possibility of losing a battle.
Inspired by this more than anything before, and focused on my enemy to the absolute limit, I instantly closed the distance between us and — leaping up — wound back for an overhead blow, counting on a sharp change of tactics to catch the monster off guard.
And someone was indeed caught off guard... only not Asura, but myself. After all, incredible focus in a fight has both its advantages — in the ability not to die, and even to seemingly grow stronger — and its obvious disadvantages. One of the most glaring: the impossibility of thinking about anything other than achieving the current objective. In my head it sounded roughly like: "defeat Asura Kabuto... at least in his base form." It was that last part I had quite successfully forgotten. So caught up in my rapid progress and the fight itself that the information about the monster's second — far more powerful — form had completely slipped from my mind.
Asura transformed at the very moment of my strike. And though my fist slammed into the creature's head with considerable force and even managed to stagger it, I had no time to continue the attack sequence I had been preparing. An enormous fist — even by comparison to what it had been before, now vivid purple rather than brown — flickered almost imperceptibly before my eyes. Then I felt my body jerked sharply backward, after which something incredibly powerful and merciless — like a mechanical press — drove me back-first into a hard surface, which I assumed was the white wall that had been far behind me.
My consciousness began to slowly fade. Unable to so much as move, I desperately fought not to pass out — and then, suddenly...
"Garou..." — someone's unfamiliar yet strangely trustworthy voice sounded very nearby. "You were close, but... all your ambitions are about to be shattered to pieces by some deranged monster. Listen to me, Garou..."