I Don't Want to Lose (Third Update!)(Continued)

"..."

Scenes from the past flashed before Maruk's eyes, making him especially sensitive to the words "how to live." His emotions surged in an instant.

"L-liars..."

Maruk glared straight ahead, fixing his eyes on Shiraki Uke as he growled, "You and Father are both... liars. You're both bad people!"

Whoosh!

Maruk leaped forward and kicked with all his might.

But Shiraki Uke had anticipated it. He stood sideways in place, his left arm held low in front and his right arm raised behind, bracing both arms in a fixed stance.

A counter move, also known as a parry, was a technique used against specific attacks, specializing in defensive counterattacks.

Zangief's fighting style combined Russian wrestling with American professional wrestling. He used his indestructible waist, legs, and upper body to withstand attacks, and was a master of counter moves!

[Zangief · Siberian Blizzard]!

Shiraki Uke brought his arms together and caught Maruk's kick. Like a crocodile clamping down on its prey, he rolled and pressed downward, throwing Maruk to the floor.

Boom!

In an instant, the entire floor seemed to tremble.

Maruk lay facedown, blood splattered around his face, his whole body beginning to twitch in a highly unnatural manner.

Shiraki Uke dropped into a half crouch, about to pounce and follow up, when a sudden chill of alarm made him immediately straighten and lean back to dodge.

The next instant—

Whoosh!

Maruk pushed hard against the floor with both arms and thrust both feet backward. They grazed the tip of Shiraki Uke's nose, scraping off a layer of skin.

"...Hiss!"

Shiraki Uke retreated several steps and touched the tip of his nose, feeling beads of blood seeping from beneath the skin. Yet he couldn't take his eyes off Maruk.

Speaking of which, was that Maruk? Or Lodem?

Shiraki Uke couldn't be sure either.

The man before him was in an extremely confused state. One eyeball trembled grotesquely, while the other shed bloody tears.

"Kill... kill someone!"

"No! Killing is... wrong!"

His tone shifted between violent and childlike, Maruk's facial muscles twisting horribly.

"I really want to kill someone!"

Finally, as Maruk hesitated, Lodem's personality gained a slight advantage and pounced forward like a beast, heading straight for Shiraki Uke.

But Lodem hadn't expected Shiraki Uke to jump almost simultaneously, leaping straight toward him.

For an instant, Shiraki Uke and Lodem were practically face-to-face!

Without room to build momentum, Lodem couldn't bring his monstrous strength to bear. Shiraki Uke, on the other hand, had found the perfect chance to use a throw.

Whoosh!

Shiraki Uke reached out with his left hand, grabbed the back of Lodem's neck, and pulled him down.

At the same time, he drew back his right arm, aimed at Lodem's head, and struck upward with his arm as hard as he could.

Bang!

The Iron Arm sent Lodem flying upward.

Shiraki Uke immediately adjusted his position, hooked Lodem's thigh, and locked him firmly in place with all four limbs. Using their remaining momentum, he spun and slammed Lodem headfirst toward the floor.

[Zangief · Borscht Dynamite]!

Thud!

A muffled boom echoed through the building.

The move was already as powerful as a finishing move, more than enough to kill an ordinary person on the spot!

But just as Shiraki Uke relaxed his grip and looked down, he saw that Lodem had protected his head with his left hand and was throwing a right straight upward from below.

Bang!

Shiraki Uke took the blow squarely in the chest. His ribs had probably cracked, and even his heart stopped for an instant.

"Ugh—!"

A trace of sweetness rose in his throat, but Shiraki Uke forced it back down.

He didn't have time to cough up blood now!

Lodem finally found his chance to go on the offensive. He got up and hurled heavy punch after heavy punch at Shiraki Uke.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Shiraki Uke raised both arms to block, his eyes darting about as his thoughts raced, searching for any opening he could exploit.

Seeing Shiraki Uke retreat step by step, perhaps about to be "beaten to death" by him, the childlike personality resurfaced and suppressed Lodem.

"I'm... strong!"

Maruk's voice rang out.

He couldn't stop crying as he struggled in difficult, painful resistance. "I'm strong, but I... I—don't want to kill anyone!"

"...All right!"

Amid the hail of fists, Shiraki Uke seized that tiny opening. As he answered Maruk, he raised his leg and delivered a lightning-fast front kick to his midsection.

[Fighting Spirit Counterattack · Reverse Russian Kick]!

Bang!

The kick sent Maruk back half a step.

Shiraki Uke followed with a horizontal knife-hand strike, which Maruk barely managed to block. But Maruk couldn't react in time to the second and third strikes that followed, and both landed squarely.

"That hurts..."

Maruk instinctively retreated, but Shiraki Uke gave him no chance to open the distance.

Whoosh!

[Fighting Spirit Burst · Russian Double Palm Chop]!

Two knife-hand strikes landed on Maruk's upper arms, one on the left and one on the right, leaving both arms numb and impossible to raise for the moment.

"Being strong doesn't mean you have to kill, and it certainly isn't a bad thing."

Shiraki Uke finally had a chance to catch his breath. As he spoke, he spat out the blood he had held in his throat.

"The 'strength' you spoke of was just a deception Q Dalang forced on you. You've never experienced true strength!"

"Learn what it really means!"

Shiraki Uke spread his arms, gesturing for Maruk to look behind him.

Maruk looked over and saw that, at some point, Baku Madarame, Akagi Shigeru, Takaomi Kaji, and even Higashi Kōichi had all come to the sixth floor to watch his fight with Shiraki Uke.

The looks in their eyes were different from Q Dalang's.

Q Dalang only wanted to satisfy his own desires, while those people genuinely wanted to witness the outcome of the fight.

In a daze, Maruk felt as though something had filled the emptiness in his heart, bringing him a sense of reassurance he had never known before.

Lodem's personality was completely suppressed, without a trace left.

"Maruk... doesn't know..."

Maruk paused, then clenched his fists and looked at Shiraki Uke, a little nervous. "But if you ask what Maruk wants to do now—Maruk wants to beat big brother!"

"Good, that's great!"

Shiraki Uke spread his fingers and returned to Zangief's stance, his breathing gradually steadying.

Here it came!

Whoosh!

The two of them, with hardly any strength left, charged at each other simultaneously.

Maruk clenched his fist and was about to swing with all his might, but his movement suddenly froze in midair.

He looked down and saw that Shiraki Uke had stomped on Maruk's instep.

[Zangief · Energy Stamp]!

"?!"

Maruk suddenly felt a gust of wind surge toward him, and he had no time to react.

Shiraki Uke suddenly spread his arms and wrapped them around Maruk, driving him backward until Maruk had nearly lost all control of his body.

"Maruk doesn't want to lose!"

Maruk tried to force his feet to hold steady. "The bad guy who killed people was Lodem, but Maruk wants to atone. Maruk has to win this chance!"

Shiraki Uke gritted his teeth, his eyes wide. "But you don't have a chance anymore!"

"I do!" Maruk shouted back.

Their monstrous strength clashed, but Maruk had lost the initiative. Shiraki Uke kept driving him backward, straight toward the window.

Crash!

Before anyone could react, Shiraki Uke and Maruk tumbled out of the window together and fell from the building.

This was the sixth floor!

Falling from a height of around twenty meters, even Lodem, an inhuman "modified soldier," needed a steel cable to cushion his fall. An ordinary person would surely die!

"Hey, those two didn't have to fight until they killed each other, did they?!"

Takaomi Kaji cried out, "Maruk already wanted to atone, so why did Mr. Bai Mu argue with him and say he wouldn't give him the chance?"

Meanwhile, Akagi Shigeru, Yagyou, and Baku Madarame walked past Takaomi Kaji one after another, heading for the window.