Recaps

Shiraki Uke used the tear gas and the mercenaries’ restricted vision to get among them, setting up a close-range attack. The four mercenaries realized he was beside them, while Shiraki held his breath and prepared to strike in the darkness.

• Q Dalang ordered the four mercenaries to avoid the southwest windows and kill the people inside.
• The mercenaries searched the sixth floor and found Akagi Shigeru, who fired his M9 at them.
• The mercenaries threw tear-gas grenades, but Takaomi Kaji and Baku Madarame broke a window and blew the smoke back toward them.
• Shiraki Uke used the smoke and the mercenaries’ limited vision to move into their midst.
• The mercenaries sensed Shiraki beside them as he held his breath and focused, with only seconds to act.

Q Dalang revealed that he intended to send the Masked Man, Lodem, to kill again after the mercenaries were defeated. He recounted his past victim Hojo Ryo and prepared to replace his skull with the skulls of the new victims.

• Q Dalang went to a wall in his fifth-floor office where a real human skull hung.
• Q Dalang told Yagyou that the skull belonged to Hojo Ryo, the only man who had let him enjoy an entire gambling match.
• Q Dalang split Hojo Ryo’s skull with his cane sword and said he would hang the new victims’ skulls there instead.
• Q Dalang began addressing Mr. Yagyou.

Q Dalang awakened the violent Lodem and sent him to hunt the people in the building. Lodem headed for the sixth floor, where the mercenaries were already defeated, and one of them warned Q Dalang that the intruders were exceptionally strong.

• Q Dalang learned that his opponent was Baku Madarame, known as Usogui, and vowed to defeat him and rise to the top of Kakerou.
• Shiraki Uke and the others subdued the four mercenaries on the sixth floor, took their equipment, and used the slick-haired mercenary to guide them down toward the fourth floor.
• Q Dalang injected the sleeping Masked Man, whose identity shifted from Maruk to Lodem, and Lodem tore apart his Thumb Cuffs.
• Q Dalang ordered Lodem to kill everyone in the building, and Lodem burst through the office door and clung to the concrete wall with one hand.
• A short mercenary on the sixth floor woke and protested Q Dalang's decision to send Lodem, warning that Shiraki Uke and the others were extremely cautious and strong.
• Q Dalang dismissed the mercenary's objections and told him to be grateful for the extra man.

Lodem burst into the fourth-floor room by swinging down the building’s exterior and killed the slicked-back-haired mercenary with a flying kick. Shiraki Uke, Akagi Shigeru, Baku Madarame, and Takaomi Kaji faced him, while Baku and Akagi reacted with excitement.

• Lodem killed the short mercenary and crushed the heads of two unconscious mercenaries on Q Dalang’s orders.
• Shiraki Uke, Akagi Shigeru, Baku Madarame, and Takaomi Kaji heard the sixth-floor mercenary’s final call and learned that the masked man was hunting them.
• Kure Fusui spotted Lodem leap from the roof, swing down the building on a cable, and warned Shiraki to move.
• Lodem smashed through a fourth-floor window and kicked the slicked-back-haired mercenary into a wall, killing him.
• Takaomi Kaji saw Baku Madarame and Akagi Shigeru stare at Lodem, then heard them say they were having fun.

Shiraki Uke challenged Lodem after Lodem dodged a mercenary’s gunfire and killed him on Q Dalang’s order. Baku Madarame and Akagi Shigeru ran with Takaomi Kaji, leaving Shiraki to face Lodem, while Baku insisted he still intended to win.

• A dying slick-haired mercenary grabbed Takaomi Kaji’s fallen submachine gun and fired at Lodem, who evaded every shot by racing through the stairwell.
• After Lodem counted the bullets and dodged the mercenary’s final shots, Q Dalang ordered him to finish the man, and Lodem crushed his head against a concrete wall with a kick.
• Q Dalang taunted the hidden survivors and urged them to run, but Akagi Shigeru and Shiraki Uke stepped out of hiding.
• Shiraki Uke challenged Lodem to fight, while Baku Madarame, Akagi Shigeru, and Takaomi Kaji ran toward the stairwell.
• Baku told Takaomi that they would only get in the fighters’ way and reaffirmed that he had come to the building to win.

Yagyou reflected on the importance of martial strength in gambling and wondered how Baku Madarame’s side had become so weak. The chapter ended with him tracing Baku’s decline back to the day he defied his superior.

• Baku Madarame urged Takaomi Kaji to stay and watch an old man regret his choices, while Akagi Shigeru said the gamble would become more interesting.
• Shiraki Uke attacked Lodem with a powerful punch and elbow, but Lodem caught the punch and cut Shiraki’s forearm with his dagger.
• Yagyou watched the fight as Q Dalang explained that his son Maruk’s experiments and a syringe-triggered second personality had created Lodem.
• Yagyou wondered whether Shiraki’s strength could defeat Lodem’s brutal martial strength.
• Yagyou considered the role of martial strength in gambling and questioned how Baku Madarame’s side had fallen so far, concluding it began when Baku defied his superior.

Yagyou suspected Baku Madarame had planned for the overthrow gamble’s aftermath, while Baku and his companions tried to outmaneuver Q Dalang and reach his office. Lodem overwhelmed Shiraki Uke, who began to perceive a new master and a new path to strength.

• Yagyou found a pen-shaped listening device and wondered whether Baku had deliberately entered the gamble as part of a larger trap.
• Baku proposed rushing to Q Dalang’s fifth-floor office while Uke kept Lodem occupied, but he heard Q Dalang direct Lodem to intercept them.
• Akagi Shigeru deduced that Q Dalang had hidden trackers in the coins the gamblers carried, allowing Baku to identify the source of their pursuer’s information.
• Lodem struck Uke through the corridor and sent him crashing into a wall as Baku, Akagi Shigeru, and Takaomi Kaji hurried out of his way.
• Under extreme pressure, Uke saw Ryu signal a burly apparition, and he began to perceive a new master and different fists to learn from.

Yagyou watched Shiraki Uke shift into a style blending wrestling and pro wrestling as he fought Lodem. After Shiraki ran to the sixth floor, Lodem attacked with a submachine gun, forcing Shiraki to recognize the gamble as a fight to the death where anything could happen.

• Yagyou retrieved his pen-shaped listening device and realized Baku Madarame had planned his visit to Q Dalang’s building in advance.
• Shiraki Uke stunned Lodem with a Russian Double Palm Chop and slammed his head into a concrete wall with a Capture German Suplex.
• Shiraki ran up to the sixth floor, with Lodem chasing him, while Q Dalang ordered Lodem to drive him into a dead end.
• Lodem opened fire on Shiraki with a submachine gun, and Shiraki dodged the bullets by darting into a corner.

Shiraki Uke survived Lodem’s flying kick by clinging to the outside of the tower, while Kure Fusui covered him with her sniper rifle. After drawing on Zangief’s encouragement, Shiraki recovered and returned to the building, where Lodem waited in a sniper blind spot.

• Lodem kicked Shiraki Uke through a window, and Q Dalang ordered Lodem to approach carefully and confirm what had happened to him.
• Lodem dodged a shot from Kure Fusui, and Q Dalang realized a Kure Clan sniper was covering the tower.
• Kure Fusui spotted Shiraki Uke clinging to the outside of the window and warned him that Lodem might be nearby.
• Shiraki Uke fought off dizziness, drew encouragement from an apparition of Zangief, and pushed himself back inside.
• Shiraki Uke straightened his broken nose and faced Lodem, saying he still needed time to get used to Zangief’s feeling.

Baku Madarame used a hidden listening device to unsettle Q Dalang, who confronted referee Yagyou while Lodem prepared to attack. Baku and Akagi stalled for time as Shiraki Uke continued to warm up, leaving the outcome dependent on luck.

• Lodem warned Q Dalang that Shiraki Uke was becoming dangerous, then dodged a shot from Akagi Shigeru as Akagi, Baku Madarame, and Takaomi Kaji appeared in the sixth-floor corridor.
• Q Dalang ordered Lodem to kill Baku, Akagi, and Kaji, while Baku explained that they were buying Shiraki Uke time to adjust.
• Baku revealed that he knew Q Dalang's plans because a listening device had been hidden in a pen.
• Q Dalang broke the pen and accused Yagyou of favoring Baku, but Yagyou insisted the gamble had no rules and reminded Q Dalang that he was free to act as he pleased.
• Q Dalang ordered Lodem to attack, while Baku and Akagi prepared to stall him and Shiraki Uke remained motionless behind Lodem.
• On the fifth floor, Q Dalang grew increasingly ferocious as he believed Baku had underestimated him.

Baku Madarame, Akagi Shigeru, Takaomi Kaji, and Shiraki Uke disabled Lodem with acid and struck back, while Q Dalang watched through a camera. As Lodem faced death, he briefly remembered his childhood as Maruk and how mercenaries had taken him away.

• Baku Madarame and Akagi Shigeru's gunpowder trap sent stones flying, but Lodem shielded himself with mercenary corpses.
• Lodem threw the bodies into a hidden steel-wire trap, which sliced them apart and drenched Akagi Shigeru, Baku Madarame, and Takaomi Kaji in blood.
• Lodem's instincts drew his attention to Shiraki Uke, while dust from the corpses and acid fumes blinded and weakened him.
• Shiraki Uke sprang up and hit Lodem with a Zangief's Spinning Lariat Kick, and Akagi Shigeru fired at him as the camera broke.
• As the shot's flash filled his blurred vision, Lodem briefly remembered his childhood as Maruk and the mercenary who took him from the ruins.

Q Dalang tried to kill Yagyou and then offered Akagi Shigeru an alliance to kill Usogui, but Akagi rejected his way of thinking about gambling. Baku Madarame arrived with Takaomi Kaji as Shiraki Uke held Q Dalang aloft.

• Q Dalang attacked Yagyou with his sword cane, but Yagyou caught the blade and disarmed him with ease.
• Akagi Shigeru returned to the fifth-floor office to keep gambling, and Shiraki Uke stopped Q Dalang from retrieving his sword cane.
• Q Dalang offered Akagi and Shiraki his Kakerou membership, property, and connections in exchange for joining forces against Usogui.
• Q Dalang revealed that Lodem was a test subject taken from a war-zone village, not his son, and Shiraki told him that he and Kure Fusui considered him trash.
• Akagi rejected Q Dalang’s offer, and Baku Madarame arrived with Takaomi Kaji and told Shiraki to put Q down.

Baku Madarame forced Q Dalang out of the office and let him flee while Shiraki Uke prepared for the threat Q Dalang had left behind. Q Dalang discovered that the supposedly dead Lodem was alive, but his attempt to turn Lodem against the others backfired when Lodem hunted him instead.

• Baku Madarame made Q Dalang leave the office at gunpoint and challenged him to escape the building.
• Shiraki Uke warmed up while explaining that the danger Q Dalang had left behind was harder to handle than Q Dalang himself.
• Q Dalang reached a hidden sixth-floor cache and found a tracker display showing Lodem on the fifth floor.
• Q Dalang contacted Lodem, learned he was alive and injured, and ordered him to kill everyone on the fifth floor.
• Lodem charged toward Q Dalang on the sixth floor, nearly hit him with a devastating punch, and pursued him as he fled.
• Q Dalang used iron racks to block Lodem, but two bullets fired through a window deafened Lodem and sent him charging forward again.

Shiraki Uke and the others learned that Q Dalang had died while Maruk, confused by the truth about his past, went on a rampage. Shiraki Uke faced Maruk on the sixth floor and urged him to think about how to live, as Maruk recalled Q Dalang’s lessons to kill.

• Kure Fusui shot Q Dalang to prevent him from speaking, while Shiraki Uke realized Maruk had replaced Lodem.
• Maruk heard that Q Dalang had killed villagers and used him as a human experiment, then struggled to understand who he was.
• Q Dalang fled from Maruk in terror, jumped from the sixth floor, and died.
• Maruk broke down and smashed the walls around him as Baku Madarame and Yagyou listened from the fifth floor.
• Akagi Shigeru sent Shiraki Uke to confront the rampaging Maruk.
• Shiraki Uke met Maruk on the sixth floor and asked him to think about how to live.

Shiraki Uke fought Maruk as Lodem’s violent personality fought for control, then helped Maruk recognize that strength did not mean killing. Maruk chose to atone and fight Shiraki, but they fell together from a sixth-floor window, leaving their survival uncertain.

• Maruk accused Shiraki Uke and his father of being liars and attacked, but Shiraki countered with Zangief’s Siberian Blizzard.
• As Lodem took control and attacked, Shiraki threw him with Borscht Dynamite, then endured Lodem’s counterpunch and barrage.
• Maruk regained control and said he did not want to kill anyone, so Shiraki countered his attacks and told him that true strength was different from Q Dalang’s deception.
• Maruk saw Baku Madarame, Akagi Shigeru, Takaomi Kaji, and Higashi Kōichi watching and felt reassured, then said he wanted to beat Shiraki.
• Shiraki stomped Maruk’s foot and drove him backward through a sixth-floor window, and Akagi, Yagyou, and Baku headed toward it as Takaomi protested.

Shiraki Uke and Maruk survived their fall after landing on Kure Fusui’s car, and the group concluded the Abandoned Building wager. Akagi Shigeru won the wager with Uke, and he left the winnings’ cash to Uke while considering what to do with Maruk.

• Baku Madarame explained that Kure Fusui had parked her car below to cushion Shiraki Uke and Maruk’s fall, and both fighters survived.
• Shiraki Uke celebrated his victory with Zangief’s phantom, while Maruk fell asleep beside him; Uke then remembered the wager was still undecided and headed back to the building.
• Baku Madarame rushed to leave the building, but Shiraki Uke stepped out last, giving Akagi Shigeru and Uke the win.
• Yagyou declared Akagi Shigeru and Shiraki Uke the winners and listed Kakerou membership, thirty million in cash, and the Ninefold Tower property among their spoils.
• Akagi Shigeru said he wanted the Kakerou membership, gave the thirty million in cash to Shiraki Uke, and considered Maruk, who had fallen asleep against Uke.

Shiraki Uke weighed how to use the ten million yen he had left and decided to make the most of Kure Fusui’s visits by practicing with her. As they exchanged techniques in a relaxed sparring session, Shiraki Uke brought his leg down after evading Fusui’s knife-hand strike.

• Shiraki Uke considered investing his remaining ten million yen, including in training equipment or opportunities connected to the Kengan Association and Nogi Group.
• Shiraki Uke decided that Kure Fusui could be a useful sparring partner, since she knew techniques from the Kure Clan.
• Kure Fusui explained that the Kure Clan was interested in learning about Shiraki Uke’s distinctive fighting techniques, and Shiraki Uke welcomed their interest.
• Shiraki Uke and Kure Fusui began a slow exchange of attacks and defenses to test their skills.
• Shiraki Uke blocked Fusui’s knife-hand strike, pulled her off balance, and brought his raised leg down lightly.

Shiraki Uke sparred with Kure Fusui and realized he could combine techniques from Ryu and Zangief into a fighting style of his own. Akiyama Kaede arrived to offer him membership in the Kengan Association, and Shiraki Uke left to wash up while she waited with Sakurai Arisa and Maruk.

• Shiraki Uke caught and gently lowered Kure Fusui after countering her attack with a move inspired by Ryu and Zangief.
• Shiraki Uke reflected that a fighter should develop a personal style rather than merely imitate a master, then continued sparring with Kure Fusui.
• Sakurai Arisa watched the practice and shared snacks with Maruk, who often visited Shiraki Uke's home.
• Kure Fusui trapped Shiraki Uke in a rear naked choke, but their stalemate ended when Akiyama Kaede arrived with an offer from the Nogi Group.
• Akiyama Kaede offered to arrange Shiraki Uke's membership in the Kengan Association, and he went to rinse off before discussing the offer.

Shiraki Uke accepted the Nogi Group’s offer of a chance to become a Kengan Association member through a challenge match, backed by an indefinite, interest-free loan. Later, he told Kure Fusui he wanted to understand strength and become the strongest, then said he felt that will was important to him.

• Maruk traded his fifty-yuan coin to Akiyama Kaede for her shiny mirror.
• Akiyama Kaede explained that the Nogi Group would arrange a Kengan Annihilation Challenge Match for Shiraki Uke and lend him one hundred million yen without interest or a repayment deadline.
• Shiraki Uke signed the loan contract, and Akiyama Kaede left to report to Nogi Hideki, who said he wanted to bring new variables into the Kengan Association and warned her about IDEAL.
• Shiraki Uke told Kure Fusui that he wanted to understand what it meant to be strong and become the strongest.
• After Kure Fusui discussed different ideas of strength, Shiraki Uke said he felt that will was important to him.

Shiraki Uke considered how to use his winnings to improve the Shiraki family property and experimented with new fighting techniques. Following his instincts through the city, he found a women’s underground fighting venue.

• Shiraki Uke told Kure Fusui he wanted to act according to his own consciousness, then planned to spend his ten million on the family property so Arisa could live more comfortably.
• Kure Fusui joked that Shiraki Uke could marry into the Kure Clan, and they laughed before beginning another sparring match.
• Kure Fusui tried to take Shiraki Uke to the ground with an Armbar, but he raised his leg to force her to retreat and began considering quicker techniques.
• Shiraki Uke wandered into a busy street, dislocated a punk’s wrist while testing a move, and continued searching for inspiration.
• Shiraki Uke followed the noise into a warehouse behind a bar and discovered an underground fighting arena for women.

Shiraki Uke watched former professional boxer Tojo Ran fight the starving Li Youba in a crude underground arena. He recognized Li Youba as a skilled underground champion and wondered why she was competing while so hungry as she appeared close to defeat.

• Shiraki Uke paid the admission fee and entered the warehouse arena, where spectators watched a women's fight.
• Shiraki Uke recognized Tojo Ran as a former Japanese super featherweight boxing champion who had moved into underground fighting.
• Tojo Ran used her boxing defense and powerful punches, which Shiraki Uke suspected were strengthened by something hidden in her gloves.
• Shiraki Uke noticed Tojo Ran's opponent had a solid stance but seemed weak from hunger.
• Tojo Ran struck the girl down, and the girl identified herself as Li Youba, prompting Shiraki Uke to recognize her as a skilled underground champion and question why she was starving.

Shiraki Uke’s advice helped Li Youba defeat Tojo Ran, who had cornered her in the ring. After the fight, Shiraki Uke left the venue with Nozomi Tenma, who invited him to get oden.

• Shiraki Uke realized Li Youba had lost her savings after the Killing Martial Arts Tournament disbanded and a horse-racing tip failed.
• Tojo Ran battered the hungry Li Youba and trapped her in a corner of the ring.
• Shiraki Uke called out instructions, and Li Youba used them to take Tojo Ran down and mount her.
• The venue’s owner sent Nozomi Tenma to tell Shiraki Uke to stop giving Li Youba advice and leave.
• Nozomi Tenma received her severance pay, introduced herself to Shiraki Uke, and invited him to eat oden.
• Li Youba knocked out Tojo Ran with a final punch and was declared the winner.

After meeting Nozomi Tenma at an oden stall, Shiraki Uke joined her and her friends for drinks and food. When he casually revealed he had ten million in cash, the others wondered whether he was a free agent from a top underground fighting organization.

• Li Youba won her fight, collected her earnings, and left to find food after failing to locate the man who had warned her.
• Shiraki Uke and Nozomi Tenma shared a late-night snack, and Nozomi explained how she had been fired from Underdog Fighting despite winning all three of her matches.
• Nozomi brought Shiraki Uke to a Chinese restaurant to meet her friends Iori Ichika and Mitani Kana.
• Shiraki Uke said he had ten million in cash but did not know how to spend it, startling the women.
• Iori, Nozomi, and Kana speculated that Shiraki Uke might be a free agent from a top underground fighting organization.

Shiraki Uke drank with Nozomi Tenma, Iori Ichika, and Hana before they were joined by Li Youba, who recounted her financial losses after the Sanjigumi collapsed. Their conversation revealed that another underground fighting organization had been ruined by a suspicious wager, while Ichika warned that the criminal group IDEAL had entered Japan to absorb underground organizations.

• Shiraki Uke discussed his approach to training and life with Nozomi Tenma, Iori Ichika, and Hana as they drank together.
• Iori Ichika accidentally knocked a bottle cap into Li Youba’s food, and Hana apologized and ordered her more dishes.
• Li Youba recognized Shiraki Uke, joined their table, and explained that the Sanjigumi’s collapse and her horse-betting losses had wiped out her savings.
• Nozomi Tenma noted that the yakuza group backing Underdog Fighting had also been ruined by a wager, and Shiraki Uke admitted he had destroyed the Sanjigumi.
• Iori Ichika warned the group that IDEAL members had entered Japan to take over underground organizations and advised Shiraki Uke to be cautious about investing.

Shiraki Uke discussed martial arts with Li Youba and received her business card, then a group of delinquents confronted him over an earlier fight. Despite being drunk, he defeated their attackers with evasive movement and rapid strikes, sending the rest running.

• Shiraki Uke and Li Youba exchanged martial arts ideas, and Li Youba gave him her business card and offered to spar.
• Nozomi Tenma, Iori Ichika, Hana, Shiraki Uke, and the others left the restaurant and came upon female delinquents fighting in the street.
• Several delinquents approached the group and identified Shiraki Uke as the person who had broken one of their arms.
• Shiraki Uke declined Nozomi Tenma's suggestion to run and invited the delinquents to attack.
• Shiraki Uke dodged two baseball-bat swings, kicked the attackers, and knocked down their leader with three punches, causing the others to flee.