Miss Yerika hadn't been doing well lately. Unlike the male trainees, she'd been given special training tailored for women—and it was obviously nothing pleasant.
The increasingly dark look in her eyes made that clear. During a sparring session two days ago, she'd beaten her opponent so badly that he was still in the infirmary. He'd missed this evaluation entirely, and barring any surprises, that unlucky guy would be the one eliminated this month.
"Go for it, Brother Louis!!"
From the sidelines, Xiluo cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "Take that woman down!!"
"Give up,"
Louis said softly, ignoring Xiluo as he looked at the woman opposite him. "You can't beat me."
A few months ago, Yerika had been easily defeated by Louis. The gap between them was even wider now; they weren't even in the same league.
"..."
Yerika didn't answer. She clenched both fists and stared fixedly at Louis.
"Is that so?"
Louis nodded slightly. "I understand."
"Begin!"
At the Instructor's command, Yerika leaped into the air—Geppo!!
In an instant, the woman's athletic body shot skyward. Having learned from last time, she'd wisely put some distance between herself and Louis.
"Hm?"
Louis narrowed his eyes slightly. "You haven't improved much."
Miss Yerika's Geppo seemed little better than it had been a few months ago. If that was the case...
"Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish!!"
Yerika whipped her legs through the air, sending several crescent-shaped slashes screaming toward him—Rankyaku!!
"That explains it."
Louis nodded lightly. Having learned from last time, she knew she should keep her distance and use ranged attacks against him. Her Rankyaku, at least, was highly proficient.
But...
"Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!!"
The slashes came roaring in, blanketing Louis. The sturdy ground shattered in an instant.
"What? That level of skill?!"
From the sidelines, Stuart exclaimed, "Has this guy only trained in Kami-e?"
Louis's performance was astonishing. He didn't dodge Yerika's attacks, yet the slashes passed right by him without touching his body. It wasn't that Yerika was deliberately missing. His body kept twisting like a snake, dodging at the slightest shift in the air.
He was riding the wind!!
"Looks like that's all there is to it."
Louis's body became almost as thin as a sheet of paper, then slowly returned to normal. "Let's finish this."
"Whoosh!!"
He vanished in an instant.
"Bang!"
Only then did the air belatedly crack with a sonic boom.
"What beautiful Geppo!"
The Instructor praised him from the sidelines. "That kid!"
Even the same technique could look very different depending on who used it. Louis's Geppo was no longer just Geppo. With his extraordinary control and the addition of some Soru techniques, his speed surged to the limit. Everything in his field of vision blurred, and the woman was right in front of him.
"Die!!! Rankyaku Hyakufuu!!"
Yerika screamed at the top of her lungs, her legs turning into blurs. She really had put a great deal of effort into her Rankyaku.
"Boom!!"
A fierce gale swept through the air, and the raging slashes left Louis not a single opening.
"Kami-e: Wind Rider."
He could feel the wind. Life Return had made every hair on his body exceptionally sensitive, allowing him to sense every current with perfect clarity.
His body twisted, changing with the wind. He even became a black streak, and—
He slipped through the tiny gaps in Yerika's Rankyaku, piercing the storm of slashes.
"It's over!"
He shot upward, reaching a point just above Yerika. Louis raised his right leg high. "Tekkai!"
"Whoosh!!"
His right leg came crashing down, aimed straight at Yerika's head.
Yerika hadn't been idle. She raised both arms to shield her head.
"Thud!"
Yerika took the kick squarely on the head. She turned into a black streak and crashed into the ground, blasting open a crater with a shockwave. A brief silence followed, then a cloud of dust suddenly billowed upward!
"What? What just happened?"
The spectators buzzed with confusion. "Didn't Yerika block it?"
"How did she get hit?"
"As expected of Brother Louis, meow!"
Xiluo opened his eyes slightly and grinned. "He's amazing, meow."
"It was Kami-e!"
Stuart gritted his teeth. "The moment his downward kick was blocked, he used Kami-e on the blocked part of his leg, making it completely limp. The leg bent, then still struck Yerika!"
"N-no way. Kami-e on just part of his body?"
"And at a moment like that?"
"More importantly, he used Tekkai and Kami-e at the same time! Two completely opposite techniques, used together. That's incredible!!"
"N-no wonder it's Louis! What a monster!"
"That kid!!"
Stuart listened to the voices around him, his eyes fixed on Louis.
"Why?!"
Louis heard the woman's voice and looked down. She was still conscious. Screaming furiously, her face drenched in blood and twisted with pain, she clutched the leg of his trousers. "Why can men bully women?! Why must men control women's fate?!"
She seemed to have a story behind her.
"You've got it wrong,"
Louis said, kicking away the hand clutching his trouser leg. He'd gotten blood on it; he wouldn't be able to wear these trousers again. "There's no difference between men and women. The difference is between the strong and the weak."
The woman froze for a moment.
"Winner: Louis!!"
The fight was over.
The next few fights weren't worth mentioning. They were little more than no-hopers trading blows.
Then, at last, the main event arrived: Xiluo versus Stuart!
For months, Stuart had been considered the strongest person in the entire training camp. A few days ago, he'd asked the Instructor to test him privately. His Doriki Value was 1,300—an unmatched powerhouse in this training camp. Word was that he'd already mastered four of the Six Powers. He was a man with no weaknesses!
But Xiluo wasn't an ordinary opponent, either. He hadn't revealed a single one of the Six Powers so far, and always wore a smiling expression. Yet in the previous three evaluations, whoever had faced him in the first round had been eliminated, unable to take part in the rest of the evaluation and knocked out with a combat score of zero. In every respect, he was an extremely dangerous man.
"Ah, Mr. Stuart,"
Xiluo said with a troubled expression. "Could you go easy on me, meow? Brother Louis hasn't lost a single match so far, and I don't want to lose either, meow. How about I give you ten million Beli afterward? That's a fortune, meow!"
"No need,"
Stuart said with a grin. "You'd better save it for your medical bills."
He'd never been a magnanimous man. Whether it was strength, influence, prestige, reputation, or talent, he had to be number one. And he couldn't stand the existence of a second-place rival.
"That's a shame, meow."
Xiluo scratched his head in distress. He said—
He said, "Do you know Pirate Spy Shadow?"
Stuart replied matter-of-factly, "Of course. It's that novel where the protagonist's strong, the author's poor, and the readers are handsome, right?"
Xiluo sneered. "I heard you didn't give it a recommendation yesterday."
Stuart stammered, "How can you accuse me without proof? Forgetting doesn't count as not giving one. As for CP9—"
Xiluo went on, "The book's already signed, and you still haven't tipped it!"
Stuart fell silent.
Xiluo said, "I'll make you understand what happens when you don't bookmark, recommend, or tip a book!"
Before you continue