“In front of absolute power, any techniques or strategies are pointless”, that was the saying spread far and wide among the Setsujin. Some considered it gospel, while others like Aozaki always doubted its validity. However, there was no denial that the saying did exist, and as such, there had to be something that reflected this philosophy.

The Setsujin’s soul martial arts were a mixture of both the followers and rebels of this doctrine. While its first two forms, Gentle Fist and Surging Fist, were the techniques to counteract pure power, the last form was the culmination of raw, unadulterated strength.

There was no fancy name for it. Just a single word “Fist” was enough. Fist—the most primitive tool for combat, the easiest to learn, and the most proficient to control. Techniques were reduced to zero, as the user achieved a truly blank state of the mind. In exchange, they could achieve spectacular results.

For instance, creating an updraft strong enough to fly in the air.

As Aozaki punched downward, there was a storm emerging from that small fist. On the ground, a large crater appeared, bearing the shape of his clutched hand. Meanwhile, the gust born from the punch pushed Aozaki further in the sky, saving him from danger.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Akabane, who had to stop his pursuit on a nearby tree, mumbled.

But that was not all. While in the air, Aozaki bent his knees as if making a jump. Or rather, it would be more precise to say that he was forcing a jumping movement without any foothold.

And yet, he succeeded. As the man stretched out his legs again, another booming wind blasted behind him, sending Aozaki forward at a speed comparable to Midorikawa’s flight. With the force of a cannonball, Aozaki crashed into the tree his target was on, cracking it in half with a single punch.

When the dust settled, however, Akabane was nowhere to be found.

“Tch, he dodged that,” Aozaki concluded.

A voice from behind him took no time to confirm the case. “Indeed you did.”

No matter how fast he was, Aozaki was only comparable to Midorikawa. And before a person who had trained with the green speedster from his childhood, adjusting his eyes to that kind of supersonic strike was an everyday occurrence.

Akabane had not only figured out Aozaki’s attack pattern, but he had also moved just in time to avoid the punch with his rather middling speed—a feat unable to replicate without the impeccable timing that he had achieved in his youthful days. Following that, all he had to do was jump and slashed off his opponent’s neck, nothing more.

However, his opponent was also not as simple as Akabane expected.

Before his scythe arm could even graze Aozaki’s neck, the latter had already turned around, ready for combat as ever—if Akabane had Midorikawa as a training partner, then Aozaki had honed his combat instinct to the maximum of its ability to detect harm in his way. And for the man in blue, countering was his specialty.

“Flowing Water, Gentle Fist.”

Both his palms now open, Aozaki pushed his left arm forward, pressing Akabane’s chest just enough to stop the latter from advancing with his slash. Meanwhile, his right arm smacked the incoming slash by the wrist, deflecting it enough to miss his body by a hair. Following that movement, his left wrist twisted to gain more force, and his palm clenched to become a fist.

“Vast Ocean, Fist.”

The torque was enough to make up for the lack of distance, while changing his stance from Gentle Fist to pure Fist boosted the attack’s power by tenfold. As soon as the punch landed on Akabane, there was a sound of cracking shell and bone, while the recipient of the strike flew through the trees at full speed, breaking not just one, but multiple trunks at once.

Aozaki knew it wasn’t time to let up, however. And so, he rushed towards his opponent once more.

As the blue man approached his opponent, another flurry of palm strikes flew. But he was smart enough to never let the attacks carry Akabane too far—learning his mistakes, Aozaki only attacked downward and upward, and since he was keeping at Gentle Fist only, there was no risk of breaking trees for sending the opposition flying again.

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The match was heavily in Aozaki’s favor. But it was by no means over yet.

For the Onigiri, its main weapon was the scythe forearms it had. However, one must also acknowledge the strength within its tiny legs to be able to carry the creature far away with high-speed jumps. With their size, those legs couldn’t function as a proper weapon, but now, imagine those same jumps with the humanoid body of a fully Evolved Mujin.

As a smirk curled on his face, Akabane had been waiting for this moment. The instance that Aozaki was too busy rushing him down, the former had lowered his guard.

If the Setsujin’s martial arts allowed Aozaki to fly without a proper foothold, then Akabane’s Mujin legs could also make any jumps without the need of being on the ground first.

The distance between his current position and the tree trunk was only a few centimeters, but that was all he needed. Stomping his legs down, Akabane sprung his body upward, utilizing the force to deliver a powerful kick at Aozaki’s face. The force was even excessive enough to turn the kick into a backflip, sending the former’s body right up in its correct position—the same position needed for a slash right at the target’s midsection.

Crossing his arms, Akabane dashed forward. “It’s over!”

“Not yet!”

After the kick, Aozaki was at his most unfavorable position in the fight yet. His combat style utilized his arms, and now his body was tilting up, his head was looking at the sky, and his legs were barely holding him on the ground. In other words, there was too little balance for Aozaki to put force into his arms to counter.

But like Akabane, he had one final trick of his sleeves.

It wasn’t a killer technique like his soul martial arts. If anything, it was akin to Akabane’s kick that got him—a pure survival instinct that came to life in his direst moment.

Aozaki couldn’t fight his fall. So, he leaned into it. Turning into a handstand position, the man in blue used his legs as his replacement arms, and kicked Akabane right in the chin just in the nick of time, sending his opponent flying again. However, since kicks weren’t Aozaki’s specialty, the damage it dealt was minimal, only enough to save him from the clutches of doom and nothing else.

So, both of them returned to their fighting stance for one last time.

Akabane rushed forward, his scythe arms crossing for a slash.

Aozaki rushed forward, his palms open for one final strike.

Their builds were similar, so the difference in speed would be the deciding factor. And there was a difference in speed, no matter how slight it would be in any other case.

Aozaki was slightly faster, if not by just a hair.

But before he could deliver his final attack, Akabane flashed one final grin of confidence.

“Checkmate, Blue.”

As the words escaped his mouth, Aozaki felt a sudden sting in the back of his neck. Just mere seconds later, the man fell down like a puppet without string, his muscles stiffened to the point of suffocation.

“What… did you…”

“Remember, Blue. This is still my village,” Red answered, pointing a finger up the sky. “You never bothered to check where you were chasing me to, right?”

It took all of his strength to move his neck up, and when he finally did, Aozaki couldn’t believe his eyes. The tree behind him was in fact another treehouse, and its owner was a familiar girl in black and yellow, with now two needle-like stingers protruding out of her wrists.

”Yellow… You’re…”

“Thanks, Yellow,” Akabane gestured a salute. “Glad you could catch my signal.”

The girl, however, was nowhere to be seen anymore. Just her panting remained to be heard. “Damn it, Red. I just got up, and what the hell is happening? Blue suddenly went rogue, Black and Green are nowhere to be seen, and where’s Yakushi-kun?”

“He’s with Green and Black. All three went rogue, actually.”

“Here,” from her treehouse, Yamabuki threw a small pill towards Akabane, who promptly caught and drank it without hesitation. “Leave Blue to me.”

“Thanks.” With a final nod of goodbye, Akabane disappeared among the bushes.

Once the rustling sound of leaves dissipated, however, there was another pill thrown down, this time to where Aozaki was lying.

“Drink up.” Sounded Yamabuki from above.

“Was paralyzing me that much necessary?” After taking the pill, Aozaki complained.

“That’s for disrupting my recovery, both of you,” the girl sulked. “Green predicted this and told me everything before he was captured, so I get the gist at least.”

“You’re choosing his side right away?” Asked Aozaki.

“I never liked the Evolution ritual, and I don’t want the boy to suffer the same fate as us. That’s all.”

“Then why did you still give Red that recovery pill?”

“My pills aren’t really recovery, remember?” Chuckled Yamabuki. “It’s just concentrated Shinbachira honey—helps as painkillers, but they won’t last for long. And you’ve bought enough time already.”

”You think the other three have made it to the sealing cave?”

“It’s Green, after all. Speed is his thing. Besides, Black is with them, right?”

“Do you trust him?”

“Isn’t he with you guys?”

“Yes, but I can never get a hold of what he’s thinking. Though… I guess I can feel that he generally means well, if anything.” Aozaki let out a sigh, mixed between relief and tiredness.

His fight for the moment was done—they had successfully bought time for the other group to gain distance with Akabane. Now, their job was to either wait for the good news… or prepare themselves for an even worse fight down the line