"Itadori, was it? How do you want to handle this...?" asked Sunraku, materializing a pair of blades shaped like dark blue flames and a gold flame pattern engraved in their surface.
Raising his brows, Itadori asked, "Twin swords? Aren't you being a little too serious about this?"
"Hey, I'm more than prepared to go nuckles to face if you are," countered Sunraku, waving the sword in his right hand as he added, "These puppies are just a precaution in case you attempt to get the jump on me. With all the freaky powers Ascendees possess, you can never be too careful, you know?"
"Right. I guess that makes sense..." conceded Itadori, cupping his right shoulder with his left hand and rolling it. Then, without any warning, he bolted toward Sunraku, leaped midway, and executed a swift flying kick with his right heel extended like a spear.
"Whoa, now, I haven't even put my weapons away...!" exclaimed Sunraku, his voice giving the impression he was smiling beneath his mask as he put his swords into his Inventory and weaved under Itadori's kick. The latter landed a short distance behind him, kicked off the ground, and attempted to drop kick his guard, but Sunraku bounded back slightly, staying just out of his range.
'This guy is really good at dodging...' noted Itadori, landing on the tips of his fingers and toes before dropping his palms and kicking off the ground to perform a sharp, somersaulting kick as Sunraku moved in with his fists raised like a boxer.
'Whoa, this guy is seriously flexible!' Sunraku exclaimed in his mind, the smile behind his mask growing as he watched Itadori twist his body and bound to his feet like a breakdancer. When their gazes invariably met, he then charged forward, meeting Itadori head-on as they both threw right straights at each other's faces.
FWOOM
FHWACK
Though he twisted his head aside at the last moment, Sunraku got a chill up his spine as the pressure from Itadori's fist swept past his head like a projectile fired from a cannon. At the same time, his own landed square on the pink-haired youth's face, producing a cracking sound akin to smacking a wooden paddle against a tennis court.
'Ow! What the heck is this guy made of...!?' Sunraku asked himself, barely evading Itadori's attempt to grapple him by using a skill that allowed him to instantaneously slide backward five meters in what gamers would refer to as a single frame. In his wake, Itadori's nose was slightly bloodied, but he was otherwise unfazed, the only notable change being that he looked considerably more focused.
"You're movements are strange..." noted Itadori, producing a menacing black and blue aura from his body as he slumped forward slightly with his hands at his sides like a cowboy preparing to draw.
"And your face is as hard as steel," countered Sunraku, holding up his hands and making a show of equipping a pair of thinly padded crimson gauntlets with the word PUNCH written across the knuckles. They were similar to the striking gloves of a mixed martial arts fighter, but instead of being assembled from modern materials, they appeared to be made from monster parts.
Seeing Sunraku's gauntlets, Itadori's brows furrowed slightly as he could feel there was something off about them. Unfortunately, unlike how things were in his world, Ascendees from other realities seldom went out of their way to explain how their powers and equipment functioned.
'I just have to hit him harder and faster than he can hit me...' determined Itadori, nearly catching Sunraku off guard as he explosively accelerated forward, more than twice as fast as before. What he didn't know was that Sunraku had almost exclusively invested his Stat-Enhancing Crystals into his Dexterity, Intelligence, and Luck, purposely focusing on his speed and capacity to process information.
After weaving between Itadori's three-piece combo and bending his knees to evade the former's attempt to grab his head, Sunraku countered with a left-right-left on his own to the pink-haired youth's steel-like abs. To Itadori's surprise, there was virtually no power behind the blows, but as Sunraku continued to evade his attacks, he quickly noticed that each successive blow was heavier than the last. Meanwhile, in the periphery of Sunraku's vision, a meter with the letters K.O. rapidly filled with each blow he landed without taking damage in turn...
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"That boy with the mask has amazing control over his body. With proper training, he could easily become a Master..." noted Miu, her face flushed but her expression focused as she stood bent over with her hands on the railing of a private viewing booth in her purple bodysuit and padded pink jacket combo. She and Vahn had already celebrated their reunion, but he couldn't resist after seeing her bent over with her butt wagging from side to side, compelling him to stand behind her with his hands massaging her waist and his bulge leisurely bumping against her.
"His real name is Hizutome Rakuro, and before becoming an Ascendee, he was both a purveyor and connoisseur of what those within his community refer to as Trash Games, poorly designed virtual realities with a wide array of game-breaking mechanics and bugs," revealed Vahn, expanding, "Since then, he's accumulated several achievements and gone from F-Rank to D-Rank in a remarkably short period."
"And what about the other boy?" asked Miu, briefly licking and biting her bottom lip before noting, "His movements are unrefined, but he has great power and durability. He strikes me as a natural brawler."
"That's Itadori Yuji," answered Vahn, revealing, "He's from a world where supernatural creatures known as Cursed Spirits are constantly at war with a group known as Jujutsu Sorcerers. Unfortunately for him, Sunraku isn't a Cursed Spirit. Furthermore, he's hyper-specialized in single combat using a wide array of strategies and weapons..."
BOOM
Nearly as soon as Vahn was finished speaking, Sunraku landed his one-hundredth consecutive blow against Itadori without taking damage. As a result, the special effect of his gloves, Knock-Out Blow, activated. For one attack, his power was increased ten times over, and when he slammed his fist into Itadori's gut, it was nearly visible through the back of his uniform, a large amount of blood discharging from his mouth as he was sent flying into the air.
"That attack was much more powerful than any of his previous blows..." muttered Miu, stating the obvious. However, as much of her focus was on what was taking place behind her, she could be forgiven for speaking her thoughts aloud.
"Perhaps, but if Itadori has anything going for him, it's his toughness and fighting spirit," contended Vahn, pinching and pulling at the fabric of Miu's spandex until they tore open, unleashing a womanly scent that permeated the private booth. Orihime was enthusiastically riding him one booth over with Rukia observing with raised brows, and similar events were occurring in five other booths. As such, he couldn't control himself in the presence of such a perfectly shaped and enticing bottom. Fortunately, his S-Rank Bedroom Arts allowed him to move nigh-autonomously, so while his main body, seated with Ravel on his lap, remained focused on the competition, his other selves systematically caught up with those he hadn't seen since entering the training room...
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"Seriously, man? You're beginning to make me regret not investing more points into Strength..." remarked Sunraku, standing with his arms crossed as he waited for Itadori to rise like a zombie from the dead.
"That was a hell of a punch..." conceded Itadori, placing his right thumb over his right nostril and snorting out a large blood clot that immediately became even more congealed as it hit the ground. At the same time, heat surged from his body, causing his hair to bristle and his eyes to gain a red hue.
"So, what, you're entering phase two now...?" asked Sunraku, adopting a broad smile behind his mask before uncrossing his arms, holding them up, and donning a pair of green and yellow gauntlets resembling the shell of a turtle as he added, "That's fine by me."
"I was told never to use this against non-Sorcerors and Cursed Spirits, but I think Gojo-sensei would forgive me just this one..." stated Itadori, extending his hands forward with his fingers spread wide. Sunraku saw this and immediately dodged to the side, but he was too slow. From the moment Itadori laid eyes on him, the evolution of his late mother's innate technique was activated, causing the gravity around Sunraku to increase tenfold in a split second.
"Oh, come on! An attack that hits at the speed of sight? That's totally freakin' unfair, and you know it...!" protested Sunraku, doing his best to resist the intensifying gravity as Itadori's fingers curled backward and turned a dark shade of purple, starting from his left pinky. The pain he had to endure was intense, but endure he did.
'Damnit...I can't believe I have to use this so soon...' Sunraku complained to himself, mentally activating one of his life-saving skills, an ability called Cicada Skin Shed. It had a week-long cooldown, but with his body on the verge of being pancaked, he had few options.
Seeing Sunraku's body abruptly lose its color and collapse like the outer husk of an insect, Itadori's expression went from determined to confused. During that transition, the hair on the back of his neck stood on end as his shadow lengthened behind him, followed by Sunraku lunging out with one of his flame-like swords extended.
Though he dodged to the side as quickly as he could, Itadori felt intense heat and pain from his left arm or, more accurately, his bicep. The rest of his arm was spinning through the air as Sunraku's blade sliced through it like a hot knife through butter.
Feeling that Itadori had violated the integrity of their match first, Sunraku held nothing back as he pressed his attack, swinging his swords in swift, light-producing arcs that grazed and left gashes in the former's body and sliced his uniform to ribbons. Itadori did his best to dodge, but the loss of an arm combined with the growing number of lacerations across his body left him feeling weak, feverish, and then cold.
"This is the end...!" shouted Sunraku, bringing his arms across his body and preparing his finishing blow as Itadori lost his footing and tripped on his right heel. Instead of charging forward, he slashed his swords at the same time, the one in his right grazing the one in his left and setting both alight with cerulean blue flames.
Seizing the timing when Sunraku could no longer pull back, Itadori dug his right heel into the ground, shifted his weight onto his left foot, and twisted his body while clenching his teeth hard enough to crack several of his molars. Sunraku saw what was coming, twisted his head, and began to bend his knees to evade, but Itadori's suicidal timing was too good. As his blades sliced through his opponent's body, Itadori's fist slammed into the left side of his face, producing a brief burst of black and red lightning that caused all feeling to leave Sunraku's body as he was bounced off the unrelenting, indestructible arena.
"Black...Flash..." panted Itadori, the front of his torso ablaze with flesh-searing flames, but his expression resolute as he stared at the downed Sunraku for several seconds before raising his head and mangled right fist triumphantly. It vexed him that he had only managed to land a single solid blow the entire match, but he made damn sure it counted.
"I don't...fucking think so..." growled Sunraku, causing Itadori to tense as something clasped around his left ankle. When he looked down, he found Sanraku gripping it tightly, a shining blue eye staring at him intensely from behind his cracked mask. Immediately after, Itadori's vision abruptly went from white to black as searing heat, followed by a warm and cozy feeling, washed over him. In the next moment, both he and Sunraku appeared in a special seating area for retired contestants, the result of the latter pettily using a skill called Self-Destruct to take them both out...
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