Chapter 47: "Mics, Morals, and Martial Arts Mayhem"
In which Ren throws philosophical punches, Reiji gets dramatic, and no one brings snacks to the throwdown.
Ren stood still, arms crossed, his expression flat as Reiji—Zeus, self-declared tyrant of teen angst—delivered his dramatic monologue like he was auditioning for a villain role in a stage play.
"I checked your background, Kaito," Reiji sneered, brushing back a lock of his overly dramatic hair. "Kaito Hoshino—you should have been a normal person. You had everything. A family, a home, a future. But now, you've turned into this… this warrior, this anomaly. You became this strong in a month. A genius who wasted his life is all you are."
Ren blinked slowly, unimpressed. "Thanks for the exposition dump. Want me to cue the sad violin music too?"
Reiji ignored him. "I really hate people like you. People who have it all but let it go to waste. You must be thinking—even if you lose now, you'll beat me later. It's written all over your face."
"Actually," Ren replied, "I was thinking about dumplings. But thanks for the psychoanalysis."
Reiji's face twitched, clearly not used to being mocked in the middle of a dramatic rant.
"You look down on me too much, Kaito," Reiji growled. "You know nothing about me. But I know all about you."
Ren's eyes narrowed now, his joking tone softening into something sharper.
"So what?" he said. "It's my life. It's their life," he added, motioning toward Haruki, Reina, Hermes, Shōgo, and the others standing behind him. "You're trying to dictate how they should live. That's not strength, Reiji. That's control. And control without care? That's just being a tyrant with a pretty speech."
"You speak of choice," Reiji said coldly, "but Haruki made a promise. He abandoned it. He betrayed it."
"He was six," Ren shot back. "I'm pretty sure when I was six, I promised myself all kinds of stupid things. Life changes. People change. The real strength is accepting that and moving forward."
Reiji scoffed, but Ren stepped forward now, his voice rising with a rare intensity.
"Look, I didn't intervene earlier because I wanted Haruki to make his own choice. But you? You're not here for justice. You're here for revenge. If the Black Heaven Society is such a big threat, there are plenty of people already fighting them—masters, organizations, warriors."
Ren's hand tightened around the handle of his reinforced baton. "You're not doing this to protect the world. You're doing this because you want to be the king of it. You want to own the fight. You don't want to stop evil—you want to replace it with your own brand of righteous tyranny."
"No," Ren continued. "I think this is about your pride. You want to be the hero, the leader, the one in charge—because deep down, you think you're the only one who can be. And maybe you've convinced yourself it's about justice. About Black Heaven. But you're going against people like that with a bunch of teenagers and calling it a noble crusade?"
Ren shook his head.
"That's not justice. That's obsession."
There was a pause.
"You want to know what I really think?" Ren added. "You want control. And you think beating us proves you're better than the world that left you behind. But this?" He gestured around them. "This isn't strength. It's desperation."
Reiji stared at him, eyes unreadable. For a brief second, Ren thought maybe he had reached him.
Then Reiji's smile returned.
"I'm going to enjoy breaking you."
Ren grinned.
"Cool. But just so you know…"
He pulled his baton free, spiritual energy slowly beginning to move through his arms.
"…I heal faster than your ego."
The air snapped with tension like the opening bell of a championship fight. Red Dawn and Olympus formed a loose circle around the makeshift arena outside the warehouse.
And in the center stood Ren and Reiji.
No magic.
No Ki.
Just fists, muscle memory, and a whole lot of unresolved teenage trauma.
Reiji shrugged off his white suit jacket like he was shedding royalty. His eyes sparkled with smugness as he cracked his knuckles, each pop sounding like a countdown to disaster.
"I hope you're not planning to stall until your 'real power' kicks in," he said, his tone casual in the most condescending way possible. "Because you'll be out in five seconds."
Ren twirled his baton once before pointing it at Reiji. "You talk like a guy who reads his own biography out loud."
Reiji smirked. "You've had five days under proper masters. Five. Days. I've trained for years under someone the martial world considers a monster. You think you can catch up to that with tricks and motivational speeches?"
"No," Ren replied with a shrug. "But I've been fighting monsters since I was twelve, so I think I'll manage."
They clashed in a flash.
Reiji came in fast, a blur of calculated martial strikes—Taekwondo kicks with whip-like precision, tight boxing jabs, and sudden judo feints meant to throw Ren's balance off. Ren barely avoided the first combination, using his baton defensively, turning sideways and letting the strikes glance off the reinforced shaft.
But Reiji was relentless, pushing forward like a machine programmed to win.
"You're slow," Reiji sneered, spinning into a high kick that Ren barely ducked beneath. "This is what happens when you rely on brute force and instinct instead of real training."
Ren grunted, sliding back a step as he blocked a low kick with his shin. "Dude, you're acting like you're Teacher of the Year. But all I see is a guy trying really hard to impress his ex-friend."
That one hit home harder than the baton.
Reiji's expression twisted for just a second.
Then he went faster.
His fists lashed out, targeting joints, pressure points, anything that could end the fight quickly.
Ren grinned through the pressure, his baton shifting into a reverse grip as he moved unpredictably. His movements weren't as polished as Reiji's Earth martial arts, but Ren had spent years learning to survive battles where predictability got people killed.
"You're right, you know," Ren said, breathing heavily between dodges. "I didn't grow up in some peaceful dojo."
He jabbed forward, cracking the baton against Reiji's forearm and forcing the older teenager to recoil slightly.
"I grew up fighting for real."
"You call this fighting real?" Reiji spat, slamming a roundhouse into Ren's ribs and following it with a palm strike to the sternum that sent him stumbling. "You're nothing but borrowed tricks and strange powers. And this little gang of yours? A joke."
Ren straightened, wincing but still smiling.
"Weird. For someone so superior, you seem really desperate to convince me you're better."
Reiji lunged again.
This time Ren didn't block. He twisted and took the strike across the shoulder, moving with the impact before slamming the baton into Reiji's ribs.
Reiji grunted, but retaliated instantly, sweeping Ren's legs and driving him to the ground with a knee against his chest.
Their eyes locked.
"You're persistent," Reiji admitted. "I'll give you that. But persistence without power is just… sad."
Ren coughed, a trace of blood appearing at the edge of his lip.
"Cool," he rasped. "But power without heart? That's just a fancy way to lose your soul."
BOOM.
That was the sound the ground made when Ren's spiritual energy exploded outward in a shimmering shockwave.
Dust blasted away from him in every direction. Clothes snapped in the sudden wind, and Reiji actually jumped backward—not from fear, but surprise—his shoes cracking the pavement when he landed.
"Spiritual energy, huh?" Reiji scoffed, brushing imaginary dust from his shoulder. "What's next, Kaito? Going to tell my fortune?"
"Tempting," Ren muttered, taking a breath as energy danced across his arms like heat lightning. "Yours says painfully punched in the pride."
Reiji's aura ignited.
Ki surged around him in a brilliant golden-blue shimmer, humming with enough force to make the air feel heavier.
The ground trembled.
He sneered.
"Idiot. You're using spiritual energy in close combat? Are you that desperate to imitate a martial artist with the wrong kind of power?"
Ren cracked his knuckles.
"I don't imitate. I commit."
Then—
Click.
White-gold armor formed around Ren's arm.
Layered plates locked over his hand and forearm while the luminous core of Fivefold Ascension flared to life.
The First Ascension activated.
Power surged through Ren's body.
Twofold.
Vhalor's voice echoed through his mind.
"The next Ascension will take close to a minute. Keep him occupied."
Ren nodded.
He could already feel the Soul Armament working, slowly building toward the next stage.
And he would need every second.
Because Reiji?
Reiji moved like a thunderclap.
He was on Ren almost instantly, launching a punch so fast that the air cracked around it. Ren blocked with his baton, only to be sent skidding backward across the gravel, boots carving twin lines into the ground.
Reiji flexed his fingers.
"You're still too weak."
Ren didn't answer.
He threw several blades.
Reiji knocked them aside.
But the blades were never the real attack.
Smoke capsules detonated.
POOF.
Black smoke swallowed the field.
"Classic," Reiji's voice came through the darkness. "Hiding behind tricks in a real fight—"
Ren shot through the smoke like a missile, baton first.
CRACK.
The weapon slammed into Reiji's ribs.
The ground fractured beneath his shoes.
Reiji staggered.
Just for a second.
"That's one," Ren whispered.
"You cheeky—"
Reiji never finished.
He retaliated with a spinning heel kick that Ren barely ducked beneath, the pressure from the strike cracking the wall behind him. Ren slid low and sent another smoke capsule toward Reiji's face, buying another moment.
Seconds dragged by.
Fists.
Kicks.
Baton strikes.
Dodges.
Every exchange mattered now because Ren wasn't simply trying to beat Reiji.
He was trying to survive long enough for Fivefold Ascension to climb.
The first minute crawled toward completion.
Then the Soul Armament answered.
The Second Ascension activated.
Ren's power doubled again.
Fourfold.
Reiji immediately felt the difference.
Ren slipped past his next strike, drove forward and slammed a palm strike into his stomach.
BOOM.
Reiji coughed as he was thrown backward, flipping through the air before landing on his feet, shoes grinding across the concrete.
His eyes narrowed.
"You're closing the gap…"
Ren grinned, blood running from his lip.
Reiji finally understood.
"So that's your game."
Ren said nothing.
"You're buying time."
Reiji's expression darkened.
"Every minute that passes, that Soul Armament makes you stronger."
Ren's grin widened.
"Wow. For a guy obsessed with control, you're pretty good at figuring out other people's strategies."
Reiji lowered his stance.
"Too bad it won't save you."
His Ki surged violently around him.
"Then I'll finish you before the next Ascension."
He disappeared with a boom of sound.