In that final strike, Aomori survived thanks to his powerful physique and the use of the Healing Spell.
Garou, who was also severely injured, was rushed to the hospital after Aomori administered emergency treatment to stabilize him. Bang and Bomb went along with the ambulance.
Afterward, Aomori endured his fatigue and discomfort to attend the awards ceremony and subsequent interviews.
With this, the Martial Arts Tournament drew to a close.
However, as the live-streamed Boss fight and the news of his tournament victory continued to ferment, Aomori completely dominated the news headlines and online hot searches. His reputation soared, reaching a point where he was known by virtually everyone.
The highly-scrutinized champion, after the tournament ended, shut off all communication and hid at home for two days.
…
In a room wreathed in incense, Aomori, sitting cross-legged on the bed, slowly opened his eyes. A purple glow flickered in his pupils before eventually fading away.
He opened his system. At the bottom of his personal skills list, a new entry appeared: Thunder-Light Duality Fist (Incomplete).
"Still no luck?"
During his battle with Garou, they both entered that wondrous state where Garou created the Monster-Slaying God-Killer Fist and Aomori created the Thunder-Light Duality Fist, and they each unleashed one strike against the other.
However, afterward, Aomori found himself unable to execute the Thunder-Light Duality Fist again, feeling as though there was a membrane between himself and the technique. To pierce this membrane, he had specifically canceled all promotional activities and returned home for seclusion and contemplation, but he was always just a bit short.
"Is it because my understanding of the Thunder and Light energies is insufficient, preventing me from perfectly blending them?"
The Thunder-Light Duality Fist is essentially based on the principles of Taiji (Yin and Yang), simply substituting the two forces with Thunder and Light.
Thunder is lightning, governing slaughter and destruction, representing Death; Light is holy light, governing healing and purification, representing Life.
Since life and death are fundamental transformations of Yin and Yang, there is no theoretical problem.
It's just that in practice, Aomori has not yet achieved the skilled Energy Manipulation needed to perfectly balance the two.
"It looks like this won't be accomplished overnight. Haste makes waste. I'll take my time."
Aomori got out of bed. After washing up, he changed into outdoor clothes and put on sunglasses, preparing to visit Garou at the hospital.
Two days had passed; Garou should be waking up soon.
Upon reaching the hospital, he asked a nurse for the room number. He removed his sunglasses just before entering the room, returning to his normal appearance.
It was a single room. Garou lay on the bed, wrapped head-to-toe in bandages.
There was another person sitting by the bedside, whom Aomori vaguely remembered; he thought the man was called Sour Face.
"Aomori-senpai!" Seeing Aomori, Sour Face immediately stood up awkwardly, a strange blush rising on his face. "Bang-sensei asked me to look after Garou-senpai here."
This was the look of a fanboy seeing his idol. Ever since Aomori's short video was widely circulated online, all the disciples of the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist Dojo had come to regard Aomori as an idol. However, seeing his uncle-like face paired with that expression was a bit jarring.
Aomori's expression remained calm as he gently said, "Thank you for your hard work, Sour Face. You should go get some rest. I'll watch him here."
"Yes. Yes. Yes." Bug God quickly nodded in agreement. After leaving the room, the blush deepened on his face: "Aomori-senpai spoke to me. His voice is so gentle."
Inside the hospital room, Aomori stood by the bed, looking at Garou.
Garou was already awake. He was staring out the window, but his eyes were vacant and unfocused.
"Garou, at that moment, I saw into your heart." Without any preamble, Aomori directly addressed the thoughts he had been brewing.
"The younger you sympathized with Monsters and couldn't stand the so-called 'heroes' because you saw your own shadow in the Monsters, didn't you? Because your classmate was a good student, you, who was bullied by him, became the one in the wrong. So you felt the world was full of unfairness. Ha, that's naturally the case. The world is never fair."
Garou remained unresponsive.
"Furthermore, handsome heroes are popular, and ugly Monsters are hated; sunny and attractive people are favored, while gloomy and introverted people are kept at arm's length. These things stem from human aesthetics and have nothing to do with fairness."
Garou's eyeballs seemed to twitch slightly.
"I'm afraid what I'm saying is too deep for you to understand, so I'll tell you this directly. All this talk of fairness and justice, or the 'evils of this world,' is because you suffer from a sickness, a sickness called chuunibyou! Sickness must be treated. Find a psychologist when you have the time; since you're lying in bed, you've got nothing else to do."
"You're the one with chuunibyou! I won't give up!" Garou glared fiercely at Aomori, finally regaining some vitality.
"Heh heh," Aomori chuckled twice and said, "You must have learned a lot about my inner self as well. My parents were killed by Monsters, and I don't want to see such tragedies happen in the world again. So, my life will be dedicated to eliminating Monsters. If you want to become the 'monster of this world,' you'll have to defeat me first."
The term "parents" here encompassed two different sets of people, so Aomori spoke without any burden.
Having said his piece, Aomori left the hospital room. He had said everything he intended to.
"I won't give up. I will definitely defeat you," Garou muttered after a long silence, though his eyes were full of confusion.
…
Leaving the hospital, Aomori rode his Motorcycle to the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist Dojo. Besides asking Bang about training the Thunder-Light Duality Fist, he had one more important matter to discuss.
"Bang-sensei. Bomb-sensei is here too, that's great." Aomori entered the inner room. He not only saw Bang but also Bomb, who was enjoying a cup of hot tea with Bang.
"It's Aomori. Come and sit down quickly."
"Okay." Aomori sat down in a side seat and poured himself a cup of hot tea.
"I figured you'd be busy right now. Why the sudden visit? Oh, we haven't congratulated you yet on creating a new fighting style."
"By ancient tradition, you've essentially graduated. You could treat us two old men as equals from now on," Bomb joked.
"No, I can't go without the guidance of both masters. In fact, I came today precisely to discuss my newly created Thunder-Light Duality Fist."
"Oh? Tell us about it in detail," Bang said, his interest piqued.
Aomori explained everything that happened during his fight with Garou, including his current inability to execute the Thunder-Light Duality Fist.
"Epiphany during a fight is a possibility, and the collision of your Fist Intents at that time amplified the probability. As for your inability to use the Thunder-Light Duality Fist now..." Bang frowned and pondered. "It's possible that the moment of epiphany granted you the state to master the new technique, but your normal selves are still lacking a bit of maturity. My suggestion is to practice more. Continuous effort grinds stone into a needle."
"Yes, that's what I was thinking too."