Chapter 392: Just a Disadvantage
Swish—!
Saw Paing was knocked back by Ren Shiroki's [CHEST PIERCING ELBOW]. He tried to
maintain his high-velocity assault, but his chest seized up in a localized spasm
of agony. He hacked up a spray of crimson, his frame momentarily rigid.
"Cough... ACK! It hurts... it hurts like hell!!"
His torso arched forward involuntarily, forced to abandon his suppression
barrage to gasp for air.
"IT'S—IT'S HERE!"
Sayaka Katahara gripped her microphone, her voice carrying to every corner of
the arena. As a professional commentator, she had studied Ren's match history
with clinical precision.
"The [SOUL COMBATANT] Ren Shiroki doesn't fight for the 'One-Hit Kill'!"
"His true strength lies in the 'Exchange'! In the fact that no matter how dire
the situation looks, a lethal counter-assault is always just one frame away!"
"To him, being at a 'Disadvantage' is just another Tuesday!!"
Seeing Saw Paing stall, Ren's feet began to skip.
His relaxed leg muscles suddenly snapped into high-tension coils. With a violent
surge of core power, he launched himself forward. His explosive "Startup" was so
fast that his arms dangled behind him for a fraction of a second, building
torque as he moved.
[DRIVE RUSH]!
Voom!
"Ahaha!"
Ren closed the gap in a heartbeat. He fired a left hook that slammed into Saw
Paing's cheek, followed immediately by a right straight that the Burmese fighter
managed to intercept with a double-forearm guard.
Thud-thud!
Ren used the impact to pivot, spinning his entire body into a high-speed
backhand.
[DEE JAY: FUNK DANCE]!
BOOM!
Saw Paing gritted his teeth, holding his guard firm against the impact. After
weathering the flurry, a guttural growl erupted from his throat. He fired a
desperation punch that caught Ren square in the face.
BAM!
However, the impact was negligible. Ren rolled his neck with the blow to shed
the force, countering instantly with a vertical left jab that sent a fresh spray
of blood from Saw Paing's nose.
He didn't stop. Ren twisted his hips, unleashing a spinning back-kick that
buried itself in Saw Paing's stomach. As the giant doubled over, Ren hoisted his
left leg for a massive forward thrust.
[JAMIE: FLOWING DRUNKEN LEG]!
THWACK!
The kick shattered Saw Paing's balance. He was launched backward, his feet
leaving the sand as he crashed into the perimeter railing.
CLANG!
The metal bars groaned and buckled, and the spectators in the front row
scrambled back in terror. Saw Paing lay in the dirt, his back screaming in pain.
He took a deep, agonizing breath and forced himself up. His vision was a blurred
mess of lights and shadows.
Ren didn't pursue. Instead, he let out a sharp, thunderous bark: "HEY!"
"—?!"
Saw Paing snapped back to reality, his eyes focusing on the silhouette across
the ring.
A feral rage bubbled up in his chest. "You bastard! You dare hold back on me?!
Don't you look down on me!!"
"Sorry. I just wanted to test something," Ren said, settling back into his
side-facing stance. He began a rhythmic, light skip, his body swaying with the
beat of his [ENGINE]. "I've got some new toys I want to play with."
Saw Paing's eyes flared. "Fine! Then I'll give you a reason to get serious!!"
Screee!
His foot dug into the sand, kicking up a rooster-tail of dust as he lunged
forward like a rocket. He targeted Ren with a driving knee.
Ren performed a lateral glide, the knee missing by a hair.
Saw Paing didn't overextend. He spun on his heel, swinging his right leg in a
mid-section roundhouse that covered a full 360-degree arc.
Zip!
Ren leaped into a crouch, the leg whistling over his head. Saw Paing stomped the
ground, reaching out with both arms in a desperate grapple.
"HYAH!"
Ren's legs snapped straight. He drove his palms downward into Saw Paing's back,
using the man's own frame as a springboard to launch himself over the giant's
head.
[RASHID: BOLT STRIKE]!
Clap!
The sudden aerial movement threw Saw Paing off balance. His grapple hit nothing
but air, and Ren vanished from his line of sight. But the Burmese fighter was a
veteran; he spun around, swinging his fists in a blind frenzy.
"HEYYYAHHH!!"
Whish-whish-thud!
Most of the flurry missed, but Ren caught a heavy side-kick to the thigh, the
impact leaving an immediate bruise.
Despite the hit, Saw Paing managed to seize the momentum. He rained down a
brutal sequence of Lethwei strikes.
Thud-thud-thud!
Ren tucked his chin and lowered his guard, his shoulders absorbing the shock of
the Burmese haymakers. He was being pushed back across the arena, his feet
skidding in the sand.
Sayaka gasped into the mic. "Saw Paing's pressure is mounting! Shiroki is being
forced into a total defensive posture!"
"This is it..."
Gaolang watched the exchange with narrowed eyes. "That idiot Saw Paing might be
a simpleton, but his ability to recover his spirit is unmatched. Ren has finally
managed to pull the 'Real' Saw Paing into the fight."
"Ren wants the opponent to rack their brains and trade their soul just to hit
him," Retsu added with a helpless smile. "But the cost of that curiosity is that
he's putting himself at a massive tactical disadvantage. One frame of lag and
this match is over."
[ED: KILL-STEP]!
Zip-zap!
Ren swayed his torso, retreating with high-speed boxing footwork to reset the
distance.
"I'M NOT DONE YET!!" Saw Paing roared, pushing his style to the absolute limit.
He was inches from pinning Ren against the wall again.
In that millisecond, Ren's posture shifted. He dropped into a specialized Philly
Shell, his lead shoulder high, his lead hand dangling loose.
[SOUL-LEVEL RELAXATION]!
The flesh and bone of Ren's left arm seemed to dissolve, leaving only the
"Spirit" behind. The weight of the limb vanished, dropping to zero gravity in
exchange for a near-instantaneous startup.
[ED: PSYCHO FLICKER]!
Whish!
The "Soul" arm snapped forward at a velocity that bypassed Saw Paing's reaction
frames. Ren's fingers locked onto Saw Paing's right wrist, yanking the 88kg
fighter toward him with violent force.
Shick!
Saw Paing was upended. He tried to adjust his weight, but he was a frame too
slow.
Ren's right fist was already chambered, palm-up. He drove his core forward,
delivering a mid-section "Liver Blow" to Saw Paing's side.
BAM!
A perfect liver shot! But one wasn't enough. Ren followed up with a rising hook
to the same spot, the impact echoing through the gymnasium.
DOOM!!
Saw Paing hacked up blood, his body involuntarily arching backward.
"Hah!"
Ren fired a left jab to the face, followed by a right hook. He unleashed a
high-volume barrage, his fists working like pneumatic hammers.
[LUKE: TRIPLE STRIKE]!
Thud-thud-BOOM!!
Saw Paing tried to tank the hits with his iron skull, but the final heavy cross
sent him sailing backward to crash into the sand.
Fusui Kure watched from the sidelines, impressed. "The Burmese kid is a tank,
but Ren-chin's superior mass and technical 'Picks' are giving him the edge."
Gaolang disagreed. "It's not just the weight. It's the timing."
"Saw Paing's skull is hard enough to negate almost any impact," Gaolang
explained. "The density of his skeleton reinforces his musculature, effectively
cutting the damage of vital-point strikes in half."
"Normally, Saw Paing's defense is a brick wall. The only reason Ren's punches
are working is because he is timing his hits to land at the exact micro-second
Saw Paing is 'Resetting.' He is achieving a Perfect Hit."
Gaolang tapped his own fist against his palm. "It isn't about being blocked.
It's about manufacturing the conditions where the strike must land cleanly."
Ren couldn't hear the analysis. He was lost in the feeling of the match.
Zip-zap...
Ren skipped on his toes, his body weaving in a V-pattern as he looked down at
the fallen Saw Paing.
I knew it. This is the feeling.
In his war with Naoya Okubo, Ren had realized that [SOUL-LEVEL RELAXATION]
wasn't meant to be a finisher. It was a tool to break the opponent's "Game" and
drag them into his own.
It was a subtle, flickering advantage—but it was everything.
Saw Paing roared as he scrambled back to his feet, his face masked in blood.
"HEYYYAHHH!!"
Ren raised an eyebrow, his body resuming its rhythmic skip. He matched his
breathing to his heartbeat, meeting the incoming Burmese assault head-on.
"TAKE THIS!!" Saw Paing shouted, throwing a high-angled left elbow.
Ren pivoted, catching the bone-blade on his shoulder. The elbow cut like a
knife, opening a shallow gash on Ren's deltoid. But it was a trade Ren was
willing to make.
Shick!
Ren drove his left palm upward, batting Saw Paing's elbow aside and forcing his
guard open. He landed a quick 1-2 combination—[DOUBLE IMPACT].
Saw Paing spat out bloody foam but kept his arms wide, trying to force a
bear-hug clinch.
Ren executed a Sway-back.
[ED: KILL-STEP]!
Ren retreated just far enough to clear the grapple, then lunged back in. He
clenched both fists, driving a massive right hook downward into the center of
Saw Paing's face.
Super Art: [LUKE: ERASER]!
"HAH—!!"
☆☆☆
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