Chapter 42 - Winner Is...

*Stab*

Ichiro's hand was currently stabbing at Slych's torso perfectly.

Blood started flowing furiously from it.

Slych grimaced, he grabbed Ichiro's arm and pulled his hand out.

''GRRR!'' Slych gritted his teeth and managed to take the hand out, then he unleashed his front kick which pushed Ichiro backward.

Slych quickly put his hand on his wound to stop the bleeding.

While Ichiro was barely staying standing.

'System... My HP?'

[9/65 HP]

'Fuck...' Ichiro cursed in his mind.

The Painkillers effect started disappearing and even greater pain assaulted his body.

The side effects started to also appear.

'I should have done ordinary Iron Lance... but then my attack perhaps wouldn't have injured him...' Ichiro shook his head, to get rid of his self-blame.

Slych went back into his fighting stance with a huge wound on his torso bleeding furiously.

Ichiro gritted his teeth and went into his Cat Fighting Stance.

...

(In Raften Household)

''Slych is injured!'' Sara exclaimed with horror.

Emilia put her hands on her mouth while looking at the scene of Slych bleeding with a terror-filled face.

Zeux also paled. ''What the fuck is that attack...''

'Even if they are good friends... they still fight like their lives are on the line...' Penelope thought.

''Look!'' Sara pointed and everyone saw that the TV camera zoomed on Ichiro's figure which was trembling like non-stop.

''He is on his last legs... How?'' Zeux asked curiously.

''He must have been injured before the match,'' Penelope said.

Others exclaimed and nodded.

...

(In Irio)

Ayako, Eiji, and Azumi looked at the screen with clenched fists.

They sighed a relief once they saw Ichiro's attack injuring Slych heavily.

...But then seeing Ichiro barely staying conscious...

It was a very difficult sight to see.

...

''Keep attacking!'' The old man shouted with his hoarse sound.

''Ichiro is far more injured, father.'' Her daughter said, she was a doctor in the nearby hospital and she can easily see who is the more injured one.

Even she was shocked seeing Ichiro's attack which pierced through Slych's flesh, which in some sense should be impossible to do with his physique.

...But she was also shocked seeing Ichiro's injuries.

She can clearly see that his vision started getting blurry because he keeps rubbing his eyes.

And while he is in his fighting stance, he can barely stand straight.

''Damn, will we lose again in the Round of 16!'' The old man shouted anxiously.

Last year Irio's team also lost in the Round of 16, that year Lucas fought with the team, but his teammates were third-years who were Martial Leader rankers.

This year's Irio's team could be said very unbalanced because Liam being Low Martial Soldier.

But last year Irio's team was very balanced which could have gotten top 8 easily, but they met Taryn in the Round of 16 and lost.

''They are so cool.'' one young boy in their household said with shining eyes while passion towards Martial Arts started igniting.

...

(In the stadium)

''Ichiro, you can do it!'' Lucas yelled loudly with his back covered in sweat.

The students around Lucas also yelled loudly.

They finally see a chance of victory in this tournament, because Ichiro is fighting evenly against Slych!

''HAA!'' Ichiro loudly yelled and attacked Slych, his punch looked sloppy but it still packed a lot of strength.

Slych dodged the punch and attacked with a sidekick, which was dodged by Ichiro with a slight margin.

Slych leaped into the air and did a flying roundhouse kick.

[Tomahawk!]

Ichiro quickly put his hands on the block, but Slych's kick easily bypassed the block and hit Ichiro straight at his face.

''UGH!'' Ichiro groaned in pain and fell down on the ground painfully.

Slych raised his leg and threw a whip kick, but Ichiro tilted his head on the side and dodged the kick.

But he couldn't dodge the aftermath - Arena cracked because of Slych's kick which made tiles fly straight at Ichiro's face.

Ichiro closed his eyes and felt the sharp tiles hitting his face, which made him grit his teeth in pain.

Ichiro opened his eyes and saw Slych's punch approaching his face.

Ichiro put his arms on the block, but Slych's punch broke his block and his fist perfectly hit Ichiro at his chest.

''..Fuck!'' Ichiro cursed and quickly grabbed Slych from his shoulder and deflected his center of gravity.

[Ironic Edge - Gravity Control!]

Slych was prepared for it, he quickly went into a lower stance to lower his center of gravity so it won't be as easy to make him fall.

...But Ichiro never planned to make him fall.

Ichiro quickly pushed himself up from the ground, he twisted his waist and punched Slych straight at his face.

''Pfft!'' Blood flew from Slych's mouth, he staggered backward with uneven steps.

Ichiro did a long stride towards Slych and started punching with all his remaining strength.

*Smack* *Smack* *Smack*

The first few punches hit perfectly, but then Slych put his arms as block and managed to block the rest of the punches.

Slych waited for a moment, and once he saw Ichiro's punching getting slower, he dodged one of the punches and threw a front kick.

But Ichiro quickly dodged the front kick and threw a punch at Slych's face.

*Smack*

Slych's head was pushed back from the impact.

Ichiro then made his last effort and tried to grab Slych's shoulder.

...But before he could grab it, Slych somehow managed to grab Ichiro's wrist.

Ichiro widened his eyes.

Slych started kneeing his torso.

*Bam* *Bam* *Bam*

Ichiro could only use his left arm as a block, but it didn't help at all.

The audience was loudly cheering while watching the match on the big screen in the stadium.

Commentators were loudly discussing the match.

While Ramu's Higher-ups were arguing with each other.

''What do we do?!''

''Didn't you talk with that old referee?!''

''He isn't from Ramu, he definitely won't help us!''

''Should we use the Martial Commander to get rid of Slych outside of the stadium?''

''I guess we have no other choice... Call him, say that we will pay a lot to do this troublesome mission.''

...

'I am losing!' Ichiro thought anxiously while getting hit by Slych's powerful knee kick.

He has never felt truly anxious about losing before.

In his past life, he lost when he was young, but that was against more experienced fighters.

He never lost against someone younger or someone at the same age.

He lost to Lucas in the spar, but never in the official match has he lost against someone younger or someone at the same age as he, but now he is losing against someone younger!

Slych is only second-year in Middle School and already Peak of Martial Leader.

That says a lot about his talents.

Ichiro never thought he would ever be losing against someone younger... It's true that he is injured and couldn't fight with full power, but that is just an excuse.

He never could challenge Slych in the fight without his system's help... He could if he Reincarnated early and started doing Martial Arts as a kid.

In reality, Ichiro's talent isn't worse than Slych's.

But his talents aren't any better either.

In his last life, when he was 14 he was already National Champion in Karate on his age group.

He never was a battle genius like some others he has met.

They can get stronger during the fights.

While Ichiro's talent was to get stronger during training.

He always knew exactly what he lacked.

He improved his weak spots and start improving if he finds new weak spots...

He will fix them, so no one can utilize his weak spots against him in the fight.

...But now that he is fighting Slych... He can see a lot of weak spots on him.

His only attack strong enough to properly injure Slych is Iron Lance.

This is bad because that attack can't be used too many times, or he risks injuring himself.

The second is his speed.

He can't dodge even half of the attacks Slych hits him with.

His Defense abilities are his strong point.

He was glad that he decided to choose Ironic Edge and not offensive ability or movement.

Because without Ironic Edge.

He probably would have lost against Irkum, and probably would have lost already against Slych.

His regret was choosing Iron Lance.

He didn't know that the Technique Recreation wasn't perfect.

He didn't know that there can be still some backlash from his own attack.

He knows his style the best and he knows what Iron Lance does to his body.

...That's why he was sure that all the backlash would be removed, like the info from Technique Recreation said.

...But it only removes the backlash of the impact, but not the vibrations coming from the attack which causes injuries in Ichiro's body.

''Ugh!'' Ichiro again groaned in pain after feeling Slych's ruthless attacks.

'I will get stronger after this tournament... just you wait...' Ichiro thought and his vision started going black.

Slych stopped attacking and saw Ichiro falling down on the ground...

The Audience, Commentators, and the ones who watched from TV went quiet.

''MATCH OVER! WINNER SLYCH RAFTEN!''