Bounty Hunters - Shokin Kasegi

Kaishi City Arc: Chapter 28

==The winner==

Enzou heats up the arena again and everyone starts to sweat.

“Oh yeah! This is what I’ve been waiting for!”, Shurui shouts while rapidly taking lots of pictures of Atsume’s thighs who starts posing.

“You really hurt me! Now I’m gonna return the favor!”, Enzou shouts.

Ketsuki’s widely opened eyes reflect the bright glow of the aura.

He says: “Let’s see if I can overpower you now! This makes you one of the strongest enemies I ever fought!”

Ketsuki continues to think: “My chance is it to outlast this form and then I can defeat him. The problem is his enormous strength.”

Enzou punches the air, creating a fast wave of heat instead of a fist, called “Firewall!”.

Shurui analyzes: “Wow, this heatwave has a top temperature of around 1000°C! Ketsuki won’t just burn himself if he touches that!”

Ketsuki patiently waits until the heatwave comes close and then dives through underneath, continuing to jump forward, just a few centimeters above the ground.

Shurui surprisedly explains: “Because of the high temperature, the fire quickly evades upwards, making it possible do dive under the wall. Ketsuki seems to have his intelligent moments.”

“Thank god he’s just back to normal now.”, Atsume states, sounding very relieved.

Ketsuki stands up in front of Enzou who punches with full force but Ketsuki can dodge and hits Enzou instead. Enzou gets hit right in the face but doesn’t really show anything. He then punches back, throwing Ketsuki through the arena.

“My hit really did nothing, hah? Do I need to punch even harder?”, Ketsuki thinks.

He goes into close combat again but doesn’t try to punch. Ketsuki blocks all the punches from Enzou and learns to read the next attack. Once he manages to do that he waits for an opening and then punches with a slightly weakened “Meteor Smash!”. Enzou doesn’t flinch again and Ketsuki flies into the boundary.

He thinks surprised: “What the hell is wrong with this guy?! There’s no way this did nothing to him! He also almost burned through all the threads, strengthening my arm.”

While slowly walking up to Enzou, Enzou takes the initiative and appears in front of Ketsuki. He punches Ketsuki in the stomach repeatedly, propelling him up a bit with every punch. Then after a few punches, Enzou finishes of his “Flaming Ladder!” with a last charged punch right into the stomach again, shooting Ketsuki almost through the boundary.

Ketsuki spits some blood in a flashback, getting shot into a wall the same way. Someone shouts at the little Ketsuki: “You’re not getting better! You’re an ignominy for our family!”

In the arena, Ketsuki stands up saying: “This is everything I wanted. Don’t you hold back when you can end this fight. I made you do this so you also shouldn’t have a guilty conscience.”

“So you’re giving up? Is that what you’re saying?”, Enzou asks in response.

Ketsuki replies: “Are your ears damaged? I never said that I give up!”

He rushes forward and Enzou punches just once, thinking he’d hit Ketsuki. Ketsuki dodges with his head, hugs Enzou with one arm beneath his outstretched arm and lifts him up.

Ketsuki thinks: “To win this fight, I’ll have to endure some heat first.”

Now he throws him on the floor and slides forward with Enzou. Ketsuki’s arm now presses on Enzou’s carotid artery, slowly choking Enzou. Enzou begins to radiate intense heat, slowly cooking Ketsuki. While Enzou slowly faints, Ketsuki screams in pain and they both start to glow brightly.

“This is insane! How can he withstand a heat of 1200°C for more than a second?!”, Shurui asks in unbelief.

Enzou whispers, because he can’t talk anymore, while lightly trying to punch Ketsuki: “Stop! This is so dangerous and stupid! Why won’t you just stop?”

Ketsuki just continues to scream and Enzou notices that his grip gets weaker. He now gathers his power again, punching Ketsuki away. Ketsuki rolls all the way into the boundary and lies there. He fainted.

Enzou replies: “You really almost beat me. You have my respect, Ketsuki.”

The commentator announces: “OHHHHHH! IF THAT WASN’T AN ENTERTAINING LAST FIGHT FOR EVERYONE TO FEEL! WE HAVE HIM! OUR WINNER! BURNING FIST - ENZOU!! HE HAS MANAGED TO DEFEND HIS TITLE YET AGAIN!!”

The crowd cheers louder than ever before in the tournament.

“Noooooo! This heat is so unfair! How can anyone possibly defeat this guy?!”, Atsume shouts.

Raiden replies: “But it looks like he almost had him! This is super unsatisfying!”

“I really wished for him to win.”, Yurei claims.

Baramina says: “Did he just stage that whole thing with him being so cold hearted?”

Embara guesses: “No, he probably just overcame his anger for a moment and was able to fight normally again.”

Minami states: “I find him a little suspicious.”

On a high skyscraper, a few hundred meters away from the factory he was watching earlier, the guy with a mask sits down and prepares his rifle to shoot. He sits down and waits.

==========================

Not even Ketsuki can win against Enzou! He wins the tournament again and Ketsuki is seriously injured! Will he make a full recovery?