Bounty Hunters - Shokin Kasegi

Six Spikes Desert Arc: Chapter 69

==To kill or not to kill==

It has turned night and somewhere in the surrounding mountain range of Cenperi, Raiden and Ketsuki face each other because they had a hefty dispute in their apartment, while everyone was sleeping. Raiden wants Ketsuki to stop killing people while Ketsuki thinks it’s okay to kill people if they deserve it.

A light breeze blows, indicating the quiet before the storm. They both wanted to fight for a long time but not under such serious circumstances. Still, they look at each other with fierce eyes and struggle to hold back their anticipation for this fight.

Ketsuki explains himself: “For my entire life, death and hatred were the only constants.”

Raiden replies: “I DON’T WANT TO HEAR SUCH THINGS ANYMORE! I’LL NEVER TOLERATE YOU ENDING LIVES! …Therefore, prepare to be changed into a better person!”

Ketsuki shouts: “SHUT UP! I BRING JUSTICE AND THESE PEOPLE WILL NEVER LEARN IF THEY DON’T SUFFER ANY CONSEQUENCES!”

Raiden continues to think: “Ever since I first saw the monster inside of you in your first fight with Enzou, I wanted to grab it… and kill it! I was that afraid of you in that moment.”

They bang their heads together and gnash their teeth.

Ketsuki aggressively mumbles: “If I win, I get to keep killing people who deserve to die!”

They jump apart and get ready for battle.

In the apartment room where Erika and Horuteph are sleeping, Atsume is still awake and worriedly mumbles: “Please Raiden, defeat him.”

Raiden’s fists charge up and even Ketsuki’s fists are surrounded by a black and red aura now. They dash towards each other and hit an inaugurating first punch on each other’s right fist and the air gets blown away. Ketsuki goes for another punch but Raiden backs away.

“Rabbit Boots!”, Raiden shouts and his feet charge up.

He dashes forward and overwhelms Ketsuki with his speed.

He forms an “Overcharged Monkey Punch!” and directly hits Ketsuki’s face. Ketsuki gets shot away but he regains composure and forms a “Raven Claw!” around his fists. Raiden runs towards him and dodges the claw, positioning himself behind Ketsuki. Ketsuki notices and quickly forms a spike made of threads coming out of his back.

Raiden is forced to jump up and thinks: “Thank god these allow me to jump a few meters.”

Ketsuki forms a “Porcupine Spear!” and throws it. It then turns into a “Weaver’s Web!” and catches Raiden.

“To let so many of your threads outside your body at once… is a major mistake!”, Raiden shouts as he quickly slices them up with his “Overcharged Tiger Slice!”.

Ketsuki suffers fatigue from the instant blood loss and Raiden lands in front of him. Ketsuki ducks under the punch and kicks back like a horse. Raiden jumps just out of reach but a hand of threads comes out of Ketsuki’s foot and grabs him. He pulls Raiden close and then punches his stomach with a “Claw Destruction!”.

Raiden flies into a wall and as he climbs out again, slightly bleeding, he comments: “Seems like we both got a lot more confident with our powers.”

Ketsuki provokes: “Seems like you’re enjoying yourself. I thought you wanted to address a serious problem!”

Raiden’s expression doesn’t change and he charges up again. This time his lightning aura turns into snakes at the end of his arms. He calls it “Snake Whips!”

Ketsuki replies: “Interesting.”, and he dissolves his claws and slowly forms a “Filament Katana!” while other threads strengthen his sinews again.

“I’ll show you now what scathing technique you helped me train!”, Raiden shouts.

“Overcharged Snake Surge!” he shouts as one of the snakes bursts like a horizontal lightning over the battle field.

Ketsuki comments: “Your speed is an insult to every lightning, you know? And my katana can’t conduct electricity!”

He slices through the snake and dissolves it. Raiden runs towards him and uses the snakes around his arms to block Ketsuki’s attack. Ketsuki swings his katana against the snakes but they don’t dissolve. Ketsuki starts to struggle with the two hardened snakes. Raiden then quickly turns to a handstand and kicks Ketsuki in his face with an “Overcharged Rabbit Kick!” and flings him away again.

Suddenly, behind Ketsuki, there comes a snake breaking through the ground which bites him in his shoulder. Ketsuki screams in pain and can’t properly move because of the voltage. He puts threads on his shoulder to stop the shock and slices right through. Breathing heavily, Ketsuki looks at Raiden, who stuck a hand in the ground, with surprise. Raiden forms two more snakes and lets them spurt forward.

As the “Overcharged Snake Helix!” comes closer, Ketsuki thinks: “This can’t be an ability he can spam. Such a strong shock costs him lots of power. If I parry this and land a destructive hit afterwards, I’ll probably already be close to winning.”

The two vipers meander closer to him and the katana gets covered in black and red aura. Suddenly, the snakes go around Ketsuki, trapping him and leaving no way to run. Ketsuki is surrounded by these snakes but he can get a glance at Raiden’s strained face.

“Shitsuke, I’m gonna use your technique you told me about in the hospital. I’m gonna change my aura, just like you did, to something intimidating!”, Ketsuki thinks.

He shouts: “Wild Slice!”, as he continues to slice through all of the snakes’ body parts.

The snakes dissolve and Raiden looks at Ketsuki with shock and exhaustion.

Ketsuki just stands there and snaps his fingers, shouting: “Now it’s time, to let our fists do the talking!”

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The dispute between Raiden and Ketsuki has escalated! See how this fight concludes in the next chapter!