The blinding light locked the two warriors in a gridlock of pure power.
Sakuma grinned through the searing heat, his eyes reflecting the churning orange fire of his weapon.
This crystal blade was from the deepest volcanic veins of the Beast Domain. It contained the core of an ancient Quasi-Master-level volcanic golem that he and the rest of the Seniors had hunted during a truly perilous mission. It possessed an endless reservoir of molten material.
In a contest of sheer attrition, Sakuma knew no one could ever hope to outlast it.
Having wielded it for centuries, he knew exactly how to control such a unique weapon. He squeezed the hilt tighter as more of his blood seeped into it, empowering the molten beam and waiting for Moretsuna's blue light to flicker and die.
But it did not flicker.
Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the blue plasma began to push forward.
The point of collision crept closer to Sakuma. The roaring pressure intensified, forcing his heavy boots to slide an inch backward across the ruined stone floor.
Rage flared in his chest.
He was losing the tug-of-war?!
What on earth is that power?!
Sakuma violently clamped down on his blade, pulling the liquid flame back into the core before detonating it all in a single, massive burst.
BOOOOM!
The sudden concussive wave stalled the blue beam for a fraction of a second.
It was just enough time.
Sakuma severed the connection and threw his massive frame to the side.
With his Martial Heart fully active, his speed surged past his previous limits. He blurred across the scorched arena, closing the distance before the blinding flash even faded from Merun's palms.
Sakuma swung the flat spine of his colossal greatsword with terrifying momentum. The heavy crystal smashed squarely into Merun's ribs but still made a crisp CLANG due to Merun's passive Sanchin... but it still fractured the stone beneath them and flinging the youth violently across the ring.
Sakuma didn't even follow up with the weapon.
Instead, he casually drove the massive crystal greatsword deep into the cracked arena floor, letting it stand on its own.
With his Martial Heart active, he didn't need the blade to prove a point.
Before Merun could fully recover from the roll, Sakuma closed the distance with terrifying speed.
A heavy boot slammed directly into Merun's chest, pinning him to the stone with enough force to crater the ground beneath his back as the breath exploded from Merun's lungs.
Sakuma leaned down, seized Merun by the front of his torn dougi, and hoisted him into the air like a ragdoll.
A devastating right hook smashed into Merun's jaw with another clear CLANG, sending a sickening boom through the stadium.
Merun didn't even have time to fly backward before Sakuma grabbed his ankle midair, spinning and slamming him violently back into the dirt.
Merun tried to raise his arms to form a desperate guard, but Sakuma shattered his defense with a destructive backhand that sent him skittering across the stone.
The sheer speed of the giant was suffocating, making it impossible to counter or even breathe.
If not for him constantly using Sanchin, he would be dead many times over.
Every time Merun tried to blink, Sakuma appeared directly in front of him, delivering another heavy blow that sent shockwaves through his shattered posture.
The crowd had gone completely silent, the earlier cheers replaced by heavy, breathless dread as they watched their grand champion turn the promising newcomer into a bloodied wreck as the clanging of Merun's Sanchin slowly stopped ringing.
It didn't look like a martial arts match anymore. It felt like a brutal, systematic execution.
Moretsuna's execution.
Merun's vision blurred, dark spots dancing at the edges of his sight as the Kamehameha had fatigued him considerably. He gave up on counterattacking and instead focused his Ki on patching together his injuries... but the bastard didn't let him breathe for a single second!
Sakuma pulled him up by his collar, his face a mask of cold, unyielding power.
He drove a short, agonizing punch straight into Moretsuna's solar plexus, collapsing what little air the youth had managed to scrape together.
Merun fell to his knees, vomiting a thick stream of crimson onto the gravel.
His limbs felt like lead, his never-ending stamina has found its end and his remaining ki reserves flickered like a dying candle.
Beyond the agonizing physical pain, a cold, suffocating horror began to take root in Merun's chest.
Up until this moment, he had always been the apex predator. His entire martial identity, his deepest instincts, and his Saiyan pride were built on a singular foundation of pure, tyrannical dominance—Overwhelming Suppression.
He was always the one who broke spirits, crushed guards, and dictated the terms of battle through relentless, crushing pressure and invincibility.
Now, he was the prey.
He was experiencing the exact hopeless despair he usually inflicted upon his enemies. Sakuma was doing far more than beating him; he was making a point.
The giant's path was the exact same as his own—a towering wall whose techniques dominated, overwhelmed, and had been perfected over centuries.
To lose to a martial artist of a different discipline would be one thing, but to be completely dismantled and destroyed at his own game was an entirely different kind of hell.
It stripped away his arrogance, making him feel terribly small.
He was entirely outmatched, physically broken, and running on nothing but pure, stubborn adrenaline. It was a hopeless sight that made a definitive loss feel completely unavoidable.
As Sakuma raised his massive fist to bring down a final, hammer-like strike that threatened to permanently end his journey, a toxic wave of pure, unadulterated spite surged through Merun's veins.
He had chosen the path of absolute, Overwhelming Suppression.
If he gave up now, if he allowed Sakuma to completely break his spirit...
His very self would shatter beyond repair.
He couldn't accept a world where someone else stood above him as the ultimate predator.
He would rather burn his own life than to bow to another tyrant.
FUCKING BASTARD!!!!
DON'T FUCK WITH ME!!!
He forced his trembling fingers to his temples as he shut his eyes and flashed the most devilish smile with his blood-soaked teeth.
"SOLAR FLARE!"
A brilliant, blinding white flash erupted from his palms, illuminating the colosseum with the intensity of a newborn sun.
"AARGH!" Sakuma roared, clutching his face as blindness struck him.
In that single split second of total whiteout, Merun pulled off a miracle.
He used the absolute last drop of his ki to slip behind the giant, wrapping his right arm tightly around Sakuma's throat and locking his left hand behind his own head.
He sank into a deep, textbook rear-naked choke—one he had recreated from his old enemy and sister's savior, Yujin Kai—cutting off the airway completely.
It was the perfect counter, a flawless technique executed at the exact second of vulnerability.
The crowd roared at the ultimate turnaround, a literal saving grace that would turn the tide of an impossible battle.
But the moment the hold locked in at full power, Merun realized the terrifying truth.
Sakuma was not thrashing.
He was not panicking.
His neck muscles, tempered by centuries of refinement and reinforced by his active Martial Heart, felt like solid iron.
"GRRRRRRRRRAAAAAA!!!"
Merun's arms screamed from the strain, yet he could not compress the giant's throat by even a millimeter.
The miracle had failed.
A deep, rumbling vibration started in Sakuma's chest.
The bald giant burst into booming, breathless laughter that echoed through the arena.
"UAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! You really are something else, brat!!" Sakuma grunted, his voice booming but completely steady.
He didn't even try to pull Merun's arms off his neck.
He just stood there, letting the youth hang from his back.
The true salvation of the match hadn't been Merun's desperate choke at all.
The reality was much more absurd.
Merun had already won.
Sakuma had already lost the match the very second he triggered his Martial Heart, bound by his own unbreakable vow of pride.
But he wasn't going to lose without giving Merun a beating.
He had never intended to kill the boy, only to beat the cockiness out of him and teach him a lesson he would never forget.
But watching Merun endure a horrific, bone-shattering beatdown without ever yielding, seeing him fight with such incredible heart and stubbornness to the bitter end without even bringing out his Martial Heart... after all this...
It changed everything.
The boy had earned his recognition.
He even reminded Sakuma of someone.
Someone he had looked up to long ago.
"UAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Sakuma roared with laughter, raising his massive hands into the air to signal the referee. "I FORFEIT!"
The crowd was in awe of what had transpired, but before they could even shout—
"THE FUCK YOU MEAN, FORFEIT?!"
Merun's eyes were red with sheer fury.
"RRAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHH!!! NO FUCKING FORFEIT!!!!"
He squeezed even harder, his face turning crimson from the exertion, giving it his absolute all as he hung onto the giant's back.
"BASTAAAAAARD! I'M NOT DONE YET!!!!" Merun roared, his voice cracking with rage as the referee and the rest of the arena stared at them in utter confusion.