CHAPTER 93: THE ENGINE
"What...?"
Katsumi Orochi froze. As he looked at Ren Shiroki's jagged, bloody smile, he felt a sudden, primal chill.
It was the feeling of a cold blade being pressed against his forehead. It was an instinctive, biological rejection of the "Thing" standing in front of him. Katsumi found himself wondering:
What the hell is going through this kid's mind?
SHING!
Ren executed a lightning-fast sliding dash, condensing his power into the ball of his foot for a high-line thrust kick.
[RYU: HIGH-LINE BLADE KICK]!
THUD!
Katsumi raised his forearms in a cross-block. Ren's heel grazed the skin, slicing a fresh furrow into his bicep that began to weep crimson.
Without a microsecond of pause, Ren lunged deeper. His rhythm shifted instantly, his form tightening into the rigid, clinical efficiency of the military. He launched a right straight with the velocity of a bullet.
[GUILE: BURNING STRAIGHT]!
BOOM!
The heavy CQC strike slammed into Katsumi's guard, the shockwave forcing the giant back half a pace.
Ren didn't stop. He pushed off his lead foot, driving the heel of his palm into Katsumi's sternum.
[JAMIE: SWAGGER STEP]!
BANG!
Katsumi's body snapped backward. Just as his balance began to fail, he slammed a heavy boot into the deck to anchor himself. His face twisted into a mask of pure Asura-like fury as he launched a high-line knee-to-roundhouse transition aimed at Ren's neck.
"SEI—YAH!"
SHING!
The kick was a blur of high-velocity leather. It stopped an inch from Ren's jaw, the wind pressure alone clearing the blood from the youth's cheek.
Ren's right hand had moved across his chest while his left arm snaked outward. He had predicted the arc before Katsumi had even chambered the hip. He caught the shin in a crushing, reinforced grapple.
[ZANGIEF: TUNDRA STORM]!
Ren twisted his entire 97kg frame, using the leverage of Katsumi's own momentum to drive the giant head-first into the steel deck.
BOOM!
The ship shuddered. A visible dent appeared in the reinforced plating where Katsumi's shoulder hit.
"Gah... cough!"
Katsumi sprayed blood as he landed. He executed a desperate, low-line spinning sweep to force Ren back, giving himself room to roll away and reset.
The observers were paralyzed by the sudden escalation.
Most of them assumed Ren had simply entered a "Flow State"—that he was surrendering his consciousness to his techniques and letting his body move on autopilot.
But Kyara sensed the abnormality first.
"Wait... that's not it! That's not a 'Flow' at all!!"
Kyara's eyes narrowed. He realized that Ren wasn't merging the styles into a seamless whole. He was doing something far more unhinged, far more radical.
Yagyo Hikoichi was the second to react.
"It is... the opposite of integration."
In the martial arts world, "Mastery" usually means a genius merging various disciplines into a personalized, fluid style. Katsumi Orochi had done this by adding Kung Fu grips to his Karate.
But Ren Shiroki wasn't merging anything.
He looked... terrifying.
The word "慘烈" (Tragic/Gruesome) couldn't describe him anymore. It wasn't just the blood from his wounds; he was manually overclocking his own nervous system into a state of pure horror.
His muscles were vibrating with an electric frequency. A manic, jagged grin was etched into his face, while his eyes remained unnervingly still—cold, clinical, and dead.
In the whites of his eyes, a network of red veins began to rupture and spread like lightning bolts, centering on his pupils until his vision began to double.
"That face..."
Kyara and Yagyo both turned to look at Fusui Kure.
The girl had her [Removal] active. The veins around her eyes were bulging as she tracked the micro-vibrations of Ren's muscles. She was seeing the reality beneath the skin.
"Is that... your family's technique?" Yagyo whispered. "The Removal?"
Fusui shook her head, her expression grim. "No. That's not Removal. The mechanics are completely different."
"The human brain has 'Locks' to protect the body. It limits our output to 30% to prevent the muscles from tearing the bones apart."
"The Kure Clan uses 'Removal' to release those physical locks. We have the genetics to survive the surge."
"But Ren-chin? He isn't unlocking his body."
Fusui's eyes widened as she watched Ren charge again.
"His physical output hasn't changed. What's changed is his Consciousness. He's removed the 'Unconscious' from his brain. He is manually controlling every single nerve, every single fiber, with 100% focus."
"He's eliminated 'Reflex.' He's eliminated 'Instinct.'"
"He is a pilot operating a machine with perfect, terrifying synchronization."
Yagyo realized the logic. "Removal unlocks the 'Might.' Ren-san has unlocked the 'Will.'"
"The cost must be astronomical," Yagyo murmured. "The intracranial pressure alone... look at the blood in his eyes. He is manually crushing his own brain to achieve this focus."
BOOM!
Ren lunged forward.
BAP-BAP-BAP-BAP!
A flurry of short-range "Inside" strikes erupted. Ren and Katsumi traded blows in the pocket. Fists, elbows, and forearms collided in a rhythmic storm of bone and meat. Blood sprayed the deck, dripping from the railings.
The exchange was a perfect stalemate. Katsumi could no longer find the "Holes" in Ren's rhythm, because Ren was manually closing every frame of vulnerability with pure mental force.
"Incredible..." Yagyo whispered. "The Kure Clan's observation was correct. Ren-san has achieved a perfect Unity of Mind and Action."
Ren's right straight, coated in his own blood, slammed into Katsumi's face, driving him back three steps. Katsumi hit a steam pipe with a metallic CLANG.
Katsumi wiped his nose, his head ringing. He stared at Ren.
If the "Fist Master" Retsu Kaioh represented a perfect "Sphere" of four-thousand-year-old technique...
Then the Ren Shiroki standing before him was an "Irregular Polygon" composed of a thousand jagged spikes.
"I see it now..."
Katsumi's "Genius" allowed him to read the language of the fist. He realized Ren wasn't relying on his masters to carry him. Ren was Commanding his masters.
It was arrogant. It was insane. It was brilliant.
In this state, if Ren felt even a flicker of fear or hesitation, his brain would melt. It was a high-stakes gamble with no exit.
This was Ren Shiroki's combat.
This was his Might.
"Ren-kun... you really are the type to burn your tomorrow just to win the 'Now,' aren't you?"
Katsumi's nose stopped bleeding. He reset his stance, a look of pure warrior joy on his face. "What do you call this state?"
"—The [ENGINE]."
Ren wiped a trail of blood from his eye. His bloodshot pupils were vibrating in their sockets. "Right now... I am so 'Clear' it hurts!"
"Hahaha! Then let's see which of us breaks first!"
Katsumi slid forward, testing Ren's reach. Ren stood his ground, his arms raised.
Just as the two titans prepared for the final collision—
SNAP-RUMBLE!
A heavy sea gale caught the massive waterproof tarp covering the shipping crates nearby. One of the industrial tie-downs snapped. The enormous sheet of heavy vinyl was whipped up by the wind, soaring across the deck like a giant shroud.
It descended directly over Ren and Katsumi, swallowing both men in a dark, billowing tent.
Inside the darkness, the world vanished. Only the [ENGINE] remained.