The glittering lights of the skyscrapers looked like an inverted galaxy, illuminating the sprawling veins of Tokyo.
From the neon glow of Roppongi to the brilliance of Ginza, every beam of light told a story of the city's vibrant rhythm. Amidst this dazzling brilliance, crowds of people flowed like streams, slowly weaving through the streets and alleys.
But hidden behind the prosperity were the pitch-black shadows of the alleyways.
A man sprinted frantically through the dark, his face twisted in absolute terror, looking exactly as if the devil himself were chasing him.
Finally, his frantic footsteps came to a dead halt. Despair flooded his eyes. He had run into a dead end.
Sometimes, absolute despair breeds a suicidal surge of courage. Gritting his teeth, a handgun materialized in his left hand, while his right gripped a tactical dagger. He crossed the weapons in a highly unpracticed stance, his eyes locked dead onto the silhouette slowly emerging from the dark alley.
"Why are you hunting me?! I didn't do anything! I don't know anything!" the Explorer, whose Space ID was 'Little Yasha', screamed hysterically. "Don't come any closer! I don't care how fast you are, you can't outrun a bullet!"
Under the night sky, the wind blew the heavy clouds apart, allowing the moonlight to finally illuminate the figure in the dark.
It was a young man, roughly 180 centimeters tall, wearing casual civilian clothes. He had a waterfall of long, dark hair and possessed a face so hauntingly beautiful that even women would be envious.
Yet, the chiseled, explosive musculature barely hidden beneath his clothes betrayed both his gender and his catastrophic strength.
The beautiful young man's mental state appeared completely fractured. His flawlessly handsome face was twisted into a grotesque, agonizing grimace. "It was you... You all stole my beloved God from me... It was you! Ah... Without my God, how am I supposed to face this miserable, tragic world?!"
"Setsuna Kiryu! L-Listen to me! I don't know where you got your intel, but I'm just a normal proxy fighter! Ohma Tokita's death has absolutely nothing to do with me!"
Cold sweat poured down the Explorer's face. He knew exactly why he was being hunted.
The man standing before him was Setsuna Kiryu. In the canon storyline, Setsuna was a profoundly deranged, psychopathic stalker entirely obsessed with Ohma Tokita. His combat power was equally monstrous. He harbored a deeply twisted, fanatical love for Ohma. Now that Ohma was dead, his fragile sanity had completely shattered.
Internally, Little Yasha cursed the bastard who had murdered Ohma ten thousand times over. But cursing the Violator wouldn't save his life right now.
Little Yasha was a Level 7 Explorer. Compared to the ordinary martial artists of this world, he possessed a superhuman constitution. Yet, during their brief clash moments ago, Setsuna's signature Rakshasa's Palm had violently twisted the skin and ribs over his chest into a grotesque, agonizing spiral.
"Ohma... do not worry. I promise I will carve the ones who killed you into a thousand pieces... and then I will climax in the euphoria of avenging you." Setsuna hugged himself tightly, his face flushed red with manic arousal as he slowly stepped toward Little Yasha.
"Fuck! You psychotic freak!" Little Yasha fired his gun wildly while lunging forward with his dagger.
After a chaotic flurry of gunshots, Setsuna and Little Yasha crossed paths.
Little Yasha's entire neck had been violently twisted backward. His lifeless body crashed heavily onto the asphalt.
Setsuna Kiryu stood over the corpse, looking up at the pale moonlight. "Ah~ Ohma..."
Back at the Kure Village.
Inside an outdoor training ground heavily populated with thick wooden striking posts, two blurs flashed violently across the field. The deafening, concussive sounds of fists and feet colliding echoed endlessly through the air.
Following another massive clash, the two figures separated, each landing gracefully atop a wooden post.
The man standing on the right had skin that was completely dyed a deep, necrotic purple. Grotesque, bulging veins crawled across his body like demonic lightning. His face was twisted into a manic, battle-crazed grin. "Lu Li! Come on! Let's keep going!"
This man, currently displaying facial expressions that rivaled abstract art, was the prodigy of the Kure Clan: Raian Kure.
Standing opposite him was, naturally, Lu Li.
Lu Li was currently shirtless. His skin looked noticeably different than usual. Because his physical output was actively surging, his musculature was visibly hyper-inflated. Bulging, dark purple veins throbbed distinctly against his pale skin, looking like jagged streaks of lightning across a white sky.
He was also utilizing the Kure Clan's secret technique: Removal.
However, the visual effect was significantly different from Raian's. Lu Li's entire body didn't change color. Only the specific areas where the blood was violently surging—his heavily corded veins—turned that unnatural hue.
Erioh Kure had admitted he had never seen a Removal manifest like this. Lu Li theorized it was likely due to his unique systemic Constitution, or simply because he hadn't yet achieved a high enough Removal percentage to trigger a full-body aesthetic shift.
It was his fifth day in the Kure Village. The transaction with the Kure Clan had been highly pleasant and mutually beneficial. He had written down the complete theoretical and practical cultivation method for Armament Haki and handed it over to Erioh. In return, they had taught him Removal.
The Kure Clan's secret technique was undeniably complex. Even with his peerless martial arts comprehension, it had taken him two full days of intensive meditation to grasp it. During that time, he had frequently consulted both Raian and Karla.
Or rather, Karla was the one who actually taught him. Raian, the impatient, violent meathead, was an absolutely terrible instructor. Karla, on the other hand, was surprisingly enthusiastic about teaching. Given that she was an honor student at her high school in Tokyo, she was actually quite articulate and methodical.
Her only flaw as an instructor was her chronic, aggressive tendency to spontaneously strip out of her clothes and attempt to relocate the lesson to the bedroom.
Fortunately, Lu Li had flawlessly defended against every single one of the problematic teenager's "sneak attacks."
"That's enough for today. You've made significant progress. Rest for a bit. Internalize the sensation you just felt. Try to specifically isolate and pinpoint the flow of your latent power, rather than just relying on the visual feedback," Lu Li instructed calmly, hopping down from the wooden post and deactivating his Removal.
Karla practically sprinted into the training ground, enthusiastically offering him a towel and a bottle of water. "Lu Li! Let's go make babies now!"
Lu Li rubbed his temples, a headache forming. He felt he truly couldn't stay in the Kure Village much longer, otherwise, a major incident was inevitable.
"What day is this? What's your Removal rate sitting at now?" Raian asked bluntly, completely ignoring Karla's murderous glare as he violently snatched the bottle of water from her hand and chugged it.
Lu Li sat down on a bench near the edge of the training ground and wiped the sweat from his face. "Roughly 20%, I think. Since I don't possess the biologically optimized body of a Kure, this is likely my absolute ceiling for now."
"Tch. Pisses me off. I'm definitely going to slaughter you one day," Raian grumbled, his face thoroughly annoyed.
When Lu Li successfully activated Removal, it had sent massive shockwaves through the entire Kure Clan. Even for direct descendants of the main branch, mastering the technique was a grueling process that began in early childhood and took years of relentless training to finally employ in actual combat.
Raian, the greatest prodigy in their history, had taken four months to master it. Karla had taken five.
Yet Lu Li, a complete outsider, had perfectly grasped the activation mechanism in exactly two days. It made half the Kure Clan question their own existence and talent.
"If you think you can pull it off, you're welcome to try anytime. But you should probably focus on mastering the Haki foundation I taught you first," Lu Li chuckled.
Over the past few days, he had spent a considerable amount of time with Raian. They spent hours sparring relentlessly every single day.
Even though Lu Li had completely humiliated and crushed Raian during their first encounter, Raian was absolutely not weak.
The reality was that the current Raian was simply too young. He was an arrogant, brainless, violence-obsessed punk. If this had been the Raian from four or five years in the future (the Kengan Omega timeline), Lu Li wouldn't have won nearly as easily.
Lu Li remembered clearly that in the sequel manga, Raian's combat power was genuinely approaching the absolute "Demigod" tier of this world's martial artists.
Raian's innate talent was second to none. Whether in terms of raw numerical stats or combat instinct, he possessed absolutely zero flaws. The only thing he lacked was... being violently humbled.
Yes. The primary reason Erioh Kure was so incredibly satisfied with Lu Li's stay was that Lu Li spent the last few days relentlessly and brutally "educating" Raian. He was aggressively beating into the Majin's thick skull that there was always a higher mountain.
Because Erioh had grown old, there was no one left in the clan capable of physically suppressing Raian. As a result, Raian's martial "evolution" had completely stagnated.
"Hah?! Who the hell do you think I am?! Give me a few more days to master that hardening crap, and then I'll butcher you!"
Raian barked back with his usual explosive aggression. But after spending a few days with him, Lu Li had realized Raian actually possessed a surprisingly strong 'Tsundere' attribute.
Despite constantly screaming about wanting to kill him, Raian was mostly just running his mouth. Deep down, the Majin had likely already acknowledged and deeply respected Lu Li.
"Raian. You need to remember this: power without conviction is nothing more than mindless violence. It is not true martial arts. When you finally learn to forge your overwhelming strength into a true martial weapon, then you may challenge me again," Lu Li said seriously, offering a rare piece of genuine advice to his favorite sparring dummy.
"Don't you dare preach to me! So damn noisy! I'm going to train some more!" Raian looked furious. He slammed the empty water bottle down and stormed back into the center of the training ground.
Watching Raian's back, Lu Li's expression turned heavy.
He couldn't help but think... if Ohma Tokita were still alive, he eventually would have come to the Kure Village and likely become close friends with Raian.
But the 'Protagonist' was dead. The violent ripples from that assassination were already transforming into a catastrophic tidal wave.
Glancing at the latest chaotic updates in the World Public Chat, Lu Li knew it was finally time for him to move out.
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