Chapter 12 : High on drugs

what ?! " 

I hear sakumo exclaim before i go to a boxing stance as i crouch down with my arms in front of me bend inwards ready to punch anytime, positioning my footwork, left foot is positioned slightly forward, with the toes pointing slightly to the left.The right foot is placed back and turned at a slight angle, ensuring stability and the ability to generate power.

then imitating him, my eyes then turns empty as if Devoid of life like the owner of this boxing style.

'Psycho mode'

I mutter the name of my technique in my head, then my heart beat accelerates, my Cells become active, i inhale huge amounts of oxygen, all the blood vessels in my body bulge because of my blood activity then the world slows down around me.

i focus on my opponent like he is the only being that exists beside me in this massive ring as everything around me becomes blurred .

If you haven't noticed, then i am using Yu's stance from the boxer manhwa like in his last fight against Aaron tide. i have read that manhwa like 3 times and it made me depressed for weeks because of the psychological damage .

The main character had a huge impact on me emotionally and this stance, represents his cycle of loneliness, despair, and... death .

I look at sakumo who was sweating and cautiously looking back at me .

*Swoosh* * ffff *

I move forward closing the distance between us with triple of my speed i used first as i cut through the air and create a small dust cloud in my previous position then arrive in front of sakumo who looked visibly shocked, probably didn't expected the sudden explosion of my speed .

i throw a straight cross very fast at his head with my left arm and he reacts and tilts his head to the left avoiding the punch that blew he air back after he tilted. Then he responds with his own punch and goes for a cross to my head with his left arm and i duck as his arm passed above my head then i shuffle very fast to change my footwork where my right leg is in front this time and in a rotating circular movement i deliver a body shot, a punch that targets the abdomen and ribs .

*POW*

The sound of my punch is heard when it hit his abdomen. he grimaces and stumbles back as he clutches his side to ease the slight pain it caused him .

" that was a strong one, i was careless " he says as he puts his own stance.

his knees are slightly bent, ensuring a lower center of gravity. His body is turned slightly sideways to present a smaller target to me. This also allows him to protect his vital areas more effectively.his hands are raised and positioned in a guarding manner. The lead hand is slightly extended and closer to the opponent, ready to deflect or counter attacks. The rear hand is held closer to the body, prepared to strike or defend. The fingers are relaxed but slightly flexed, ready to deliver powerful strikes or grab and control an opponent's limbs.

" Here i come !! " he cried .

In an instant he got in front of me but i could react to his speed due to my increased perception. he threw some fast jabs and i Bob and weave, A combination of ducking and sidestepping to avoid punches by moving the torso in a weaving motion and dodge all his jabs then throw an uppercut to his chin but for him to flip backwards, avoiding it .

i exhale and go back to my original stance and look at him with my still bloodshot empty eyes waiting for his advance .

Sakumo POV /

I think about the fight and look at his cold empty eyes devoid of the previous brash and arrogant demeanor as if looking at someone else .

' what's is wrong with him ?! How can he change that quickly ? What's that weird taijutsu he is using ? Why do i feel like his eyes are following everything i do ? " i thought really quick and agitated .

I didn't expect anything like this to happen, i thought that it will be just some simple fight where he exhausts himself, i win, teach him something after and finish ? .

I knew he was not normal but this level of battle experience is beyond a genin, maybe a low level chunin ? .

And those weird taijutsus ... I have never seen anything like it, even though they are not high level, they are at least a mid-high C-Rank taijutsu !

I look at him seriously as he goes back to his stance and exhales with sweat on his forhead tricking down while looking at me without showing much emotion .

I inhale and go back into my own taijutsu stance then look at him for a second before ...

*swooosh *

I run towards him with twice my speed and again throw some punches and he dodges it while struggling a little, probably due to my sudden increase in speed, then when he dodges my last punch i do a sidekick with my right leg aiming for his head

Not expecting a kick he quickly reacts and uses his forearm to block it.

* thwack *

When my kick meets his forearm, it unbalanced him for a second, and i put enough force in my left leg and rotate 360 degrees before again giving him a front kick aiming at his lungs .

i thought it will hit but he reacts quickly and moves his arms in front of him shielding his ribs area using his forearms then my kick meets it .

*PAW*

he staggers a little and i notice that he slightly stepped back before my kick hits so that it could minimize the damage but i am sure it still hurt him .

Garou's POV /

i was still in my blocking position before i go back to my boxing stance, and stare at sakumo who looked everything except exhausted. I get slightly irritated but i don't want to lose my focus as it will deactivate my 'Psycho mode' technique and make Yu's boxing style useless .

Although my body was getting tired at a fast rate because of all those punches and kicks of his and me slipping and weaving through it, i think i have it in me to go at least ten more rounds .

i get ready to close the distance again but Before i advance, i think a little then grin in my own mind as i don't want to give away what i am thinking so my facial expressions are still cold .

I get into an offensive stance then close distance between us again and go through a rapid series of punches and crosses, but i guess he adapted to how my style works so he dodges some of them and moves his head to evade some other, then it comes... a counter punch ! .

* PAW *

The punch hits... my right cheek .

I move backwards a little as i feel my brain rattles and the world gets blurry, from the side of my eye, i could see the shocked sakumo looking dumbfounded at me .

Sakumo POV /

I looked dumbfounded at this little devil, like why the hell didn't he dodge like the previous punches ?!! What is he thinking now ?! .

' I put a little more force into that punch expecting him to dodge so i hope he is alright ' i thought worried.

I look at him shaking his head, probably to disperse the dizziness he got from that punch and slowly he goes back to his unseen taijutsu stance .

' He'll probably get angry if i call it taijutsu in front of him so better stay quiet about it ' i thought awkwardly for a moment before getting serious again as i see him advancing faster than the previous time .

Left,right,down,front. I dodge through his punches then i counterattack him by my own punches, one to his head, one to his ribs and one to his abdomen but ...

*PAW**PAW**PAW*

' WHY DOESN'T HE DODGE ?!! ' i scream in my mind while looking worriedly at the grimacing kid but he continues to advance as if nothing happened and continues to throw his own punches .

*PAW**PAW**THWACK*

This continues for a while . Me dodging his boulder cracking punches and him being a meat shield for my kicks and punches .

Two minutes later /

I look at the now blooded kid who was panting, his face bruised, blood flowing from his mouth and nose like a waterfall. His sleeved upper shirt shredded and weird pants torn off .

" we should stop this, you are just hurting yourself ! " i said to him while glancing sideways at my uncle and ayaka-san who had a shadow under their eyes and arms crossed, sitting under the tree without much reaction .

" No ..*pant* *pant*.. we ..*pant* confinue fi..ght "  he answers while wheezing as i look at him concerned .

Garou's POV /

It hurt, it hurt like hell. I swear imma get back at you for this sakumo, just you wait you little shit !! . ' If not for what i am trying to do, things would have been better ' i thought tiredly.

' Work ! work !! DAMN JUST WORK ONCE !! ' i scream in my mind as i continue to throw punches at this handsome shit, "AAAAA" screaming aiming to wreck it but he dodges all of them at the last seconds .

* Gnash * i grit my teeth as i was getting hit by his punches and kicks .

As this onslaught continued i was screaming in my mind ' WHAT ?! JUST WHAT'S WRONG ?!! '

' I AM DOING IT JUST LIKE HIM SO WHAT ?!! '

Then i look up as i see a picture of a fist getting bigger and bigger in slow motion until it hits my face .

*PAW*

" ARGHHH "  i scream as my stance breaks and get thrown back then fall as blood and some teeth get out of my mouth .

while Feeling dizzy and feel like the world spinning i think ' is it really impossible to do ?! ' .

I stand on all four feeling extremely unwell then look up to see a blurry image of a worried sakumo then it suddenly comes to me and think about what i told him from earlier this day .

FlashBack /

"You asked about what martial arts is, right?!" I ask sakumo .

"Ah, right about that. So, what's up?" he said.

"Discipline, respect, humility, self-improvement, inner balance, ethical values, continuous learning, physical and mental health, controlled aggression, unity of mind and body, goal setting, and adaptability," I answer him, my back straightening, and my eyes locked on his.

I raise my hand and look at the rays of the sun passing between my fingers, continuing with a calm tone. "Martial arts is a form of speech, a conversation to know each other's personalities and spirit through our bodies. It's an art to show our freedom, an art to let us bypass our differences and bring peace."

Another FlashBack /

' The main character had a huge impact on me emotionally and this stance, represents a cycle of loneliness, despair, and... death . ' i thought .

Present /

I close my eyes then think ' Martial arts is an ART where one conveys a message through body to understand each other's feelings, personalities and differences ' 

Damn dude, i don't even understand myself then i go give some bull speech about Art and whatnot like some idiot anime protagonist sighhhh . i feel embarrassed now fuuuck ! .

' ok so let's think about loneliness, despair and death ... loneliness, despair and death.....' i repeat this words .

i remember and think about the time where i was in the void. I had been lonely for a long time in there, even though i was in a drunk like unconscious state, but it wasn't that much to lose my senses, so i felt the emptiness of that place .

Massive . Pitch black . Empty . LONELY  .

in There, i started to get anxious over time, i thought that i would stay forever in there and never get out, i called out to every kind of deity i knew to get me out of there, even offer a deal with the devil with my own soul but still nothing, then i felt despair .

Denial . Anger . Bargain . Depression . DESPAIR .

then i thought about how i died because of a stray bullet that was caused by some idiot who was trying to act like a hero but ended up getting many killed, and me being thrown into that void .

How i wished i could die a thousand times could be better than staying any longer in that place .

DEATH .

i thought again and again about this in a matter of seconds thanks to my thought acceleration until everything clicks in my mind...

I slowly but surely stand up until i my back was hunched and still looking down then slowly go back to my boxing stance and look up only for sakumo to see ...

a Forlorn expression .

Sakumo POV /

I look at the blooded and exhausted kid worriedly, then look at his parents pleading with my eyes to stop this as this is not a spar anymore, but a one sided beating .

Even though the kid was very strong for his age and very experienced but that's it, he is not a threat at all even to the new chunins, maybe an inexperienced genin could be beaten badly, hell even some genuine genins can be beaten but ... that's it .

in a war, except some experienced jonins and elites then all others are just canon fodder .

Although his speed is remarkable, but you'll have to know that i too didn't use any kind of chakra and it wasn't even close to my base speed without chakra .

He is very talented, even the word talent can't even describe a monster like him . Sadly again, he can't use chakra ! .

I contemplate as i look at the kid closing his eyes for some short time then he slowly stand up and get into his unusual taijutsu stance again and he slowly raises his head and opens his eyes only for me to see ...

" WHAT THE HELL !!! " i shout extremely shocked while looking at that expression of his .

" HOW CAN YOU BE LIKE THAT ?!! YOU ARE JUST A KID FOR RIKDO SENIN'S SAKE  !!! " i scream at him panicked but he doesn't answer .

he crouchs like all his previous offensive stances and....

*swooosh*

*PAW*

" huh ?! "  i say before getting thrown meters away from my original place as i put my hand on the place where i got punched... my abdomen .

*drip *drip*

A metallic taste invades my mouth as blood comes out and drip from it as i look at the blood that was on the ground then look up at this ki... NO this MONSTER while shocked to the core .

If not for my reaction speed i honed from the war then send chakra to that place ASAP then i don't think i could stay straight for weeks like Damn !! what is going on ?! .

i look at my uncle and ayaka- san whom also have the same expression of surprise, either because of his power up or that 'FACE' he has .

i wipe the blood from my mouth and get extremely serious, as this isn't a fight anymore... the kid is crazy, he is not right in the head anymore .

I take out the wooden tanto on my back then get ready for his advance.

As i expected, the moment i was ready he dashed towards me with superhuman speeds and threw a cross to the same place again, and i block it with the wooden tanto but ...

* SNAPP *

it snaps and the fist continues forward about to hit my stomach before i " HOLY SHIT !! "  exclaim as i do some backflips getting away from him very fast .

At my last backflip i look up only to see a clenched fist that was getting bigger and bigger towards my head then at the last second, i tilt my head to the side then coat myself with chakra and get away from him as far away as possible and stop as i slowly breathe rapidly because my fast heart rate and adrenaline .

*splurt*

"Huh ?!! *

' What ?! How ?! ' shockingly, i slowly put my hand on my cheek to feel a cut and blood come out of it .

" A punch that cuts ?!! i say to myself really bewildered, like what other things could this kid do ? .

This is getting out of hand, he doesn't answer and care. It's like i am fighting a shell of himself, like someone who is tired of it all so it's either do or die . And what's that extreme lonely aura surrounding him ?!

I look at my uncle and do a chop sign near my neck meaning to make him unconscious . he pauses then he stares at the monster contemplating a little before nodding his head . Then without wasting anymore time ...

I do a hand sign then do a 'body flicker jutsu ' real quick .

I disappear from his sight and get to his back then hit his neck with enough force to make him unconscious .

* chop *

* thud *

Then he falls, but I get goosebumps all over my body because i swear i saw him in slow motion that his lifeless eyes were following me !!! .

Freakyyy !!

The End