9 Chapter 7: Three years of battle Part 4

[Urek D. Mazino's Point of View]

One year and a half, I have been fighting thousands of people for one year and a half. In total, I have fought and killed five hundred forty-seven thousand, five hundred people in one year and a half.

During that time, I mostly focused on fighting, surviving, and resisting the poison they occasionally put in my food to give my opponent a fighting chance. I also am no longer given any weapons to fight my opponents.

They started doing that because apparently, fights started to become boring for the spectators and they could not always have me fight more than one opponent from a strong non-human race like Fish-men or Giants. 

Speaking of which, I have not fought a Giant yet but after being drugged, poisoned, starved, and weakened to the max before a fight with a thousand opponents, I decided to use my talent, The End, to recreate slash use another skill that I had seen in a popular manga I once read.

I am going, to be honest, I thought that I would need to have access to Nen to use this ability. The ability I am talking about is a skill from a Character in the One Punch-Man manga, specifically an S-Rank Hero's skill. I managed to copy Metal Bat's Fighting Spirit.

For those that do not know, thanks to Fighting Spirit, Metal Bat is capable of getting stronger through his damage intake and anger buildup. This is because of his strong will to continue to fight regardless of what happens.

Instead of succumbing to the damage he receives, Metal Bat gets an increase in his physical attributes. This ability was mainly shown during his fight with Garou wherein he gets tougher, faster, and a lot more durable as the conflict drags on. You can see why I would need it.

It was noted that his Fighting Spirit heightens his strength, Garou stated himself that the longer the fight drags on, the more powerful Metal Bat becomes, to the point that he can easily destroy buildings and tear the ground apart, causing powerful shockwaves.

Now imagine how strong that skill would be in the hands of a Fanalis. The longer a fight drags on the closer I come to reaching the strength of an adult Fanalis. Though that never happens, I usually get back to my normal strength at the end of a battle.

However, his Fighting Spirit lowers extremely fast when he is out of battle and exhaustion can quickly set in. This is why after most fights, I end up passing out in my cell. Still, it might sound overpowered which it is, but it does not make me invincible.

Even while in battle, it was still possible for Metal Bat's Fighting Spirit to reach a limit, as he was unable to continue fighting after having been pummeled by Sage Centipede. Meaning that if you think that Fighting Spirit will turn me into Broly dogging the Z fighters without any chance of losing then you are wrong.

Fighting Spirit is technically the only thing that allowed me to survive through each fight after being drugged, poisoned, starved, and weakened. On the plus side, I do not have nightmares anymore.

I used to have them with every single one of my vanquished foes appearing in them. Now... nothing, I sleep like a log, every day... well at least as close to a log as I can get since once in a way, there are some people that sneak into my cell to kill me which ends up with them dying.

I also started to view my opponents as meals because I usually fought while starved... Yeah, I think I am losing a few marbles here and there but better that than losing my life.

Now the fact that Fighting Spirit was available to me and that I could use it without Nen suggested that others in this world might be able to use it or something like it. I decided to find this out when I left this place since there was no one here who would talk to me anymore.

[AN: He hasn't learned Haki yet. Fighting Spirit is different since Haki is a mysterious power that allows individuals to harness their own spiritual energy for various superhuman feats. It could be seen as using Haki but not directly like how Luffy or Zoro were able to use Haki in some instances before the Time Skip.

I know that in the World of One Piece Fighting Spirit generally means Armament Haki but in this case, it just means a Berserker type of power-up.]

My guess is that some people do not want me to know more than I know whether it be my next fight, news that is happening, or anything in general. Maybe they are trying to psych me out of it, get restless, and act more recklessly during my fights which in turn could cost me my life.

With all that free time to myself, I decided to change the name of the Technique I just copied or brought into this world. Considering how I only grew strong as the fight dragged on and the more injury I sustained, Fighting Spirit became Utsuro Mode. I upgraded it thanks to The End and multiple consecutive usages.

I picked Utsuro because with nothing else to do other than train, eat potentially drugged or poisoned food, shit, and sleep so I usually review my anime content as a way to pass the time. Gintama usually cheers me up whenever I remember it.

And I remember that Utsuro was a beast. No matter what they threw at him, he just kept coming back. The more the fight kept going, the more injured he was did not matter since he kept dogging pretty much everyone that he fought.

Anyway, the next day I was poisoned again by a much more lethal poison than the last one. I built up an immunity to it and coming from someone who has already gained Immunity to many poisons thanks to the Zoldyck's torture, that is saying something. This time, I could barely move my body.

As usual, I was faced with a thousand people who came together to kill me. There was one note-worthy enemy in today's batch. He waited until I had killed the rest to fight me which was not new, some enemies thought I would be weak toward the end of the fight but I always proved them wrong.

He is a man with black hair that is brushed back, a small mustache, white eyes, and scars around his eyes. He wears a light brown robe with dark brown trim with eye patterns, a blue belt with an eye pattern in the center, a white long-sleeved shirt, white pants, white socks, sandals, an eye-shaped earring on each ear, and a blindfold with the kanji of "Shingan".

[AN: Imagine Uonima Usui from Ruroni Kenshin.]

Yeah turns out I can read Japanese or more like Japanese's Kanji is common in this world. Once the last enemy, not counting either of us, was down he came up to me while clapping. He had an arrogant look on his face.

"I expected nothing less from... The Irregular. Some may think that you are at your weakest now but I know better than anyone that your will to fight is currently stronger than when the battle started. Oh, where are my manners, I am Mind's Eye Usui."

As he said this, he drew his weapon which was a short spear that had a sphere attached to one end. He also has a turtle carapace that could used as a shield. He rushed at me and as I was about to dodge his attack, the poison effect slowed me down. I could not evade his attack so I decided to use one of the techniques that I learned from the Zoldycks.

"Pōken Pō Gyoku Hya Ka Ryō Ran!"

He yells as he uses both the blade and the mace at the end of his spear to rapidly attack me with multiple piercing strikes, from the spear and bludgeoning blows from the mace. I crossed my arms together and muttered something as my skin became as tough as iron.

"Tekkai!" 

*TINK**TANG**TINK**TANG**TINK**TANG**PONG*

*TINK**TANG**TINK**TANG**TINK**TANG*

*PONG**TINK**TANG**TINK**TANG**TINK*

*TANG*PONG**TINK**TANG**TINK**TANG**TINK*

*TANG**PONG**TINK**TANG**TINK**TANG**TINK*

*TANG*PONG**TINK**TANG**TINK**TANG**TINK**TANG*

I endured a barrage of attacks that bounced off my skin due to Tekkai. Tekkai is a skill that hardens the users' muscles to the level of iron, allowing them to withstand and effectively nullify any damage they might have taken from attacks. 

"Argh!"

I moved when I saw an opening in his attack but to my surprise, he managed to land a hit before I got too close. He stabbed me in the stomach with his spear. It was aimed at a vital point but I managed to move to make the attack non-lethal. This was the best I could do for now, I guess I should really use it now.

'Utsuro Mode!'

[Third Person's Point of View]

"I am sure you must be perplexed at what happened but fear not for I shall answer your question, consider this a thanks for being a big stepping stone in increasing my fame throughout South Blue.

I possess the ability to sense movements and emotions through hearing, which I named the Mind's Eye. Through the loss of my sight, I have gained something even more profound. Although your will is strong, you can not defeat me since you can not land a hit on me, it is best to give up."

Usui said as he opened his arm wide as if his victory was already assured. Mazino although breathing heavily still had the will to fight burning from his eyes. He started to make some weird gestures with his arms and from Usui's perspective, the presence of a red lion appeared behind him.

"Akajishi Ryūsei Ken!"

Mazino cocked his right arm back before he unleashed a very rapid discharge of punches towards Usui who was within range of those punches. Mazino unleashed about 1000 punches per second and Usui managed to dodge them all but Mazino kept unleashing more punches.

*TANG* *TANG* *TANG* *TANG*

This went on for a full minute before Usui started to use his Shield to block the hits that he could not evade. It started with one attack but then it got to two hits blocked then three followed by four the five before six, Usui started to block more and more of Mazino's attacks.

"I can't land a hit on you?"

Mazino said as he sent even more punches at Usui who was starting to have a problem blocking them.

*TANG* *TANG* *TANG* *TANG**TANG* *TANG* *TANG* *TANG**TANG* *TANG* *TANG* *TANG*

"Care to say that again?"

Mazino added as jumped backward giving Usui enough room to breathe. Upon hearing Mazino's tone as he spoke, Usui felt insulted. Mazino's tone was clearly conceited and Usui felt like he was being looked down which he did not like one bit.

"D-D-Don't get cocky, you fucking slave!"

Usui said as he charged at Mazino who took a different fighting stance. His fists are flexed differently for more direct attacks, with the first knuckles being extended, similar to the Southern Dragon Kung Fu Fist. Adjusting the anatomy of his hand, his fingernails turn into claws that are sharper than knives.

"Pōken Pō Gyoku Hya Ka Ryō Ran!"

Usui yells as he comes close to Mazino and as his attack is about to land on Mazino, Usui hears Mazino mutter something.

"Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist: Shredding wave."

*Fwip*

With a rapid and powerful hand movement technique, Mazino managed to create razor-sharp whirlwind pressure that chops Usui into many tiny pieces. To the referee and the spectators, it looked like Usui had just stopped moving out of nowhere.

*Thud**Thud**Thud**Thud**Thud**Thud*

*Thud**Thud**Thud**Thud**Thud**Thud*

*Thud**Thud**Thud**Thud**Thud**Thud*

*Thud**Thud**Thud**Thud**Thud**Thud*

*Thud**Thud**Thud**Thud**Thud**Thud*

With a shocked look, they watched as Usui's body fell onto the ground as an assembly of cubed meat. Even his clothes and weapons were cut into pieces. A full minute of silence ensued before the referee announced the winner.

"AND THE WINNER IS THE IRREGULAR!!!!!!!!!"

"Mind's Eye huh? Not bad for a meal."

Mazino muttered as he exited the stage, standing only through his willpower. While some of the spectators were cheering at the sight of the battle, indicating who won their bets and who lost, a figure was watching Mazino exit the stage. It was none other than Zahard.

[AN: This is not Observation Haki, it's like something close to it but not fully. I know some people are naturally gifted in one of the form of Haki or awaken it through trauma so you could think of it as Usui using his hearing to similate Observation Haki in a way after losing his sight.]

'The way things are going, he should be able to survive until he has to fight me unless he fights a Giant. The more fights he wins the more attention is brought on him as expected. The problem is that I still have not found a proper target whose demise or destruction will guarantee the desired result. Time is running out.'

Zahard thought as he clenched his fists while his face remained stoic. It would take another year for him to receive news that an opportunity, a perfect Target, was arriving, and after the nine hundred seventieth day of Urek D. Mazino's Trial by a Thousand Blades, a Big rumor hit the underworld.

A Celestial Dragon had been assassinated. To be precise, the Ship carrying a Celestial Dragon had gone missing, and after a week without any sighting of the ship in question, tension reigned supreme as the World Government started to investigate any leads that they could find.

By that, it means shooting any suspect first and then arresting those who survive so that they can be interrogated. Naturally, the news that a Celestial Dragon dying could not be made public as their own propaganda had made them be known as Gods.

Were the World Government to admit that the Celestial Dragons were not invincible, they would be inciting many individuals who had a grudge against the Celestial Dragons and had nothing left to lose. People that fell in that category were a dim a dozen.

The fact that the World Government did not receive any distress call when the Ship went missing meant that whoever committed such a crime prevented the World Government agents that were guarding the Celestial Dragon from requesting help. 

This was in fact a logical plan since attacking a Celestial Dragon meant that an Admiral, one of the Navy's top force, would come to eliminate any threat that was posed to the Celestial Dragon in question.

The World Government started to make a Vivre Card, a piece of paper made from a person's fingernail clipping, for each Celestial Dragon to prevent something like this from ever happening again.

At first glance, A Vivre Card is indistinguishable from ordinary paper. However, it is completely waterproof and fireproof, though it can be torn. The torn pieces will point to and move towards each other no matter where they are in the world, allowing one to always be able to tell which direction the other person is in.

True to the name paper of life, the life force of the owner, the person whose fingernail the Vivre Card was made from, is reflected on the paper. If the life force of the owner is weakening, the card will begin to burn away. It will grow back to its original size if the person recovers, but will disintegrate completely if they die.

[AN: It was never stated, or at least to my knowledge if they used Vive Card for Celestial Dragons and thinking about it, they should not because they believe no one is stupid enough to attack a Celestial Dragon... usually. So I figured I would use this as a reason why they started using Vivre Card.]

Still, the matter had yet to be resolved and the more time passed, the more intense the World Government's search became. Several factions of the Underworld cooperated with the World Government either to carry favors, maintain business by clearing their name faster, or try to find evidence that would lead to their competitor's demise.

It just so happened that when the hunt was getting wild, a mysterious source started a rumor that the Zoldyck Family was behind the assassination of the Celestial Dragon. Now that had not been the first time such rumors appeared regarding a specific faction of the Underworld.

Depending on how big the faction was, the World Government would investigate or outright annihilate the faction while looking for answers if it was too small to matter. Naturally, the Zoldyck thinking themselves innocent metaphorically opened their doors to the World Government agents as a show of good faith but what they did not know was that during the investigation, belongings of the deceased Celestial Dragon would be found.

This would become the start of events that would later be called the Zoldyck purge, where anyone with so much as a connection to the Zoldyck would be hunted down. Many would fall while very few would manage to escape the Zoldyck purge. On a few occasions, the situation escalated to the point of launching a Buster Call.

It is the strongest Marine military action possible, performed only under special circumstances. The goal of a Buster Call is usually to destroy anything it is unleashed upon, be it a single criminal or a whole pirate crew.

Even an entire island, one that has proven itself to be extremely dangerous to the World Government could be designated as the target. In many cases, everyone and everything on the island would be completely burned down, including the island itself. Very few have managed to escape it.

[AN:

Tower of God Fans, I have a question here, what is Urek Mazino's first name? Some say it is Urek while others say it is Mazino. It is confusing since depending on the Character, they are called by their first or last name so I can't go by the Manhwa.

I think I will stop here for now cuz of Exams also cause depending on how Egghead Arc goes, I might have to change a few things for this fic because I feel like we are going to learn something big in this Arc so it will affect how the story will go. 

Want more? Like Thanos, I want those STONES!!!]