"Hiss—!!"
Atsuomi's eyes went wide in terror. A madman. This kid was a madman! Was this student his son too? He was completely different from Kiyotaka—wild, unrestrained, the kind of lunatic who would bite someone's neck in the middle of a fight?!
Pain.
A vivid, searing pain, the agony of the blood vessels in his neck being violently torn into, traveled through his nerves and shot straight into Atsuomi's brain, making his whole body twitch uncontrollably.
A savage method straight out of a beast's life-and-death hunt—going for the throat.
In Ryuen's hands, that move put Atsuomi's life in immediate danger.
Human teeth were usually flat and dull, made for chewing food to aid digestion. At most, canine teeth were a little sharp. Under normal circumstances, a bite would not inflict that much damage.
But Ryuen had exceptionally strong teeth, and Atsuomi was already getting old; his skin no longer had much resilience. That was why one bite had broken skin and drawn blood, making it feel like he was being devoured by a wild animal.
This was bad. Very bad. Kiyotaka was still behind him too. If this kept going, he really was going to die here!
"L-Let go!"
Atsuomi thrashed violently, his right fist coming down again and again like a storm, smashing into Ryuen's head.
But Ryuen refused to let go. He was even sucking hard at the blood, and the sheer madness and brutality in it sent a chill through Atsuomi.
Damn it! Did this kid not feel fear?!
And he knew Runa too. Don't tell him... don't tell him this kid, like Kiyotaka, was another one of his genetically altered sons?!
If that was true, then this was even worse. It meant that no matter how hard he pounded Ryuen's skull, even if he literally beat him to death on the spot, Ryuen would not let go out of fear.
Fortunately, Atsuomi had not made it this far through life by relying on brute force alone.
In a flash of inspiration, he rasped out, "R-Runa... didn't Runa die of cancer?"
Those hoarse, urgent words made Ryuen release him at once.
"Y-You... what did you say? Cancer? My mother never said she had—"
Bang!
"Get off me, you brainless street punk!"
The moment Ryuen let go, Atsuomi rolled free. Then he planted both hands on the ground, sprang back up into a half-standing position, and immediately followed with a sharp kick that landed squarely on Ryuen's arm, sending him skidding back several feet and tumbling across the ground.
But just as Atsuomi kicked Ryuen away, Kiyotaka had already closed in again. With tightly disciplined strikes and blocks, he immediately tied Atsuomi down and prevented him from finishing Ryuen off.
Atsuomi was truly enraged now.
The wound on his neck was still bleeding, his strength slowly draining away, and yet he still could not shake Kiyotaka off.
They both used the same style of fighting.
Atsuomi had more experience, but fists feared youth. In terms of sheer physical condition, he could no longer match Kiyotaka.
The longer this went on, the more alarmed he became. If he did not get out of here quickly, he really might collapse right here.
So he tried the same trick again.
"Kiyotaka! Have you thought this through?! Without me, there would be no White Room!"
"Think carefully! Outside of the White Room, where in this world do you even have a place to go?!"
But Kiyotaka remained utterly unmoved, not the slightest bit shaken by those words. Even as he attacked and defended at the same time, his voice stayed flat and indifferent.
"The world is vast. I plan to go see all kinds of places."
"You little bastard!"
Atsuomi nearly exploded on the spot.
He was talking to him about belonging, and this brat was talking about sightseeing?!
No matter how furious Atsuomi was, he still had to solve the Kiyotaka problem first. He could only force down the rage for now and settle the score later.
Right now, what mattered was persuading Kiyotaka.
"And then what? After you've seen every place you want to see, you'll just be homeless? You're really fine with that?"
"The reason you ran from the White Room and came to this worthless school was to experience emotions, wasn't it? After experiencing them, you still don't want a home? Then what was the point of experiencing emotions at all?!"
Bang!
Their fists slammed together midair with a heavy thud.
Kiyotaka's expression did not change at all, but pain flashed across Atsuomi's face. That one punch felt like it had cracked the bones in his hand a little.
Still wearing that same lethargic, emotionless look, Kiyotaka said, "Like Ryuen, I want to ask about Runa."
That was clearly a direct counter to Atsuomi's words.
Was Kiyotaka really going to be left with nowhere to go if Atsuomi fell?
Not necessarily.
For all he knew, Ryuen's home might really be his home too.
…
Ryuen had rolled several times and then lain there for a few seconds before the dizziness and concussion-like disorientation finally eased.
He spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva and grinned. Blood now stained both his upper and lower teeth, making him look more terrifying than ever.
"Old bastard... you dared use my mother dying of cancer to trick me?!"
The more Ryuen thought about it, the more his rage shot straight to his head. He forced himself upright, swayed left and right in a miserable state, and took several seconds to regain his balance.
Then, step by step, he advanced on Kiyotaka and Atsuomi's position.
The moment Kiyotaka blocked one of Atsuomi's punches and stalled him for an instant, Ryuen pounced.
"Looking to die!"
Atsuomi's fighting instincts were sharp enough that he immediately moved to turn and deal with Ryuen.
But the second he turned, a spray of dirt and sand came flying right into his face!
"Ah!"
The sand got into his eyes, the dirt smeared across his face. Atsuomi had never imagined Ryuen's street-brawler style would be this filthy.
His eyes, such a sensitive organ, had been hit directly. The moment it happened, he cried out on instinct.
Only afterward did he realize that Ryuen must have grabbed that dirt while he had been rolling on the ground earlier.
"Trick me? Trick me?!"
Ryuen's face lit up with vicious excitement. Strike while he's down.
He rushed in and started raining down punches and kicks. There was no technique to it, but the violence in it was overwhelming.
Every punch was revenge, slamming into Atsuomi's head.
Every kick drove straight into Atsuomi's chest.
"You dared curse my mother with cancer?! Die, you old bastard!!"
In the end, the angrier Ryuen got, the more savage he became. He charged forward and launched a flying kick, hitting Atsuomi square in the chest hard enough to make it cave inward ever so slightly.
The heavy, fleshy body was sent flying several meters, crashing to the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.
Ryuen and Kiyotaka were about to press the attack, when a tattered suit jacket suddenly came flying at them.
Along with it came an enraged roar:
"You unfilial brats! Both of you are unfilial brats!"
"This is attempted patricide! Do you understand that?!"
In a certain sense, this really was a pure father-and-sons fight.
...
For every 50 Power Stones → +1 extra chapter.