"Unfortunately," I said, reaching up and pulling my shirt over my head, "if we use Removal in here we'll probably level the house. I'm pretty sure Reiichi would like it to stay standing."
I tossed the shirt aside toward the edge of the courtyard.
Reiichi nodded once, completely serious. "Yes. I would prefer if my house remained intact."
Raian snorted and cracked his neck, clearly disappointed but not enough to stop him. "Fine. Base it is."
That was more than enough anyway.
I stepped forward onto the worn training stones of the courtyard. The ground beneath my bare feet felt solid and familiar, the body's instincts settling in immediately. My breathing slowed. My weight shifted naturally into stance.
Across from me, Raian's grin widened as he rolled his shoulders. Reiichi moved to the side, giving us space while Fusui quietly positioned herself near the wall, already watching with sharp eyes.
Raian pointed at me lazily.
"Don't cry when I break something."
I smirked back at him.
"You first."
I settled into the Niko Style stance, my breathing steady and controlled. My weight balanced lightly on the balls of my feet.
Across from me, Raian dropped into his usual brawler stance. Loose shoulders. Hands ready. No wasted motion. No formal technique. Just raw, violent instinct refined by countless fights.
For a brief moment, neither of us moved.
Then Raian blinked.
That was all the opening I needed.
[Niko Style: Raging Fire]
My body surged forward in a burst of explosive speed. The courtyard stones cracked beneath my step as I closed the distance instantly. My fist shot forward and slammed into Raian's face.
The impact echoed across the courtyard.
Raian's head snapped slightly to the side.
But he did not fall.
Instead, a grin spread across his face.
He answered immediately, swinging a heavy punch straight for my jaw.
[Niko Style: Phantom Pace]
My body slipped to the side at the last possible moment, his fist cutting through empty air. As I moved past him, I drove a sharp kick into his gut.
The strike landed solidly.
Raian coughed once from the impact, but the grin on his face only grew wider.
"Good!" he barked.
Before I could fully reset, he lunged forward again and threw another punch, this one faster and heavier than the last. Aimed at my ribs.
Raian's punch came in like a hammer.
I raised my forearm and caught the blow, letting the impact roll through my guard instead of stopping it outright. The force pushed me back several steps across the stone courtyard, the ground scraping under my feet as I redirected the momentum to create distance.
Raian did not hesitate. The moment space opened between us, he lunged forward to close it.
Perfect.
[Niko Style: Flashfire]
My body blurred as I moved, footwork shifting so rapidly that faint afterimages lingered behind me. To Raian it would look like I split into multiple positions for a moment.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Reiichi's brows lift slightly. Even Fusui's normally calm expression sharpened with interest.
Raian slowed just enough to reorient, his eyes flicking between the fading images.
That moment of hesitation was enough.
I shot forward again.
[Niko Style: Flashing Steel]
My fist cut through the air before Raian could raise his guard. The punch landed square on the bridge of his nose.
Crunch.
The sound carried clearly across the courtyard.
Raian's head snapped back from the impact as blood instantly spilled from his nose.
For a brief second, the courtyard went still.
Then Raian started laughing.
I laughed along with him.
Slowly, I relaxed my stance and let the structured posture of the Niko Style fall away. My shoulders loosened. My arms hung limp in front of me, swaying slightly as if they had no strength in them at all.
Then I shifted.
Formless.
My body settled into the strange, bestial posture of the style. My weight distributed unevenly, ready to move in any direction without warning. A faint smile rested on my face as my focus narrowed completely onto Raian.
The world shrank to just him.
My eyes darkened as my mind emptied of rigid patterns. No set techniques. No predictable responses. Just adaptation.
Across from me, Raian's grin stretched even wider. He recognized the shift immediately.
"Now that's more like it," he growled.
He dashed forward without hesitation and threw a punch straight toward my cheek.
I did not dodge.
The fist connected, snapping my head to the side. But instead of resisting the force, I let my body flow with it. My torso twisted naturally with the impact, turning the momentum into rotation.
And as the motion completed, my arm whipped around.
A spinning back fist cracked into Raian's cheek.
The impact echoed sharply across the courtyard.
Both of us were still smiling.
I raised my guard and waited.
Raian never needed an invitation.
The instant I settled, he surged forward and began hammering into my defense. Punches. Elbows. Kicks. Every strike slammed into my guard with the force of a sledgehammer, the impacts rattling through my bones and forcing my feet to grind against the stone beneath me.
Most people would have been overwhelmed.
I felt my grin widen.
Formless took over.
Instead of resisting the pressure, I sank deeper into the rhythm of the fight. My body moved subtly with each strike, redirecting what I could and absorbing the rest. My eyes tracked his shoulders, his hips, the slight shifts in weight that revealed what was coming next.
Raian fought like a storm. Wild to the outside observer, but there was still structure beneath it.
Patterns.
And the longer the exchange lasted, the clearer they became.
A few seconds passed.
Then I saw it.
The smallest opening in the chaos.
My leg snapped forward.
A straight kick drove directly into Raian's sternum.
The impact landed clean. The air burst from his lungs in a sharp grunt as he staggered half a step back.
I did not give him time to recover.
I stepped in immediately and drove a punch into his face. As his head snapped back, I followed with a rising knee that slammed into his chest.
Before he could fully reset his stance, my leg whipped out again.
The kick cracked into the inside of his thigh.
Raian's leg shifted under the impact.
But instead of anger, his grin only widened further.
"Come on, you bastard," I called out, my grin wide and feral. "You can do better than that."
Raian barked out a laugh, wiping blood from beneath his nose with the back of his hand.
"You asked for it."
Then he rushed me again.
This time he did not hold anything back.
His punches came faster. Harder. Each strike carried enough force to rattle my guard and send dull shockwaves through my arms. I met him head on, abandoning defense as the exchange turned into a brutal clash of blows.
Fists cracked against ribs.
Knees slammed into torsos.
Elbows whipped through the air with bone breaking intent.
The courtyard echoed with the sound of impact as we tore into each other at full speed.
But beneath the chaos, Formless kept adapting.
My instincts sharpened with every exchange. My body adjusted to the rhythm of Raian's attacks, reading the subtle shifts in his shoulders and hips. The longer the fight continued, the more familiar his movements became.
And slowly, the balance began to shift.
My strikes started landing cleaner.
Harder.
A punch snapped Raian's head to the side. A knee slammed into his ribs before he could fully guard. A hook clipped his jaw as he tried to counter.
Raian staggered half a step back.
Then he started laughing again.
Because to him, this was the best kind of fight.
I laughed with him as the exchange finally broke.
Slowly, I let the Formless state fade. The loose, animalistic posture disappeared as I straightened up. My pupils returned to normal, though the grin on my face stayed just as wild.
Raian rolled his shoulders across from me, breathing heavier now, blood still trickling from his nose.
"You want to see a new ability, you bastard?" I said.
Raian snorted. "You already showed some new shit. Those techniques at the start weren't yours before."
"This one's going to be a lot more fun," I replied.
Then I turned my head slightly toward Reiichi.
"You might want to be ready to step in," I told him calmly. "This'll be my first time using it."
Reiichi's expression sharpened immediately. He had seen enough fights to recognize when something serious was about to happen.
Fusui's attention locked onto me as well.
Raian cracked his neck and grinned even wider.
"Quit talking and do it already."
I exhaled slowly.
Raian's grin was still on his face as he waited.
Then my heart started beating.
Once.
Twice.
Then faster.
The sound grew louder with every pulse, the heavy thudding echoing across the courtyard. It was not just something I felt anymore. Everyone could hear it.
Reiichi's expression tightened immediately.
Fusui's eyes narrowed.
My skin slowly darkened, shifting into a deep red hue as blood surged violently through my veins. Those same veins swelled beneath the surface of my skin, standing out across my arms, neck, and chest.
The pressure building inside my body was immense.
Then it started leaking out.
A faint red mist rose around me like heat haze, drifting upward as a feral growl rumbled from deep in my chest. My muscles tightened, expanding slightly as the technique pushed my body far beyond its normal limits.
Raian's grin stretched wider when he saw it.
"Well, that looks fun," he said.
I lifted my head slowly, eyes locked onto him as the rhythm of my heart thundered through the courtyard.
[Life Advance]
Author's Note:
Sorry to those who thought that they would see Removal this chapter. You won't be seeing it. Yet.
I also want to briefly address some recent comments about my writing and my use of AI. Yes, I use AI to help write this story. I'm doing this because I enjoy the idea and want to see it brought to life, even if I'm not the most skilled or patient writer on my own.
At the end of the day, this is a project I'm making for fun. I'll continue writing it the way I want to, using whatever tools help me tell the story. If you enjoy it, I'm glad you're here. If not, that's completely fine too.