Chapter 407

More than a month of time passed in the blink of an eye. I learned a lot from Biscuit. Focusing on the Four Major Principles and their applied techniques, I hammered the foundations of Nen Ability into his body. The philosophy she taught was not how to defeat an enemy, but how to overcome an enemy.

No matter how strong a person is, they have weaknesses. Nen Ability is certainly useful and powerful, but whether it is used or kills depends on the person's ability. The last thing to mention is combat technique, which consists of the eyes of observation and basic ability.

Defeating all enemies is extremely difficult, but there is always a way to survive without losing. It is said that the ability to immediately think about what to do to live and put it into practice is the true power of combat.

You can run away, but you should not compromise or give up. "Living" is not asking if there is life, but asking if there is life.

"Then, shall we begin now? Today's final exam."

My training is in its final stages. If you are clear on this, that will be the temporary graduation for a beginner.

The content of the test is Kumite with Biscuit. To pass, you must land one blow on Biscuit. This alone is difficult, but there is an even more troublesome additional condition.

She said that I am the one who makes the decisions, not Biscuit. In other words, if I think any attack is good, it will pass. Biscuit assured me that he would never interfere with my judgment.

This test will continue until you feel you have given yourself a convincing opportunity. I cannot make an immature judgment. If there is the slightest compromise, the training so far will be ruined. That is how I feel.

Five days have passed since the final exam began. Whether I rest is entirely up to me. Continuing to fight continuously would have been fine, but I felt it would be terrible to go out with Biscuit, so I set a rule to rest well at night and face the exam in a perfect physical state tomorrow morning.

We faced each other on the rock Arena illuminated by the light of dawn. Biscuit's body is not that of a young girl. It is a huge body with musculoskeletal structure. This is her original form; she entered a serious combat state after dropping her disguise.

On the other hand, Six took a stance, with the insect body clinging to his right hand. The main body, which sticks to the right hand like a glove, is both armor and a weapon. Its body lacks mobility, but it has excellent defensive power.

This is a style designed to utilize this feature. With this, you can also perform main body attacks based on Six's fist. In addition, the fangs are poisonous, so the range of attack methods is also expanded.

"..."

"... Start."

At my signal, the exam continued. Six took the initiative and approached Biscuit, who was waiting for him. I used all my strength to lash out with a right punch, letting the main body writhe. A pair of fangs protruding from its developed jaws were used as claw-like weapons.

Normally, when a Ninja uses a weapon, they use "Ryu" to strengthen the weapon's Aura, increasing power and durability, but in my case, the weapon itself emits Aura, creating offensive and defensive capabilities. The power of Six's own strengthened fist is also added.

Due to the cultivation so far, the Aura exhibited by the main body has increased to an incomparable amount. A single blow with this weapon is the highest firepower I can currently unleash. If taken properly, even Biscuit should be unable to block it.

But that is also a story. Bisque dodged the attack effortlessly. If it were easy to hit, there would be no problem. I immediately launched my left hand, but it was also dodged. Biscuit is not sweet enough to let the enemy attack unilaterally. A punch landed on my face.

At first, I couldn't stand this speed. After processing, I found that being attacked after falling was unsightly. Eventually, I managed to follow it with my eyes, but my body couldn't keep up with my perception. I knew it in my mind, but I couldn't react in time.

When I asked Biscuit what to do, he told me to learn to move at a speed faster than my mind could imagine. At first, I felt this was unreasonable, but as I continued training, I began to understand that Biscuit was right.

First of all, the process of deciding the next move after seeing the enemy's movement is wrong in itself. The moment you see it, you have no choice but to move your body before you think. Of course, you want to consider how to move the flow of the entire battle, but you realize that in actual combat, unless you can react without knowing it, local reactions are useless.

And shortening reaction speed is not a technique that can be achieved overnight. It is not something you can learn immediately; it is a feeling that your body learns little by little through constant training and repeated battles with strong enemies.

The difference between arduous effort and the time spent is directly related to ability. Considering this, it is clear that I and Biscuit do not have the ability to fight each other.

The fact that the match is formed in this way may be because Bisque has adapted to me. I cannot say that I am not proud of my clearly improved ability.

If I show even a little bit of such slack, Biscuit will show greater power, overwhelming me. It is precisely because I can feel his unfathomable power that I have been able to pull myself together until now, without arrogance or impatience.

I blocked Biscuit's attack. With a huge blow in the style of a slashing Wind, I caught the straight punch, which was like a battering ram, with my left arm. The forearm, which had accumulated offensive and defensive power due to Hard, finally received Biscuit's blow without breaking a bone.

The game should not end there. Turning from defense to attack again, I swung the red back of my right arm. Biscuit also dodged this attack. Even if you know it, it is not meaningless to continue attacking. Since the right-hand punch released in coordination with the main body is powerful, it limits the opponent's choice of countermeasures. You can create a situation where you have no choice but to avoid this attack, thereby narrowing the range of your next move.

In fact, I used the opportunity of Biscuit dodging his large right hand to land the next attack. However, it was naturally blocked. This was not an effective strike. Avoid, strike, prevent, confuse. In an instant, the opponent's offense and defense alternated in a dazzling manner.

If it were me a month ago, I wouldn't have been able to keep up with this game at all. Now, he can use "Ryu" to control the Aura of his whole body so it doesn't stagnate, and he can freely move his offensive and defensive power to the point of consciousness.

According to Biscuit, I seem unable to control my Aura. I realized this. Because I couldn't do any fine-tuning at all, I could only strengthen it as a whole. It seems common for a Beginner, and I was told that it takes several months to several years of training to use the flow at an actual combat level.

The reason I was able to do it in just one month is my vow. I swore never to use the Almeiza machine again. A covenant is also a ritual to enhance the effect of Nen Ability; the heavier the shackles you impose on yourself, the stronger their effect.

With this choice, the risk of death is higher than before. Even if you engage a strong enemy, there is no guarantee that you will eventually deal with it in some way. But I still have no regrets. In the future, even if I lose my life because I am powerless, I can understand if I can die as I am.

Perhaps this determination acted as a guarantee, and the sense of unity with Six has improved significantly compared to before. When you are in a focused state, your consciousness may be so synchronized that which is the main body becomes ambiguous. In the past, I described this state as "opening the door," but from this perspective, I feel like I am opening ten or twenty at the same time.

Sometimes it feels like I knew it from the beginning, rather than improving my technique. I remember the "how to move" carved into this body. If you yield to that feeling, you will naturally see the actions you should take.

In the process of fighting Biscuit like this, I no longer check my actions one by one. I just watch her movements, focusing on predicting where I should go to create a gap. The feeling of the body is beyond consciousness. As Biscuit said, this may be the realm of "acting before thinking."

However, even with so many techniques, there is a wall that cannot be overcome. I still cannot land an effective strike on Biscuit. Biscuit's style has a power that I do not have. This is a camouflage honed through countless battles.

The technique of consciously moving Aura is essential, but the flow to the enemy's eyes is clear, and if they discover where the Aura is concentrated, they will read the next move. Even if you move Aura at high speed to prevent this from happening, it cannot fight against a master like Biscuit.

This flow of Aura is close to a physiological reaction; even if you consciously try to suppress it, it will naturally occur with the movement of your body. That is to say, at the level of "Ryu," where you can move Aura at will, it is still half-baked. To use it in a true sense, you must be able to manipulate the random flow that sometimes goes against your will.

It seems my style is still too direct to move the Aura. This feeling cannot be acquired consciously. Since you are manipulating the unconscious, being conscious of it becomes an Obstacle. Earnestly accumulating actual combat experience, instilling the feeling of crossing the dead land, the crazy Aura will belong to you. It is said that this is a state that a decent nerve cannot reach.

The difference in actual combat experience is obvious. I managed to reach the point of establishing a battle with Biscuit, but I couldn't move forward from there. Although this attack could be seen through by Bisque, with accurate dodging or blocking, her erratic Aura movements were really difficult to interpret.

"Come on, focus."

Biscuit's roundhouse kick entered Six's flank. However, this was a gap intentionally invited for an attack; she set it up based on my reading. On the other hand, leg techniques can exert greater power than arm strength in terms of muscle mass, but on the other hand, the body's support fluctuates when using it, so it is easy to delay the next move.

However, Bisque saw through this guess. It must have read the counter-stance from the flow of Aura. The moment the kick went in, the amount of Aura concentrated on the leg jumped. A kick with power far exceeding expectations surpassed this stiff defensive power.

In this way, no matter what kind of feint or trap you set, Bisque will see through it to the end. From there, there are many patterns to confirm failure by launching a storm of attacks. Once the body is destroyed, no matter how it regenerates, the mental state will be disturbed. Even the slightest interference with Aura control can become a factor in distinguishing victory or defeat against a higher-level enemy.

This is why I trained desperately so that I could somehow maintain a combat state even if I was injured. The special training was so successful that Bisque said "even a death row prisoner would not be treated so cruelly" (although it was training proposed by Bisque), and now I can separate pain and the feeling of combat. While repairing the internal organs crushed by the impact of the kick, I prepare for the next attack.

Somehow, I managed to recover, but that was all. Over the past five days, this exchange has been repeated until the Sun went down. Movement is steadily improving, and it is not that I don't feel growth at all. However, the wall to overcome is high. Just one blow, that is a long goal.

At this rate, I don't know how many days the final exam will last. Biscuit did not set a specific time limit for the trial. Whether to stop or not is my business. However, he also indicated that if he could only show results that were too dull, Bisque would stop it. There is no guarantee that the exam will continue tomorrow. People are worried that a cancellation will be announced immediately.

I hate the end of it very much. I certainly don't want to lose. But most importantly, I can say that this exam was made possible because Bisque recognized my training results to a certain extent. If these expectations are not met, I will not make the mistake that would lead to a reckless rejection.

Some of the tasks Biscuit gave me while I was training seemed unreasonable, but when I actually tried them, I realized they were reasonable. It will not impose impossible tasks on you. If you think you can't do it, it's not the limit of your physical ability, it's just that you're not smart enough to make full use of it.

You should have all the conditions required to clear it. If you don't realize this, you won't pass. If you can't win even with a head-on Collision like this, then you have to think of another way. I think even if I use the Burning blade strategy against an opponent stronger than me, it won't work, but I think experiencing this unreasonableness might be what Bisque wants now.

Then the opportunity came. At an inevitable moment, Biscuit reached out to Six. The hand was open, not a clenched fist. The arm that Six accidentally stretched out was grabbed.

This is a harbinger of throwing technique. A simple punch still has huge power, but the Shingen-ryu technique that Biscuit occasionally displays in battle is also very troublesome. This is one of those techniques.

After making up my mind, the body danced helplessly in the air. And after being forced into the air with nowhere to Escape, a violent blow was smashed in. This is also a loser mode I have experienced countless times. This is why I waited for this moment.

I have simulated receiving this technique many times. For the past five days, I have been doing secret special training in the middle of the night while Biscuit was sleeping.

I didn't dare to call out the attack, so as not to make it extra alert, waiting for little Biscuit to take the initiative to use this move. Immediately after, starting from the wrist, a rotating attack clamped by a screw.

Shingen-ryu is the largest school, aiming to unify Nen Ability and martial arts, laying the foundation for modern Nen education. The technique is refined into pure martial arts, combined with Nen Ability to produce explosive synergistic effects.

A rotational force that circles through the arm and spreads from the shoulder to the whole body. It was caught, but it couldn't escape until it was finally thrown out. I have been thinking about how to deal with this technique.

I relaxed my arm. The Aura of the grabbed arm was erased, in a state of "Absolute." The arm, which had lost its mental defense, could not withstand the rotational force of the Tornado, twisting and twisting. By intentionally severing the arm, it would escape from the grip before the rotation was fully transmitted. This is the answer I came up with.

However, Bisque showed no signs of excitement. It would instantly adjust the power according to the strength of the arm that fell due to the Extreme, and add appropriate twisting. The arm acted as a bridge to transmit power, and then completely separated, leaving Six's body in the air. The proficiency of his carefully calculated technique is admirable.

So far, everything is going well.

From the beginning, I didn't think I could manage Biscuit with this measure. I expected to be thrown. However, it succeeded in killing the force. Normally, it would spin at high speed in an upside-down posture, unable to distinguish up from down or left from right, but this time I was able to suppress that spinning force.

Even so, the fact that it spins like a top hasn't changed. If I cannot fully grasp the situation here, I won't be able to deal with Biscuit's attacks no matter what. Concentrate, refine the Aura within my body, and wait for the right moment.

I am currently thrown into the air, completely defenseless. Even if a counterattack were successful here, in this state of spinning at high speed without my feet touching the ground, it wouldn't be a decent attack.

So Biscuit should come in. After the Throw failed to get away, he came to give me a follow-up blow. All I can do is figure out how to time and place my defensive measures without turning my head as much as possible. Let the opponent think that.

Under the current circumstances, I do not yet have the strength to defeat Biscuit head-on. I have to consider what I can do to make up for this deficiency. One of those ideas is my creation, "Strawberry Jam."

Using Emission in battle. For a Nen user, this is a normal way of fighting. However, with the foundation not yet well-established, it is too much to handle honestly. Especially since my type is not the kind that gains some combat power just by activating it, but rather one that asks if you can use the ability after having a solid foundation.

Bisque also told him to focus on improving his basic strength instead of thinking about relying on Fire-style combat. In fact, I have used 'SunnyHoney' against Biscuit many times in anticipation of actual combat, but I couldn't get good results. The sticky Aura seems useful for dodging enemy attacks, but I often mishandled it myself, causing accidents. Normal combat is still relatively stronger.

Because Biscuit knows this, he won't expect me to use it at the last minute. Of course, if you don't use it well, your target will be seen through, and you won't have a chance to counterattack. I must think about how to use an ability that can be used against Biscuit.

This time, I am loading a secret training at night. The Transmuter ability "Sun's Dew" can give the Aura a lotion-like sticky property. It's somewhat similar to Biscuit's ability, but without special effects like fatigue recovery.

In any case, I trained to increase the operability of the Aura, wondering how I could use it in battle. As we explored this ability to impart stickiness and sliding to the Aura, we found that the degree of stickiness has a significant impact on the overall characteristics of the Aura.

If the viscosity is set low, it becomes a lotion-like sticky substance. This is the state I have been using so far. Conversely, if the viscosity is set high, the liquid approaches a solid mochi-like state.

This is my new stunt. Coordinating with Biscuit's jab, the Aura at the part expected to be hit changes rapidly. The Aura with viscosity increased to the maximum value will receive Biscuit's impact.

The application technique of "Sunset Dew," "Jam Block."

"-Ugh!?"

Biscuit's fist sank into that mass of solidified Aura. This mass of glue acted as a buffer, absorbing the impact and instantly suppressing the power of the cannon-like punch. This Aura with increased viscosity simultaneously absorbs and restrains the opponent's attack. The cocoon-like fibrous glue mass cannot be destroyed with ordinary force.

Originally, Six's body, hit by the punch, would have been blown away and crashed into the rock wall. However, the sticky pad kept Six and Biscuit's bodies Together. Biscuit must not have expected this development. A momentary stiffness occurred in the movement.

If you miss this opportunity, there won't be a next time. The same hand won't work. No matter what, we will win here. He condensed the Aura of surrender onto his right arm and swung it toward Biscuit, who had stopped moving. Once again, the momentum of the Throw stopped suddenly, and the recoil of the punch greatly changed the target of the punch, but even so, it did not miss the attack at this distance.

The current me can no longer take any measures against Biscuit. I can be proud that this is undoubtedly the best blow. Bisque reacted to the attack that used all of his spirit.

Biscuit stretched out his arms surrounded by my Aura and turned away. Bisque had gained arms of a strong physique, much longer than Six's. Furthermore, my upper body deflected backward from there, and my attack grazed Bisque's body and tore through the air.

Dodging this, what reaction speed, a soul of Iron that disregards everything. Not going against my intuition, I canceled "Jam Block" and kept my distance from Biscuit. There is no benefit to giving up or sticking here.

There is no need to continue fighting anymore.

"... Growing this much in just one month... I don't think this is a human skill, but come to think of it, you are not human, so maybe that's just how it is."

Biscuit did not lose his posture, but I could see a slight tremor coming from his fingertips. My attack just now only ended up scratching Biscuit. The fangs of the main body attached to the right hand left a faint mark on Biscuit's skin.

It emitted a paralyzing poison gas from that slight wound. It won't kill you, but it is a fast-acting Neurotoxin; even if one drop enters your body, it will make you unable to move for a week. Biscuit hasn't fallen yet, but under normal circumstances, he should not be able to stand up.

"I'm sorry. This is my loss."

Having said that, there was not the slightest sign of admitting defeat in his eyes. Actually, it should be clear that if we keep fighting like this, I have the upper hand, but somehow, I can't think of a way to win. I was just overwhelmed by the indomitable fighting spirit, which made me think so.