Heart Of The Dōjō [Meninas, Mura]

Mura’s palm made pretty good impact with her gauntlets, even making Meninas rock a few meters back. He didn’t expect his palm to leave such a harsh blow, but his training with the Tibetan monks had left behind inner strength he wasn’t aware of until now. Hand-to-hand combat without a sword… something that drove Kyūken mad. “BUT WHY THOUGH?! YOU SCREWED UP, MURA! Wait, wait, let me bring you your sword- wait, can I even do that?” Kyūken wondered, fearful that Mura had thrown the match the moment his bamboo sword shattered.

Kyūken was too proud of his martial art, his fighting style, to let it be performed on such a sub-par level as what he witnessed from Mura. Reminiscent of his living days in the field, causing wide vortexes of slashes to blow all of his enemies away- Kyūken had at least hoped that Mura would slam more than one wind scythe at her. If he needed Harukami, he could probably find it back in the basement again… but Mura was different. He wasn’t Kyūken – he was proud of his skill with the sword, yes, but it wasn’t everything, was it? The more he hung out with Kyūken, the clearer that fact became – the latter ghost was being rather unnerving in that regard, and it resulted in many arguments between them. But if his sword would break in the midst of combat… then the likes of Kyūken would just be done. Dead. The ghost was adamant that a master would never break his sword, but times had changed, and even greater powers were looming on the Earth. Being so close-minded wouldn’t do him any good.

So for now, Mura fought Meninas in any way he could – no holds barred, just as the school and this dojo dictated. Even with one arm, he could deal with her rapid jabs, sliding them to the sides and only receiving slight hits on his sides. It allowed him to feel up her gauntlets, too – those were solid as stone, but they also looked cracked, as if his previous strike had been capable of breaking them. It made him throw a confident grin at her as well, knowing that his offensive approach did bear fruit.

In the midst of their swift exchange of blows, the Head Master was baffled at the show. “W-W-Wha- but your sword… w-wait, we can’t give him another one! That’s not honorable at all, guys!” the Head Master warned a couple Niten students who were coming back with spare bamboo swords, “Let him do his thing! I’m eager to see what China’s taught him… and the lady’s Western fighting style is such a great contender! Let’s see whose fists are mightier!” In spite of the fact that this dojo and school focused on dual swordsmanship, the Head Master wasn’t stubborn – in technicality, Mura was displaying the results of what the old man had sent him to China to obtain to begin with. Further experience.

The weight of her gauntlets were still pushing him back, in spite of the damage they’d received. His haori was falling apart, and his bones and muscles were beginning to ache from even partially tanking her ferocious punches. I really can't let myself take a single, direct hit from her like this... she punches like a damn rifle, he feared. He had a strike in store for her, but it required quite an opening – something that Meninas wouldn’t give him for free. When her Reiryoku began gathering in her gauntlet once more, he feared that she was going for a point-blank blast just as moments earlier – at this range, he couldn’t evade like before.

And those red veins… she had showcased blue and red lines on her form before, so instead of moving away, he awaited her clenched fist. Energy gathered in his right arm too, and it looked for a moment as if he was trying to match her destructive attack with one of his own – that was, until he moved his hand below her incoming fist and its inevitable blast at rapid speed brought by Fa Jin! C’mon! Just in time, he prayed, swiping his hand upwards like a spring. His intent was to slap her gauntlet upwards, thus also redirecting the blast upwards.

The hole being made in the ceiling… yeah, that was quite a hefty cost, and a chunk of the administration’s pockets too. Regardless, twice had she used that spirit blast technique – she appeared to release it from gathering in her fist, instead of using that gathered Reishi to amplify her already powerful punches. Mura only knew how to channel Reishi through his limbs and Harukami – he hadn’t tried releasing it out as solid, bright energy akin to her gauntlets and her energy blasts.

Glass and brick debris rained down on the arena, and people spotted the blast even from far outside of the dojo. The Head Master was bewildered at the destruction that took hold of this duel, but the other students were enamored with the prowess showcased by this pink-haired wrestler from the Vandenreich. This was beyond mere strength-enhancing Spiritual Manipulation – this was utilizing one’s spirit as ammunition! Aww, that roof’s gonna make a vacancy in my pocket… the Head Master grieved the loss of the fancy roof he’d installed high above the indoor arena – despite the vast space the combatants had, he didn’t expect any of this from any visitor.

Mura’s guard was circumvented with her sudden explosive speed, a step method she performed before he could redirect his arm to perform a quick jab at her open self. Instead, her arms found their way around his waist, and he rapidly struck the arms with his palm to try and free himself, but it didn’t stop her from launching him to the mat below akin to a German suplex.

There’s… my chance!

She proved to have been faster than he thought with that previous maneuver, but trying to harm him by using the mat and floor as a weapon wouldn’t deal as much damage as she’d thought. Still, his waist and hips felt as if she’d squeezed them dry of flesh and tissue – those red veins on her did some sort of number on him, that was certain now! But what did the blue veins do, then?

Blue… when he landed the first hit on her. Strength boost? Maybe.

Red? When she attacked… strength boost? Wait, so they did the same thing? Argh, no matter what – whenever those veins popped up, she was doing something, alright?!

If anything, the impact brought back memories of his duel against the Head Master himself – that little hut in the woods took one hell of a beating from their exchange of blows, but it further made Mura confident in his resistance from collateral damage. Even if she got stronger from the veins, the mat itself wouldn’t do a lot of damage to him.

He quickly lifted himself up with his hand and rolled away from Meninas, leaving behind a clear hole in the ground caused by his upper body being used as a hammer by the super-powered wrestling champion of the Vandenreich. Didn’t think I’d withstand that, eh? he tried to assume her thoughts at first, moving up close with his legwork and then… unexpectedly gently pointing a flat palm towards her stomach. One of the most famous techniques from the Tibetan monks was the ability to land a heavy punch even from a ridiculously short range – his palm was a mere single inch away from her, and yet his Reishi exploded, sending his clenched fist straight towards her center.

His one-inch punch landed squarely, and he felt himself quite rejuvenated from the space he made between them. Maybe he did punch harder than he swung a sword… but he wouldn’t admit that in front of Kyūken. That was a disaster in the making.

Either way, he’d dealt some real damage to her now – after she recovered, Meninas blew his mind all over the mat floor, as well as causing over half of the audience to gasp as she… flew around the fucking arena. The masses could barely recognize the surfing aspect of her technique, she was actually just riding the air to them!!! “… MASTER! HOW COME YOU NEVER TAUGHT US ANY OF THAT?!” Mura had to protest in the midst of it all, receiving a quick, surprised response from the old dojo head, “I-I don’t know how to do that! Don’t look at me!”

Ah, screw it all. If anything, if Mura could leap such long distances with the help of manipulating his Reiryoku, then… he guessed that something such as flight or hovering would be possible, too. He wanted to get a win for the dojo, regardless – for their pride, and for his own. But in spite of his vitality, he’d endured some good hits from her, and he was running out of tricks…

… Oh shit, arrows! She could also spawn a bow and arrows with just her Reishi?! Okay, these Vandenreich guys really were efficient – then again, every person he’d met after fucking up in China had been nothing short of amazing. Akira’s blinding speed and healing powers, Veralia’s unforgiving flames, and now Meninas’ playdoh weapons-crafting.

He’d taken an arrow to the shoulder before he even noticed the aching pain running down his inexistent left arm. His damn fault for losing focus in a time like this – aww, Kyūken was going to chew him out for it – but Mura wasn’t such a fragile guy. Immediately triggered to move, he leapt to the side and moving almost in sync with Meninas, grabbing and yanking the Reishi arrow off his shoulder with droplets of blood tainting his haori. Even when he’d almost taken a lethal wound there, he showed no signs of stopping… but all he could do was get up and close – he had no means of attacking her from a long range.

…

DAMN IT! IF IT’S ALL REISHI, THEN I CAN, TOO! I JUST GOTTA TRY! I CAN AT LEAST TRY!

A last, desperate attempt at stepping into a territory he hadn’t touched before, Mura pointed his palm towards her, all five fingers spread out, and focused on what exactly he desired to manifest… a sort of ‘blast’ of Reishi, an energy cannon of some sorts. Just something he could attack Meninas with from a range, akin to the punch energy blast she used like twice before. He knew how Reishi worked, right? Fa Jin allowed him to control its flow inside of his body, so if he just… forced it out-

!

Nothing launched out of his hand. Instead, his Reishi gathered at his palm, and he saw to grabbing an incoming arrow directly, right before the arrowhead could pierce him again. The arrow was hot, but he was more amazed by its solidness – it was like an actual, steel arrow in the making, and she manifested those just from her Reishi. Like laser beams and stuff.

“I’m borrowing this one!” he roared, continuing to slap the other arrows coming his way with one of her own. Quickly after, he turned the arrowhead 180 degrees and fired it off like a spear towards Meninas’ position.