Chapter 43 : Your Move Is My Move

Duri thought, 'Can I do that thing I've done with my snakes? No! That shit hurts me as well as it hurts Ren-Ren, Ren-Ren just feels the worst part of it. And plus, if I use that ability, I have to be stationary. What can I do? I can't keep dodging these slashes forever! Wait..if that tornado is made up of Ren-Ren's power…'

Duri jumped up, allowing more red slashes cut under him and hit the ground and force field wall, causing a loud BANG!

Duri dropped down, and ran to the left. 

Inside of the tornado, Ren-Ren was standing still with his eyes bright white, his arms were going straight down, and he was grinning.

Duri thought again, 'I saw a little bit of him. Everywhere he looks, his slashes go. He's directing them telepathically. Wait…I have a plan, but it's fucking risky. As mentioned before, his tornado is made up of his swords power and for…and I have the power to merge! But…how will I know if it works? Usually when I merge with someone's power, I have to grab hold of it. If I waste time trying to grab hold of these slashes, a hundred more will blast my way, fucking me up. Should I run straight through the middle? But I'll be too exposed! Shit.'

Duri gasped. and he began to think about a time when he and Marshy were playing hide and seek in the woods.

[FLASHBACK]

[7 YEARS AGO]

Marshy was walking through the woods with her hands in her pockets, saying, "Come out, ya little bastard. Don't you know I've never lost a game of hide and seek? Imagine. Imagine hiding from me."

Marshy hurried to look behind a tree, and nothing was there.

She kept walking around, clicking her teeth, stepping on leaves, stepping over puddles, and moving around branches and rockets.

Marshy's ear twitched, and she looked to the left.

She saw a large empty turtle shell that was halfway sliced in half.

She said, "Now…I wonder where DURI is…is he…under this shell?!"

Marshy lifted the shell up, and Duri was hiding under it, smiling with dirt on his face.

Marshy said, "I found you! Haha!"

Duri replied, "Aw! I swear I almost won!"

"Mmm. No. Not a chance. Better luck next time."

"I'll win next time!"

"Sure you will."

Marshy pulled him up from the ground, and hugged him tightly with a smile. They both smiled greatly, with Duri squeezing Marshy's back with his arms.

[FLASHBACK END]

[PRESENT DAY]

[EXAM ARENA]

Duri was still running from Ren-Ren's slashes, and Duri thought again, 'That's it. Let's give this shit a shot.'

Duri jumped to the left, right over another slash.

Ren-Ren, inside of the tornado, thought, 'This is perfect. Hmph. There's no way he could come in here without taking damage and getting ripped to shreds. In that case, I'll stay in this tornado until he gives up. I'm so damn perfect.'

Duri closed his hands together, and pointed it forward fast, and two shadow dragons appeared, and they ate Duri up. But, Duri was just sitting at the edge of their mouths, with their mouths halfway open.

Duri could see through them, and Duri said to them, "Charge right in!"

The shadow dragons dashed forward to the tornado, with the slashes from the tornado hitting the dragons, damaging them, but Duri was protected. 

Ren-Ren, watching Duri, thought, 'Tch. It's useless. Those annoying shadow dragons will get ripped to shreds as well. Why is he charging straight in with them when it's that obvious? Unless..wait! What if he is trying to merge with this power? There's no way he could! This tornado is made up of thousands of little pieces from my sword, and they're moving at light speeds. There's no way he could grasp it. He's bluffing!'

'I used the second dragon to be a shield for the dragon I'm sitting in. That way, we can last longer before I jump in there. Ren-Ren's power level must've gone up when he brought the sword out, this pressure and feeling feels the same as when I was fighting Conan a few years back.'

Students in the crowd commented:

"He's actually going to do this?" 

"Running straight in is suicide!"

"Is Duri dumb?!"

Seven said to herself, "What the hell is he planning to do?"

Duri and his shadow dragons were near the tornado, and Duri closed his eyes, and reached his hand out in the open, all while the shadow dragons were taking damage from the slashes.

'I just need to grab a piece of the tornado. I just need to grasp one of the small pieces. I have to think and move fast. Fuck everything else.'

Duri began to make the dragons go away, and there was a loud boom and flashing light. The tornado stopped.

The light was still bright, and everyone comments:

"A bright light?"

"Did Duri die?"

"I can't see a thing!"

"Me neither!"

Hosts Tetsuya, Kedarah, Chaos, and Hanako looked concerned.

Seven had a worried look on her face.

And in the medical room, Tek, Kazuma, Jiyu, and Nine were watching with silence.

Tek was sitting there, thinking, 'He charged into the tornado..? What a reckless fool.'

The bright light in the middle of the arena was dimming down, and everyone could see inside.

Duri was standing in the middle of the arena, holding a katana sword with the blade giving off a red and black smokey like aura, some parts of Duri's skin including his face were red and black, and his hair was pitch black.

Everyone gasped, including Ren-Ren.

Ren-Ren said, "How?! How did you manage to merge with my power?"

Duri replied, "I just needed to grab a piece of the blade from your tornado. But I couldn't physically grab them, so I let some of the pieces stick inside my hand."

Duri showed Ren-Ren his hand, and it was bleeding.

Ren-Ren made his sword appear, saying, "I thought…I thought you had to grasp the power to merge with it!"

"As soon as it went in my hand, it was within my grasp."

"...Birthmark boy."

Ren-Ren charged after Duri with the sword, and went on the offensive. Ren-Ren was trying to hit Duri from all directions with the sword, but Duri was blocking the attacks with one hand with his sword, looking straight at Ren-Ren the whole time.

This went on for a good minute, their swords clanged, and Ren-Ren was trying his hardest, but Duri wasn't.

Ren-Ren jumped back, and he started slinging more slashes at Duri. 

Duri slung red and black slashes at Ren-Ren, and those slashes were cancelling each other out with explosions.

It was like a light show, and there was smoke inside the arena, but everyone could still see them.

Seven said, "Let's go Duri! I mean..um..you're doing an okay job. Tch."

Espen, sitting beside Seven, said, "You're making it so obvious, Seven. You are weak to confessions."

Seven started shaking Espen, "Shut up shut up shut up shut up!"

Shiryu said randomly with a yawn, "Ooo..Duri's got..this. Oi..who am I fighting again?...I wonder if I'll see the ocean again today…"

Host Chaos said, "He merged with Ren-Ren's power by allowing himself to take damage.."

Host Hanako added, "Knowing that he couldn't physically grab a piece of the katana in time, he let the pieces get stuck in his hand so he could merge with them.."

Host Tetsuya says, "Using his shadow creations as a shield to get even close to the tornado.."

Kedarah smiled, "Duri is soooo smart! I'm gonna give him big hugs and feed him my favorite desserts!"

Chaos responded to Kedarah, "Yeah no. Marshy would destroy you. She'll be so jealous."

"Hehe. Ooooo well!"

Host Tetsuya put his hand on his chin, "Still..what Duri did…was really unpredictable."

Chaos uttered to Tetsuya, "Hoh? So now don't you finally find the kid interesting?"

"I've always thought he was interesting. But I wasn't expecting him to use his brain in this fight. It looked hopeless, but Duri found a way. I can definitely see Host Marshy in him…"

[Saitama, Japan]

[Outside]

Marshy was standing up looking at the screen where Duri and Ren-Ren were slinging slashes at each other; She had food stuffed in her mouth, and she exclaimed, "YEAH! THAT'S MY FUCKING SON! KICK THAT BOY'S ASS, DURI! SLING THOSE SLASH THINGS!"

The people outside in the chairs were staring at her, and Marshy noticed, saying to them, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ALL LOOKING AT? PAY ATTENTION TO MY SON WHOOPING ASS!"

Xenon, sitting beside Marshy, thought, 'Duri's potential is growing. What a play for a brat.'

Mifu, sitting in his chair drinking soda, thought, 'Great job, Duri. I knew you could do it.'

Mifu looked up at Marshy, seeing her happy, and he was thinking, 'And thank you…Marshy. For taking the role as his mother and doing what you promised to do. This was no mistake.'

[EXAM ARENA]

Duri and Ren-Ren were teleporting around together, with their swords clashing at each location. Duri was still fighting with one hand and a straight face, while Ren-Ren was going all out. The swords bang over and over, and each time it did, the arena shook with red and black colors flying all over the place with a little dust around.

Duri and Ren-Ren were on the ground again, and both of their swords were going away, and their swords began to turn into a tornado, but their tornadoes combined with each other, creating a super tall tornado.

Duri and Ren-Ren were fighting in the middle of the spiraling and forceful tornado, using all sorts of martial arts techniques.

Ren-Ren was landing a single hit, but Duri was landing all of his hits. Duri was blocking his attacks with a straight face; the whole time they fought, Duri never blinked or took his eyes off Ren-Ren. He was practically untouchable and invincible.

Ren-Ren threw two punches and a kick, Duri blocked the punches with his elbows, and got down low to avoid the kick.

Duri put both hands on the floor, and kicked Ren-Ren across the cheek, jumped up, triple kicked Ren-Ren in the face, chest, and back from multiple directions at light speed.

Duri reached his hand back, and his Katana sword was forming again from the pieces of the tornado, and Duri sliced Ren-Ren up the chest with the sword, causing Ren-Ren to shoot up to the top of the tornado for everyone to see. 

Duri teleported above Ren-Ren, raised his sword up, and slammed it down on Ren-Ren's chest with the blunt edge of the sword.

Ren-Ren coughed up blood, and the hit caused multiple waves of sonic booms to spread outward, making the force field around them shatter. 

Ren-Ren crashed to the floor, and Duri landed feet first beside him.

Everything was quiet, and Duri's appearance was turning back to normal. His katana sword was going away too. 

Duri looked around him, and said, "Shit. I broke the field. You Hosts can put a new one up, right?"

Kedarah stood up immediately, and was clapping nonstop with a smile.

"Great job, Duri! I knew you could do it!"

Host Tetsuya thinks, 'Duri hit Ren-Ren with the non lethal side of the sword which is the blunt edge. I know the students noticed it too..'

The exam students were confused, confused on why Duri used the blunt edge part of the sword instead of killing Ren-Ren, since they thought Duri was a cold blooded murderer.

"Duri didn't kill him…?"

"Is he tricking us?"

"But he has a bloodlust…we all felt it from him…people with those have a lust to kill.."

"Maybe we're wrong.."

"Fuck that, did you guys see that Duri shattered the force field? Crazy, man!"

Seven stood up, said quietly, "He's..not a murderer."

Espen said to her, "You're right. He's not. And what I'm hearing from the thoughts of everyone around me, they're deciding whether or not they wanna call him a murderer anymore. Most of them thought Duri was gonna break the rules and kill his opponent since they think that's his nature."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Shiryu asked Seven and Espen, "Are you guys friends now? But..I really need to get the same food I got yesterday from that…restaurant.."

Seven asked Espen, "Does your brother usually do that?"

"Yes. He can get easily distracted, and he is always tired and yawning and kinda lazy. But he's strong."

In the arena, Ren-Ren was struggling to get up, but Duri stuck his hand out to him, saying, "Oi, dumbass. Grab hold."

"Heh? And why?"

"Just fucking do it."

Ren-Ren gave Duri a stern look, but he grabbed Duri's arm, and Duri helped him up. 

Duri and Ren-Ren shook hands, and Ren-Ren thought, 'Why? Why am I getting this feeling? This feeling of respect for someone else? I shouldn't respect anyone who isn't me!'

Duri said, "I had fun beating the living shit out of you. We can fight again sometime."

Ren-Ren smirked, "Hehe. Peasant. Of course."

Duri and Ren-Ren were getting escorted by some medical people to the medical room, and Host Chaos exclaimed, "And the winner of that fight was Duri!!! What a stunning match! And now, without wasting any more time, the next fight will be…SHIRYU VS YAMATO!!"

Inside the medical room, Duri was lying on one of the beds, bandaged in his hand and nowhere else since he didn't take a lot of damage.

Him and Tek were eying each other the entire time with malicious looks.

Kazuma jogged over to Duri, smiling, "That was so awesome, Duri!"

Duri answered, "I know it was."

Ren-Ren slid into the conversation, saying, "So, DURI. How did it feel using my POWER?"

"It felt like I was being consumed by a monstrous energy. But other than that, it was alright I guess. I don't feel like going into detail right now. Maybe later."

Nine was walking out of the medical room, saying, "I'm gonna go give Seven some company. And Duri.."

Duri responds, "What?"

"...You did alright. For the most part."

Nine walked out of the room, and it was quiet.

Tek stood up, "I'm gonna leave too."

Tek left the room next, leaving Duri, Kazuma, and Ren-Ren in there.

Kazuma asked Duri, "Hey! Where did you get the idea to storm the tornado with the shadow dragons as your protection?"

"...When I was younger, me and Marshy played hide and seek all the time, and I would always hide under shit, things that would cover me. Seems like it came in handy this time."

"It sure did!"

Ren-Ren mentioned to Duri, "Not gonna lie, I didn't expect you to merge with my power or even attempt to rush at me. And for that, peasant, you have a tiny bit of my respect. But just know, when I train and get stronger, we'll have our rematch! No cameras, no crowd, just us."

Duri answered, "It's a deal. Now I would like to be alone for a bit please if you two don't mind. Oh you don't? Cool. Goodbye."

Kazuma grinned, "Haha! Right! We'll be waiting for you in the stands!"

Kazuma and Ren-Ren walked out, leaving Jiyu and Duri in there.

Jiyu was laying down in the bed, watching videos of her fight with Nine.

Duri asked Jiyu, "...What are you watching?"

Jiyu got scared, squealing as she dropped her phone in her lap.

She said, "I..I..I uh-uh…I was watching my f-f-fights.."

"Any fucking reason why?"

"Um…I-I just need to see what I need to work on, spotting my-my own weak spots from a different point of view. H-have you ever done that?"

"No. I usually just get beat down to a pull whenever I'm trying to learn my weak spots. Blame Marshy's ass for that."

Jiyu laughed, saying, "Haha, ye-yeah. Well, I'm go-gonna leave you to yourself. Good job on y-your fight..Duri.."

"Thanks I guess."

Jiyu waved, and then she left the room, leaving Duri all alone.

Duri sat up from the bed, and he stood in the middle of the room stretching.

He started silently celebrating, saying and whispering, "Haha! Fuck yes! I wonnnn I wonnnnnn! Fuck what anyone has to say! Haha! Take that ya bastards who talk down on me! Now let's just hope I got into the final fight."

[Saitama, Japan]

Marshy was celebrating loudly, "Yay! Duri beaaaat him! Duri beaaaat him! All of you can eat horse shit because my son won!"

[EXAM ARENA]

In the arena, Shiryu was yawning and half asleep, as his opponent Yamato was standing in front of him.

Yamato was the same height as Shiryu, and he had brown spiky hair, green eyes, and circular glasses with a scar going down his right eye.

Yamato said, "The king shall end this fight with one blow. Art thou prepared?"

Shiryu replied with another yawn, "...Huh? I just..woke up..your hair looks kinda funny."

Yamato gritted his teeth as some people in the forward laughed, and Yamato had wood come out of his hands and arms.

Yamato said, "We'll seeith who laughs after I take the victory in accordance with this bout."

Shiryu replied, "Go ahead.."

"Here I goeth!"

Yamato sprung his hands over to Shiryu, and Shiryu stopped it with one hand, saying, "I thought…you were starting?"

"...You stopped it with one hand? What is your power? Is it just immaculate strength?"

Shiryu started to grow wood from his arms and hands, and he said, "Your move..is my move. I can mimic…anyone's power to a certain degree…in accordance with my own power level.."

"...That's…"

Shiryu made wood come out his back, and it smacked Yamato across the cheek, sending him flying.

Before Yamato could hit the ground, Shiryu was beside him, holding a long wooden log, he lifted it up, got in a batter's stance like he was about to hit a baseball, and smacked Yamato with the wooden log. Yamato flew up high and hit the corner of the new force field.

Host Tetsuya exclaimed, "And the winner of this match is Shiryu!"

Shiryu dropped the log, saying, "I…love baseball. Should..I take a nap now..? Yeah..I probably should.."

Host Tetsuya said out loud, "Next up, is…SEVEN VS ESPEN!"

In the medical room, Duri pulled a chair up near the TV, and sat down eating graham crackers and drinking apple juice.

'So Shiryu can mimic people's powers to a certain degree? That's hella fucking broken. Next..is Seven against Shiryu's sister, Espen. I wonder what her power is.'

Shiryu and Yamato walked into the medical room, followed by medics, and were escorted to a bed. 

Duri ignored them, and watched the screen in front of him.