How do you feel?
Well enough.
I got this.
Good to hear.
And the leg?
It's not totally back to 100% yet.
It's not swollen,
but it's not completely healed.
I wanna save my strength for the finals.
The other fighters have had a chance to see Blast Core now.
Revealing that move wasn't ideal,
but the impression it left gave you some advantage.
After witnessing that amount of destructive power,
there's no way someone wouldn't be afraid.
Even if you don't actually use it,
the memory of it will haunt your opponents.
Mm.
MUTEBA GIZENGA IWAMI HEAVY INDUSTRIES REP. FIGHTER
♪ Now it's been a while ♪
♪ And your kisses, they got even better ♪
♪ You think I don't know You're flaunting smiles ♪
♪ My love is what counts ♪
♪ But your face just clouds my honest feelings ♪
♪ I can only look at you with doubt ♪
♪ Don't forget, no connect ♪
♪ Maybe no because you're in my head ♪
♪ The love in me went away ♪
♪ I see the beauty ♪
♪ Beauty ♪
♪ Nothing can be in vain ♪
♪ You are the only ♪
♪ Only ♪
♪ You feel my pain ♪
♪ I can't wait ♪
♪ Don't be too late ♪
♪ Feel my pain out loud! ♪
ACE IN THE HOLE
Round three,
match two!
Now, fighters, head on out!
GAME TWO
In this corner,
we have a strong winning contender for this tournament,
the man who beat The Monster, Julius Reinhold,
way back in round two.
Better known to some as the Hercules of the Far East,
he's the King of Monsters!
His physique inches into superhuman!
He attacks with the ferocity of a tiger!
At 193 centimeters and 193 kilograms,
with 308 wins and two losses in the Kengan matches,
he's won a whopping
327,739,500 yen for his corporation.
Affiliated with Furumi Pharma,
the Wild Tiger,
Takeshi Wakatsuki!
Mm.
And next to the arena,
bloodthirsty, merciless, and cruel,
he's got no problem desecrating weak points.
He's a brutal fighter who has no rule book.
He's a blind and a grim reaper.
All he sees is death wherever he goes.
The legendary mercenary has graced us with his presence today,
not for a match,
but to execute a job.
At 199 centimeters and 122 kilograms,
with two wins and zero losses in the Kengan matches,
partnered with Iwami Heavy Industries,
it's The Genocider,
Muteba Gizenga!
Great. And with that, it's time to introduce our guest.
We've got the one and only Jun Sekibayashi joining us here today.
Thanks. Pleasure's all mine.
Oh wow. This is what you're like in real life, huh?
So let's get started.
Can you tell us some of the highlights to look out for in today's match?
Let me think.
First off, when it comes to Wakatsuki,
the structure of his muscles are pretty unique.
Even normal strikes have tremendous power behind them.
If he can land an attack, he can take control.
But Muteba is the type of fighter
who is deliberate in the way he attacks his opponent.
The thrust to the heart, the stabbing of the eyes
are two of his most powerful moves.
So considering that, if Wakatsuki wants to win,
he'll need to keep the fight limited to striking.
But as for Muteba's strategy,
he needs to make his attacks without directly engaging Wakatsuki.
I think those are gonna be the two big factors
that decide who wins during this match today. Yep.
Yeah, that's good to know.
Great analysis from an active fighter.
Excuse me!
It's not like I'm just here for my looks.
You appear to be unusually calm right now.
I hope you're not in denial about how strong Wakatsuki is.
-Shut your damn mouth, bald head. -Hmm.
We're on the precipice of witnessing something deliciously fun.
Two opposing bulls ready to clash!
Tokita is waiting at the semifinals.
Which of these men will advance to the next round?
And for whom does it all end?
Fighters, are you ready?
Begin!
Hmm.
Wakatsuki, what do you think you're doing?
SOUTHPAW STANCE
Hmm.
SEN HATSUMI
I see what you're up to, Wakatsuki.
I'm betting your eye.
Muteba had also noticed something specific
about the way Wakatsuki was acting.
And he counterattacked with a thrust to the heart.
However, he saw through everything.
Hitting him was not the goal.
He made contact!
Muteba crept backwards to minimize the damage caused by the blow.
But even with that…
That was heavy.
In an instant, Wakatsuki follows up with an attack.
This was just as Muteba had suspected.
The first attack merely foreshadowed what was to come.
The real attack is the second one.
There's no way he'd use the same killer move twice in a row.
That assumption is what gives the opening to attack.
Is that how it's gonna be?
He's grappling?!
Eight years ago…
It looks like you've completely lost to the Fang, Takeshi.
So what? Losing one match doesn't matter.
What's important is winning the next time you try.
But really, the rate you're going, I don't think you could pull it off.
The Fang has been developing
the ability to create countermoves against his opponents
in real time during matches.
You should assume
that he could see right through your karate techniques already.
Once he's seen a move,
he'll never allow you to land it on him again.
Yes, sir.
Two.
Or better yet, three.
Hmm.
Improving upon what you already know is a given.
But on top of that, you'll need a lot more.
You should have at least two other aces in the hole.
From that day, Wakatsuki took the advice
and worked on creating multiple backup plans.
The first was the world's most powerful striking move,
the Blast Core.
And his second was a grappling move.
Grappling was a whole new skill he began to learn after he turned 30.
At first, he was confused by how different it felt compared to striking.
But soon his Herculean strength
proved to be quite useful in this style as well.
Eight years later,
after countless hours of training,
he had perfected this new ace in the hole.
Wakatsuki is using a grappling move?
Well, that's one way to deal with it.
Now that he's got him in a hold like that, it doesn't matter how skilled he is.
No one is able to escape the strength of Wakatsuki's grip.
This is bad.
There's such a big gap in our strength.
Oh man.
Oh. The Shenmen point.
The Yinglinquan point this time.
His thrust to the heart is an ancient Chinese move
that was used by assassins.
It appears that Muteba has knowledge of Chinese medicine.
The Grim Reaper has escaped the grapple!
That won't work on me.
That grapple was just a decoy.
I'm keeping my damn distance.
And then I'll just wear you down little by little.
It'd be nice if that worked out for you.
He can't catch him. He keeps slipping away.
Muteba keeps dodging.
It's like he's some kind of matador that keeps taunting a raging bull.
What's with using a new technique this late in the game?
Wakatsuki, you're not planning on…
How long will you keep playing these games?
I know your big move already.
It's not going to land though.
Here I go!
You went back to quick strikes.
Smart move.
Look at him go!
This is Wakatsuki at his best!
Those quick hands are why they call him the Wild Tiger.
RIGHT REVERSE JAB
BACKHAND
LEFT ROUNDHOUSE KICK
SPINNING BACKFIST
That much damage even when guarding?
I can't resist this tension.
I'll focus on avoiding the attacks first.
Then I'll learn his pattern.
Hmm?!
I reacted a second late!
Yeah.
He won't be able to smell anymore.
And I'm the one who took his sense of hearing.
Ah!
Hey.
It's been so long.
I had forgotten what it was like to see.
If we step back in time…
This prototype has the ability to enhance
what remains of your sense of sight.
We haven't been able to release it to market yet.
It's still in development.
Muteba… you're making history as our first test subject.
And then, the match began.
Infrared detection.
This will come in handy when I'm on the battlefield.
They gave me an excellent toy,
so I'll give them some good data in return.
The fight went back and forth.
They continued to attack and defend.
And finally, the moment of its reveal.
Huh? I see. He wants to go for my nose.
All right, I'll let you have it.
And in the present…
Ah!
Now that's entertainment!
Striking at the very last second!
BLAST CORE
I was a second too late.
Wakatsuki no longer had the ability to see from his right eye.
Yet another result of his fight against Julius Reinhold.
His reasoning behind switching to a right-sided stance
was that it allowed his left eye to pull back
and get a wider field of view.
His focus on grappling moves was to compensate for the sudden blindness.
However, neither of his strategies succeeded.
And at the last minute, he came to the realization
that Muteba was able to see.
The tip off was the movement
in the direction towards which Muteba was looking.
In attempting to test his new artificial eye,
Muteba revealed that he could see.
The next strategy that Wakatsuki tried was to let his opponent attack him first.
He defended his heart,
which he knew as high risk,
and lured his opponent into targeting his right eye, neck, and liver
in order to hit him back with a counterattack.
He was certain that during this match,
Muteba would attempt to target one of these spots.
And then Wakatsuki activated his Superman Syndrome
to change his muscle density the second he was attacked to block it.
If either one of those things were missing,
it would have resulted in a fatal wound.
Of all places, my neck.
I was dead for a second.
During the delay when Wakatsuki lost consciousness,
the right arm that he had injured earlier helped him avoid a fatal wound.
Oh man.
I guess I'm the one who got sloppy. Oh!
I suppose I was the anomaly.
I was so scared of that single strike
that my instincts held me back from attacking fully.
I wasn't able to put him away.
But still, I did crush his right arm.
He traded a right arm in exchange for a right ankle.
I'm not sure if that's a high price or a low one.
Don't give up the fight now, Muteba!
There's no way you can't win this!
Wow!
This is quite a turn of events, everyone!
And there's no way to know how the battle's going to end yet!
Losing one of his arms puts him at disadvantage.
But it's impossible to predict what he might have up his sleeve next.
Be careful out there, Wakatsuki.
Muteba isn't dead yet.
It's the only option!
I drop out of the tournament.
Huh?!
Wait. What's that?
Uh…
What? Drop out?
Did he say drop out?!
Muteba just declared, in the ring,
that he has withdrawn from the match!
Oh! I see!
This must be a strategy.
He's trying to catch his opponent off guard.
That's what it is, right?
Hey! Hurry up and start punching!
Hmm.
Hey! What the hell is going on?
You'd never understand, even if I tried to explain it.
But if you need a reason,
it's because you're a fighter.
I'm a mercenary.
That's just how it is.
This is my way of doing things.
Huh.
I guess none of us saw this coming.
A fighter prioritizes winning over everything else.
But then, fighting, to a mercenary, is just about survival.
The two of them have opposing values.
Muteba weighed the benefits
and determined that continuing the fight was not worth the risk
and decided to drop out of the match instead.
Due to Muteba's withdraw…
I made it over a hurdle today.
A big one.
But can I do this again
two more times?
Sorry, man, but I'm gonna target whatever weakness you have.
If we're matched up in the finals anyway.
Don't be angry.
I did the best that I could.
Am I supposed to care about your best?
You talk when I tell you to talk!
Who do you think you are, you stupid piece of shit? Huh?
My company is paying you a lot of money!
How the hell could you just give up?!
My contract states that
in the event that I lose, my only compensation will be my advance.
What did you say?
I've done nothing today that would break our contract.
I did the job you asked for and earned my compensation.
Don't forget about your alliance with Gandai.
Your position at the association is safe.
My loss has no negative effect on you.
That's not the point!
And it's not relevant!
Now how the hell are you going to make this up to me? Huh?
What's this?
-I just gave you my phone number. -Uh…
Call me if you need anything.
I'll do the next job for you, and it'll be on the house.
Uh…
See you later.
I gotta admit, this was a fun job.
Looks like complaining paid off for once.
I've got a good card in my hand now.
Excellent.
I'll have to contemplate on the best time to use this.
GENSAI KUROKI MOTOR HEAD MOTORS REP. FIGHTER
REI MIKAZUCHI GOLD PLEASURE GROUP FIGHTER
♪ Like this, biatch… ♪
♪ Say what? ♪
♪ You say you running the city… ♪
♪ Say what? ♪
♪ Hey, when I snap ♪
♪ Put damage on your cap… ♪
♪ Say what? ♪
♪ You say you running the city… ♪
Assassin's fist versus assassin's fist!
Will the tiger feast or the elephant trample instead?
Ah! The Lightning God!
Break through as fast as you can!
This is love!
Next episode, "Culmination."