'What is this?' Tokugawa's mind was ringing, and he felt like he was being suffocated despite lacking the sense of touch. He had witnessed Ryu punch himself in the face, causing him to lose consciousness, but he had managed to suddenly regain his balance. And now, after that punch, there was this deep, unsettling aura emitting from Ryu that racked Tokugawa's mind. Tokugawa couldn't see nor feel due to lacking the respective senses needed, and yet he could swear he could feel chills all over his body, and he felt as if he could see again, as there was this image of a disturbingly dangerous aura in his view of eternal darkness.
'Is this his hidden card?' Tokugawa instantly thought, and his hearing became sharp. He had thought this was Ryu's hidden card, just like Tokugawa's
Ryu slowly regained his stance and straightened his back. Then, he turned his eyes towards Tokugawa, his eyes hazy and unfocused. With one swift movement, Ryu tore a portion of his shirt and covered the wound with it, his eyes still glued to Tokugawa's, hazy.
Despite Ryu looking rather harmless, somehow, someway, Tokugawa's body began to subtly shake. The moment he had visualized Ryu's eyes, and noticed he was looking at him, he had felt a deep, foreboding sense of terror and crisis. 'What is this disgusting gaze? And, why am I shaking?'
Tokugawa could visualize his body shaking slightly, causing him to be confused. It was as if his body instinctively thought Ryu was incredibly dangerous, and it felt fear.
'Fear?' Tokugawa immediately resolved his mind, and the terror he had felt immediately subsided. 'How silly. I've embarked on the path of the asura, how could I feel fear?'
'Matter of fact...' As the fear dissipated in Tokugawa's body, the excitement he had felt before had returned, more powerful than ever. The flame in his blind eyes burned brightly, and the grin on his face became wider, more chaotic, and mad.
'This is even better!' He had felt like this was going to be an unfair battle when he activated his ability, and if Ryu's previous words were correct, then a speed difference of 43 times was way too big. A normal human cannot win against someone who was 2 times faster than them in combat, let alone this.
'But,' Tokugawa thought, as he visualized Ryu's appearance once more. Messy, dark hair. Black eyes that were hazy, and unfocused. A body of an average build, with a height slightly taller than normal. Everything pointed at Ryu being a normal person, but Tokugawa thought otherwise; 'He's anything but a normal human.'
Tokugawa used the full potential of Ryu, and his surroundings, and used them all to prepare for his attack. His hearing was now far more enhanced compared to before. Before, he could read Ryu's movements by hearing his blood flow, the muscles, the creaking of the bones, the rustling of his clothes, his heartbeat, and many other variables. But now, it was even more enhanced. He could hear the neurons in Ryu's brain and body, his brain's synapses, the vibration in the air, everything. Now, Tokugawa might as well be reading Ryu's mind.
He could read many, many moves ahead. Matter of fact, even before he activated his magical ability, Tokugawa usually would've been able to read tens of moves ahead of his opponent, directly reading them like a book. With Ryu, however, that was only limited to a few moves. But then, it became one move, and even then, that move was usually incorrect as Ryu managed to completely out-predict him. But now, that shouldn't be the case.
However... When Tokugawa read everything about Ryu, he felt startled. The signals, the neurons, everything was jumbled, as if the body itself didn't know what to do. It wanted to do hundreds of moves, yet did none of them at the same time. The signals that were being sent out from his brain were all a mess, and there were many of them, causing Tokugawa's mind to darken.
But even then, that wasn't a problem for Tokugawa. He was still able to predict many moves ahead. That was the strength of Tokugawa's magical ability.
As such, with one swift movement, Tokugawa broke through the sound barrier, his speed easily surpassing the speed of sound. Tokugawa immediately noticed that Ryu had moved a tiny bit prior to Tokugawa moving, but Tokugawa had already expected that. He calmly lifted his hand, and as he approached Ryu, he read Ryu's body signals and slashed at his head beautifully with his wind sword. He had already read where Ryu would move.
Not only was Tokugawa able to read Ryu's movements, but he was also incredibly faster than him. No matter what Ryu did, Tokugawa was sure Ryu would get hit regardless.
As Tokugawa's wind sword was about to slash Ryu's head, all the signals in Ryu's body suddenly exploded, becoming extremely erratic. Tokugawa's eyes widened but quickly laughed in his mind. 'Moron, you think I won't be able to read you this time?!'
Tokugawa's sword trajectory immediately changed mid-swing, following Ryu's new movements.
'This is your end. Your new strength has indeed frightened me a bit, but alas, it's not enough to overcome the power
Yet... as Togukawa visualized everything that happened around him every fraction of a second, his expression slowly changed. It was as if time was slowing down. Ryu's signals were getting more erratic with each second, and as Tokugawa's sword was about to cut off Ryu's head, due to the speed of the swing, Ryu had only been able to move extremely minimal amounts, the smallest possible margins. It seemed as if the sword was going to cut off his head, but-
*Swish!*
Tokugawa had slashed at Ryu, but there wasn't a head flying off like he had expected. Instead, there was only a small bit of blood that dropped to the floor. Tokugawa visualized everything once more, and he only noticed that Ryu had a small wound on his cheek, but that was it. Tokugawa widened his eyes a bit as he visualized the scene in front of him, shocked.
'Disgusting monster.' Tokugawa thought as he visualized everything about Ryu's body, trying to come up with a conclusion on how Ryu had managed to predict his attack. His speed was now laughably above Ryu, and his hearing capability had been enhanced to a new level. And yet, he had only been able to slightly graze Ryu. Still, although Tokugawa was shocked, it was not to the point of being speechless. In a way, he had expected this. Or, to be truthful, Tokugawa would've been disappointed if Ryu had died by this hit. Even prior to Ryu entering this new state, he was a monster capable of predict Tokugawa with barely any problems, and had even been able to adapt and predict everything while closing his eyes.
What really concerned Tokugawa was how frightening Ryu's adaptability became after entering this state. When Tokugawa had first entered this state, he had managed to inflict a rather large wound on Ryu's arm, even causing the bone to show. But now, when Ryu used his new power, Tokugawa had only managed to slightly graze Ryu's cheeks.
Tokugawa was extremely confident in his ability to predict his opponents, even more so when he had activated his ability. Hell, when he had activated his ability when he was wandering the world, he had been able to read the entirety of his opponent, all of their moves, like they were nothing. With his hearing capability and impressive mind, he was able to read hundreds of moves ahead, utterly predicting all of his opponent's actions and even thoughts. He had been able to read their personality and was able to properly deduct every move they'd do after the first one.
Still, even after activating his ability, this confidence had died down. Ever since he had met Ryu, Tokugawa's confidence in his ability to predict had wavered with each passing second, until it fully disappeared. This monster in front of him had been capable of predicting him, and his actions, all while being massively slower.
However, this didn't cause Tokugawa to be depressed or to feel weak or embarrassed. Rather, he felt excited at the thought of it.
'Good,' Tokugawa nodded in his head and prepared to unleash another strike. 'I'm glad I met you. You are young, and yet you are this outstanding. No wonder you were destined to fight me at this age. If our speed wasn't that much different, then I don't think I would've stood a chance.'
Tokugawa's hearing caught every breath Ryu took, every blood cell, every neuron, and every signal. Although it was a bit hard to read, it wasn't impossible.
Tokugawa immediately set on the places where he wanted to swing. All of them were vital areas, and Tokugawa didn't think Ryu would be able to dodge or block these many attacks. After all, there was a massive speed disparity.
He slowly lifted his arm, and calmly, and seemingly slowly, swung his sword in front of Ryu. The attack wasn't even that close to Ryu. Then—
*Bang!*
—Tokugawa suddenly appeared a few meters behind Ryu as his speed broke the sound barrier once, and there were a few bloodstains on his body. He visualized the bloodstains by hearing them and didn't bother to clean them. The blood that stained his body, the blood of those he injured and slaughtered would all become a part of him, and they all served a memory. If someone told Tokugawa about his red-tinted skin, he'd tell them that it was the blood of his enemies, and he would be able to recall every single blood that dripped on his body due to his abnormal memory.
Tokugawa visualized Ryu once more and turned around. Immediately, he narrowed his eyes, as he began to analyze everything about Ryu's body.
Just before he had moved, Ryu had slowly moved his body and tilted it in many strange ways. They were minimal, and subtle movements, and yet they proved crucial here. Tokugawa took 1 second, and in that one second, he had attacked 5 times, from all directions. All of those attacks were aimed at the vital areas of Ryu, and yet…
'What is this?' Tokugawa felt even more startled as he visualized Ryu's body. All of the 5 attacks had made contact, the problem was that their cuts were extremely shallow, even worse than the injury he made before this. Tokugawa was truly confused this time, and he slowly went towards Ryu and began to inspect every injury with his hearing.
'How did this happen?' Tokugawa thought as he visualized the first cut. It was extremely shallow and caused only the tiniest bit of blood to drip. He then visualized the second, the third, the fourth, and lastly, the fifth, with greater detail.
Every single one of them was as shallow as the first one. Tokugawa got even closer to Ryu, intending to close the distance in order for him to visualize in even more stellar detail. He could 'see' Ryu move in his mind, turning around slowly, his punch ready. Of course, Ryu's speed was rather laughable, as it was slow like a snail. And yet, with this abhorrent speed, Ryu had been able to dodge.
'I truly don't get it.' Tokugawa's tried coming up with explanations on how Ryu dodged, but none of it seemed to quite fill the bill. He had read Ryu's body before he attacked and predicted what he would do. The problem was that, just as he was about to attack, Ryu's signals and neurons were fired up even more, and it caused Tokugawa to be slightly confused. They hinted at many moves, but the majority of them were fakes. It was as if Ryu wanted to do a move, but ultimately rejected it at that last fraction of a second. He had never seen a single person being capable of doing that, as it was almost impossible to do. The only ones that had been capable of doing it were extreme masters at martial arts. Those people were an extreme pain in the ass for Tokugawa, and Tokugawa himself hadn't been able to properly kill one yet, only massively injuring them before they fled.
But Ryu was different, it was at a level even higher than those master martial artists. Not only that, but Ryu adapted extremely fast. As such, Tokugawa didn't bother to throw more attacks. It was the same situation as Comby, where Ryu adapted to every attack that Comby did. Tokugawa, however, knew more than Comby, and he knew to not let Ryu adapt.
Tokugawa visualized Ryu turning around, and as he finally did, Ryu threw an extremely slow jab at Tokugawa's face. Tokugawa watched as this snail-paced punch slowly approached him, and he effortlessly leaned his head to the side, completely dodging it. Then, with one hand, he pushed the punch away from him a bit.
"How did you do it…?" Tokugawa muttered as he began to closely inspect Ryu's body from up close due to his hearing being enhanced when closer, dodging every attack he threw. He visualized the blood flow, but that didn't work. Then the muscles, but that didn't work either. The neurons failed. The signals failed. The synapses that fired from his brain, failed. Still, Tokugawa didn't give up, and he continued analyzing Ryu's body, hoping to reach a higher level of understanding, and perhaps find a way to accurately predict Ryu while dodging the laughably slow attacks.
Although the ability Tokugawa used made him lose his lifespan with each passing minute, Tokugawa still took the risk. He wanted to know, he really did.
Then— Tokugawa paid attention to Ryu's head. Not his brain, but his face. He noticed that despite Ryu's eyes being extremely hazy and unfocused, that maniacal flame of fighting spirit still remained, shining brighter than ever before. Then, he visualized Ryu's mouth, and he noticed that Ryu's mouth was moving. The blood was rushing towards them, as well as everything else. This time, it wasn't a fake.
Ryu hadn't uttered a single word but instead was mouthing the words, not bothering to speak. Tokugawa was a bit intrigued, and as he visualized everything, he was a bit stunned.
Ryu was mouthing;
'43…'
'Is he still trying to figure out my true speed?' Tokugawa thought, a bit surprised at how dedicated Ryu was. He wasn't panicked, nor did he feel any fear. Rather, he was still trying to figure out Tokugawa's true speed. Tokugawa felt a bit panicked in his mind, 'I need to hurry up. Each second is more time for him to adapt.'
Just as Tokugawa was about to analyze Ryu's body more, he noticed that Ryu hadn't stopped 'talking'. Tokugawa felt a bit short on time, but he still listened to Ryu.
'43…'
Ryu repeated the same thing, which caused Tokugawa to be a bit irritated. However… Tokugawa hadn't noticed— or rather, didn't care that much for them and as such barely noticed them due to Ryu's low speed— that both of Ryu's hands, which he had used to attack Tokugawa before— and Tokugawa had been able to dodge them —were slowly retreating at almost the same snail pace. They were, however, almost perfectly aligned.
'It seems that he is still stuck on 43. Is the speed disparity truly just 43 times? You were able to know the exact gap in speed before and were able to pinpoint it to points. But this... feels off.' As Tokugawa thought of that possibility, Ryu continued to mouth words. However, this time, they were different.
'Was…'
'Hmm?' Tokugawa expectantly listened, his attention fully focused on what Ryu had to say. As he began to visualize once more, he felt his mind turn blank for a second, as he 'saw' Ryu's head slightly tilt to the sight at a snail's pace, and a small smile started to form on his face.
"What are you trying to—"
"A fake." Ryu suddenly blurted out, at a much faster pace compared to before, albeit still way lower than Tokugawa.
Still, in that same moment when Ryu spoke—
—Tokugawa stopped hearing altogether.