The two exchanged great blows with each other. Ken swung a heavy right hook, but Akumu quickly blocked and then countered it easily with a leg sweep. Despite the slight difference in build between the two, Ken who was supposed to be the heaviest, had his feet completely separated from the ground.
Akumu used this as an opportunity to knee him in the face, which he managed to land perfectly.
"OW!"
His face was as solid as a boulder. Akumu was still inexperienced in using cursed energy, so he naturally did it in a way that made it obvious where he would aim for. Ken took advantage of that, by focusing his cursed energy in the spot Akumu was aiming, a split second before he was hit,
Akumu was stunned for a couple moments, so Ken smashed his right fist into his gut, sending Akumu flying back a couple meters.
"Why did it have to be you? Why did it have to be you that lived?"
Akumu only nodded.
The two hadn't released any of their Cursed Techniques yet, as they wanted to gauge each others pure combat ability. Thanks to his training with Grandma Zenin, Akumu had grown freakishly fast, but both his control of cursed energy and capacity where inferior to Ken.
'Well of course.. he is a grade 2 sorcerer.'
That wasn't the only point of that clash though. Akumu was using Ken to help himself grow.
'Distribute the flow of cursed energy evenly in my body.. and then concentrate it all at the last moment.'
The two then rushed at eachother once again, with even more explosive power. Akumu was able to block several of Kens' strikes compared to one month ago, and as revenge for what happened before, he performed a powerful swing aimed at his left rib cage.
Surprised by his sudden growth, Ken was a little slow to reinforce that part of his body, and so the hit delt quite a bit of damage to him. Not enough to break any bones, but enough for him to become wary.
The two stared at each other again once more.
"How come a monster like you failed the first time around?"
"I was just simply never honest with myself."
One corner of the bleachers began chanting and screaming Dojima Ken's name. Akumu recognized them as the people who waited outside the boy's dorm for him. They must've been the gang that Ken ran, and figured they must be craving for him to lose.
While lost in his thoughts, Ken quickly followed up with a mighty blow to his face.
"Are you getting distracted?"
Akumu quickly apologized as he spat out blood before readying himself. The two charged at each other once more, before continuing their slug fest. As this continued, Hagone began to grow more worried.
Despite how even the fight looked, Ken had the advantage, and very soon, Akumu would lose.
"Why isn't Akumu using his dark whips? If he used them now, then he would surely stand a greater chance."
Grandma Zenin responded,
"They aren't just fighting, but they're also holding a conversation. To be adept in battle, one needs to be able to communicate what you want to the world with your own power. I knew two brothers who spoke like this before."
The two men clashed fists causing a shock wave to crack the floor beneath them. Akumu as sent flying backward coughing up more blood while Ken kept standing his ground. That list hit, fractured his right arm.
The truth behind this fight was, that Ken Dojima was still grieving. He had not been able to speak face-to-face with his brother since he started attending the Jujutsu High, as he had been busy doing the mandatory missions.
Instead, once a week they would send letters to each other and check up on how the other was doing. In many of these letters, Misoto would always mention something about Akumu. He always wrote about him positively and nicely, which naturally made him curious about his new friend.
Back when Ken still lived with his family, Misoto would always get bullied, so it was up to the older sibling to protect Misoto from danger. When he found out about Misoto protecting Akumu from bullies, it made him proud of his brother for growing up. However, on that fateful day 7 months ago, Ken didn't receive any letters from Misoto.
It was only 2 weeks after the incident, when he returned from a mission outside of Tokyo, did Ken find out about the death of his brother. The sorrow and misery he built only mutated into rage as he was told the name of the survivor.
"AKUMU SAIGO! WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE YOU!? ANSWER ME!"
Akumu paused but then he responded,
"I was too weak. By the time I wanted to fight back, I was far too late. Despite failing, Misoto never gave up on his dream. So with this life that he had saved, I'll achieve it for the both of us. I'll become a Jujutsu Sorcerer everyone can rely on."
Hearing that only made Ken even more angry. He sprinted towards him with tears still pouring from his eyes. Cursed energy required one to have absolute control over their emotions for it to be manipulated. Dojima's cursed energy was wavering and flickering, signifying the approaching end of this battle.
Akumu was easily able to catch the man's fist as he then dealt heavy damage with a devastating punch.
This whole time Akumu had been using himself as a body pillow, for Ken to vent out his emotions. Ken knew that it wasn't his fault that Misoto died but still, he needed something to blame to help cope with his brother's death. That was the curse he had been living for the last seven months.
Wiping away his tears Ken, Akumu then let him walk away to the other end of the arena. This last clash would be the one to decide the end of the battle.
'I won't beat him with tricks. And I won't use that move Owari taught me either. This time I'll face him at his best head on, at his best.'
Owari had actually discussed this plan with Akumu before hand, and was surprised to see what was happening.
'So that's the choice you've made. Well done.'
**
The audience watched intently and in anticipation. They had all silenced themselves patiently awaiting the winner of this fight.
Ken who had regained control of himself, now charged his left arm with the remainder of his cursed energy, while on the other end of the arena, Akumu Manifested multiple dark whips around his right arm.
Akumu then repelled himself off the ground with dark bounce, flying towards Ken with frightening speeds. The darks whips that engulfed his arm then manifested and reshaped itself into a much larger a fist, charged with great power.
'Dark gauntlet.'
However the second Akumu decided to clash fists against the now self-controlled Ken,
Akumu's defeat was guaranteed.
Dojima Ken's Innate Technique was called Remainder, which allowed him to swap the probability of mutually exclusive events. For example, the probability of heads in a coin toss was 50/100, so if Ken used his ability to swap the chances of heads with tails, it would stay 50/100. However in a casino, if the chance of a jackpot was 1/100, then Ken's Remainder would make it 99/100.
As both of their fists collided, sparks of black emitted from the opposing Ken's arm, smashing straight through Akumu's black gauntlet before making contact with his face. The sheer power from the punch sent him flying across the arena as he crashed into a wall. The destruction of the attack managed to even reach some people in the bleachers, frightening Hagone but not even fazing his Grandma.
'Black flash..'
The chances of a black flash occuring were dreadfully slim, but once Ken used his Innate technique, he could use it almost whenever he wanted. Thanks to this, he gained ahold of the current black Flash record, with an outstanding 11 consecutive hits.
The whole arena shouted and cheered at the results of the battle. Yes, this was the most emotion-filled ranked battle in a long time for them.
Akumu's unconscious body fell to the ground, failing to get back up.
The announcer then shouted,
"THE WINNER OF THE 42ND RANKED MATCH OF THE SEASON, IS RANKED 6TH KEN DOJIMA!!"