Everyone was silent in their seats. There were no words to express the feelings of shock they saw when Koutetsu got back up. The Instructors, Ren, and even Anna had no idea how this was possible. A person coming back from the dead without being a Ghast or use of Nercromancy was unheard of. Even more, he was healthy again and no longer injured. The hole that was in his body had vanished, there was no healing magic that could pull that off in an instant.
Megumi didn't know whether to laugh or lose her mind. Her student was up again and staring her down. Never in her years did this happen, even when she fought enemies stronger than her they never came back from the dead like that.
"Here I come!" Koutetsu vanished, Megumi let her guard down, he was right behind her before she had time to react.
"Boo!" Koutetsu stuck his tongue out at her before giving her a powerful punch to her face, breaking her nose in the process.
"How'd you like that? I waited years to get you back for doing that to me as a kid." Koutetsu's satisfied half smile felt like a victory at giving her karma
"I'm not done yet!" Koutetsu's speed had increased, he would do side steps that made it look like he was teleporting to a different spot. Megumi fought with a blast of her flames, but Koutetsu dodged it, he leaped into the air rotating his body in rapid access, his flames spiraling around him
"Hyou Ryu, Kaitei no Kata, Hariken no Atsusa(Hurricane heat)."
Koutetsu attacked with a flurry of spinning back kicks, the spiraling flames helping with the speed of the rotation while adding to the damage output. Koutetsu finished the rotation with a thrust kick to Megumi's face, forcing her to slide back a few feet.
Everyone was excited now, Koutetsu was alive and he was fighting back pushing Megumi to the edge. Anna saw from her seat the invigorated youth standing tall. She felt relief he didn't die and was giving Megumi a beat down like she wanted.
Koutetsu didn't stop his rhythm of attack, he charged at Megumi, tensing his right arm muscles and hardening his knuckles into sharp points. He gave a devastating blow to her even with her guard up, piercing her skin from the points of his knuckles.
"Hyou Ryu, Bukai no Kata, Sai Katta(Rhino Cutter)!!!"
Megumi stumbled back again, the moves she taught Koutetsu were working against her. His were stronger, pure, no trace of bloodlust in them.
Followed with another punch, using the rush to strike her with an over hand strike to her face using his flames to charge the impact.
"Kaitei no Kata, Ryuu Kuui(Dragon Devourer)." Koutetsu's impact connected, Megumi's face was injured from the burning fist, her equilibrium was knocked off causing her to stumble backwards till she caught her self from falling completely.
Megumi was bleeding more from her nose after that, not since her training with her Grandmother was she ever made to bleed in a fight like this, seeing the sight of her own blood dripping down caused her to snap.
She reached a breaking point in her anger, just like Koutetsu mentioned when she got hit with the stray bullet.
"You little. You little!" The beast's eyes burned, her teeth grinding in fury. Everyone was afraid again. She was set off badly from her blood flowing and the pain in her face.
"This time you won't come back!" Megumi dashed, she was swinging her arms throwing claw strikes at Koutetsu with a kick thrown in utilizing her sharpened feet as well. The white in her eyes was bright red with anger, the veins in them throbbing in response to her bloodlust. Koutetsu saw her movements clearer now, her moves seemed slower to him than before. He could react better without even using his Coded Eyes.
Megumi clapped her hands together in a strong impact, the flames in her hands popped off blinding Koutetsu for a second leaving him open.
Megumi went for a strong slash down his body, her clawed hand sharpening using her flames to charge her nails till the color in them turned black.
"Yasei Ken no Kata(Wild Sword Form), Kurohyō no Tsume(Black Panther's Claw)."
Her hand came down, and flame slashes were made as she clawed at Koutetsu's body. Itsuki and the others panicked for a minute thinking Megumi got him, Gentaro smirked as he saw that Koutetsu wasn't going to let her get him again.
"Bukai no Kata, Neshita Kinzoku(Heated Metal)." Koutetsu heated his skin and reinforced his muscle density to hardness of reinforced metal to absorb the impact of the claw and disperse the force behind it, the heat flow countering her own she used on him as repelling force causing a painful recoil that burned Megumi's hand. A powerful defense counter he started to use now that he wasn't relying on pure offense.
Koutetsu flung his leg upward in a reverse axe kick incoming Megumi back. She was getting angrier by the minute, her sanity was being pushed past its limit with how well Koutetsu was fighting back now.
Megumi's mind was now aimed at killing Koutetsu. Her mental state was stuck in a berserker mode, her body moving in accordance with her hate. Even if she tried fighting back, her mind couldn't stop the fury. Megumi's last shred of sanity flashed to her childhood when she was in the Deity program.
She entered before she knew she was a late Prime Caliber, her power awokened in the middle of training. Megumi was mean, she scared everyone away with her brutish demeanor and insane strength. The only one who wasn't afraid of her was her Grandmother, the one who taught her the Kibagami style.
Her Grandmother was tough, her only parent and guardian figure. She went to visit Megumi when she got into a fight with a teacher that ended badly. She sat alone on top of her desk brooding till her Grandmother walked in with help from an escort, she made her way to her granddaughter as she brought over cookies for her to eat.
"What's wrong sweetie." Her Grandmother asked.
"I don't want to talk about it." The young Megumi snapped back.
Megumi sulked till her Grandmother gave her a cookie. She took it an instant because she loved her Grandmother's cooking.
"Ha, I knew that would get your attention. Such a glutton you are my little Megumi hmm hmm." Megumi didn't respond right away, she was continuing her eating of all the cookies now.
"Megumi you have to open up sometime? Can't feed you cookies forever unless you want to get fat." Megumi got irritated but she couldn't hide it anymore from her Grandmother.
"A trainer called me a psycho when I said learning to fight is about killing not protecting. That's why we're here right? Protecting humanity, what a boring joke, we're supposed to kill bad guys. I'm not wrong Grandma, I'm not."
Her Grandmother felt bad, she knew Megumi didn't understand what the Kibagami Style was designed for. Megumi had an unnatural bloodlust since birth, it might as well have been a curse.
No matter how hard her Grandmother tried, Megumi could never get rid of her lust for killing her opponents who drove her into a corner. The only thing that quelled it was fighting someone on her level or the death of her enemy. Megumi's Grandmother wanted to help her, find a way to rid it of her so she could enjoy fighting without the need for death, she didn't want her grandchild to be a killer forever.
"Megumi, they're not wrong. But neither are you. Fighting can lead to killing evil, but that's not why I taught you. One day you'll fight someone, someone who'll have no intention to kill you, your fists will connect and you'll see. Fighting can be fun when it's someone that can reach your heart with theirs."
Megumi blinked after the memory finished coming back to her, she was confused about why now.
Koutetsu continued his relentless in his attacks. He couldn't stop, he had to keep perfect control of his breathing, and his momentum and all his attacks had to be in perfect sync. If he stopped for a second Megumi would counter the moment she got a chance.
"THATS ENOUGH!!!" Megumi roared as grabbed one of Koutetsu's fists, she used her strength to rotate his arm, causing his body to spin too.
She threw a corkscrew punch straight for his head. Koutetsu tried to block it, but the blow knocked him back, and he saw his right arm twisted around in a horrible disfigurement.
Everyone looked terrified at the display. Koutetsu wasn't bothered, he lit his arm on fire, it healed and realigned itself to its original shape.
"Itai, that hurt Master. Sorry did I hurt your pride using your own trick on you earlier hehe." Koutetsu looked at her with a cocky grin, he was purposely trying to anger them. He had a plan, one he thought of in his return back to life to win against Megumi and her bloodlust.
"Koutetsu...I'LL KILL YOU!" The blast of anger engulfed everyone in the area. The pressure this one had was greater than earlier, some of the students would pass out or cough blood. This was the true strength of a Deity of Killers, Bloody Reina's killer instinct.
Megumi gathered her black flames in her hands, they created an image of a demonic black panther circling around Megumi.
"Hyou Ryu, Hisastsu(Certain Kill)." Megumi launched the flames at Koutetsu, he didn't move an inch, Megumi charged a powerful claw strike with flames forming an animal claw over her hand, aiming for Koutetsu's heart. Her signature killer move.
"Yami no Hono! Kurohyō Jigoku no Tsume(Darkness Flame, Black Panther Hell claw)!!!"
Her attack connected, her nails and the flame claw pierced the skin of Koutetsu. Everyone held their breath, they were afraid she was going to kill him again.
Koutetsu stood his ground, he didn't budge or fall in defeat.
Megumi's eyes were exasperated. He was still alive, from an attack she used to kill a Grand Lich and burn into ashes.
'How? How is he still standing?'
"Master, I owe you everything. You really tried to help me when I lost control during training. You put your life on the line when I threw tantrums that hurt people and almost burned everything when I had my anxiety attacks. You may be a psycho glutton with poor manners and bad teasing. But you're still my Master. Now, let me show how much your teachings have helped me."
Koutetsu's blue flames burst out, they engulfed Megumi's black flames, she couldn't move, the flames held her down.
"Master, get ready, this one is my own move too, try not to die."
Koutetsu concentrated his breathing, the flames radiated into a brighter hue of blue with white in them. Everyone was mesmerized by the beauty of the flames. The flames above him, like with Megumi made an image too, this one an image of a mighty lion.
Megumi couldn't believe the sight, Koutetsu made this himself. He surpassed her, and her heart fluttered. Not from the battle or killing, but from pride, pride her student finally obtained a level of mastery she hoped he would reach over time.
The lion image blasted Megumi, she was knocked back, binding her in place.
"Hyou Ryu, Hisasstu." Koutetsu charged his fists, he fired rapid punches exceeding the speed of light, everyone lost count of how many punches were being thrown at that moment. Megumi was being battered with the barrage of hits she couldn't withstand, her body was being drained from the strikes being delivered to her. Koutetsu charged his fist into one final punch, engulfed in a spiral of his flame, he charged at Megumi's heart, the flame making the same lion head from earlier as the blast from the fist connected, sending Megumi flying five feet in the air.
"Ryuusei Shishi O Hakaisha!!!(Meteor Lion King Destroyer)!!!"
Megumi hovered in the air as the lingering blue flames were still on her body. The bloodlust was gone, Koutetsu's attack burned it out of her soul. As she was floating wondering how she lost she flashed back to the earlier days with Koutetsu, the torturous training she put him through, the days teasing him, the days comforting him when he was triggered, she remembered giving him a piggyback to his room. He was crying remembering Akane, Megumi nestled her face against his pretending to be Akane to comfort him, something she never had done before.
'Uh, why am I remembering this? This isn't that important right now, is it? That was a long time ago, I'm not that kind of person really, but still, it was nice wasn't it? A very nice dream to live in'
Her memory of her Grandmother popped again, the warmth of the cookies she made, and advice still lingering in her mind, it clicked in her head now what those words meant.
'Well Grandma, you win, I guess. Hehe, it was fun fighting him. I'm relieved actually, I didn't kill him. Maybe now, I can enjoy fighting for reals, what a pain this all was though.'
Megumi smiled looking up at the ceiling first before she looked down at Koutetsu as she was falling down. She remembered him looking like a kid again when he threw his first punch at her, and how much she enjoyed it.
'Good job, my little tiger cub, you really came a long way didn't you.'
Megumi finally fell to the ground, she was out cold, knocked out in the match. The arena was silent, a pin falling could have broken the quietness in it, nobody moved or made a sound. Koutetsu stood still for a moment, he was quiet too, his face finally broke making an expression after realizing he won. He threw his arms up in the air triumphantly shouting out loud for the whole arena to hear.
"YOWSAH!!!!!!"
The crowd got behind him breaking their silence at last. They cheered thunderously, the screams could be heard from outside the arena. The instructors, Ren, Ryuji, Hiro, Tatsuya, and Anna, all of them cheered and congratulated him on his victory greatly.
Natsume was crying in happiness, and Rina held Itsuki in celebration as both were sobbing in joy.
Koutetsu felt proud, he finally beat Megumi, and he surpassed his Master. Most importantly for him, he surpassed his doubts and negativity to himself. Koutetsu's eyes looked up to the ceiling, he was caught off guard, he saw his old self standing on the beams looking down at him, his old self smiled waving goodbye as its image disappeared. Koutetsu knew what it meant, his old life was letting him free to live now, symbolizing he wasn't his old self anymore. It was now time to let go and let be.
'Later, my old self, I think, I can finally stop blaming you for everything. I can finally feel free to live my life now. Rest well, you deserve it. So long old me, so long Hisagi Jun.'
Koutetsu said his old name, the name he discarded when he came to his world. He didn't hate it anymore or the old self, it was time he let Jun Hisagi be at peace and now accept he was truly Koutetsu Hayashi with no more regrets.