DING! DING! DING!
The bell's sharp echo cut through the sudden, anticipatory hush that had fallen over the arena, signaling the official start of the Floor Master Challenge. Across the vast, brightly lit fighting platform, Valerius Thorne settled into his stance, feet planted wide and firm, radiating an aura of absolute immovability. His Ken flared, an almost invisible shroud of immense pressure enveloping him, dense and stable as bedrock, a palpable barrier that seemed to absorb the very air around him. I mirrored him instantly, letting my own well-practiced Ken envelop me, feeling the familiar hum of contained aura covering my body, light and ready on my feet, prepared to move.
Valerius didn't rush forward, didn't immediately unleash the full force I knew he possessed. He tested me first – a jab, deceptively fast for a man his size, a whip-crack motion powered by high-level Enhancement, aimed directly at my head. My reflexes, passively amplified by Inner Peace to process and react faster than normal human capability, responded before conscious thought could fully form – my head slipping fractionally offline, a hair's breadth evasion, the blow whistling past my ear, carrying a weight of force I could feel disturb the air nearby. I didn't counter-attack, simply circled left, probing his guard with a quick, complex sequence incorporating both hands and feet – a low feint to draw his attention, a rapid jab aimed at his face, followed immediately by a side kick towards his ribs. Valerius moved with an unnerving economy of motion, his forearms snapping into place to intercept the jab, his torso twisting slightly to absorb the kick, his body a wall of defense. Blocking felt like hitting solid granite reinforced with steel; the impacts barely registered on him, but the sheer solidity, the heavy, unyielding weight of his Nen behind the blocks, resonated up my arm and through my leg, a jarring force.
"His Ken is incredibly solid," I confirmed internally, disengaging smoothly, circling wider. "Feels like high-level Enhancement, honed into pure defense built over years of combat. Direct physical exchanges, trying to break through that guard with pure force... that's definitely out unless I change something fundamentally."
He pressed forward slightly, perhaps sensing my assessment, his expression unchanging, a mask of calm confidence. He threw a powerful right straight, a piston-like strike aimed at my center mass, following it with a low sweep kick. Instead of simply dodging again, I met the straight with a Ken-reinforced block, using Ryu to momentarily concentrate additional defensive aura in my forearm. The impact was jarring, a shockwave traveling through my stance, forcing me back half a step despite my reinforced guard. As his sweep kick came, I leaped over it, landing lightly. The force was immense, even partially absorbed or evaded.
"Clean block, but effective pressure!" the referee called out nearby, his voice amplified. "One point, Thorne!"
Right. Can't just block passively either, I acknowledged internally. My reflexes allowed for evasion, yes, but his sheer power meant even blocked hits carried significant force, enough to score points. I shifted tactics, relying purely on speed, agility, and unpredictable movement, using my natural quickness enhanced by Inner Peace. I became a flickering shadow around his solid, grounded defense, launching quick, stinging jabs, hooks, and kicks – axe kicks aimed at his shoulders, rapid leg sweeps, deceptive push kicks – from unpredictable angles, not necessarily meant to land with knockout power, but to force him to constantly adjust his guard, testing his Ryu flow, looking for cracks. I used Gyo intermittently, my eyes scanning his aura, confirming the smooth, powerful shifts in his defense, the seamless redistribution of his aura, looking for any momentary lapse, any hint of Hatsu preparation beyond his Ken. He remained impeccable, a true fortress of Nen, his defense giving absolutely nothing away.
"Your reputation as 'The Aegis' is well-earned, Thorne-san!" I called out across the ring, dancing just out of his reach after a particularly fast combination of strikes he'd calmly deflected or absorbed, the sound of my voice amplified. "That defense feels impenetrable! Pure Enhancement mastery, I presume?"
Valerius merely grunted in response, his eyes, sharp and calculating, never leaving me, tracking my every movement. "Mastery comes from perfecting the basics, boy," he replied, his voice even, calm, and amplified, resonating with the depth of his power. "Something you seem to understand, given your speed and control."
"Indeed," I agreed, offering a brief, unreadable smile. I feinted left, then darted sharply right, creating a fraction of distance, just enough space and time. "But basics alone aren't always enough, even when perfected. Sometimes adaptation is key, fundamentally changing your very nature to fit the challenge!" I took a deep breath, focusing inward, reaching for the core of Retroversion, the familiar internal shift beginning. As I spoke the final words, my voice clear and amplified through the arena's system, the internal transformation clicked into place, accelerating violently via the verbal trigger, "Like realizing that maybe, just maybe… I'm a Transmuter!"
Instantly, the profound internal shift of Retroversion solidified. My aura's fundamental quality changed, the energy flowing through me feeling sharper, more volatile, more malleable beneath the steady shield of my Ken. My outward appearance was unchanged to the naked eye, but the Nen engine driving me was now fundamentally different, shifted from the rooted power of Manipulation to the flexible nature of Transmutation, granting me new efficiencies.
I exploded forward. My raw speed was the same as before, but now, accessing Enhancement at my new 80% efficiency in the Transmuter state, my physical strikes carried significantly more impact, more penetrating force behind them. I unleashed a rapid flurry – jabs, hooks, body shots, combining speed with this amplified power, interspersed with quick leg kicks and knee strikes – aimed at overwhelming his defenses through sheer volume and increased force per strike. Valerius's eyes widened almost imperceptibly as my blows landed with noticeably more force than before, no longer feeling quite like hitting pure granite. He was forced to actively use Ryu to quickly reinforce multiple blocking points simultaneously to absorb the impacts. A crisp jab snapped his head back slightly; a hook dug into his guarded ribs with solid impact, making him grunt audibly, the sound carrying across the arena.
"Clean hit! One point, Kobayashi!" the referee shouted. Then, after a quick flurry landed, "Clean combination! Two points, Kobayashi!" My score climbed to 3-1.
Valerius weathered the storm, his defense holding firm despite the increased pressure, clearly surprised by the sudden shift in the nature of my attacks. He adjusted his stance, his feet deepening their root into the platform, his Ken flaring slightly stronger, denser, adapting to the change. "Adaptable," he stated, his voice tight with focus, his eyes narrowed. "Good. But true defense… is absolute!" His aura surged dramatically, no longer just a passive shroud. To my Gyo-enhanced sight, it wasn't merely strengthening or shifting; it was intensely condensing, flowing around his body like liquid metal, hardening, solidifying. As he channeled his energy, his aura visibly took shape around him, looking to my Nen-attuned eyes like a shimmering, transparent medieval armor, form-fitting and incredibly dense, radiating immense resilience. This was his Hatsu, a combination of Transmutation, to give his aura the properties of incredibly hard, dense armor, and Enhancement, to dramatically boost its durability and power. "Let's see if you can handle my Knight's Shining Armor!" he declared, his voice booming with renewed power and confidence as his Hatsu solidified around him. To the cheering crowd, nothing likely changed visually, he just seemed to stand there, a picture of calm power. But to my Nen senses, Valerius was now encased in form-fitting, near-invisible armor of pure, incredibly tough aura.
He abandoned his purely defensive posture entirely, becoming an offensive force. He charged forward like an unstoppable juggernaut, his movements still economical but filled with terrifying momentum and crushing density. His punches weren't just strong anymore; they carried the crushing weight and reinforced density of his Hatsu-reinforced mass. His kicks felt like solid steel beams swinging towards me. I danced back, evading the initial onslaught, the wind from his blows buffeting me, each near miss carrying the threat of bone-shattering impact. A straight right forced me into a Ken-augmented block – the impact was tremendous, a heavy, unyielding force that sent painful vibrations through my bones despite my defense, forcing me back several steps.
"Clean hit! One point, Thorne!" the referee called as I absorbed the blow and retreated. Score 3-2 Kess.
I tried a low roundhouse kick aimed at his leg, hoping to disrupt his base, leveraging my 80% Enhancement efficiency in this state. It connected solidly with the aura armor covering his leg and felt precisely like kicking solid steel – my foot recoiled, aching slightly from the impact, while Valerius didn't even flinch, his defense utterly negating my attack's force.
"Direct force is useless," I realized immediately, narrowly evading another punch that cratered the ring floor where I'd been standing just moments before. "I can't break this armor head-on... but maybe I don't need to. If I can bypass it... Vibrations..." Still in my Transmuter state, focusing on the malleability of my aura, I shifted its property again, recalling my earlier experiments. As Valerius lunged forward for another crushing blow, I didn't meet force with force. Instead, I channeled aura to my palm, transmuting it into focused, high-frequency vibrations – my own developing Transmutation Hatsu, "Resonance." I slipped under his extended arm and landed a sharp, open-palm strike squarely on his armored chest.
The physical impact against the dense aura armor was negligible, a dull thud that seemed to confirm his armor's invulnerability to the crowd. "Tickles, boy!" Valerius sneered, winding up for another massive blow, his confidence unwavering.
But then his breath hitched. His eyes widened slightly in confusion, the sneer faltering, as the focused vibrations bypassed the external armor, resonating deep through his body, directly impacting his internal systems. He faltered, clutching his chest momentarily, a flicker of pain crossing his face.
"It works!" I thought, a surge of confirmation.
Seeing his reaction, the momentary break in his ironclad composure, I pressed the attack relentlessly. Using my speed and agility, I became a whirlwind around him, my movements a blur of motion, landing quick, precise Resonance strikes from every angle – finger jabs aimed at armored joints, palm heels to the torso, knuckle strikes near vital points. Each strike landed with that same dull thud, seemingly harmless to the crowd, but each sent focused, disruptive vibrations deep inside Valerius. He grunted, stumbled, his movements becoming less coordinated, less precise. He tried blocking my strikes with his armored arms, but the vibrations traveled straight through his defenses, jarring his bones, disrupting his concentration, the internal assault bypassing the external shield.
"Effective attack! Two points, Kobayashi!" The referee called out as Valerius visibly winced after a strike to his side. "Clean hit! One point, Kobayashi!" Score 6-2 Kess.
Valerius roared in frustration, clearly suffering internally, his movements growing sluggish, his aura armor perhaps flickering slightly under the strain of maintaining it while enduring the internal assault. He gathered himself for one last, desperate charge, channeling immense power into a haymaker, abandoning all pretense of technique, relying purely on the raw force he could muster, his aura armor momentarily surging in density before flickering under the internal pressure from my Resonance strikes.
I saw it coming, clear as day. The desperation made him predictable, his movements telegraphing the wild swing. I flowed effortlessly around the wide arc of his lunge, stepped inside his extended reach, and channeled everything into one final, decisive Resonance strike, driving my vibrating palm into the temple area of his aura armor.
A deep, resonant THUMMM echoed faintly through the arena, a sound felt more than heard, a frequency that seemed to shake the very air around us and rattle within Valerius's skull. Valerius froze mid-motion, his punch halting inches from my face. His eyes went wide with shock and agony, his mouth opened in a silent gasp as the full force of the concentrated vibrations hit his core control point. The intricate Nen armor dissolved instantly, snapping out of existence as his control shattered under the internal assault. He crumpled to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut, unconscious before he even fully landed.
Silence stunned the arena for a single, pregnant heartbeat. Then, the referee rushed in, checked the unconscious form of Valerius Thorne, confirming the knockout, then turned and decisively grabbed my arm, raising it high into the air.
"Winner by knockout, Kess Kobayashi!" his voice boomed, amplified throughout the massive space, cutting through the lingering silence. "He becomes the new Floor Master for the 240th floor!"
The silence broke into an absolute explosion of sound – a deafening wave of cheers, shouts, bewildered noise, and excited chatter. The crowd had seen a smaller, seemingly less powerful challenger weather an apparently unstoppable assault from a legendary defender and win with precise, seemingly light touches that had a devastating, delayed effect. They hadn't seen the intricacies of Nen, the bypassing vibrations, but they saw the result – the mountain falling to the touch of a child – and they loved it.
I stood in the center of the ring, breathing evenly, my heart rate calming, lowering my arm, feeling the last echoes of Resonance fade from my palm. Floor Master. The title felt strange, unexpected, ultimately inconsequential to my true goals. It wasn't about racking up wins; I was seeking the crucible of real combat against Nen users, a chance to see if I was truly ready and to understand what my Hatsu could really do. But here I was. I gave a brief, respectful bow towards Valerius as the medical staff carefully attended to him, lifting him onto a stretcher.
"Floor Master. Achieved." I thought, the adrenaline finally receding, leaving behind a quiet sense of satisfaction. "Valuable experience gained against a true master of Nen and his Hatsu. This phase of my training... testing the basics and my core Hatsu against varying levels of Nen users... it's complete." I looked around the roaring arena, the thousands of faces a blur of excitement, the spotlights hot on my skin. "Time to leave Heavens Arena. What's next...?" The possibilities stretched out before me, open and unknown, waiting to be explored.