“Ya already did that one on me, remember?” Nazuna informed him, easily bounding out of the way of his leg. “Ya think ya could pull that same trick again?”
Goh sneered knowingly. “That was the plan, short stuff. I knew ya’d be stupid enough to dodge in that direction!”
“Wha?” Nazuna had indeed managed to evade the ankle drop, but in doing so, she had put herself well within Goh’s reach. Or more accurately, the two were now too close for any normal kick, punch, or elbow jab to land squarely, but there was one attack Goh knew would work with deadly precision at this distance: the “one-inch punch.” A seasoned practitioner only needed three centimeters of space in order to pull off the move, but since he was close enough to actually touch Nazuna, he decided this was his chance to execute a zero-inch punch instead.
The move was strikingly similar to the fa jin Goh had used on the Nazuna clones, and a point-blank zero-inch punch to the skull by someone with Goh’s strength would normally kill the recipient instantly. But in the previous go-round, one of the Nazunas had been able to stand up again relatively unharmed even after taking a similar blow to the head, likely coming around after instinctively shifting the point of impact to mollify the hit’s concussive force. To avoid a repeat of that, Goh decided to modify this particular zero-inch punch in a way that would make sure Nazuna went down and stayed down. He placed both fists against her abdomen and took a sharp ibuki breath.
“This should shred your organs and make you vomit blood, you freak!” Goh yelled. “One! Two!”
Goh delivered two zero-inch punches in quick succession to Nazuna’s midsection, using all of his skills and training, and concentrating the entirety of his superpowers into the blows. The first punch was designed to ricochet through the body and bounce back, while the shock wave from the second was intended to collide with the force from the initial blow and trigger an explosion of destructive energy that would leave the innards in shreds. An ordinary opponent subjected to this double punch wouldn’t have a single functioning organ left by the end of it, and regardless of their level and the kind of armor they were wearing, they would die on the spot. Unfortunately for Goh, however, the opponent he was facing wasn’t ordinary.
At the exact same time that Goh unleashed his one-two zero-inch punches, Nazuna delivered a punch to her own body, the loud clang of the armor resounding around the blighted forest. The idea behind this counterintuitive move wasn’t Nazuna trying to hurt herself, but an attempt to nullify the effects of the double hit, and thanks to her quick-thinking, she sustained zero damage from Goh’s attack.
Nazuna raised her fist in anger at her opponent. “Hey, buster! Don’t go doin’ weird stuff to my body, y’hear?”
While a confused Goh was still trying to work out what had just transpired, Nazuna clobbered him, utilizing the fa jin technique to add some extra power to her punch, having picked it up after being on the receiving end of it. While Goh did manage to put his guard up in the nick of time, it didn’t seem to matter much, and he ended up being hurled backward while sustaining damage to his internal organs. But it was Goh’s pride that was completely obliterated.
Dammit, dammit, dammit! Goh seethed as he lay battered and broken on the ground. That girl don’t even know how to say ‘fa jin,’ yet she figured out how to cancel my combo by punchin’ herself?! I knew I was bound to lose this matchup, but I never thought I’d get totally flattened.
He didn’t even have the strength to wipe away the blood that was dribbling from the corner of his mouth. All he could do was glare bitterly at Nazuna. Shitbags! Now I know how all those scrubs felt when I stomped their asses into the dirt. They gave me the evil eye just like I’m doin’ to this lousy, shit-eating midget now! Damn her! She thinks she’s so hot!
Grinding his back teeth, Goh cursed the fact that he was being made to feel the same level of humiliation as all those bandits and bullies that he’d lured to their summary executions over the years. This time, it was a young, innocent-looking maiden who held Goh’s life in her hands, and he hadn’t felt this desperate since C—
“Kindred Maker! Defeat this girl at once!”
“Sword Fish fighters! I summon you!”
“Where’d you guys come from?!” Goh yelled.
The first interloper on the scene was Hisomi, an average-looking man who had the bearing of a shady merchant with a permanent squint. The second was Requin, who had a massive frame and a completely bald head without a single strand of hair anywhere on it, not even eyebrows. The two Dragonute Empire Masters had arrived just in time to rescue Goh, as if this was an extraction operation they had planned long in advance.
Hisomi used his Gift, the Kindred Maker, to transform three felled trees into Treants, and the half-tree, half-humanoid monsters roared, spiky fangs jutting from mouths that opened at their trunks, before descending on Nazuna.
Requin’s Gift summoned three Sword Fish, marine monsters resembling sharks with sharp harpoons extending from their noses that were able to fly through the air. They also had Nazuna in their sights, and coordinated with the Treants, so that when the tree monsters lashed out at her with their massive branches, the Sword Fish used them as protective shields to launch surprise attacks.
Nazuna let out a startled gasp at the sudden appearance of the Treants and the Sword Fish, but she quickly recovered and used her fists of fury to defend herself against the incoming creatures. Every time her fist connected, a Treant would snap apart like twigs or a Sword Fish would practically explode into a mess of bloody entrails, and all in all, it took Nazuna less than ten seconds to eliminate all of them. But Hisomi and Requin were aware of Nazuna’s fighting prowess, since they had just witnessed the pounding Goh had taken in his battle with her, so they had already mobilized some reliable backup. In truth, the Treants and Sword Fish had merely been to distract Nazuna’s attention away from her real opponent: Hei. The Master clad in all black drew his katana—which was also raven-colored—and swung it at Nazuna when her back was turned, aiming to decapitate her.