Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"H-how do you know that?"

After watching my entire opening ceremony...

Na Gak reacted exactly as expected.

Instead of answering...

I lifted my chin slightly toward him.

My meaning was simple.

Don't you have something to show me first?

Na Gak hesitated.

Then...

Step. Step. Step.

He began circling his clenched fists.

Then he performed a similar opening sequence.

Oh.

That's the proper one.

This ceremony was called Wai Kru.

It was both a ritual and a kind of warm-up.

So the people calling it a starting salute weren't entirely wrong.

Muay Boran.

Muay Thai.

Training.

Sparring.

Matches.

Traditionally, all of them began with Wai Kru.

Apparently, it had even been practiced before warriors went to war.

The ceremony expressed respect toward teachers and ancestors.

Respect toward the opponent.

And a prayer.

The funny part was what they prayed for.

It wasn't necessarily a prayer for victory.

It could be a prayer for the opponent's peaceful journey into the next life.

A very respectful...

Traditional...

Death notice.

It resembled the Central Plains' martial salute.

But the meaning was slightly different.

Step. Step. Step.

Northern style.

Wai Kru also contained a surprising amount of information.

Different schools used different movements.

And those movements reflected the characteristics of their lineage.

Yes.

Muay Boran had schools too.

Different regions had different specialties, techniques, and strengths.

Watching Na Gak...

I could tell fairly easily that his Muay Boran came from a northern lineage.

He probably noticed the same thing from mine.

The Wai Kru I performed...

Was also from a northern style.

In other words...

From his perspective...

We had learned the same martial art.

"...Now answer me."

Na Gak finished his ceremony.

Then stared straight at me.

"What are you?"

"How does the Third Young Master know the Nine Divine Hands?"

Had he forgotten how many people were watching?

I glanced around.

As expected...

Many eyes were fixed on us.

"This isn't the place to talk about that, is it?"

"Did you... steal it?"

"You probably have a lot of questions."

"But even if you ask a hundred times, I'm not answering here."

"..."

There were too many people watching.

I was trying to tell him that indirectly.

But Na Gak didn't seem to understand.

Actually...

That might be better.

If we were already here...

I might as well properly test him.

"Come at me seriously."

I smiled slightly.

"If you beat me, I'll tell you everything you want to know."

Na Gak's eyes sharpened.

"Then..."

"It seems I'll hear the answer soon."

Clench.

He was ready to show everything he had.

Good.

If his skill was useful...

I'd take him.

Familiar appearance or familiar martial art meant nothing if he was weak.

I also took a stance.

Similar to his...

But slightly different.

This fight would be different from my previous matches.

I wasn't planning to use anything else.

I would face him only with the Nine Divine Hands.

Muay Boran.

I gestured for him to come first.

Na Gak's eyes changed.

Then he charged.

Tap-tap-tap!

WHOOSH!

His first attack was serious.

Na Gak kicked off the ground and launched himself into the air.

His knee flew directly toward my face.

A modern fighter would call it a flying knee.

I moved sideways and avoided it without much difficulty.

Blocking would've been possible too.

But I had to remember who I was fighting.

A Muay Boran practitioner.

If I blocked an airborne attack carelessly...

He could climb up my body like a snake and drive an elbow into the top of my skull.

Because I knew that...

I refused to engage him directly.

I slipped to the side.

Distance opened again.

Tension stretched between us.

I'd avoided his first attack...

One of his stronger moves.

Now it was even more obvious that I knew his martial art.

At times like this...

The simplest solution was a direct approach.

Na Gak apparently thought the same.

He raised his guard.

Then calmly walked toward me.

The Nine Divine Hands was fundamentally a martial art about breaking and destroying.

So naturally...

He opened with one of its most efficient attacks.

Once he reached the proper distance...

His leg swung low.

In the modern world...

It was simply called a low kick.

One of Muay Thai's most famous attacks.

I'd already read the movement.

I lifted my leg...

Turned my knee outward...

And checked the kick.

CRACK!

Our shins smashed together.

Everyone watching winced.

They could almost feel the pain themselves.

Neither Na Gak nor I showed any reaction.

That was the Nine Divine Hands.

When you practiced a martial art meant to break other people...

You naturally became familiar with pain.

Both of us were already used to this much.

So we continued fighting at close range as though nothing had happened.

Whoosh!

Tak!

Whoosh!

Tak!

To Central Plains martial artists...

Our fight probably looked bizarre.

Their martial arts often valued creating distance and remaining ready to retreat.

Na Gak and I did the opposite.

We planted our feet and exchanged attacks at close range.

After the low kick brought us closer...

Na Gak lifted an elbow and chopped toward my head like an axe.

I stepped diagonally backward.

The elbow barely missed.

Then I rotated halfway...

And returned an elbow of my own.

A spinning elbow counter.

One of the best answers to someone charging into range.

Against an average opponent...

That would've produced the wonderful sound of a skull cracking across the Dark Demon Well.

But...

Tak!

Na Gak was different.

Instead of a skull-breaking crack...

There was only the sound of something like an apple being struck.

He had already withdrawn his attacking elbow and used it to block mine.

We remained close.

Several more brutal exchanges followed.

Now...

Neither of us even tried to retreat.

We blocked attacks directly...

Then returned equally heavy strikes toward each other's bodies.

The people watching grimaced as though they were the ones being hit.

After several more exchanges...

I finally kicked his upper body and created some distance.

This should be enough...

I had seen most of his fundamentals.

My evaluation?

Not bad.

Actually...

Pretty good.

His kicking angles were clean.

The timing was good.

His movements were proper.

His elbows were especially interesting.

They were different from what I'd learned...

Yet similar enough to clearly share the same roots.

There were weaknesses too.

Compared to modern fighting...

His punches were crude.

There wasn't enough variation.

But overall...

His fundamentals passed.

Now came the advanced test.

Since we'd already created distance...

I decided to keep it and see what else he could show me.

What other techniques did he know?

Unable to hide my interest...

I threw several kicks to prevent him from approaching.

Now that there was distance between us...

The number of things he could do was naturally limited.

Until a moment ago...

We had been standing in place trading brutal blows.

Now...

We began controlling distance with our legs.

That kind of versatility was also part of the Nine Divine Hands.

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

"What are those two doing?"

"They're just kicking empty air."

"What happened to that brutal close-range fight?"

"Exactly. That martial art changes constantly."

"But isn't the Third Young Master using the Nine Divine Hands too?"

"So I wasn't imagining it?"

"They say the Demon Scripture Pavilion contains countless martial arts manuals. Since he's the Third Young Master, maybe he had access."

"So he learned the Nine Divine Hands there?"

"Hah. Must be nice being born with sacred blood."

Once the tension eased slightly...

The spectators finally began talking.

It was only a matter of time before people realized I knew the Nine Divine Hands.

Muay Thai techniques were already mixed into Krav Maga anyway.

Showing some of it here was actually convenient.

They were even creating an excuse for me themselves.

I could use the Nine Divine Hands without worrying now.

Whoosh!

After our feet continued slicing through empty air...

Na Gak seemed to become impatient.

He paused at a distance.

Thought for a moment.

He's coming.

A bigger technique was next.

What would he show me?

My expectations rose.

Then...

Na Gak moved.

He threw one light punch to measure distance.

Then...

Just like earlier...

He launched a large, exaggerated kick toward my face from farther away.

His body almost left the ground.

Whoosh!

I leaned backward.

The kick barely passed my face.

Na Gak's foot sliced through the air and landed heavily.

Then...

Spin!

As my upper body began rising again...

The foot that had just landed became his pivot.

He had closed the distance.

Now I was inside his effective range.

He rotated and swung his rear leg toward me.

A Muay Thai-style spinning roundhouse.

That was what we'd called the technique in the modern world.

In Central Plains terminology...

The first kick had been a feint.

This second attack was the real technique.

His weight was fully committed.

Rotation increased the power further.

The impact would be enormous.

Blocking it was impossible.

If I tried...

My bones might not survive.

That was the nature of the Nine Divine Hands.

If a shield stood in the way...

Break the shield too.

That was one of its fundamental ideas.

This spinning kick represented that philosophy perfectly.

Get hit...

And you could die.

Block it badly...

And you could still die.

So there was only one answer.

Avoid it.

Unfortunately...

My options were limited.

I'd already leaned backward to evade the first kick.

Trying to lean again would be difficult.

There was only one realistic answer.

Backstep.

BANG!

I pushed hard against the ground with my front foot.

My body shot backward.

The spinning kick passed by a tiny margin.

The sound of it cutting through the air alone made my skin crawl.

Now.

Here comes the next one.

Even though I'd avoided it...

I didn't relax.

I knew this martial art.

This shouldn't be the end.

That was always the point.

You reduced the opponent's choices...

Until you forced them to give the answer you wanted.

I already knew why that spinning kick had forced me backward.

Because of the technique that should follow.

If I were in Na Gak's position...

I knew exactly what I would use next.

I prepared to counter it.

Come.

I gritted my teeth and waited.

"..."

"...?"

"...?"

Nothing happened.

I tilted my head.

By now...

I should've heard another violent whoosh and crack.

Instead...

Na Gak simply began measuring distance again.

"That's it...?"

"What?"

"You don't have anything after that?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Huh."

That was the first conversation we'd had since the exchange began.

And it completely drained the tension.

Only then did I understand.

This guy...

Hadn't learned the complete Nine Divine Hands.

So that was it.

If the descendants of such a famous martial artist had failed to produce great warriors for generations...

There had to be a reason.

Either the martial art's lineage had been broken...

Or perhaps the original master himself had simply been extraordinary.

This looked like the former.

Still...

I wanted Na Gak.

Among everyone I'd personally fought since entering the Dark Demon Well...

He was the best.

Including the people I'd only watched...

He and Ma Hapji were easily near the top.

His Nine Divine Hands might be incomplete.

But if I combined what he knew with what I knew...

Maybe we could create something new.

I understood that the Muay Boran I'd learned in the modern world wasn't exactly identical to the Nine Divine Hands of this era.

Still...

Their roots were similar.

That similarity could become a clue.

Then my conclusion was simple.

I'm recruiting Na Gak.

"No. Never mind."

"This time, I'll come to you."

"...Come."

The distance between us made things convenient.

I gave him a brief warning.

Then chose the same sequence he'd just used.

I rushed forward.

From slightly too far away...

I threw the same exaggerated kick.

Whoosh!

Naturally...

It was a feint.

Exactly like Na Gak's.

Then...

Just like him...

I planted the kicking foot and turned it into my pivot.

My rear leg spun toward him.

Na Gak reacted exactly as I had.

He leaned back once...

Then retreated to avoid the spinning kick.

BANG!

Up to that point...

Everything was identical.

But...

Tap!

WHAM!

The ending was different.

Na Gak had successfully retreated from the spinning kick.

The moment he relaxed...

His body suddenly lifted into the air.

His chin snapped backward.

Even with half his consciousness already disappearing...

His eyes contained countless emotions.

The strongest was confusion.

What was that?

The answer was simple.

My attack hadn't ended with the spinning kick.

The instant my kicking leg landed...

I used that leg as another pivot.

Then I launched myself forward using the remaining momentum.

And delivered two rising fists.

From the abdomen upward.

Two fists carrying one layer of momentum...

Then another.

That was the true ending of the sequence.

It was also one of the techniques associated with the reason Muay Boran eventually transformed into the safer sport of Muay Thai.

A technique like this had killed someone during a royal competition.

Fortunately for Na Gak...

I had deliberately removed much of the power.

BOOM!

"Ghh...!"

Even weakened...

The impact was still enormous.

Na Gak fell hard.

Pain.

Confusion.

Shock.

Everything appeared in his eyes.

If this had been another match...

I would've immediately mounted him and finished things with ground-and-pound.

But not this time.

I wanted Na Gak to remain in good condition.

He was a piece of jade I wanted to take with me.

I needed to handle him carefully.

If he remained healthy...

He could win his remaining matches.

And climb higher.

I approached him.

Moved behind him.

Then wrapped one arm around his neck.

I leaned close to his ear.

"You're only going to lose consciousness for a little while."

"If you want answers, survive until the end and prove you're qualified to hear them."

"Then I'll tell you everything."

I tightened my arm.

Na Gak's resistance weakened.

His head dropped heavily.

And he went to sleep.