Chapter 9: Martial Arts Aptitude
Tap.
The sound of Mercenary Tao landing from the sky was as soft as a cat dropping to the ground.
That perfect conversion of extreme speed and power into a silent landing was unsettling. This was a martial artist who possessed absolute, flawless control over his own body.
"Toguro Hachidan told me my trial was complete. Why are you the only one here?" Mercenary Tao asked, his eyes closed and his long braid wrapped around his neck. He already knew the answer.
Kaito brought out the briefcases of money he had prepared and placed them on the ground. "The missions are all complete," he said with a smile. "This is the payment."
Kaito chose his words carefully. He knew that the true purpose of Tao's so-called trial was twofold.
First, to get paid. Mercenary Tao was an expert who was obsessed with money. As the world's number one assassin, his standard fee was 100 million per job, and he had a habit of saving his earnings. This was evident from the fact that after being nearly killed by Son Goku's grenade, he used his entire life savings to have himself rebuilt as a cyborg.
Second, to ensure that only one person completed the trial. He had deliberately stated that he would only teach the single individual who earned the most prize money. Only one. This meant that ultimately, there could only be one winner. It didn't matter how many missions the others completed.
Mercenary Tao loved worldly things like money and fame, but at the same time, he adhered to a certain set of rules. He wasn't a completely chaotic evil character.
Therefore, there were many ways to successfully complete his trial. It was even possible that if the original eight candidates had simply fought to the death right then and there, and the sole survivor had presented Tao with a large sum of money, he would have accepted them.
Both Kaito and the swordsman had understood this. It was why one chose to kill the client directly to seize the money, and the other killed his driver to return to the mountain and lie in wait.
Both were confident that as long as only one person returned to the summit, Mercenary Tao's conditions would be met.
Mercenary Tao opened his eyes, taking another look at the handsome, sharp-browed young man before him. He recalled that this one hadn't fought for an envelope on the first day. He had probably been planning to kill the others from the very beginning.
"Hmph. A promising seedling, indeed."
[Your actions have earned Mercenary Tao's appreciation. His impression of you has improved.]
[Current Standing: Friendly (15/100)]
Far from being displeased, Tao felt that Kaito's ruthlessness was a sign of true talent.
He clasped his hands behind his back and began to walk around the large, flat plaza on the mountaintop, which served as his personal dojo. He held similar "selection events" every year, not to find a real apprentice, but to bolster his own fame.
Tao paced back and forth, occasionally glancing at Kaito.
Kaito maintained his easy smile, but his eyes darted to the mission timer only he could see.
[Time until Squad #64323 enters this world: 81 hours, 30 minutes]
In a little over three days, the Reincarnator squad tasked with assassinating Mercenary Tao would arrive. Kaito was on a very tight schedule.
"Do you know what kung fu is?" Tao asked suddenly.
Kaito answered without hesitation. "It's the art of killing."
Tao nodded in satisfaction. He despised the hypocritical posturing of self-proclaimed martial arts masters. Even his own brother, Master Shen, was a fraud in his eyes—pretending to be a virtuous grandmaster while secretly wanting to use his strength to dominate others.
"Correct. Kung fu is for killing!" Tao declared. "And conversely, anything that can kill is, by its nature, kung fu."
He had his own unique and brutal understanding of the martial arts, a path he had forged for himself.
"The human body… is so fragile!"
"This hand… can kill."
Tao threw a casual punch at the empty air. A dull sonic boom echoed as the air itself seemed to ripple outwards in a shockwave. The force of it took Kaito's breath away and sent his hair flying.
"This foot… can also kill."
Tao stomped his foot.
BOOM!
The ground trembled violently. The spot where Kaito was standing suddenly buckled and erupted upwards, launching him into the air.
Caught by surprise, Kaito instantly tensed his muscles to adjust his center of gravity in mid-air. He then relaxed his knees, gently absorbing the momentum of the landing.
Tap. The sound was light, the posture remarkably similar to Tao's own landing earlier.
Tao's cold eyes watched him, then continued. "And this ki, my breath… it too can… kill!"
Tao took a short, sharp breath and then exhaled in a deafening shout aimed directly at Kaito.
"HA!"
In that instant, Kaito's entire body went rigid. A terrifying wave of ki exploded from Tao's mouth. While it was certainly not as deadly as his infamous Dodon Ray, Kaito felt as if he were being targeted by a modern firearm.
His muscles locked up. His heart sank into an infinite abyss. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, a searing, prickly pain that gave Kaito his first, crystal-clear taste of what it felt like to be on the verge of death.
Thump-thump! Thump-thump! Thump-thump!
His heart began to pound, rapidly and violently. Adrenaline flooded his system, pumped by his heart to every corner of his body. Kaito's skin began to flush red as it became engorged with blood, and his eyes started to turn white.
In that same moment, his brain wasn't processing pointless questions like What is Tao doing? or Why is he trying to kill me after I completed the trial?
Instead, everything in Kaito's vision seemed to slow to a crawl. The sight of Tao's open mouth, the golden ki gathering within it—it all unfolded in a state of suspended time.
Kaito's whitening pupils trembled as the images of Tao's earlier movements replayed in his mind: the casual punch, the powerful stomp.
Without a doubt, from a primal perspective, the martial arts were born as a method for killing. They were simply the art of pushing the inherent capabilities of the human body to their absolute limit.
When speed and power are maximized, even the simplest movements possess the most terrifying destructive force. The various stances and forms that martial artists practiced were just methods to better unleash that power.
Under this immense, life-threatening pressure, the memory of Tao raising and stomping his foot played in Kaito's mind in slow motion. At the same time, his own right foot lifted high into the air, and then slammed down.
CRACK!
The ground beneath Kaito's foot shattered, sending rock and debris flying.
At that exact moment, the ki from Tao's mouth erupted.
Fzzt!
With a sharp hiss, a beam of golden energy shot past him, piercing a deep hole in the ground where he had been standing.
"Hah… hah…"
Kaito gasped for breath, his muscles still twitching and spasming.
[You have completed Special Trial - Mission 1: Mercenary Tao's Trial.]
[You have obtained the special proficiency: Martial Arts Aptitude Lv1.]
[Martial Arts Aptitude Lv1: Your control over your muscles is greatly enhanced. You can now generate force through incredible movements and perceive the traces of ki.]
Mercenary Tao stood his ground, slowly relaxing his stance. He had only meant to demonstrate the application of ki, but he hadn't expected this kid to be so gifted. Not only did he possess some special ability to unlock his body's potential, but he could also imitate a technique's force generation after seeing it only once.
"Hmph. You have some talent after all. Very well. I will accept you as my student and teach you a thing or two!"