Shakion continues forward in a series of lunges with his gauntlet with an arrowhead blade on top, Shakion splits each piece of wood as he slowly approaches the man.
But suddenly there is a noise from above and it turns out to be pieces of wood in the shape of stakes falling from the sky. Shakion slows down and then starts to dodge all the stakes, but some of them hit him in the legs and arms.
Shakion, still standing, removes the stakes that pierced his body and then gets into a fighting stance, waiting for the man's next move. The man draws blood from his finger and puts it on a tree, which then spreads its branches.
The wood extends so far that it reaches Shakion, who barely dodges it. Shakion runs towards the man and quickly stands in front of him, but two spiral-shaped pieces of wood emerge from the ground beneath the man.
Shakion covers himself with his gauntlet and flies upward from the impact of the attack. Shakion clings to a part of the wood that has extended so far and then stands on top of it, using it as a platform.
"Come to think of it, I realize now that he is of cosmic liberation from branch control," thought Shakion, breathing a little.
"His principle would be the normal, obvious, imaginative one. I didn't see anything special in his ability, so I rule that out," Shakion thought.
"But that means he only controls the growth of trees with his blood and wood," Shakion thought.
"Which must also mean he has some tree seeds in his pocket," Shakion thought.
The man stands in front of the same branch of the trunk that Shakion uses as a platform. Shakion watches him strangely but sees how the man puts his blood on the branch of the wood.
"Wait, now that I think about it! When trees are cut down, they make trunks," thought Shakion.
"I'm not confused, I mean the trunk is the wood and they only cut the bottom part and then remove the leaves and the top part to leave only the trunk," thought Shakion.
"Wait, if I remember correctly, they also remove the branches from the trees, the branches that can also grow," thought Shakion.
"On the trunks, each branch extends in a different direction when they grow!" thought Shakion.
From the platform Shakion was using, spiral-shaped branches emerged from below, almost piercing his body, and Shakion moved away and used that branch to propel himself away from that spot.
Shakion reaches the other wooden branch and climbs onto it, using another wooden branch as a platform. The man draws more blood from his hand and puts it on the tree, and then many roots from the branches extend and become very thin, like vines.
They try to catch Shakion, but fail because Shakion moves out of the way. Shakion runs to keep his distance and descends too quickly from the branch he is using as a platform.
He runs as if he were falling too fast, but the man puts some blood on that branch and the branch takes shape and creates obstacles for Shakion. There are many of them and he has to dodge them with great precision.
"Damn, just what I needed," thought Shakion, dodging everything.
"But now that I think about it," thought Shakion, finishing dodging everything and reaching the ground.
"I never told those girls to leave the building," thought Shakion.
"God, the boss is going to kill me!" thought Shakion.
Shakion dodges a few stakes thrown at him by the guy, then Shakion gets ready and climbs back up to the big branch and goes after the guy who is spitting blood on the branch, which begins to spread its roots.
"That guy is an idiot, or he's pretending to be," thought the man.
"He thinks I'm an idiot, or I'm pretending to be one," thought Shakion.
Shakion dodged several sharp points of spiral-shaped wooden branches, then got into position and destroyed some of them with his forearm gauntlet with the arrow-shaped blade above the gauntlet.
Then Shakion is hit by some roots and pierced by others in the body, then the man approaches Shakion, who is trapped by the roots that served as vines.
"Well, you give up," said the man, approaching Shakion.
"Do you hear that?" said Shakion.
"Hear what?" asked the man standing in front of Shakion.
"The music," Shakion replied.
"The what? Music?" asked the man.
"The music you can hear!" Shakion shouted.
"It's calling me!" Shakion shouted, freeing himself from the vines.
"What the hell," said the man.
Shakion quickly kicks the man, sending him flying backwards, and the man manages to stop himself, spilling his blood on the branch, which begins to spread and then forms a large, sharp, spiral-shaped point.
The man gathers all the branches into a giant shape, and the tip can be seen to be very sharp and begins to spin rapidly like a whirlpool due to its spiral shape. Shakion prepares to counter it, then gets into position and advances quickly.
The two attacks collide: the sharp branch of the man and Shakion's arrow-shaped gauntlet with a blade on top, which uses more of his blood's power to enhance his weapon.
Shakion tries harder, and veins begin to appear on his arms due to the excess physical force used. Shakion does not give up and uses more blood to evolve his weapon.
This time, the arrow takes on a more pointed shape at the front and sharper sides, while the gauntlet takes on a more golden shape on the sides. Shakion advances further and the branch cracks even more.
Shakion pushes forward with all his might and the branch breaks into several pieces, but the further Shakion advances, the more difficult it is to break through the entire branch. However, Shakion tries even harder and breaks it completely, reducing it to splinters.
Shakion manages to reach the last part and the branch is completely destroyed. The moment Shakion finishes the journey, he reaches the man and pierces his abdomen completely with his arm and gauntlet with an arrow blade.
"Damn, it seems my pride has condemned me, hasn't it?" said the man, laughing a little.
"Next time you should be more careful, man," said Shakion, his arm piercing the man's abdomen.
"Hmph... I admit you're right," said the man, spitting blood.
"Humans live to survive and evolve in extreme situations," said Shakion.
"But men are responsible for evolving through these extreme situations," said Shakion.
"In order to become a strong predator, only men understand those feelings in a fight when fighting another man," said Shakion.
"We all understand the feelings that are conveyed in a battle because it involves your anger, pride, and ego," said Shakion.
"Anyone who doesn't have any of these feelings has no existence. Someone who has no purpose would only die quickly," said Shakion, pulling his arm out of the man's abdomen.
"Yes, I understand that too," said the man, falling to the ground and losing consciousness until his body stopped breathing.
"I hope this serves as a lesson," thought Shakion, walking away from the man's lifeless body.
All the wood breaks because it was used by the man's ability, and since he is no longer alive, all those branches crack until they are destroyed. Shakion walks away while behind him every piece of those branches breaks until there is nothing left.
Elsewhere in the city, on the streets, several sounds of blades clashing could be heard. It was Mogi and that man, both of whom were visibly badly injured, but they continued to fight.
Rebecca, who was still watching the fight, was tense about who would win. Just as Rebecca was concentrating on watching, Fukuze appeared behind her, having arrived a few moments later.
"AAAAH!" Rebecca screamed at Fukuze's sudden appearance.
"Ah? Sorry if I scared you. Sometimes I forget that my footsteps can't be heard because of my ability," said Fukuze.
"Well, what happened here?" asked Fukuze.
"Well, Akutagawa is in a fight with that man," said Rebecca.
"Wow, I didn't realize those wounds were caused by cutting themselves while playing," said Fukuze sarcastically.
"Well... well... look, they're like that because it seems like they're fighting each other," said Rebecca.
"Well, that happens in a confrontation with someone, the excitement of combat," said Fukuze.
"But we'll see who wins," said Fukuze.
"Well, that will be easy. Akutagawa already has some experience," said Rebecca.
"Don't count your chickens before they hatch. It's obvious that Akutagawa has used his ability, but that guy hasn't shown us anything yet," said Fukuze as he stared intently at the man there.