Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, Indonesia 13:20. . .

  In the arena, the two fighters finally stand against each other.

  Kentaro summons a sheathed katana out of nowhere and puts it on his left waist. He takes his battle stance as he hovers his right hand over the katana's handle. He has a very serious facial expression, but a wide and confident smile follows it.

  "I am not gonna hold back against anyone, even an old man like you, Arthur-san!!!"

  Hearing Kentaro's words, Arthur smirks.

  *BAAAMMM*

  *GRRTTKK*

  He lifts his right leg, and the veins on it become visible and big. He slams down his right leg towards the stage below, and it shakes the entire sports field from where he stands. The entire stadium also shakes just a tiny bit. Everyone in the audience, including the three people inside the special viewing room, was startled.

  "Khu khu khu khu!! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!! THAT'S JUST WHAT I WANT IN THIS TOURNAMENT, YOUNG MAN!!! LET'S DO THIS!!!"

  As Kentaro and Arthur show off their game face and stare towards each other, the gong towards the start of the Brawliever World Cup finally rings across the area.

  *GOOOOOOOOONNNGGG*

  The gong to signal the start of GBWC has been officially rung.

  Kentaro immediately activates his Vein Armor. The vein in his entire body glows in dark blue.

  "Kenichi Sword Style!"

  Kentaro moves forward towards Arthur at an incredible speed that he seems to disappear into thin air.

  "What?"

  Arthur was startled, and then. . .

  *SLASH*

  *ZRRAAAAASSSSHHHHH*

  "Iai slash!"

  Kentaro appears behind Arthur about one meter away. He has his katana out, signaling that he already swings it without Arthur even seeing it coming.

  "UUUUWWAAAARRRGGHHH!!!'

  Blood splashed out of Arthur's body and fell to the floor; he was slashed diagonally on the chest by Kentaro with one swift motion. One very quick thing to notice is the amount of blood that sprouted out of him, making a big pool of blood in front of him. Kentaro's attack shouldn't have caused that much blood to pop out. Arthur drops to his knees as he holds the wound in his chest.

  "URGGHH!!"

  "OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH!!!"

  "LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, KENICHI-KUN ATTACKED FIRST AND ARTHUR HAS ALREADY COLLAPSED ON THE FLOOR!!!"

  "KENICHI-KUN WAS SO FAST, FOLKS!! I DIDN'T EVEN SEE HIM UNTIL HE STOPPED AND LANDED THE ATTACK!!"

  "Hoooo! That was really fast!" said Lukia.

  "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

  "GOOOOO KENTARO-KUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNN!!!!"

  "WOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!!!"

  "ARTHUR-SAAAAAAAAAANNNN!!!"

  "HOLD ON ARTHUR-SAAAAAAAAANNN!!!"

  "OOOOOOOHHHH!!! IS THIS IT FOR ARTHUR?? IS HE GOING TO COLLAPSE AFTER JUST ONE ATTACK???"

  "Give it up, old man!!" said Kentaro as he turned around and put back his katana into the sheath.

  Kentaro turns around and demands that Arthur step out of the tournament of his own accord. Arthur smirks.

  "Muhehehehehehehe!!! Kenichi-kun, my boy! Did you forget the kinda antics I pulled out just a few minutes ago with the commentators?"

  *!!!*

  All of a sudden, the blood pool on the floor moves and floats back towards Arthur's chest wound. Arthur immediately stands up, turns around, and jumps. He approaches Kentaro and closes the distance between them within milliseconds. The veins in his two legs are also big before the jump.

  Arthur prepares a punch with his right hand. The veins in his right hand enlarge to an abnormal size, about five times bigger. Kentaro's Vein armor lets him sense the danger coming his way. He immediately tries to block Arthur's punch with his sheathed sword.

  *BAAAAMM*

  *BWOOOSH*

  Arthur's punch hits Kentaro's sheathed sword. A shockwave of air blasts in all directions across the ring.

  "(HRRRRGGHH!!! Heavy!!)"

  Kentaro was sent flying towards the barrier near the edge of the ring.

  "(Damn! He's strong!!)"

  Kentaro pulls his sword out and stabs the arena floor to slow his momentum down while he's in midair.

  *ZZZRRRTTTTT*

  His sword slides off the floor along with him for a bit, and it finally stops. Kentaro lands safely at the edge of the ring.

  *!*

  Kentaro's danger sense immediately lets him know that Arthur is coming after him with another attack. Kentaro looks upwards towards the sky and sees Arthur falling towards him with an axe kick this time.

  "THINK FAST, KENICHI-KUN!!" Arthur provokes him.

  *BAAAAMM*

  Arthur drops an axe kick towards the ground and shakes the entire ring.

  *!*

  But he realized Kentaro wasn't there. He has already stepped out of the way swiftly, and he's standing on Arthur's right, already in motion to swing his katana horizontally towards him.

  "Hohoho!! Nice move, Kenichi-kun!"

  Arthur turns his body towards Kentaro and raises both of his arms in a cross to block his katana. The veins in both of his arms enlarge and bulge.

  *CTANG*

  *BWOOOOSH*

  The katana hits his crossed arms, and both are pushed back away from each other.

  Kentaro takes a glance at Arthur's body. The chest wound from before doesn't bleed at all. The wound has also closed halfway. His hands that he used to block Kentaro's katana were bruised slightly and turned red, but the redness slowly and gradually disappeared as time went on.

  "Old man, what is that Faith power?"

  "MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!! DID YOU JUST CASUALLY ASK ME TO REVEAL HOW MY POWER WORKS? YOU'RE SO FUNNY, KENICHI-KUN!!!"

  ". . . ."

  "Didn't you watch the footage of other fighters' previous battle videos? You can easily get the chance to analyze each and every one of our Faith powers by then."

  ". . . ."

  "Wait, you really didn't? MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I'm sorry, lad! But that can be counted as arrogance and carelessness!! That simple thing that you didn't do might cost you this entire tournament!!"

  Arthur opens his mouth wide, and blood flows out of it in large amounts. The blood didn't fall towards the floor; it floated in the air and formed a circle surrounding him at his chest level. Arthur grabs the floating blood with his right hand, and the blood suddenly forms itself and changes shape into a giant axe.

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  "MUHAHAHAHAHA!!! LET'S GO AGAIN, KENICHI-KUN!!"

  Arthur jumps forward, and Kentaro does the same. Arthur swings his giant axe with both of his hands while Kentaro swings his katana with his right hand, with his Vein Armor still on.

  *CTANG*

  *!*

  The sword and the giant axe collide, and surprisingly, they let out a loud clang.

  "(His blood is solid?)"

  *BWOOOOSSSHH*

  "WOHOHOHO!!"

  Kentaro won the clash. He sent Arthur flying away from him. Kentaro lands and immediately runs fast towards where Arthur will land in the ring.

  "GEH!! He's ready already?!"

  Arthur saw Kentaro already near him again as he almost landed on the ring floor.

  "Kentaro Sword Style!"

  Water suddenly appears from Kentaro's katana. The water surrounds, flows, and clothes the blade of the katana in its entirety.

  "Flowing Water Wave!!"

  Kentaro swings his katana, clothed in water horizontally towards Arthur, who's in midair. Arthur turns towards Kentaro and swings his giant axe to defend himself from Kentaro's blade.

  *ZRRAASSSSHHH*

  At the moment of impact, water and blood splattered everywhere. Kentaro's blade swung in full motion.

  *!*

  Arthur's giant axe was sliced in two at the blade. The part of the giant axe that was severed lost its solid state and became liquid blood again. The blood in the liquid state falls to the ring and gradually dries on the floor.

  Arthur lands and immediately jumps away from Kentaro.

  "OOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!!"

  "KENICHI-KUN USED IT!! HE USED HIS FAITH POWER!!! HIS WATER KATANA ARMAMENT IS SO BEAUTIFUL IN PERSON!!"

  "WOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!!!"

  "KENTARO-KUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNN!!"

  "GOOOOOOOOOOOOO KENICHI-KUUUUUUUUUUUUNN!!"

  The audience went wild after witnessing Kentaro's Water Katana.

  "Hohohoho!! That was dangerous! You finally used your Faith power, Kenichi-kun!"

  "And how fortunate it is, Arthur-san! That my Faith power happens to counter yours! Seems like fate favors me in this tournament."

  "MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! That's jumping the gun too soon! Faith power alone doesn't determine the outcome of a fight between Believers, Kenichi-kun!! The real factor comes from will--!!"

  "Willpower from one's self. Is that what you're going to say? *sigh* I swear, all you old people really love to do is give lectures all the time!! I have had enough of that nonsense!! All of them are just nonsense because your advice doesn't match reality!!"

  "Don't be like that, Kenichi-kun!! We old people have lived longer than you, so naturally, we have more experience in life! We want the younger generation to avoid unnecessary mistakes! You shouldn't talk back to your elderly like that, that's rude! Hohohohohoh!!"

  "Oh, really? Then do you genuinely believe that you, with your willpower, can defeat any one of the Ten Commandments of God in a fight?"

  ". . . . that's--"

  "See? That's nonsense!! No matter how you wanna sugarcoat it, Believers with the stronger Faith power always win!! It doesn't matter how high your spirit is!! Having a fighting spirit doesn't change the way our Faith power works!!"

  "But it does boost our Faith power output, does it not, Kenichi-kun?"

  "And yet someone whose Faith power is far stronger fundamentally still wins in the end. Isn't that right?"

  "Kenichi-kun, you're talking like all of those words came from an emotional viewpoint. Did something happen in the past?"

  Kentaro was startled. He takes a few seconds to regain his composure.

  "Sorry, we're getting off track!! Let's continue! You're done stalling, aren't you, Arthur-san?"

  "MUHAHAHAHAHA!! So, you see through me after all!! I am not the type of geezer to give lectures to the young ones!! I love to prank them more personally, MUHAHAHAHAHA!!"

  Arthur snaps his finger. All of the blood that has dried out on the floor suddenly returns to its liquid state and flows towards Arthur. The rest of his giant axe also became liquid and flows around him. All of the blood takes the shape of human hands as per his will. There are now two pairs of giant human hands attached to Arthur's back; each hand is three times longer than his body's height and is two times thicker than his body's width.

  "Let's continue our fight, Kenichi-kun!!"

  Kentaro takes a stance with his sheathed katana. Water is now flowing, forming a ring circling his body. Kentaro's vein armor activated and lit up his whole body. He takes a step that shakes the entire ring.

  "Kentaro Sword Style!"

  Arthur smirks. He readies his own technique as well. He puts his palms together in front of his chest.

  "Here we go, KENICHI-KUN!!"

  One of Arthur's four blood hands stretches far towards where Kentaro stands, launching a heavy punch.

  "Perpetual Waterfall Dance!!"

  Kentaro spins his body and lets out a full swing of his Water Katana.

  *ZRRRAAAASSHHH*

  He slices off the giant blood hand in two. Immediately, the sliced blood hand retracts, and another giant blood hand stretches out towards Kentaro, launching another punch.

  Kentaro is spinning his body again. He lets out yet another full swing and slices off the giant hand again. But then the giant hand retracts, and another giant hand comes in. Kentaro spins again and slices off the giant hand again.

  "BLOOD MANIPULATION TECHNIQUE!! GEEZER'S BARRAGE!!"

  And then the same consecutive actions keep happening. Arthur's giant blood hand throws a punch one at a time at Kentaro, and Kentaro completely neutralizes his punches with a full-body spinning swing each time. This intense exchange of technique keeps happening for an entire sixty seconds.

  "OOOOOOHHHH!!! ARTHUR LET OUT A RELENTLESS ATTACK, FOLKS!!"

  "CAN KENICHI-KUN HOLD OUT AND SURVIVE ARTHUR'S RUTHLESS BARRAGE??"

  "GOOOOOOOO ARTHUR-SAAAAAAAANNN!!"

  "DO YOUR BEST, KENTARO-KUUUUUUNN!!"

  "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

  The audience cheers for their favorite fighter of the match.

  "(Tch! Geezer's Barrage? What kinda technique name is even that?)"

  "(Hohohoho!! He keeps interfering with my flurry of punches!! Time to do the usual!!)"

  After an entire minute, Arthur increases his rate of punches. His blood hand retracts faster after being cut by Kentaro, and the next punch also comes to him at a quicker pace.

  "(Don't underestimate me, geezer!!)"

  Kentaro responds to Arthur's increasing tempo of attacks. He spins his body at a faster rate as well, so that he can handle Arthur's attacks just as properly as he previously did. This keeps happening for an entire 30 seconds.

  Arthur increases his rate of punches yet again. Kentaro responds by moving his body at another quicker pace as well, but Kentaro immediately felt that something was off as he kept slicing off and neutralizing all of Arthur's incoming barrage of punches.

  "(What is this feeling? These punches do come faster and faster. . . but I feel like something's missing.)"

  "TIME TO FINISH THIS, KENICHI-KUN!!"

  *!*

  All of a sudden, Arthur is 2 meters above Kentaro in the air. He prepares a punch with one of his giant blood hands floating on his right side.

  "BLOOD MANIPULATION TECHNIQUE!! GEEZER'S HYDROLIC PRESSURE!!!"

  Arthur swings a punch downwards, and his giant blood hand on the side follows after him, and stretches fast towards Kentaro.

  *!*

  All of a sudden, Kentaro jumps above towards the incoming giant blood hand in the air.

  "Kentaro Sword Style!! Rising Waterfall!!"

  Kentaro swings his water katana upwards, ready to slice off Arthur's attack. He swings his sword, but he completely misses.

  "(WHAT?)"

  Without Kentaro anticipating it, Arthur changes the shape of his blood hand to disperse and scatters into smaller blood drops, floating in the air all around Kentaro. The blood drops change shape into hundreds of small arrows with a length of 2cm each. The hundreds of small blood arrow launches themselves as per Arthur's will towards Kentaro.

  "(GOTCHA!! KENICHI-KUN!!)"

  "(DAMMIT!!)"

  "KENTARO SWORD STYLE!!"

  Kentaro suddenly spins his entire body, and water comes out of his blade in a large amount.

  "SUNKEN WATER WORLD!!!"

  *!!*

  Kentaro envelops his entire body in a ball of water with a two-meter diameter. All of Arthur's small arrows penetrate the water ball, but they all immediately lose their momentum and float helplessly inside the water sphere. All of their arrow shapes are also broken down due to their contact with water. The amount of blood inside the water sphere also gradually decreases.

  "Nice move, Kenichi-kun!! BUT YOU SEE----!!"

  The rest of Arthur's giant blood hand floats towards him. The three giant blood hands disperse and form a pair of bigger giant blood hands in the air, with 8 meters in diameter and 14 meters in length.

  "I REALLY GOT YOU NOW!!"

  Arthur claps his hands hard against each other.

  *CLAP*

  *BAAAMM*

  The two giant blood hands clap against each other, following his motion, clapping Kentaro and his water sphere in the middle. Once the two giant blood hands trapped Kentaro in the center, they changed shape into one giant sphere of blood with a diameter of 9 meters.

  Arthur lands on the ground as the giant blood sphere floats in the air. He raises his palm upwards and grips it, facing the giant sphere. The giant blood sphere in the air condenses itself into a smaller size when Arthur grips his hand; now it only has a diameter of 4 meters.

  "Blood Manipulation Technique! BLOOD SMUDGE!!"

  Arthur swings his right hand downwards, and the giant blood sphere in the air follows his motion and falls towards the ring below.

  *BAM*

  *SPLAT*

  The giant blood sphere splashed on the floor and splattered everywhere. Kentaro was lying on the floor after all the blood had splashed away, revealing him. Most of his body and clothing are covered in deep red blood.

  *!!!!!*

  "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!!! ARTHUR LANDED A DEVASTATING BLOW!!!"

  "IS THIS IT FOR KENICHI-KUN FOLKS???"

  "LET'S GOOOO ARTHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRR!!!"

  "KENTARO-KUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNN!!! GET UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPP!!"

  Some of the audience have already announced Arthur's victory, while some of them cheer for Kentaro's comeback.

  "MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! CAN YOU STAND, KENICHI-KUN??"

  ". . . . ."

  Kentaro doesn't answer.

  "OOOOOOOOHHHH!!!" IS THIS IT FOOOOOLLKSSS?? IS THIS THE END OF MATCH ONE??"

  But then, Kentaro slowly gets up using his katana to assist him to stand.

  *pant pant pant*

  "You're real hardcore. . . old man!!"

  "WOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!!! KENICHI-KUN STANDS UP!!!"

  "KENTARO-KUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNN!!!"

  "DO YOUR BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSTTTTT!!!"

  Arthur smiles.

  "MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!! IMPRESSIVE, KENICHI-KUN!!"

  Kentaro activates his vein armor once again. He takes a stance with his sheathed katana at his left waist.

  "I can keep going, Arthur-san!!"

  "MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Once again, I am impressed by your tenacity!!"

  Arthur raises his right hand.

  "I apologize, Kentaro-kun, but it's over!! I already won once you got caught by that giant blood hand."

  Arthur snaps his finger, and all of a sudden, Kentaro is unable to move his body. He cannot even lift a single finger.

  "W-What is happening? HRRRRGGHH!! I CAN'T EVEN BREAK FREE!!! WHAT EVEN IS HOLDING ME BACK??"

  Arthur jumps high in the air. He prepares a punch with his right hand. The veins in his right arm are bulging big while his skin becomes a bit red.

  "Final blow!! BLOOD MANIPULATION TECHNIQUE!!"

  "DAMMIT!! I CAN'T MOVE!!!"

  "BLOOD PUMPING PUNCH!!"

  *BAAAAAAAM*

  All of the audience was in awe and left speechless. Arthur lands the final hit right at the top of Kentaro's head. Kentaro wasn't even moving away from his spot.

  What actually kept Kentaro from moving was all of the blood that was splattered on him. Arthur solidified the blood on Kentaro's body and clothes, tightening his bodily joints with hardened blood. The blood splattered around him became liquid, flowed towards Kentaro's body, and hardened into a solid state to bind him in place as well.

  Arthur lands on the ring in front of him and snaps his finger. All of a sudden, Kentaro falls to the floor, losing consciousness. All of the blood on him and the floor became a liquid state once more, and they all floated back towards Arthur. He opens his mouth wide and absorbs all of the blood back into his body.

  *Thud*

  Arthur suddenly falls on his butt towards the floor.

  *pant pant pant*

  "PHEW!! Looks like I finished on time!! My head was actually getting quite lightheaded!!" said Arthur as he held on to his head.

  *GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNGGGG*

  The gong signalling the end of the first match rings through the entire stadium.