The technique Meguro was using was obvious to anyone with eyes.
—It was judo.
So-called judo is the science of balance, with the focus being on balance—other things like center of gravity, techniques, and many other elements actually revolve around this point of balance.
Mastering balance and destroying balance.
This is the greatest discipline within judo.
Meguro initially grabbed Mutou Judai's clothes, then his point of force was to pull Mutou Judai toward him in an upward arc.
The purpose of this action was to make Mutou Judai's body lean slightly forward, and even make Mutou Judai lift his feet.
The former was to lightly disrupt balance, while the latter was for—
While making the pulling motion, Meguro's foot also moved toward Mutou Judai's foot.
If Mutou Judai lifted his toes, then he would seize this opportunity when Mutou Judai's foot contact with the ground was minimal, directly destroying Mutou Judai's standing point, thus crushing half of his leverage and balance!
That's what he was thinking.
He even thought that if Mutou Judai's toe strength was particularly great, then he would control his own balance and shift his center of gravity all at once, using his own weight to destroy Mutou Judai's balance!
This was judo's fighting approach.
But...
The moment he extended his foot, he discovered—
He couldn't move his opponent!
This...
If it were an ordinary fighter, they would definitely be on guard for something at this point, but Meguro Masaki suddenly increased his force, directly shifting his hands from grabbing clothes to gripping Mutou Judai's neck and arm, and pressed his center of gravity forward.
"My father once told me..."
Even though his force couldn't affect Mutou Judai, he was still exerting himself, and the smile on his face became more and more obvious, drool flowing out and mixing with the blood connecting to his eyes on his face.
"—Judo is the strongest fighting art~!"
Hearing him say this, Mutou Judai directly clenched the fist that Meguro Masaki was restraining.
"How shallow..."
In that instant, Meguro Masaki felt like what he was restraining wasn't a person, but a wild bull, an elephant!
Someone of his weight and size, combined with leverage, center of gravity, using everything to restrain the guy—was actually slowly lifting his right hand along with him who was restraining the opponent's right hand in such a motion!
The opponent seemed to completely ignore him as a person, directly lifting his hand, then before he could react, the opponent's foot landed on his chest!
Meguro Masaki was a monster who basically couldn't feel pain, or rather, the more pain he felt, the more excited he became!
Some substances naturally secreted in his brain caused him to be this way, plus during the twenty years of being protected by Toyo Electric, they had very deliberately developed him in this direction—
So ordinary attacks falling on Meguro Masaki, whether gouging eyes or attacks piercing ears, these couldn't make him stop moving and would only make him more and more excited.
But Mutou Judai's kick, so fast that Meguro Masaki couldn't even react, landed directly on his chest.
The kick with tremendous force almost made him pass out from being stepped on.
Then even he lost consciousness for an instant.
In this instant, Mutou Judai pulled his restrained body backward, while keeping his feet in the same position, even stepping forward a bit.
Meanwhile, Meguro Masaki instinctively tightened his back the moment he hit the ground to reduce impact force, which caused him to bounce upward.
Then Mutou Judai's left hand quickly struck Meguro Masaki's groin vital point, and the moment he curled up his upper body, Mutou Judai's right arm extended straight back, palm facing down and beginning to clench, delivering an upward punch directly to Meguro Masaki's chin!
Speed plus body weight plus grip strength—whether this formula was addition or multiplication, what definitely appeared after the equals sign was those three words.
—Destructive power!
This wasn't a technique pursued in any fighting art.
Destroying your own center of gravity, with absolutely no room to pull back, putting all force into one punch—if this strike missed, then under the huge opening you exposed, you would definitely face the enemy's frenzied attack.
Even with Jack Hanma's combat experience, he had only seen one person use such an attack.
That was—
Hanayama Kaoru!
—And this was Hanayama Kaoru's punch!
Bang!
The terrifying force directly sent Meguro Masaki flying!
Meanwhile, Mutou Judai looked at Meguro Masaki who flew some distance before falling to the ground, slowly moving his fingers, wrist, and neck.
"Originally seeing your appearance, I thought you would use techniques that only monsters would use—whether instinctive release or manifestation of crazy will, those are things that would make people feel anticipation, but..."
Mutou Judai looked at Meguro Masaki who could still slowly get up from the ground after being hit by such a strike.
While marveling in his heart that people in this world seemed to have different resistance to attacks compared to humans from his previous life, he looked down at Meguro Masaki who was barely struggling to sit up on the ground and continued:
"—Your purity is too low, Meguro Masaki!"
Smack—
A horizontal strike directly hit Meguro Masaki's temple, sending him who had just sat up flying again.
"It's over..."
Mutou Judai made this sound, then just when everyone thought he would continue attacking, they saw Mutou Judai make no further moves.
What was over?
They were initially puzzled, but after waiting a while and seeing that Meguro Masaki had no reaction and didn't get up from the ground this time.
Only then did they call someone to check.
Then...
"...He's dead."
The doctor responsible for checking was a doctor who specifically followed such Kengan matches.
Although Kengan matches nominally prohibited killing, such doctors knew most clearly—dying in Kengan matches was the most normal thing.
Initially, they would be afraid.
But over time, they... got used to it.
However, hearing that the opponent had died, the surrounding spectators directly held their breath, and their gazes toward Mutou Judai changed considerably.
Dojima Gin had no reaction, just nodded—even showing some approval and gratitude toward Mutou Judai.
Meanwhile, Erina ran to Mutou Judai's side after confirming the match had ended.
As for Mutou Judai himself regarding killing someone...
He felt completely nothing.
Whether it was due to Hanma blood, Jack Hanma's memories, or his own abnormality...
But just like how he would inexplicably feel excited when engaging in combat, killing someone... was like eating or drinking water to him, he felt completely nothing.
If he had to say, the only bit of psychological burden came partly from this state of feeling completely nothing.
As for other things...
Mutou Judai looked toward Erina.
He could clearly see that Erina was very panicked. She should be seeing someone die in front of her for the first time.
Then...
Obviously very panicked, Erina spoke to Mutou Judai like this:
"Don't... don't be too nervous... I heard that dying, dying in Kengan matches is also very normal... you shouldn't have too much psychological burden..."
"And I heard from Chef Dojima... the opponent seemed to be a murderer, and a very evil murderer at that, who had been protected for twenty years and should have died long ago..."
Mutou Judai had thought that Erina might not be able to accept such things.
He had thought that Erina might hate such things.
But the one thing he hadn't thought of was that Erina would comfort him when she herself was still very afraid...
Hearing Erina say this, Mutou Judai's last bit of psychological pressure disappeared—he rarely wasn't so stubborn, but very sincerely with a gentle smile, slowly spoke to Erina:
"Thanks, Erina."
Hearing Mutou Judai say this, then seeing his gentle gaze and smile, Erina's previously somewhat panicked psychology gradually calmed down.
She let out a breath.
"Whether it was you helping me fight Kengan with Himuro Ryo at Great Universe Bar or having a Shokugeki with Eizan, or you saving me from that person's hands, or you helping Totsuki Resort solve a big problem this time, the one who should be saying thank you has always been me..."
Erina was blushing now, turning her head away and not daring to look into Mutou Judai's eyes, and her voice was also very small—but Mutou Judai still heard it.
"So... thanks, Judai."
...
Mutou Judai had fought another Kengan match at Totsuki Resort.
This match spread even wider than the previous one.
Although Meguro Masaki was just a fighter participating in Kengan for the first time, he represented Toyo Electric, which made many forces unable to sit still.
After all, their purpose in fighting Kengan was to defeat such large companies and profit from it.
It wasn't because they really enjoyed watching fights, so compared to how powerful a fighter you defeated, these businessmen obviously cared more about which company you defeated and what benefits there were.
Korakuen Academy.
The director of Korakuen Academy, Soryuin Shion, received intelligence about Mutou Judai's two Kengan matches immediately.
This director with wine-red long hair and smoking a women's cigarette slowly narrowed her eyes.
She was the same as her sister Soryuin Akemi—a serious muscle enthusiast.
So after seeing Mutou Judai's photo, she actually sensed something from him, which made her gaze somewhat absent-minded.
She stared at Mutou Judai's photo for quite a while before slowly sighing.
"Totsuki really has good luck... when will our Korakuen be able to recruit such a powerful fighter? And the current situation obviously isn't optimistic..."
Thinking about how Korakuen was actually facing a situation similar to Totsuki's, but with an estimated faster outbreak, Soryuin Shion couldn't stop sighing.
"It would be great if this kid could help... but thinking about it, it's obviously impossible. Totsuki definitely treats such powerful fighters like treasures, and..."
Soryuin Shion looked at another piece of intelligence and slowly frowned.
"Now to invite him would take some time to negotiate with him and with Totsuki. But time-wise, it's probably already too late."
This was Soryuin Shion's reaction after seeing Mutou Judai's intelligence.
Meanwhile, at Mutou Orphanage.
Mutou Yugi also received intelligence about this Kengan match from a man in black.
After seeing words like "opponent's death," Mutou Yugi sighed slightly.
"Although I guessed this situation would happen from the moment Judai started fighting Kengan, I didn't expect this day to come much faster than I imagined..."
Mutou Yugi was different from when he was young. It wasn't that he couldn't accept Judai killing someone.
But he was worried about another matter.
Thinking of this, Mutou Yugi couldn't help but feel emotional.
"You really gave me a difficult problem... my other self."
While Mutou Yugi was feeling emotional, a knock sounded. Mutou Yugi casually put away the intelligence and opened the door.
At this time, a girl with black hair smiled at Mutou Yugi.
"Mutou-grandpa, I've finished my work here. I'll come help again tomorrow."
If Mutou Judai were here, he might find her familiar.
Because...
—She was one of the two girls Mutou Judai had saved at Great Universe Bar.
Soryuin Akemi.
"Mm, thank you for always helping the orphanage."
"No, after all I really like children—I have something to do today so I'll leave first. It's summer vacation tomorrow, so I'll come again."
Soryuin Akemi waved at Mutou Yugi with a smile, then took her backpack and ran toward Silverman Gym.
Since last summer vacation, she would come help at Mutou Orphanage during holidays.
Originally she would help more, but today she wanted to go to the gym to exercise a bit more~
Meanwhile, Mutou Yugi watched Soryuin Akemi leave, his mind constantly thinking about Mutou Judai's matters, finally letting out a breath.
"I'll talk to Judai properly about his situation when he returns. As for what he chooses afterward... that can only depend on him."