Hunters are trained in teams since it was proven in history that a person’s capability is limited. You might be excellent in combat or investigating tracks, but a person’s time is not infinite, a hunter couldn’t excel in all aspects since ‘jack of all trades’ meant you’re next to useless in front of a true master.

Of course, there are always exceptions like ‘Wild Savage’ Arakawa Kenji.

Actually, he wasn’t an exception. He’s literally just like any other normal hunter who excels at combat. He was a combat maniac through and through who lacks other skills to function by himself.

Although he was arrogant, he wasn’t an idiot. Not being in a team allows him to have a monopoly on the mission rewards which greatly catapulted his combat ability and cultivation foundation further, yet at the same time, limits him from taking more dangerous missions.

Until now, the way he dealt with ‘inconveniences’ of having no teammate to support him was truly barbaric. Nobody made the tent for him? He’ll dig a hole and sleep in it. Nobody made him food? He’ll roast some meat and eat it even if it tasted disgusting. Nobody scouted the periphery to check for ambush? His investigative methods were honed to the limit, nobody went pass through his senses and nobody can ambush him.

Through this ‘barbaric’ method of dealing with problems, it trained him to the person he is today, a Wild Savage. Yet, there was no one who would underestimate him.

Because his methods simply worked.

There’s no need for flashy techniques if a slap with his warhammer could kill. A man whose head is bashed by a warhammer is the same with a man exploded by fireball or a man dismembered by a thousand cuts: a dead man.

There was no need to eat delicious food, as long as the nutrition was the same. You mean that some special cooked meal with great ingredients and techniques could produce the result of 1+1>4? There was no need for that if I directly ate 4,5, or 7 values of food, right?

There was no need to sleep under a good bed, it would only weaken your nerves. You said that good rest is absolutely required to function normally? Then you are weak. Your family is weak. Your whole bloodline is weak and you will not survive the winter.

Therefore, the moniker ‘Wild Savage’ fits him perfectly.

The arena is now crowded with busybodies who lacked entertainment. In a sense, duels between hunters would reveal a lot of the hunter’s methods so true experts rarely participate in such useless endeavors. After all, it wasn’t fun if one encountered a hunter-killer who recognized all of your moves.

Ignoring whether he liked it or not, Kenji had to fight against this newcomer who boldly claims that she wants to make a team with him as a member. Not because it’s a matter of honor or anything, but because he said it himself.

“Hunter Academy Rule #4: A hunter must form a group in order to raise their survival chance, whether you like it or not. In case of personal preferences, beliefs, or other conditions that did not allow one to take a person or a certain group as team members, one has to put a rational condition that could be fulfilled by the said team as a requirement to accept them.” Shion muttered with a smile, while Kenji sighed as if he had shot himself in the foot.

It was common for young masters from distinguished families or other strong backgrounds to be arrogant, thus it was also common for a team to have a requirement of ‘Defeat X in a Duel’ or ‘Survive X minute from our team’ to join. Of course, the Academy would act as a guarantor to ensure whether that requirement was achievable or not.

In common requirements like ‘Defeat the team captain in a duel’ or the like, the Academy would ensure that at least one of their team members has the power to defeat their own team captain in full power. As stated before, the Academy would act as a guarantor, so they won’t accept the result of having the captain accidentally forgetting how to use their trump cards in a battle with their own team members.   

In any case, it would be hard to find loopholes in that rule since the Academy elders are not stupid. They have the ultimate weapon of adding more rules, so any loopholes would soon disappear.

That being said, the condition that Arakawa Kenji put to join his team or to have him join any team was to defeat him in a duel. This condition was a loophole that wasn’t actually a loophole, so the academy doesn’t bother fixing it. It wouldn’t be a problem for a powerful person to want to go solo, because sometimes, numbers aren’t everything. Though, it would be more beneficial for any strong solo hunter to join a team, because that means the team could take even more dangerous missions.

But if a hunter going solo could survive by himself, then why not let them do as they like? It’s not like the academy is some daycare that took care of babies, and it’s not like super strong solo hunters were unprecedented in history. There are always some hidden clan or experts burying their inheritance somewhere that made a person have a great combat power.

Defeating them in a duel might be a good way to teach them the virtue of humility. By crushing their ego, they would learn their place because there is no such thing as the strongest hunter, there is just a hunter whose methods have yet to be revealed. Sooner or later, the countermeasure for the strong hunter would be made and that hunter wouldn’t be so strong anymore.

Of course, the fact that Arakawa Kenji has yet to be defeated all this time spoke of his ability. In a single combat, there was nobody that could endure his overwhelming strength, endurance, and battle instinct. Any combat style has a weakness but his haven’t been found.

Perhaps, it was already being found, but the firepower required to overcome his fighting style was too high. At least by the first year hunter students.

The referee nodded after confirming both side’s combat readiness, the duel had officially begun.

Kenji used his strongest investigation methods to peer into Shion’s secrets, but all came up with nothing.  ‘I can’t get any detection working on her person… but I can sense that her body is unnaturally heavy…’

Kenji immediately knew he had physical attributes and internal energy advantage, but he had a feeling this wouldn’t be an easy fight. Something about her felt wrong but he didn’t know what. Investigating one’s physical attributes would usually result in some foundational information useful to deduct how one fought, but she is immune to any and all detection methods in his arsenal. Other than being visible in his eyes, she practically doesn’t exist.

At first, he wanted to deduct how she would fight by finding out her physical attributes.

An overly spiked [Strength] and [Endurance] attribute could directly be translated into strength-path cultivator or body fundamentalist, those who had high [Agility] and [Flexibility] means they are speed-type fighter, while those who had great [Perception] and [Reaction] are usually magic caster.

This wasn’t an ironclad rule, but it could serve as a rough reference since magic casters don't usually train their physical body due to the lack of time and energy and vice versa.

That being said, nothing came up after the successive activation of investigative methods.

“Take out your weapons.” Shion smiled. Liquid metal slithered from beneath her clothing as it slowly turned into a large compound bow.

“An antimage… How refreshing. I haven’t got the chance to fight against one before.” Kenji’s worries are instantly replaced by fighting spirit. He recognizes the liquid metal slime since they are infamous for being the most flexible antimage weapon in the land of sand and fire. Despite not having the chance to meet one, he had read about it somewhere.

The compound bow was clad in electric spark; there were some lightning-path methods incorporated into the arrow that made it as if it was shot through a railgun. Kenji deflected the arrow which exploded into liquid metal that slithered back to Shion.

Kenji has yet to find any information about her but it wouldn’t be a problem if he starts now. With his strength-path martial arts [Ground Shaker], he planned to send her into the air while closing in the distance. Yet, Shion did the opposite of what he expected. The bow in her hand melts down into a warhammer and he does the exact same thing: hitting the ground with her warhammer.

The shockwave that traveled into her was nullified, it didn’t explode the ground beneath her. Using that chance, the warhammer melts once more to form a three bladed gunlance-type assault railgun. Before Kenji’s attack arrived on her face, Shion stabbed his body.   

The two traded blows as Kenji had three new holes in his chest, but Shion was hit with a warhammer. The petite girl was thrown back several steps but she was relatively fine. In that exchange, she quickly melts a part of her gunlance into liquid metal while leaping towards the same direction of the hammer attack. The liquid metal successfully softened over half of the damage, a third by leaping, and the rest was easily dealt with by her body’s defense. The true damage she received was negligible.

In short, Kenji was losing in that exchange. The three new holes in his body were tingling, there was some sort of destructive energy laced within that attack, yet, it wasn’t Kenji who’s surprised at that, but a spectator who watched the duel unfold.

“How is that possible? Kenji have grown so quickly!” The red haired Sakuya muttered in shock. She was familiar with the liquid metal in Shion’s hand, it was a +3 enchanted weapon with high destructive potential, yet Kenji only suffered some minor holes in his body? That means his defenses were super high.

Back at the dueling stage, Kenji focused on his wound, “Troublesome…” The holes soon closed themselves at the rate visible to the eyes. “That liquid metal weapon of yours is interesting.” He said as he continued his attack, but this time, he put more attention towards Shion’s weapon.

Both were testing each other; the first exchange was barely the surface of their capability. At first, it seems like Kenji was the one who held the advantage because he was faster and stronger than Shion by two levels. His defense and regeneration was also incomparable to Shion, yet he just couldn’t defeat her as easily as everyone thought he would.

Shion used her flexible liquid metal to dodge or decrease the damage dealt by Kenji significantly while her attack is light, yet continuous. During five minutes of intense combat, she had altered her liquid metal weapon 115 times, showing 18 different forms that she easily used to poke around Kenji’s defenses.

Currently, Shion’s liquid metal took the form of an urumi, a sword with a flexible, whip-like blade usually found in the land of sand and fire. It was extremely rare to find them in the southern continent which made Kenji have difficulties in countering her.

“Damn it.” His left eye has been gouged by the whip sword due to its snake-like movement. In a fit of rage, he grabbed the whip sword by his hand in hope to pull her into his range of attack. He became even more enraged when the whip sword melted into liquid metal that scattered in his hand like a pile of loose sand. Shion’s combat style was so aggravating that even the spectators relate to his plight.      

As the best hunter amidst the first year students, he adapted rather quickly. Kenji dropped his small yet cumbersome warhammer that weighed over 70 kilograms while taking a boxing posture. After crossing his arms, his upper body swings forward as he punches towards Shion while his lower body takes root in a horse stance. In that attack, Kenji’s body barely changed position, but a great force was transferred through the air.

Boom! Shion’s body exploded as liquid metal used to defend that strike scattered all over the dueling stage. All the spectators were surprised at Kenji’s first successful attack, but then cheered loudly.

This was atmospheric strength school of strength-path! It was originally a rumor that Kenji has it, but now it’s confirmed! Only the top experts of the first year managed to force him to use this, which meant he was acknowledging Shion as his peers.

“Hahah.” A chuckle could be heard from the human-shaped imprint on the wall. Liquid metal slowly gathered towards the wall as a petite figure removed herself from the wall. “So you were an ascetic monk playing warrior this whole time.”

“I give you my respect for reaching this stage, but you are lacking if you think this is enough to win against me.” Kenji released another punch, not giving Shion time to react.

Boom! The expected explosion of liquid metal did not arrive, Shion managed to dodge at the very last second. She darted from one place to another as she dodged multiple invisible fist force in succession.

The spectator realized Kenji being suppressed was merely because he was reluctant in showing his atmospheric strength methods since that meant he couldn’t keep them hidden anymore. Now that he could use his ‘primary’ methods, the battle tilted in his favor.

Shion was having a hard time dealing with the unblockable long-range attack. Even a grazing hit would deal significant damage. She grits her teeth as she makes a set of hand seals. “Rank 0 Kai Kuji-in (premonition seal) ninjutsu, [Whispering Premonition]!”

Kai Kuji-in is the premonition seal of the nine ninjutsu seals, which is responsible for danger perception. The ninjutsu [Whispering Premonition] allows Shion to detect where the attack would land before it was made as if she could hear what would happen in the next second. After successfully activating the said ninjutsu, her evasion rate rose to 100%, there were no longer grazing hits that broke through her defense.

After the twentieth time missing his attack, Kenji stopped using his long-range punch due to its heavy internal energy expenditure. He instead activated a defensive martial art that gave him better damage resistance. Then, he simply fights with his empty hands, his body transformed into the ultimate weapon.

“[Horizontal Charge]!” Kenji charges like an armored steel train, his steps were as heavy as giant’s.

Ascetic monks are the one of the most troublesome melee fighters to deal with due to their body durability. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say they are tanks in human form. Despite his slim body, his body could exert far more power compared to others of the same level and his skin was thicker than steel plates.

Shion’s [Whispering Premonition] might be capable of telling where Kenji’s attack would land, but her body specification was still lower than Kenji. Now that he used his full power in a full assault, Shion could not keep up with his speed.

To counter Kenji’s overwhelming power, Shion used a different approach.

Martial arts are roughly split into two: soft and hard technique. Kenji’s brute force was the quintessence example of ‘hard’ techniques, which was to meet force with force. Since Shion couldn’t fight Kenji’s metal train-like charge, she used ‘soft’ technique instead.

The goal of soft technique is to deflect the attacker’s force through the use of minimal force. Since Kenji’s [Horizontal Charge] was a strength-path martial art used for the sake of approaching the enemy with great force, it was easy for Shion to counter it through soft technique. With water-like flexibility, Shion redirects Kenji’s charge.   

Followed by a loud bang, Kenji was slammed to the ground with a jujutsu-like body slam technique. Thanks to the sheer force redirected from his charge, a 5-meter wide crater was made on the arena. Kenji coughed blood, his internals were damaged in that exchange.

Bang, bang, bang! Shion wouldn’t be that kind to not pour salt on his wound. Before Kenji recovered his posture, she hit his body multiple times with her liquid metal warhammer. Each strike was capable of painting the arena with brain matter, but Kenji was incredibly sturdy. The poor dude got hit 7 times in different places including his crotch, solar plexus, neck, and other soft spots before he managed to stand up and give a counter.

“Wow, you really are sturdy.” Shion praised as she took a few steps back. Her goal was to test his weak spots, but there aren’t any. His defensive method covered the surface of his skin. Perhaps, the activated martial art worked with the same principle with [Ironskin] magic spells.

The liquid metal warhammer in her hand melts into a pair of gloves that reach up to her armpits, gleaming in metallic silver. She made a set of hand seals as she activated another method, “Rank 0 Rin Kuji-in (power seal) ninjutsu, [Triple Extreme Sound: Bell Palm]!”

Kenji wiped the blood from his mouth as he scanned Shion. The petite antimage was truly slippery as she knows many queer techniques. Seeing that she activated a ninjutsu, Kenji raised his guard to the fullest. Each of her methods managed to counter his. Although he wasn’t scared, it was sufficient to make him wary.    

This time, the antimage did not wait for a counter. She was going for the offence!

Shion released multiple palm strikes, which was blocked by Kenji’s own ‘soft’ technique. It was as if the battle simply turned into a palm-slapping competition because the two were merely exchanging palm slaps. The spectator only saw a flurry of palm slaps, unable to see the profundity within every attack.    

Kenji was sweating bullets. His body was extremely durable and under the effect of defensive martial arts but he felt like his bones were breaking. In fact, each palm strike that he deflected damages his bones. If this continues, it wouldn’t be long before his arm bones turned into jelly. Just as he was about to use his feet to gain an advantage, he noticed that Shion was merely using one arm.

Her other hand was making hand seals!

“Rank 0 Rin Kuji-in (power seal) ninjutsu, [Nightcore]!” At that instant, Shion’s movement speed suddenly increased by over 30%. And since she can now use two hands, her attack becomes relentless.

In 3 seconds, Kenji’s elbow was broken by 12 successive palm strikes.

The next 2 seconds was where Kenji tried to use his feet to gain an advantage, but both of his kneecaps were broken by a flurry of palm strikes. As his body hits the ground, Shion completely obliterates his defense and internal organs by pummeling his torso with countless palm strikes.

“Cough!” Kenji coughed blood as the referee stopped the fight to announce Shion’s victory, it was obvious that Kenji had lost terribly. “I don’t… cough. Understand. How?” he enquired.

Shion felt bad if she didn’t tell him how he had lost. She clapped her hands as a noise-cancelation force field was erected. “[Triple Extreme Sound: Bell Palm] was a technique designed specifically to liquefy the internals of heavily armored knights through the use of vibration. You are merely at the ‘muscle training’ stage of rank 0, you still haven’t refined your internal organs with internal energy. Thus, it was easy for me to ignore all of your defensive measures.”

Kenji’s eyes went wide. He seems to understand his error. ‘I see. While I was dominating my rank 0 peers, Shion was already seeing rank 1 as her enemies. She’s really interesting.’ He coughed blood once more as his internals were damaged severely. “I guess… cough. I am now your team member.”  

Shion smiled as she canceled the noise-suppressing force field. “Welcome to my team.”