Chapter 22: Quick Assessment
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Keeping a smile on his face while holding his right hand Reiki thought. That was closer than I wanted. The voice said. [You barely manage to catch his first punch.] Reiki thought. Still caught it. The voice said. [When his fist was two inches away from giving you a coma.] Reiki stared at his wrist which already had bruises on them. He looked at Fuitchi staring at him with wide eyes. Reiki with his smile said. "Round two muscle head?" As he took on a fighting stance. Fuitchi narrowed his eyes as he readied himself and said. "At least you didn't finish immediately." Reiki replied. "Is that what your girlfriends usually say to you in bed?" Fuitchi was infuriated as he started to sprint towards Reiki.

Fuitchi started to gain more speed and reached Reiki in no time. Reiki raised his knee to use his opponent's momentum against him. Fuitchi did the same and resulted in two knees colliding at full force. Reiki was pushed back by roughly 18 feet and landed on his back to the ground with a loud thud. Resulting in a slight crack on the ground beneath him. While Fuitchi was standing where he was previously.

[System: User's right knee cap is fractured.]

[System: User has received 862 Damage.]

[System: User has received 102 Damage.]

[System: User has bleed 567 Damage.]

Reiki thought. Now that was painful. As he attempted to stand up Fuitchi was slowly walking towards him. After Reiki got back on his feet Fuitchi just stared at him. Fuitchi threw one fast punch aiming at his chest Reiki used his left hand to deflect the blow. Making Fuitchi's fist miss by passing besides his head by a few inches. Fuitchi said. "If you kneel now I'll let you walk out alive." Reiki said. "How about you kneel and you'll walk away with your pride." Fuitchi smiled as he shook his head. Soon he started to rain a barrage of fist on him. Reiki was only deflecting using his left hand and his right was blocking some of the hits.

[System: User has received 201 Damage.]

[System: User has received 231 Damage.]

[System: User has received 225 Damage.]

[System: User has received 213 Damage.]

[System: User has bleed 567 Damage.]

[System: User has dealt 24 Damage.]

[System: User has dealt 20 Damage.]

......

Reiki was counting in his head. 4...7...12...

On the other hand, the people watching Fuitchi beating up Reiki. Arashi with her hands curled into a fist so hard you can see veins on her knuckles. She spoke to Seijo saying. "Why haven't you called off the fight yet?" Seijo replied. "Neither of them have given up or yielded. And besides. Fuitchi is making sure he doesn't kill him. If he did intend to kill the kid the first punch would have been enough. He may be a muscle head, but his control is the best among the zodiacs in your generation."

Arashi said. "Then why-." Seijo interrupted but kept watching the fight saying. "The reason you weren't allowed to be his opponent was that I know you would pull your punches. And would just let him use internal force to make it end but that's not good enough. I need to know what he's capable of and by the looks of it, he can handle himself in a fight with a stronger opponent as long as the gap in stats and levels aren't too wide."

Arashi's eyes widen and then asked. "How good is he?" Seijo answered. "If you were calm like always and were watching the fight. You would notice that the boy is pretty gifted. Boxing, Muay Thai, Jeet Kune Do, and some Wing Chun. Is what I found by observing him... Fuitchi himself is possibly even shocked inside but isn't showing it. And..."

Seijo narrowed his eyes while seeing Reiki stab Fuitchi in random places in his torso, arms, and thigh using his left hand's fingers. Seijo thought to himself. He quickly tapped a total of 16...23... Times already... I don't know what he's doing but every time he does it his aiming at his nervous system. Arashi took a deep breath and started to watch the fight.

She saw Fuitchi was constantly punching Reiki while his opponent was deflecting some of his punches using his left hand and Reiki's right hand was just blocking punches that were near to his face. She turned her head immediately and gritted her teeth saying. "Seijo-san, which part of this indicates his strength?" Seijo let out a sigh but kept his eyes on the fight and chose to keep silent.

[System: User has received 309 Damage.]

[System: User has received 302 Damage.]

[System: User has bleed 567 Damage.]

[System: User has dealt 21 Damage.]

[System: User has dealt 19 Damage.]

......

[System: User's pointing finger bones are slightly fractured.]

[System: User's middle finger bones are slightly fractured.]

[System: User has received 289 Damage.]

[System: User has received 357 Damage.]

[System: User has bleed 567 Damage.]

......

Fuitchi was still raining a barrage of fists into Reiki as if he was a punching bag. After the first few volleys of punches, some bruises can already be seen on Reiki's hands.

Reiki continued counting in his head.  27...29...

Fuitchi stopped punching all of a sudden and swiftly swiped his hand upwards creating a strong gust of wind. Reiki was slightly pushed back making him fall. His balance shifted as he thought. Fuc-. Fuitchi, using the palm of his hand, smacked Reiki in the stomach, sending him up in the air by 20 feet. Reiki thought. Just three more... As he was falling towards the ground Fuitchi kicked the area in front of him creating a strong gust of air sending him 15 feet away from him.

[System: User has received 132 Damage.]

[System: User has bleed 567 Damage.]

As he landed on the ground again Reiki slowly got up without making any noises while almost losing his balance twice. He put his right hand near his face again as Reiki's left hand was used to deflect. But this time two fingers on his left hand has slightly swollen and started to turn purple. Fuitchi stared at Reiki's eyes and saw that Reiki was still full of determination.

Fuitchi said. "You have a fighting spirit kid. I'll give you that... And those random taps sting for a while but don't do anything." Reiki stayed silent while he was gasping for air. Fuitchi shrugged his shoulders and said. "Fine. Have it your way." As he suddenly appeared in front of Reiki and lifted him by his neck. Reiki with his swollen middle finger swiftly stabs Fuitchi one in his shoulder blade and another at the neck hitting the spine.

[System: User has dealt 22 Damage.]

[System: User has dealt 17 Damage.]

Reiki thought. 30 and 31. Fuitchi said. "Well, fight over kid." Reiki smiled and said. "Yeah, I can agree to that." As he used his bruised pointing finger to quickly stab the position where Fuitchi's heart would be.

[System: User has dealt 19 Damage.]

[System: User has affected the target's nervous system. Target will stay influenced until certain conditions are met.]

All of a sudden Fuitchi's body tightened up and felt his whole nervous system in pain as if it was being pulled individually. Fuitchi made a loud grunting sound which everyone heard as he lost his grip on Reiki's neck and forced himself to keep standing. Reiki while breathing after each sentence said. "This is gonna hurt me more... Than it's gonna hurt you... Literally." Reiki took a deep breath as he took three steps starting with his left leg towards Fuitchi.

[System: User's right knee cap is shattered.]

[System: User has received 972 Damage.]

[System: User has bleed 567 Damage.]

Reiki doing the third step on his left leg beneath it had a small web of cracks growing. With a slight twist of his body to the right to gain more momentum, Reiki punched Fuitchi with all he had left in him.

[System: User has broken bones in his middle finger.]

[System: User has broken bones in his pointing finger.]

[System: User has bleed 567 Damage.]

[System: User has dealt 921 Damage.]

Reiki gasping for air was still in the same pose when he punched Fuitchi. The sleeves on his left were ruined by the one punch he did. And the right side of his clothes was battered and covered in dirt. After a few seconds, Reiki fell on his back and tried to calm his breathing. Reiki shouted. "I'm out! I give up! My body can only take on so much without giving up on me!" As he lied on the ground gasping for air. Facing the sun he closed his eyes to avoid staring at the artificial sun.

Then two shadows walked towards him. Reiki heard Arashi say. "You did great Lil bro! You may have only punched him once but it was so satisfying!" Seijo asked. "You say you go to Majutsu Academy?" Reiki kept his eyes closed and said. "Yes, that's the school where I am currently enrolled." Seijo said. "You didn't send any other academies your resume?" Reiki replied. "I did... But the other academies thought I was putting false information on them."

Seijo narrowed his eyes as he thought. He's hiding something from that question... No academy is willing to overlook someone like him... Even if he did, they would at least send someone to check if the information is true or not... Reiki said. "... Seijo-san. Not to be rude or anything but. Arashi said you know a few healing spells and I was hoping you could use one on me so I can walk again." Seijo kept a calm face and said. "Sure I was planning to do that in the first place. Just excuse the short delay I was thinking about some orders HQ gave me."

With a wave of his hand, Reiki's body was covered in a bubble of water. The water was transparent, cold, and slowly lifted Reiki off the ground as he started to float in the middle. There was a sphere of air around both his mouth and nose allowing him to breathe normally. Seijo thought. Now let's see-.

Yuko and the others were suddenly next to Seijo and Arashi. As Igai and Enkei were carrying Fuitchi who was constantly twitching as he forced himself to move. Yuko said. "Seijo-san we have a problem." Seijo turned around and said. "What is it?" Yuko pointed at Reiki who was at the bubble and said. "Whatever he did to Fuitchi isn't stopping. We gave him some of the medicine we have on hand and no luck. We tried pressure points, healing spells, and some debuff removal spells but nothing has worked so far."

Fuitchi gritting his teeth said. "I-I'm f-fine. The m-moment hi-his ready I-I'll start r-r-round the-three." As he twitched and forced himself to stand up but was caught by the two who carried him. Seijo frowned and cast a spell and soon Fuitchi had a thin layer of water on him. Seijo narrowed his eyes and said. "It's not working." Yuko started to walk towards Reiki who was still in the bubble. Arashi was in front of Yuko, preventing her from doing anything Yuko said. "Arashi stand aside."

Arashi said. "How about you make me." The two stared at each other as the pressure surrounding the two of them started to become heavier as parts of it started to change color. Before anything happened Seijo said. "No infighting!"

[System: User's Injuries fully healed.]

Reiki inside the water bubble could hear everything. Though all sounds he could hear were muffled he was able to distinguish who was talking. The voice said. [Get up, you're fully healed. And you should stop those humans from ripping each other's heads. No matter how entertaining it would be for me.] Reiki thought. Already? Fine, better make sure everyone plays nice

Reiki opened his eyes and stood inside the bubble as he tried to walk towards them. The moment Reiki's foot left the bubble it started to deflate and was absorbed into the ground. Seijo sensing his spell was canceled was wide-eyed as he stared at Reiki in shock.

After walking the short distance Reiki stood next to Arashi as he said. "It's easier to solve his problem than you think." Yuko stared at him with an indifferent expression and said. "Oh, then by all means. The floor is all yours." Reiki replied. "Relax." Yuko took a deep breath and said. "Okay... I hate to say it but I feel better now. How about you start helping him." Reiki answered. "I already did. Fuitchi-san needs to relax."

Yuko wore a frosty expression again when she heard what Reiki said. The atmosphere once again started to become heavier Arashi interrupted saying. "Calm down Yuko." Yuko took another moment to calm herself down and said. "How is relaxing supposed to help him?" Reiki said. "So he can control his body like normal again."

Yuko's expression didn't change this time but her voice turned cold saying. "Do you think we're all children? Do you think any one of us can't kill you if we felt like it? Now, I'll ask one last time. How do we heal him?" Reiki shrugged his shoulders saying. "I already told you. He needs to relax." Seijo frowned and said. "Hey... Reiki, I don't know if Fuitchi beating you up made you form a grudge against him. Since I healed you, I think it's only fair for you to help us heal him." Arashi said. "Come on Lil bro you don't have to do it for them, do it for me." Reiki let out a loud sigh for everyone to hear and said. "I am not lying. All he needs to do is relax." Seijo said. "Then why isn't healing, pressure points, and spells working?"

Reiki said. "Who says I applied a debuff to him?" As Seijo was about to say something he put a hand to his mouth as he started to think. Yuko, hearing Reiki's statement, started to ponder as well. Seijo remembered Fuitchi was still being affected by what Reiki did to him and asked. "Then what is happening to Fuitchi?" All eyes and ears were on Reiki as he said. "What happens when you hit your elbow on something?"

Seijo easily replied. "From what I know you hit the ulnar nerve"." Reiki said. "There's a bit more but that's the main part of it. When a person hits their elbow and it somehow pinches the ulnar nerve you'll start to experience moderate discomfort and a tingling sensation-." Fuitchi spoke with gritted teeth. "H-Hello! I'm s-still here w-waiting t-to be healed!" Reiki said. "Try taking a deep breath for starters and relax."

Fuitchi stared at Reiki and decided to trust him. With a large deep breath, his shaking dropped considerably as he started to relax more. Fuitchi started to move normally again. As he stood up Reiki said. "See, all he needed to do was relax." Fuitchi stood up by himself as he stared at Reiki and said. "That was one mean punch Lil bro. Sorry about treating you like a punching bag." Reiki answered. "It's fine. I'm sorry for calling you a muscle head."

Fuitchi was still staring at Reiki expecting to hear another apology. Since he didn't say anything Fuitchi said. "And." Reiki said. "And what?" Fuitchi frowned and replied. "What about what you said after saying 'round two muscle head?'." Reiki having realize it said. "Yeah, no. That remark still stands." All of a sudden Igai, Enkei, and Arashi started to laugh even Yuko joined in as she chuckled and giggled a bit. Fuitchi said. "That's not fair Lil bro you don't even know how I am in bed."

Reiki said. "And I would like it to stay that way." Reiki took two steps behind him as he hid behind Arashi and said. "Nee-san keep that weird man away from me... I think he may have hidden the fact he has a thing for little boys." The group started to laugh even harder Fuitchi let out a helpless smile while Yuko turned her back to them as she laughed. Arashi hearing this had blocked Reiki behind her obscuring Fuitchi view of him and said. "Fuitchi... I know we're friends but... Not him. I'll support your love, but my Lil bro is off-limits."

Fuitchi eyes widen as he stayed silent as the rest started to laugh even harder than before. Seijo said. "Reiki continue." Seijo who wasn't laughing and waited for Reiki to speak. Reiki replied. "Continue what?" Seijo answered. "The explanation from before. You didn't finish it and I want to understand how it works." Arashi narrowed her eyes staring at seijo as he ignored her. Reiki said. "It's not that impressive. All I did was replicate the tingling and mild discomfort from when a person pinches their ulnar nerve." Seijo said. "That's it?"

Reiki replied. "That's pretty much it. I just reproduced what you feel when you hit your ulnar nerve on your elbow and did it on a bigger scale." Seijo asked. "Then explain how did you succeed in doing it? And why you need to relax?"

Reiki said. "Relaxing wasn't the only option. Fuitchi could've just waited for it to pass, a few minutes in an ice bath to suppress the burning sensation." Seijo turned to Fuitchi and said. "Was there a burning sensation?" Fuitchi gave a slight nod and said. "It was faint at first but got a bit worse overtime. Not enough to sweat but it felt something similar to pouring boiled water on my nerves. And how long would last by the way?" Reiki said. "The effect should last about five minutes. If I'm lucky for just two minutes it's not that consistent since I can't find a need to use it that much."

Seijo frowned and said. "That doesn't answer my question." Reiki said. "It technically does since this treatment is usually used for when someone pinches their ulnar nerve." Seijo said. "Then how did you pull it off? You can't expect us to believe you made this on the spot." Reiki replied. "Honestly. This is still in its theoretical stages. And I only stumbled upon it during a crisis a couple of years back. At the time I had some extra pocket money to buy two books. I took acupuncture to relieve pain for my sister in case she overworked herself. And a simple textbook about the structure of the human body. Just to make sure I wasn't doing any short or long-term damage to her."

When Reiki mentioned his elder sister Arashi softly scoffed and started pouting. With a deadpan expression, she crossed her arms as her breast jiggled upon the sudden movement. Yuko stared at her breast as she compared hers to Arashi. With a small sigh, she admitted her defeat. All the boys ignored it hoping they wouldn't have to answer any question from the two women. Seijo didn't make any visible changes in his expression as he said. "Well, let's leave it at that. I hope your hun-." Before finishing his sentence the sound of a loud stomach grumbling was heard by everyone.

Reiki kept a straight face as everyone except Arashi laughed, Seijo said. "I'll just take that as a yes." Soon Seijo's sleeve started to glow once again and everyone was engulfed in light. When the light faded away everybody was at the shabu-shabu restaurant again. Seijo said. "Everyone, eat to your heart's content. You too Reiki." Reiki made a small nod. Seijo smiled in satisfaction, turned towards Arashi to ask some questions about Reiki and said. "Arash- never mind, it can wait."

But gave up finding out that Arashi was in a bad mood due to Reiki mentioning her older sister. Seijo smirked and thought. This is gonna be an interesting show to watch. Seijo continued to say. "Guys, you go on first and order everything. I have to make a report about Reiki to the others." Everyone walked inside the shabu-shabu place and punked out a private room with seven fluffy zabutons to sit on.

 Reiki picked the zabuton at one of the corners and sat on it and Arashi sat at his right and stayed silent. A woman came in from the door but before she said anything Fuitchi said. "We'll take everything. Beef, veggies, and drinks keep them coming. Don't worry about the payment."

As he pulled out eight pieces of platinum coins from his pocket. The woman seeing this was baffled and quickly regained her composure she said. "Understood." She made a respectful bow and closed the door and left. Soon they were four waiters bringing in plates, glasses, chopsticks, and other utensils efficiently. After a couple of minutes, there were four pots with different broths and an array of thinly sliced meat and bite-sized vegetables with an assortment of condiments on the side. Everyone said. "Itadakimasu." And started to eat their fill. 

Igai and Enkei were fighting over meat. Igai said. "Enkei! Stop hogging all of the beef!" As Igai stiffed three pieces of beef in one go followed by gorging himself with rice. Enkei said. "Not my fault you're so slow." As he followed suit.

Yuko said. "Everywhere we go, one of us is always fighting." Reiki looked at her plate that already had a pile of thinly sliced meat and veggies on the side. Fuitchi said. "Let them be Yuko, it's not like they're gonna break something while eating." Reiki turned his head at Fuitchi's plate to see a mountain of meat and no vegetables. Yuko pondered for a bit and said. "Fair point." And started to eat like a noble.

Reiki shrugged his shoulders as he started to reach out for a piece of thinly sliced beef but was stolen by Arashi who moved faster. He thought. Of course. Somehow I made her upset.

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