Bad Born Blood - Chapter 64



Only Noblemtl

064

Ken Noma did not deny my reasoning. It was Ken, not Tora, who received Kinuan’s support.

I don’t know much about Tora, but Ken Noma seems to know. He has mastered the art of Aki’s fighting to a considerable degree. There won’t be many who can handle him in the lower zone.

From what I’ve investigated so far, it doesn’t seem like Tora would have the ability to command Ken Noma as a subordinate.

Kinuan exerted his influence over the lower sector through Ken Noma, and Ken Noma used Tora as a shield by putting him forward as a boss.

This is the relationship diagram that came to my mind.

‘There are countless ways to kill Ken.’

The image of me smashing Ken’s head appeared in afterimages everywhere.

No matter how good he is, he is still a wreck, and his brain was forcibly awakened through drugs. His limbs are standard prosthetics, and his proficiency in Archie’s combat techniques is no higher than mine.

But I have nothing to gain by killing Ken. Capturing him alive is the only gain.

It is much harder to capture an animal alive than to kill it, let alone a human.

Kiiing!

Ken straightened the sword with both hands. The tip of the sword traced a semicircle and fell cleanly to the floor.

Ken’s posture was neat. He must have been a great fighter before he fell into a state of incapacitation. I wondered what means Aleph used to subdue Ken. It must have been a rather cowardly means. That’s why Ken was gnashing his teeth like this.

Boom!

I kicked the ground and moved forward.

I swung my Crucis to try and break Ken’s sword. Ken’s sword is pretty good, but my Crucis is a high-pressure heavy weapon produced by the Imperial Workshop. If we hit it, Ken’s sword will shatter like glass.

Whirl!

Ken was a skilled swordsman. He avoided my attacks with minimal movement without engaging the sword. He had an excellent ability to read numbers. I don’t know if it was his natural ability or the power of the drug.

Whoosh!

Ken’s stabs, aimed only at my vital parts, were sharp. The tip of the knife slipped between my limbs.

‘Should I just kill him?’

Ken was such a difficult opponent that I had this thought. I felt like I would get beat if I wasn’t careful.

“Akes?”

I didn’t answer Ken’s question.

Kendo seemed to have noticed my movements only then. Even though they are users of the same Akiess fighting technique, the frequency of movements characteristic of Akiess fighting techniques is low in high-performance bodies.

I didn’t answer Ken’s question.

If Ken learned the Aikies fighting techniques from Kinuan… …then he would be my classmate. Well, it’s funny to argue about such things.

‘What a waste of talent, Ken.’

If he had used that talent to serve the empire, he would have risen to quite a high position.

Our fight was different from a normal fight. Both of us were highly skilled in the Archies fighting technique. Our attacks and defenses matched each other as if we were in sync. Since we were four or five steps ahead, there were also positions that were difficult to understand with normal intuition.

Even Grace, a former Royal Guard cadet, wouldn’t fully understand our fight, much less Gabriel.

‘To capture Ken, you have to go further, more, higher… …read the flow.’

I accelerated my thinking.

I recalled Kinuan’s advice. I still haven’t fully utilized my brain. The guardsmen must drastically increase the resources and bandwidth of their brain’s nervous system to use the ultra-high-performance armored body called Legion. I’ve been training for nearly four years.

I can drag it out more. Scrape it all the way to the bottom.

I have already done all the computational processing within the field of vision and information that I have perceived. And even then, there are still available brain resources left.

I thought of one use for it.

‘… … doublethink.’

Create another thought. Just like using your left and right hands in different ways.

But this is a tricky way. The human brain is different from a computer. It is very difficult to consciously separate thoughts and process two thoughts at the same time.

Therefore, the second thought must have certain rules and symmetries. It must be simpler than the first thought, but in a more derivative form. The second thought cannot be completely separate from the main thought. It is a kind of auxiliary thought.

‘The battle right before your eyes is dealt with by the first thought.’

For the second auxiliary thought, let’s look at a more macroscopic flow.

Auxiliary thinking devises more efficient combat methods based on environmental information input from my sensory organs. It was an extension of the 3D stereoscopic map. It is like putting the enemy and myself in a stereoscopic map and constantly running a simulation in advance. At the same time, it receives information about the enemy and the environment in real time in conjunction with the first thinking, and corrects the errors between reality and virtuality.

Actually, there is nothing special. This is the way of the Archie battle technique. The difference is that it calculates ‘faster’ and ‘more cases’ by separating auxiliary thoughts. Above all, even if the calculations increase, it does not interfere with the combat thinking that requires quick reactions.

… … The explanation is long, but it’s simple if you summarize it. I finished the optimization.

Pot!

Ken’s blade passed through my chest.

My evasion was late. So I couldn’t avoid getting my skin cut. I neglected the actual battle while reorganizing my way of thinking.

Gulp.

The blood flowing from my chest soaked my clothes.

‘The first conventional thinking is combat thinking. It deals with the battle in front of you. It is thinking that sees two or three moves and responds quickly.’

‘Second-order thinking is tactical thinking. Immediate combat reactions are left to first-order thinking. Tactical thinking draws the big picture and calculates not two or three moves, but three or four seconds ahead.’

I don’t know if the doublethink I came up with is the next step that Kinuan spoke of, but it was the only thing that came to mind.

I will push Ken Noma based on tactical thinking. I will push him to a point where he cannot escape and cut off his arms and legs.

I moved in line with the tactical objective of ‘capture’. I boldly inserted my body into Ken’s range, taking short-term risks.

Kang!

I blocked Ken’s blade with my left arm. Ken quickly pulled back, pulling his body and arm away at the same time before the blade caught him.

Before he knew it, Ken was backed up against the wall. To his left was a half-collapsed display case. There was no way to avoid it.

Ken had only one space left, front and right. I stood there as if blocking it and swung my sword long. It was a perfect shot.

Swish!

Ken stepped forward as if offering his neck to my sword. He actually offered his neck because he knew my goal was to capture him.

‘I expected this, Ken Noma.’

I predicted that Ken would do something like that. I’ve used the same tactic against ‘strong men who want to capture me’. The practical experience I’ve accumulated over the years is shining through.

Rick Kaiser, when I fought him, I intentionally threw away my safety and risked my life. That way, the enemy hesitated.

It’s hard to change the trajectory after swinging the Crucis, a high-pressure heavy weapon. My body moves as if it’s being dragged by the sword. If I brake wrong, my arm will break.

Boohoo!

So I swung my sword and then let go. My sword flew through the floor like a boomerang.

Whirlyrick!

I kicked the ground as I let go of my sword. My body floated in the air like a nimble bee. I soared over Ken Noma’s head and jumped over him.

You’re defenseless, Ken.

Ken’s nape and back are clearly visible.

Kwajik!

I fell, pressing my knees against Ken’s back. I could hear his spine cracking.

Ken didn’t even scream. He tried to turn around and swing his sword. But it was too late.

Ugh!

I grabbed Ken’s right arm and twisted it. The power of my body is overwhelming. Once I grab him, there is no way for Ken to escape.

It felt like cheating to break it so easily.

If Ken had a body of the same level as me, I wouldn’t have been defeated so easily. A desire to fight Ken in perfect condition slowly rose up in a corner of my heart.

Anyway, the important thing now is to capture him.

Ugh!

I put my hand in Ken’s mouth and pulled his lower jaw before he hurt himself. The jaw joint broke and the lower jaw fell out.

I disabled Ken.

“Hoooo… … .”

My breath escaped from the corners of my mouth. I looked up, feeling a pounding headache.

As the situation was over, Grace and Gabriel were walking into the office. I instructed Gabriel to take Aleph and Ken to the arena medical room.

Gabriel carried Aleph and Ken on each shoulder and walked out into the hallway.

“You are more skilled than I thought, Luca.”

Grace stood beside me and said.

I was sitting on a chair and resting. It seemed that the double thinking was not doubling the burden on my brain, but several times more. Even though it was a short battle, my nervous system was so tired that my fingertips were shaking.

“… …Are you a cadet of the Royal Guard?”

Grace spoke cautiously. As a former cadet, she must have felt a sense of awkwardness watching me fight. The principles of my fighting style come from the Royal Guard’s fighting style and the Archies fighting style.

“I don’t know.”

I said bluntly. I expected Grace to catch me.

“I won’t tell Diva for now. It seems like pretty dangerous information.”

Grace made her own judgment. She wasn’t just a loyal doll. She felt more like a guardian who cared for Martina Diva.

* * *

I sent Ken Noma to the hospital for detention and treatment. It was a hospital in the lower district that provided proper treatment.

Ken was locked up with his arms and legs cut off and only a gag. He was also mentally unstable due to acute drug intoxication. It would be difficult for him to communicate properly for some time.

“Ooh, ew, ah, ahh! Ha, don’t! Don’t do that!”

Aleph was screaming in his hospital bed.

The taste was the same for the tortured Aleph. His face after the surgery was dislocated like a rag, and was severely asymmetrical. Whether it was a mental problem or a crooked lip, his speech was also slurred.

The sharp opportunist side of Aleph was nowhere to be seen.

“It’s hopeless.”

I muttered as I looked at Aleph. Aleph was not in a condition to run an arena. Even if he returned to normal, it would be difficult to return.

The arena is not a normal business. It’s a gang-run business. They won’t wait for Aleph to recover.

The nature of the gang is no different from that of a pack of beasts, and the weakened leader is simply driven out. As soon as Aleph fell into a state of insolvency, the arena faction was torn apart by the surviving leaders.

The remaining executives will fight for the position of Arena Manager as soon as the organization is formed.

“Can’t La Vie en Rose manage the arena?”

I came out of the hospital room and asked Grace. Grace shook her head.

“There will be strong opposition from within La Vie en Rose to take over the arena. We are a gang, but we have our own traditions and rules. And the moment we touch the arena business, other gangs will fiercely oppose us. No gang wants to see one side grow unilaterally.”

“Hmm, Gabriel doesn’t have the skills to run an arena… … .”

Gabriel has no business sense. Neither do I.

I pushed the thought of the arena to the corner. When I thought about it carefully, the future of the arena had nothing to do with me.

However, I left chaos in the lower zone. The balance of the lower zone was shaken due to my intervention.