Chương 22: Title at the End (2)

Taking a deep breath and steeling my resolve, I looked at my dad standing across from me with a renewed sense of purpose.

"I've only just gotten to the point where my brain feels slightly comfortable with the pressure my M E puts on me; therefore, I can't overuse it without feeling the backlash. On the bright side, my body has been adapting to it well, and I suspect in the next year or so, I'll be able to use it constantly," I thought to myself while opening my Mind's Eye.

The immediate boost to my perception was a welcome feeling, especially after getting my butt kicked for the past couple of minutes.

After opening it, I closed my eyes and flickered towards my dad, preparing for an all-out assault against him. The boost to my perception while using the M E can't be overstated.

The reason for using the M E in conjunction with the body flicker is that while your eyes are closed, the tunnel vision disappears completely. With more training, I may not have to shut my eyes, but I haven't trained enough with this combination to be 100% sure.

'Originally, while flickering around my dad trying to create an opening or two, I had to slow down and give my eyes time to adjust every time I wanted to attack. Because of that tiny delay, he always reacted on time, either blocking or dodging my blows.

Closing my eyes and relying solely on the M E eliminates that delay and allows me to react almost instantly to any incoming attacks.' (A/N: I was thinking about how this would look, and I imagine it would resemble Spider-Man fighting Mysterio in 'Far from Home,' relying completely on his Spidey-sense.)

Watching his son flicker around him, Haru noticed an uptick in speed, also noticing that Shiran had oddly shut his eyes while moving around him.

"He seems to have had something up his sleeve after all," Haru smiled to himself while considering his next move.

'Faster, I have to go even faster if I want to hit him.'

As Shiran picked up speed, shifting from second gear into what seemed to be third gear, he closed in on Haru.

Boom, Boom, Boom.

My fists flew at dazzling speeds, all met head-on by Haru's fists, creating tiny shockwaves in the air.

I continued flickering all around the field with my eyes closed, still seeing everything thanks to my M E.

Appearing on my dad's right side, I sent a punch toward his lungs, intending to land a hit, but it was expertly evaded, almost as if he had seen the trajectory of my fist before it even got close.

My dad sent a roundhouse kick aiming for the back of my head, followed by an elbow aimed at my neck. I dodged the kick and sidestepped the elbow with the grace of a dancer. Dodging a combination like that I wouldn't have been able to dodge earlier when I was relying just on my eyes.

Flickering again, I appeared at his back once more. Thinking I might be able to sneak a hit in, I was completely wrong. My dad was ready this time and had already launched a right hook at my ribs that I couldn't completely dodge.

It hit me in a glancing blow, and I gritted my teeth from the pain.

'With how the second part of this fight has been going, I have the confidence to keep pushing, so that's exactly what I'll do.'

'If I just kick it up a little faster, I'll be able to hit him, I just know it,' I thought, intrigued by different ways to get under his guard.

I flickered again to his back and then substituted myself with another log, leaving it behind him. Appearing on his right, I threw a feint and flickered to his left side, creating a clone at my previous position, hoping the split-second distraction would be enough to help me with this plan.

My dad turned to block my clone's strike just to have it phase right through his arm. During this time, I flickered onto my dad's left side and threw a punch aimed at his chest. He stopped abruptly before turning and blocking my punch again, but that's when I smiled at him as I turned into a log. Before he could register what happened, I had appeared on his backside once more, launching a punch flying with blistering speed toward his body.

'So that's why you substituted yourself for another log when you were at my back instead of launching another attack,' Haru thought to himself while reacting to his son's punch.

My dad barely dodged the punch, a letdown, but I had gotten him on his back foot.

'I'll keep pressing this advantage; I just have to go even faster.'

I kept stepping up, pushing back my dad while he struggled to cope with my speed. Every punch seemed to leave an afterimage with whistling air behind it.

As Haru continued to be thumped by most of my punches, his eyebrows stayed raised as he evaluated the speed of the fight.

'He could easily be at mid to high chunin level speed right now. I originally thought his upper limit was high genin to this point, but I guess closing his eyes and relying on just his M E allowed him to crank his speed up past what he was capable of before,' Haru smirked a little watching Shiran, knowing the spar was going to end soon.

'Keep pressing; he can't keep up with me at his current skill level.'

With one last burst of chakra, I weaved through my dad's swift strikes and only barely got grazed on the cheek by an uppercut coming to take my head off.

Thump.

I opened my eyes, feeling the fist meeting flesh, and looked up at my dad, who had a slight smile while looking at me.

"I guess you completed your challenge this time, Shiran," my dad remarked, pride bubbling up in my chest.

Before I could celebrate, a wave of drowsiness and a sudden headache hit me. As I started to fall unconscious, my dad caught me, preventing me from hitting the ground.

The last thing I heard before passing out made me smile with gratitude and a sense of accomplishment. "Good job, son, I'm so proud of you."

Title: Spar with Dad; First Hit.