Stone Fist

Akane readied himself, waiting for the men to attack.

"They're Disciples," Raijin commented.

"As expected." Akane's fists tightened.

"They are from the ones I told you are coming for us," Raijin added.

"In short, we've got gods on our tail."

"Exactly."

"Was that hard to say right from the start?" Akane rolled his eyes.

One of the men came charging at Akane, cutting his conversation with Raijin.

Akane stepped back, a punch whistling past his face followed by an uppercut he also dodged by an inch.

The attacker didn't stop there, he threw a kick at Akane but it got blocked.

Akane pushed the man's leg back down. He kicked the side of the man's knee, causing him to bend, then he gave him a sound punch with all his strength.

The man passed out immediately.

Akane grinned. "Hehe, this seems easy after all."

The other two men looked at each other and then back at Akane. One with a baseball cap cracked his neck. He pulled up the sleeves of his shirt, and his fists became enveloped in flames.

"Or… maybe not?" Akane muttered as one of them came charging.

Akane ducked at a strike, spearing the attacking man into a pile of boxes. He was about to punch when he felt someone yank him from behind and slam him into a wall.

A fist came for his face but he tilted his head. The fist collided with the wall, the entire fist going nearly past halfway in.

Akane blinked rapidly. "That thing was meant for my head?"

He quickly drove his knee into the man's gut, then he went on to drive his elbow to side of his face.

From behind Akane felt a pair of arms wrapping around him and hoisting him up. He was flung far into a couple of wooden crates, landing with his back.

"Aargh, my back," he groaned.

As he stood up, the first thing he saw was fire as a flaming punch connected to his face, sending him tumbling on the ground.

Akane tried getting up but the guy rushed over and slammed his boot into Akane's stomach, forcing out a deep groan from him.

The guy bent down, coming with a punch well aimed for Akane's face.

At the very moment, Akane's eyes glowed a faint blue, everything slowing down by a few milliseconds.

That was just enough time for him to think of something.

At the moment, he had no choice but to try and take this hit, hoping it wasn't going to put him in a really bad state.

Putting his hands over his face together, he blocked the attack, but the impact left his hands numb and scorched for a little while before his healing factor kicked in.

As the attacker cocked his hand back to deliver another punch, Akane quickly brought his legs up and kicked the man off him.

He rushed in, taking the attack to them this time. Everything was slower than before and he easily weaved through their attacks.

Pushing one of them into a bunch of boxes, Akane focused on flaming fist.

The fire punches whistled past him with each dodge. Spotting the perfect opening, he intentionally made the guy believe he was going to get him, then he deflected it and held the hand.

Drawing him close, he gave the guy two punches and then swept him of his feet, slamming him to the ground with force.

"That… that was so—"

Akane didn't complete his words when something hit him on the head.

His vision started to get blurry as his hand moved to the spot where he felt the pain. As he brought his hand down he saw blood. "Ah shit,"

He turned to see the one guy he hadn't completely beaten holding a metal bar.

The man didn't hesitate in swinging again, but Akane ducked and gave him a roundhouse kick that snapped his neck to the side.

He staggered to the side resting on the wall.

His eyes went to his food and he walked over to pick it up, making his way out the alley, before they wake up and come after him once more.

As he staggered, eyes blurry, immediately he stepped out of the alley he was walking like a normal person.

In that short time his healing did what it had to.

… …

Akane sat at home eating the ramen he got with a serious look on his face. "So, why exactly are they after you then? Which is literally me now."

"I'm finding it hard to remember, but I believe they're from my pantheon," Raijin replied.

"Why would your own try to 'attack' you?" Akane said with a mouthful.

"What's the difference between what you asked first and this one, looking at my reply?"

Akane shrugged and continued eating. "Look, I can't be trying to save my life for something I know nothing about."

"You can die if you want."

"What? No!"

"Then defend yourself, moron."

Akane closed his eyes and exhaled. His life took the craziest of turns ever since the god in his head came into the picture. But there was nothing he could right now.

He picked up his laptop and opened it in front of him, typing something in. "Okay, so… Akane, you have to try something new," he muttered to himself.

"Ha!" He mused. "Found one, yes!"

After thinking Fuyoko's words over, Akane decided since he had more time now, he could go into freelancing, and he just found what seemed to be his first job.

… …

Abandoned warehouse, somewhere.

Members of a Yakuza clan stacked several vans with boxes. Inside the warehouse, as they moved the goods, one man sat by the side watching them.

This was Isao Nakami, the leader of the most influential Yakuza clan in the country as of now—the Stone Fist.

"...mm, that is all I need to know. Consider it done." He cut the call he was on.

"All good boss?" One of the two men flanking him asked.

"Yes. We just have a little…lightning problem." He nodded, his eyes glowing a faint green for a second in the darkness.

This was Tetsu's vessel