Chapter 918 - 918: The Man Who Could See the Future

The Tokyo Dome erupts, tens of thousands roaring in a chaotic mix of Japanese and foreign voices at the sudden counter and unexpected knockdown.

"RYOMA!!!"

"HE DROPPED THE CHAMPION!"

"WHAT A COUNTER!"

"GOT YOU, CABELLO! HOW DOES IT FEEL?!"

"THAT'S OUR RYOMA!!!"

Around the VIP section, journalists, world champions, and promoters exchange serious whispers, dissecting the sudden counter and knockdown. Only now they are realizing it as the culmination of everything Ryoma has engineered since round six.

A little farther away, Kirizume slowly shakes his head, a faint smile crossing his face. "This kid never fails to surprise me. Just when I think he's finally reached his ceiling, he suddenly shows another side of himself I've never seen before."

Sitting beside him, half his face hidden behind a mask, is Renji Kuroiwa, the former face of Japanese boxing who disappeared after his loss to Miguel Cabello.

He says nothing, but something twists deep inside his chest. For several rounds, Cabello's Cuban Boxing had reminded him of the despair he once endured. Tonight, however, the champion looks nothing like the man Renji once faced.

For a moment, he had even feared that Ryoma would become another victim of the same hands. But now watching Ryoma turn the fight around awakens something uglier in him: bitterness toward another man's growth, envy he hates himself for feeling, and anger at the limits he has never overcome.

"You know what?" Kirizume says. "He went through the same struggle as you did. I believe he had it even harder. But the difference between you and him is his mental strength. He never stopped trying, searching for solution after solution instead of accepting the situation."

Back in the ring, Cabello does not stay on one knee for long. His balance remains unsteady, but his legs carry him upright shortly after Ryoma reaches the neutral corner.

The referee continues the count directly in front of him, following protocol despite the anger burning across Cabello's face.

"Five!"

"Six!"

"Seven!"

"Eight!"

Only then does the referee stop the count and raise both of Cabello's gloves, completing another mandatory check.

"You good to go?"

Cabello immediately shoves him aside, his eyes never leaving Ryoma.

"I'm fine. Just resume the fight, damn it..."

Cabello smacks his gloves together once before bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet. His rhythm remains smooth, but the tension in his face is unmistakable, his sharp eyes burning with restrained fury.

"Let's take another look at that knockdown," the first commentator says as the replay rolls across the giant screen. "Ryoma switched his stance, and Cabello read the angle wrong. One mistake, one punishment."

"And that left cross landed flush," the second adds. "Cabello is already back on his feet, and his legs still look steady. Physically, he doesn't appear badly hurt from that shot."

"But look at his face."

"Yeah. That's not the Cabello we've been watching for the last few rounds. He isn't smiling, he isn't enjoying the rhythm anymore. He looks furious."

"The punch may not have done much damage physically, but Ryoma has certainly changed the atmosphere inside this ring."

Meanwhile, Ryoma makes no immediate attempt to capitalize on the knockdown. He returns to his usual pendulum step within a small area near his corner, quietly studying the champion's condition.

Before long, his Vision Grid updates its assessment, translucent overlays flickering across his field of vision.

***

[ANOMALY DETECTED]

Post-Knockdown Motor Response: Outside Projected Range

Footwork Stability: Higher Than Expected

Projected Response Deviation: 71.8%

MARGIN OF ERROR: EXCEEDS ACCEPTABLE THRESHOLD

***

Ryoma's expression tightens. The Cabello he had studied should not have this kind of endurance, nor should he still be this resilient after everything he had absorbed, which only strengthens his suspicion that drugs are involved.

And indeed, whatever had been injected into Cabello's bloodstream in the locker room was still suppressing his body's normal responses to fatigue and pain, allowing him to push himself far beyond what his condition should have permitted.

Soon, Ryoma ends his observation and begins testing the champion, stepping in behind a two-beat flicker: a textbook jab that immediately changes shape into a whipping second.

Cabello parries the first, then smoothly steps away from the second with an L-step, changing angles before lunging from surprisingly far to fire his own flicker jab.

Ryoma blocks it cleanly while adjusting his angle.

Dug.

He steps in again, riding his Soviet rhythm, throwing two lazy, swaying jabs before suddenly snapping out a quick one-two.

But Cabello's rhythm hasn't diminished. He lightly parries the first two jab…

Dp. Dp.

…then slips off the line before Ryoma can finish, leaving the one-two to slice through empty space.

"Look at Cabello!" the first commentator exclaims. "He's right back in his rhythm, moving like that knockdown never happened."

"It's incredible," the second agrees. "You'd think that counter had never landed. He's still sharp, still fluid, and completely comfortable on his feet."

Cabello begins blending his familiar dance with compact boxing footwork, circling within a small area while occasionally leaving deliberate openings as bait, slightly bowing left and right without protecting his head.

"Come on, you little bastard."

"You want to finish me, don't you?"

"Then come closer if you fucking dare."

The movement still carries the unmistakable shape of Cuban Boxing, but Ryoma notices the tension gathering in Cabello's shoulders and forearms.

The champion isn't simply dancing anymore; he's setting a trap, waiting for Ryoma to bite and give him a chance to repay that counter.

But somehow, Ryoma finds Cabello's movements no longer look so random. There is clear intent behind every sway and feint, each one carefully placed rather than improvised.

"So now you're inviting me into a mind game?"

The system answers in its usual casual tone.

<< That means he's starting to think. >>

<< Which means your trap has already worked. >>

<< He's stepping into your world now. >>

Cabello gives another subtle feint with his lead hand, then shifts his weight as if preparing to burst toward Ryoma's right side, but Ryoma simply adjusts his stance without committing to the bait.

Cabello immediately changes direction, stepping across and opening a narrow lane before closing it again, trying to see whether Ryoma will follow the angle he has deliberately offered.

But Ryoma doesn't fall to the temptation. Instead, he remains just outside the line Cabello wants him to enter, forcing the champion to reset.

Cabello finally commits to another sudden change of direction, darting toward the opposite side with a sharp burst of footwork.

"Cabello keeps inviting Ryoma to commit, but Ryoma is being unusually careful."

"Or maybe he's reading every intention Cabello throws at him."

Cabello tries to bait Ryoma into his counter, but Ryoma uses every feint to map his preferred escape patterns.

He watches Cabello repeat the same movements again, rocking his head from side to side while twitching his shoulder with feints and occasionally offering his head as bait.

<< He is waiting for you to make the first move. >>

"Fine… I'll give him exactly what he wants."

Ryoma steps in with a sharp jab without quickly pulls the arm back, deliberately leaving an opening in the middle.

Cabello parries with his right and quickly swings a lead hook counter toward the exposed midsection Ryoma has offered.

Already anticipating it, Ryoma steps away and quickly steps back it, answering with a quick straight.

And Cabello instantly ducks beneath the return before pivoting away.

Ryoma follows with another entry, this time changing the rhythm halfway through and firing a short combination toward Cabello's retreating line.

Cabello anticipates the angle, turns with it, and slips away before the final punch can find him.

"They're exchanging traps now."

"Exactly. Every move is bait, every response is already being anticipated."

"This is elite-level counter-punching."

Neither man commits fully, but neither is simply waiting either. Every attack forces an answer, every answer creates another escape, and each exchange reveals a little more of what the other man is trying to set up.

Before long, Cabello begins to realize that Ryoma has figured out what he is trying to do. So instead of countering every opening, he decides to lure Ryoma deeper and let him build the combination himself.

He parries the first punch, slips the next, and keeps giving ground without fully escaping, allowing Ryoma to chain his attacks while waiting for his posture and stance to break under his own pressure.

"Come on, kid. Catch me if you can…"

But after chasing Cabello with more than five punches combination, Ryoma's structure is still intact.

His feet remain underneath him, his posture never collapses, and he has never overcommitted enough to leave himself exposed.

Cabello slips outside again, slides his lead foot and finally intends to sends a left hook from Ryoma's blind spot.

But Ryoma adjusts his angle well and faces Cabello squarely, almost as if inviting punch, ready to counter.

The adjustment catches Cabello by surprise.

"What the…"

Cabello slips and makes a quick decoy toward his left, and then darts toward the opposite side to escape the angle.

But Ryoma reads everything: the blatant decoy, and the exit route toward his left.

"You can't run away from me anymore."

With one ghost step, he cuts the space between him and Cabello, and chains it with a phantom jab.

It catches Cabello by another surprise.

Dsh!

"There! Ryoma finally catches him!"

The punch lands flush on the face before Cabello can complete the escape.

Ryoma cocks his right hand, and Cabello immediately ducks, throwing a decoy toward Ryoma's left before suddenly breaking the other way.

Without adjusting his angle, Ryoma simply slides his right foot in a short ghost step and cutting off the space in southpaw stance.

"Uh-huh. You can't fool me anymore."

And…

DSH!

Another phantom jab, this time from his right hand, lands flush on Cabello's face.

"Again!"

"He caught him twice!"

Cabello's vision flashes white for a moment, but he still catches sight of the incoming left. Instinctively, he ducks beneath it and steps out toward the opposite side.

"Uh-huh…"

Ryoma simply follows with another ghost step, returning to orthodox stance as he slides his left foot toward Cabello, cutting the space and catching Cabello much earlier.

His left hand snaps out while Cabello is still badly off-balance from the escape.

Dsh!

"Another one!"

The stiff phantom jab hits Cabello cleanly in the face. Already off balance, Cabello falls backward, his hips slamming onto the canvas.

"AND HE'S DOWN AGAIN!!!"

"THREE EXITS, THREE JABS! CABELLO CAN'T ESCAPE HIM ANYMORE!"

"It's like Ryoma can see the future! He knows where Cabello is going before he even moves!"