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  • Makai-Ichi Budōkai – Chapter 21: Ketsu [Till Next Time, Friends!] Cover
    by Malik Womack “Earth to Temujin!!” Pink fingers snapped in front of his face. He looked to Sesame and pulled himself back to something that felt more comfortable than nirvana.  “Is it over?” She hugged him so tightly the air left him. He hugged back. Finally, a lovely touch. Yulaan came limping through the wreckage, hair ragged and down, side bleeding freely. She looked him up and down, taking in the burn marks, the dark wrist-curse, the stupid living face. Then she rushed him, wrapped one arm…
  • Makai-Ichi Budōkai – Chapter 20: Fated Siblings, Fated Paths? Temujin vs Ryūei FINALE Cover
    by Malik Womack The crowd slowly settled to safer ledges and broken seats under his light. Even the Daimaō came down on his cloud in a crooked glide, beard pulled loose on one side, expression caught between humiliation and delight. He raised his fist. “Go, Temujin!” the demon king cried.  Ryūei broke free and the aura dispersed. She panted and felt her wrist. “To hell with your silly self aggrandizement, filth. You're a normal puke born under a normal sky. You don't even deserve to bear a…
  • Makai-Ichi Budōkai – Chapter 19: Heaven’s Vengeance! Temujin vs Ryūei Part 5 Cover
    by Malik Womack The mountain ranges beyond the arena answered. Peaks shook. Loose ridges lifted from their roots and hung in the air. Storm clouds gathered with unnatural speed, churning above the broken roof, then were blown apart by the first pulse of her power. The empty pit where the black water had been split wider, revealing old bones embedded in the stone below. The Daimaō’s cloud bucked. He grabbed the armrest of nothing and failed to stay dignified as he and three shrieking demon babes lifted from the…
  • Makai-Ichi Budōkai – Chapter 18: Transformation! Temujin vs Ryūei Part 4 Cover
    by Malik Womack Beyond them, demons who had stopped cheering and started edging away. The hyena mother and Zeru and Temu, skittering to safety not far off from Makku, who ran and didn't turn back. Injured spectators crawling over broken seats. Sword-school disciples forming a defensive ring around their wounded master. The arena’s appetite had curdled. The crowd that had come to watch death had discovered death laughing back. He saw Utita pulling Ari-apari, but the boy refused to move. And the manly voiced boy…
  • Makai-Ichi Budōkai – Chapter 9: Strength and Power! Enekai vs Daigen Cover
    by Malik Womack The medical attendants came for Bakuga with a little black funeral stretcher and no jokes. That, more than the blood, told the arena what had happened. Demons could laugh at torn arms, burst skulls, gut-spills, headless men walking three steps in search of revenge. They knew what to do with ordinary violence. They leaned into it. They paid for it. But the small body in the orange tunic, the still firefly on the crooked goggled hat, and Mukhahīna Śveta walking away with his arms behind his back had…
  • Makai-Ichi Budōkai – Chapter 8: Creepshow! Bakuga vs Mukhahīna Cover
    by Malik Womack Bakuga KōtenversusMukhahīna Śveta A part of Temujin grumbled that the two most interesting fighters were about to go at it, but that part took a blow to the nads. Heaven above, he hoped Enekai faced off against whoever won this one. She was probably going to sweep this, and he wasn't entirely bothered by the thought, though his own martial pride didn't let him entertain blowing their inevitable showdown. Yeah, it'd be the two of them, surely. He felt he could take the others.  Well, Ryūei…
  • by Malik Womack Three men from Black Reed Hall entered in dark green robes, each with a reed flute tucked into his sash. Nobody looked at them until the last one stepped wrong and showed the iron plates beneath his sleeves. Then everyone looked. “Those must be dignitaries or somethin’,” Sesame said, leaning back for a better view. “Daimaō’s boys, maybe,” Yulaan said. “Means the big guy’s here.” Near the entrance, a bald oni spat into a bowl. He was brawny and broad, his skin a dark pale…
  • Makai-Ichi Budōkai – Chapter 17: Defying Fate? Temujin vs Ryūei Part 3 Cover
    by Malik Womack “Nine!” He awoke. “And—!” Pink smoke struck him in the face. It had the taste of sugar, copper, and Sesame’s sweet sweat. He sat up before he understood that sitting up should have been impossible. His ribs no longer ground together. His throat opened. The crushed place under the sternum filled with warmth. His torn cheek sealed. His lungs drank air and found room for it.  He stood.  Sesame stood at the rail with one hand stretched toward him, her whole arm…
  • Makai-Ichi Budōkai – Chapter 16: Onryō Rage, Dragon Shadow Cover
    by Malik Womack Late afternoon lay over the palm-dappled canal town with the soft authority of habit. Laundry snapped between second-story balconies. The sparring yard behind Old Hu’s tea shed was dusty from boys dragging heels through practice stances. Wooden bridges crossed the canal in stacked angles, darkened by old rain and hand oil. Children shouted over the water. Someone fried fish with too much pepper. Someone cursed at a pump engine that had survived the Horror, the reconstruction, three floods, and every…
  • Makai-Ichi Budōkai – Chapter 15: A Savage Battle! Temujin vs Ryūei Part 2 Cover
    by Malik Womack The arena snapped sideways. He hit the stone on his shoulder and rolled through pain bright enough to have color. Before he could find his knees, a second blow struck the ribs. A third landed under the sternum. A fourth slapped his guard aside and cracked across the cheek.  He came up on one elbow. She kicked him down. He gasped and looked up at her. She stood. He had, at the last panicked moment, seen her move and braced himself. “For you,” she said, “I start with twenty…
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