Yomi is an organization serving under Yami and one of the main antagonistic factions in the second half of History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi along with Yami. It is a group of disciples serving under Yami's leaders and like Yami is split into two factions, unarmed and armed divisions. They seek to defeat Kenichi and the Shinpaku Alliance to prove themselves as the strongest and assert the Killing Fist (Satsujinken) practice as the true purpose of martial arts. It is revealed that Ragnarök, the antagonist faction from the first half of the series, was created to oppose and replace Yomi before it was disbanded.
Summary[]
Each member of Yomi is a disciple of one (or in some cases multiple) of the One Shadow, Nine Fists in the unarmed division or the Hachiō Executioner Blade in the armed division. Most members of Yomi are the only disciples of their respective master and share their symbol with them, but some masters have multiple disciples. The members of Yomi have incredible training, fighting skills, and resources, including soldiers to serve under their command depending on the disciple's and their master's methods.
Unarmed Division[]
When the Yomi unarmed division was first introduced, there were ten main members, one for each of One Shadow, Nine Fists.
- Satomi Kajima is the disciple of Senzui and Saiga, the leaders of Yami's unarmed division who share the title of One Shadow, and was chosen to become Yomi's new leader after Shō died.
- Shō Kanō was the disciple of Akira Hongō, holding the Sky Emblem, and selected as the main successor of the One Shadow, Nine Fists, receiving training from each of the masters. He was the original leader of Yomi until his death.
- Boris Ivanov is the disciple of Alexander Gaidar and holder of the Ice Emblem.
- Chikage Kushinada is the disciple and foster daughter of Mikumo Kushinada and holder of the Water Embelm.
- Ethan Stanly is the disciple of Cyril Rahman, brother of Rachel, and Holder of the Void Emblem.
- Rachel Stanley is the disciple of Diego Carlo, sister of Ethan, and holder of the Steel Emblem.
- Tirawit Kokin is the disciple of Agaard Jum Sai and holder of the Flame Emblem.
- Chou Enshin was the disciple of Jisei Ro and holder of the Moon Embelm until he was defeated by Natsu Tanimoto and had his position replaced by him.
- Ryūto Asamiya AKA Odin was one of the disciples of Isshinsai Ogata, the leader of Ragnarök, the holder of the Flow Emblem and an old friend of Kenichi. He was crippled from using a dangerous technique and confined to a wheelchair. When his master leads Yomi to launch an attack on the Shinpaku Alliance, Ryūto reveals he has recovered and turns on his master for using him and others as experiments to test out the dangerous technique that crippled him.
- Raden Tidat Jihan was the disciple of Silkwat Jenazad, holder of the King Emblem and king of Tidat, a fictional archipelago country. When Raden was unable to defeat Kenichi, Jenazad disowned him as a disciple and tried to bury both him and Kenichi in an avalanche. Raden was presumed dead, but he secretly survived and went into hiding to avoid being discovered and killed by Jenazad. When Jenazad kidnaps Miu and brings her to Tidat to brainwash her into his new disciple, Hayato Fūrinji brings Raden back his home country to stop a civil war orchestrated by Jenazad, who perished at the hands of Akira Hongō. Raden cuts ties with Yomi and Yami and remains in his kingdom to rule and undo the chaos sown by Jenezad.
As several of the main members become inactive for various reasons (Shō perished, Chou was replaced, Jihan was presumed dead, Tirawit was deported, Ethan temporarily left, both Boris and Rachel became inactive after their masters were arrested). New members were brought in to fill the ranks left by the incapacitated.
- Natsu Tanimoto AKA Hermit is the disciple of Sōgetsu Ma and the former sixth fist of Ragnarök. After leaving Ragnarök, Hermit found his master and resumed hit training. While remaining partially aligned with the Shinpaku Alliance, Hermit would seemingly switch sides to Yomi after defeating Chou Enshin's and taking his place. Despite joining Yomi, Hermit remained inactive from most attacks on Kenichi and the Shinpaku Alliance. During Yami's attempt to start the Eternal Setting Sun, Hermit turns on the Yomi Armed division and reveals to his master he only joined Yomi to save him from the path of Satsujinken.
- Asuka Akatsuki is one of Ogata's disciples who is blind.
- Shōgo Kitsukawa AKA Berserker is one of Ogata's disciples and the former second fist of Ragnarök.
- Rimi Kokorone is one of Ogata's disciples who has a massive crush on Ryūto. When she is nearly killed after Ogata teaches her to use the same dangerous technique that crippled Ryūto, she leaves Yomi along with Ryūto.
Armed Division[]
Not much has been shown of the armed division of Yomi since their only major gathering and battle was at the attempt to start the Eternal Setting sun. The armed division has shown highly effective skill and teamwork, though they lack the sense of pride and honor the unarmed division, viewing battle as a war that must be won at any cost. They preferred overwhelming the enemy with numbers and sought killing their opponents through underhanded measures rather than obtain victory through individual strength and accomplishment.
History[]
After the defeat of Ragnarök, its benefactor Isshinsai Ogata discovered the existence of Kenichi Shirahama, the disciple of Ryōzanpaku, a dojo of filled with several masters that holds the title of the strongest, with Kenichi holding the title of the strongest disciple. Seeking to prove itself the strongest in the martial arts world, Yami declares war on Ryōzanpaku and plans to start by having Yomi defeat and kill Kenichi and take his title.
The first attack is conducted by a minor member of Yomi, Raichi Li, who launches an attack on the Shinpaku Alliance headquarters to draw Kenichi out. Raichi overwhelms the Shinpaku Alliance until Kenichi arrives and fights her. Despite refusing to hit a woman and Raichi's fearsome Drunken Fist fighting style, Kenichi wins by using a sitting stance called Idori to grab her and restrain her. Kenichi senses Raichi does not have the heart of a killer and his compassion moves Raichi so much she is unwilling to keep fighting. However, Rachi's father and master Tenmon Li interferes with the intent of kidnapping Kenichi and bringing him to Yami. Tenmon brutally overpowers Kenichi and his allies and is on the verge of killing them all until Kensei Ma, one of Kenichi's masters, arrives to protect them. Kensei defeats Tenmon and realizes he held back, otherwise he would have murdered the disciples instantly. Accepting defeat, Tenmon leaves with Raichi after warning Kenichi the rest of Yami is coming for him. The attack prompts Kenichi's masters to intensify his training and causes the Shinpaku Alliance members to also seek to improve their skills.
Later, the One Shadow Nine Fists hold a meeting to discuss who will be the next one to battle Kenichi. During the meeting, Yomi's leader, Shō Kanō, prevents the theft of a data disk by spy and learns of Kenichi's existence, considering him inferior and becoming motivated to defeat him. Shō soon has his fist encounter with Kenichi while spying on him and Miu while they're talking a trip through a botanical garden. He is accidentally discovered by Miu when he spots a bird caught in a tree and forgets to hide his presence. When his witness Miu's skill when she frees the bird, he falls deeply in love with her and asks her to join him in Yami. Miu rejects his offer until he reveals he has information on her father, Saiga Fūrinji. She reluctantly agrees and goes with Shō on his motorcycle, but they are stopped when Kenichi, who believed Shō was kidnapping Miu against her will, chases them down and causes them to crash. Shō almost fights Kenichi for interfering until Hermit intervenes and points out that Shō will anger his master if he fights now. After hearing Kenichi's pleas Miu decides not to go with Shō, who decides to leave, but not before he promises to meet her again and gives her a kiss on her cheek and exchanges his earring with her hair clip (greatly upsetting Kenichi).
Soon more of Yomi's main members gather in Japan to start their war since Ryōzanpaku is based in Japan and the country is a hub for martial arts, making it an ideal place to spread the news of their strength. Boris, Rachel, Ethan, Raden, and Shō arrive on orders to challenge and defeat the local dojos to assert their presence. Most of Yomi take out a small number of dojos, but Boris keeps going long after the others finish due to not being given an order to stop. His zealous obedience to orders leads him to challenge the last dojo on the list of targets: Ryōzanpaku. Boris and his soldiers are comically defeated without even getting the chance to fight by the many traps and oddities of the dojo. Despite realizing he is hopelessly outmatched; Boris continues to follow his orders and challenges the dojo. Knowing that a fight with Boris will start the war against Yami, the masters of Ryōzanpaku try to think of a way to get Boris to leave so as to buy time to continue Kenichi's training. Their plan for stalling goes up in smoke when Kenichi, who had run away from the dojo due to the brutal training, returns with renewed resolve and Boris attacks him and Miu. Miu tries to protect Kenichi, only to be knocked down by Boris's combat o. Kenichi retaliates against Boris, showing the results of his intense training and getting the upper hand. Boris is bewildered by Kenichi's strength and heart, especially when he analyzes him and realizes he is just an average person with no natural talent. The battle continues at a draw until Shō calls and orders Boris and his henchmen to retreat. Boris gives Kenichi his emblem as a future challenge before leaving, starting the war against Yami. Later, Boris's master Alexander Gaidar meets with Ogata, who intentionally put Ryōzanpaku on Boris's target list to start the war.
After Boris's failure, the next member of Yomi, Raden Tidat Jihan, the teenage king of the fictional kingdom of Tidat, plans an attack on Kenich during his school trip to a ski resort in the mountains. He has one of his child servant girls lure Kenichi and Miu away from their group and into a blizzard. When Miu falls ill from the blizzard due to a childhood trauma, Kenichi brings her into a mountainside mansion for shelter. There, they meet Raden, who has rented the mansion, who seemingly offers them food and hospitality. However, Miu sees through his ruse when she notices the girl they got lost looking for is one of Raden's servants and that his dancer servants are using disguised martial arts. Raden unveils his true identity as a member of Yomi and that he was planning to separate Kenichi and Miu to fight them separately but decides to attack them both with his servants and bodyguards since his ruse was exposed. Miu is unable to fight because of her illness, so Kenichi fight off the servants and ends up escaping out of window with Miu. Raden pursues them through the blizzard and overwhelms Kenichi with his Pencak Silat, an Indonesia Martial Art. Kenichi and Miu temporarily escape Raden on a snowmobile, and Raden's master Silkwat Jenazad, orders his disciple to kill Kenichi at all costs. Raden chases Kenichi and Miu to a disabled ropeway station where Kenichi hides Miu while he faces Raden. Kenichi struggles against Raden's unorthodox Pencak Silat and his decisive willingness to kill, but Kenichi eventually gets the advantage when he utilizes a karate technique called Meotoude. When he begins losing, Raden orders his servants to join the fight and kill Kenichi and Miu. When the servants find Miu, it spurs Kenichi who takes out servants threating her and pummels Raden with a powerful combo that throws him onto a loose rail that breaks, and he nearly falls over a cliff. Refusing to lose, Raden calls more of his servants and nearly strangles Kenichi when he is distracted, but Kenichi is saved when Hermit and Niijima arrive and defeat the last of Raden's servants. Kenichi has one last clash with Raden and defeats him with a punch to the face, but Raden grabs him and pulls them both over the cliff. Both survive the fall, but before Raden can try and kill Kenichi again, Jenazad deems his disciple a failure for being unable to kill Kenichi and causes an avalanche to kill him and Kenichi. Hermit arrives on a snow mobile and rescues Kenichi, who also tries to save Raden, but Raden refuses to let himself be saved out of pride and seemingly perishes in the avalanche. Kenichi and his friends survive and Shō Kanō reports to Raden's death to the rest of Yomi, who wonder who will be next to fight.
When Ryōzanpaku faces risk of bankruptcy, Kenichi is taken by his masters Saskaki and Apachai to compete in an underground fighting arena to earn money. Unbeknownst to him, two sibling members of Yomi, Ethan and Rachel Stanley, are also there competing. When Kenichi begins getting a streak of wins and attracting the attention of the crowd, he unintentionally earns the ire of Rachel, a luchador with a need to hog the spotlight. Rachel attempts to challenge Kenichi, only for his masters to pull him out right as she enters the ring. Sasaki tells Rachel that they're quitting since Kenichi's already won enough money and knowing Kenichi won't harm women. Rachel attempts to goad the crowd to pressure Kenichi to fight, but Sasaki intimidates them into submission. Ethan stops Rachel from trying to keep fighting, revealing Kenichi is the one who defeated Raden and Rachel vows that the siblings will crush him.
Desperate Fight of Disciples Tournament[]
Kenichi faces his greatest challenge yet when he, Miu, and the Ryōzanpaku masters travel to a remote private island to compete in the Desperate Fight of Disciples (DFoD for short), an anything goes martial arts tournament hosted by the weapons dealer and Yami member Fortuna which anyone can compete in so long as they are under twenty. The tournament a source of entertainment for crime lords and the tournament's winning team is awarded millions in cash. Among the 16 teams competing are Yomi members Ethan and Rachel who form the Gemini Team, with the latter's master Diego Carlo as the MC for the tournament, and the Shinpaku Alliance, who participate to improve their skills as martial artists. Shō learns of the tournament's existence and despite being forbidden to go by his master Akira Hongo, secretly travels to the island to settle things with Kenichi and take Miu for himself.
The night after Kenichi's team and the Shinpaku Alliance win their first-round fights, Miu and Shō secretly meet on the rooftops and return the other's items from when they met at the botanical gardens. Shō tries to convince Mui to come with him to Yami in exchange for information on her father, but Miu rejects his offer knowing it is not worth the price. However, Shō refuses to take no for an answer and knocks her unconscious. When Kenichi discovers Shō attempting to kidnap Miu, he pursues them and Shō summons his bodyguards Kōya Seta and Nauma Hayami to stop him while he flees with the unconscious Miu. Kenichi's injuries from his previous match hinder him, but he gets surprising help from Ryūto Asamiya, his former fried and the ex-leader of Ragnarök, who is now bound to a wheelchair after being crippled in their last fight. Ryūto keeps Shō's bodyguard occupied, allowing Kenichi to go after Shō and Miu. Meanwhile, Shō encounters Thor, Freya, and Takeda training for the next round while trying to get Miu off the island. When they try to stop him, Shō defeats all three of them in an instant and Takeda is the only one able to stand. Shō warns Takeda that he'll kill them if they try to fight him again, but Takeda decides to keep fighting to repay his debt to Kenichi, only for Shō to brutally defeat him and declare that Miu can only be happy in Yami because Yami's leader, the One Shadow, is her father. Suddenly, Miu wakes up and when she sees what Shō has done to her friends, she enters a bloodthirsty berserk state and wildly attacks everyone around her. Shō takes Miu's rampage as a sign she belongs with him in Yami and when Kenichi catches up, Shō warns him Miu is revealing her true nature and will kill him if he gets any closer. However, Kenichi ignores Shō and tries to bring Miu back to her senses, only to get caught in her rampage. Shō believes Miu will kill Kenichi in her berserk state as he watches them fight, but Kenichi is able to endure her attacks and forcefully shock her back to her normal self by groping her breasts. Shocked and angered that Kenichi knows Miu better than him and was able to bring her back from her rage, Shō realizes the reason he can't stand Kenichi: because he is a genuine obstacle to winning Miu's heart. Shō vows to kill Kenichi in one strike, but when he goes in to kill Kenichi, the latter is able to block and survive his attack. Frustrated at Kenichi's continuing resistance, Shō vows to finish their fight tomorrow at the tournament and disappears. Afterward, the injured members of the Shinpaku Alliance are treated, but their injuries will prevent them from fighting for the rest of the tournament, and Kenichi realizes that since Ryūto is the disciple of Isshinsai Ogata, a member of Yami, that means Ryūto is a member of Yomi.
On the next day, the Gemini team fights in the final match of the first round against the two person Nanken Team, with biased help from Diego who sets the battlefield as a pro wrestling field. Rachel easily dominates her female opponent and focuses more on putting on a good show then winning. When Rachel's opponent has her clothes destroyed from the fight, it angers the attention hungry Rachel into finishing the fight with a piledriver. The second member of the Nanken team enters the ring to fight only to be merciless beaten by Ethan, to the annoyance of Rachel who wanted to draw the round out more for more entertainment value.
For the tournament's second round, Kenichi's team faces the disguised Elder, who assumed the (obviously) false identity of Garyu X to enter the tournament and help the young disciples. The Elder turns the match into training where he trains Miu to improve her control over her Ki so she won't lose control again and discretely teaches Kenichi the fundamentals of a new technique. After the first match, the Gemini Team find their opponent Tsutomu, a mysterious young fighter who won his fight in the first round using only one finger, spying on them. Tsutomu reveals he joined the tournament to find Isshinsai Ogata and thought one of the Gemini Team was his disciple, but since neither knows his whereabouts, he forfeits his upcoming match against them and leaves without a trace. For the third match of the second round, the Shinpaku Alliance faces the Capoeira Team and manages to narrowly win despite having its strongest members injured by Shō. In the fourth match the Mongolian Bufu team is set to fight against the Pankration Team, a group of fighters who were sold as slaves to Fortuna and made to fight like gladiators for his obsession with martial arts. However, Shō appears the Pankration Team's place, claiming to have killed them to take their place in the tournament. Diego and Fortuna allow the substitution and Shō easily crushes the entire Bufu team by himself, ending the second round.
The third round immediately starts with the Shinpaku Alliance set to fight Shō, but Niijima forfeits his team knowing they are too injured from their fights to stand against Shō. He entrusts Kenichi to win in their place and the next round is set to begin with Kenichi's team vs the Gemini Team. However, Shō demands the Gemini team forfeit so he can fight Kenichi and Diego, furious at Shō's hubris, orders the Gemini Team to fight Shō. Just before the Yomi members can fight, the U.S. Military raids the islands to capture Fortuna and the criminal audience with help from the Ryōzanpaku masters. The mafia groups are quickly captured, Niijima decides to have the Shinpaku Alliance evacuate when he realizes the severity of the situation, and Diego and the Gemini Team leave since there is no audience to watch their fight. This leaves the entire colosseum emptied out save for Shō, Kenichi and Miu. Kenichi resolves to stay and fight Shō to stop him from hurting or killing anyone else and Miu promises not to interfere with Kenichi's battle while Shigure escorts the Shinpaku Alliance to safety. The final battle of the D of D tournament and the battle for Miu's heart starts.
Shō immediately lands the first hit and sends Kenichi flying across the arena, seemingly killing him. He then tells Miu that he is the one for her because Kenichi can't protect her while can and tries to convince her to come with him to Yami again, confessing his love for her. Miu turns down his offer, explaining Kenichi has already promises to protect her and Kenichi is revealed to be alive, having been protected from Shō's attack by chain mail in his Gi, and he gets up to resume the fight. Kenichi removes the chain mail in the hopes it will lighten his body and allow him to finally land a hit. Shō mercilessly attacks Kenichi with a barrage of moves, only for Kenichi to endure and evade each one without taking serious damage thanks to his training. When Kenichi tries to counterattack, Shō sends him flying and declares that it is suicide for a weakling like him to walk to path of martial arts, only for Kenichi to get up again and graze him, landing his first hit in the entire fight. Infuriated that someone he considers worthless was able to hurt him, Shō vows to Kill Kenichi while the latter vows to defeat the former. As the fight goes on, Shō refuses to accept Kenichi has Miu's heart and uses his strongest technique: the Nine Strikes One Kill, a ten-move combination that uses one technique from each of the One Shadow, Nine Fists. Kenichi is overwhelmed by the combination, but before Shō can land the last hit, the colosseum's self-destruct feature is activated because of the invasion and the explosions scatter flaming debris as it begins to collapse. Just before Kenichi is crushed, by the falling debris, he unlocks the technique the Elder taught him in their match: Ryusui Seikuken.
With this new technique, Kenichi is able to evade the debris with the calm and ease of walking through a park. Before Shō and Kenichi can resume their fight, Fortuna's soldiers enter the destroyed colosseum with orders to kill everyone. Shō is easily able to defeat them despite their armor and guns, having been trained to predict the path of bullets just from the gunshot, but he is baffled by Kenichi's new technique. He dismissed the new technique and tries to attack Kenichi, only for him to dodge every blow at the last second. Kenichi realizes Ryusui Seikuken is an advanced version of the normal Seikuken, which repels any attack in the use's reach, but instead of protecting their entire range, it narrows it down to a thin skin that allows the user to save time and energy by dodging with the absolute minimum effort, but it can only be maintained when the user is calm and controlling their emotions. Despite this new technique, Shō finds a way to counter it with a technique called Gamaku which switches the center of gravity for their legs and fools the opponent into defending against the wrong leg. Shō declares that Kenichi cannot master martial arts because he doesn't take them seriously unlike him who was raised to be cruel, emotionless, and merciless. However, Kenichi argues that everyone he's faced from Yomi was filled with sadness from being forced to fight to kill, as if they hated martials, and asks Shō how someone can master martial arts if they hate them. Kenichi declares that even without any talent, he has gotten so far only because of his master's kindness, and he condemns using martial arts without emotions as nothing but violence and pure evil. Pushed to his breaking point, Shō unleashed the Seidou Goitsu, a dangerous technique that forcefully combines Sei and Dou Ki for incredible power and the same technique that crippled Ryuto.
With the power from the Seidou Goitsu, Shō easily destroys Kenichi’s Ryusei Seikuken and pummels him, though Kenichi survives a lethal attack. Shō mocks Kenichi by praising Ogata, who taught him the technique, using Ryuto as a test subject for the technique to learn not to overuse it to avoid getting crippled by it and adds that Ryuto unable to walk ever again because of it. Kenichi is overpowered again, but he avoids another lethal attack and lands a direct punch to Shō's face. At that point, Shō realizes Kenichi is fighting while unconscious through the sheer muscle memory ingrained in him through his training, and he's actually stronger in that state without his consciousness hindering him. In his semi-conscious state, Kenichi is match for Shō and the latter takes it as proof that emotions are not needed for martial arts. However, Kenichi reveals he's regained consciousness and credits his strength to his master's care, unlike Yami which readily disposes of its disciple, and that emotions allow them to read the hearts of mind of their opponent. This gives Kenichi a revelation on how to complete the Ryusui Seikuken: to match use it to match his opponent's movements then surpass them. Shō decides to finish the fight with Nine Strikes, One Kill powered up by the Seidou Goitsu, while Kenichi faces it head on, going on the offensive for the first time in the fight. With his perfected Ryusui Seikuken, Kenichi is able to dodge Shō's combination and then surpass it with his combination attack, severely injuring Shō. At that point, Kenichi's wounds from his previous and current fights in the tournament cause him to reach his limit while Shō begins suffering from the consequences of using the Seidou Goitsu. With both fighters at their last legs, they both rush one attack. The embodiments of the killing fist and saving fist collide with Kenichi landing the stronger blow with his Mubyoshi. After the collision, both fighters collapse from exhaustion and it looks to be a draw, but Kenichi is cheered on by his friends through a monitor in the colosseum to get while Shō gets rises to his feet and throws one last punch in an attempt to defeat Kenichi. However, Kenichi wills himself to get up and dodges Shō's attack. With his desperate attack failed, Shō losses consciousness from his injuries and The Elder declares Kenichi the winner of the D of D tournament.
Despite Kenichi's victory, Fortuna's soldiers still run loose on the island with orders to kill everyone. One of these soldiers targets the exhausted Kenichi with his gun and Miu moves in front of Kenichi to protect him from getting shot. However, Shō blocks the bullets with body to protect Miu and knocks out the soldier with a rock while the soldiers are defeated by an arriving Sasaki. Miu discovers Shō is dying from blood loss and Shō entrusts Kenichi to protect Miu before succumbing to his wounds. Afterward, it is revealed that Shō actually spared the Pankration team, relating to how they felt as prisoners, and faked their deaths so they could escape Fortuna, who was defeated and arrested in the invasion. The allied forces secure the island, and all criminal parties are arrested. When the rest of Yomi learns of Shō's death, Kajima Satomi believes that despite his potential to become the successor of Yami, he lost because he didn't understand real success comes from experience failure and learning from it.
With the death of Yami's successor, the One Shadow, Nine Fists hold a meeting. Hongo, Shō's master, is enraged at his disciple's death and some of the other masters argue over which disciple should replace him, but the argument is settled by the One Shadow who selects Kajima as the new leader of Yomi. Meanwhile, Yomi holds its own meeting and Boris asks Kaijima why they are fighting Ryōzanpaku, believing they can ignore such small group. Kaijima explains that Ryōzanpaku represents the saving fist and that no matter how powerful and influential Yami becomes, they cannot prove the killing fist is superior so long as it exists.
Infiltration[]
After Shō's death, Yami sends Ethan, Rachael, Boris, and Tirawit to enroll in Kenichi's school as exchange students to put them into a position to defeat Kenichi. Kaijima gives the four permission to take whatever actions they want to defeat Kenichi and tells them to enjoy a normal life for the time being. While most of Yomi standby and start blending into the school, Tirawit personally threatens Kenichi, warning him that he won't be able to beat him just because he defeated Shō, and makes the first move by challenging the school's martial art clubs when they try to bully and extort him.
In response to Yami's infiltration, the Sasaki and Akisame decide to bring Kenichi with them on a bodyguard request from the police to give him more experience in the world of martial arts. The job is to protect a Russian Congresswoman, who has hidden information about Yami across the internet, from Alexander Gaider, who has infiltrated the army and is assassinating Yami's political opposition. However, Alexander quickly kidnaps the Congresswoman and plans to murder her after interrogating the information she hid out of her. Kenichi and his masters give pursuit, but Sasaki is slowed down by Alexander's soldiers, leaving Kenichi and Akisame to go after him alone. They pursue Alexander to a building under construction where a helicopter is waiting to fly him off and Boris and more soldiers are waiting to buy him time. While Kenichi fights them, Akisame slips past and chases after Alexander. Despite knowing he is no match for Akisame, Boris follows him up the building to stall him however he can, but Kenichi gets in his way. Even though he wants to face Kenichi in a rematch, Boris sticks to his orders and tries to force his way to the rooftop where Akisame and Alexander are fighting, but discovers Kenichi is far stronger than when they first fought. However, Boris reveals he also improved and the two are proven to be equally matched. After a quick fight, the two get separated and Boris takes the opportunity to go after Akisame, only to discover his master locked in combat with Akisame. Kenichi catches up and sees Akisame discreetly signal him to rescue the Congresswoman while he keeps Alexander busy. Alexander quickly realizes what Kenichi is doing and tells Boris to stop him, but when Boris can't catch up and Akisame overpowers him with a secret technique, Alexander decides to cut his losses and throws the Congresswoman off the side of the building to kill her. However, Kenichi leaps off the building to save her and is saved in turn by Sasaki. Having failed his mission, Alexander retreats on the helicopter with Boris, who is shocked Kenichi's dedication as a disciple exceeded his own.
The next day at school, the Shinpaku Alliance holds a meeting where it is revealed that Yami is considering the Alliance as a part of Ryōzanpaku after each member was approached by Kaijima with an offer to join Yomi and turned it down. Everyone fears Yomi will retaliate during their school's sports festival, but they manage to get through the event without anything going wrong. However, after the festival, Kenichi finds his former bully Daimonji beaten to a pulp and he claims Tirawit was responsible and is attacking the karate club. Kenichi goes to stop Tirawit, only to discover Tirawit has turned the club into his followers, turned Daimonji into their punching bag, and lured him into a trap. After Kenichi easily defeats the club members, Tirawit shows himself and starts using psychological warfare by revealing that he intentionally didn't teach the club members any form of defense so they would get extra hurt, and that Kenichi has become strong enough to kill someone easily. Kenichi fights Tirawit and discovers he uses an ancient and dangerous form of Muay Tai called Muay Boran. Tirawit continues to goad Kenichi that he is on the path to becoming a killer and lures him into taking a dangerous hit to the chest that stops his heart. Believing Kenichi to be dead, Tirawit leaves while Daimonji, who was shown sympathy by Kenichi despite being his former victim, goes to the Shinpaku Alliance for help and they managed to keep Kenichi alive long enough for Akisame and Appachai to resuscitate him. Afterward, Kaijima reveals to Tirawit that Kenichi survived, but Tirawit believes that even if Kenichi is still alive, he has died as a martial artist. Later, it is revealed that Kenichi's near-death experience with Tirawit has inflicted a trauma in him that hinders his ability to fight, but he is able to overcome it when he goes a sword-hunting trip with Shigure.
When Kenichi returns to school, he learns the Tirawit had left after their fight and the rest of Yomi is laying low. Boris discovers Kenichi has overcome his trauma and reveals he will be the next to challenge him, and the perfect opportunity to do so presents itself when the school's beach camp trip is announced. The first day of camp finishes without incident (except for some of Yomi's shenanigans), but when night falls, Hermit realizes soldiers are closing in on the camp. After receiving orders from Alexander, Boris begins his mission during the camp's nature hike, where the classes are split up into smaller groups and different paths. At the same time, Akisame infiltrates the Russian Military base where Alexander is stationed and confronts the Yami master. Boris and several troops under Alexander's command ambush Kenichi and the Shinpaku Alliance across the trails with orders to kill everyone, even the regular students and staff. While the troops are fended off by the Shinpaku Alliance, the other Ryōzanpaku masters, and even Ethan and Rachel, Kenichi and Boris' battle pulls them into a shallow river. Kenichi tries to reason with Boris, but when the latter remains committed to his orders and mission, the former resolves to defeat him.
Their fight is interrupted when one of the teachers, Kyōko Ono, falls off a cliff into the river they're fighting in and is pursued by the soldiers. At that point, the time limit for Boris' operation passes and he fails to contact Alexander since he is in the middle of a fierce battle against Akisame. Unable to receive new orders, Boris calls for a withdrawal, but his subordinates, led by lieutenant Gerkins, refuse to follow his orders and try to kill the unconscious Kyōko. The situation causes Kenichi and Boris to form a temporary truce, and they work together to fight the soldiers. They defeat all of them but Gerkins, who proves to be a formidable knife wielder, but they eventually defeat him when Kenichi (figuring out how to work with Boris' order-based mindset) creates an opening for Boris to strike. Boris then orders all remaining soldiers on the mountain to withdraw, only to learn they've all been defeated. With nothing left to interfere, Boris resumes his fight with Kenichi and quickly gets the edge with his further improved combat sambo. Kenichi manages to break free of his hold and engages in a vicious close quarters brawl. However, Kenichi struggles to bring out his full strength and Boris reveals it because he is not Kenichi's other opponents who were stronger and confident in their victory; he acknowledges Kenichi's strength and is willing to put his life on the line to defeat him, but Kenichi refuses to let anyone die in their fight. The two charge at each other with Kenichi facing Boris's life risking fatal attacks with nonlethal moves and winning when he manages to put Boris in a strangulation hold that knocks him out. Boris wakes up a minute later and gets a call from Alexander, defeated by Akisame and arrested, who gives him his last orders: to cut off any connection to Yomi and not look for him. However, Boris (learning to be more flexible when it comes to orders) decides to search for his master anyway, reasoning that he doesn't have to obey the order not to look for Alexander since it came after he was fired and admits defeat to Kenichi. Before he leaves to search for Alexander, Boris finishes the rest of camp with the other students and entrusts some classmates with upkeeping disciple at school in his place.
Later, Kaijama and Tirwit learn of Kenichi's victory over Boris and the former prevents the latter from going after Kenichi again, pointing out it is someone else's turn. Intrigued by Kenichi, Kaijama asks Ryuto to describe him, but Ryuto simply answers that Kenichi is an idiot, something that amuses Kaijama. Meanwhile, Niijima learns through his spy (The former fourth fist of Ragnarök Loki) that there were actually five members of Yomi sent to infiltrate their school and realizes that the last member has slipped in unnoticed as a freshman instead of a transfer student. The Shipaku soon discovers the last member is Chikage Kushinada, a stoic child prodigy and genius, who specializes in a unique style of Jujitsu that uses 0% strength and 100% skill. Miu worried that Kenichi will be unable to bring himself to a little girl like Chikage, but Kenichi begins spending time with her in the hopes of befriending her and preventing a fight between them. Though Chikage is annoyed Kenichi's attempts to befriend her, she prevented by her master, Mikumo Kushinada, from fighting Kenichi as the One Shadow Nine Fists are currently debating who will be the next to fight him.
The brief lull in fighting is disrupted when Kensei Ma's boisterous and skilled daughter Renka joins Kenichi's school. Renka immediately provokes Yomi by challenging Chikage on the spot and a fight is barely prevent by Kenichi, whom Renka has a massive crush on. Kenichi continues his efforts to befriend Chikage and begins making progress when he discovers she has a weakness for sweets, as her training forces her to undergo a strict diet. Kenichi's efforts begin to open up Chikage's heart, which comes into conflict with her master's attempts to suppress her emotions.
The Gemini Twins[]
After much deliberation, the One Shadow Nine Fists select Rachel to be Kenichi's next opponent. Yomi sends a letter to Kenichi via the mail, but it instead ends up in the hands of Renka first who brings it to the Ryōzanpaku masters. The letter turns out to be a challenge for a disciple-master tag match against Rachel and Diego and Renka, knowing that he will struggle against a female opponent, decides to take Kenichi's place and fight alongside her father. The other masters are prevented from accompanying them with a threat of a massive bomb waiting at the fight venue that will be set off if they come. However, Kenichi and Miu spot Renka and Kensei heading to the fight and secretly follow them to a foreign casino ship filled with invited and kidnapped powerful VIPS from the political and financial worlds.
After Renka and Kensei board the ship, Kenichi and Miu secretly stowaway before it heads to sea and quickly overhear security guards mentioning the bomb. Realizing the situation, Kenichi and Miu search for the bomb while Rachel fights in exhibition matches in the main hall. The pair are quickly found by Diego's security and after defeating them, learn the ship is heading for a rendezvous with a fleet at sea. Suddenly, the pair are ambushed by Raichi, but she instead fights the guards and explains that she's on a separate mission from Diego's acting as a bodyguard for one the VIPs on the ship. Seeing that they have the same goal of disabling the bomb, Raichi teams up with the pair to fight the waves of guards. After interrogating some guards and seeing the ship approach a fleet, Kenichi realizes Diego's real plan is to detonate the ship assassinate all his targets at once in front a paying audience inside the fleet of ships. Back in the main hall, the tag match starts with Kensei and Renka struggling against Deigo's incredibly durable body and Rachel's unorthodox moves respectively. When Kensei silences the bloodthristy crowd, Diego is insulted that his show is being upstages and unleashes his real strength. The fight extends into the crowd and Kensei is forced to protect the hostages from Diego's rampage. Raichi goes to protect her client while Kenichi and Miu's attempts to disable the bomb, are obstructed by Diego's most resilient underling, Meatman, and accidentally start the timer, leaving only ten minutes until it explodes. The fights across the ship continue to unfold and Raichi is saved from one of Diego's blows by Kensei, who also manages to land a counterattack that bypasses Diego's bodily defense.
Diego's plan is ultimately foiled when the Elder arrives on the ship, defeats Meatman, and hurls the bomb far enough to explode harmlessly. Infuriated his show was ruined, Diego tries to finish off Kensei with a massive pile driver while Rachel records him with a camera. Kensei manages to break free and defeat Diego with his strongest move, winning the match, while the other ships have their weapons are disable by the Elder to prevent them from sinking the Casino Boat. However, Mikumo suddenly arrives, throws the immobilizes Diego into the sea as punishment for losing, and captures Rachel in frightening display of speed and strength, but is soon chased off by the Elder who saves Diego. Afterward, the hostages are rescued and Diego is imprisoned in Big Lock, a prison designed to hold members of Yami.
Afterward, Kenichi's training is increased again as punishment for sneaking onto the ship and in perpetration for an inevitable fight against Chikage. For the next few days, Rachel is absent from school and Kenichi makes progress with befriending Chikage in the gardening club. However, the times comes for Chikage to deliver a challenge to Kenichi and despite Miu's attempts to interfere, Kenichi accepts. Fortunately, Niijima prevents the fight by having a classmate invite her to a birthday party and Chikage's sweet tooth gets the better of her when she learns there's going to be a cake; she ends up skipping the fight to attend the party. Mikumo learns of Chikage's blunder and tells her that because she missed her chance, the next candidate to fight Kenichi is Ethan. She later speaks to Ethan's master, Cyril Rahman, and reveals that she plans to have Chikage witness the next fight in person, expecting Kenichi's death to reharden her heart.
Ethan has a civil discussion with Kenichi and proves to be much more reasonable than his sister. He explains that he has no personal reason to fight Kenichi and offers a peaceful solution, but he suddenly leaves for a Yomi mission before he can finish explaining and Kenichi ends up following him. Ethan's mission turns out to be recovering stolen artifacts from a foreign corrupt politician and Kenichi witness Ethan's strange martial arts style when he knocks out some guards. After his mission is swiftly completed, Ethan finishes explaining his offer: for Kenichi to quit Ryōzanpaku and return to civilian life in exchange for being free of Yami's threat. Kenichi refuses the offer and a fight between them is arranged to commence in a few days. The next day, Chikage is too embarrassed to speak to Kenichi after missing their fight, but she reveals to Miu that Ethan is the type to unleash all his strength from the moment a fight starts and Kenichi, who is a slower in that regard, won't stand a chance.
Kenichi describes Ethan's style to the Ryōzanpaku masters, who identify it as Kalarippayattu, an ancient style from India which is said to be close to the origin of martial arts. To help Kenichi prepare against his newest opponent, the Elder makes him undergo some special training to combat Kalarippayattu's ancestry with new techniques.
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Ragnarök Valkyrie | Thor | Hermit | Siegfried | Loki Three of Cards Other members Takdea | Ukita | Koga | Tsuji | Leader Unarmed Division One Shadow Nine Fists Alexander Gaidar | Akira Hongō | Agaard Jum Sai | Cyril Rahman | Diego Carlo | Isshinsai Ogata | Mikumo Kushinada | Silkwat Jenezad | Sōgetsu Ma Armed Division Hachiou Executioner Blade Seitarō Raigō | Rin Tachibana | Mihai Știrbey | Mildred Lawrence | Marmaduke Brown | Raki Hoshinano | Edeltraft von Schiller | Yomi Unarmed Division Armed Division | ||
