A muscular girl is presented to the passionate world of crossover anime.

Strength does not necessarily mean invincibility, overwhelming power, sweeping away everything, or an immortal body that can withstand all attacks and stand firm. Rather, it means pure spirit, an unwavering will, and the determination to face challenges head-on. Just like what Kanon said in the movie "Rocky" in her previous life, life is not about how hard you can punch, but how hard you can withstand.

Although this momentary realization was idealistic and insufficient to reverse objective physical laws, it was still very important to Hanon, as it completed her mental preparation for the next battle.

Kanon scratched his head, unsure how to thank the two. Should he say, "Thank you, Tokita, for completing me?" Please, that would just cause Kanon's finally calmed-down mental state to collapse again!

In the end, Kanon said nothing, waved her hand, and left the Yamashita Trading Company's lounge.

Kazuo was unaware that his conversation with Ohma had inadvertently made Kanon stronger, and was still wondering, "Why did Mr. Flavor come in and leave after just a quick look?"

Ohma was a man of few words and never told Ichifu that Flavor was a girl, so Ichifu still addressed Kanon as "sir".

Wang Ma noticed something: "Flavor seems to have realized something."

Kazuo was stunned for a moment: "Resolve? Oh, right, Mr. Flavor is going to fight the Fang of Metsudo in the next match. I'm sure it will be a great battle! Let's go cheer him on."

Tokita Ohma nodded. To be honest, he was still a little unwilling, but since he had lost to Kanon, a man should keep his promise and not participate in this elimination tournament again. So, the ups and downs that followed were no longer relevant to him, and his mentality gradually became more stable.

In reality, Wang Ma will likely enter a very long period of recuperation, and it's uncertain whether he will be able to fight again within two or three years.

At this moment, Yamashita Kazuo finished his massage, stood up and let out a long sigh: "Phew—Mr. Ohma, it's so good that you didn't die. I really can't imagine how I would feel if I had to watch you go to the final battle."

Well, no one knows what Kazuo and Ohma are feeling, but when Kanon said goodbye to them, she felt calmer than ever before. It could be said that she had never reached this state in her two lifetimes.

Over the past few tens of minutes, her mood had fluctuated wildly, and she had received a lot of information. Her thoughts and ideas were coming one after another, making her very confused. Now that she had finally managed to calm herself down, she needed to find a quiet place to sit down and think.

To put it simply, it's like a martial artist undergoing arduous training, enduring the impact of a waterfall to achieve a certain effect. It's about pushing the body to its limits to guide the spirit into a mysterious and profound state. Kuroki Gensai's solitary "Purgatory Journey" training had a similar purpose. Now, without the need for a waterfall or three days and nights of prayer in a raging fire, Hanon has surprisingly entered a state before her breakthrough. Everything is ready; all that's needed is the final push.

A little while later, hurried footsteps appeared outside the White Night News lounge; Suoh Mieko had come looking for them.

"Kanon, are you there? Uncle Kuroki's match is about to start, ah..." Miho leaned out to look, seemed to have discovered something, and stopped talking.

A few minutes later, Adam ran over: "Boss, have you found Miss? Isn't Kuroki her master? The competition is about to start, isn't she going to watch it?"

"Shh..." Miho gestured for Adam to be quiet, and Adam fell silent as well. He peeked into the room and saw Kanon practicing her attacks on the punching bag in the lounge. Her movements were quite ordinary.

"What? The young lady is hitting the sandbag? I thought it was something serious."

"Hehe." Miho pulled Adam a little further away before whispering, "I bet Kanon had an epiphany. When I came over, she was sitting cross-legged in the corner of the lounge, her eyes half-open, like a high monk in deep meditation! She had just switched to hitting the punching bag before you came over, but she didn't even notice us the whole time. That's amazing~"

This kind of "old monk in meditation" meme is quite familiar to people in Eastern cultural spheres, but Adam, being an American, didn't quite understand it. He scratched his head: "What enlightenment? What meditation? Boss, when did you start knowing martial arts?"

"That's hard to explain," Mihono said. "Let's not bother Kanon; she's working hard too!"

Adam, though puzzled, patted his chest and assured her, "That's easy to say. I'll just stay here and no one can get through or disturb Miss!"

So Miho and Adam set up a "guard post" outside the White Night News lounge, watching the match on the big screen.

On the stage, the rested audience members have returned. The semi-finals are about to begin, and everyone is in high spirits, looking forward to the final three battles of the decisive match.

"Phew..." Katahara Sayaka stepped onto the stage again, tapped the microphone, and began her introduction: "Everyone must be getting impatient! Our semi-finals are finally about to begin!"

"The first match of the semi-finals: Yamashita Trading Company vs. Motorbike Head Motorbike! Yamashita Trading Company has submitted an application to change its fighters, so please welcome our two warriors to the stage—'Superman' Rito and 'Demon Gun' Kuroki Gensai!"

Kanon was training, Miho was watching, the audience was cheering, and the fighters were watching. In this atmosphere, Rito and Kuroki went into battle.

Author's Note: So being strong means being able to persevere!

Thank you to everyone who has been following the novel! (?ω?)ノ

The Rocky series is indeed a classic film. How to describe it? This series makes you want to go out and get beaten up after watching it, lol.

Section 232, Chapter 230: The most watered-down death match in history?

"Kuroki Gensai is someone who overcame the intense three-round battle... well, in short, a strong person who passed the three-round trial." Katahara Sayaka felt something was off halfway through reading the original narration. After all, Kuroki had two byes and his opponent conceded in one round, so the battle was hardly intense. In fact, most of the audience thought he was a slacker.

"Li Ren withdrew from the first round for unknown reasons, abandoning his match against Julius. What kind of waves will his return bring now?"

Sheath Fragrance glanced down at her prepared speech, which read: "After three rounds of fierce fighting, a few hours of rest in between is probably of no use, not even a psychological comfort! But please see clearly, neither fatigue nor injury can stop the warriors' determination to win!"

"...Who could have imagined this would happen!" She Xiang was utterly helpless. Who could have imagined that in such a crucial tournament as the elimination rounds, two uninjured contestants who hadn't fought much would appear in the semifinals (uh, Rito seems to have some serious injuries?), rendering the prepared introductions completely useless.

"Bang!" She Xiang slammed the writing board on the ground and roared at the top of her lungs, "Who will make it to the finals? The battle bell has finally rung, let's wait and see!"

It's fair to say that Sheka has done her best to keep the atmosphere of the match from getting dull, but Kuroki and Rito... are just too unremarkable.

The audience in the stands were quite noisy, but not out of excitement; rather, they were engaged in heated discussions and mockery.

"Hey, what kind of match is this? An old man who advanced by having his opponent forfeit or concede, and a greenhorn who's too scared to fight Julius!"

"Hehehe, I'm afraid this is the weakest semi-final in the history of the Kengan Tournament's elimination tournament."

"I can't argue with that... But on second thought, isn't this kind of competition quite interesting? You can't predict who will win."

"Now that you mention it... waitress, I'd like to place a bet on the manager to win. After all, youth has an edge in a fight!"

"It's a game of comparing how bad it is! It's practically a game of comparing how bad it is!"

Compared to the uninformed audience, the fighters were much more knowledgeable. Although only a minority knew Kuroki's true strength, at least through his battle with Mutba and his understanding of Rito, everyone knew that these two were not weaklings with empty appearances, but rather quite strong.

However, there were some discontented voices among the fighters, mainly directed at Rito, who was inexplicably replaced by Tokita Ohma in the competition!

"That guy Rito actually stole the spot for the semi-finals..." Okubo Naoya, who is on good terms with Rito, sighed, "After he finishes his fight, I'll definitely make him treat us."

Keisaburo Sawada glanced at him and said, "Why are you getting involved? Gensai Kuroki is a top-tier expert! There's a reason I'm admitting defeat!"

Okubo didn't refute: "You're right, I know that after countless battles, people develop an intuition that allows them to predict danger. Right now, my alarm is beeping... I'm strong too!"

Okubo took a deep breath: "Although it's very unfair to Rito to say this, he's far inferior to Kuroki Gensai. He'd be doomed if he met that old man! Actually, even if I went up there, I probably wouldn't have made it... That's why I didn't blame Rito for taking away my chance to avenge the Destroyer's Fang."

Okubo doesn't blame Rito, but some people do blame him.

Most of the fighters gathered in the upper stands, but some loners didn't fit in. For example, there was Mutba, who secretly observed from the shadows; there was Bando Yohei, who blended in unremarkable among the ordinary spectators; and so on…

"Hey, give me your seats!" a man shouted arrogantly to two audience members.

The two audience members were naturally quite annoyed at being yelled at, but when they turned around, they saw...

"My God! It's Wu Lei'an!" "That monster..."

"Slap! Slap!" Two crisp sounds rang out as Wu Lei'an slapped each of them across the face, leaving the two unlucky fellows dazed and sprawled to the side. Seeing this fierce figure descend, the surrounding audience quickly moved away, creating a small vacuum in the crowded stands, allowing Wu Lei'an to sit down comfortably.

Wu Lei'an didn't care about the commotion. After taking his seat, he kept staring at the arena, muttering curses under his breath: "Damn it, that scumbag, he's clearly a weakling, yet he dares to steal a precious semi-final spot. Trash, utter trash! And Yamashita Trading, if you want to win, just come to me. I'm still waiting to get revenge on Flavor!"

Although he had been thoroughly beaten by Huayin just two days ago, Wu Lei'an was now full of energy and vitality! Although Huayin's beating had left him with many wounds, he had recovered to about 70-80% and it did not affect his movement. The Wu clan's terrifying physical fitness was truly remarkable.

Wu Lei'an was filled with resentment at the moment, wanting to take revenge on "Flavor". However, having experienced such a setback in his life, he had matured quite a bit. Just by looking at him suppressing his true nature and sitting in the stands watching the game, you could tell that this fierce boy had begun to transform into a man.

On the field, Rito also bore the marks inflicted by Kanon. Lacking the regenerative abilities of the Wu clan, these wounds still throbbed, potentially affecting his performance. However, his spirits were high; he kept his eyes fixed on Kuroki Gensai until the referee announced that both sides were ready.

Even the master-like Kuroki felt uncomfortable under Rito's gaze and asked, "What are you looking at?"

"It's nothing." Rito readily denied his observation of Kuroki. He then adopted his usual stance and said, "Uncle Kuroki, I know you are very strong, and I am definitely no match for you. But since I have received an invitation from Yamashita Trading Company to participate in the competition, I will do my best to fight this battle well. Please guide me!"

It seems that Rito's temper has become much more restrained after being hit by Kanon.

"Hmm..." Kuroki nodded: "Come on."

The referee for the semi-finals was the most senior, Yamamoto Koishi, who loudly announced the start of the match.

Then, Rito withdrew from his humble state and reverted to that hot-blooded and arrogant young man, raising his fist the size of a sand pot and smashing it with all his might at Kuroki!

Then, Rito's whole world turned upside down; he was actually thrown to the ground by Kuroki Gensai in an instant?!

Before Li Ren could react, he felt someone behind him, emanating a dangerous aura.

"Damn it, when did this old man get behind me?" Rito quickly turned around and pounced, using offense as defense. However, he lost his balance as soon as he stood up and was lightly swept by Kuroki's calf, causing him to fall to the ground again.

“You’ve died twice,” Kuroki said coldly.

Author's Note: I've thought about it and I still think we should have a battle between Rihito and Kuroki~ But it'll end in the next chapter, and tomorrow the battle between Kanon and Kiba will... just get started, lol.

Section 233, Chapter 231: Methods to Eliminate the Enemy Blackwood

Kuroki's tone was icy and made people uncomfortable, but what he said was the absolute truth—if he wanted to kill, Rito would have died twice already.

In other words, judging from the first round, the gap between Rito and Kuroki is simply... too big.

If it were the Rito of the past, she would probably have already started to fly into a rage of impotence out of shame and anger! But the Rito of today just laughs self-deprecatingly: "I really am a weakling." Then she stands up, dusts herself off, and strikes a new pose.

Rito's reaction surprised Kuroki once again: "Oh? You're quite composed."

Li Ren said frankly, "Some people say you are the top expert, and that's the level you should reach! It would be ridiculous if you were evenly matched with me."

"Hmm... Did Flavor tell you?" Kuroki thought for a moment. It seemed that only that "precious apprentice" would tell Rito about her.

Rito didn't answer, which was taken as tacit agreement. However, he changed the subject: "But don't underestimate me, uncle! I haven't given up yet!"

As he spoke, Rito threw another punch.

That punch came incredibly fast; only someone with exceptional physical abilities could land such a punch, proving Rito's solid foundation in training. However, such an attack was far from enough to threaten Kuroki.

Even more remarkably, Kuroki not only deflected Rito's attack but also swiftly thrust his fingers in front of Rito's eyes, a distance from which he could easily disarm him with a slight exertion.

“The third time.” Kuroki not only possessed a ruthless iron hand, but also a ruthless statement.

Before Rito could react, Kuroki skillfully threw him to the ground again, landing a powerful punch that stopped abruptly in front of Rito. "The fourth time!"

"Wow, that's amazing! Rito had absolutely no chance to fight back!" Katahara Sayaka was so surprised that she stood up again.

In fact, Sheka's reaction has always been more representative of the average viewer. Previously, Kuroki Gensai had forfeited twice and had not shown his strength at all. When he encountered Mutba, Mutba was very skilled and cautious. He was neither easily defeated by Kuroki nor did he sacrifice his own safety to fight Kuroki to the death. As a result, the scene of that battle was very boring. It was as if the two of them were practicing some routines from a distance. Mutba easily admitted defeat.

Therefore, the audience was unaware of Kuroki Gensai's strength until this moment, when the somewhat famous fighter Rito was actually being toyed with by Kuroki, and some viewers who were familiar with Rito suddenly realized it.

"Kuroki Gensai, so he's such a terrifying existence... What's the limit of his strength? How does he compare to the Fang of the Destroyer Hall?"

Well, Kuroki and Kiba are clearly a topic worth discussing, but Kuroki himself wasn't thinking about that at the moment. He just stared at Rito, who had stood up, and asked with interest, "Young man, would you like to continue?"