I am invincible. No one can rival my shadow skills.
My blows cannot be matched!
I finally see.
Elle is the final mountain I have to surpass...
...in order to grasp the light.
Get strong, Gau! Stronger than me... stronger than Scarface!
There they go, off on their annual trip home.
Those two are just like old people.
They go to visit the grave of Gau's parents.
Take care!
Every year Elle takes Gau back to the place he was born...
...to show his parents how he has grown.
It doesn't fit with the shadow skill training...
Too sentimental, or too feminine...
Come back soon, Gau!
Are you going to be waving there all day? Let's go, stupid!
Oh, Elle hit Gau! She's so mean. So, so mean!
Oh, boy...
Sacrificial blood will be spilled with the advent of a new Sevalle.
I hope this is not the last we see of them.
It's been a long time since we took a trip together.
You must be happy too, Gau. Traveling with your elder sister.
Yeah.
I thought so, I thought so.
Follow those two!
But we should attack now, when they're apart from their comrades.
No, we wait for the right time.
That's the 59th Sevalle, Elle Ragu, a master of shadow skill.
We warriors of the Wolfen...
...kingdom will soon crush the legendary, invincible Sevalle.
What's wrong with you, Gau?
Does your stomach hurt or something?
No, that's not it.
Then liven up and enjoy yourself.
Elle!
How come you fight? Ow!
Really. How come?
"How come?"
Good question...
Hmm...
Well, us Sevalles, our job is to fight!
I didn't mean that.
I wondered what you thought about while you're fighting.
Oh, that question again. Well, it's fun, I guess.
Fun?!
Yeah, it's great fun!
For fools like us, who only know how to fight...
...fighting a strong opponent is the highest form of pleasure.
Fighting a strong opponent...
Gau, you're worrying again, huh?
You can tell?
It's a bad habit of yours. That's why you're not improving.
So, at times like this...
...let's do some training and forget about your worries.
Elle, you idiot!
Sorry, sorry!
Here I come!
Smells a little fishy, but it'll do.
Gau! It's dry!
Come on, stop moping over there. Here.
It's not going to disappear if I see it. Be a man!
Don't worry about me. I don't mind at all.
Stop! Stop!
Well, I mind!
Oh, grow up!
That's what I want to say.
You have two weaknesses.
One - you rely too much on your strength.
Two - you haven't mastered the art of the kick.
Stop using your hands so much!
But my hands are more reliable than my feet.
My body is stable, my hands move more freely than my feet...
...my movements are accurate. And isn't it better to be powerful?
My skills are improving now.
In the Kuruda School of combat, we use open skills and shadow skills.
Throws and hand moves are valued as open skills, whereas...
...shadow skills are comprised of footwork and body maneuvers.
With shadow skills, the hands are hardly used.
So, in essence you are questioning the very...
...existence of shadow skills in the Kuruda School.
You may be right, but, I...
Hmm...
You don't get it yet, do you?
Basically, Gau's in a slump.
He's up against a wall.
I know what it's like.
I went through the same thing trying to become a Sevalle.
Well, a trip home will be a nice change of pace then.
Maybe.
But, Faury, why do Elle and Gau go back on the same day each year?
The 1 4th day of the blue month is a special day for the two of them.
A special day?
It's the day Elle found Gau...
...wandering alone after his parents had been killed.
She must have decided then, that on this day every year...
...they would return to visit his parents' grave. And...
And?
There is a tree in front of the grave.
Each year they mark Gau's height on its trunk...
...so that his parents can easily see how he's growing.
That's so kind of Elle.
I think she enjoys it, too.
Elle's greatest pleasure is seeing Gau grow up.
So, she feels like a mother?
More like the owner of a pet.
A pet?
Right. But sometimes a pet will bite the hand that feeds it.
I wonder how he's doing, Gau...
What shall we do, Commander?
Nothing.
But, the deputy commander is...
The stupid fool. Trying to gain glory for himself.
Kuruda mercenaries are matchless.
You cannot win until you rise above self-interest.
Elle!
A shadow skill of the Kuruda School... The Chainsaw!
No matter how many times I engage in this sort of fight...
...I won't improve.
To make progress, I have to fight much stronger opponents.
I don't need training... I need to put my life on the line.
Come on out, Blackwing.
It's been a long time, Scarface.
You sound well. I thought you bought it a long time ago.
Sorry to disappoint you.
Are you going?
Yeah.
Gau Ban's target is you...
Scarface, the strongest man in the 2,000 year history...
...of the military kingdom of Kuruda.
Despite that, you still want him to grow stronger?
What about you? Aren't you worried about your sister?
No, not if it's what Elle desires.
I feel the same way. If that's what Gau wants...
...I have a duty to allow it.
Is this your fate?
No, it's my pleasure.
That's just what Elle feels, too.
Scarface!
Don't go, Scarface! Where are you going, leaving me behind?
What do you fight for?
To... to protect the lives and happiness of the people I love.
If that's the case, then look what you have done.
That is the price for what you yourself desired!
No... I... I... it's not true...
It was a dream.
Elle.
What is your goal, Gau?
My goal?
To win the Kuruda combat skills competition, to be the...
...strongest fighter, and thus to be allowed to join the Sevalle?
You will do that one day...
...but that wouldn't mean you had surpassed Scarface.
Elle...
I can see what you're thinking.
You want to reach the peak before Scarface...
...who was sixteen when he became a Sevalle.
That's a real challenge. Even I couldn't achieve it.
Here.
This is last year. And this is the year before.
I can't believe I was this small.
Elle! Hurry up and make the mark.
You've really grown, Gau.
Elle...
Your mother and father have got to be proud, too.
Time really flies, doesn't it?
It seems like only yesterday...
...but it was four years ago today that I met you here.
You had dreadful eyes then.
Full of anger and hatred...
...your heart was shut tight like a shell.
No wonder really, since you alone had been waging...
...a guerrilla war against the bandits who killed your parents.
And you, just a ten-year-old boy.
Are you coming with me?
Why did you decide to take me and raise me?
Well, why did you decide to follow me?
I was going to use you.
I thought I'd flatter you and learn the secret of your strength.
You little bastard.
But, I'm different now. Thanks to you.
Because you were so kind.
You're wrong about me.
I wanted to see how strong a human being could become...
...if I were to raise it. It's like picking up a caterpillar...
...giving it food and water, and then watching in anticipation...
...to see if it turns into a butterfly or a moth.
That's how I felt.
I see.
Show me how you've turned out.
You want the title of Sevalle, don't you?
You want to surpass Scarface, don't you?
You want to fight me, don't you?
Stand up, Gau!
Fight. And win! Beat me and show...
...your mother, your father and me how strong you are!
Elle! Gau!
I'm not fooling around!
I'll kill you if you don't fight back!
What's wrong, Gau? Is that all you've got?
That's it... That's right...
But...
An open skill of the Kuruda School... The Haken!
A shadow skill of the Kuruda School... The Boomerang!
Now is our chance!
Who the hell are you?
Come, comrades!
Come, darkness!
A Wolfen!
This is trouble...
Take that!
Look at you now!
He's working you over, isn't he?
You!
Scarface!
It's been a long time, Elle Ragu.
Leave the rest to me.
Scarface!
A Wolfen, eh!
I'll put you out of your misery now.
An open skill of the Kuruda School... The Fray!
You'd better not get up yet.
Elle.
I'll give you a half day's grace.
You'd better think of a way to beat me by tomorrow morning.
Scarface.
Don't disappoint me, Gau.
Elle!
Your wounds aren't bad. They'll be healed in three days.
Scarface. You...?
Excuse me, but where are we?
We are beneath an ancient arena.
You didn't know?
That such a place existed? No.
Ages ago, they kept the slaves in here.
Slaves?
Slaves used to fight too?
They fought because they were slaves.
Please tell me, Scarface. Why...
You're asking why lfight, aren't you?
Because a battle is joy.
You mean to kill one another?!
No, a battle and killing are different things.
Killing is a rebellion against God, but a battle...
Gau, I believe that we can get closer to God through battle.
Closer to God?
Yes. Across a battle lies the road that leads to God.
Of course, this is just my opinion.
Just as there are open and shadow skills in the...
...Kuruda School of combat, in battle there is a front and back.
It's about time you discovered this for yourself.
Will I ever be able to feel the joy of battle too?
Try it again. One more time.
You'll understand if you do.
What the hell am I doing?
It's no good. I'll never...
...beat Elle like this.
Our skills and strength are practically equal, but...
...I just get treated like a child.
I don't understand why I can't use my hand skills.
I don't understand the shadow skills of the Kuruda School!
It's not that you don't use your hands in the shadow skills...
It's that you can't.
That's because the shadow skills of the Kuruda School are...
...the skills used by female slaves.
Female slaves?
You don't get it yet, do you?
Shadow skills arose from the sorrow of female slaves...
...who were ridiculed, tyrannized and raped. Thus these skills...
...are wielded to destroy those who take away...
... people's freedom and trample on their dignity.
The shadow skills of the Kuruda School of combat originated...
...to preserve the dignity of human beings. Can you see...
... why they are the greatest and most feared skills on earth?
The battle is the road to God.
And shadow skills are the way to build God's world on earth.
You're going to fight, aren't you?
Yes.
The shadow skills are strong.
I know!
Gau.
Good, Gau!
I dedicate this glorious battle to our hero, the great Scarface.
Let's go, Gau!
Okay!
That's it! I was missing the foundation of shadow skills.
I had no will to fight. Without that, there was...
...no way I could properly utilize those skills!
Stand up, Gau... Get up!
Don't rely on your arms!
Don't rely on your strength!
Fight with your spirit, Gau!
That's it, Gau. Think of the women, trained to use their...
...feet, because their hands were in chains.
Not having much strength, they used their supple...
...bodies as weapons. Their hands chained, and without strength,
these women came together to create the secret shadow...
...skills of the Kuruda School!
There's no need to worry. Those two are probably...
...even tougher than we imagine.
They will both be back, safe and sound.
Yes.
It's fun.
It's fun fighting with Elle.
I finally see.
Elle is the final mountain I have to surpass...
...in order to grasp the light.
Get strong, Gau! Stronger than me... stronger than Scarface!
I am invincible.
No one can rival...
my shadow skills!
My blows cannot be matched!
Are you awake?
Elle. I...
I see!
All right, get up. Let's get going.
Come on.
Okay.