Shadow Skill: Epilogue (影技 SHADOW SKILL)

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.