A group of three runners in a lock saw the 1.8m giant walking up to them. They each knew that none of them could take him on, but they thought they had a chance if they teamed up. They all looked at each other in the eyes and nodded. They had called on a truce without speaking a word.
They surrounded Botan in a triangle formation and only then did Botan stop walking. Looking up ahead he saw Kazumi watching him with his tongue out. He was touching the tip of his tongue with his thumb as he observed.
"Tch," Botan spat.
Kazumi had broken all his opponents and left a brutal scenery around him, deterring others from attacking.
Botan stood still, patiently waiting for them to make a move. The three of them intended to wait for the other to move first so that they can attack when Botan was distracted. They also read each other's thoughts and realised no one was going to move. They all jumped in unison. They all believed that attacking simultaneously was the best option.
Two were suspended in mid-air as Botan caught them while the third crashed on his back with a flying kick. Botan didn't budge. He was like a statue. He smashed the two against each other and swung them at the third guy who was repeatedly punching him. He jumped back and missed Botan's swing. Botan then threw his comrades at him. He jumped to avoid the first one but was smacked in the air by the second.
He wouldn't have been knocked unconscious if it weren't because of Botan's enhanced arm. Botan had strengthened his left arm while he was standing still. It grew in size and morphed into what looked like hardened pink flesh without skin. They had vines of flesh stretching down. It looked like what would happen if cancerous tumours had completely taken over the arm. Kind of like Deadpool's face but ten times more cancer.
Botan turned his head to look at Kazumi sneaking up behind him and threw a wide swing to which he dodged narrowly by stepping back. Botan swung again but Kazumi leapt back smirking. There was an intense staredown. A smile and a cold sober face.
Botan flinched when Kazumi sprinted but that was a feint as he came to a sudden stop just out of Botan's range. He sneered at Botan. Agitated, Botan stepped in with a straight punch. Kazumi turned in a quarter circle and did a turning kick to his knee pit causing Botan to fall on one knee.
Kazumi followed up with an axe kick but Botan's arm blocked the hit over his head. Botan then threw his foot off and lobbed a series of punches. Straight punch, left hook, uppercut, left jab, right hook, overhead punch. Kazumi moved like the wind, evading every one of his hits.
He had learnt an important detail, Botan's enhanced arm was slower than his right. A gale from the last punch brushed his hair before he moved in and delivered a push kick to the solar plexus. Botan staggered back and fell to his knee.
Daichi wasn't completely surprised. He knew that Kazumi was paying attention to Botan's fight with the three runners. He figured that normal hits wouldn't sufficiently damage him. So, he aimed for weak points in the body like the joints, throat, jaw, temples, ribs and other places.
What's surprising is that there was a cunning mind underneath his impulsive behaviour. Kazumi wasn't smart the same way Hikaru was. It was his heightened killer instincts that gave him an acute battle sense.
Kazumi went in for the kill but then Botan suddenly got up and uppercut with his right. Kazumi had anticipated this. He knew that Botan would try to bait him after seeing his fast footwork skills and sharp sense.
He jumped back to avoid the hit but Botan's arm accelerated much faster than him and blew him away.
Kazumi flew in an arc and then slid across the gym floor. He lightly bumped the tip of a shoe as he slowly came to a stop. The owner of the shoe is Hikaru who was standing before a knocked out Junpei. Kazumi had been rendered unconscious after one punch in the stomach.
***
Hikaru jumped back into a clear when he heard the announcement. He needed to get away from the heat so he would have more control over his opponents and his environment.
A Battle Royale wasn't fair. If he got unlucky and fought multiple people at the same time or one strong opponent after another, he could run out of stamina or suffer too many injuries to be the last man standing.
However, that's why Daichi chose to have a Battle Royale, he probably wanted to assess their skills in a scenario that is close to reality and see how well they adapt Hikaru thought. It's also the kind of situation that would bring out one's full potential.
It was anarchy on the battlefield. Assailants took advantage of unsuspecting participants and some participants carried their fight onto another duelling pair's battleground.
Hikaru looked around for single opponents and eyed them to get a response. A girl amongst the fighting met with his eyes and ran towards him.
'It worked,' Hikaru smiled.
Then, Hikaru saw another one coming from his right while the girl came at his left.
"Tch."
Hikaru turned around and ran towards the wall. He jumped 4 metres into the air and over the handrail of the second floor, where the gym equipment was. It was then Hikaru noticed his jump height had increased after absorbing those bodies.
The two attackers froze for a moment and then ran to each corner of the wall. They jumped and climbed over the hand railing at opposite sides of Hikaru. They had done this to avoid being kicked back down after jumping.
The two began running towards the middle where he was. Hikaru pulled out a stack of weight plates from the bench press equipment and aimed at the one on his left. He flicked the heavyweights back-handed as if they were frisbees. The guy dodged the first two but got hit with the rest. Hikaru was empty-handed after taking him down.