The girl copied Hikaru and picked up two 20 kg plates and threw one at Hikaru. He jumped only to be met with the second one in the air.
This was a standard maneuver to trap him as he couldn't dodge while he was in the air. Hikaru pulled out his trump card and caught it with his tentacle. He turned around in the air using the momentum of the plate and then threw it back at her. The centrifugal force added to the blow and knocked her out. Hikaru aimed toward the stomach to not break any bones.
After taking down the two, he calmly scanned the battlefield. More than three-quarters of the participants have fallen. He saw a spot where there was no fighting. Kazumi was standing in the eye of the storm silently observing Botan trapped in a triangle formation. Then he spotted Junpei furiously throwing punches at a guy who wasn't resisting.
Hikaru jumped down and stopped Junpei's pummeling.
"He's down for the count don't you think?"
Junpei looked up at Hikaru. His eyes were filled with rage. Hikaru looked at him in surprise. He thrust Hikaru's hand away and got up, glaring at him. Hikaru was perplexed. What had gotten Junpei so angry? There wasn't a point to be mad at a human. After all, he could add that person to a list of targets. As of now, being a parasite was a breeze.
"You don't care at all, do you?" He fumed.
"Mmm no, I don't," Hikaru said in a breezy manner.
Junpei charged at Hikaru, lobbing fists everywhere. Hikaru's feet swiftly moved a step ahead even when Junpei sped up and slowed down his pacing to catch him off. Left, right, duck, left, left, back.
Through sparring with Junpei, he could feel his killing intent. Hikaru felt hatred in his eyes, not exactly at him as a person but for what he is.
'Human? No, he's a parasite that hates other parasites?' Hikaru thought.
Thack!
Junpei was hit from behind on his injured shoulder. He winced and turned around with a back-hand punch only to find a tentacle hanging in the air.
He traced where it was coming from and led him to the front where he was greeted by three left jabs and a right straight punch to the face. He stumbled backwards with blood gushing from his nose.
Hikaru did a running jump and knee-ed him to the floor. He landed with his foot on Junpei's rib. Junpei was sprawling underneath Hikaru.
"You're finished." Hikaru declared.
Junpei refused to admit defeat and tried to push his foot off. Hikaru pressed harder in response, cracking a rib that was already punched by a runner. Junpei howled in pain.
"Stay down."
Hikaru felt his resistance drained away and took off his foot. He then felt a soft bump on his other leg and looked down to see an unconscious Kazumi who had spat out blood before fainting.
"Hmm."
He looked up to see that there were bodies all over the floor and up ahead was Botan gazing back. There were a few participants left standing between them who turned their heads to look at the two. Left. Right. Their bodies relinquished the fighting stances in surrender and walked off the battlefield to Daichi's side.
They stared at each other down. Daichi thought that it was dangerous for Botan to let a thinker like Hikaru stall time as he made battle plans.
Hikaru slowly hid his arm behind his back and transformed it. Botan noticed this and sprinted before Hikaru finished his preparations.
Hikaru was a bit surprised that Botan wasn't as thick as he looked. Botan swung at Hikaru in no time at all as he ran faster than Usain Bolt.
Botan wasn't holding back and was swinging as fast as he could so that Hikaru couldn't dodge. Yet, Hikaru still evaded his strikes but it was much more difficult than with Junpei earlier.
Hikaru noticed that Botan's enhanced arm was moving slower than his right arm punches. In the few seconds, Hikaru struck at Botan with his tentacle that's been doubled in size. Botan blocked it coming at his right but his right arm was immediately bruised.
Hikaru was surprised he hadn't broken it and Botan was surprised that he was hurt. Another one of those hits on the same spot would break his arm. Botan swung with his enhanced left arm which was slow at first but immediately sped up.
However, Hikaru jumped several metres back. It had nearly grazed his skin and judging by the wind pressure from the blow, it would have been devastating if it landed.
Hikaru had thought it was strange that Botan's stronger arm would be slower just because it was heavier. The world wasn't black and white. An arm punch can be slower if the muscle mass stayed the same but the fat was increased.
However, the fact is that the parasites had the same muscle mass as they did before but had utilised more of its strength and so moved and hit faster than a normal human could. Botan's arm might have gotten heavier from the extra muscle mass but the increased strength by ratio would have made his punch much faster.
Hikaru wasn't sure about the nature of his arm, but he was wary of it. The last punch confirmed his suspicions. Botan was hiding the true speed of his arm punch by pulling his punches. It was a lure for smarter opponents. No wonder Kazumi was caught off guard. Hikaru thought it was unforeseen that Botan was this clever.
Botan was flabbergasted that Hikaru had seen through his trick that Daichi taught him before the Battle Royale started. He looked for Daichi's expression and saw that he was amazed by Hikaru. Bitterness climbed at his throat.
Botan was envious at Hikaru who could understand his master's thoughts. He was upset that Hikaru and Daichi were on the same wavelength at the meeting in school while he couldn't make left from right from what they were saying. However, he had figured out that his boss wanted to test for enhancers like himself. The thought that Hikaru becoming the more favoured one infuriated him.
'I'll crush him! I'll show Daichi that he's not worth being interested in.' He vowed.