"Quick! We should go in before he's recovered!" Diaga said. He tried to jump into the arena only to be pulled back by Toga.
"Hold on, we're at a disadvantage right now," Toga said.
"A disadvantage? Are you kidding me? Look at him. You've beaten him before in a healthier state then this. Surely this should be enough to secure a win," Wen said.
"Just, let me explain. There's something you need to know about Ryuma. The way he is right now, we're guaranteed a loss if we just try and rush in on him now,"
The group looked at him, all their faces scrunched in confusion. They shifted a glance over at the meditating Ryuma who was not paying any sort of attention on them. They couldn't see it.
Toga sighed. He expected as much. "The truth is, all the times I've ever beaten Ryuma, there was always under a few conditions or criteria's no matter the circumstances,"
Each of them inched in closer. They were going to hear the secret to taking down this monster. "While it's true that Ryuma is definitely stronger than me in combat, the truth is, in fights, just because you beat somebody, it doesn't mean you can consistently beat them at every fight you get into. A weaker fighter, can still scrape by with a win if their combat skill is at least within the margin of error,"
"Yeah… that's kinda our whole point trying to beat wonder boy right now," Clara said.
"I'm trying to tell you, that the margin of error that got me those wins, always included either luck, or Ryuma's own apathy going into it. In other words, I never won a true fight against him, by my standards,"
All three of their eyes widened. "You mean the gap between the top two, is even bigger than we imagined?" Wen asked.
"No… I don't think it's that big. It's something else about Ryuma we should be wary of. No matter what condition he comes into the match in, he can still pull off a win. And that's because, the more he's pushed into a corner, the more focused and driven he becomes. You all saw how difficult it was for him to fight Talo, only to end him easy once he was injured right?"
They all looked back on it. What he was saying about Ryuma would explain how an injured boy suddenly became more powerful, not less.
"All I'm saying is don't let his crippled appearance make you rush in there thinking you can win in one shot. You do that, and I'm sure you'd end up right back out of the arena,"
Diaga took a deep breath. "Thanks for warning us. We almost went into a death trap,"
"Just stick to the plan and we should be fine," Toga said. Though he whole heartedly wanted to believe those words to be true, something didn't quite sit right with him. It was as if Ryuma was hiding something from him. Something that could cost them this match.
Maybe he was just over thinking it.
The four got into the arena. They were the last line of defense to everyone passing. Despite their presence, Ryuma didn't budge. He continued meditating, oblivious to the world around him.
They each carefully took the opportunity to surround him. Wen summoned his Chakram, Diaga summoned his Halberd, and Toga summoned his Greatsword.
The only one who didn't summon anything was Clara. The each took a point, sidling the way they did so that they didn't alert him.
Having run it through their heads a million times during everyone's fight, Toga felt like they all shouldn't be this much on edge. If that's the case, why wasn't he guarding himself.
"That's it. I'm not giving him a second longer," Diaga launched himself at the passive Ryuma.
"DIAGA WAIT!" Toga shouted.
Ryuma's eyes shot open. Everything about them were different than how they previously were. Where they were normally non-expressive, his eyes were now burning with precision and determination.
In one fell movement, he twirled his body into a dashing position towards Diaga's direction. He sped faster than Diaga could react to and was already up under him.
Ryuma sliced his sword upwards. His movements were too swift. As everything moved in slow motion to Toga, Diaga's body looked like it had frozen in time. It was obvious he was going to get hit.
Diaga's chin, barely backed up enough to keep the blade from touching. Toga had already made it behind him, and pulled him back, inadvertently throwing him behind and saving him from Ryuma's attack.
If Diaga got taken out that early, it would start them off horribly. Ryuma looked at him and for a brief second, they glared at each other, knowing that at the end of the day, this was the person that was going to be the hardest challenge.
Ryuma flipped his blade and slammed both of them down on Toga, who blocked with his Greatsword. It felt like the arena shook with their clash alone.
"Wind Artes!" Ryuma said.
"Fire Artes!" Toga said.
Silver wind washed over Ryuma, while red flames engulfed around Toga. Both energies were blowing back behind their respective users, so much so that it was hard for the others to get close while it was going on.
Both pulled back on their weapons and slid backwards to break the deadlock. Without missing a beat, they both pointed their weapons at each other, and dashed right back in.
Ryuma didn't clash with him this time, and just maneuvered around his large strikes. He'd slice when he'd see an opening, but Toga was able to move his massive weapon fast enough to block.
Ryuma used his acrobatics to flip around him all while swinging strikes. He suddenly stuck his sword out defensively to his side and blocked a large spinning wheel that had clashed into him.
Wen was being surrounded be a large, spinning wheel. The handle on the inside wasn't moving at all, but the outside was turning so fast, he could ride it on the ground.
Flame sparks were flying from between the two blades and the sound of metal grinding ringed throughout the stadium.
Ryuma pushed off when Diaga came charging with his spear from his unguarded side. Even as Ryuma slid back, his eyes were assessing the three of them standing against him. For a brief second, Toga saw him covering one of his sides.
{That's right… he's still damaged from Talo.}
Despite that, Ryuma was the one that kept engaging with them. This time was no different. He ran at them again. He changed his style specifically to fight a crowd of people.
Jumping into the fray, he spun around, sticking both blades out and simultaneously attacking all three at once. The moment he landed in between all three, he flipped over Diaga's spear, and ducked under Toga's sword.
Wen flipped the oversized chakram from him being encased by it and started spinning it himself. Even by himself, Ryuma was a difficult person to pin down. No matter how much they trained together, actual combat was always a distinct experience than training. Nobody here was pulling punches.
To the onlooking crowd, it was hard to see who was winning. Sure Ryuma was being overshadowed by the other three, but he still shouldn't be able to last this long. They were all moving at a speed where it was already difficult to tell what was really going on.
Finally, a break changed when Ryuma slipped up, and blocked Toga's blade directly. With his overwhelming strength, he knocked the white blade up into the air.
He no longer had both his weapons.
Though Toga thought that Ryuma proved that it didn't matter all that much. He effortlessly switched to a one-handed style and fought well enough that way.
He blocked Diaga's spear and forced it to the ground. In trying to pull it out, Ryuma stepped on his shoulder and jumped high enough to grab the missing sword. He backflipped on his way down and crossed his blades into an X shape, slamming down on Wen.
Wen held on to the clash before deciding It wasn't worth it and backed off.
"How could you still have this much strength!?" Wen complained.
They all still traded blows with him as he kept dodging and looking for an opening among the three frontliners. Ryuma never answered. By the way he was moving, and who he kept shifting his gaze towards, betrayed Ryuma's intentions. He would either look at Wen, or Diaga. He knew that look. There was no doubt that Ryuma was waiting for one of them to drop their guard at any point in the match. He must've figured that going for Toga first wasn't a winning strategy.
And to be quite honest, he figured that if that was what he was going for, it had the most chance at succeeding.
This was proven, when Diaga, finally started panting and showing signs of fatigue. He stopped and leaned on his knees.
The look on Ryuma's eyes turned to that of a predator. He dashed forward again. Toga did the same thing to save him just like he did the first time it happened.
Toga once again, made it to them, pulling on Diaga once again.
This time however, Ryuma ignored those two and went straight after Wen. Of course… He didn't go for Diaga, knowing I'd protect him. He used my protective instinct against me.
Now that he was in the position, there were no way to save Wen. His best bet was that he could survive, long enough for help to come.
Sadly, that were not to be, as Ryuma knocked him full force and blasted him towards the end of the arena. That was finally it.
Before Wen made it out, he was blocked from a protective shield of… wires?
"Whoa. Set up is down now," Clara said. "You owe me one Wen,"