"I think I get it now…This is personal, isn't it?" He asked with a smile.
Takehiro shook his head, "I don't know you. But, I know "The King of Brawlers" is somebody I want to face. So, what'll it be, Brawling King?"
He stood his ground with a smirk, holding his hands up, "I just want a good fight."
Just then, with a raise of the leader's hand and a simple motion–the battle began.
"Get 'em!" Ryu yelled out.
"No mercy!" Reiji added.
A stampede of Elysium members came his way. It wasn't just bare hands they charged at him with; crowbars, pipes, knives, bats–it was all fair game.
He smiled at the swarm of bikers rushing him as he prepared, meeting the first to come his way with a sharp jab to his nose.
"Gh!" The gang member winced.
With the others closing in, he spun around into a wide-sweeping kick, taking out three at once and throwing those behind them off balance.
Even with weapons, none of them could lay a scratch on him as he effortlessly swept through their numbers, sending each that came his way flying back with his impeccable technique.
"What's this guy made out of?!" A mohawk-haired member called out.
"Who cares?! Bring it in!" Ryu commanded, who seemed to be the vice leader.
After knocking out a couple dozen already, he looked up as the headlights flashed into his eyes, hearing the grumbling roars of engines as a number of thugs began riding towards him on their motorcycles.
"Woo!"
"It's just one kid–crush him!"
While on the bikes, chain flails were spun around as well as bats being wielded like some sort of modern corruption of jousting.
Being encircled by the loud, humming bikes, he kept his stance readied before a chain ball was flung his way. He dodged it and grabbed onto the chain with a smile, flexing his muscles greatly to gain total control of it.
"Heavenly Daigo Style: Iron Gate's Closure."
Planting his soles firmly against the ground below, he tugged the chain, causing both the rider of the bike and the vehicle itself to be flung into the air as he spun it around, crashing them into another set of bikes.
"Waaah!"
"Ghh!"
The clash of bikes resulted in a harsh impact, taking a few out instantly as he turned around to see a pair of thugs riding on a smoke-exuding, green-painted bike, with the one on the back wielding a metal bat.
"--It's over, kid!"
The man wielding the bat, standing up on the back of the bike yelled out with his silver grill, swinging the dense, silver weapon forward.
With a jump, he spun around into a kick, taking both the rider and the passenger out at once, causing the bike to slide across the ground and take out a few charging gangsters.
"--"
Before the next group could charge, they hesitated, holding their weapons while shaking with sweat leaving their body.
Stepping in front of them, the vice leader with his explosively-flashy pompadour cracked his knuckles, "Quit pissin' yourselves at the sight of just one guy! We're Elysium! We only fall into our graves, not on our knees!"
The words from the vice leader reignited the other thugs as they began rushing towards the "King of Brawling" once more, with Ryu leading the charge.
Amidst the clash between all of Elysium and the famous brawler, Takehiro watched, not having moved a single step from his initial spot as his onyx eyes stayed on him.
…Are you just going to watch as I wipe out your whole crew, Takehiro? He thought.
As one thug rushed over, stomping towards him with his imposing height, the man swung a crowbar towards his head, but he seamlessly kicked his arm, causing the thug to knock out his own comrade.
"Hey–wait! That's dirty!" The tall, bald thug yelled out.
Before the thug could properly react, he met the same fate as his comrade as a sharp kick to his jaw sent him flying.
"Dirty? You're the ones ganging up on little old me," he smirked.
The pompadour-wearing vice leader rushed him now, meeting him with wild haymakers.
"Ora! Ora! Ora!" Ryu yelled out.
He moved through the wild punches coming his way, spinning through them as he used a spinning backfist to send the vice leader crashing over by the leader's feet.
It was just the two of them left standing now.
"Oww…"
"Grhh…"
"Argh…"
Groaning in pain on the warehouse floor, all of the defeated thugs held their bodies, laying down as the leader and the famous brawler stared each other down.
"Looks like you're the only one left," he said.
Takehiro didn't bat an eye, "Seems so."
"I don't know what kind of leader who rules by strength just sits back and watches his subordinates get wiped out, but you sure are a sorry one," he sighed.
"--" Takehiro looked at him, "Is that what you think?"
"Yeah."
"I don't waste my time fighting unless it's necessary. It's troublesome," Takehiro said.
The black-haired adolescent took his hands out of his pockets, keeping them at his sides as he looked forward.
"Looks like it's necessary," he said.
"Seems so. You're as strong as they say, Touma Daigo. Once I beat you down, Elysium will soar higher than ever before," Takehiro told him, "Then my dream of creating a new age of gangs will be within reach."
He smiled, raising his fists, "Sounds like a lofty goal you've got there."
"And what's your dream, Touma Daigo?" Takehiro asked.
As a breeze swept in through the warehouse on that cold, starry night, passing dust across the rusty floor while the headlights from the bikes produced a spotlight around the two, the tension sat at its peak.
It was a question that he had been asked multiple times throughout his life, but at multiple points, he didn't know whether it was what he truly wanted.
But now, he was sure of it:
"I want to be the strongest martial artist," he replied.
Takehiro kept his hands by his sides as his embroidered, verdant jacket fluttered in the passing winds, hanging from his shoulders with only a black t-shirt beneath.
"I see," for the first time, the leader of Elysium smiled with his scarred lips, "Then neither of us can afford to lose here, then."
"Yeah."
Staring each other down, what came was a bout between local legends: