Fujin had expected the teal ball of energy to hit his chest, but the bald boy in his front had other plans.
"Yeah, I like this guy. No way he's getting eliminated," the boy had said.
What followed after was probably never going to leave Fujin's memory in a really long time.
The bald boy dashed towards the first boy that attacked Fujin and then diverted. Using the momentum, the bald boy jumped and landed on the first attacker's shoulders, trapping his head in-between his legs. Then he did a quick backflip towards the edge of the arena, releasing the boy in the process, which made the boy fly out.
"Contestant 312 has been eliminated!"
As the bald boy landed, he used that landing as a platform to fly at the third attacker — the one who the teal blast came from. The poor boy didn't have a chance to react after being stunned from watching his friend get eliminated. The bald boy gave him a straight punch between his eyes, knocking him out. Then the bald boy just threw him off the arena.
"Contestant 678 has been eliminated!"
The third guy did something unexpected. He screamed and jumped off the arena himself, running away.
"Contestant 2 has been eliminated!"
"That was light work," the bald boy smirked, dusting his hands.
Then he turned towards Fujin, which caused him to panic.
'Who's ths guy? I thought I would last longer, but now, if I keep holding back, this would be the end of my tournament jour—'
Fujin's thought was interrupted by the voice of the bald boy.
"My name's Hito," he said with an outstretched hand.
Fujin blinked, "Huh? I mean, uh, okay, I'm Fujin," he shook Hito's hand, "thanks for, uh, helping me, though I'm not weak; I could have pulled through."
Hito raised an eyebrow, "You could say that. But my main goal was to fight you. I like your explosive energy. Do you know why?"
Fujin thought for a moment. So the bald boy — Hito — didn't want to be a white knight. He just liked his impressive display of energy that wiped out a lot of people, though it also took a lot out of his energy pool.
"Why, if I may ask?"
"Because of this," Hito turned and outstretched his hand. A small purple energy ball was crackling. Then he moved his hand back, and then swung it out fast, releasing a beam of purple cracking energy in a direction. It wiped out almost everyone in its path.
Almost everyone.
Hito frowned when he saw a green energy shield far ahead, which dissolved to reveal a familiar face. The face belonged to the person he had met with Mono, the person who he promised to prove his no. 1 slip to. Renji.
Hito turned to Fujin and said sharply, "I'm sorry, we'll duel later," then walked off towards Renji, leaving behind a confused Fujin.
---
Mono and the orange haired boy looked at the purple blast to their far side, saw it fade, saw Renji, then saw Hito walking towards him. On that side of the arena, only Hito, Renji, and the boy that gave the earlier blast remained.
"This arena is going to be a mess, knowing those two," Mono said.
The orange haired boy chuckled and said, "If you really knew those two, then you know Ren's capability, and based on what you said, the badly could match him."
Mono turned to him and blinked, "Wait, you know Renji?"
"Oh, Ren? We have... a complicated relationship, if I could put it that way. It's not something we can talk about here. I'm Jin, by the way."
"Alright, if you say so, Jin. Let's get back to our action."
Mono them jumped back, ready to continue his clash with Jin.
---
Hito walked towards Renji, feeling tensed. Renji had earlier challenged him, and he decided to answer. He walked closer and closer until he reached about five metres from him, then he stopped walking.
"We meet again, Mr. No. 1. Shall we prove this here and now?"
Hito laughed while keeping his smirk, "Yes, we shall."
And then they moved. They clashed fists. Hito went for a sweeping kick but Renji jumped and went for a roundhouse kick. Hito threw a backflip from a weird position, dodging it. Then he jumped right back in.
He moved his hand upwards, aiming for Renji's chin, but Renji blocked his uppercut, then kneed his stomach, widened Hito's eyes. Renji decided to capitalise on this and went for a left hook, but Hito suddenly deflected it and sharply elbowed Renji's face.
It was a clean hit, and it produced a little blood from Renji's face. Renji wiped it off, then put his hands down. He was silent, and Hito, for some reason was watching him.
Before long, Hito squinted his eyes, smirked, then said, "Oh, we're reaching that level already? Let's do it together, then."
Suddenly, energy enveloped the both of them at the same time. Hito's was raging purple, while Renji's was green.
Then they went in again.