Chapter 147: Mysterious Girl

"Damn it, that guy is way too strong."

"Who the hell is he? Why have I never heard of him?"

In the blink of an eye, after taking out fifty people, Takamine Rinji had become the most conspicuous figure in the entire room.

He looked slim, even somewhat delicate, but when he struck, there was no hesitation or mercy. The participants in this preliminary round may not have been the top-tier fighters, but each one of them was at least at the level of a superhuman compared to ordinary people. All had combat records they were proud of.

And yet, fifty of these strong fighters were easily beaten down by a single boy.

"Take him out first!!"

"If we don't, we're all done for!"

A fat man and a thin man charged at Takamine Rinji from opposite directions—one from the front and the other from behind.

It was obvious they intended a feint-and-ambush combo: one would distract, the other would strike the fatal blow. As long as this most dangerous person went down, the rest would be easy.

Despite their comedic "duo" appearance, these two weren't nobodies.

The skinny one was named Aki Saitō, a fighter representing Kaoin Construction, with a Kengan record of 6 wins and 0 losses, having earned over 3.22 billion yen in assets for his company. The fat one was Ushiroda Takero, from Izumi Foodstuff, with a record of 7 wins and 0 losses, bringing in 11.05 billion yen.

Both were well-known in the Kengan matches. Even in the preliminaries, they were considered strong.

Aki Saitō rushed at Takamine directly, while Ushiroda looped around to attack from behind.

Facing Aki, Takamine stepped forward as if to meet him. But just as Aki swung a wide hook punch, Takamine suddenly shifted his leading foot backward, abruptly halting all momentum.

"What!?"

Aki's punch swung into empty air.

A hook punch relies heavily on precise timing and positioning. One must calculate both their own and the opponent's movement to land the hit.

Aki had calculated just right—until Takamine threw him off by suddenly stopping.

In that moment of hesitation, Takamine's fist slammed into Aki's chest.

He had used a twisted step to throw his opponent off guard, then delivered a powerful "crushing punch" with pinpoint accuracy.

Boom!

Splurt!

The punch smashed into Aki's chest, causing his eyes to bulge and a mouthful of blood to spurt out.

As blood sprayed from Aki's mouth, Takamine casually tilted his head—and the blood splashed right into Ushiroda's eyes just as he tried to attack from behind.

"Argh! My eyes—!"

Crack!

In less than a second, while Ushiroda froze from the stinging blood, Takamine's fingers had already turned into a blade and jabbed him in the throat. The man dropped unconscious instantly.

Two hot contenders for the prelims—knocked out and eliminated.

With those two down, most of the remaining fighters didn't even dare approach Takamine.

Tokita Ohma, having knocked out a few who tried him, glanced over with a slight frown.

The Takamine today felt like a different person from when they had first met.

Now, he seemed to be "playing"—still strong, but not overwhelmingly so. It even gave Ohma the illusion that he might be able to beat him.

But back in that alley at night, when Takamine had stared at him with glowing red eyes, it was an entirely different story.

It felt like facing a prehistoric monster as a helpless infant.

Now though, his eyes weren't red.

'He's deliberately holding back—to give people the illusion that he can be beaten.'

Takamine exhaled lightly after taking out the two and began walking toward the crowd.

All those still fighting instantly stopped and took a step back.

They had seen his power and knew they likely weren't a match.

Even with Takamine suppressing his strength, the pressure was enough to make weaker fighters tremble.

Suddenly, a fierce gust of wind kicked up around him.

Countless fists came flying toward him from every direction.

"Hmm?"

Dozens of punches rushed toward his face. Takamine simply raised a finger and nudged each strike off-course one by one.

"You're strong," came a voice. "I misjudged you earlier."

In front of him stood a man wrapped in white cloth, like he had just returned from the desert.

His face was mostly covered, revealing only determined eyes.

"You're different from the others—you're a real fighter. I thought you were just a kid who slipped into the arena by accident. But now I'll fight you seriously—ah!!"

Before the man could finish, Takamine punched him in the nose, knocking him out cold.

"God, you talk way too much."

---

Meanwhile, on the Kengan ship, businessmen were glued to the screen.

"Hassad from Persia Petroleum lost too?"

"What a monster…"

"Birdman Totsuka and Beast Ogabe were taken out too. Those guys were elite!"

"Which company is he from? Why can't we place bets on him?"

Not just the executives—even their accompanying fighters furrowed their brows as they imagined what they'd do if they faced Takamine in the main tournament.

"My my~ Little Rinji is quite impressive," Kurayoshi Rino smiled gracefully at the screen.

"Yeah, I knew he was strong from the start," replied Soryuin Shion, puffing on a cigarette as she stared intently at the footage.

She vividly remembered their first encounter—how he blocked attacks from both Ozu Toshio and Kiryu Setsuna without a scratch.

Speaking of Kiryu Setsuna, her current fighter, he had mysteriously disappeared somewhere.

"That damn Kiryu…"

Tap.

Suddenly, a hand rested on her shoulder.

Startled, she turned around to see a girl in a hooded coat hiding her face.

"Who are you?"

"The blonde one—what's his name?"

"The blonde? You mean Takamine Rinji?"

"I see… so his name is Takamine Rinji!?"

The girl gave a twisted, excited grin.

Beneath the hood, her sclera was entirely black—not human.