Chapter 190: One Versus Four

"All fighters ready!!"

Because it was a four-on-one match, the referee was extremely cautious.

The crowd was electric—Rinji had already defeated two powerful fighters. If he won even a four-on-one, then…

They might be witnessing the rebirth of a new Kengan king.

"Begin!!"

At the referee's signal, the match started.

But none of the four challengers moved.

They only watched each other warily. No one made the first move on Rinji.

Understandable. There was only one Kengan chairman seat. If Rinji was defeated, any fighters still standing would then have to fight each other.

But who would wear Rinji down?

If someone charged in first and managed to win, the others might swoop in and finish him off. Or if he fought first, used up his energy, and then was picked off by the last one standing—either way, he'd be the loser.

This alliance was temporary. Their companies all coveted the chairman's seat. No one would hand over the advantage.

"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

But just when it seemed this stalemate would drag on, one person snapped.

Yoroizuka shouted, "I don't care anymore! Let's fight!!"

He was a passionate youth who cared only about beating his opponents—not weighing pros and cons.

Mikazuchi Rei and Bando Yohei froze, while Kaolan just sighed.

Yoroizuka dashed toward Rinji at incredible speed and began his fierce assault.

Bam!

Rinji blocked his punch with an elbow. Yoroizuka immediately pivoted and tried a low kick.

Smack!

Before he could lift his leg, Rinji stepped on his knee, cutting the attack short.

Even after missing twice, Yoroizuka wasn't discouraged. He unleashed a wild flurry of attacks.

Low kicks, knee strikes, jabs, elbows—strike after strike rained toward Rinji.

His fighting style resembled Muay Thai, but Rinji knew—this wasn't Muay Thai.

This was Lethwei.

While Muay Thai is known as the "Art of Eight Limbs"—fists, elbows, knees, and shins—Lethwei includes a ninth weapon.

That meant Yoroizuka's next move was probably…

"AAAHHHHH!!"

Yoroizuka roared as his attacks were repeatedly blocked. Putting all his strength into a charge, he grabbed Rinji's shoulders and slammed his forehead up in a brutal headbutt.

CLANG!

"…He landed it?"

The three watching fighters didn't expect this. In their minds, dodging a headbutt like that should've been trivial for Rinji.

Burmese boxing(Lethwei) was famous for its iron headbutts—especially Yoroizuka, whose skull could shrug off sledgehammer blows. His head was said to be the toughest on Earth.

But what happened next left them—especially Kaolan—completely dumbfounded.

Yoroizuka swayed, then collapsed to the ground, bleeding from his forehead, while Rinji didn't have a scratch on him.

Looking at the sunken shape of Yoroizuka's chest, it became clear—at the exact moment of the headbutt, Rinji had punched him in the chest, disrupting his heart's blood flow and knocking him unconscious.

"…"

"You think I agreed to let you four team up just so you could brawl among yourselves after beating me?" Rinji tapped his head and laughed. "I let you group up to save time, idiots."

"…Looks like…"

"…We'll have to go all in and focus on taking him down."

"Agreed."

The remaining three realized Rinji was beyond conventional understanding.

Mikazuchi Rei made the first move. In a blink, he vanished.

Bam!

Rinji blocked the first blow. Rei had already circled behind him and launched a kick at the back of Rinji's head.

Rinji ducked slightly to dodge the kick, and when he turned, Rei had already vanished again.

Rei's speed was incredible. In the preliminaries, he had defeated his opponent in just one second—so fast the crowd hadn't even realized the match was over.

That speed earned him the nickname "Lightning God."

But this speed had a fatal flaw.

As Rei disappeared again, Rinji simply thrust his fist forward.

THUD!

Rei dropped to the ground, unconscious.

When moving at such extreme speed, his trajectory could only be a straight line. His reflexes couldn't keep up with that velocity, and he had run straight into Rinji's punch.

Five minutes in. Two out of four down.

Rinji remained unscathed.

Just as Rinji dealt with Rei, Bando Yohei swung an arm at his head.

His entire arm suddenly extended like a whip, lashing out at Rinji.

Rinji deflected it with his wrist, but Bando's other arm, also like a whip, followed up immediately.

Bando's body was abnormally flexible—his joints and ligaments could stretch like rubber, especially in his shoulders, elbows, and wrists. His attacks mimicked the snap of a whip.

Whipcrack!

As the third strike came in, Rinji moved.

He sidestepped and struck Bando's arm with three fingers, driving them in like nails into the wrist.

Before Bando could react, Rinji stepped in and struck his chin upward with an open palm, then smashed his fist into Bando's chest.

Bando's spine was so flexible he could shift his heart's position to avoid critical hits. Rinji's chin strike was meant to straighten his spine so Bando couldn't relocate his heart.

BAM!

Bando collapsed.

"Well then…"

Rinji turned toward the last man—Kaolan.

"Only one left. Just you and me now."

"A one-on-one? That suits me just fine."

Kaolan replied calmly. His stance was that of a boxer, arms swaying slightly.

"Relax."

Rinji's posture shifted, pulling back like a bow. His left hand pointed straight at Kaolan, while his right hand was coiled at his waist.

"This will be over fast."

"Is that so?"

Kaolan's eyes sharpened, and he lunged at Rinji.

BOOM!

The arena went dead silent—then erupted into thunderous cheers.

"We have a winner!!!"