You're just like me.
You'll never be free.
Kaijou stands still, watching Raito's lifeless body get carried away.
"This round concludes here as Raito will fail to compete in the following rounds due to his death. I must say, I expected deaths to occur."
"But I never expected that my own son would be the first killer." Yamada's voice echoes through the arena.
A low murmur spreads through the Ascendants.
Wait... he's Yamada's son? So Kaede was his wife that he had murdered?
Kaijou's the reason we all are subjected to standards! He's the standard we must purge!
Anger is born within the crowds. Even Hayami and Bakura felt unease.
And then, there is him.
"You have shown that you are just a monster like me. Yet you still deny it, you still accept yourself as a human." Sora says under his breath with amusement.
"And now, your fangs have been revealed, would they still trust you?"
Kaijou dashes out of the arena, goes to the toilet and washes his hand, trying to scrub Raito's blood off.
Kaijou.
Shibuma calls for him, however Kaijou still kept on scrubbing. His mind unstable.
Kaijou! Snap out of it, idiot!
Kaijou collects the water with his palm and splashes it on his face, he looks at the mirror... Seeing his face, and how miserable he looks.
He grimaces before punching the mirror as it shatters into pieces. Kaijou gasps as the shards strike his skin. Causing his hand to bleed.
There you go, are you proud of yourself for doing that? You know that won't solve everything, right?
Kaijou stumbles to the floor, holding his ears as if to block out Shibuma's words.
I'm you, Kaijou. We both are what we are. I can't stand here and just watch you torment yourself, but I know I still can't take over your body.
So listen to my advice, wrap that with a bandage, and get out there and prove it. You are not like them, because we both know, you will never be them.
Kaijou stands up with a grunt, clutching his throbbing hand. "You're right. Kaede— no... mom, would never wanted me to hurt myself because of what others sees me as."
"You're right, Shibuma. The only who can save me... is myself."
Kaijou goes to the infirmary, receiving a bandage from a staff and quickly apply it.
The speaker voices out. "Ascendants, Kuronami Kaijou will be moving up in the brackets. Our next round will begin shortly. Sora Kagehashi versus Kenjiro Tanaka."
Sora's fighting? I need to see his moves. Kaijou thinks.
Good idea, it'll allow me to read Sora's moves, and also prepare some counter attacks for you.
Excellent. Shibuma, we'll need each other's cooperation if we want to take him down.
Bakura and Hayami's gaze falls onto him.
"...Kaijou? Are you okay?" Hayami murmurs, her hands shaking slightly.
Bakura grabs Kaijou's collar, "You... bastard! Aren't you the same as them!? We trusted you— why did you take someone's life away...?"
Kaijou's eyes widens as his hands grip the collar tightly. "This is why... you don't judge others quickly."
The two freezes, Bakura releases his hand, and steps back. "What do you mean?"
"Raito. He had used my mother's name, hoping that it'd immobilize me. It's true, I got angry and killed him. Because that's the consequences, if I hadn't acted on his taunts, he would've walked away unscathed."
"In this world, you two need to realize too— to clean the trash up, you must get your hands dirty to discard the rot."
"Which means, you must actively pursue your goals for it to happen. If you don't seek your peace, how do you expect it to find you?"
The three watches the current fight. Sora is fighting now, they need to know how capable he really is in a fight.
Sora steps into the arena with his usual smirk, his eyes still calm as ever. "Are you really sure, Kenjiro-kun. I'm afraid, you are not going to be in the same shape."
Kenjiro grimaces. His heart beating incredibly fast, because he going to fight Sora.
"You'll lose, Kenjiro." Sora remarks.
Kenjiro's eyes widen, his pride stained. He dashes forward, throwing a right hook with all of his strength.
Then... Sora catches his fist. "So much power, yet so weak."
Sora grabs his hand and throws him over his shoulder.
Kenjiro falls with a loud thud, he grunts loudly as the sharp pain came from his broken spine.
"I'll kill you."
Kenjiro's eyes widen as he panics, moving his hands and legs to free himself from Sora's grasp.
Sora grabs his collar, as his other hand curls into a fist and he delivers a punch to his cheek repeatedly until Kenjiro's face was nothing like before. The others watch silently, unaware that there is another monster here.
"What the fuck... he's so brutal!" Bakura mutters.
Kaijou sneers, His gaze fully on Sora.
"You're right... he gave him a beating that Kenjiro would never recover from."
"How are we supposed to beat this monster?" Hayami murmurs, her hands shaking from Sora's terror.
Kaijou holds her hand, as he sighs. "Don't worry, just remember, I'm here. We promised to help each other, right?" he says tenderly.
He stares at Sora with narrowed eyes, then Sora looks up to him. He instantly smirks.
The staff quickly checks Kenjiro's pulse. "Can you still continue?"
Kenjiro coughs blood as it drips from his mouth. "No, I surrender! Screw that freedom! It's not worth it if you have to face Sora!"
Upon hearing that, Sora got even more prideful. He approaches Kenjiro. "Weakling, you deserve eternal punishment for your failures. Yamada doesn't like those incapable of making themselves proud, y'know?"
Sora chuckles lowly, as he goes into the resting room with his head held high.
Soon enough, several Ascendants began to drop out of the test, as they fear being heavily injured or potentially killed by Sora or Kaijou.
Yamada's voice echoes through the speakers. "Looks like most of you quit the test. Very well, I will make sure you all grow stronger and more refined for our next time."
"But for the remaining contestants, the next round will be... Bakura Shouji versus Satou Masaru. But the Ascendants who resigned, can still watch the fights. Learn how these real men fight, and next time... win for yourself."
Bakura's heartbeat spikes up. "Satou? Isn't that the guy from Sora's gang?"
Kaijou nods. "Yes, but he is not equal nor close to Sora in terms of speed or striking force. From what I've seen, he's more of a versatile fighter."
Hayami smiles and pats his shoulder. "You can do it, Bakura. Prove them wrong about us!"
Bakura feels at ease. His eyes gleaming with determination to win for them.
Kaijou leans against the wall behind him. He closes his eyes. "Be careful, Bakura, you're special to me and Hayami, do not die out there."
'If you fail, I will find another way to save us all, don't worry.
Bakura snorts. "You sure do underestimate us, rather than just proving them. I'll prove myself to you first, Kaijou."
With that, Bakura is fully prepared to face off against one of Sora's top dogs, combined with the fact that him and Satou are widely recognized in the Ascendants Order, to which all Ascendants immediately know, this will be a carnage between two sides of the same coin.
So that was Sora's fight, huh? I can tell he values precision and speed.
You're right, Shibuma. As you could see from the beating he gave, I can tell his speed might've matched with mine.
Oh, match? I don't think so. From my observations alone, he is slightly faster than you. Which might become a little trouble if you can't handle it.
Kaijou scoffs. Of course I will handle him. I'll dismantle him before he starts to hurt me. But I can't kill him, because killing him would mean that I'm the same as Sora, Yamada and the others.
Understood, Kaijou. Good luck on your next fights, I know you will escape from here.
The stage is set. The monsters wait for their turns.