Doak bounded toward the larger group of students, and before anyone reacted, Doak had already thrown a punch at another student. The student reflexively raised their hands to block, but they were still knocked off balance. Doak's victim quickly tumbled into a graceless fall, crashing into a nearby obstacle.
"What the hell?"
"What is wrong with you?"
"You can't do that!"
Various students spoke up objecting to what they saw, but Doak just sneered in response.
"Where in the rules does it say it's not allowed?"
After years of running the same fitness test, they had instilled in the other students an unspoken rule not to sabotage another student's performance. Unconsciously, the students had carried that bias into this situation as well. However, those who paid attention to the rules recognized that Doak's statement was entirely true. The student who was attacked didn't expect it, not only due to how sudden it was, but also because the idea never even crossed his mind.
In previous years, the competition was solely about how well they could navigate through obstacles. But today that dynamic changed. Now they had to juggle that challenge with avoiding sabotage from other players.
Victor swiftly examined the rules and description of the game they had all entered, verifying that the current situation was permissible.
Seemingly having accomplished his objective, Doak quickly moved onto another nearby student who still hadn't fully processed what had just happened and made quick work of them in the same fashion. When Doak faced a third nearby student and attempted to use the same tactic, the other students finally wised up.
Doak's target turned to face him while dodging the incoming attack and counterattacked with a punch of his own. Against any normal opponent, such a punch would have knocked the wind right out of them. Unfortunately, he met Doak. When his fist landed against Doak's chest, he heard a crack and felt pain surge from his hand.
Victor's eyes narrowed as he observed the scene from a distance, understanding the situation due to his earlier encounter with Doak. 'His skin is so hard, he was able to break the hand of someone punching him.'
Doak smiled upon seeing his opponent's attack fail as he smoothly leaned forward and charged, ramming his shoulder into them and knocking them into a nearby obstacle. Unable to endure the combo, the student settled on the ground groaning while letting himself be carried outside of the training area, becoming the first person to be knocked out of the race. The first two students who were attacked had long recovered and continued running before they were forced outside the boundary.
Doak's attack had seemingly set off a chain reaction, causing six more of the other transfer students to follow in his footsteps, attacking the original students. Even though all of them had seen attacks happen during the race, Victor noticed an intriguing phenomenon.
Despite all their combat training and the fact they knew of the hostility facing them, the classmates he had known and grown up with were all reluctant to engage in combat unless they had no other option. The most common response was to take an alternate path and avoid their attackers. Such behavior allowed the attackers to choose their opponents without impunity and fear. And choose they did.
Of course, Victor couldn't really judge those runners, as he was also avoiding combat for his self-preservation. But having made this realization, the gears started to turn in his head as Victor focused on observing the skirmishes occurring in front of him.
Each of the attackers seemed to be using their advantages to take down their targets. Doak used his tough physique to bulldoze his opponents. The students Kera faced seemed to scream and collapse the moment she made contact with them, which Victor assumed was an ability of hers.
Another transfer did not engage in direct combat but instead sprayed a mysterious liquid onto the floor and obstacles directly in his opponents' path, causing them to slip and fall behind. The assailant seemed quite conservative with their shots, and upon closer inspection, Victor realized why. The liquid was actually being shot from a device attached to his wrist.
After making this observation, he noticed that many of the others drew various weapons and tools. A thin metal stick unfolded into a baton and was swung towards the legs of an unarmed student. He saw a high-powered flashlight that blinded the competition, electric gloves designed to shock them, and even a leather whip.
Very quickly everyone realized they were playing a much different game than before.
Victor, having scanned the track turned battlefield, sped up, passing by a student who had fallen after being tagged by Kera. He quickly weaved through the chaos, passing through unnoticed by the transfers who were all occupied by their chosen quarry, and very soon he approached his target.
Doak was once again making life difficult for another girl he had grown up with, chasing her across various obstacles. Doak's current target had seen how he had taken down his other targets, so she decided to avoid him using her superior skill traversing the map. However, what she didn't expect was for him to directly look at her and completely ignore the obstacles in front of him while rushing forward.
Everyone nearby watched in shock as Doak crashed through the thinner obstacles in front of him, not caring about the decrease in speed. Victor was astonished. While the obstacles were not as durable as stone, they were still not soft or fragile. Even so, they all seemed to crumble before Doak's advance.
Doak completely caught the girl he was chasing off guard, preventing her from reacting before he reached her range. Capitalizing on her shock, Doak rammed her against a wall, causing those nearby to hear the cracks of broken bones. No doubt she would be out of the race.
Despite the fearsome display in front of him, Victor didn't slow down. On the contrary, he increased his speed, ducking around the last obstacle in between him and his target in an effort to reach Doak while he was reveling in his latest elimination. Yes, Doak was his target. The protections granted by winning the duel did not apply when they were both in the same game together, so Victor decided he would be the one to get the jump on his latest enemy
Once he was in range, he jumped while performing a kick in midair, planting his heel right on the back of Doak's head.
Caught completely off guard, Doak was knocked off balance and tumbled to the floor, hitting his head on a horizontal pillar stretching in front of him.
Victor smiled upon seeing the result, but he didn't feel his revenge was complete. He intended to knock Doak completely out of this race.
Despite the embarrassing display, Doak looked up completely uninjured, due to his tattoos. Yet, Victor noticed he was slightly slow when it came to recovering. Perhaps the fall had rattled his brain a bit. Victor did not even bother to run or dodge the obstacles as he watched Doak stand up as fast as he could. In the moments that passed, Victor and Doak had been brought just over a third of the remaining distance to the elimination boundary.
Upon seeing who attacked him, Doak quickly picked up on the situation before laughing.
"Trying to get revenge? Let's see you try."
Victor didn't even bother with trying to deny the accusation. If there was one thing students at this school knew about him, it was that he would always get revenge if he had the chance.
Doak charged forward, firing another punch at his newfound adversary, to which Victor responded with a narrow dodge backwards. Doak followed up with a string of punches, which Victor weaved between while retreating backwards. In just a few steps, Victor's path backwards was blocked by a generated wall. Doak smirked as he lunged forward, arms wide, intending to grab hold of Victor. Without a hint of panic on his face, Victor ducked and launched a kick at exactly the time Doak stepped forward. Victor's leg made contact with Doak's foot, causing him to lose his balance and fall forward, crashing into the wall above Victor.
At the same time, Victor calmly rolled out of the way, escaping Doak's grasp. Without looking back, Victor vaulted over a beam and disappeared around a corner.
Doak took less time to recover from the fall this time because he managed to catch himself with his outstretched arms, but by the time he stood up, he realized he had almost reached the elimination zone.
Doak swore as he dashed forward, looking to escape a quick elimination, and then vaulted over the same beam Victor had earlier. Right when he made it over the beam, Victor came from the side, ramming into Doak. Completely blindsided by the ambush, Doak was knocked off his feet once more. Upon hitting the floor, Doak tried to reach his feet as quickly as possible, but he was left with no time before he was sent into the elimination zone. Doak was forced to watch, seething with rage, as the lean and lithe Victor coolly hopped over another obstacle and his dark-haired figure disappeared behind another obstacle.