"The voting result is! Free fighting!!"
Not surprising at all.
Cheers filled the audience seats.
Next to him, Pariston let out a sigh of relief: "Lord, now let me explain why we have a chance to win in free fighting." [Because on our side there are three members from the older zodiac group, the dog's strength is the strongest among us, it's really lucky to have her here, with her skills she can take on many people alone, her speed and power are top-notch, next is that really strong guy on our side, Uvogin from the Phantom Troupe looks like a pro at free fighting...]
[Fights in the beast arena are usually fair, using 1v1 matches. In free fighting, as long as we have absolute powerhouses, one person beating a dozen isn't an issue. As for whether Uvogin will cooperate? With that enhancer type and coming from Meteor City, he's probably not going to hand over the win easily, just don't let him fight against troupe members.]
Oh, looking at it this way, there really is a chance of victory.
That is, if the game rules are truly 1-on-1 rounds.
Saiki Kusuo stepped aside and started observing his own team members.
"Huh? You're not listening to my explanation anymore!" Pariston said in surprise.
He'd already heard it all through their thoughts.
Before Saiki Kusuo could investigate properly, the speaker rang out again: "Free fighting, as the name suggests, is a very free form of combat sport, this siege battle will use a point system, hit the enemy to gain points, hit your own side to lose a few points. Points depend on the hit location and strength but won't be affected by bias, so please rest easy, the scoring will be totally fair! All the audience in the stands will be the eyes for scoring! They won't miss a single hit!"
So the judges are up there.
"Oh... looks like it's not 1-on-1 fighting after all." Pariston grew serious too and started rethinking the situation.
Saiki Kusuo listened in all directions, then suddenly focused his gaze on the troupe members from his side.
Uvogin: "Hey, what's going on? I don't get it."
Feitan said lazily: "Just hit the other side, hit more to get more points, don't hurt your own people. But I'm not really motivated..."
Phinks rolled his shoulders to loosen up: "It's all about fighting, we can't just hand over our own people, right?"
Phinks was planning to use rippling today, he was already warming up.
At the same time, Uvogin had a weird smile on his face.
"Will both sides keep the same number of people?" someone shouted up.
The speaker: "Exactly! No one will leave the field, oh, and people with serious injuries will be teleported out, the judgment of serious or not depends on whether our medical staff can fully heal them, so please don't kill anyone!"
Saiki Kusuo was a bit surprised.
In this brutal Dark Continent world, there was actually a touch of human kindness left.
Saiki Kusuo heard some thoughts again:
[Tch, can't kill anyone?]
[If we can't kill, how do we pull ahead in numbers?]
[What counts as serious injury? Crippling someone?]
[Having to hold back in a place like the beast arena is way too harsh.]
Who's the inhumane one here.
The speaker: "Countdown of 10 seconds before it officially starts!"
Everyone quieted down and got into ready mode.
"1!"
Is there really a countdown like this?!
The faster ones on the other side, a few people already rushed into the field.
"2!"
Only then did everyone realize the speaker was counting up, but the crowd's momentum couldn't be stopped anymore, a lot of people had already charged out from their spots, and there was no blocking it either.
"3! Don't worry everyone, free movement now is fine 4, after all it's free fighting 5, once we count to 10 6, scoring will officially start 7!"
Does he even need to breathe?
"8!"
The red and blue sides were already chasing each other in the field, Saiki Kusuo noticed Uvogin running to the center, and used telepathy to remind his brothers.
"9!"
Uvogin took a big breath.
"10! Scoring beg..."
The speaker's voice was loud, but it got drowned out by another sound.
"Roar!!" Uvogin's roar carried enhanced power and spread across the whole field, instantly knocking out a bunch of people in the middle and making them lose their fighting ability.
Right after, some of the fallen people were teleported away.
A scoreboard appeared in the sky, rolling.
The blue side's points jumped up a big chunk then dropped a big chunk, quickly settling at 12 points. Because the roar hurt their own side too.
Some who covered their ears in time seized the moment, like Nobunaga, who kicked a blue-circled guy who was off-balance right into Uvogin.
Uvogin grabbed the obstacle (that guy) with one hand, let go, and the person hit the ground and got teleported out.
Red team +5.
Blue team -8.
The points overtook in an instant.
Saiki Kusuo: What the hell are we playing, might as well surrender.
The blue side's points started dropping bit by bit again, Saiki Kusuo looked for the source.
In the center of the red side, Phinks was dodging long-range attacks while tanking some minor ones.
Phinks: [Doesn't matter, one punch from me can earn back whatever points.]
Oh, so that's why he went to the red side's center.
Phinks: [People running around are quick, but this thing is different, that huge thing standing there is just begging to be hit?]
Huh? Hey, wait, what's your attack target?
Phinks: [This five-story-tall big dog, if it's the boss's pet I'd let you go! Maha! Take this! Seven ripples won't kill a dog!]
"Boom!!"
Phinks struck, the punch wind kicking up tons of sand, the force knocking back a lot of people. The fist carried huge energy and solidly hit something hard.
Hard? Didn't budge? Heh, didn't expect the red side to have such talent, let me see who it is.
The dust cleared, and Phinks saw Saiki Kusuo standing under his feet, also on a blue circle.
Phinks: The lord is a traitor too, what the hell.
Saiki Kusuo: No, these are my family, go hit someone else.
"The barrier is pretty tough, huh." Phinks quickly got interested in something else, "Even Uvogin would step back a few from my punch, little girl, you've got guts." Phinks grabbed his arm and started winding up. [This time straight to 13 circles, 13 is lucky, the boss said my 13 circles would make even that Netero chairman dodge.]
Saiki Kusuo: Hey, infighting what the hell.
Outside the field, Feitan had just kicked someone into the wall, eliminating an unimportant red side guy, and saw the fight between Phinks and Saiki Kusuo.
Feitan: ? What the hell are you two playing at.
Oh man, no choice, Saiki Kusuo sighed, though blocking this ripple was easy for him, he couldn't let people notice his strength issue anymore.
Saiki Kusuo used the lord's special move.
Before, Hisoka had used it too, on the leaders, it could strip standing rights, or rights to not put hands and feet on the ground, that weird power to achieve the goal.
—[Phinks, sit down.]
"Huh? Wait—" Phinks questioned halfway and suddenly knelt down, hands on the ground too, couldn't use ripple anymore.
Feitan: For real, what play are those two doing, did Phinks take a liking to that girl?
During the standoff, no one dared approach them. Saiki Kusuo's waist suddenly got poked by a small hand, he knew it was Kort.
"Brother, what next? Let the red team win? Or blue team?"
[Well, of course my blue team, even though you're red, if all those people's fates are in Hisoka's hands, it's hard to imagine what would happen.]
Kort looked up and said: "Let the blue team win!"
"Yay! I knew it!" Killua immediately punched Milluki, red team -1 point.
Huh? Saiki Kusuo was surprised.
"You *! You hit my stomach!" Milluki counterattacked with a punch at Killua, but Killua dodged!
"Why'd you dodge, that's not fair! Gotoh! Hold him!"
"Milluki young master... during the young master's fights we can't interfere."
"Amane, don't just stand there, you fight Gotoh too!"
Amane hesitated: "Killua young master, my strength isn't as good as Gotoh's..."
Before Amane finished, Gotoh's coin had already flicked her face. Gotoh said sternly: "The young master's orders must be followed absolutely."
Saiki Kusuo got it, oh man, there's even this move.
Even Mike couldn't escape, suddenly punched by the masters, letting out a whimper.
Even so, the point gap between sides kept widening because of Hisoka.
Hisoka had charged into the blue crowd from the start, hitting randomly, he was the red team's biggest scorer, those hands and feet moving in unfeeling steps, the thrown cards hitting but never fatal, bringing points to his team.
But now the field slowly only had strong ones left, the red team's point growth was getting slower.
To win smoothly there's still hope, Saiki Kusuo thought he should find something to do.
If he fought, yeah, people would die, but with the superpower limiter he could adjust, participating wasn't impossible.
Though he definitely wouldn't be controlled, but those people losing their humanity would be his major failure.
Saiki Kusuo reached back to his neck and felt around.
To adjust it properly, there were three simple switches, and between the first two on the inner side there was a small adjustment knob, he needed to set it so he wouldn't get hurt by Uvogin, but still control his power to not one-shot others.
Why guard against Uvogin if he's on the team? The Phantom Troupe aren't really on any team, they're just third-party forces fighting on their own!
But no matter how hurt he got, he wouldn't be in real danger, crank the limiter strength up a bit, higher, more than his scratches, other people's lives matter more...
At the same time, the Zoldyck kids were play-fighting, at some point they got off Mike's body and onto the ground. The most lively were Milluki and Killua, Killua was more agile than Milluki, strike and retreat like a real assassin, after two ambushes Milluki felt at a disadvantage, got an idea and ran behind Saiki Kusuo.
"Ah! Sneaky guy, you wanna use Kusuo bro as a shield!"
"Hahaha, the rules don't say we can't... ah!" Milluki ran backward and bumped into Saiki Kusuo's elbow.
Saiki Kusuo froze like someone hit pause, stuck in place.
Superpower energy surged wildly.
This is bad, Milluki's bump luckily hit the superpower limiter and turned the strength almost to 0 in one go.
Now even a slight move could cause a storm! Milluki behind him is in danger!
But as long as Milluki moves away, it's fine, his finger is still on the knob, just a tiny shake to boost the limiter strength!
"Ah! Sorry bro, you okay?"
Killua shouted from afar: "Idiot! You bumped into Kusuo bro! That hit probably added at least three points to red, be careful! Hitting you only gives one point! Heavy hit gives two!"
Between brothers, don't hit hard, hey.
Milluki didn't like hearing that: "You little punk wait up, I'll kick you eight meters into the wall!"
Though he said tough words about kicking, at the same time Milluki very considerately reached out.
The 1.8 meter tall brother could easily reach Saiki Kusuo's neck.
Saiki Kusuo: What is Milluki doing, did he get it! Help is good. [Milluki, help me move that finger to the left a bit, if it's stiff use the strength to push our front door, broken bone is fine, just a click, I'm relaxed now and won't defend.]
But Milluki didn't get it: "The order is too rough bro, a click what? You wanna take off this collar? I've long thought this collar is too tacky... uh not really tacky, just."
Saiki Kusuo: Say it freely Milluki, right now I can almost hear everyone's telepathy worldwide, normal human voices are getting drowned out, do you get what I mean? Just move my finger a tiny bit to the left.
Milluki: "Wait let me see... this switch?"
Milluki pressed the rightmost switch.
...
There are three switches, marked 1 2 3 from left to right, the rightmost one turns off superpowers completely.
Turning off superpowers is different from limiting, it fully clears the superpowers on him right now, but according to his and Kusuke's calculations, his body that's carried superpowers since childhood would slowly generate new energy after a while and return to normal.
Meaning even if he turns it off, superpowers won't come back right away.
Saiki Kusuo felt a bit dizzy.
One second full superpower blast, next second completely cleared.
From full to suddenly empty, even his tough body felt a bit...
Milluki successfully took off the superpower limiter collar and handed it to him, then hurried away.
Saiki Kusuo held out his hand to catch it, but couldn't grip tight, the collar's smooth comfy material made it slip right out of his hand this moment.
Wait, catch it. Even if useless now, this thing is super important!
"You okay? Saiki." Suddenly a hand appeared in his view and grabbed the collar.
Phew, good, saved the collar and I'm totally fine.
A hand on his shoulder, the coat's fur edge gave away the identity, Saiki Kusuo closed his eyes and relaxed.
...
...
Wait, something's off.
What did he just call me?!
---------------------------------------
You can read 15 chapters ahead on patre on
patr eon.com/JYouyi