Not long after, the exhausted third-year students were around Kōenji, on their knees, breathing heavily.
He had broken their spirits by continuing to nullify their attacks without sending out a single fist.
"Ha, ha... damn, what kind of monster are you? Wouldn't it...
wouldn't it have been easier for you to fight back?" The exhausted Mikitani asked.
"You bunch have been pestering me for quite some time. And I don't particularly enjoy a bunch of dead leaves trying to attack my beautiful face."
Hearing this, Kiriyama calmly analyzed the situation despite being in a difficult one himself.
"I see. It's true that Mikitani was prepared to go after you until the end. If you had shown overwhelming skill difference, but still put up a fight, his spirit might not have broken. You are the only one who can devise and perform the trick of breaking your opponent's heart without counterattacking."
"Even if I have to drop the reward for reaching the designated area, here I will nip the counterattack of third year students in the bud."
Kiriyama and the others were surprised by Kōenji, who made that statement.
"Are you okay, Mikitani?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm not hurt."
Although there were students who fell and punched the ground in a fury of incompetence, most of them were fine. At most, there were just some bruises.
In the face of such overwhelming power, it didn't even take a fist to show the difference.
"Can I go now?"
"Do what you want, Kōenji."
"Adieu."
There was nothing anyone could do to stop Kōenji from leaving.
TL Note: Adieu is French for "Good bye."
"What kind of person is that guy? Is he really a high school student?"
Mikitani muttered sadly."
"It's not out of the ordinary to meet an out-of-spec opponent, just like Nagumo. In the end, to him, we're like ants, crawling on the ground.
Mikitani hit the ground out of frustration.
"That monster! He made me look like an idiot!" Mikitani said in a trembling voice.
"Shit... shit", Mikitani whispered under his breath.
Mikitani's anger was not unfounded. After all, Kōenji had utterly crushed his spirit.
But the fight wasn't over yet.
Kiriyama looked towards the direction where Kōenji had disappeared and took out his radio transceiver.
"Are... are you going to report my failure to Nagumo?"
"What good would that do me? I've already decided to win. Don't worry, Miki, I had already anticipated that Kōenji was a monster from the very beginning. But no matter who the opponent is, there will definitely be weaknesses that exist within them. You know what they say, "The bigger they are, the harder they fall."
Mikitani nodded quietly while feeling grateful for Kiriyama's words.
Kiriyama, for his part, was not the least bit upset because he had expected this to happen from the beginning.
This purpose of this strategy was to fool Kōenji.
Despite the large number of people who interfered, almost no real damage occurred. As a result, Kōenji must have gotten a strong impression that third-year students were no big deal.
That was precisely what Kiriyama wanted.