Chapter 7: Flow State

Looking at the group of 5, it was easy to tell who was teaming and who was not. The two guys with blunt weapons were looking at him, eager to beat him into a coma, but showed no coronation in the way they moved. The two guys with sickles, on the other hand, showed so much coronation that it was creepy, even their breathing matched each other. And lastly, the big guy was obviously on no one side. In fact, he looked at everyone as if they were flies.

Slowly lowering down on a pole with a foot step, was Mr Gold Tooth with a microphone in hand, he smiled a toothy gold smile and spoke. "Alright, you animals, I have something special for you tonight. 5 grown men vs. this small child, but not just any child, is down in the dome, but one of the TWO LITTLE DEVILS CAME TO MAKE A RETURN." The crowd went wild with excitement. They gained this affection after they won their second fight here and earned the nickname The Two Little Devils. Looking further into the crowd, Clay could see his sister pickpocketing people coin pouches. She usually doesn't get caught, but even if she did, she simply used her ability to make others turn against each other, and she would walk free. The Lanes changed both of them in some way or another, but in Clay's opinion, she changed the most.

Tapping the mic, Mr. Gold Tooth began to speak. "Alright, you lot quiet down. Now to the ones down in the dome, you know rules. You can tear each other up limb from limb, but no killing got that?" With all nodding their heads, Mr Gold Tooth slowly started to rise back up laughing into the mic. "THEN LET THE BLOODY BATTLE BEGIN!"

With no surprise, the two with blunt objects charged first, and it was very underwhelming, to say the least. Clay didn't even have to use his ability to dodge any of the attacks, they're swings was too wide and they kept bumping into each other, Clay was even wondering if he would have to throw a punch let alone take out his nunchucks.

Eventually, the two idiots knocked each other out, trying to swing at him at the same time, and Clay watched as their unconscious bodies hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. 'Well, that was easy,' Clay thought, having his hands in his pockets the whole time.

Before he could turn around, Clay felt the hairs on his neck stand up and quickly ducked. Looking up, he saw the two with sickles looking down at him smiling. He rolled away a good distance and yelled.

"WHAT THE HELL, YOUR TRYING TO KILL ME!?"

The two got up in unison and spoke finishing each other's sentences.

"Our apologies." "I guess you could say our hand slipped,"

'Your hand slipped my ass,' Clay thought, getting back up and grabbing his nunchucks from his hip holster. Taking a closer look at the two, he noticed not only did they look identical, but their body build and breathing also matched each other. All of this, along with them finishing each other sentences led Clay to one answer.

"WELL, NOW WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT FOLKS. OUR LITTLE DEVIL ALMOST LOST HIS HEAD THERE BY THE INFAMOUS GHOST TWINS. BUT LIKE I SAID NO KILLING DAMN IT!"

'Well, that confirms my theory,' Clay thought, still preparing for an attack by the two. They started walking towards Clay in sync and spoke.

"If you're not coming to us," " Then we will have to come to you,"

Their speed wasn't anything to take lightly, and their movements and reflexes were on par as well. It was understandable how they gained the title of ghosts. Activating Flow State, everything started to move slowly, even himself. Once he dodged the attacks successfully, he would turn it off and counterattack repeating this process. Doing this wasn't exactly safe, but his body wasn't developed enough to keep up with his enhanced mind moving at super speeds.

Jumping back from a double slash from the two, Clay noticed their movements were slowing down a little, and their breathing became unsynced. He got them good a few times, hitting them with his nunchucks along with a few kicks. But that doesn't mean he was completely ok, either. He was also reaching his limit and had a few scratches that needed to be treated, or else they would stretch and become bigger. Getting ready to dive in again, Clay felt the hairs behind his neck stand up and quickly guarded the right side of his body and was sent flying.

"YOU DAMN BASTARDS. YOU FORGOT ABOUT ME HUH!" The bull headed man yelled with his arm still outstretched from punching Clay to the other side of the dome. The crowd started getting louder once he was in the game. Clay wasn't really surprised seeing this reaction. Even he knew this guy, and if he's in the dome, there's bound to be blood spilled.

"WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT FOLKS. THE ONE AND ONLY METALHEAD JOINED THE FIGHT. WE'RE SEEING BONES BREAK TONIGHT"

Slowly getting up, Clay felt his injuries. A slightly brushed jaw, swollen forearms, and fractured ribs. 'This isn't looking good. I need to end this quickly,' he thought, grabbing his nunchucks and twisting the ends, making small blades pop out at the end. Seeing the three argue about who's going to fight, Clay decided to do something he had never tried before. And that was using his ability for more than a split second. As far as he knows, there are no drawbacks to it yet, but then again, he never tested it out before, so he took a deep breath and smiled. 'This is a good time to test it out as any, I guess'

Running up to the three, Clay waited until he was close enough to activate his ability. And once he did, little did he know it was gonna be the worse 28 seconds of his life.

The twins were his first priority. He needed to get rid of their combined speed and attacks. The first 10 seconds felt like he was moving in quicksand wearing weights, but the twins' movements were just as slow as his. 5 seconds later, he managed to cut the calf of one of the twins. 6 seconds after that, he kicked the same twin he cut on the side of the head, knocking him out. Looking to his right, he noticed the other twin beneath him, ready to stab him in his stomach. Despite him wearing a cloth over his mouth, Clay could still tell he was pissed off. It took 5 seconds to dodge, and 2 so he could duck a punch coming from MetalHead.

Clay's head was pounding like a drum. It started around 15 seconds, but after that came the pain, and every new second, it got worse. 28 seconds in, and he could barely think anymore, so he turned his ablity off and stumbled back to gather his thoughts. It felt strange to move his body normally again, and his throbbing headache was slowly going away.

"HOLY SHIT DID YOU LOT SEE THAT! IT ALL HAPPENED IN A SPLIT SECOND, " GoldTooth screamed in the mic, with the crowd being just as loud seeing the violence they craved to see.

The twin started walking towards Clay sickle in hand and spoke, "I'm going to kill you for what you did to my brother." But he was pushed aside by MetalHead stomping towards Clay as well.

"You damn flies already had you turn with him. It's my turn now. "

"You damned muscle brained idiot get out of the way!"

"WHO THE HELL YOU CALLING A IDIOT YOU BASTARD!"

And just like that, they started arguing again. Not that Clay had a problem with that. It gave him more time to rest. After a while, the two couldn't get to an agreement on who would fight, so they both charged him at the same time. Once they were close enough, everything started to move slowly again, and Clay looked at the two. MetalHead was throwing a straight punch while the last twin standing was going for an upwards slash. Clay grabbed the collar of the twin and moved him in the direction of MetalHead's punch. Stepping aside and turning his ablity off, Clay watched the twin get knocked out cold by MetalHead's punch and laughed with the crowd following suit.

Now it was just one, Clay had to be careful here. with one punch, it will all be over he could only imagine what would happen if he was grabbed. Exhaling a lot of air from his nose, the bull headed man began running towards the child, ready to tear him apart. Going back to his old fighting style, Clay turned his ablity on and off as he caused small scratches all over MetalHead's body. Arms, legs, and hips no matter how the man tried, he couldn't punch or grab the boy. It was like trying to punch smoke, and eventually, he passed out from blood loss.

With that, the crowd started going wild. Some were happy, and some were mad to the point they were throwing stuff in the dome. No matter the emotions they had, no one could deny the fact that a child won a fight against this place best fighters.

"AND WITH THAT FOLKS WE HAVE OUR WINNER. COLLECT YOUR EARNINGS AT THE FRONT DESK. AND STOP THROWING SHIT IN MY DOME DAMN IT!"