Riku began to rush towards Stun as Stun also charged at him.
When those two met, Stun attempted to seize Riku's wrist to trigger his decay power.
Riku noticed this movement and then executed a backflip over Stun to evade the attack.
Stun then taunted him about his speed, saying, "Is that really all you can do?"
Riku's face just remained calm and expressionless, yet his grip on his Light daggers became firmer as he coldly declared, "I will win this for Paulo Satoshi."
Before Stun could respond, Riku propelled himself forward, his blade glowing with temporal Light energy, aiming to finish the battle quickly.
Riku believed he landed his blow, but it turned out Stun's form disintegrated into dust, revealing a clone.
Just as Riku was about to adjust his position, an unsettling aura enveloped him.
Stun reappeared behind him, unharmed and appearing more threatening.
With Stun now fully present and his clone was gone, the temperature dropped considerably, with dust swirling over the battlefield, covering everything in grime.
"That's really a shame, Riku," Stun whispered.
"Riku, I anticipated more from you," Stun
Enraged, Riku started to charge at Stun once more, but Eris swooped down from above, her bone wings materialised and spread wide as she sent bone spike pillars towards him.
Riku zigzagged to dodge the incoming attacks. "Quit moving around, you rat," Eris scoffed. Riku then activated his Light flight, reappearing behind Eris, and struck her down with a Light Kick.
Eris picked herself up, brushing the dirt off her cloak as she summoned three powerful skeleton clones to her side.
At that moment, Rajin appeared in front of Riku, turning his back to him.
Riku instructed Rajin, "Take care of Eris and her clones while I deal with Stun." Rajin nodded in agreement.
Riku lunges toward Stun, and before Stun can respond, Riku quickly moves to the side, landing a kick that propels Stun into the air with a burst of light.
Following this, Riku delivers a swift kick that sends Stun crashing against the arena wall.
After getting back on his feet, Stun harnesses his decay abilities to shatter the floor, causing debris to fly toward him.
However, Riku skilfully employs his daggers to deflect the incoming rubble.
Then, with one dagger at the ready, Riku sprints toward Stun, aiming for his head, but misses as Eris uses her bone manipulation to shift Stun out of harm's way.
Stun lets out a grunt as he feels the impact of a hit.
Upon landing, he realizes he has a trickle of blood running down his forehead.
Eris notices this and clenches her jaw yet is oblivious to Rajin sneaking up from behind her, executing a successful spinning kick to Eris's head, causing her to fall hard.
Riku charges toward Eris, but Stun suddenly positions himself in front of Riku, reaching for his hand.
Anticipating this might happen, Riku swiftly amputates his own hand and leaps back.
Both Eris and Stun were taken aback, but Rajin remains unfazed as in instant Riku regenerates his hand.
Riku quickly ran past Stun, seized his left arm, and threw him against the arena wall.
Suddenly, Eris struck Riku, sending him flying, but there was something unusual about her.
"What was that?" Riku exclaimed, as torrents of blood flowed from his head.
In an instant, Eris appeared before Riku, leaving Stun and Rajin stunned by her speed.
Riku evaded a sweeping kick and attempted a tornado kick, but Eris ducked under it, caught his leg, and hurled him across the arena.
***
Meanwhile, At the monarch view area of the arena.
Paulo then got up and gasped at this predicament, not expecting that Eris could enter the zone this quickly and at the start of the match.
"Eris, She is in the zone, but it's so soon, what is she thinking, she will lose all her energy in 5 minutes," Paulo exclaimed, his eyes growing even wider.
"Well, you can't let them exhaust you, so you need to act fast," Antares remarked, nodding toward Rayan.
"Yeah, you think we don't prepare Eris and Stun for entering the zone at the start? But if Riku holds on for just four more minutes, it will all be pointless," Rayan replied, sweating a bit.
"Riku hasn't given his all yet just wait Rayan, he will change the situation," Rika said, wrapping her arms around Paulo from behind, resting them on his shoulders.
"Rika, why are you here, and why are you clinging to Paulo?" Lucy inquired, raising an eyebrow at her.
"I'm here because I want to be with my dad, Luce, Paulo is my favourite person," Rika replied with a scoff.
"Hey Luce, Rika doesn't know that Izumi is her dad, does she?" Paulo said to Lucy.
Lucy shook her head, indicating to Paulo that Rika was unaware that Rika was not actually his biological father and that Rika did not know about Izumi's relation to her birth.
***
Back At the Arena, Riku was fleeing from Eris, narrowly avoiding her bone strikes.
Just as Riku was just about to be hit by Eris's bone magic, Rajin then just almost managed to intervene with his own Blood Magic to shield Riku from the bone attack that could have been fatal.
"I've got your back, Riku," Rajin exclaimed, rushing toward Riku with blood-enhanced feet that boosted his speed.
Riku then delivered a backhand Stun against the arena wall to stop an impending decay attack aimed at Rajin.
Rajin transformed into his tengu shape together with Riku.
"Let's get started at last," Riku and Rajin yelled.