The sun rose on the final day of the battle royale. The previous day had been uneventful and the Hydro Archon was eager to see something happen on the final day.
"Ugh, why have they all stopped fighting!"
Neuvillette; "Those that know that they have enough eliminations to guarantee them a spot in the final sixteen are probably trying to avoid pointless conflict."
Furina looked at Neuvillette with a pouty expression, "Well that's no fun"
She put a finger on her chin and thought for a moment. Then a wide smirk appeared on her face, "Shrink the borders and make sure it doesn't stop until there are sixteen people left."
"I WANT ACTION!"
Suddenly everyone's device started ringing.
Bennet was startled by the warning as he was planning to take it easy on the last day.
"WHAT!? Border shrinking? What is this?"
Kitayuu also took out his device, "So that's how it is huh..."
"We have an hour before it fully closes, which means we have to survive and make sure we make the final sixteen in this hour. They plan to force everyone towards the centre. There's no doubt that an all out battle is about to commence..."
Raiden's teammates also started panicking and ran to the spot where they left Raiden to wake him up. Gepard placed a hand on his shoulder, but before he could shake him awake. Raiden's eyes opened wide in an instant. Glowing and ready for battle.
Keqing was with her friend Ganyu and neither of them were in the optimal condition for an all out battle. However, the two of them decided to keep a low profile and tread very close to the edge of the border.
Bennet and Kitayuu were running towards the centre. Their plan was to get there early and find a good spot to hide and hopefully avoid the big battle without having to also run away from the border. However, they were stopped in their tracks when a pointed stick struck the ground in front of them and released an anemo shockwave.
"Shit, where was that from?"
Xiao landed on the ground in front of them blocking their path to the centre.
"There's no hiding, if you wanna make it to the round of sixteen. Then prove you can do it without being a coward."
Hikari and Ayaka found themselves trying to flee from the closing border right on their tail.
Ayaka; "It's a lot faster than usual... Are they forcing us all to fight?"
Xiao was way too fast. Kitayuu and Bennet constantly found it difficult to keep an eye on him as he kept dashing and striking them from every direction.
"Too can play that game"
Kitayuu charged up his energy and lightning started covering parts of his body. He moved his eyes left and right, anticipating Xiao's next move.
"THERE!"
Kitayuu was just able to raise his arm and block Xiao's incoming punch. However, he was caught off guard when Xiao followed through with another dash attack to the stomach. Bennet shot his flames to force Xiao back, but instead of retreating, Xiao charged and dashed right into it. Whenever Xiao dashed, he would always jump sideways and spin his entire body, charging horizontally like a jet doing barrel rolls. The rotation managed to disperse the flames, but before Xiao managed to land a punch, Kitayuu was able to tackle Bennet out of the way with his speed and get up fast enough to kick Xiao on the side.
Before Xiao was able to retaliate Rappa came out of nowhere and pushed him out the way, "Get out of here NOW!"
Suddenly, two wind blades came cutting through the forest. Kitayuu and Bennet dove into a bush and were narrowly missed. Someone else was seen tripping over a rock and falling over. He looked behind him with fear in his eyes before Raiden came out as well, tucking both of his knees towards his chest before kicking both his legs right on the person, releasing a small shockwave.
