I subdued the fools who came waddling in with my bare hands.
A makeshift team like this stood no chance of working together.
"Uooooooooh! Prepare yourself, Leo-kun!"
Using a bearded middle-aged man as a shield, I blocked a full-swing wooden sword attack from a youth behind him with the man’s own body.
"Oof!"
The man took a heavy blow to the back and lost his balance.
I seized the opening to send him flying with a kotegaeshi.
He spun once in the air and crashed into the youth, taking them both down.
"That’s cold!"
"Shut uuuuuuuup! If you want to die, step right up!"
The guys in front were hesitating now.
They tried to keep their distance.
But I knew they were coming from behind as well!
I dove under the feet of an approaching attacker.
"Whoa!"
As he stumbled over me, I blasted him with a Leo-kun Frog Upper!
"Gah!"
I followed up with a guillotine chop to the back of his head, accented by a foot sweep.
This guy did a full rotation too.
He landed flat on his back.
"Watch out! He’s being even more merciless than usual!"
"Nuhahahaha!"
Just as I was about to go on the offensive, I collided with Saria, who had tried to jump the same target.
"Nga!"
Saria tumbled onto his knees, while I stumbled with an "Oops-a-daisy."
Yeah, it turned out we lacked coordination just as much as they did.
And that was when the elites of the Ogre God Nation... wait, why are you guys even here?
Aren't you supposed to be Saria's guards?
"Lord Leo, Lady Saria, prepare yourselves!"
Wow, how low can you get!
They were actually trying to pull off a coup in the middle of a brawl!
"Oryah!"
Annoyed, I pretended to lose my balance further... only to transition into a rolling overhead kick.
Or so I made it seem—when they dodged, I snatched their leg, grabbed their collar, and tucked my leg against their torso.
"Hup!"
I kicked off and sent them sailing.
At this level of force, it wouldn't cause any permanent damage.
"Oraaaaaaaaaaa!"
However, Saria finished the job with a diving elbow followed by a flurry of punches from the mount.
I dropped into a high-speed tackle aimed at another guy's legs.
When he tried to catch me and crush me from above, I pivoted sharply.
I stood up, wrapped my arms around his waist from behind, and delivered a German suplex!
Naturally, I caught several other people in the impact.
"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
It was fine.
Given the legendary sturdiness of the people of the Ogre God Nation, they wouldn't break from something like this.
I performed a neck bridge to spring to my feet at high speed, caught a guy who came at me with a flying kick, and threw him backward.
This time, I used my whole body to snap straight up from the bridge.
"I-Is he a monster?! W-Watch out! If you get within reach, he'll throw you in an instant!"
"Fshuuuu— fshuuuu—"
"H-Half of us are already down!"
"Lady Saria is too strong, too!"
Saria was fighting desperately as well.
He parried punches with hand knives while instantly driving in hand knife thrusts of his own.
He snatched a punching hand and delivered a hand knife to the neck combined with a foot sweep.
He stopped another guy's hook with a hand knife and reaped the neck like a lariat while performing a foot sweep.
It looked like an entering throw from Aikido, but with a unique twist.
The man hit the ground with a sharp crack.
So this was the martial arts of the Ogre God Nation.
Saria then took down an opponent with leg scissors.
I snatched a hulking man and aimed him at the fallen opponent...
"Wait... stop...!"
I slammed him down with a body slam that caught Saria in the blast zone as well.
Slam!
"Hey, you idiot! What the hell was that for?!"
Saria scrambled to get out from under the pile.
Ha! Teamwork? Never heard of her!
"Saria-kyun... if I actually intended to kill you, I would've used a piledriver..."
"You'd better watch your back!"
Regardless, there was no point in fighting my ally.
Since we were being pinched, we both delivered flying kicks to the guys behind each other's backs!
"Ah, damn! Now that I've got the hang of it, this is easy! Is this the power of Leo... of the Galactic Empire?!"
"Fuhahaha! We are soldiers. We are creatures who show our true value through cooperative play!"
We proceeded to beat them to a pulp one after another.
By the way, the entire scene was being filmed by Lou-chan's Mama, who had rushed over to watch.
The "educational guidance" for the Ogre God Nation people finally came to an end.
Man, I really gave them a thrashing!
There were about twenty of them in total.
Despite everything, everyone only had minor injuries—just bruises and sprains.
You guys are way too sturdy.
The fight ended mostly because Saria's and my knuckles started to hurt.
I mean, nothing was broken, but the hardened skin of my calluses had actually torn!
I'm wearing gloves next time.
Kevin flew over and began treating me.
"That stings!"
"Of course it does! That's what you get for being an idiot!"
I got a thorough scolding.
Saria was also getting a lecture from his wife, Kirti-chan.
Come to think of it, those two did get married recently.
Their wedding ceremony is still in the works, just like mine.
Saria had managed to cut his eyelid.
Now that the adrenaline was fading, his face was starting to swell up.
He held an ice pack to his cheek.
"Goodness! What do you think you're doing?! You are the Great King!"
"Even if you say that... it was Leo-kun's fault..."
"It's because you're the Great King but you keep running away from duels!"
Wait...
The lecture was going in a weird direction.
"No, but, I don't really like brawling... and I'm weak..."
"What do you mean 'weak' after the two of you took down the elite Personal Guard Warriors of the Ogre God Nation?! You are said to be the strongest in history!"
I thought they felt unusually sturdy; so they were Personal Guard Warriors!
I patted Saria on the shoulder.
Good luck, man.
"Leo... why are you looking at me like this is none of your business?! You have no right to pity me!"
"That's right, Leo! Always doing nothing but brawling!"
This time, I was the one getting scolded by Kevin.
She was absolutely fuming.
"Eh... I don't think I'm in the wrong here... the Ogre God Nation guys started it!"
"Set some proper rules!"
"Fair enough."
I'd been thinking that myself.
Well, this was just an emergency measure for the soccer tournament.
The Ogre God Nation people were capable of reading the room to some extent.
They had at least stayed quiet until the soccer tournament concluded.
...But still.
"Leo, entries for the Fighting Tournament are flooding in."
Isono delivered the news with a grimace.
"Whah?"
"That brawl the other day. It triggered a massive wave of participants, including many from Parcion. Apparently, a rumor is spreading that the winner gets to fight you."
"I told you, I’m only doing the exhibition match!"
"We told them that too, but they aren't listening."
Misunderstandings led to more misunderstandings.
And so, the Great Brawl Festival was born.
As for the soccer tournament, the final match was contested between Taikyoku Nation and the Galactic Empire.
The result was an overwhelming victory for the Galactic Empire.
However, the growth of the other teams was startling.
The Galactic Empire Soccer Association decided to put serious effort into player development in outer space from now on.
...Don't look at me, you Space Yankees.
I'm not fighting anyone except Katori-sensei!