Akio stood in the middle of the arena, the cold breeze brushing through his blue hair. In front of him, Ryusei stood firm—a strange, tranquil presence. Tiny particles of light orbited around his body like real stars circling in their orbits. The scene looked as if a living star had descended to earth.
Ryusei's green eyes glowed as the ground beneath his feet cracked with thin silver lines. He said nothing, only watching Akio with the sharp gaze of someone measuring his opponent.
Akio swallowed hard, feeling sweat slide down his temple. He wasn't completely afraid, but he understood that this was a real battle—no training, no academy to protect him this time.
Even so, he clenched his fists and thought to himself:
"They said I'm the strongest in my village… so I won't let myself fall to this guy! I'll surpass him!"
Nervous, Akio didn't even know how that foolish sentence slipped out of his mouth as he scratched the back of his head with an awkward smile.
"Ahahaha… H-hey! I'm Sakamoto Akio… Let's have a good fight!"
Ryusei didn't respond. In the very next moment, light erupted around his body, and the ground shook beneath him. He didn't give Akio a single second to prepare. Ryusei shot forward like a fiery comet made of light fragments, attacking without warning.
As he neared Akio, the glowing particles gathered around his hand, forming tiny, spinning shards that merged into a crystal-like sword—one that looked carved from the stars themselves. Its blade pulsed with flickering radiance, as if it were alive.
Ryusei stepped forward once and swung the luminous sword diagonally toward Akio's chest, the slash gleaming like a celestial flash. But despite his panic, Akio mustered all his focus and raised both swords at the last instant.
The blades collided—sparks burst between them, and the metallic crash echoed across the arena. Akio slid back half a step, pushing with all his strength to block the strike. A faint smile spread on his face. The tension vanished, replaced by a rush of excitement.
As usual, Akio couldn't suppress his childish enthusiasm or his talkative nature, even in the middle of battle.
"Wow! You made that sword from your hand?! What's that ability called? That's seriously awesome!"
Ryusei gave him a cold look before finally answering in a deep, steady voice.
"Do you think we're friends or something? I was one step away from killing you just now."
Akio froze, his expression turning into a comical mask as it finally sank in—his opponent didn't share his energy… or his good intentions.
"Whaaaat?!"
Ann, watching the fight with her arms crossed, muttered skeptically,
"Can someone like him really be called a fighter? I bet he'll fall in ten seconds."
Ken replied without taking his eyes off the arena,
"His foolishness… will be his downfall."
The next instant—before Akio could even catch his breath—Ryusei vanished.
"Huh?!"
Akio spun around, but there was no trace of him.
BOOM!
A sudden strike crashed from above, like a star exploding beside him. He was forced back as radiant shards scattered through the air like glowing blades.
Ken raised an eyebrow while Ann spoke in shock,
"He just disappeared… no—he's moving… in the air?!"
Ryusei appeared above, standing on an invisible platform made of glowing fragments—then vanished again, reappearing behind Akio in a blink. Akio's eyes widened as he realized—this wasn't ordinary teleportation.
It was art.
"You… moved through the air?!"
Akio shouted as he tried to block the next strike, but the impact of Ryusei's glowing blade shook his body to the core. One blow… two… three… four… Akio took them all, staggering backward—yet his eyes still burned with excitement.
"I won't lose here… not before my adventure even begins!"
He roared inside himself—and in that moment of peak tension, lightning burst from his body.
"What the—?!"
Ann gasped and took a step back, while Ken blinked for the first time, his eyes locked on the glowing energy surrounding Akio. Sparks danced over his skin, pulsed through his hands and eyes, and even his twin swords became charged with crackling electricity.
"He's… a Vakin user?!" Ann exclaimed in disbelief.
Ryusei's eyes gleamed faintly from behind his mask as he stared at the radiant aura engulfing Akio's body. The lightning flared wildly around him, restless and fierce, like it was waiting for the next explosion. He noticed a faint glow beneath Akio's bangs—but couldn't tell what it was.
Ryusei stepped forward slowly, his calm voice carrying across the silent arena.
"So… lightning Vakin, huh? At last… you're starting to interest me."
He advanced with composed grace, his gaze now holding the respect of a killer who'd found prey worthy of his blade. Then he stopped, raising his weapon of luminous fragments. His deep voice echoed:
"Star-Shard Vakin."
Akio's expression shifted. Gone was the reckless teenager—what stood there now was the beginning of a samurai. He exhaled softly, his golden eyes narrowing on his opponent.
"Never heard of that one before… sounds fun."
The air thickened, the atmosphere itself ready to explode. Ryusei moved first—his body flashing into a streak of white light as he dove from above like a falling meteor. Star fragments spiraled around his blade, announcing a strike that knew no hesitation.
But Akio wasn't there. In less than a heartbeat, a bolt of lightning tore across the ground, and his body shot off at a sharp angle, leaving behind a broken trail of golden sparks. He moved with the speed of true lightning—too fast for the eye to follow.
Akio twisted midair, focusing his energy. Thunder gathered around his right blade like a hungry beast. He timed his breath, counting the rhythm in his chest: One beat… two beats… explosion!
Now!
Lightning surged from his arm into the blade.
[Lightning Vakin — Volt Fang!]
The star-shard strike collided with the roaring thunder. A blinding flash swallowed everything, followed by a thunderclap that shook the entire arena. The ground split beneath their feet, rocks rising and scattering as if gravity itself had been erased.
Akio used the smoke and recoil to his advantage, spinning behind his opponent to land a decisive counterattack—but Ryusei shattered. Not vanished—shattered—into thousands of glowing fragments that dissolved into the cold air, only to reform behind Akio in an instant.
"Impressive move…"
Ryusei's muffled voice came from behind the mask as his starlit sword sliced through the air, aimed straight for Akio's neck. But Akio dropped into a quick roll across the ground, a grin breaking across his face.
"You're fast… but lightning doesn't wait for anyone."
He focused again on his pulse. This time, the electricity wasn't wild or chaotic—it was pure, seamless flow, cutting cleanly from heart to shoulder to fingertips. Both his swords ignited with a sharp yellow glow as he swung them in a crossing motion that sliced through the air itself.
The impact exploded into a massive wave of thunderbolts, striking the spot where Ryusei had stood a moment earlier. The star-shards shattered, scattering like compressed meteors. The sky above the crowd lit up in flashes, and gasps echoed through the stands.
Ken stood motionless, the sparks reflected in his eyes, his tone low and almost reverent as he muttered:
"That boy… it seems I misjudged his strength."