Itsuki rolled over and stared at the bedroom ceiling, the weak light filtering from the window. His body begged for sleep, yet his mind would not stop replaying the test result from yesterday.
He forced his way out of bed and went to splash water onto his face, watching as every drop fell back into the basin...Upon cleaning the water from his face, he turned to check the time on the clock(he was late).
Flop!
His towel hit the ground at began to move at super speed. he quickly washed his mouth and reappeared at his wardrobe to dress up.
Damn it, i gotta hurry, tsk where's my brush!
From his window, he jumped out, moving at an even faster speed towards the trials district.
Outside, Silverstone began to wake. A baker was yelling at someone about burnt bread. Two merchants argued over a stall spot. Somewhere, a shop door slammed open.
Fwoosh!
A dust storm blew through, leaving coughing vendors in its wake.
"Cough—what the hell was that?!" one shouted, waving dust out of his face.
Itsuki ignored them. He could see the district up ahead...but didn't notice what was right in front of him.
He reached the area and slammed on the brakes, skidding to a stop. The dust he'd gathered all the way from the district burst forward in a cloud...straight into Kairo, who had unluckily appeared there using his ability at that exact moment.
Itsuki turned to his left and froze.
Kairo stood there like a statue...completely covered in dust from head to toe. Not a single patch of skin or cloth had survived the sandstorm.
They just… stared at each other with the wind carrying the rest of the dust to form a bow like style on kairo's head.
Ituski's face was serious and emotionless.
Thirty painfully long seconds later (felt like hours), Shion and Takumi showed up from the other side of the road, chatting until they caught sight of the scene.
They stopped instantly.
Itsuki and Kairo looked at them.
They looked back.
No one spoke.
Another solid thirty seconds of total silence.
Then—
"PFFT—HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! BRO! What happened to you?!" Shion doubled over laughing, clutching his stomach.
Takumi tried to hold it in, but the moment Kairo blinked...sending a puff of dust off his eyelashes then he lost it too.
"Don't. Say. A word!," Kairo muttered through clenched teeth, his face still powdered like a statue someone had left in a sandstorm.
Itsuki rubbed the back of his neck. "...My bad" Whilst also trying his best not to laugh.
Before anyone could say more, Amari's voice thundered over the crowd.
"Candidates! Today is the second day that you will be undergoing combat tests in order for us to finalize our selections for Zenkai Dojo. Remember, these tests are not about defeating your opponent. They are about demonstrating control, adaptability, and the warrior's spirit that makes a true Virelian."
The crowd went silent as he continued.
"Today's matches will test not only your individual skill but your ability to adapt under pressure. Every fight will be judged fairly by our observers."
Sensei Laen stepped forward.
"Today's fights follow different rules than yesterday's demonstrations. You may use your full abilities, but be warned...causing lasting injury will result in immediate disqualification."
Murmurs spread through the candidates. This wasn't going to be friendly sparring.
"Matches will be based on yesterday's preliminary results," Master Amari announced, reading from his scroll.
"First match: Itsuki Naoya vs Drayce Harkin!"
"You've got this," Takumi said, giving Itsuki a thumbs-up while shining his teeths. "Just, uh… don't die."
"Wow," Itsuki said dryly. "Incredible advice. Truly inspiring."
"Hey, I'm just setting realistic goals."
In the arena, Drayce Harkin was already waiting...tall, built like a wall, and looking like he bench-pressed boys like itsuki for fun.
"Yeah, he's dead," Takumi said quietly.
"For sure," Shion agreed, nodding like it was already written in history.
"Let's believe," Kairo added with forced optimism.
Both Takumi and Shion turned to him slowly.
"You don't even believe that," Takumi said.
Kairo sighed. "Nope. Just trying to sound supportive before we start planning his funeral."
Shion flipped open his sketchbook. "Should I start drawing the memorial poster or wait till the first punch lands?"
Takumi grinned. "Wait. Let's at least see if there's a body left to draw."
Itsuki who was in the arena could fully hear them but tried his best not to laugh, Who knows drayce might take it wrongly and crush him.
Drayce tilted his head slightly. "You're the one with the weird test result, right?"
"Yeah that's me," Itsuki said still holding his laughter.
Drayce smirked while cracking his neck bones. "Good. Wouldn't want this to be too easy."
"Same," Itsuki replied finally getting serious. "I skipped breakfast for this, so make it worth it."
Sensei Laen raised his hand, already sighing. "Are you two done flirting or should I come back later?"
A ripple of laughter ran through the crowd.
They both straightened instantly.
"Begin!"
Sensei Laen raised his hand. "Ready?"
They nodded.
"Begin!"
Drayce charged.
His fist glowed with concentrated Essence...kinetic energy coiled and ready to explode on impact.
CRACK!
The punch flew past Itsuki's face by inches, but the shockwave still ruffled his hair and cracked the stone beneath their feet.
Itsuki dodged left and broke into a sprint. His heart hammered in his chest.
Another punch came with the same shockwave impact. The arena wall behind Itsuki cracked where the kinetic force hit.
"Stand still!" Drayce shouted, frustration creeping into his voice. "Fight like a Virelian!"
The crowd was getting louder. Cheering and Yelling advice. It all blended into meaningless noise.
Itsuki's mind raced as he moved. Drayce's power was straightforward...kinetic energy manipulation. Simple but in a way, deadly. Raw force channeled through Essence, destroying whatever it touched.
What's the counter? What concept can I twist?
Drayce wound up for another attack, both fists crackling with power. This one would be stronger. Maybe strong enough to end the fight instantly.
Itsuki stopped running then turned back.
He grabbed a handful of loose sand from the arena floor. The grains felt rough in his palm, heavy with their own small weight. He focused on that weight, on the concept that made sand fall instead of float, to sink instead of rise.
His Essence warped the abstract idea into something else.
The sand shimmered.
Itsuki threw it directly at Drayce's face.
What should've been a minor annoyance became something impossible. The sand hung suspended between them midair like a glittering cloud, catching sunlight and scattering it into blinding patterns.
"What the—"
Drayce stumbled backward with his arms flailing.
The crowd gasped.
"How's he doing that?"
"The sand isn't falling!"
Itsuki didn't hesitate. He rushed in, slipped past Drayce's wild swing, and struck him in the solar plexus. Not hard enough to injure. Hard enough to knock the wind out.
Whump!
Drayce doubled over, gasping.
Itsuki circled behind him and placed his hand on Drayce's back. His Essence flowed again with intent. This time, he focused on a different concept.
Balance.
Every living thing had an innate sense of up and down, an internal compass that told it which way to stand. Itsuki reached for that primal understanding and twisted it.
Drayce's body suddenly believed it was falling when it was actually upright. His legs buckled. His arms flailed for something to grab that wasn't there.
Itsuki guided the fall with minimal force, using momentum and confusion to drive Drayce face-first into the sand.
The crowd exploded with wild excitement.
"Match!" Amari's voice carrying genuine shock. "Victory to Itsuki Naoya!"
Itsuki helped Drayce to his feet who was still shaking with adrenaline.
"What did you do to me?" Drayce asked, more curious than upset. "I felt like I was floating, and that sand..." He pointed at the grains now falling normally. "What was that?"
"I manipulated abstract concepts," Itsuki explained. "Changed the sand's weight to lightness. Twisted your sense of balance."
Drayce's eyes widened. "That's... terrifying." He grinned and held out his hand.
"Good fight."
They clasped hands to thunderous applause.
Itsuki walked back toward the others, still trying catching his breath.
Takumi just stared at him, mouth open. "Bro… I never doubted you once."
Itsuki raised a brow. "Didn't you literally plan my funeral five minutes ago?"
Kairo crossed his arms. "Correction...they planned it. I just picked the flowers."
Shion said with a straight face. "And I was gonna draw the memorial poster. You ruined my artistic vision, man."
Takumi clapped Itsuki on the shoulder. "Yeah, thanks for surviving. Really inconvenient of you."
Itsuki sighed half smiling. "Glad to disappoint."
Before they could say anything else, Amari's voice boomed again.
"Next match! Kairo Huisiji versus Baki Seda!"
Kairo groaned. "Figures. My punishment for showing moral support."
Takumi smirked. "Don't worry, we'll make yours a closed-casket one."
"Appreciate the confidence," Kairo muttered.
Kairo walked into the ring trying to farm aura as he walked. But to the crowd, All they saw a stupid looking guy with dust covering half of him doing the most stupid walk of all time.
Meanwhile, His opponent...lean, thoughtful, like someone who'd spent years perfecting aerial combat...already waited.
The fight started cautiously. Both circled each other, neither willing to commit first.
Then Baki moved. His body glowed with ethereal light, and he launched himself upward in a physically impossible arc. From above, he dove at Kairo with a descending punch.
But there was nothing, an empty space.
Kairo was gone, suddenly appearing three feet to the left, unharmed.
"Clever," Baki admitted, already leaping away. "But you can't do that forever.
Teleportation drains Essence with every use, and I can stay airborne as long as I want."
He wasn't wrong. Everyone watching knew it.
But Kairo wasn't trying to match Baki's aerial dominance. Instead, he started moving in fluid patterns across the ground. Side to side. Forward and back.
Blinking in and out of existence occasionally, but never stopping.
Every movement was deliberate. Forcing Baki to adjust his angle of attack. Burning energy on strikes that hit only air.
Finally, Kairo struck.
He vanished as Baki descended, but instead of appearing to the side, Kairo reappeared directly beneath his opponent's trajectory. The upward palm strike caught Baki square in the chest, using the aerial fighter's own momentum against him.
CRASH!
Baki crashed backward across the sand, concentration broken.
"I yield!" he shouted, raising his hand. "I yield!"
"Match! Kairo Huisiji wins!"
The applause was appreciative. They'd just witnessed tactical brilliance, and everyone recognized it(except takumi,itsuki and shion).
More matches followed. A sound manipulator creating sonic explosions. A plant controller building a living maze that slowly suffocated their opponent's options.
The preliminaries felt like a mini-tournament.
During a break, Shion sat alone staring at his sketchbook.
Takumi walked over and sat beside him. "Ready to get cooked?"
Shion didn't look up. "Yes."
"Wait, seriously?"
"Nayen's won like five tournaments. I got 'Low-Moderate' on my test. Do the
math dude."
Itsuki sat down too. "You can still win." Trying to make a serious face.
"Can I though?"
"Probably not," Kairo said, joining them. "But at least make it entertaining."
Takumi grinned. "Yeah, if you're gonna lose, lose with style. Do a flip or
something."
"A flip????"
"Yeah, The crowd will love it."
Shion finally looked up. "You guys are terrible friends."
"We know," Itsuki said. "But we're your terrible friends right??"
"Unlucky me"
Before anyone could utter anything else, Amari shouted the announcement of the next match.
"Next match: Shion Enther versus Nayen Krayth!"
"Shut up dude," shouted a voice from the crowd.
Shion stood up slowly, dusting his pants as he past his three terrible friends.
Takumi gave him a thumbs up. "Remember...style points!"
"I'm not doing a flip."
"Your loss, man."
Shion walked toward the arena, and the three of them watched him go.
"Think he'll win?" Takumi asked.
"No," Kairo and Itsuki said at the same time.
"Yeah, me neither."
"Next match: Shion Enther vs. Nayen Krayth!"
The crowd stirred cause everyone wanted to see Nayen's abilities.
Nayen Krayth stood in the center of the ring. Tall, lean, and moved like a predator.
She looked completely calm...too calm.
"The quiet one," she said as Shion stepped into position. Her voice was soft but carried across the arena anyway. "Saw your friends fight. Pretty impressive. Let's see what you've got."
Shion didn't answer. His jaw was tight.
The crowd went quiet.
"Ready?" Laen asked.
They both entered their fighing stance.
"Begin!"