"Door! Help me out here!"
Blood spilled from Pyro's mouth as he staggered back, panic flooding his face. He didn't care about pride anymore. Against Ryuuto, pride was just another way to die faster.
"Tch. Why do you always look so pathetic when it matters?"
The Doorman sighed, stepping out of thin air behind him. He barely managed to wrap Pyro in a sphere of dark energy before Ryuuto's team struck again. The two vanished into a rippling black gate—barely escaping the next barrage from Colossus and Bobby.
"You running already?" Colossus barked, fist clenched like thunder. "Pyro! You were talking big just a second ago! Come out if you've got any guts!"
"Bah! You X-Men always fight in packs—can't handle a fair duel?" Pyro spat back, materializing beside the Doorman at the shattered hotel entrance. His aura flared with bitterness and pride. "Come one-on-one if you dare! Let's see who's really afraid!"
The tension crackled like lightning. Both enemies kept their distance now—too wary to charge recklessly. They'd realized the truth: the "Powerless Freak" wasn't powerless anymore.
Ryuuto stood up from his seat, brushing dust from his coat. His smirk was sharp enough to cut glass.
"Heh… that's what you wanted, right?" He waved off Bobby and the others. "You two clowns wanted a fair fight? Fine. I'll grant your wish."
"Don't joke with me, kid!" Pyro snarled, flames gathering at his fists. "You really think you can take both of us?!"
"Long story short," Ryuuto said, cracking his neck, "I'm bored. Come at me together. Let's test my new toy."
His tone was casual—too casual—and that infuriated them.
"You're insane!" Pyro roared, his chest blazing with energy. "I'll burn you to ash!"
Blue light surged around him like an exploding sun. The entire lobby filled with searing plasma as Bobby and Colossus shielded the guests.
But Ryuuto didn't even move.
His eyes flashed pale—Byakugan.
"Eight Trigrams Palm: Revolving Heaven!"
Chakra spun around him in a furious cyclone, reflecting the storm of energy in a dome of sapphire light. Pyro's inferno shattered harmlessly against it, sparks bursting like fireworks.
"No way—what kind of move is that?!" Pyro shouted, disbelief twisting his face.
He fired again and again, each blast stronger than the last, but Ryuuto's chakra shield swallowed everything. The energy storm began to eat Pyro's own strength, dragging him toward exhaustion.
Ryuuto tilted his head, unimpressed. "You done? My turn."
In the blink of an eye, he vanished.
"Behind you!" the Doorman shouted.
Too late.
Ryuuto's silhouette blurred, his hands striking like lightning.
Gentle Fist—Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!
Gentle Fist—One Hundred and Twenty-Eight Palms!
Each strike landed faster than a heartbeat, flooding Pyro's body with paralyzing chakra. He screamed, body convulsing as his energy circuits collapsed one by one.
The Doorman appeared behind Ryuuto, sneering. "Fool! You dropped your guard—die!"
A black pulse of dark energy shot toward Ryuuto's back.
Then—crash! A wave of sand burst up behind Ryuuto like a shield, swallowing the attack whole.
"What—sand?!" The Doorman froze. His face twisted. "Impossible!"
"Leaf Great Whirlwind!"
Ryuuto pivoted and unleashed a blinding roundhouse kick. His heel slammed into the Doorman's skull, sending him crashing into the wall. Blood and spit sprayed as he slumped to the ground, eyes spinning.
The man barely managed to open a portal and crawl into it, escaping like a rat into another dimension.
"Tch. Running again."
Ryuuto turned back just in time to see Pyro staggering up, clutching a pulsing orb of blue-white fire. The heat bent the air around him.
"Ryuuto!" Bobby yelled. "That energy—it's unstable!"
"Good," Ryuuto said, a small grin tugging at his lips. "Let's see whose fire burns hotter."