The Dome vibrated with a new energy. The spotlights swept across the crowd below, capturing banners, cosplays, phone screens held high toward the arena. But for millions of people, the action wasn't just happening in the stadium.
It was happening on Nano-Neko.
The tournament's official streaming app displayed a counter at 8.4 million connected viewers. And on the main live stream, a deep voice, raspy from years of fighting and cigars, echoed in earbuds.
— WELCOME EVERYONE TO MY NANO-NEKO LIVE! THIS IS K2B, YOUR FAVORITE TRASH-TALKER, LIVE FROM THE HEART OF THE DOME!
K2B – his real name known to no one – wore a garish bandana and sunglasses even indoors. His smile was wide, his energy contagious, and his vocabulary as precise as a jackhammer.
— TODAY, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE'RE BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE DOME WHERE EVERYONE IS GETTING READY FOR THE ROUND OF SIXTEEN, KICKING OFF IN CRAZY FASHION! FIRST FIGHT OF THE DAY: TERRA THE TERRAN, OUR GUARDIAN OF THE GROUND, FACING THE MYSTERY CYBORG… ORION! BUT BEFORE THAT, LET'S TAKE A QUICK TOUR OF THE STUDIO WITH OUR LEGENDARY TEAM!
The feed switched to the main screen.
———
MAIN STUDIO – LOLA AND GUEST
Lola radiated in her shimmering dress, her hair styled with military precision. Beside her, an imposing man, face marked by decades of combat, graying temples but eyes still sharp.
Mecha Sulivan. Retired hero. Former top 30 member. Living legend.
"Thank you, K2B!" Lola launched with her presenter's smile. "And today we have a distinguished guest to commentate on these round of sixteen matches! Mecha Sulivan, welcome to Nano-Neko!"
Sulivan tilted his head, a modest but perfectly calibrated smile.
"Thank you, Lola. It's an honor to be here. And if I can take advantage of this visibility…" He cleared his throat, looking at the camera with a suddenly more serious expression. "…I'd like to remind everyone that my company, Sulivan Conservation, works every day to protect endangered species. The Himalayan tigers, the Eastern Plains dragons… all of that is expensive. And we need your support."
On Nano-Neko, comments flooded in:
"So cool Sulivan is here!"
"Oh yeah, he saves animals now?"
"Respect to the old man!"
"Give your money, folks, it's for the tigers!"
What no one saw was the slight smirk on Sulivan's face when he said "company." What no one knew was that Sulivan Conservation actually funded ultra-secret biotechnological weapons labs. The animals? A front. The real clients were elsewhere.
But for now, the public was buying it.
"Magnificent initiative, Mecha!" Lola continued. "In the meantime, let's get to the fight that will open these round of sixteen matches!"
———
MAIN ARENA – TERRA vs. ORION
The two fighters entered from opposite sides.
Terra walked barefoot, as always. Her eyes were closed, her fingers brushing the air as if she read the ground's vibrations through her soles. Her earth armor, alive, followed her movements.
Orion advanced mechanically. Not stiffly, no – a fluidity too perfect to be human. His arms, hidden under long sleeves, didn't hang naturally. They waited.
On the K2B live, excitement rose:
— DAMN! EARTH AGAINST MACHINE! NATURE AGAINST TECHNOLOGY! TERRA, THE GIRL WHO TALKS TO THE GROUND! ORION, THE CYBORG WHO ANNIHILATED IVY LAST WEEK! WHO WILL WIN?!
"Ready?" the referee asked.
Terra nodded, her eyes finally opening, fixing Orion with a new intensity. She had seen what he did to Ivy. She knew.
Orion nodded nothing. He waited.
— FIGHT!
Terra struck first.
Her fists slammed into the arena's metal floor. A dull rumble ran through the structure, and suddenly, stone pillars erupted everywhere, bursting from the Dome's substratum like dragon teeth.
Orion dodged. Not by running. By gliding. Perfectly calibrated steps, economical, always placing him in the blind spot between the pillars.
"Analysis in progress," he murmured, his first words audible to the public.
K2B: — HE TALKS?! THE ROBOT TALKS!
Terra didn't stop. She struck again, harder. The ground deformed beneath her feet, a wave of earth and rock surging toward Orion like a mineral tsunami.
Orion raised an arm.
His forearm opened.
The cannon appeared.
BOOM.
The white beam tore through the stone wave, vaporizing it into a rain of incandescent gravel. The blast threw Terra backward, but she planted her feet, her toes gripping the ground like roots.
"Your earth…" Orion said, his voice monotone. "…will not stop the light."
Terra wiped the blood running from her nose. A fierce smile stretched her lips.
"Light heats the earth. And the earth… smothers the light."
Her hands joined, palm against palm. A deeper, more ancient rumble rose from the Dome's bowels. The ground beneath Orion began to boil.
Lava. Not stone. Molten lava, erupting in glowing fountains around the cyborg, closing a ring of fire.
— SHE SUMMONED LAVA! screamed K2B. — IS SHE INSANE?!
In the studio, Mecha Sulivan leaned forward, interested for the first time. "The ground beneath the Dome is geothermal. She drilled down to the magma layer. That's… impressive."
Lola, mouth agape: "But that will destroy the arena!"
Sulivan gave a slight smile. "That's the point."
Orion watched the lava approach. His face remained impassive, but his eyes… his eyes blinked at an abnormal frequency.
Calculation: Lava temperature: 1200°C. Armor thermal resistance: 800°C. Probability of survival while remaining still: 0%.
He raised both arms.
Both forearms opened.
DUAL DISCHARGE.
The beam that emerged was no longer white. It was blue, almost purple, of an intensity that made cameras crackle. It struck the ground before Orion, carving a trench of vaporized matter, a channel that diverted the lava flow around him.
Terra, exhausted, watched her trap close on nothing. Orion advanced through the trench he had created, unperturbed.
"You've depleted your gauge," he said. "I don't have one."
His right arm retracted, the cannon closing, giving way to a blade – a blade of pure energy, vibrating, a meter and a half long.
He charged.
Terra had no strength left. She raised her hands, attempted one last wall of stone. The blade passed through it like butter.
Orion stood before her.
The blade stopped a centimeter from her throat.
Silence.
— SURRENDER.
said Orion.
Terra looked at him. Her eyes burned with hatred, frustration, fatigue. But she knew.
"… I… I will never surrender."
She didn't get up. It was Orion who was protected further away; pillars had forced him back.
She had pretended to be defenseless so Orion would approach. He was trapped.
Earth lay everywhere; he was enclosed by stone spikes that had created a prison.
Just as Terra thought she had won, a disconcerting metallic sound started.
And then…
An explosion. Such an explosion that the flash of light blinded the spectators. Orion didn't wait; his eyes had turned red. You'd think automatic mode was activated.
He had to take down the enemy. He advanced straight ahead, pulverizing the pillars blocking his path. He stood before Terra, placed his palm in front of her face, and sent her flying as if he'd slapped her backward. Terra got up and raised her arm to send more pillars.
But…
Orion had vanished. He reappeared in front of her and broke her arm. She was literally drooling from the pain.
But from his side, no empathy. Orion obliterated her cleanly with an explosion that propelled her skyward three times.
She was no longer conscious. She simply crashed to the ground.
The referee blew the whistle.
— WINNER: ORION!
The crowd exploded. Not a warm ovation – an acclaim of pure astonishment. Orion had just felled a force of nature with watchmaker precision.
On Nano-Neko, comments flooded the screen:
"ORION IS A MONSTER"
"HE DIDN'T EVEN SWEAT"
"TERRA GAVE IT HER ALL THOUGH"
"FINALS ORION VS GRANN I CAN'T WAIT"
In the studio, Lola tried to compose herself.
"That's… that was brutality… Mecha, your analysis?"
Sulivan stroked his chin, eyes gleaming. "That boy is a perfect tool. No emotion, no waste, no pity. Exactly what a fighter should be."
Lola looked at him, slightly uncomfortable. "You… you approve of this style?"
Sulivan smiled. "I approve of efficiency."
———
BREAK – THE NETWORKS IGNITE
While the teams cleaned the arena and repaired the damage, Nano-Neko was on fire.
#OrionCyborg: 15M views
#TerraTheCrazy: 8M views (respect, not mockery)
#EnergyBlade: 6M views
A clip looped endlessly: Orion cutting through Terra's stone wall with his blade, his impassive face, and his final phrase: "I don't have one." (implied: an Ether gauge).
Conspiracy theories flourished:
"— He's not human. That's certain.
— Nano-Tech. Don't look further. It's them.
— Are they building an army of cyborgs to replace hunters?
— If that's it, Grann's gonna wreck them."
———
SECOND FIGHT was already being prepared while the internet theorized. VIPER vs. BO
The atmosphere had changed. The audience was now on alert, searching for the next surprise.
Viper entered first. His daggers, repaired but still marked by his fight against Pinky, gleamed dark green. He had lost his arrogance – he had gained respect.
Bo arrived, massive, silent, his slate in hand.
"An assassin against a mute monk," K2B commented on his live. "This smells like a brutal brawl, folks!"
The fight began.
Viper attacked immediately, his daggers tracing deadly green lines. Bo blocked, parry after parry, his runic forearms absorbing the blows without a groan.
But Viper had learned. He no longer charged blindly. He feinted, retreated, attacked from angles, testing the giant's reflexes.
Bo, immobile, absorbed. But his eyes… his eyes followed every movement, analyzing.
Suddenly, he raised his slate. A word written on it:
"TIRED?"
Viper blinked. And realized.
Bo hadn't retreated an inch. He himself had been running for three minutes, expending energy hitting a wall.
"Damn…"
Bo advanced. One step. Two steps. His hand rose, heavy, inevitable.
Viper attempted one final attack, plunging both daggers into the giant's torso.
He tore Bo's torso open from top to bottom. Bo bit his lip in pain, desperately trying to grab Viper.
Who slashed him from all sides, under the gaze of his fans, horrified.
"COME ON VIPER, SMOKE HIM!!"
"HE'S SO STYLISH."
They had completely forgotten what he'd done to Pinky.
Bo gradually lost his calm and got angry, eyes a murderous red, and delivered a knee strike to Viper, who stumbled back but got up immediately.
He had to win to redeem himself in front of Pinky, who was being discharged from the Dome hospital.
[In the Valentine's Day special episode.]
Bo didn't flinch. His hand grabbed Viper by the collar, lifted him like a feather, and slammed him to the ground.
Viper got up and was sent to the mat again, again, and again. Until the horror happened.
Viper's poison began to take effect. Bo had turned purple like a prune.
And fell suddenly.
It was a real shock for the spectators who understood nothing; he had seemed to have the advantage.
— WINNER: VIPER!
The crowd erupted in laughter and applause.
Viper, on the ground, watched him leave with the medics, a tired smile on his lips.
"…I did well to listen to you, princess."
———
K2B GETS EXCITED on his end
— FOLKS! WHAT A SEQUENCE! WE HAD LAVA, A CYBORG, AND A GIANT WHO WINS WITHOUT STRIKING! BUT IT'S NOT OVER! NEXT FIGHT: JET, THE AERIAL ACROBAT, AGAINST LENA, THE SILENT REAPER! HANG ON TIGHT!
In the studio, Lola turned to Sulivan.
"Mecha, two fights, two radically different styles. What does that inspire in you about the tournament's evolution?"
Sulivan, who was discreetly tapping on his tablet under the desk (actually sending instructions to his lab about Orion's data), looked up with a professional smile.
"It inspires me that diversity of talent is our greatest strength. And that my company, by protecting endangered species, contributes to preserving this diversity. Think about it when you donate!"
Comments flowed:
"Sulivan's so good, he pivots on everything"
"I gave 10 bucks for the tigers"
"Isn't he here to commentate, actually?"
———
THE PUBLIC DEMANDED MORE
THEY WANTED TO CONSUME
WE MOVE ON. LENA vs. JET
Lena – the scarred avenger – entered without a glance at the crowd. Her bandages were clean, her eyes cold. She had come to win, not to please.
Jet – the acrobat – literally bounded into the arena, doing a backflip before landing on one foot, arms outstretched. The audience loved it.
"So, mummy," he said with a big smile. "Ready to fly?"
Lena didn't answer.
— FIGHT!
Jet launched into the air, propelled by his Ether. He became a blurred streak, striking from above, below, everywhere, his blows fast as bullets.
Lena barely moved. She dodged with a head movement, a minimal shift of her hips, as if she saw the attacks coming hours in advance.
"Her scars," Sulivan murmured in the studio. "Each one is a lesson. She learned to anticipate by taking hits."
Jet, frustrated, sped up. He attempted a dive bomb, his fist charged with Ether aimed at the crown of Lena's head.
At the last moment, Lena took a single step sideways. Perfectly calibrated.
Jet missed, lost balance trying to land, and Lena took advantage. Her hand, fast as a snake, grabbed his ankle and slammed him to the ground.
CRACK.
The sound was ugly. Jet screamed, his leg bent at a weird angle.
Lena didn't look at him. She raised her hand to the referee.
"K.O."
The referee blew the whistle.
— WINNER: LENA!
The public was divided between admiration for Lena's efficiency and pity for Jet, evacuated on a stretcher.
On Nano-Neko, reactions were sharp:
"Lena is a machine"
"She didn't even smile"
"Jet overdid the style"
"The Avenger doesn't mess around"
In the studio, Lola tried to stay positive.
"A… clinical victory for Lena! Mecha, your thoughts?"
Sulivan, who had already forgotten Jet, watched the replays. "She's dangerous. Very dangerous. She doesn't have a style. She has instinct. That's rarer."
---
END OF FIRST PART
K2B, on his live, wrapped up the session.
— THREE FIGHTS, THREE VICTORIES, THREE STYLES! ORION THE MACHINE, BO THE PATIENCE, LENA THE INSTINCT! THE REST OF THE ROUND OF SIXTEEN IS COMING VERY SOON! LUNA VS NOVA, CHLOE VS SORA, KOTOBE VS ROGAN, ONE VS AXEL, AND THE CLASH OF TITANS GRANN VS ZANE! STAY TUNED ON NANO-NEKO, THIS IS WHERE IT'S HAPPENING!
In his lounge, Sulivan turned off his tablet with a satisfied smile. Orion's data was already on its way to the lab. Donations for the "animals" were pouring in.
The tournament continued. And for some, the real competition was just beginning.