The stadium buzzed with tension after the intense match between Kinto and Rin. Tomoa stood tall and declared, "The next match will be between Shouya Tahariuchi from the City of Steel and Kazuki Takanoguro!"
As the crowd stirred in anticipation, Sukuna glanced at Serena and asked, "Have you seen Kazuki since the day started?"
Serena's expression darkened. A hint of worry crept into her voice.
"I haven't… I just hope he's okay."
Tomoa's voice echoed across the arena again, "Shouya, make your way to the battle stage!"
As Shouya turned to step forward, a hand touched his shoulder. He looked back to see Kazu who smiled gently.
"Do your best out there," Kazu said.
Shouya returned the smile. "Of course. I will."
Shouya descended toward the arena floor, while Tomoa called out again, this time with more urgency.
"Kazuki… where is Kazuki? If he doesn't appear within the next two minutes, Shouya will be declared the winner."
Kinto scoffed, irritated.
"This is ridiculous. Who comes late to their own fight on purpose? First it was Alex. Now Kazuki"
Levi turned to Diablo. "What's going on? Where is he?"
Even Sughi leaned in. "Diablo…?"
But Diablo merely giggled, shrugging innocently.
"Not the slightest clue."
Tomoa sighed. "Very well. Since Kazuki has refused to appear, the winner is—"
Before he could finish, a violent purple lightning bolt struck down from the sky, cracking against the arena stage with a deafening boom.
Smoke spread across the stage—then cleared.
Kazuki stood at its center.
"Sorry for being late," he said, brushing off his shoulder. "Got caught up in training… almost forgot I had a match."
Everyone in the stadium screamed in excitement. Alex immediately jumped down to meet him.
"Why the hell were you late, man?!"
Kazuki smirked and replied, "Diablo said you did a great job in your fight with Mori… I wish i was there to have seen it. Anyway, congrats on your win."
Alex blinked, then smiled. "I'm seriously hyped to watch you fight now. Do your best buddy."
Tomoa interrupted. "Enough. Back to your seat, Alex."
With that, the battle was set.
Tomoa faced the two combatants.
"Shouya. Kazuki. Are you both ready?"
Shouya nodded. "Ready."
Kazuki smiled. "Let's go."
Kazu and Rin cheered for Shouya. Serena and Sukuna shouted support for Kazuki.
Tomoa raised his hand. "Begin!"
In an instant, two massive clawed arms shot out of Shouya's back, launching at Kazuki at insane speed.
Kazuki moved, reacting with blinding agility, dodging the claws as they lashed toward him violently and were tearing the ground. Shouya's onslaught escalated as more monstrous arms and tentacles emerged, each strike more aggressive than the last. Not just that, they were reaching towards Kazuki at violent speeds.
Kazuki danced through the chaos, slicing and tearing apart the tentacles that rushed at him with the help of his daggers, until one shattered on impact.
His eyes narrowed "Tch. Of all times to break." He continued to dodge all of the violent arms and tentacles that came rushing at him.
"These things… they're faster and tougher than I expected. I'm gonna have some trouble here!"
Without hesitation, Kazuki activated his Spiritual Mark — a glowing triangle with two dots.
He pulled out a new pair of daggers and his body blurred with purple energy.
"Time to stop playing around."
From the stands, Alex leaned forward.
"He's getting serious now."
Serena began to cheer louder, "Let's go, Kazuki!"
Kazuki moved faster than ever—blazing fast, nearly invisible to the eye. Shouya growled, "Not bad! But if speed was enough to beat me, I wouldn't be here facing you!" He exclaimed as more tentacles started bursted out of his body and were attacking Kazuki, keeping up with him while Kazuki ram and dodged around as fast as possible, moving a hundred times the speed of sound.
More tentacles erupted from Shouya's body, attempting to box Kazuki in. But Kazuki zipped around them, dodging and weaving. He appeared behind Shouya, ready to strike—
But stab!
A spear-shaped arm shot out and pierced Kazuki's leg.
Kazuki stumbled back, grimacing.
"Just how hard is this guy's defens? His defence isn't just on point, but his reaction speed and the distance he can cover is incredible. I see how deo lost to him."
Kazuki shot out a a barrage of spiritual shuriken, thesw things were incredibly fast and were heading toward shouya at top speed. Shouya knew that these incoming attacks were trouble, he instantly used his tentacles to morph into a shield that covered his body.
Kazuki reappeared, fists flying—a blur of punches overwhelming Shouya's shield. He ended the flurry with his Spiritual Explosion, detonating at point-blank range and causing a massive explosion of energy.
Smoke blanketed the field.
As it cleared… Shouya stood protected behind a wall of mutated arms, panting heavily "Shit. Not good."
Then something snapped.
Shouya clutched his head, he started groaning in pain. His eyes flashed red. A twisted grin spread across his face with spikes starting to errupt out of his body.
Serena clutched Sukuna's arm. "What's happening to him?!"
"I… I don't know. But this doesn't look good for Kazuki," Sukuna replied.
Rin looked tense. "Kazu… is he losing control?"
Kazu's fists clenched in anger.
Meanwhile, in the shadows, Kenji watched with a smug grin.
Everything is going according to plan.
Shouya let out a monstrous scream, a wave of energy bursting from him, rattling the air, it was simpilar to that of alex's demonic energy. His hands morphed again into deadly spears, which he launched at Kazuki at top speed.
Kazuki was alarmed, running and dodging with precision, countering with spiritual shuriken mid-air. Smoke consumed the battlefield due to Kazuki's flurry of attacks.
From within the smoke, a maniacal laugh echoed.
Shouya emerged—his hair partially black, one eye blood-red.
Kazuki responded with relentless spiritual explosions, one after the other. "What the hell is wrong with this guy?!" He thought to himself with difficultly showing on his face. Alex and kinto were alarmed by shouya's rampage.
Annoyed, Shouya used his mutated limbs to wipe the smoke clean, clearing the arena in a massive sweep.
Across the stage, Kazuki stood, purple flames glowing in his hands.
The crowd gasped.
"What kind of technique is that?" someone whispered.
Shouya's rage exploded. Tentacles surged out of his back, all aiming for Kazuki, along side with a huge burst of energy blasting out of his body.
But Kazuki, now cloaked in purple fire "Ive gotta finish him here and now, otherwise his rampage would be worse. Kazuki became a blur of motion, dodging each tentacles and giant sharp arm that flew his way. Kazuki was moving at the speed of lightning at this point. He was able to dodge all of shouya's attacks and get close to him at point-blank range. With a burst of purple flames, Kazuki exclaimed In annoyance "Quit casting senseless rampage!" His attack of purple flames caused a huge explosion in the battlefield.
The explosion engulfed the battlefield. Everyone stared in awe.
"SHOUYA!!!" Kazu screamed from the stands.
As the smoke faded, Shouya's body was revealed—burned and smoking, his flesh slowly regenerating.
For a moment, he was still.
Then his eyes snapped open.
With a roar that shook the entire stadium, cracks formed in the arena walls, pieces collapsing. The crowd panicked and began to flee.
Kazuki stepped back "Jesus's Christ! What the fuck is happening?!" He asked himself in shock.
Shouya's body pulsed, overflowing with thick red energy, his scream echoing into madness as his transformation deepened.
TO BE CONTINUED.