Ryuzio turned to Tryst as the crowd panicked and rushed out to the exit hallways. "Is it true what the president guy is saying, heavy guy?"
Tryst exhaled, face tense. "I never thought it'd come down to this. Filep finally showed his true colors."
Benji gulped, hands on his head. "What is going on?" he said, panicking. "This is not real! Hitryel Hystryk faked his identity? And…" He turned to Tryst with a frown. "Mister Tryst…you…"
Tryst looked down, not meeting his eyes.
Ryuzio stepped closer to Tryst. "Tell me the truth. I trust you."
Tryst met his eyes, eventually giving a slight nod. "When Hitryel started competing in ABC Imperos 3 years ago…" he said softly, "he was only 16 years of age."
"16!" Benji said, baffled. "That's 2 years too young!"
"That was one of the reasons why all this is happening," Tryst said, clenching his fist. "The other being…Filep himself wanted Hitryel to compete in ABC Imperos after being impressed by his fighting skills."
Sweat formed on Benji's forehead. "Are you saying…?"
"3 years ago," Tryst said, looking down toward the Nonagon. "President Filep was the one who used his power to forge a fake citizen's card for Hitryel, changing his age and birthplace, making him eligible to compete in ABC Imperos. All this, because from the moment Filep saw Hitryel…he knew the profit Hitryel could make for his company.
"The impatience of Hitryel to compete against the best of fighters, along with the impatience of Filep to make some more money, has all led up to this. The moment Filep recognized that Hitryel would not stay in his company to make him more money…he decided to use his power and take revenge on Hitryel. Now he'll be branded as a criminal… Hitryel's professional career is all over…"
Benji's eyes fattened as he gulped. "President Filep…" he said, voice shaking, "abandoned Hitryel…just to get back at him…? For what? Hitryel had already made him so much money…!"
Ryuzio clenched his fist, brows furrowing. "Bastard!"
Benji gulped again. "Hold on…" he said, moving his eyes down to the Nonagon. "That means… Hitryel is only 19 years old…"
Tryst gave a silent nod. "And that makes him…" he finally said.
"…the youngest champion of ABC!" Benji said in amusement. "He defeated the longest reigning welterweight champion—Yos 'Doomnight' Dismon—when he was only…17 years old!" He exhaled, shaking his head, as if utterly blown away. "Unreal…!"
"You two have nothing to do with all this," Tryst said, placing a hand on Benji's shoulder, and then looking at Ryuzio. "You must mix in with the crowd and take advantage of this chaos to leave before the skyguards arrive to apprehend me."
Benji winced, twiddling his fingers. "Why did…" he asked, looking away, "President Filep had to do this? Why did he also call you…a criminal, Mister Tryst?"
"Because 3 years ago," Tryst said flatly, meeting Benji's spectacled eyes. "I was the only one against the idea of letting Hitryel join ABC."
Benji's hand fell to his sides. "President Filep…held a grudge against you…for something like that…?"
Ryuzio pulled up the hood of Benji's cloak, hiding the blue-haired boy's face. "The heavy guy is right," he said, looking around. "If the skyguards see you with him, Ben, they're going to think you're also with him in all this."
Benji gulped, pulling forward the hood ever more. "I…don't want…that to happen." He looked up at Tryst with a frown.
"You two must leave now," Tryst said, leading Benji toward the hall. He glanced over his shoulder. "What's holding you, Ryuzio?"
"We have restrained the criminal, Maxvil," Filep said, his voice booming throughout the arena. "Just get out of the Nonagon slowly…" He cut himself off.
Ryuzio pointed toward the cage as Tryst and Benji eyed him. "I have to help the champ guy." He blinked as the Maxvil guy got off the canvas.
"You can't do that!" Tryst said with a wince, approaching him. "You'll also be marked as a criminal."
"I don't have a problem with that," Ryuzio said, smiling. "I'm the man who's—" His eyes widened as the Maxvil guy's right forearm opened up mechanically, revealing a hidden blade.
Without a moment's hesitation, he fired up his Ether, immediately focusing all of it down to his legs. They felt energized, powerful—ready for any leap. But he knew that to make a jump this big just focusing all his Ether to his legs would not be enough…
"Dragon Cloak!"
The hexagonal Scalemark on the bottom of each of his foot burned brightly, gloing through his hoes, even forming an impression on the top of both his feet.
Many years before, when Ryuzio had first discovered that he could burn a Scalemark on his right shoulder, he had no idea that he could also burn a Scalemark on his left one.
But eventually, he mastered burning a Scalemark on each of his limbs—though only one at a time. It took him years before he managed to burn 2 Scalemarks simultaneously onto his body, and even more years before he mastered it.
He had tried many times in the past to make the Scalemarks on his feet burn out some Scales—like the ones on his shoulders did—but to no avail. He could only burn a Scalemark on each foot, without assembling the Scales that they were supposed to spew out. But at least he had mastered forming Dragon Gauntlets on both of his fists. That would be useful here.
"Wh-What the…?" Benji said in shock. "Maxvil had…enhancements…all this time…?"
Tryst's eyes widened as Maxvil pointed the blade at Hitryel. "Is Maxvil planning to kill Hitryel—?"
"Not on my watch!" With that, Ryuzio leapt toward the cage in the middle of the arena from the second level, leaving a shockwave behind him, blowing everything away from where he took off. He only put so much power into this jump that after getting beneath the lights above the cage, he started falling down in an arc.
"Dragon Cloak!"
The Scalemarks on his feet burnt out, a Scalemark appearing on the side of each of his shoulder instead—
"DIE!" Maxvil shouted with gritted teeth, thrusting his hand toward Hitryel.
Hitryel's eyes widened as he the blade zipped straight toward him—
Ryuzio slammed down from above, right in the middle of the two brawlers, squatting to let his Ether enhanced feet absorb the impact of the fall, facing the Maxvil guy, obstructing the path of the lunging blade.
"Dragon Gauntlet!"
Hexagonal Scales rose from both the Scalemarks that he'd activated just now. The red Scales of Ether spiraled down to his fists, locking to the front of his knuckles, as if a spiky glove of fiery Ether was enforcing them.
"Huh?" Hitryel blurted from behind his back, his view blocked by Ryuzio. "You?"
Ryuzio smiled, jolting tall onto his feet, arms outstretched.
The blade reached to stab his face—
Ryuzio slammed together his fists knuckle-first, grabbing the lunging blade between them, stopping it before it could stab his face, bits of red Ether sparking out from the impact of the Gauntlets, as if molten glass.
Maxvil's eyes widened as the blade he'd launched at Hitryel was shattered to pieces by Ryuzio.
Without a moment's delay, sliding his left foot forward as he stood sideways, Ryuzio pulled his right Gauntleted fist to his side, covering it with his outstretched left palm. The Scalemark on his left shoulder burnt out as flames started erupting from the knuckles of his right fist.
Maxvil put forward his left palm. "Now hold on a second, who the fluck are you!"
Ryuzio smiled. "A real Volant!"
Hitryel's jaw fell. "H-Huh?"
Maxvil pulled his right fist back, the punch turning mechanical and metallic. "Don't make me laugh—!"
Ryuzio threw his right fist to Maxvil's face. The fist-shaped Ether, enforced by spiky Scales, launched at Maxvil's face past the fully extended arm, hitting the man straight on his nose, throwing his massive body off the canvas.
Maxvil crashed into the cage wall, bending the structure as his back sunk into the metal frame, eyes rolling back, nose broken and bleeding, wide mouth dribbling.
Hitryel's eyes widened in disbelief. "Wh-Who are you?"
Ryuzio glanced over his shoulder with a smile, thumbing at his headband with his right Gauntlet. "I'm Ryuzio Smyte, the man who's gonna be the Sky King!" His smile deepened. "You trust me now?"
Hitryel remained silent.
One of the large men holding down Hitryel lunged at Ryuzio—
Ryuzio punched the man in his gut with an Ether enhanced fist, knocking him down. The other man holding down Hitryel got away from him—
Hitryel turned, jumping off the ground, slicing at the man's head with a high kick, knocking him down as well.
Ryuzio found the key to Hitryel's cuffs after searching the man he'd just knocked down. He turned to face Hitryel with a smile. "That Filep guy has made you a criminal in the eyes of everyone. I heard skyguards are coming too. So…how about it now?
"Join my squad!"
Hitryel eyed him for a moment, eventually rolling his eyes. "Smoking bastard!" he said with a smile as he met Ryuzio's eyes. "Fine! If I'm a criminal for running after my dream, why not just fly to it and become a Volant!" With that, he turned around.
Ryuzio smiled deeply, freeing Hitryel from the shackles. "I have one thing I want to do before we leave this place. What're you gonna do till then?"
Hitryel rotated his right wrist, his left hand wrapped around it, as he fiercely gazed up at the president guy on the third level. "I have someone to hit."
The president guy backed away from his seat, almost tripping before disappearing down a hallway.
"Okay," Ryuzio said, and then chuckled. "That's similar to your name, yeah? Wait… What was your name again…?"
Hitryel raised his brows, cocking back his head. "You…don't even know my…" He sighed, standing tall, meeting Ryuzio's eyes with resolve in his expression. "I'm Hitryel Hystryk, the man who's gonna be Unrivaled under the Stars!"
"Awesome!" Ryuzio said with a smile. "I'll see you right after I get done the thing that I want to do."
Hitryel walked toward the cage door. "Meet me in the parking area. I'll be there before you."
"Okay, Hit," Ryuzio said, climbing the far cage wall. "See you in the parking."
"Hit?" Hitryel said, glancing over his shoulder. "Then that makes you Ryu, no—?" His gaped as he saw Ryuzio take off from the top of the cage wall toward one of the hallways—bending the fence in the process—leaving a slight trail of flames through his path in the air.
Hitryel smiled. "Sky King, huh?" He turned. "You sure can fly, Ryuzio."