After the fight, Tetsuya was knocked unconscious, and his sister grabbed him from the stands and dragged him back over to her spot.
Atomu, meanwhile, was breathing hard, trying to restore his body to his normal state, but not before looking at Tetsuya and remarking: "Great fight, I look forward to doing it again."
The girls all jumped back as Tsugumi tossed her brother into a line of chairs, shaking her head. "And just as I thought, I'll have to carry this failure back home."
She closed her eyes, deep in thought. "At least he didn't get embarrassed. For the first time."
Akari walked over to her brother, whose shirt was now off, revealing his toned muscles.
"Are you okay? We do fight next..."
"Yes. I'm fine."
"Good! So when we fight, I want no excuses!"
She gave him a not-so-gentle hug and walked away, leaving him to his own. He stared at her and looked at the bracket. Sure enough, once the first round was over, they'd be fighting each other.
"Hmph."
Meanwhile, back at the judging table, the generals began to converse with one another.
"Woah, did you see Atomu's glass? That was SO COOL!" Himeka began excitedly clapping. "I can't wait for what's next!"
"Man! I want good action! The Prince and that boy delivered well!" Shinjii bellowed.
Toru and Nakada just shared a silent nod, while Naito simply remarked: "Can I go home now?"
Fujii was drinking a beer. "We're nearing the end of the first round. Good entertainment so far." While they all kept debating and talking, Jukai went up to the ring.
"Sheesh. Some extensive damage, no doubt...anyway, once we fix this up and return, we're bringing you folks OBARA vs. UMEDA!"
Arata stood up. "BOO! Nobody wants to see that!"
Both boys looked offended.
"How DARE you? I am the most elegant thing to EVER walk this planet!" Umeda combed his hair as he said this, hitting Obara in the face once more.
"Ew! And Arata, no need to be rude! I'll destroy the pretty boy!"
"Yeah, yeah."
Kai walked up to the three. "Any of you guys seen Domen? He'll be fighting soon!"
Arata cracked his knuckles. "The guy's probably with his girlfriend somewhere. He can't sit still."
"Mmm. He's missing out on some good fights!"
"This fight won't be good."
Jukai got back on the mic.
"And now we are BACK, viewers! The stage is fixed and ready for some action, so how about we get our two competitors on here? Come on up, Obara and Umeda!"
"Ahh, I guess it's time for my beauty to shine through—-"
"Shut your mouth, you obsessed narcissist! I got an equation to remove you from!"
The two boys walked to their spots on either side of the arena, both choosing not to pick up anything. "Beauty needs no weapons to maintain its status, oh dear, am I lovely."
"Yeah, whatever. I don't need a sword for you."
Fujii and the other generals looked a bit disinterested in this fight, all of them watching with less focused intent.
"Think they'll be any good?" Nakada asked, eyes narrowing.
"Nope. Don't expect too much. It's just a nerd and a narc." Toru gave a sarcastic yawn.
"Aww, you guys! Give them a chance!" Despite the lack of focus from the others, Himeka clapped for the two.
"Ready? FIGHT!"
In an instant, Umeda smiled and began dancing. It was an elegant dance, perfectly executed. As Obara kept his distance and watched, Umeda finished his dance by flashing a smile, which immediately blinded Obara.
"Gosh, those damn teeth!"
But that wasn't all. When Obara looked up, he saw Umeda's hair had extended. It became a dangerous swarm of blade-shaped braids atop his head, all of which struck at Obara.
"Oh no."
He threw himself to the side to avoid the hair blades, then did a barrel roll to keep away from the other blades curving to his left. "What do you put in your hair, this is crazy!"
"Oh my, it's clear you can't resist the power of my BEAUTIFUL and REGAL hair, so why not GIVE IN?"
Obara got some distance between himself and Umeda, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small metal ball.
"Probability of impact: 95%!"
He threw it at JUST the right spot, JUST the right angle, and it bounced at such a high speed and collided right into Obara's face.
"Ow! How dare you strike my tender and GORGEOUS skin! You'd better not have left a mark!"
More hair blades targeted Obara, who pulled out another metal ball. He scanned the area, looking for just the right spot.
"Probability: 92%!"
He threw it with just the right amount of power, angle, and spin, and it collided with Umeda's unguarded stomach, winding him.
"Argh! Little disgusting pest!"
Umeda began a furious dance, and he began to glow and increase his hair to double its original length. The hair went wild and grabbed Obara, trapping him in a tight embrace.
Arata yawned. "Can you guys hurry this up? Taking forever." Kai gently elbowed him. "Come on man! This is getting interesting!"
Tomoko was busy jumping up and down. "Finish him, hair-man!"
The judges were all taking notes.
"See anything good about this?" Nakada asked.
Fujii clicked a glowing silver pen, which shot a laser out that burned some words onto a piece of paper. "Ehh. Let's keep watching and see what else happens."
As Umeda's hair began to lift Obara over the edge, Obara drew one last metal ball from his pocket, using the tips of his fingers to grasp it, as the hair's grip grew tighter around his body.
He made sure to scan his surroundings for just the right angle, the right amount of power, and the right path it needed to take to hit his target.
Then he found it.
"Probability: 100%!"
He threw it just off the nearest weapon rack, and with enough speed and power, it bounced all across the stadium, nearly hitting Akari...
"Hey, watch your throw!"
Arata...
"If you hit me, I'll kill you, kid!"
Tomoko...
"Wow! How fast is it going?"
Tsugumi...
"Grrr..."
And Fujii...
"Woah now! Don't wanna lose my head, no thank you!"
Right before it made contact with Umeda's back.
"AHHH!"
It knocked him out of the air, and Obara dropped to the ground, while Umeda accidentally fell out of the ring. "Easy. Like I said, math for the win!"
"And the winner is: OBARA!"
The crowd gave a cheer, but not as loud as it had for earlier matches.
"Well, dang. Don't gotta make it seem like a funeral." He walked back to his spot, as Umeda threw a fit.
"How could I possibly lose? Me? So elegant and radiant and PERFECT!"
"Get back to your seat, damn narcissist!"
"How dare you speak to me like that?"
Kai looked at the bracket. "Well. That was a better fight than I thought. But now I have to fight...her..."
Arata snorted. "She's no different from her brother really. Just replace the fire with the ice."
"Hey man, you can't say that! She'll get mad!"
"And I should care, why?"
"Because she'll kill me just to prove a point!"
"Too bad for you, I guess."
The judges finished taking notes. Toru stood up. "Well, that wasn't as bad as it could have been. The smart one has potential. The narcissist, on the other hand..."
Naito just silently hummed to herself, playing with her pen.
The crowd gave a few whispers:
"Not as good as the last fight, I'll tell you that."
"Well, it wasn't that bad either, I mean, would you rather watch Akari and Arata beat up more humans?"
"Even so, we get to see Ms. Izanagi in action. Won't that be a treat?"
Jukai, per usual, took to the stand.
"Now then, with the penultimate match of the first round, it's KAI vs. TSUGUMI!" Hikari grabbed Tsugumi's shoulders and gave her a playful shake. "Aww, now you get to go! Are you excited?"
"No. I'm here to win."
"Wow. Way to kill the mood."
Tetsuya began to wake up, confused. "Huh...females?"
"Great. Now you're up. Watch me win, unlike yourself."
She got up and walked to her spot. As Tetsuya fell off the seats, he locked eyes with her; she had a determined but scary look on her face. Hikari shook her head. "One day she'll learn to be more friendly, one day."
"Ugh, I need food."
Kazue dropped a sandwich on his face.
"Oh, thanks."
Arata pushed Kai off the seat. "Go kill her, you weak little man!"
"Hey dude! You can't rush this! I got bad nerves!"
"Don't care!"
He slowly crept over to his spot, and Tsugumi looked like she had better things to do, just like how Akari was when she fought Marachii.
"Ready?"
"No, not really—!"
"Yes."
"FIGHT!"
Kai had begun to hyperventilate, so he took deep breaths to calm himself down.
"Okay, how bout this, you witch!"
He grabbed a shield and with a glow of white energy, it GREW three times its size and he threw it as fast as a bullet.
Tomoko yet again got out of his seat. "What a big shield! I want one!"
Tsugumi just stared at it. With a simple touch to her arm, white energy went into it, and she punched the shield so hard it flew out the entire stadium.
"Tsk."
"Oh...no..."
She touched her leg, and white energy also went into them both, and she began zipping so fast toward Kai he had to quickly touch the weapon rack to grow it and put it as a wall between them.
"Stay away, you juggernaut—-!"
BOOM.
With a simple kick, the rack split in half. A gun that had fallen from it landed next to Kai, and he grew it to the size of a car, aiming it at Tsugumi.
She didn't say anything, just stared at the barrel. Tetsuya sat up, sitting in front of Akari and Hikari. "Great. Here she goes again. Complete show-off."
Hikari clapped and cheered. "Go, girl! Go get him!"
Tetsuya groaned. "And now, here it comes."
Tsugumi stretched out and touched her HEAD.
"What'd you just do?"
"..."
Her eyes began to glow. Kai hesitated, but he pulled the trigger and a huge plasma blast came straight for her, but she seemed to see it ahead of time and moved out of the way.
"Tsk."
Kai found a spear on the ground and made it huge enough to be a mini-electric tower. He threw it at Tsugumi, who watched it as it came to her, and then...
"CRACK."
She snapped it in two.
Kazue dropped her sandwich. "Woah, what IS her power?"
Tetsuya just scoffed. "Annoying, that's what. If you didn't know her you'd think she's like those two." He pointed to Hikari and Akari, who both had guilty looks. "What?"
Kai backed up closer to the edge. "Okay, well, this clearly isn't working. Time for plan B!"
He pulled out what seemed to be a smoke bomb from his pocket and dropped it, but not before making it as big as a basketball.
Tsugumi just watched him. Once he dropped the bomb, the entire arena and even most of the stadium were covered in smoke and haze.
Hikari wiped her eyes, Kazue wiped her food, and Tomoko wiped his mouth.
"Haha! A fun duel indeed!"
Nishiyama had snuck up behind him in the confusion and began violently shaking him.
"I hate you, dirty human! I hate you! I hate you! I HATE you!"
"Haha!"
Arata tried to clear some of the smoke from his face. "That idiotic kid. Using stupid tricks."
The smoke even reached Fujii and the others. Himeka began frantically trying to swat it away. "Ew, it's in my mouth! EW!"
Fujii put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Himeka, it'll clear—-"
"This is so gross!"
Tsugumi simply did a stretch and with a single clap, she parted the smoke cloud, and Kai nearly fell back out of the ring from the force she had generated.
"WOAH!"
"Okay. You'll lose now."
"Huh...?"
In an instant, she used her newly increased speed to land multiple attacks on him, attacking from right, left, down, and up.
"Ow! Ugh! Argh!"
And with one final charge up, she used a fist to send him flying out of the ring.
"And the winner is: TSUGUMI!"
Hikari and most of the other girls cheered, except for Nishi, who was still attacking Tomoko.
"Great job!"
"Easy work!"
"You go, girl!"
Arata just laughed, claiming: "Lost to that sorry girl. How sad. How sad. Knew he was trash."
Kai got up gingerly, holding his back.
"Ugh, looks like I'm getting old prematurely, yep, no more tryouts for me!"
Tsugumi walked back to her spot, as the crowd cheered for her.
"She's a force to be reckoned with!"
"How do you think she'll measure up to the other heavy hitters?"
"Who knows, but I can't wait to see!"
Kai looked at the crowd. "Wow, no praise for me going out and fighting?"
The crowd got so silent, that crickets were heard. Then he got heavy boos.
"Well fine then!"
Fujii walked over to Shinjii. "How you feel about that one, pal? Does she fit your "Strength Over All" motto?"
"Hell yeah, she does! Definitely a top pick no matter what!"
"And for Kai?"
"Ehh, he's more of a scrub. C-tier at best. Cool power though."
Fujii chuckled. "Heh. I've already made me a little list."
He stared at Hikari, who was busy prepping for her own fight.
"But I gotta see how she does."
Jukai went back to his spot.
"Next up, for our final first-round match, it's DOMEN vs. HIKARI!"
Hikari smiled and waved to the eager crowd, while some of the boys, including Kai, Obara, and Luca looked for Domen. Luca began to sniff.
"He's close by. Maybe a few blocks from the stadium. I'll get him."
Kai tensed up. "Dude, that is super weird."
"I know."
Tsugumi walked over to her brother, standing over him.
"That is how you fight. Take notes, before I send you home."
"Yeah, yeah."
After separating Nishiyama and Tomoko, the ring was cleared again, allowing the final two fighters of the last match to walk to their spots. Kazue and Akari each patted Hikari's shoulders.
"Okay. No mercy." Akari stated.
"Here, you need any food?" Kazue gave her a giant cut of steak, and Hikari quickly turned it down. "Oh, I'm fine! I'm ready!"
"Well, okay then." Akari gave her one last smile and sat back down.
Luca had dragged in Domen, who was clearly upset about being interrupted.
"Hey man, I was in the middle of something!"
"Your fight is taking place."
"So?"
The two got over to their spots, beginning to kick off the final match.
Meanwhile...
In a dark, damp, and secure holding cell, was Marachii, with his arms and legs chained to the wall. He looked around and tried to find a way out, but just as he did, a light turned on in his room.
"What in the world? Get me out of here!"
He tried to get up from the metal bed he was sitting on, but his chains would not allow it. When he looked up, he saw two Voltians in formal suits, staring at him with disgust.
"Hmm. So they assume it's human?"
"Don't know. Fujii said he's Morino's grandson."
"Tsk. Well. Let's get to the bottom of this."
—-