In the underground dungeon...
"Marachii, it's time I introduce myself. I'm Ionix."
Marachii stared at him cautiously. "You're a Zharian, aren't you? Like Vapron and Nullus!"
Ionix nodded. "Yes, yes I am. However, with my group, we go by the term 'Obsidian Order.' What you're referring to is our race as a whole."
"The Obsidian Order...?"
Ionix began to pace in front of the cell. "What you call those S-Generals, that's basically what we are to our people. Powerful warriors who each possess a distinct Elemental Power."
"Okay, but why are you telling me this?" Marachii asked. "To my knowledge, all you want is to kidnap Dachii!"
"Well," Ionix said. "There's an important reason for that. We need Deity to stop those bloodthirsty monsters once and for all. Without it, our Master can't cleanse the coming apocalypse."
"Master? And monsters? You mean the Voltians?"
He turned away. "Yes. You might not believe me, but we aren't some evil demons. In a land far away from here, we try to live peaceful, fair, and as regular as possible."
Marachii eyed him, skeptical. "Is that so? Then why don't you guys just stay there and leave Dachii out of this? One of your Order members tried to kidnap my mother, too! Why?"
Ionix stayed silent for a moment, before turning back around. "There's something about your family that my Master finds...peculiar. As you may have heard, humans wielding Elements is virtually unheard of, and a person with TWO is even rarer, even among those who can use them."
He sighed. "So, why not take the mother into our custody as well, where she will be safe from any experiments or watchful eyes of those scumbags. In the process, we can find out if she's a special human too."
"Really? Or is that an excuse to use his power for yourselves?"
Ionix stared at Marachii for a long time, then stepped toward the bars. "Be honest with me, Marachii. Do you think the Voltians are your friends? Do you think they care about you? Do you think they are...good people?"
Marachii looked at the ground. "Well..."
"I'll answer it for you," Ionix interrupted. "They're not. They only value you based on what you can do for them. Your mother warned you, I heard."
Marachii began to ponder his words. "But still, YOU were the one who kidnapped ME! No one told you to show up!"
Ionix chuckled. "Who put you in that position? Was it me? Or was it that girl who you call your friend? And if I recall, once I grabbed you, the only resistance I faced was from your brother. Why didn't the great Kenshi Fujii move to help you, or better yet, your own team?"
Marachii's eyes widened. "Well...because...you were too fast for them..."
Ionix laughed again. "You'll get it. You will get it."
Marachii tried to get up. "What do you want with me anyway? Just to lure my brother in?"
Ionix tapped his chin. "That, and I also wanted to offer you to join us."
"JOIN YOU?"
"Yes. You aren't valued in that society. All the eyes are on your brother, and only because of his strange power. You have a powerful Element of your own, yet the one place with an emphasis on technology doesn't see it that way. But I—WE do."
Marachii narrowed his eyes. "Is this some villain speech to convince me?"
He shook his head. "Nope. It's a no-brainer deal. You get away from the crazies, and we teach you about your Element. Elements do originate from us, after all."
Before Marachii could respond, he heard a frantic voice behind Ionix. "Kid, don't take his offer! He's sick! He's shown me his master, he's horrifying! Don't believe a word he says—-!"
"SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH!"
Without warning, Ionix held out his hand and fired a powerful lightning bolt at the Voltian soldier in the opposite cell. It hit him square in the chest, making him shake and gasp.
"Bas...tard..."
Ionix ignored him and turned his attention back to Marachii. "Beings like that aren't trustworthy. That man has murdered countless innocent people, all in the name of his squad."
Ionix then held out his hand, and a small portal opened, showing Dachii sitting with Aoki, Akari, and Hikari.
"And your brother, he's fallen right into the spider's web."
Marachii stared at the screen, eyes wide. "What...my team...?Who's that girl next to them?"
Ionix closed the portal. "A dangerous woman. Pray you never encounter her face to face."
With that, Ionix turned down the hall and left. "I'll be back, Marachii. Soon, you'll realize."
The door shut, leaving Marachii and the weakened soldier alone.
"What...what do I do, Father?"
Meanwhile, in Raijin Arena...
The matches continued to go on, and Dachii watched as orcs, monsters, and dwarves all fought against each other.
"Why can everyone use such cool moves?" Dachii asked. "Is that the benefit of being non-human?"
Hikari patted him on the shoulder. "You should be happy, you have an Element AS a human!"
"Yeah, yeah."
Once the latest match, which was between an orc from Zok's team and a dwarf, had finished, Venus stood up and headed to the arena floor.
"Now that all thirteen teams have fought at least once, we can now tally up medals for this round."
Immediately, a board emerged from the ground, showing each team's score. "Teams Dachii, Zok, Ayana, Kili, Nori, Urgok, and Farron have one medal. Everyone else has ended up with zero. Don't fret, however. You have one more chance to try and claim your medals back! This next wave of fights will be worth double points! And we shall open up again with Dachii's team!"
"Great," Dachii moaned. "They're on my case again. Please don't be someone too hard, please don't be someone too hard..."
"His team will be going up against AYANA'S TEAM!"
He and Ayana shared a look.
"OH NO," Dachii realized, raising his hand. "Excuse me, Venus? Can I back out? My powers are a bit uncontrollable, so I wouldn't want to risk it—-"
Ayana laughed, trying to hide it. "It's okay, Dachii. I wasn't going to fight this time anyway."
"Then who's fighting?"
Haruto got up, giving an awkward wave. "Ayana insists we all get a fair chance on her team, but man I wanted to watch her carry us to the finish!"
"Haruto?" Dachii questioned. "Are you a fighter?"
He nervously laughed. "That's not what my mom says, but hey! We can all dream, right?"
He began to make his way to the floor. Venus looked towards Dachii's team. "Which of you will take on the challenge?"
Aoki began to get up, gripping her blade. "I've got this."
Grishna put a hand on her arm. "Wait, shouldn't we let little old Hikari get a chance? She hasn't really done much on the team yet."
Aoki immediately scoffed. "That's because she's weak. She's here to heal, that's it."
Akari abruptly stood up. "Hey, Hikari is NOT weak."
Aoki pointed her blade at Hikari. "Show me, then."
Akari put her hand on Hikari's back. "Go ahead and take that guy on. You've got this."
Hikari was visibly sweating, her hands shaking. "Well...I wasn't really expecting to be picked as a fighter...you know?"
"As I thought," Aoki muttered.
"Do it for your sister," Akari whispered. "Make her proud."
"Right, right! Can't back down now!"
Hikari took a deep breath and got up, heading down to the arena floor.
"What a weird pep talk," Dachii thought.
Once she was in position, the board retreated beneath the floor and Venus went back up to her spot. "Take a moment to choose your weapons!"
"Nice to meet ya," Haruto greeted, rubbing the back of his head. "Fighting isn't really my style, so try and go a bit easy, will you?"
"It's just a human," Hikari thought. "Just a human."
She scanned the weapon rack and used her magic to store them all, right before Haruto's eyes.
"Uh, what did you just do?"
"Nothing! Just...preparing!"
Haruto grabbed a bow and quiver off the table. "Alright, I'm ready!"
Hikari turned to face him. "Me too!"
"Alright!" Venus announced. "Let the Games begin!"
"Crush him, Hikari!" Akari called out.
"Yeah!" Grishna added.
Haruto aimed an arrow at her and fired it, but she dodged it with ease.
"She's fast," Haruto thought. "Don't know if I can hit her."
Hikari kept her distance watching as Haruto prepared another shot. "Do I go in close? Do I stay back? Come on, Hikari! Think!"
He fired another arrow, which she evaded yet again. Ayana yelled to him from the stands.
"She's not an easy opponent, Haruto! Switch up your strategy! Use what I've taught you!"
"Got it!" he responded.
He fired one more arrow, which Hikari caught, but as she turned her attention back to him, she saw him wielding two swords.
"Huh...?"
"Don't fall for it, Hikari!" Akari exclaimed. "It's probably just a trick to scare you!"
"Yeah, she's right! This human can't be that good with TWO blades, right?"
She opened a portal over his head, which dropped a barrage of weapons onto him. "Take this!"
Haruto looked up, readying the swords. "Nice!"
And to everyone's shock, he immediately deflected all the weapons with the blades, even cutting a few in half.
"W...what?" Hikari stammered, staring in shock. "How's that possible?"
"I like that magic!" Haruto remarked. "It looks like it's really useful!"
Right as Hikari blinked, Haruto rushed toward her, swinging his blade at her neck.
"But...you're human!"
She ducked the sword, and he used the other one and nearly struck her, but she slid under it.
"Woah, that kid is really good!"Grishna noted. "Come on, Hikari! Don't lose your fire now!"
Dachii immediately rounded on Ayana. "Hey, you guys said he couldn't fight!"
Ayana held her hands up, innocently. "Hey, that's the beauty of being human! You can appear much weaker than you are!"
"Hmph, that is true..." Dachii realized.
As the crowd cheered, Haruto threw a sword into the air and rapidly attacked Hikari with the other.
"I...have to touch him...!" she noted to herself. "But he swinging these damn swords so fast!"
Haruto caught the other blade and tried to bring both in for a double strike, but she caught both in her hands and kept them from her head.
"Hikari, you're still stronger!" Akari said. "You can do this!"
Aoki simply watched the fight with an unimpressed look. "Pitiful. All this, and it's just a human."
Hikari ripped the blades out of Haruto's hands, and as she tried to touch him, he jumped back.
"Ferocious! You've got some strength in those tiny arms!"
"These arms hold more than strength," she replied, opening a portal above his head, which dropped a dumpster out.
"Woah!"
He managed to roll away and he picked up his swords. "Let's go again!"
"Has the underdog become the favorite?" Venus announced. "Will Haruto pull this one out?"
"Can you shut up?" Hikari thought. "Now isn't the time for this!"
She narrowly evaded an overhead strike from Haruto, and she punched him in the stomach, sending a wave of pink energy through him and making him cough blood.
"Ugh, what was that? Felt like I just got the flu!"
"Sorry, but I need to win!"
He smirked and tried to slash downward, but Hikari jumped over him.
"She's moving really well," Dachii thought. "Power seems the same, though."
Before Haruto could turn around, Hikari touched him again, dropping him to his knees. "UGH!"
"Come on, Haruto!" Ayana yelled. "Get up and show her what you've got!"
Haruto tried to stand, but his vision became blurry. "You'll need more than that to win!"
He took a step forward, preparing to swing, but then suddenly, he collapsed.
"Ugh... never mind. You got it."
"Oh, sorry! Maybe that was too much!" Hikari blurted out.
Venus hopped down, examining Haruto and Hikari. "Haruto is on the ground, so by default, Hikari wins!"
Akari, Grishna, and Dachii gave her cheers, while Aoki simply just rolled her eyes.
"She got super lucky. It was a human."
"That's no ordinary human," Akari stated. "He and his friend have some explaining to do. I don't buy their story."
Venus helped Haruto up. "Do you need a medic?"
"Nah, nah! I'll walk this off! Mom always said not to be a punk!"
He limped toward the stands. Venus gave Hikari two medals. "For this win, she's earned Dachii's team two medals! They now take the lead!"
Hikari tried to keep her composure, but she couldn't help smiling. "Yes, I actually did it!"
She looked up at the sky. "Don't worry, Himeka, I'll win this thing, and I'll find you."
Venus made her way back to her spot. "Now, we'll take a short break before we continue these rounds. I'll be right back!"
She walked into a tunnel, leaving the crowd and competitors alone.
When she reached the end of the tunnel, she found Ionix, sitting in a chair in her office.
"How are the matches going?" Ionix asked.
"Not well," Venus answered. "They are clearing every hurdle without much challenge. If we're going to eliminate his teammates, we've got to be more creative."
Ionix lifted a hand, which glowed with electricity. "Or more direct. It's time to stop going easy on them."
Venus curiously looked at him. "What are you thinking?"
He got out of the chair. "Have them fight again this match. This time, they'll go against ME."
His form shifted into that of a fair-skinned young human male, with spiky yellow hair. "We'll see how they face a true test. I want the katana girl."
Venus smiled. "I like the way you think."
—-