Inside the Common Room...
Hikari began frantically looking around the common room for Dachii, pushing past various confused soldiers.
"Dachii? Dachii? DACHII?!?"
Himeka followed her, a perplexed look on her face. "Sister? What's wrong?"
Hikari turned around, her face pale and sweating. "You guys were supposed to be watching Dachii! Why is he not here?"
Hikari walked up to Grishna, who just stood there awkwardly, food in her hands.
"Grishna! Did you see where he went?"
She took a bite. "Well...no...?"
"You were RIGHT NEXT TO HIM!"
Her face turned a deep green color. "Yeah...sorry, mate. Food just gets me so...intoxicated."
She lifted up a piece of steak. "Especially a hearty meal like this!"
Hikari groaned and threw her hands up in the air. Himeka tapped her chin before seemingly coming to her senses. "Dachii! Right!"
She put a smile on her face. "I'm sure he's just in the bathroom!"
Himeka opened the door, but the bathroom just had a small dwarf in it. "HEY! Do you MIND?"
Himeka closed the door. "Wow. I really thought that would work!"
Kanai pointed down the hall. "Maybe he went to talk to that human!"
Himeka, Kanai, Hikari, and Grishna made their way to the arena, where they found Venus and Sir Triune conversing with each other.
"Excuse me!" Hikari interrupted. "Have you seen that young boy with the dreads? He's about average height, average build, average everything, to be honest."
Ayana walked up to them. "Dachii? I thought he was with you guys?"
"Well..." Hikari stammered. "He...was..."
"Dachii's missing?" Venus asked. "No, no! That's no good! We can't let our special guest just disappear without a word!"
"So you'll help us find him?" Himeka asked.
Venus nodded. "Very much! We don't want to leave our crowd on a cliffhanger!"
The entire crowd fell silent, anxiously watching as Venus walked up to the center of the stage and the others followed.
"Where could he be?" Hikari muttered.
Venus turned around slightly, her demeanor starting to change. "I think I might have a clue."
At that moment, the air started to feel heavy and time began to slow as the lights of the arena lit up with tons of electricity.
And in the next moment, the sound came.
BOOM.
"Let the FINALE begin."
BOOOOOOOOOM.
The entire arena shook as a giant explosion of lightning, easily as high as a mountain, was visible in the distance. As everyone looked on in horror, Venus waved her hand.
"Everyone! Watch, and watch carefully! This is the event you've all been waiting for! This is what it's all led up to!"
The screen board hovered over the arena, displaying the scene of thunder, lightning, and Dachii.
"The final match: DACHII VS. IONIX!"
A plume of flame erupted, and the crowd roared. Hikari, Himeka, and the rest of S-2 watched in horror, gasping at the sight.
"No..." Hikari said. "Dachii!"
BOOM.
Meanwhile, at the Roundtable of the Gods...
All that could be seen was the flash of lightning and fighting as Ionix repeatedly attacked Dachii.
"THUNDER!"
Ionix swiped his hand down, sending a powerful chain of lightning at Dachii, who managed to side-step the attack.
"Damn it! What is this guy?" he thought.
In the next instant, Ionix attacked Dachii from all angles, running into him again and again before he could react. After a few more rapid attacks, Ionix began running around Dachii, who tried to follow with his eyes.
"What kinda speed is this? What am I supposed to DO?"
Ionix broke free of the loop he created and tried to grab Dachii.
"There!"
Dachii immediately turned around and tried to punch him, but Ionix dodged the attack and appeared behind Dachii in the blink of an eye, grabbing his arm and slamming him into the ground.
"Try HARDER!"
He flung Dachii into a statue, which completely shattered on impact. Dachii slowly got himself out of the rubble.
"Not again, not again! Why did I come out here alone? Just why?"
Ionix took a few steps forward. "Come on, you're not done just yet, are you?"
A massive aura of electricity surrounded him, bursting out uncontrollably and erupting like a flame.
"For a dude that's so bent on proving himself, you seem to be pretty strong to me!" Dachii exclaimed.
"This?" Ionix replied. "This is nothing."
WHOOSH.
In the blink of an eye, he rushed at Dachii, who put his hands up to block the punch aimed at his head. The impact caused a massive shockwave which damaged the entire Roundtable.
"My arms...can't take it..." Dachii thought.
Ionix pulled his arm back and punched the gauntlets again, this time breaking Dachii's block and sending him flying back into a pillar.
"You have an Elemental Weapon..." Ionix noticed. "Consider yourself blessed, only the most POWERFUL can summon a WEAPON!"
"The most powerful...?" Dachii wondered.
"LIGHTNING SPEED!"
In no time at all, Ionix was right in front of Dachii and punched him right in the gut, making him cough blood.
Dachii tried to slam his fist down on Ionix's head, but Ionix easily countered with a strike of his own, which sent sparks of electricity flying everywhere.
Dachii jumped back, breathing heavily.
"Stop playing!" Ionix demanded. "Bring out your power! Show me Deity! Or else..."
His entire body shot out a powerful electrical storm that rose into the sky.
"You'll LOSE THIS FIGHT!"
And without a single delay, he slashed his arm down, sending the attack straight for Dachii.
"CRAP!"
Inside the Arena...
Back inside the arena, the battle played out on the screen. Hikari immediately rushed forward.
"No, we have to help him!"
Himeka pulled out her boomerang. "Okay, that's a wrap! Time to go!"
As they all started to head for the exit, Sir Triune stopped them. "NO. YOU STAY HERE."
He pushed Hikari back, making her stumble and fall to the ground.
"Hey!" Himeka called out, jabbing her boomerang into his chest. "That's not nice! Don't hurt my sister!"
"GET BACK."
Kanai whispered into Himeka's ear. "Himeka, this is bad! What are we going to do?"
Himeka began to tap her chin again, thinking. "Hmm...let me see!"
Ayana pointed at the screen. "I don't think there's much time FOR you to see."
On the screen, Dachii was busy jumping around, dodging Ionix's electric-charged jump attacks.
"Enough of this!" Kanai demanded. "We're going!"
As she turned back around to face the squad, she noticed something was off.
"Where's Tsugumi and Tetsuya? Kazue?"
Kazue appeared dumbfounded. "I just saw them! They couldn't have gone on their own in that short amount of time, no way!"
She looked at the screen. "Right...?"
BOOM.
At the Roundtable...
At the site of the battle, more lightning rained down as Dachii narrowly avoided Ionix's strikes.
"Okay, this isn't working!" Dachii thought. "Maybe it's best I HIT HIM FIRST!"
Dachii unleashed a flurry of punches at Ionix, who easily dodged them all before hitting Dachii with an uppercut that sent shocks throughout his body.
"Nevermind..." Dachii groaned.
Ionix jumped up and landed behind him, batting him away with a casual swat of his arm.
"Inept."
Dachii went crashing into the side of a nearby mountain. As Dachii's vision cleared, he saw Ionix looking at him with the corners of his eyes.
"Hmph. I wanted more from you. I thought you had guts, determination, POWER."
Ionix lifted his hand, and his eyes began to glow. "Ah, well. I've got a job to do."
And with that, a powerful lightning bolt shot out from his hand, heading right for Dachii.
But just then...
WHOOSH.
The lightning crashed into the spot where Dachii had landed, but when the dust cleared, Ionix saw that he was gone.
"WHAT?"
He looked around, and he saw Dachii to the side of him, with a girl standing protectively in front of him.
"Well," Ionix said. "Isn't this cute?"
When Dachii rubbed the dust from his eyes, he saw Tsugumi staring down Ionix.
"How did you—-?"
"Listen, Dachii," she said, her tone low and cold. "That race we just had, that was an embarrassment. I can't believe I let you all outdo me."
Before Dachii could open his mouth, she gave him a terrifying look. "You hear me? Forget you ever saw that."
Dachii got to his feet, looking between Ionix and Tsugumi. "But that's IONIX! That's the strongest Zharian we've ever seen!"
"That's fine."
Ionix watched with an amused look as Tsugumi touched her neck, sending her magic through her body.
"Poor girl. How about I zap you to ashes real quick?"
Tsugumi took a minute to let the effects spread inside of her body before glaring at Ionix with glowing eyes.
"Try me."
Before Dachii had even realized, Tsugumi rushed at Ionix, attempting to punch him in the face, but he simply tossed his hand up and caught it.
"No brother to save you now, huh?"
She growled and tried to kick him in the face, but he ducked and grabbed her arm, sending a powerful shock to her body.
"You...you think that hurts? Do you know who I am?"
Ionix grabbed her by the neck. "You're nothing."
And with ease, he slammed her into the ground.
Inside the arena, Venus and the others noticed Tsugumi's involvement.
"Well, isn't this unexpected?" Venus announced. "It seems like another player has joined the fight!"
The crowd roared in excitement.
"The hell is she doing?" Hikari exclaimed. "Is she crazy?"
Himeka pumped her fist up. "Go, Tsugumi! Take him down!"
Kanai shook her hard. "Himeka!"
Kazue nervously watched as Ionix tossed Tsugumi near Dachii. "He's too powerful...guys...they...they're gonna die!"
At the battlefield, Tsugumi weakly tried to stand, but Dachii helped her up.
"Let me...go...I'll...kill...him..."
Her eyes widened as he fired a powerful blast of lightning at them, and she pulled Dachii to the ground.
"Get down!"
The impact of the blast caused pieces of the mountain to fall off, nearly crushing Dachii and Tsugumi.
"We can't keep doing this!" Dachii stated. "Sooner or later, he's going to get us, maybe we should try and head back to the arena—-!"
"No!" Tsugumi replied. "I'm not running from him!"
"ELECTRIC DANCE."
Ionix unleashed a wave of electrical currents from his body, which grew to the height of a building, making a distinct musical sound as they headed toward their targets.
Tsugumi, frozen in place, stared at the currents, repeating the same sentence in her mind.
"I won't run, I won't run, I won't run..."
"Uh, Tsugumi?" Dachii called out. "Tsugumi? Tsugumi!"
She remained still, her life flashing before her eyes as the current made its way to her.
"I've...I've got this...I've got it."
Many years ago, in Voltiana...
"Height: 4 foot 1. Weight: 60 pounds. Age: 8 years."
A young Tsugumi was in a doctor's office, undergoing a medical examination. "So, you've reported being sick?"
She nodded. "Yes. My head constantly hurts, my nose is stuffy, and when I try to eat, I throw up the food!"
The doctor knelt beside her, shining a light into Tsugumi's mouth. "Oh, your throat seems very swollen. Maybe that could be why your voice is so...strained?"
Tsugumi coughed, her eyes red. "Is there any way to fix all of this?"
The doctor examined Tsugumi's skin, which seemed to be duller than usual, and he checked her cheeks, which were sunken.
"Let me see what I can do for you, honey."
He opened a cabinet filled with various containers, and then he grabbed a white container marked with an X.
"Here, this should help."
He put a few white pills in her hand, and she stared at them with a nervous look. "What are these?"
The doctor gave her a sympathetic smile. "Based on my observations and the test results, you have a chronic illness that affects your immune system."
"WHAT?"
He put a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay. If you take this medication every day, it shouldn't cause anything bad."
Tsugumi looked at the pills, a tear rolling down her cheek. "Are you sure?"
"Of course! I've dealt with many cases similar to this!"
As Tsugumi put the pills in her mouth, the doctor quietly sighed to himself.
"None of the previous cases have been so young, however..."
Tsugumi vomited blood into a trash can, and the doctor immediately rushed to help her.
"Are you okay?"
She wiped the blood from her mouth. "Ew, they taste so nasty!"
The doctor gave her a pat on the back. "They'll help you, I promise."
Tsugumi spat out more blood before looking at the doctor. "Please...tell me...is my brother...alright...?"
The doctor peered out into the waiting room, where Tetsuya was busy laughing with a group of boys.
"Yes, I believe he is fine. There are no reported anomalies in his condition whatsoever."
Tsugumi gave the doctor a weak smile. "That's...good. I don't want him to suffer...like I do..."
Present Day...
"I won't run...I won't run...I'm not going to—-!"
But she wasn't aware of the powerful electrical currents right in front of her, and by the time she looked up, it was too late.
"Shit—-!"
Before they could reach her, she felt herself flying in the air. And where she last stood, was Dachii, who got a direct hit from the currents.
BOOM.
—-