The crowd's deafening roar engulfed the arena, a tidal wave of sound that made Tayo wince. He pressed his fingers to his temples, overwhelmed by the noise. It had been a long time since he'd been exposed to noise as loud as this.
Finding their seats in the sea of people was a pain. They could see the massive stage as they pushed past others who were looking for their seats just like them. The stage was larger than he expected and it could be compared to the size of football fields that were used before people gained abilities.
Above the field, holographic displays projected the faces of the two fighters and their names, stylized to match their abilities. The red-haired Kira wore a smirk, while Ikenna had an unsmiling expression that portrayed his calm.
They barely just found their seats when the announcer's voice cut through the noise like a knife:
"Ladies and gentlemen, brace yourselves! Tonight, the ultimate test of power, speed, and strategy unfolds before your very eyes! Who will emerge victorious? Will it be the challenger or the defender?"
The cheers of the crowd rose once again. Tayo grimaced from the noise. Daniel noticed this and handed him a pair of earplugs.
"They reduce the noise. They also have microphones, so we can speak to each other regardless of the noise," Daniel yelled to get enough volume for Tayo to hear him.
Tayo nodded and put them on. The noise vanished, causing the headache that he felt coming to subside.
"I won't take any more of your time, let us welcome them. The challenger—Kira, Firestorm…"
The arena's shimmering barriers crackled to life, encapsulating the circular stage in a field of protective energy. So, when Kira burst onto the stage in a burst of flames. The waves of flames buffeted the shields, rising like waves crashing into a cliff.
The flames were a majestic sight, freezing Tayo in his seat. No imagination could have prepared him for their raw intensity. He could not hear anything, not even Daniel who was explaining things to him as his expression turned sad.
The flames died out moments later, revealing Kira in his red coat. He was dark-skinned just like everyone in the arena, but his hair was dyed to match his coat and the long sword strapped to his back stood out. The holographic displays projected his face clearly and the smirk on his face seemed to be stuck there permanently.
The announcer smiled at the sight and continued his introduction:
"And on the other side, we have the defender, Ikenna, The Speed Merchant"
There was a blast of wind as mirages appeared all over the stage before they took form opposite Kira. Ikenna still wore a calm look on his expressionless face. The holographic display showed Ikenna phasing in and out of place. He seemed to be a ghost on the stage.
Daniel leaned forward, eyes glinting with anticipation as he asked, "Which of them do you think will win?"
Tayo had finally snapped out of his reverie. Looking at the two fighters, he felt more confident in Ikenna with his calm expression. He did not think about it too much before answering:
"Ikenna is calm, I believe he should win"
Down on the stage, the bell rang and the crowd once again erupted as the fight began. Immediately, Ikenna had disappeared. He left trails of black in his trail as delivered a series of rapid punches to Kira.
The blows sent Kira sliding back, but he was able to deflect them with bursts of flames that appeared at every spot Ikenna attacked. The holographic displays showed each of the punches slowed down enough for everyone to see.
"Impressive," Ikenna commended, his voice low and calm. His movements were fluid as he disappeared again.
Kira still wore his trademark smirk but did not respond. He had gotten some space and now he attacked. He clasped his hands in front of him and muttered, "Firestorm".
The crowd went wild when they heard that and the spectacle that followed pushed the energy barriers. A fiery portal appeared above the stage and flames poured out of it like water, crashing into the stage and covering everything in sight like a wave.
This was a large AOE attack and Kira looked like the master of flames standing in the middle of it. Ikenna had evaded the initial downpour of flames, but the spreading flames pushed the boundaries of his usable attack space.
The energy barriers shimmered under the heat, their hum intensifying as the flames tested their limits.
Unfortunately for Kira, after the initial downpour of flames, the intensity of the spreading flames dealt less damage, and while they hindered Ikenna, he was able to resist them. Of course, it was not all bad news, Ikenna was frowning slightly as he considered how long he could endure the continuous damage of the flames.
He estimated that he could keep going for an additional fifteen minutes before his resistance to the flames broke down. Kira on the other hand watched his energy levels dwindle rapidly due to the large attack and immediately started a barrage of attacks aimed at Ikenna.
He waved his hand forward, causing a wave of flames to roll toward Ikenna on the other end of the stage, and immediately followed up with a fireball fueled with more energy.
As a person with awakened physical attributes, leaping over the wave of flames was incredibly easy, but his senses denied that thought. Instead, he pushed forward at full speed, tanking the wave of damage in a bid to close the distance to Kira.
The wave of flames was a full-powered attack, so tanking it dealt him a lot of damage. Unfortunately, he came face to face with a fireball just as powerful. Kira had predicted how he would react and now there was only one move to make—escape.
Kira's smirk grew wider when he saw Ikenna burst through the flame and commanded:
"Explode!!!"
There was no delay as the fireball exploded with a loud bang that was reminiscent of a bomb. The crowd was shaken by the unexpected onslaught, while the organizers grew worried instead. The explosion had shaken the energy barrier and some of the heat had seeped past it, causing the crowd to shrink back.
"Raise energy shield to 150%," someone commanded in one of the closed boxes above the crowd in the arena.
The crowd was reassured when they saw a glow flow up the barriers, causing the heat to vanish immediately. It was a good thing that the shields were strengthened because Kira was not done with his wave of attacks.
He drew in a deep breath and commanded:
"Enrichment…"
This turned the mushroom cloud of flames to transform into a tornado that spread over the arena in a beautiful whirl of fiery energies.
The holographic display zoomed out to show the scale of the attack and zoomed back in, showing Kira who was panting. His unchanging smirk remained plastered to his face.
On the other hand, Ikenna could not be locked onto. The only proof of his presence on the stage was the blur of shadows that flickered in and out of existence.
While the crowd cheered, Tayo found himself holding his breath. The arena's chaos faded into the background as he fixated on the two fighters. He wondered how they felt being in control of so much power.
"You can't be underestimated…," Ikenna's voice echoed across the stage as Kira looked around. He had determined that blindly attacking a general area would only waste his energy, given that his opponent had some resistance to the flames.
"And you can? Show your face, hiding like that is unbecoming of a defender," Kira responded. He pulled the sword strapped to his back, causing it to burst into flames.
"Oh, you don't have any more spells?" Ikenna muttered in a voice that carried over the stage.
Their words were heard by the crowd, because the moment Ikenna spoke, the noise had vanished.
"This is my world now, you are at a disadvantage," Kira announced the obvious.
Ikenna did not respond, because there was no denying it, the sea of flames that covered the stage, effectively turned the area into an advantageous one for Kira, but was his glory as the defender so easily challenged?
Kira raised his sword in defense and a clang rang through the arena. The crowd who had gone quiet erupted once more. Multiple sparks soon appeared around Kira, with flames shooting off his body like mini geysers.
"You can't defend against me," Ikenna announced as he appeared in front of Kira. He was wielding a short assassin-style blade.
Kira did not flinch. He appeared to be immune to all the attacks Ikenna threw at him. Hearing Ikenna's words, he simply smiled, causing a feeling of dread to appear in Ikenna's mind.
"Why would I give up my advantage?"
Kira's smirk widened as the sea of flames tightened around them, an inferno in every direction. Ikenna's expression finally shifted—a flicker of doubt crossing his otherwise stoic face. The crowd gasped; Then, the flames surged.