In a state of unconsciousness, Kai was fed a stream of constant delusions. He envisioned a vague memory involving two people in his presence.One of the two individuals repeatedly called out his name. The echoes of the call finally roused him up from his dreams.He woke up to find himself in a room with Haku, who was already awake and eating a meal brought by his classmates."Where are we?" he asked."The healing center," Haku replied, taking a sip of water."Hey, great match, by the way," he politely commended Haku.Haku chose to ignore the comment."Okay, we need to clear things up," Kai requested."Hey, you know what we need to do?" he sarcastically asked. "I'm going to enjoy this delicious meal, and you're going to sit there like a good little boy and shut up! Just shut the hell up!""I still don't understand why you're so angry with me. I really didn't do anything wrong," said Kai, attempting to clarify things."Stop trying to redeem yourself, kid," he interrupted."There's only
••• ∅ •••"When we hit our lowest points, we are open to the greatest change."••• ∅ •••••• ‡ •••Born into the great Raijin clan, I was considered a failure—an unfortunate mistake the gods had gifted, with an ability completely divergent from the talents of our forefathers.I was ridiculed and spat on by my own clan, a disgrace to them and my own family. All I could do was hear at incredibly high frequencies, devoid of any combat abilities. Cast out at the tender age of five, I was left to survive in the cruel world, a world that seemed to wish for my demise.Days turned into nights as humans ignored my presence in the streets. I could read their thoughts, the waves of sound they emitted revealing their disdain. They shoved me around, treating me as if I were invisible, hurrying on to their place of work.They littered all over me, so much that trash became my refuge, a makeshift blanket from the discarded waste. Each night, I cursed the world and questioned the purpose of Daemons p
"Chiko!" Kai, whose mind wasn't at peace, ran off to be with his friend."Hey, wait up! You know you haven't fully recovered yet!" Kota yelled out, reminding him that he is still in the process of recovery."Don't bother, let him go," Haku advised with a sigh."Hmm..."As he ran into the tunnel leading to the exit of the battlefield, he accidentally bumped into a fellow Daemon."Sorry! In a hurry right now," he yelled, apologizing without even needing to clash eyes with the latter.'That presence…' the Daemon turned to see not even a trace of Kai. "I guess I have to wait a little longer to get to play with you, chosen one," he soliloquized, revealing himself to be Akuma."Keep on playing hard to get. It wouldn't be long till we finally play a game," he grinned.>••• { } •••Chiko was stuck in an endless abyss of his dark memories. He began to recollect the past.'I'm sorry, master. I failed you,' Chiko thought, trapped in a trance of his delusions.Mentally scarred from t
Within the deepest recesses of her mind, Hikari's feet trembled uncontrollably. Within the span of seconds, strategies flowed within her mind, thinking of possible routes to take to finally gain the upper hand, but couldn't find any.He was just that much of a formidable foe. A deluge of self-doubt washed over her as she questioned her own worth.Hikari felt like her opponent could see right through her, reading her every thought and emotion.'Every plan I think of has a counter. His abilities are too versatile,' she thought. 'There must be a way. Even if it's just a glitch in his technique, but, what is it?'She began to analyze. There must a way. Her thought process finally recognized the subtle but effective moment when Yami couldn't backfire her blizzard attack. This realization led to her breaking a smirk.'That's it! As powerful as the technique is, I believe his brain process has a limit to how many events he can react to at a time,' she theorized. 'Thus, I need to spam my tech
In the most confident counter Hikari had witnessed in her lifetime, her most powerful attacks faded into the dark abyss of shadows, the sounds of impact lost to the night. The shadows continued to spread across the ground, like ink on a blank page, until the whole arena was consumed in darkness.The radius of the shadows spread until it reached the outer edges of her terrain, leaving Hikari in a world of darkness."Dark Echo," he christened his technique at its climax, floating in the air; basking in the glory of his creation.Behind him emerged a large dark blue coin that rotated infinitely to symbolize that even in the midst of Typhon's Wrath, the endless stream of every outcome of fate was in his hands.Hikari could not believe her eyes as her opponent was more than able to conjure the same technique upon the severe damage he had sustained.'Something's off about his Konkyuu,' she theorized. 'It's incomplete. It's as if he just laid the foundation of his technique rather than unlea
In the recovery center, Chiko appeared to have overcome the traumatic event. He concluded his conversation with Kai, who asked for forgiveness before wanting to update everyone on his current status."Hey, remember to take some mental rest too, okay?" Chiko requested."What do you mean? I'm feeling much better now," Kai assured him."I mean emotional rest, my friend. The intense waves of unease I sense from you are pretty strong. It's pretty much obvious. You don't need to worry about me anymore, alright?""Uh, yeah. You're right. Absolutely right. I guess I'm fretting for no reason," Kai chuckled awkwardly."Staying in bed doing nothing can get boring, right? How about joining the rest of the team in the audience seats to watch the rest of the tournament? We're missing out on the excitement.""True! Um, I'll catch up with you. Just need to freshen up a bit, okay?""Sure thing. See you soon." Chiko walked away with a visibly happier demeanor.In the hallway of the recovery center, Kai
In the aftermath of the intense battle, Gaia lay defeated and bloodied on the unforgiving battlefield. The cheers of the audience echoed around her as Yoko emerged victorious.As the medical team rushed to attend to Gaia's injuries, Kai's gaze remained fixed on the fallen Daemon, a mix of emotions swirling within him."Man, she really took a brutal beating," Kai exhaled, his eyes meeting the understanding glances of Chiko, Kota, and Haku.“Yoko isn't your run-of-the-mill Daemon you can toy with,” Haku declared, his confidence unwavering. “She's laser-focused on proving her clan wrong. She's set on making them see that labeling Gaia as their ultimate weapon just because she was born with this crazy elemental power mix, the likes of which we haven't seen in centuries, is the elders' biggest blunder, and that’s a fact.”“She undoubtedly possesses potential. Having four elements in her arsenal makes her no lightweight,” Chiko deduced with a thoughtful nod. “It’s all about tapping into that
Slightly groaning, Kage got back to his feet, staring down at his opponent.'As long as the technique is performed within your field of view, you can replicate it with ease… Man… What a pain.' A stream of thoughts flooded his mind.Regrouping at an instant, Kage gripped his fists, releasing a mirage of electrified whip-like energy which Mirai dodged fairly easily.Whilst his opponent was distracted, Kage clapped his hands together, releasing a concentrated surge bolt of energy to which Mirai barely escaped, turning 360 degrees and delivering back an electrified bolt of energy.Kage took the attack head on, stretching forth his arm and absorbing the volt of energy. Using the momentum, he added on to the incredible volt of energy with his energy reserves, ultimately generating projection crescent blades, taking a page out of Yoko's book.As the technique raged on, Mirai hopped on two of the blades and seemingly gained control of the blades as he hovered up above Kage and sent back a mira