The Storm comes in strong

Kazumi and Sumato strode into the arena under the buzz of anticipation, their steps echoing off stone and steel. Kazumi shot a sideways glance at his friend.

“How many things are you hiding from me?” He asked, his tone half-joking, half-accusatory.

Sumato shrugged. “Everything I’ve told you is everything I’ve got.”

Kazumi narrowed his eyes. “Are you sure? I could’ve sworn you used miscellaneous Shinen to boost yourself when you were on one leg.”

Sumato raised an eyebrow. “I did? Must’ve been instinct.”

Kazumi went quiet. Instinct? It took me a month to learn that. Sumato picked it up mid-fight… If I don’t push myself, he might just pass me.

As they reached the center of the arena, the atmosphere shifted. Waiting for them were two figures—identical in face but stark opposites in presence. One stood with an arrogant tilt to his posture, arms crossed and smirking. The other loomed quietly, waving in a slow, unsettling motion.

“I assume you peasants can guess who I am,” the cocky one said. “This is my twin brother, Xavier.”

Sumato exchanged a glance with Kazumi. Even with the same face, the difference between them was uncanny.

The bell rang.

The moment it did, thorn-covered vines erupted from the ground, coiling around Sumato’s legs. Reacting instantly, he slashed through them with his sword and launched himself into the air. With a fluid sweep of his arm, he summoned fire, water, and air, weaving them into a thick, swirling smokescreen. At the same time, he pressed his palm to the air and used earth Shinen to sense vibrations in the ground.

He pinpointed the brothers, crouching low.

Why squat? The thought chilled him. He hurled a wind spear at their location and repositioned in the air. An explosion followed. He landed cautiously, assuming a direct hit.

But Kazumi’s shout rang out like a warning bell.

“Don’t let your guard down!”

From the smoke, Alexander burst forward, his hands now encased in thorn gauntlets, aiming for Sumato’s chest. Sumato pivoted, narrowly avoiding the strike, then unleashed a flurry of fireballs. Each one detonated with seismic force, shaking the arena.

Elsewhere — Control Room

Mizokushi monitored the energy readings, surrounded by floating screens and spectral scales. He raised an eyebrow as the damage calculations came in.

“9,000 megatons of TNT…” he murmured, impressed.

He glanced at a projection of Sumato’s vitals. “Even in a world seven times denser and twice as big… you still find people who surprise you.”

Back to the Arena

Kazumi stepped forward, focusing his pure Shinen into multiple clones, each one nearly indistinguishable from the original. Nozuchi’s influence was clear.

Xavier, in response, planted his feet.

The ground beneath Kazumi rumbled.

Without warning, a massive Venus flytrap, nearly 21 feet tall, erupted from the earth. It devoured all the clones in one horrific chomp, then let out a bellowing roar, blowing away the smokescreen in a single gust.

Kazumi exhaled slowly and pulled on his Shinen glove.

In an instant, he created a giant Shinen avatar—a towering version of himself radiating with energy. Its sheer presence dwarfed the battlefield.

Sumato wasn’t idle either. He tapped his sword to the ground, channeling a sharp ripple of Uproar Slash toward the flytrap and Alexander.

Alexander dodged, barely, but the second slash cut clean through the flytrap, staggering the monster.

Giant Kazumi took advantage, slamming a monstrous fist into the beast and pounding it into the arena floor, shattering stone with every blow.

As the dust settled, Kazumi and Sumato wordlessly shifted positions, now standing before the opposite twin.

The crowd roared.

The real battle was just beginning.

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