Demon Crown

“Demon Crown?” Umiko asks and Hiroto nods. “Sounds awesome! What is it?” Her eyes sparkle, making the brunet chuckle and scratch the back of his head.

“It’s a technique I can do, although it’s normally not that worth it to use.” Says the short boy, making everyone look at him with even more curiosity. “It basically works like a Full Burst to my entire body.”

“So, you get a full power upgrade to all of your stats?” The delinquent asks and Hiroto nods. “Sweet, seems pretty useful!”

“But if you don’t use it, there’s got to be a reason, non?” Kayoko questions, making the brunet look down at his own hands.

“Yes.” He closes his eyes, then explains. “The burst that I gain from Demon Crown is powerful, but it leaves a bigger strain on my entire body than all the other bursts.”

“In other words, it’s a last resort move.” George comments while pulling a lollipop out of his pocket. “Something that you use in order to overwhelm the enemy before it can break down your body.” Popping the lolli into his mouth, the man adds. “Which could be useful against Kurohane’s Kouteigan, but if you two were to be evenly matched, he would win by default thanks to his ability not being self-destructive.”

Nodding, the shorter boy sighs. “That’s the only thing I can think of that is even slightly effective against him.” Looking away, he bows. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay.” The blue-haired manager says as she approaches him and gives the other teen gentle taps on the shoulder. “I-“ She pauses for a second. “-I don’t think you should use this Demon Crown thingie.”

“Huh? Why?”

“It’s too dangerous, and outside that, we don’t even know if you're the one that is going to fight against Kurohane.” The club advisor replies in a serious tone. “If you do end up fighting him, your power is already self-destructive enough, unless that power-up is truly above everything else we saw you do, it simply isn’t that worth it.”

“I see.” The brunet nods and sits back as the group continues to discuss ideas on how to counter the blond demon from Kurohane Academy. ‘Even so, I…' looking at his own hand, the teen clenches his fist.

***

“WHAT!?” The blond headmistress stands up, sweat running down her face as she watches Hiroto coming out of the crater. “T-That shouldn’t be possible, we in the Kurohane family have honed our techniques to-“ While she moves on to shouting at clouds about how great her lineage is, the eldest of the leaders simply stares in disbelief at the scene in front of her.

Umiko’s team had put up a good fight, a better fight than anyone expected of them, and they managed to swing the crowd back to their good sides too.

When they got here, the overwhelming majority of students had no interest in the duel at hand or thought they would be destroyed in just a couple of minutes.

But now, the Yumehara headmistress could hear the cheers, the gasps and the many emotions her students had while watching that ragtag club somehow stand up to one of the strongest schools of their time.

She… didn’t know how to feel.

A part of her wanted to join in, but another kept reminding her that this club was more trouble than it was worth it.

“Oh, dear.” The older woman holds onto her pendant. “Can she really pull it off?” Whispering, her attention goes back to the battle down there.

***

Hiroto hits the blond with a punch to the stomach so fast that the taller teen couldn’t even perceive it. “Haah!” He then followed it with an elbow strike into an uppercut.

Stumbling back, Takahashi groans as the brunet takes the opportunity to continue his offense with a left hook, but the winged boy manages to recover fast enough to block it with his wing. “Gah, little bastard!” Using the strength of his wing, he pushes the brunet away. ‘H-How can it be?! He’s-' Losing his composure, the taller boy moves in and grabs a feather that was stuck on the floor. “Aaaah”

Not wasting any time after catching his footing, the brunet advances while also grabbing a feather from the ground.

The two clash their feathers as if they were swords, obviously neither of them were swordsmen, so their form wasn’t exactly good, but their clash still had a certain amateurish beauty to it.

*Crack*

Hiroto winced as a sharp pain coursed through his body. “Hah!” He ignores it and goes in for a stab, to which Takahashi blocks.

Pushing his opponent away, the blond teen dashes in and goes for a downward slash, but the shorter boy manages to jump away from it in time. “Little rat!” He shouts angrily. ‘N-No, no, no, this can’t be happening!? I’m way ABOVE this guy!' For just a second, Takahashi’s gaze moves away from the battle and into the seating area for the headmistresses. ‘Sis, I-‘

Noticing this, the Yumehara student tightly grasps onto his feather.

*Crack*

He once again winces at the pain, but trudges through it in order to toss the makeshift weapon towards the blond. “Haah!”

Takahashi’s eyes snap back to the fight as he swipes the feather away with his own. “Huh!?” He stares at the empty place where Hiroto once stood, until his eyes gazed down.

The brunet was ducking underneath him, before turning around and hitting him in the chest with a kick that launched the other boy up to the sky.

“What is he doing?”

“Kurohane has an advantage in the air!”

“Is he stupid?”

The crowd comments baffled as they watch the shorter boy lift his leg before bringing it down and hitting the floor, breaking a big chunk of the ground with his strike.

*Crack*

Grabbing that piece, the brunet spins and tosses it towards Takahashi.

The blond recovers just in time to use his feather to cut the rock in half. “Huh!?” Hiroto was nowhere to be found on the ground. “Where is he!?” Suddenly, the blond feels something on his back. “Gah!?”

Having ran underneath Takahashi while he slashed the rock, the brunet used the barrier as a platform to jump on his opponent’s back. “Got you.” He wraps both of his hands around the other boy’s wings.

“Gah!” The Kurohane student feels a shiver run down his spine. ‘Nonononononono-‘

“It’s over!” Pressing his feet against the blond’s back, Hiroto groans. “HAAAAH!” With a powerful push, he tears the black wings off Takahashi’s back, leaving only two black holes behind.

“AAAAARUHH!?” The taller boy cries in pain.

“Toh!” After pulling off his wings, Hiroto spins around and delivers a kick to the other teen’s body, sending him crashing down.

As Takahashi hits the floor, the brunet touches the ground, black feathers slowly falling by his side, before bursting into red flames and disappearing. “Guuuh!” The short boy is brought to his knees as an unbearable pain courses all throughout his body. “Gaaaah!”

“NO!” Suddenly, the blond’s voice echoes all through the arena as he stands up. Hair disheveled and wounds all over his body. “NO!” He shouts again as pure red energy explodes out of the holes where his wings once rested. “I’M A KUROHANE! I CANNOT LOSE HERE!” All of that rogue energy wrapped around his fist. “HAAAH!” He dashes in for a punch.

Time seems to slow down as Hiroto takes a deep breath.

His body was simply too hurt for him to actually do anything.

Was this the end?

…

“HIROTO-KUN!”

Suddenly, Umiko’s voice explodes all around the stadium.

“YOU CAN DO IT!”

‘Umiko-‘ Once again the boy’s eyes start to glow as he forces himself to stand up. ‘-her dream is in my hands! So-‘ Closing his fist, the brunet grits his teeth. “-I WILL WIN THIS!” He declares as he runs up to the taller boy.

They go for a clash, but at the last second, Hiroto moves slightly out of the way, making Takahashi’s fist only partially graze his face.

“ARM-“

The brunet hits the blond’s stomach with his fist.

“Gah!?”

“-FULL-“

A bright blue aura surrounds his arm.

“-BURST!”

*CRAAAACK*

Hiroto could feel the bones in his arm break at the pressure of his own power. “HAAAAAH!” With one last push, he was able to send Takahashi flying away.

“Ahaaaah! Gaaaah!” The taller boy hits his back against the barrier and his eyes turn blank, before he slowly falls down to his knees, then to the floor.

There’s a small pause as everyone fully processes what has happened.

“He-“

“-WON!”

The entire crowd erupts into cheers and shouts as Hiroto looks at the sky.

Closing his eyes, the brunet throws his non-broken arm into the sky and screams with everything that he has. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Following his lead, the Yumehara side of the crowd repeats after him. “AAAAAAAAAH!”

In the midst of all that shouting, the sound of a microphone getting tapped in comes in. “Y-Yumehara-“ As the shouting dies down, the Kurohane headmistress’ voice echoes. “-YUMEHARA HAS WON!” Even with the clear distaste in her voice, she still shouts the impossible outcome from the top of her lungs.

Yet again the Yumehara side of the stadium explodes in cheers.

The barriers around the arena start to come down and Hiroto hears the familiar voices of his clubmates calling for him.

“Hiroto-kun!”

“Kanzaki-kun!”

“Kanzaki.”

He looks at them and smiles, before his entire vision goes black and the boy falls face-first into the ground.