Zteel

"Wow! What a flashy conclusion! It almost seems as though the match ended before it had even begun!

And just like that, your Big Three come out on top to advance to the second round!"

Just like that.

Enki recalling his Earth gauntlets, Tatius standing in place, and Idalia relaxing her staff, the three towered above the defeated competition and waved to the crowd.

The assembly paused briefly before cheering and rallying.

"Whoa," Jora sat up, clenching on to the railing barring the row of seats. "Where was the fight?"

Trifon sneered.

Airrion smiled smugly, throwing his hands into the air. "What can I say? They're favorites to win it all for a reason."

Meanwhile, in the opposite atrium, Nyota, Sage, and Kilo could hardly fathom what they had witnessed on the screen.

"Impressive," Sage muttered before simply walking away.

Kilo remained quiet as he placed his hand on Nyota's shoulder before following after his brother, a frown on his face as a result of his amazement.

"Yeah," Nyota's eyes remained attached to the monitor as he watched the playback of the brief action.

It was moments later before the brothers stopped just before the atrium doors and turned back.

"Um, Nyota… You coming?" Kilo called. "We're next up."

Nyota finally snapped out of his captivation. "Yeah… yeah of course!"

He turned to follow after them. "How could I forget?"

Tatius, Idalia, and Enki returned back into their tunnel, walking back to their atrium. Deep into it, directly outside the atrium doors stood Shiloh, Faris, and Cadel.

Almost in the fashion of a standoff, the Big Three stopped in their tracks.

"Can we help you?" Enki asked.

"Relax," Faris spoke. "We just thought we'd congratulate you.

Our match is pending, wouldn't want to show up late for it. We're ready for a battle, is all."

Enki let out a half-hearted laugh. "Nice," he muttered before he continued on into the atrium, Idalia and Tatius remained to his sides.

After a brief moment, Faris, Cadel and Shiloh continued through the tunnel in the direction of the main stage.

Cadel started with a grin. "They're going to be our final opponent. I'm looking forward to it."

"Not so fast," Faris interjected. "We'd still have two total matches before we reach them. Let's focus on the one at hand."

As Faris reminded Cadel, he couldn't help but notice Shiloh's peculiar glance on Cadel's opposite side.

His coat hood obstructed his peripheral with only his wide toothy grin being made apparent.

He might have been their teammate, but considering they didn't know Shiloh all that well, his eerie behavior still sent chills down their spines.

Nonetheless, they weren't all that bothered, as they had figured so long as he hadn't harmed them, derangement was probably what they needed in their party's third member.

As their introductions were pending, both trios walked to the end of their respective tunnels toward the sparring stage.

"Alright now ladies and gentlemen, introducing our third match of the tournament, our first round Squadron 1-B matchup!

From the left side, we have three young yet auspicious cadets! They've worked hard to get to this stage, in grand hopes of graduating early to achieve priority in choosing their factions.

Lucky to them, they've secured that privilege by being here. Now all they seek to do is win the tournament.

Introducing Cadel Barrett, Faris Maxey, and Shiloh Olsen!"

Before leaving their tunnel, Faris and Cadel turned to each other, bumped forearms and jogged out with Shiloh to center stage, waving to the crowd. It roared in applause and cheer.

Moments later, the intercoms prepared to introduce their opponents.

Now, this next team is one that is certainly a highlight of the tournament. Nicknamed the 'Three-headed Basilisk' for being apparent rivals with the Big Three, many of their peers hold them in high regard for being so ambitious.

Not only are the three of them seemingly natural-born fighters, but they fight with passion as well as purpose.

Introducing… Sage Hikari, Kilo Hikari, and Nyota Atar!

Nyota and the brothers looked at one another, nodded and walked out of their tunnel at the same time as they, too, waved beyond to spectators.

The six cadets met and faced each other at center stage.

Cadel started, eyes attached to Nyota. "You." He pointed at him with a smirk.

"Jora can't save you now. I'm going to finish what I started." He gave a cut-throat gesture with his thumb.

"I don't need saving," Nyota challenged. "But I welcome you to try."

"Have it any way," Faris joined in. "We're looking forward to the battle, finally on a real stage and with real weapons, no less.

Come, Basilisk, prove to us you're worth the attention."

Kilo looked across at Shiloh, studying him.

His hood still concealing his face, he couldn't help but to shudder.

"Really, who is this guy?" He questioned to himself.

The six cadets retreated to their starting positions as the match referee centered himself on the side of the court.

"Are we ready?" The referee and intercoms shouted. The cadets nodded their heads in response.

"Alright!" The intercoms and audience counted aloud.

"Three!

Two!

One!

Commence!"

The referee lowered the white flag and the cadets darted toward each other.

Simultaneously, the pairs of Nyota and Cadel, Sage and Faris, and Kilo and Shiloh wrestled at center stage.

The clash between Sage and Faris began intensely. Trading blows, the two relentlessly attacked each other.

Eventually, Faris drew his sword and waved it around skillfully in his hand. Sage inspected him from across the court.

"Well, well, drawing your weapon already?" He smirked. "Isn't it too soon?"

Faris smirked back. "Say what you'd like, I'll judge most by how you fare." Swiftly, he attacked Sage again.

Sage drew blue flames in the palms of his hands and countered Faris head on. Somehow managing to, Faris kept swinging in hopes of striking him, but to no avail.

"What's this?" The intercoms announced. "Sage appears to have successfully countered Faris's fury of bladed attacks! Not only that, but he has yet to use his own sword!

It's almost disrespectful, how will Faris respond?"

Faris continued, except he grew frustrated.

"Damn!" He thought to himself. "He's mocking me. I can't let him humiliate me, not here!"

Sage stood in place, lifting a hand as he passively gestured to the crowd. "The people seem to like it! We must be doing a good job," he smiled.

Meanwhile, Kilo and Shiloh were still going at it.

Kilo tried to be aggressive, but every attack he threw was countered effectively by Shiloh.

Shiloh was swift in his approach, and his calculated propensities only lead to Kilo being on the defense.

As Kilo tried to create space, Shiloh used his speed to close the distance and somehow predict Kilo's evasive patterns.

"How in the hell? He's too quick! He hasn't even used his MO yet.

Come on, you creep. Give me something to work with."

Using his speed, Shiloh caught up to Kilo, kicking him into his abdomen.

Knocking him to the ground, he leaped into the air. Kilo countered by summoning flames around his forearms.

Crossing them across one another and barely escaping from the small area, he minimized the impact of Shiloh's assault.

Before Kilo could regain his balance upright, Shiloh was already in pursuit again. This time, however, Kilo had anticipated it.

Still low to the ground, he timed his challenge properly, turning away from Shiloh and somersaulting backward, effectively kicking Shiloh in his jaw.

"There we go!" He celebrated.

Shiloh stepped away, his face still obscured by the hood over his head. He tended to his jaw and wiped his face before maniacally laughing.

Kilo shuddered, shaking his shoulders and regaining his breath. "That's… that's not normal.

C'mon Kilo, chip away at him, one bit at a time."

Concurrently, Nyota and Cadel periodically traded blows, as their approach to the battle was much more sparing.

With neither weapon drawn, they waltzed cautiously in a circle.

"Don't be scared." Cadel commanded. "Come on, attack me!"

"I'm just doing what you're doing," Nyota replied calmly. "If I were scared, I wouldn't be here."

Cadel growled. "Stop mocking me!" Quickly, he rushed Nyota.

With every thrown fist, Nyota swiftly dodged, staying light on his feet. With every other strike or so, he would negate a hit and strike Cadel back with one of his own.

Cadel leaped meters back to create space, drawing his katana. He berated Nyota again, still to no avail.

With one more ferocious swing, Nyota summoned lightning in his hands and countered Cadel's sword directly, shattering it on impact.

"How?!" Cadel thought to himself, shocked.

The two jumped away from each other to catch their breaths.

"Not bad," Nyota breathed. "You're a worthy opponent."

Cadel snarled. "Have you forgotten I could've killed you? I have nothing to prove to you, my sights are set higher. You're just a pest in my way."

He looked down at his broken blade clenched in his right hand. "I didn't need that garbage anyway."

He threw the shattered sword to the side, formed two knives in his hands using his Liquid Metal Modus, and sprinted at Nyota again.

--

Faris kept swinging his sword at Sage, who continued to evade.

Growing irate, he began swinging in an undisciplined fashion, disregarding all training he had done before.

Luckily enough, he managed to scratch Sage's arm.

Sage winced and jumped away in an attempt to examine his scar, but Faris continued to give chase.

Leaving him no other choice, Sage clenched and ignited his fists.

After another short while of Faris's barrage of attacks, Sage refocused his attention and weaved away from Faris's sword before parrying with his flames, knocking it out of his grasp.

Before Faris could react, Sage gave a quick yet effective attack.

"Blazing Carousel!"

He jumped and drove his foot across Faris's face, propelling him backward.

Faris caught his balance and tended to it. As he looked up, he saw a focused Sage gazing upon him with an intense expression.

"Blue Flames MO,"

A thin yet pronounced circle of fire surrounded the base of his feet. He adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose.

The flames continued to rotate, their trails leaving their marks on the concrete court.

"Sweltering Shield."

--

Shiloh and Kilo met again in the middle of the court, trading blows. Shiloh appeared to be moving at a remarkably fast and skillful speed, but Kilo did a fair job keeping up.

In the middle of the barrage, Kilo covertly worked up heat in his dominant hand for a heavier attack.

With one final movement, he pulled his arm back and extended it forward, drawing upon his favorite technique.

Fiery combustion blasts emitted from the palms of his hands. Unfortunately, it wasn't too effective as Shiloh protected himself with his arms in anticipation.

With space between them, Shiloh wasted no time activating his passive ability.

"Divarication."

A subtle dark aura pulsed from him momentarily.

"What was that?" Kilo asked, sarcastically. "I couldn't quite hear you from all the way over here. Why don't you speak up a bit—"

WHAM!!

The crowd exclaimed at once. Shiloh had covered the distance between the both of them within the blink of an eye.

All that could be seen was a dust cloud. As it cleared, Kilo scurried out of the debris.

"That was close," he said to himself, looking back at the disarray. "Whatever ability he muttered to himself, did it make him stronger—?"

BOOM!!

Shiloh closed the gap between them again.

The intercoms announced, "Well folks, it seems as though Kilo's having quite the hard time against Shiloh!

Seemingly out of nowhere, Shiloh seems to have gotten both faster and stronger. Could this be a result of some ability, or is it simply the use of some sort of power reserve?"

Kilo escaped again, yet Shiloh continued to relentlessly lope behind.

Shiloh formed fireballs in his palms, launching them in Kilo's direction as he gave chase.

Oddly enough, he was laughing.

"Seriously?! What's wrong with this guy?! He's a freak!

And I forgot he could use fire, too. I pride myself on offense, so why the hell am I running?"

Kilo attempted to dodge the spheres as he glided backward before being covered in yet another explosion.

Though they were both preoccupied, Sage and Nyota caught glimpses from a distance.

Sage shook his head lightly and refocused his attention on Faris.

Nyota reacted similarly.

"Hey!" Cadel called. "Refocus your attention here, we've got unfinished business." Doing away with the knives he used to fight earlier, he encased both his hands and forearms into live sizable drills.

He bolted for Nyota with haste.

Nyota prepared a counter-offense. He launched orbs of lightning at Cadel to throw him off course before forcefully fusing two of them together.

He hurled the larger sphere of lightning in Cadel's direction.

"Roaring Flash!"

The diameter of the attack was so great that Cadel had to change course. However, he was able to evade the attack and continue his pursuit for Nyota.

"It's going to take more than that to beat me! I'm not going down that easily!"

Nyota prepared the same attack again, but on a smaller scale for better and more immediate defense.

With his Iron Drill ability still active, Cadel called on his second ability.

"Let's see how you handle two attacks at once! Liquid Metal MO: Valhalla!"

A spacious coating of liquid metal materialized on the concrete from underneath Cadel. The layer coursed toward Nyota, swiftly reaching him.

Countless tall, thin spikes of liquid metal arose from the liquid and solidified.

"This has been going on for a while," he thought to himself. "No more dodging, I have to attack him head on.

At this moment, it'll either be me or him!"

Nyota tried his best to navigate through the spikes as best as he could.

In doing so, he was scratched and cut various times, but never lost concentration in his attack.

Balls of lightning readied in both hands, he fused the two together once more to the maximum size that he could hold in his right hand before pulling his arm back and extending it.

"That's it, Nyota!" Cadel yelled wildly. "Say your prayers! Your life ends here!

LIQUID METAL: IRON DRILL!!"

"BLUE LIGHTNING MODUS: ROARING FLASH!!"

BOOM!!!

The impact of a sonic boom could be felt throughout the coliseum.

Jora stood in his seat in anticipation.

Noriko remained seated with her legs crossed, her head resting over her hand and eyes squinted with extreme interest.

When the debris cleared, both Nyota and Cadel remained standing with their backs turned toward each other.

Both gazes turned to the ground, it was Cadel who collapsed to it moments later.

The crowd roared in celebration.

"Hang on folks!" The intercom announced. "It appears as though we have our first knockout!

After a heated exchange of impassioned combat, our very first tournament defeat is Cadel Barrett, at the hands of Nyota Atar!"

"One down, two to go," Sage provoked.

Faris growled as he looked at a vanquished Cadel, then up at the digital banners around the coliseum confirming his defeat.

"Water Modus: Cascade!" Raising his arms high into the air, a massive wave of water began to materialize and towered over him.

"Hydraulic!" He called on another ability, one where he made finger gun hand gestures and pointed one at Sage.

"Take this on for size!" He shouted and sprinted toward Sage as the suspended wave followed behind him.

His hands fired razor-edged water projectiles at the firing rate of an actual handgun.

Initially unprovoked, Sage stood in place. Most shots projected to impact him were negated by his Sweltering Shield ability.

As the projectiles came into contact with his domain, the fiery base of revolving flames would rise and protect Sage from being hit.

However, some of the projectiles found their way through eventually, catching Sage off guard.

Of the few, one grazed and cut him on the side of his face and another wounded his leg.

Faris laughed aloud. "Are you serious? As smart as you are, I would've thought you'd realize that water trumps fire.

You might as well give up! You're simply outmatched!"

With his Hydraulic ability still activated, Faris changed his firing rate from fitful to constant, releasing powerful rays of water of robust pressures.

Sage navigated around the court, side to side, but struggled to near Faris. After all, the massive wave of water he had constructed continued to give chase.

Nyota watched from a distance. "Should I help?" He asked himself.

After a moment of meditating on his choice, he came to a conclusion.

He cracked a smile, wiping his forehead. "I'll let him handle it."

"Come on!" Faris continued to shout. "I thought you were supposed to be all astute and clever. Don't disappoint!"

"I'm actually not sure on how I should play this," Sage thought to himself. "He's right that he has the advantage. There's no guarantee, but there's only one option left I could try."

Eventually, Faris's Hydraulic ability began to fade, and the jets of water withered in power, much to his surprise.

The wave that had given chase to Sage for minutes had simmered until it had become nothing but a thin layer of water that overspread the entire court.

Annoyed, Faris activated his only other ability.

"Water MO: Hydro Blade!" He created a sword in each hand made of water.

No longer needing to run, Sage stopped in his tracks and prepared another attack.

With cupped hands drawn to his side, Sage concentrated blue fire into a single point within them. "Blue Flames MO: Genesis Beacon!"

In a single swift motion, he thrust his hands forward to shoot out a streaming, powerful beam of blue flames. This time, his attack was accurate and was properly aimed at his target.

Unbothered, Faris took his swords and rushed directly for the beam.

When he met the beam, he crossed his swords together ahead of him and pushed on, almost appearing to have split the scorching ray of fire symmetrically in two.

At the end of the ray, only Sage and Faris were left.

Faris grew exhilarated. "What have you got now, huh?!"

Slightly panicked, Sage was out of cards. That was until he remembered he was in possession of a handy tool he had yet to use.

"That's right!" He drew his katana that Jora had gifted him. "How could I have forgotten?" He chuckled.

In a clash, Faris and Sage battled, Faris's couple of water swords beating and reflecting off of Sage's steel katana.

The two battled it out for a few minutes longer before Faris's swords began to splinter off with each one of Sage's swings.

"No, this can't be!" Faris raged.

"I'd say game over now, right? Took us long enough."

Eventually, Sage's strikes grew in strength and speed as Faris could no longer keep up with his barrage.

With Faris's weapons destroyed and his energy depleted, Sage gave him one final strike before Faris fell back into the concrete ground.

With no more moves to make, Sage stood over him, his katana pointed at Faris's face.

"Good game."

The crowd roared, and once again, the intercoms announced and the declaration banner was displayed around the arena.

"What a spirited battle! Sage and Faris's duel came down to the wire, trading bladed assaults until one's blades gave in.

In the end, it is Sage Hikari that triumphs over a defeated Faris Maxey!"

Faris growled, knocking Sage's sword out of his face with the swipe of a hand.

Sage sheathed his blade before he and Nyota looked at each other from across the court and nodded in affirmation.

This was before quickly turning their attention to Kilo, who persisted in fierce battle with Shiloh.

"Damn it," Faris pounded the concrete with a fist as he remained seated on the ground. "I'm sorry, Cadel, I failed you. Shiloh is our last hope.

I'm sorry, I'll continue to try to get stronger."

"All that's left of one of the teams is Shiloh Olsen! Although both of his teammates are defeated, they will be able to advance to the next round if Shiloh defeats all three of their opponents by himself." The intercoms narrated.

"Can he manage a comeback? Or, will it be Kilo who prevails in the end to complete the sweep?"

Kilo stood alone, unsure of what to do next.

"A little help here, guys?"

Sage and Nyota stood from a distance.

"Nope!" Sage answered sharply.

"OH, MY GODS!! WHAT?!"

"Consider this a challenge. We did it, so can you.

It's like an exercise. Even if you lose, it'll do us good later on since you'll be more comfortable with your Modus."

Kilo closed his eyes and exhaled anxiously. "Comfortable my ass," he mumbled. "I just wanna win, and I don't wanna lose with all these eyes on me."

"Are you done?" Shiloh's resonant, low-pitched voice suddenly boomed. "We have a fight to continue if you don't mind.

I have a bone to pick with one of your friends, so let's get this over with."

Clenching his teeth, Kilo prepared to attack Shiloh head on.

After preparing a combustion blast in each hand, he rushed at Shiloh, who returned the gesture by forming a fireball in each hand.

The two met center stage, and after their attacks phased out, they returned to standard hand-to-hand combat.

Mixed into it, Kilo utilized his Ruptured Chamber technique a few more times, connecting on most of the attempts.

However, with each successful attack, Shiloh seemed to grow invigorated.

This quickly caught the attention of Nyota.

"I see now, it's the same ability as when he first fought me. And I'm not sure Kilo realizes what it is."

"You don't say," Sage crossed his arms.

Nyota nodded. "Kilo!" He called.

"What?"

"Are you aware of what his abilities are?"

"So now you wanna help?!"

"His MO is Radiation. He has a passive ability. Though I'm not sure what it's called, but the more your attacks impact him, the hotter your body temperature gets. The hotter you are, the more crippling the mirroring effect is."

"Oh, gee, thanks for telling me…" Kilo shook his head. "I think I heard him mumble 'Determination' or something like that."

"Well then, that must be it," Sage added in.

"A crippling effect," Kilo looked at his hand and balled it into a fist. "But I don't feel anything."

"Well then, lucky you," Sage said. "After all, think about your MO. It's quite possible your body adapts to the heat."

"Oh, Nyota… I was having fun!" Shiloh sardonically remarked. "Why'd you have to go telling him my business?" He looked to his side, jammed a hand into a pocket and kicked at the ground.

Followed by a chilling grin, he mumbled, "Man, I can't wait to fight you again."

Nyota laughed at his comment. "Now knowing all that," he added. "Give him all you've got, Kilo."