Rio shifted his weight back, letting Dante's mid-air kick shave past his nose. But Dante didn't stop there. Before his lead foot touched the floor, he flipped his momentum mid-flight, whipping his back leg around in a rapid wheel kick.
Rio hopped back two paces, avoiding the second strike by an inch. Dante landed light on his toes, lunged forward, and snapped an upward kick aimed straight at Rio's chin. Rio brought his left forearm down, blocking the strike with a heavy thump that echoed through the empty hall. Dante used the impact to push off, backflipping through the air and landing cleanly on his feet.
"You're agile," Rio said, his mouth curving into a wide smile. "Good technique."
"Thanks for the compli—"
Dante didn't finish. Rio blurred forward, his fist coming to a halt less than an inch from Dante's nose. The air displacement ruffled Dante's white hair.
Dante grinned, tilting his head three inches to the left as the punch whistled harmlessly past his cheek. They both exchanged series of attacks following a particular rhythm.
At the edge of the ring, Lee stood frozen, his eyes wide. 'Are you kidding me?' Lee thought, clutching his own jaw. That's the exact move that almost erased my face, and he just dodges it with a smile?
Dante drove an uppercut straight from his hip toward Rio's jaw. Rio brought his open palm down, catching Dante's knuckles, then sprang backward five feet to reset his footing. Both of them stood in the ring, slightly winded, smirking at each other.
I need to push him harder, Rio thought, his red eyes gleaming. The power in him is still asleep.
Before either of them could move, the heavy entrance doors swung open with a low creek.
"Hey, Dante!" a voice called out.
Dante turned his head toward the entrance, spotting Dabi walking in beside Smith.
"What's up, Dabi?" Dante called back, dropping his guard.
"Not much," Dabi said, waving a hand casually. "Just exploring with Smith. Looks like you're having fun."
Dante squinted past Dabi's shoulder. "Who's the girl trailing behind you?"
Smith and Dabi turned around. Standing ten feet behind them was the red-haired girl with crimson eyes and a deep frown.
Rio glanced over, his smile fading slightly. Great. Mia found her way in.
Mia ignored Dabi and Smith, her eyes locked onto Dante. She marched straight into the ring, her boots clicking loudly against the wooden floorboards.
"What are you doing standing next to my brother, filthy human?" she asked, her voice dripping with disgust.
Dante looked at Rio. "Is she your sister?"
"Yeah," Rio sighed. "Unfortunately."
"Hey! Answer me!" Mia snapped, her face twisting into rage.
Dante folded his arms across his chest, staring back without flinching. "Whatever I do with your brother is none of your business."
Rio grimaced. Wrong answer.
Before Dante could take another breath, Mia vanished from sight.
A blow smashed straight into the left side of Dante's face. The force snapped his head sideways with a sickening crunch. Dante spiraled through the air, crashing hard onto the floor with his jaw twisted at an unnatural angle.
"Dante!" Dabi yelled, taking a fast step forward.
Dante didn't even have time to process the pain. Mia appeared over his fallen body, grabbed him by the throat, and hurled him toward the solid wall of the hall. Dante's head cracked upon impact, his eyes rolling back as darkness took him.
Mia raised her right hand, her fingers forming a rigid spear shape aimed directly at Dante's throat. "Die, trash."
A hand clamped around Mia's wrist, stopping her arm mid-swing.
"That's enough, Mia," Rio said, his tone cold and devoid of its usual playfulness.
Mia tried to yank her arm free, her face turning red with frustration. "Let go! Why are you stopping me from killing this filthy human? Have you gone soft for these—"
PAH!
Rio's open palm struck her cheek with a loud crack, forcing her head to the side.
"Remember who you're talking to," Rio said quietly, releasing her wrist. "I am your older brother."
Mia touched her reddened cheek, her eyes trembling with hatred. She glared at Dante's limp body, clenched her fists, and turned on her heel to walk toward the exit. 'My own brother hit me because of a human. That boy is dead the second I get him alone.'
Rio turned back toward Dante, extending a hand to drag his unconscious body off the floor.
Before his fingers touched Dante's shoulder, the air surrounding Dante began to twist violently.
Rio's instincts screamed at him. He leaped backward ten feet, landing near the ring's center.
The entire Martial Arts Hall began to tremble. Deep cracks ripped through the floor, spreading outward like vines.
A crushing weight slammed down from above, heavy as a falling mountain. The gravitational force forced everyone in the hall down onto their knees.
Lee groaned, his chest pressing flat against the floor. Smith and Dabi dropped instantly, blood leaking from their lips as the internal pressure weighed down on their ribs. Even Rio was forced down onto one knee, his teeth grinding together as blood trickled down his chin.
"What... is this energy?!" Mia choked out, her knees smashing into the cracked tiles near the door.
Dante pushed himself off the floor. He stood erect, his white hair floating upward as if submerged in deep water.
His eyes snapped open—no longer dark, but burning with a radiant, blinding blue flame. A heavy blue aura surged around his body, distorting the air around him. He looked like a demon released into the the world to kill anyone and anything on sight in the most gruesome way possible.
Dante didn't utter a word. In the span of a heartbeat, he appeared right in front of Mia.
Before she could raise a hand, Dante's palm clamped over her face. He smashed her head down into the stone floor, creating a huge crater.
Without pausing, Dante yanked her up by her red hair and launched her across the hall toward the opposite wall. As her body flew through the air, Dante reappeared behind her in mid-flight, driving a kick into the side of her skull that sent her shooting back in the opposite direction.
He materialized above her falling body, throwing a downward punch that slammed her back toward the floor. Before she hit the ground, Dante vanished again, appearing directly beneath her.
He thrust his right arm upward.
Dante's forearm drove clean through her spine, his bloody fist emerging from the center of her stomach.
"Shit..." Rio gasped from the floor, coughing up a spatter of blood as he watched the sight. "I knew he had power... but not like this... what I sensed was different from what he's displaying now"
Dante pulled his bloody hand out of Mia's torso with a wet tearing sound. Her body fell limply to the stone floor, gasping for air—the gaping wound in her gut already beginning to knit together with strange crimson threads.
The blue fire in Dante's eyes flickered out. His body went rigid, and he collapsed sideways onto the ruined floor, unconscious once more.
The oppressive weight vanished all at once. Everyone in the hall sagged against the ground, gasping for fresh air.
Before anyone could move or speak, the heavy entrance doors swung wide open.
A tall man in a suit stepped over the shattered doorway, scanning the destroyed hall, the bleeding students, and the unconscious boy on the floor.
"What happened here?" he demanded.