Akio's body lay sprawled on the ground, bleeding mercilessly, every cell in him screaming in pain. His eyes were half-closed, his breathing was shallow, blood was dripping from his mouth. He could taste its metallic bitterness.
But he wasn't dead. There was a sound… a voice echoing inside his skull, his throat, his nerves, his heart. It wasn't a scream, nor a whisper. It was a single word, hammering inside his head again and again:
'Get up…'
'Get up…'
'Get up…'
'Get up…'
'Get up, Akio… this isn't the time to sleep…'
'Get up, idiot… what about your dream? What about becoming the Shogun?'
'Get up, samurai… they're watching you.'
'Get up… don't betray yourself.'
'Get up… even if there's nothing left inside you.'
Everyone in the arena thought the match was over. The director slowly raised his hand, ready to declare Ryusei the winner. At that moment, Ken was speaking, and Ryusei replied coldly, as if Akio no longer existed. Then something moved on the ground… the air shifted… and a faint spark was heard.
Ann gasped, her eyes widening. Ken narrowed his eyes, as if sensing something. Akio was rising slowly, and quietly driven by a hidden force that tore through every law of logic. He stood like a samurai in his darkest hour, back straight, eyes fully open.
But something in him had changed. His face no longer held the boyish innocence it once did… but fury. Real fury, the kind that's born from injustice, from pain, from fighting for a dream, not for victory.
His golden eyes blazed with lightning. His hands trembled briefly, then steadied. A pure yellow aura formed around his body, and sparks of lightning danced savagely within it. The sound of his footsteps on the arena floor echoed like a rhythm.
"I'm not done yet."
The spectators exchanged glances.
One whispered:
"What's wrong with that boy…?"
Another gasped:
"Did… did he come back?!"
Ryusei stopped talking, then turned his head slowly. Akio kept walking, his body was still bleeding, pain flowing through him like part of his breath.
'One… two… breathe.'
'Step… heartbeat… flash of lightning.'
'Balance…'
'Everything I learned… everything I trained for… now is the time.'
'I don't need speed… I need clarity.'
He synchronized each step with the surge of his Vakin. Across the arena, Ryusei's eyes widened, his body frozen, his logic breaking apart.
'Impossible!'
When he was staring at Akio, he realized that the hit he'd taken earlier hadn't been meaningless. Akio had planted something in him, a setup? timing? But what unsettled him most wasn't that… it was the look in Akio's eyes.
Ann thought, watching every spark dancing around his body:
'He's… becoming someone else entirely…'
Everyone had believed they'd seen Akio's limits. None of them knew the child of lightning had been hiding much more. Akio closed his eyes, raised his head slowly, and spoke in a hoarse thundering voice:
{Vakin of Lightning — Raijin Pulse!}
In the next moment, light exploded. A thunderous crack split the air as a massive circular wave of electricity burst from Akio's body, blasting everything around him. The nearest spectators were thrown to the ground; the stone tiles beneath his feet split apart as sparks shot upward into the sky.
Ryusei raised his sword to defend, but the strike was faster. The bolt hit his chest with such force it sent him staggering back, the first time he had ever retreated. His body slid two meters, smoke was rising from his robes.
He dropped to one knee, clutching his chest. His face had gone pale, not from pain, but from disbelief. Akio stood in the center of the arena, gasping for breath, but when he saw the injured bystanders at the edges of the field, he froze. He looked at his trembling hands, then at the bodies hurt by a technique meant only for his opponent. His eyes filled with tension.
'Did I… go too far…?'
It was the first activation of Raijin Pulse, and the beginning of Akio's ascent to an entirely new level.
Ryusei knelt, his hand was still pressed to his chest. His breathing was ragged, and the sparks were still flickered from his partially burned clothes.
A single second passed, just one. But it was enough for Ryusei to think, with half-dead eyes.
'He… pierced me.'
It was the first time he felt lightning not just touching his body, but pierce straight into his heart. With every heartbeat that followed, Ryusei felt something strange beating inside his chest.
He pressed his palm to the ground, trying to stand, but his limbs refused. His hands trembled uncontrollably, his vision blurring for a moment.
'That kid… has he lost his mind?!'
But beneath the shock and pain, the strongest feeling wasn't fear, it was excitement. Ryusei smiled faintly, a drop of blood sliding from his lip as he slowly stood. His voice came out low, almost inaudible, yet Akio felt it clearly across the arena.
"Finally… you're starting to interest me."
The crowd broke its silence at last. Ann's voice cut through the air, filled with raw passion:
"Akiooo! Show him who you are!"
The name spread like fire. The crowd began chanting, shouting his name for the first time, their voices shaking the arena. Akio raised one of his swords towards the sky, lightning swirling around him in a spiral.
He smiled faintly, then shouted:
"My name is Sakamoto Akio!"
Then he pointed his sword at Ryusei, his voice filled with pride and resolve:
"And I'll become the next Shogun, the Shogun who will change this world!"
The arena erupted in cheers… claps, shouts, laughter. Even Ken raised an eyebrow slightly and said in his usual cold tone, though a flicker of interest glimmered in his eyes:
"A very bold statement… for a child who still knows nothing about the world."
Ryusei didn't join the noise. Instead, he chuckled a quiet chilling laugh:
"Shogun…?"
He lifted his gaze to Akio.
"Even great dreams need someone who can chase them… without destroying themselves."
And in a blink, he vanished. No one saw the movement. All that was heard was the sudden crash, and Akio's sword spinning through the air.
Ryusei appeared behind him, his starblade piercing Akio's shoulder in one swift strike. A red spark burst from the wound, and a strangled cry escaped Akio's lips. His body fell forward slowly, blood dripping between his fingers as he tried to hold himself up.
Ryusei raised his head towards the crowd. His voice came out calmly:
"Those who don't know their limits… will never become Shoguns."
Akio lay on the ground, his breathing ragged, but his eyes were still alive. He knew the dream wasn't dead, even if the body had fallen. A few people clapped awkwardly, others sat frozen, unable to believe what they'd witnessed.
The director's voice broke the heavy silence, flat and formal:
"The winner is… Ryusei, the Star Reaper."
The words hit Ann like a bullet. She froze, watching Akio lying motionless, shrouded in the weight of pain and defeat. Ryusei simply adjusted his black mask and turned away, walking off in silence, as if he had only crushed a piece of scrap metal.
Akio began to move slowly. His body trembled, his breath broken, blood spilling from his mouth onto the ground. He lifted his head weakly and spoke, his voice was cracked and trembling:
"No… not yet… I can still… fight… ah…"
He coughed, blood mixing with his words. Then he started crawling, every movement tearing through his nerves. He crawled until he reached Ken's feet. Ken stood there, his arms were crossed, looking at him coldly and emotionless.
Akio looked up at him, his eyes dull, his voice faltering:
"Ken… I was… so close…"
Ken didn't move, he looked down and said with a sharp tone:
"Being close means nothing… In the end, a loser is still a loser."
Akio froze. The words cut deeper than the wound itself. His lips trembled before a single tear fell to the ground. His body shook, but the real pain this time wasn't from the injury, it was from the bitter taste of weakness. The tear that fell wasn't from pain… but from his words.
"A loser… is a loser."
Ken remained motionless like a statue, but his heart wasn't as silent as he seemed. It screamed inside him:
"Remember this feeling, Akio. Let it burn in your chest. Let it build something stronger inside you."
He turned away and left without looking back. Akio remained lying there, and inside the darkness of his pain, that same phrase echoed again and again inside him:
"A loser… is a loser…"
But something changed in his inner voice. He no longer repeated it in defeat… but as a vow. He smiled weakly, coughing up blood, and whispered to himself:
"I'll remember this moment well… and one day, I won't be the loser anymore."
His eyelids slowly closed, leaving the arena drowned in heavy silence… a silence that didn't declare defeat, but the birth of a new will.