The grand central stadium of Planet Anipla was no longer just an arena—it had transformed into a pressure cooker of raw, unleashed energy.
The air within the Group 1 dome felt impossibly thick, heavy enough to weigh down the lungs of the fifty thousand spectators packed tightly into the towering grandstands. Overlapping waves of high-frequency mental pressure and violent, surging elemental Urja radiated outward from the center ring, causing the massive, reinforced energy barriers shielding the crowd to hum and flicker in erratic patterns.
Not a single soul in the audience was cheering anymore. The early-round excitement that usually filled the stadium had completely vanished, replaced by an absolute, edge-of-your-seat silence. Millions of viewers watching through high-definition holographic streams across the galaxy sat frozen, barely daring to blink.
Down in the center ring, two combatants stood less than forty feet apart on a stage made of dense, impact-resistant alloy plates. The metal floor was already severely warped, gouged, and scorched, bearing testimony to the ferocious exchange that had transpired over the past several minutes.
Neither fighter was ready to give up. Neither was willing to yield a single inch of ground. What was supposed to be a standard bracket match for Group 1 had rapidly degenerated into a desperate, high-stakes duel where both fighters were pushing their physical, mental, and spiritual reserves past their natural limits—fighting as if their very survival depended on the outcome.
On the eastern side of the ring, ten-year-old Draz stood in a low, athletic stance. His dark, shoulder-length hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat, and a thin trickle of crimson blood trailed from a small cut near his temple. Yet, despite the visible wear and tear on his body, his posture radiated an unyielding, wild vitality.
Surrounding his body was a stunning, dual-layered aura. On his left side, a vibrant, greenish-blue dragon Urja swirled in rapid, tight spirals like a localized typhoon. On his right side, a volatile, dark blackish-red draconic energy flared unpredictably, casting long, menacing shadows across the floor. Draz's chest rose and fell in heavy, rhythmic gasps, but his dark eyes burned with an intoxicating, feral thrill. He wiped the sweat from his chin with the back of his hand, a wide, razor-sharp grin spreading across his face.
On the western side, thirteen-year-old Alquimme stood with her boots planted firmly against the metal floor. She was three years older than Draz, carrying herself with the rigid discipline of an elite senior competitor, but her current physical state revealed just how brutally she was being pushed. Her light purple combat robes were singed at the hem, her chest was heaving, and her jaw was clenched so tightly that the muscles in her neck stood out like cords.
Clutched tightly in her trembling right hand was her primary catalyst—a specialized -z tier Staff forged from dark violet minerals. At the top of the staff rested a multi-faceted crystal orb that flashed in rapid, erratic pulses of deep indigo light. Translucent waves of psychic density emanated from her core, forming a visible, heat-mirage-like distortion in the air around her.
Alquimme stared at the ten-year-old boy before her, her mind racing at a frantic pace. *How is he still standing?!* she thought, her fingers tightening around her -z tier Staff until her knuckles turned white. *He's throwing out high-tier, massive-urja-costing techniques one after another without a second of rest! A normal ten-year-old's core should have ruptured from energy exhaustion five minutes ago! What kind of monster am I fighting?!*
Up in the elevated VIP private suite designated for the highest-seeded combatants and noble lineages, the four brothers of Draz watched the battle through the reinforced crystal observation window.
Lam sat near the center of the plush leather sofa, leaning back comfortably with his left leg crossed casually over his right. Though his posture remained cool and composed, his sharp eyes were narrowed in deep analysis as he tracked Draz's energy output.
"Draz is burning through his reserve Urja at a terrifying speed," Lam observed smoothly, his tone conversational yet precise. "He's relying entirely on high-cost draconic techniques to maintain offensive pressure. At this rate, he'll exhaust his core reserves before the match reaches its natural conclusion."
Krodh stood near the left corner of the window, his arms folded tightly across his chest, his cold, expressionless face reflected in the dark glass. "It doesn't matter," Krodh replied in his deadpan, unyielding voice. "Against a high-level Mind Type user like her, slowing down to conserve energy is suicide. If Draz gives her even a two-second window to focus her mental core, her psychic attacks will pierce his neural defense. Continuous, overwhelming heavy pressure is the only correct strategy."
Bayu, sitting on an adjacent chair, wiped a drop of nervous perspiration from his brow as he watched the energy meters on the digital monitor. "She's incredible, though. Look at Alquimme's control... using that -z tier staff to convert mental force into perfect defensive parries. She's neutralizing Draz's heaviest physical strikes with absolute efficiency."
Asad stood quietly to the right, his arms crossed, his eyes fixed on the footwork of both fighters down below. "The breaking point is near," Asad murmured calmly. "Neither of them can sustain this output for much longer. The next exchange will decide everything."
Down in the ring, the quiet tension snapped like a dry twig.
"You really are a persistent little brat!" Alquimme shouted, her voice amplified by a subtle mental reverberation that echoed off the stadium walls. "A ten-year-old shouldn't possess this level of physical resilience or this vast of an Urja core! Give up already!"
Draz threw his head back and let out a boisterous, echoing laugh that shook the lingering dust from his shoulders.
"Give up?!" Draz yelled back, his grin widening until his fangs were visible. "Are you kidding me?! I've been waiting all week for a fight like this! If you're tired, girl, you better brace yourself, because I'm just getting started!"
Without another microsecond of delay, Draz dropped into a deep, aggressive sprinter's stance. He channeled a massive burst of greenish-blue Draconic Urja directly into the muscle groups of his thighs and calves. The alloy floor beneath his boots groaned under the sudden spike in atmospheric weight.
BOOM!
The metallic tiles shattered outward in a circular wave of sparks and debris as Draz launched himself forward like a cannonball fired from a siege weapon. He moved with such blinding, explosive speed that twin afterimages of light trailed behind his wake across the forty-foot gap.
"Dragon Claws!" Draz roared in mid-dash.
The dense, swirling greenish-blue energy around his forearms condensed violently, materializing over both of his hands as massive, razor-sharp reptilian talons formed entirely of concentrated, glowing draconic force. Closing the distance in less than a heartbeat, Draz leaped high into the air, spinning his torso to bring both dragon claws down in a devastating, X-shaped cross-slash directed straight at Alquimme's head!
Alquimme's eyes flickered with intense violet energy, but she didn't lose her composure. Raising her -z tier Staff vertically before her chest, she tapped the glowing top crystal with her index finger, channeling her Mind Type Urja into a rapid-fire defensive release.
"Mind Barrage!" Alquimme commanded.
Instead of a single, localized projectile, the crystal orb on her staff unleashed a continuous, high-frequency salvo of compressed psychic needles directly upward into the air. Dozens of translucent, purple mental shockwaves tore through the sky, designed to bypass physical defenses and shock the central nervous system of any target hit by them.
TH-TH-TH-TH-TH-THWIP!
The barrage of psychic needles slammed head-on into Draz's descending assault in mid-air. The invisible physical weight of the mental strikes was like slamming face-first into a wall of solid granite. Pain spiked through Draz's skull, sharp and biting, but he refused to let his momentum stall.
Gritting his teeth through the mental headache, Draz swung his Dragon Claws in wild, sweeping arcs, using the sheer physical density and raw power of his draconic energy to physically slice through the incoming psychic needles!
CLANG! CLANG! SLASH!
Sparks of shattered purple light and greenish-blue energy rained down like fireworks as Draz shredded his way through her Mind Barrage! Breaking through the offensive curtain, Draz's boots slammed onto the metal floor directly in front of her. Without losing a fraction of a second, he drove both Dragon Claws forward in a heavy, dual-handed strike aimed straight at her chest.
Alquimme, having anticipated his relentless push, slammed the butt of her staff hard against the floor with perfect spatial timing.
"Protect!" Alquimme shouted.
A multi-faceted, diamond-hard barrier of pure Normal Type energy instantly expanded around her body, forming an impenetrable, glowing geometric shell.
KABOOOOOM!
Draz's twin Dragon Claws struck the outer face of the Protect barrier with violent force. A massive kinetic shockwave tore outward from the point of impact, creating a localized windstorm that swept dust and loose metal shavings across the first ten rows of the spectator stands. The Normal Type barrier held firm, absorbing the kinetic shock, but the force of the strike drove the edges of the barrier an inch deep into the reinforced alloy floor.
Rebounding off the rigid surface, Draz flipped backward in mid-air and landed on all fours thirty feet away. He didn't waste time catching his breath. His grin grew wilder, and his dark eyes sparked with chaotic power as he shifted his energy output.
The greenish-blue aura surrounding his right arm instantly shifted, inverting into a deep, volatile blackish-red. The temperature around his arm plummeted dramatically as dark, heavy pressure gathered around his clenched fist.
Alquimme, watching from within her glowing barrier, felt a sudden chill run down her spine. *What is that aura?! He's switching energy properties instantly without any cooldown period?!*
Draz surged forward once more, his boots leaving dark, scorched footprints on the metal floor.
"Devils Fury!" Draz bellowed.
Draz thrust his right fist straight out in a blinding, point-blank piercing stab. The volatile, blackish-red draconic energy around his arm manifested into the spectral head of a roaring, dark dragon, its jagged jaws biting directly into the exact center of Alquimme's Protect barrier!
RIIIIIIIP! CRACK!
The sheer, concentrated piercing pressure of Devils Fury proved too much for the Normal Type structure to withstand. A spiderweb of glowing purple cracks exploded across the diamond shell, the sound echoing through the stadium like shattering glass!
Realizing her primary defense was on the verge of total collapse, Alquimme reacted with lightning-fast spatial instincts. Tapping into her Mind Type specialization, she focused her core energy into a high-tier spatial illusion spell.
"Illusion!" Alquimme cried out.
CRACK-SHATTER!
The Protect barrier exploded into thousands of sparkling, harmless energy fragments. Draz's dark draconic fist punched straight through the center of the structure, smashing directly into the space where Alquimme's chest had been—only for her body to instantly dissolve into a cloud of fading purple mist!
"What?!" Draz gasped, his momentum pulling his body forward as his fist struck empty air.
Before he could rebalance his stance, four identical figures of Alquimme materialized simultaneously out of thin air, forming a wide square surrounding him from four equal cardinal directions. Each figure held the dark violet -z tier Staff, their faces locked in identical, cold scowls.
"You aren't the only one who can adapt mid-battle, kid!" all four Alquimmes spoke in unison, their voices overlapping in a strange, quadruple mental echo that vibrated off the reinforced walls.
Draz spun around on his heel, his blackish-red aura crackling around his knuckles as his eyes darted rapidly from one figure to the next. *Which one is the real body?! Their energy signatures, breathing, and mental wavelengths are completely identical!*
Without giving him a single moment to analyze the decoy signatures, the Alquimme standing directly behind Draz's back raised her staff high into the air. But instead of the familiar violet glow of Mind Type Urja, a brilliant, translucent blue circle of liquid energy manifested around the central crystal orb!
Up in the VIP viewing box, Asad's eyes widened slightly as he took a step toward the glass. "A dual-element build... Liquid Type!"
"Take this!" the real Alquimme screamed from behind.
"Hydro Pump!"
A massive, ultra-compressed column of high-pressure water erupted from the tip of her staff, tearing through the air with the deafening roar of a raging mountain waterfall. The devastating torrent of Liquid Type energy slammed dead-center into Draz's exposed back before he could fully turn his torso to defend himself!
KABOOOOOOOOOM!
The immense hydraulic pressure hit Draz like a speeding locomotive. The sheer force swept him off his feet, completely extinguishing his blackish-red aura and blasting his ten-year-old body straight across the entire length of the arena floor! Draz tumbled helplessly through the air, soaked to the skin, skidding over forty meters across the wet alloy plates until his back crashed violently into the reinforced concrete boundary wall at the far edge of the ring.
THUD!
The heavy impact cracked the dense concrete wall, sending small chunks of stone and dust tumbling down onto Draz's shoulders. The immense volume of water released by the Hydro Pump flooded the central ring, covering the metal floor in a three-inch-deep pool of swirling, rushing water that steam-hissed against the heated tiles.
The entire stadium went dead silent.
Alquimme's three illusion decoys dissolved into harmless wisps of purple smoke, leaving her standing alone in the middle of the flooded stage. She was gasping for air, leaning heavily on her -z tier Staff with both hands to support her trembling knees. Executing Illusion and Hydro Pump back-to-back while recovering from a shattered barrier had drained her mental reserves to critical levels.
She stared across the wet, mist-filled ring toward the crater in the boundary wall, her heart hammering against her ribs.
"Is... is it over?" a spectator in the front row whispered nervously into the quiet atmosphere.
For five agonizing seconds, there was no sound or movement from the eastern crater. Draz lay slump-shoulder in the rubble, his head hanging low, his wet dark hair casting a deep shadow over his face.
Then, a low, wet chuckle broke the silence.
"Hehe... hahaha..."
Alquimme's eyes widened in horror. She instinctively took a step back, gripping her staff tightly. "No... no way... How can he still be conscious?!"
Slowly, deliberately, Draz raised his head. His dark eyes were glowing with a fierce, golden-red light from behind his wet bangs. He placed his palms against the cracked stone wall behind him and pushed himself upright. His clothes were torn and drenched, his arms were bruised, and blood trickled down his forehead, but the expression on his face wasn't one of pain or defeat—it was absolute, terrifying euphoria.
"Liquid Type water to cool down my body..." Draz chuckled, wiping the blood from his forehead with his forearm. "Man... you really are something else, Alquimme! That actually hurt!"
Draz took a single step forward, stepping out of the wall crater and into the shallow pool of water covering the floor.
The instant his boots made contact with the water, the atmospheric temperature throughout the entire stadium spiked violently upward! The pool of water surrounding his feet didn't just ripple—it instantly began to bubble, hiss, and boil at extreme temperatures!
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Massive, billowing clouds of thick white steam exploded into the air around Draz as he tapped directly into a third, devastating branch of his core power—Thermal Type Urja! The sheer energy cost of channeling Thermal Urja on top of Draconic Urja was astronomically high, an insane gambit that would cause any ordinary fighter to instantly faint from energy strain. But Draz's core was a bottomless, roaring furnace that refused to stop burning.
Within ten seconds, the entire three-inch pool of water covering the arena stage evaporated into nothingness, turning the central ring into a blinding, scalding fog zone that completely obscured both fighters from the audience's view.
Up in the VIP box, Lam leaned forward, his relaxed, nonchalant posture completely disappearing for the first time. "He's crazy!" Lam muttered, his voice filled with genuine disbelief. "He's forcing a complete terrain overhaul using Thermal Urja! The sheer energy consumption of boiling that much water in seconds—"
"He's not thinking about energy efficiency," Krodh interrupted, a rare, faint glint of absolute respect shining in his cold eyes. "He's forcing her into a blind zone to crush her next setup before she can recover her mental focus."
Inside the dense, scalding steam field, Alquimme held her staff close to her chest, her breathing ragged as sweat poured down her neck. The visibility was reduced to zero, and the extreme ambient heat was making it nearly impossible for her to concentrate her Mind Type Urja to lock onto his position.
*Where is he?! I can't track his physical signature through this heat distortion!*
Suddenly, the floor beneath her boots began to rumble violently. Deep, subterranean vibrations rattled the heavy alloy plates, accompanied by a low, terrifying roar that seemed to echo from deep beneath the arena's foundation.
From the center of the dense white fog, Draz's voice boomed out like thunder:
"EarthShaking Eruption!"
Draz slammed both of his palms violently down onto the shattered metal floor, driving a massive wave of compressed Thermal Type and Draconic Urja straight into the structural foundation of the platform!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The entire arena stage ruptured outward in a catastrophic display of power! Massive geysers of superheated thermal fire and molten, magma-like Urja erupted from the cracked floorboards, shooting fifty feet into the sky like miniature volcanoes! The intense heat incinerated the steam fog instantly, converting the entire ring into a roaring, apocalyptic sea of fiery pillars!
"AHHHHHHH!" Alquimme screamed, forced to leap backward repeatedly as pillars of thermal fire burst open right beneath her feet.
She swung her -z tier Staff frantically, deploying small, fragile Protect barriers in mid-air to deflect the heat and kinetic shockwaves, but the sheer, relentless environmental assault battered her from every direction. Her robes were scorched, her staff was burning hot to the touch, and her mental stamina was crumbling under the raw, chaotic pressure.
*I can't survive a prolonged battle of endurance like this!* Alquimme thought frantically, her eyes darting through the flames. *His physical Urja core is bottomless! I have to concentrate everything I have left into one final, absolute attack right now!*
Gritting her teeth until her gums bled, Alquimme gathered every single remaining drop of her Mind Type Urja into the crystal orb of her staff. The orb didn't just glow purple—it began to crackle with dangerous, dark-violet spatial lightning that warped the air around her hands.
"DRAZ!" Alquimme screamed with every ounce of strength in her body.
Draz stood in the center of the roaring thermal pillars, his shirt torn, his body covered in sweat, soot, and embers. Seeing her gathering her ultimate attack, his wild grin reached its absolute peak.
"THAT'S IT! SHOW ME EVERYTHING YOU'GOT!" Draz roared back.
Draz threw both of his arms skyward. The greenish-blue dragon aura and the blackish-red dragon aura surrounding his body merged together, expanding into a colossal, eighty-foot-tall spectral dragon silhouette that towered over the open-air arena! The sky above the stadium darkened dramatically as the sheer density of his Draconic Urja compressed the atmospheric currents into glowing, volatile red meteors!
This was his highest-cost, most destructive technique—a move designed to obliterate entire armies!
"DRAGO METEOR!" Draz bellowed at the top of his lungs, bringing both of his arms slamming downward toward Alquimme!
Above the arena, the cloud layer ruptured violently. Dozens of massive, burning draconic meteors forged from compressed red-and-green Urja detached from the sky, raining down upon the central stage like an apocalyptic storm!
At the exact same instant, Alquimme thrust her dark violet -z tier Staff forward with a final, desperate scream:
"MIND BARRAGE: FULL OVERDRIVE!"
A colossal, concentrated beam of dark-purple psychic energy erupted from her staff, cutting through the roaring thermal fire like a cosmic lance, directed straight at Draz's chest!
The falling draconic meteors and the roaring psychic beam collided dead-center in the middle of the ring.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A blinding explosion of crimson, green, and deep violet energy engulfed the entire arena stage. The resulting shockwave was so immense that it completely shattered the inner reinforced barrier fields surrounding the ring! High-pressure wind and blinding light washed over the spectator stands, forcing thousands of fans to shield their faces as the entire stadium shook to its very foundation!
Far beyond the planetary boundaries of Anipla, deep within the fiery, roaring depths of the cosmos...
Floating comfortably upon the boiling, liquid-fire surface of the cosmic Red Star Colex-5411025—where stellar plasma raged at an unfathomable 54,110,025 degrees Celsius—the Five-Armed Man sat observing the battle through the fabric of space-time.
His lower two hands rested atop his Plunger Cameraman spiked plungers, his middle two hands held his legendary five-headed red trident and ten-orb red drum, while his fifth hand held his glowing Red Orb.
As the massive, catastrophic explosion on Anipla rocked his space-time viewer, all five of his cosmic eyes widened in sheer delight. A massive, roaring grin spread across his rugged face, and he threw his head back, his deep, resonant voice echoing across the fiery stellar winds of Colex-5411025:
"OHHHH! FINALLY A GOOD FIGHT!"