[I'm sorry for not posting yesterday's chapter,I decided to rest a little and lost track of time,so yesterday's chapter will be posted now and today's own later today]
The arena crackled with an unnatural energy, the very air alive with tension. Thunder rumbled overhead as dark clouds churned, shadows flickering beneath the storm's restless gaze. Flames danced across the ground where Shinji stood, his figure burning bright and fierce amidst the electric haze. His eyes burned with a fire that matched the aura crackling around him — hot, untamed, and hungry for battle.
Opposite him stood his opponent, a mountain of raw power wreathed in crackling thunder. His skin seemed to shimmer with living lightning, veins glowing with electricity like a storm's fury made flesh. His gaze was cold, sharp, and unyielding.
The crowd's roar faded to a tense silence, every eye locked on the two children who faced off like elemental titans.
Raito cracked his knuckles, sending sparks flying like a challenge. "Fire burns bright but dies quick under lightning's fury. What makes you think you can stand against me?"
Shinji's lips curled into a fierce grin, flames licking higher up his arms. "Fire isn't just heat and light. It's rage, will, and rebirth. Lightning may strike fast, but it can't burn what's fueled by true fire."
Their eyes locked. The calm before the storm stretched for a breathless moment.
Then, with a roar, they surged forward — lightning and fire colliding in a spectacular explosion of raw power.
---
From the start, Raito struck with overwhelming speed. Bolts of electric energy crackled off his fists as he launched a flurry of precise strikes, each faster than the last. Thunder boomed with every impact, shaking the arena's foundations.
Shinji danced back on burning feet, flames flaring higher as he dodged and weaved with fiery grace. "Your speed is impressive," he said through gritted teeth, "but your attacks lack endurance."
With a sudden, fierce cry, Shinji channeled his energy into his blade — a sword wreathed in swirling flames. He swung it in a blazing arc that cut through the air like a comet.
"*Inferno Slash!*"
The fiery blade tore through the opponent's defense, sending sparks and lightning scattering. The thunder warrior staggered, caught off guard by the sudden heat and power.
"You underestimate fire's fury," Shinji growled, stepping forward, flames swirling like a storm within him.
The opponent recovered quickly, lightning crackling fiercely around his fists. "And you underestimate lightning's relentless strike!"
He unleashed a brutal counterattack — a barrage of lightning strikes aimed to overwhelm and scorch.
Shinji gritted his teeth, flames bursting to life as he met the assault head-on. His aura flared to blazing intensity.
"*Infernal Rage!*"
His body ignited in fierce flames, heat radiating in waves that shimmered through the charged air. With renewed ferocity, Shinji blasted forward, his fiery sword carving through the electric onslaught.
The fight erupted into a dazzling display of power — fire and lightning dancing violently, each attack clashing in bursts of light and sound that shook the crowd to its core.
---
The thunder warrior snarled, eyes blazing with electric fury. "You grow stronger, but can you endure this?"
He summoned the storm's might into a devastating technique — bolts of lightning converging into a massive, crackling spear aimed straight at Shinji's heart.
The air hummed with deadly energy as the spear descended.
Shinji's eyes narrowed, flames spiraling like a dragon's breath. He raised his blade in defiance.
"*Inferno Slash — Phoenix's Wrath!*"
The fiery sword exploded in a blazing arc of molten flame, meeting the lightning spear head-on.
The collision was cataclysmic — fire and lightning warping the very air, a tempest of raw energy roaring through the arena.
For a long moment, neither force gave ground.
Then, with a deafening crack, the lightning spear shattered, sending a shockwave that rocked the thunder warrior backward.
Shinji planted his feet firmly, chest heaving, flames still roaring in his veins.
"We fight not just to survive," Shinji said, voice low and fierce, "but to become stronger than ever imagined."
The opponent laughed, a sound like rolling thunder. "Then show me your true power."
And with that, the battle truly began.
Raito shook off the shockwave like a storm shrugging off the first gust of wind. His eyes narrowed, glowing electric blue with renewed fury. "You've got spirit, fire-boy. But spirit won't save you from lightning's final verdict."
Shinji wiped sweat from his brow, flames flickering wildly around his fists. "We'll see about that. You might have raw power… but I have something stronger: determination."
With a roar,Raito launched forward again, faster than before. Lightning whipped from his fingertips in jagged, unpredictable bursts. His fists smashed down like twin thunderclaps, forcing Shinji to retreat step by step.
"You're on the back foot," the opponent taunted, voice like a rolling storm. "How long can you keep this up before fire burns out?"
Shinji's eyes burned with fierce resolve. "Long enough to turn the tide."
He planted his feet, gathering every ounce of heat in his core. Flames coalesced into a blazing sword in his hand, hotter than molten steel. His muscles tensed.
"Inferno Slash!" he yelled, swinging the fiery blade in a wide, devastating arc.
The slash cut through the storm's chaos, scorching the air and forcing the thunder warrior to leap back, sparks flying as the flames singed his lightning aura.
The crowd erupted in cheers, sensing the momentum shift.
But Raito was no easy opponent. He laughed darkly, raising his arms to the sky as a massive bolt of lightning struck the arena, splitting the ground near Shinji's feet.
"Lightning Judgment!" he shouted, summoning a storm of crackling bolts that descended in a relentless rain of death.
Shinji's eyes narrowed. The bolts burned hotter than anything he had ever faced.
His flames flickered but did not die.
With a fierce yell, he summoned his deepest well of power, letting his rage ignite like a wildfire within.
"Infernal Rage!"
His body was engulfed in roaring flames that blazed with unnatural intensity. The heat shimmered the air, and the ground beneath him cracked from the sheer force radiating off him.
His fiery sword glowed brighter than the sun.
With a battle cry that shook the heavens, Shinji charged through the storm of lightning, flames blazing a trail of destruction.
Each step ignited the earth, each swing of his sword sliced through bolts of lightning like they were paper.
Raito's attacks grew desperate, wild, but Shinji's Infernal Rage made him unstoppable.
They clashed again and again — lightning crashing against fire, the arena erupting into chaos.
---
At one point, Shinji found himself backed into a corner, the thunder warrior's relentless assault pushing him against the jagged edge of the arena.
"You're finished!" the opponent sneered, raising his fists charged with a deadly surge of electricity.
Shinji's vision narrowed, breathing ragged but his spirit unbroken.
"I'm not done yet," he growled.
Drawing on his final reserves, he clenched his fiery sword tighter.
"I will burn brighter than any storm you bring!"
Raito's laughter cut through the charged air like a jagged bolt. "You think your flames can consume the storm? Lightning isn't just power — it's judgment. And tonight, I am the executioner."
Shinji's eyes flared with defiance, his fiery aura rippling like a blazing inferno. "Then let me show you what happens when judgment meets unbreakable will!"
With a savage roar, Shinji lunged forward, Inferno Slash blazing like a comet streaking across the battlefield. The fiery blade sang through the air, its heat so intense it warped the very atmosphere.
Raito met the attack head-on, fists crackling with brilliant electric energy. He parried with a thunderous punch, sending a shockwave through the arena that shattered nearby stones and forced the crowd to recoil.
Steel clashed against electricity in a dazzling dance of destruction.
The two warriors locked eyes, breathing heavy but burning with unyielding resolve.
"You've leveled up since our first encounter,"Raito admitted grudgingly. "But this ends now."
He clenched his fists, summoning a vortex of lightning around him that hummed with deadly intent. The ground beneath his feet cracked as he gathered the storm's fury for a devastating strike.
Shinji's gaze sharpened. "I'm not the same fighter I was before either."
He closed his eyes briefly, channeling the inferno raging in his soul.
Then, with a roar that shook the heavens, Shinji unleashed his next move:
*Inferno Slash — Phoenix's Wrath!*
His blade erupted in flames resembling the mythical phoenix, spiraling and twisting with lethal grace. He swung the sword in a wide arc that carved a burning path through the lightning vortex.
The thunder warrior stumbled, shielded only by a crackling barrier of electricity that flickered under the intense heat.
"Impressive," he growled, sweat and sparks mixing on his brow. "But not enough."
He charged, the storm breaking loose in a violent torrent of lightning bolts and thunderclaps.
Shinji summoned every ounce of his Infernal Rage, his body ignited in a brilliant blaze that radiated unstoppable power.
With a scream, he met the assault head-on — their powers colliding in a cataclysm of fire and lightning.
The arena exploded in light and sound, shaking to its core.
---
Hours—or maybe moments, time blurred in the storm of their clash—passed in a furious exchange of blows. Each attack was met with a counter; each tactic challenged and matched. Shinji's Inferno Slash met the thunder warrior's Lightning Judgement again and again.
At times, the thunder warrior gained the upper hand, pushing Shinji back with crushing bolts of lightning that seared through the air. His strikes were like storms breaking the earth, relentless and brutal.
But Shinji's Infernal Rage burned hotter and fiercer with every hit, his flames growing wilder, his movements sharper, his resolve deeper.
"You're strong," the thunder warrior growled during a brief break, "but I see the fire's flicker. It's fading."
Shinji wiped blood from his lip, breath ragged but his eyes still fierce. "Fire doesn't fade. It burns through the darkest nights."
They clashed again, their powers exploding in a tempest of light, heat, and thunder.
---
The battle reached a brutal crescendo when Shinji was driven back against the crumbling edge of the arena, surrounded by shattered stone and smoldering earth. Lightning cracked dangerously close, sparks dancing at his feet.
The thunder warrior loomed over him, crackling with electric energy. "This is the end."
Shinji's chest heaved, pain and exhaustion gnawing at him, but he clenched his fists, summoning the last reserves of his burning spirit.
"No," he growled. "This is *my* beginning."
His flames exploded outward, coalescing into the shape of a titanic dragon, wings spread wide, eyes blazing with ancient fury.
The *Hellfire Dragon's Roar*—his ultimate A-Rank technique—was unleashed with a deafening roar that shook the heavens.
The massive inferno surged forward, swallowing the arena in blazing fury, clashing with the storm's final judgment.
---
The thunder warrior's lightning screamed as it tried to repel the inferno, but the sheer overwhelming heat and firestorm crushed the tempest's fury.
When the flames died down and the dust settled, the thunder warrior lay defeated, breathing heavily but alive, respect shining in his eyes.
Shinji lowered his blazing sword, chest heaving with exhaustion and victory.
"You fought well," Shinji said quietly. "But sometimes, the fiercest fire rises from the darkest storms."
The opponent nodded, a grudging smile breaking through. "I'll remember this battle… until the next time."
"How the hell can these children pull off techniques like that"A civilian official said
"These First Years are extremely strong ,aren't they ?Raikai"A third year watching the battle said to his partner who only nodded in affirmation.
Many other battles between other students took place until the exams finally ended.