"AND NOW, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, HOLD ONTO YOUR EYEBROWS — IT'S ABOUT TO GET HOT IN HERE!"
The crowd erupted in anticipation, buzzing with whispers.
This wasn't just another fight.
One of the contestants had become a name even before stepping onto the battlefield.
"IN THE LEFT CORNER, WE HAVE THE WALKING WILDFIRE HIMSELF — HINOTE KAEN, OUR NEWEST RECRUIT!!"
Hinote strolled into the arena with all the swagger of a rockstar arriving late to his own concert. His crimson jacket fluttered behind him, scorched at the edges — not from battle, but from just existing with that Spark.
His eyes burned like twin furnaces, and as he stepped into the ring, the arena lights dimmed slightly.
No one touched a switch.
The heat was doing that.
"FACING HIM — THE CRYSTAL-CLAD JUGGERNAUT! A VETERAN OF UNDERGROUND MATCHES, WITH FISTS HARD AS DIAMOND AND A CHIN TO MATCH! IT'S DAIGO YOTSUBA, MODIANT SPARK USER!!"
Daigo stepped in like a tank on legs, his arms already encased in jagged, glittering crystal gauntlets. He cracked his neck, grunted once, and raised his fists like a seasoned brawler.
"BEGIN!!"
Before the word even finished echoing, Hinote raised one hand.
And the world exploded.
A column of fire shot into the air from beneath Daigo, blasting high like a volcanic geyser. The stage rumbled under the heat surge. The crowd flinched — those in the front row had to shield their faces.
Daigo burst through the flames with a furious shout, spinning into a heavy, gauntlet-coated punch aimed at Hinote's head.
BOOM.
The punch hit. Hinote staggered.
Then smiled.
"Solid hit. Wanna see mine?"
His entire body flared red-orange — like someone had ignited a furnace from within. His coat burst into flames — not burned away, but transformed into a cloak of living fire. His foot stomped, and the ground beneath Daigo turned red-hot and then—
KRA-BOOM!!!
A chain of controlled detonations sent molten shards flying. Daigo raised a crystalline wall, but Hinote surged through the smoke, laughing.
Not manic.
Cruel.
Just like he enjoyed it.
The two clashed again. Daigo's fists slammed into Hinote's shoulder — crystal cracked skin, and Hinote grunted, spinning with the impact.
"You hit hard," he said. "But I'm louder."
He snapped his fingers.
A ring of fire bloomed around them in the shape of a sunflower — petals of compressed flame with flickering, unstable cores. The entire arena looked like the inside of a solar flare.
Hinote leapt backward, one hand open, the other aimed forward like a cannon.
"Let's turn up the tempo—"
WHOOM!!
He launched himself forward using a backward blast, rocketing like a meteor. His foot connected with Daigo's chest and triggered a point-blank explosion — not elegant, not clean, but spectacular.
Daigo flew across the field and slammed into the crystalline walls, coughing blood.
Still, he stood.
"I… I can take it…!"
"I know," Hinote replied. "You're strong."
And for a moment — just a flicker — his voice dropped in tone. Calm. Commanding. That same chilling presence one person in the audience had felt before.
Those in the higher-ups froze.
A few older spectators murmured:
"…That voice… it sounded like…"
"No way. He's just a kid, right?"
"I mean, he DOES say he's his brother. So maybe that's where the resemblance comes from"
Hinote turned back to Daigo, arms wreathed in roaring flame now forming twin spirals around his fists.
"But this is more than just power."
"FLARE WALTZ."
He spun, launching a barrage of firebursts from every angle — an aerial dance of firebombs, each kick and twist igniting the air like choreographed chaos. The attacks weren't refined. They weren't strategic.
They were raw, untamed spectacle.
Daigo took the first three hits, then the fourth — until the fifth blasted his guard open and the sixth brought him to his knees.
And the final spiral…
Screeeeech—BOOM!!!
The arena cracked. The flames vanished, sucked inward as the heat died in a sudden vacuum.
Only Hinote remained standing.
Announcer (awestruck):
"A-A-A-AAAAND THE WINNER: HINOTE KAEN!!"
The audience went wild. Fireworks of spark-based confetti burst above the stadium.
But in the shadows, a few Syndicate officers were whispering behind closed hands.
Hinote stood silently, letting the cheers wash over him.
Then, to himself — almost inaudible:
"Still too weak…"
He turned away from the wreckage and walked off, embers crackling behind him like footsteps in a forest fire.