The first battle of the tournament left everyone in shock,the immence Shinketsu pressure from the evolved stage 2 Shoin made everyone's legs weak.
But there was no pause,beacause the next battle was going to commence every moment...
Renjiro went to his locker room for some alone time,since the next battle was his.
"Why am I so scared...damn it! I know that I can summon my powers at will,but...why do I feel like im going to go out there and look like a coward! No,I have to think straight...I can do it."
His friends then came to see him.They knew that he can do it,thats why they came to encourage him.
"You can do it Renjiro,we all believe in you!" said Kenji
"Thank you guys..I really needed that..."
Then the door opened...there was...a girl..
"Good luck Renjiro,I believe in you too,so win for me okay?"
It was Akari.
Renjiro stunned said
"Uhm...thank you Akari...it means a lot."
Then she left,but her precense was still here...
The time for the match eventually came,Renjiro put on his robe and went for the entrance.
"Welcome to the 2nd match of the yearly Shoin tournament...today's battle will be between 2 unique Shoin wielders with one of them being considered as *forbidden*...LETS GIVE SOME APPLAUSE FOR THE METAL SHOIN USER RENJIRO KUROSAWA-THE STEEL OF KAZENAKA
"Against him...THE HARD LIGHT SHOIN USER YUTO NAKAMURA-THE LIGHT PHOENIX!"
"Hard light Shoin? I've never heard of such a Shoin...is it a phenomenon?" asked Ren
"It could be...its not a rare occaison,but hard light? Such a unique Shoin. Lets hope this wont shake Renjiro."
The 2 contestants stepped up on the arena,looking at eachother.
"You look menacing Renjiro...almost like..."
"I will take that as a compliment..so thank you."
Yuto didnt waste a single second,he attacked directly Renjiro,but 1 thing on his mind-attack fast and keep distance from Renjiro.
"If i try to hit him with Hikari Yabure no Yari I might manage to get away fast...I will try!"
"Hikari Yabure no Yari!" yelled Yuto
The attack takes the shape of a piercing hard light spear that penetrates almost everything weaker than the light itself.
The spear flew closer to Renjiro,but he played it off and kept his cool using Kogane Ken to create a single dagger to deflect the spear.
"Try a little harder next time,your light isnt as hard as it seems!" confidently said Renjiro
"You will see light!" said Yuto
"Tenkuu Rendan"
A technique of the highest caliber made of pure broken light which cannot be deflected or parried.The only way to escape is to somehow absorb the light.
Its form its a thousand prisms formes like a daggers raining from the sky as a barrage-an absolute light bombing.
"TAKE THAT RENJIRO! LETS SEE HOW WILL YOU DEFLECT THAT!"
Yuto was confident in that attack,it was like a final blow that cannot be stopped.
Renjiro was shivering...he has never seen such a attack,beautiful and dangerous at the same time.
"What should I do? How can I stop an attack that cannot be parried? Can I try to trap it in cage? But it cannot be stopped...maybe if I try to capture it? Can this work? To try to compress their reflection pattern and then...recast them as a metal element? Can I do that? I've never seen someone do such thing..but I have to try it!"
Renjiro stayed calm...with a plan in his head.The barrage was coming closer,the crowd stood up-is this the end for Renjiro?
Then...he looked up.He took a breath and yelled:
"Sairetsu Hikari no Shihai!"
Domination of fractured light.An absolute stage 2 ability.In that moment Renjiro evolved.His tattoo grew to his neck forming a cage wrapped around him.
Renjiro released bunch of micro-metal particles across the arena that aligned into reflective angles.Each one of them caught the broken rays of light and reflect its pattern.The rays then started reflecting into other particles,till they began to missalign and overextend.It all looked like he reflect them into a metal geomerty.The petals made of metal stored the energy from the light beams,so that the barrage is split into the multiple petals,which allows Renjiro to take the fractured light and recombine it but with inverted trajectories and timed delays,so those attacks became a reversed angle counter play.Its all like Renjiro rewrites Yuto's attack.
He then combined all the reversed light into a single point.
"Now compress it all" said Renjiro
"And-release..."
A collapsing "false sun" made of inverted light errupted above Renjiro.
"Are you nuts? How did you manage to absolutly counter my attack and make it yours?" said Yuto
The sun then detonated in a directional reality towards Yuto.
The arena stood quiet.An absolute menace.Renjiro's attack shocked everyone.Impactful stage 2 attack is equivalent to and earthquake with a magnitude of 8!
Yuto was standing on his knees...unsure of what happened.
"What did I do wrong mom? Am I just a freak who didnt deserve to live? Tell me mom,please!" Yuto broke from inside...his roots that he wanted to forget,started showing again
Yuto wasnt supposed to be born.He was considered as an phenomemon because of his Shoin.Hard light wasnt a thing then...he was special,but in a bad way.
His Shoin manifested in early age,looking like a dark blue crystals around his palm,but they began to look like a more than a tattoo-they started to grow out of his hand.
The doctors called it a "leakage of light",something that they've never seen before.So they decided to keep him under observation.
After some time,they started experimenting on him,using his emotions as a trigger to his Shoin.They discovered that the more trapped he feels,the more immence hgis Shoin becomes.So started using it on purpose.Then they built a special contaiment cell with shrinking space illusions,mirrored walls and no horizontal line.They called it "The Box of Radiance"
One day Yuto met another prisioner.He told him:
"The walls arent real,they just dont want you to see beyond them."
The very same night,Yuto's Shoin evolved...light appeared around his whole body,clones of light started appearing out of nowhere.He then made a door.A door to escape from this cage.The surveliance cameras informed the security that he escaped.Shinketsu crystal guns were used to stop Yuto,but every shot at him was reflected.He reconstruced the whole building into an escape route.But inside,he is still in that cage,willing to stay closed forever.
But then,he covered in blood snapped.He broke the cage and decided to let it all out.For his mother who got killed in a attempt to save his son.
"Im done with you Renjiro...this is where your story ends." said Yuto
"Hikari no Kaihō: Mugen Hōkai"
Yuto looked at Renjiro
He laughed.
"Thank you Renjiro,because of you I finally undestand why was I born...no more cages,I wont run anymore!"
The weapons he made started cracking.Shields,daggers...everything.
He destoyed the concept of them.
Every hard light object released as pure light.
The sky became white,not bright-pure white.
Yuto's body became partially made of light.
"Heavenly Liberation"
Yuto raised his hand.Every particle of liberated light in the arena gathered.Not into sun or weapon.Into an entire sky.
He whispered:
"I've escaped Mom,look at me!"
And then...the sky fell.
Renjiro's sun and Yuto's sky collided.
For a few seconds...nothing,no sound,no light...nothing.
Inside the void made of the attacks,Yuto saw something,a memory.
His younger self.The boy who kept building walls,the boy who was afraid,the boy who though that everyone is trying to trap him.Then he saw Renjiro,not attacking,just standing there,trusting his own strenghth...trusting himself.
Yuto finally realized.
"He is free..."
Not because he is stronger,but because he isnt afraid...
Then he smiled...maybe the first one in years.
The explosion clears.Everything is destroyed,smoke is covering the arena...nobody knew who won.
The smoke cleared..Renjiro was standing...barely,bleeding,breathing heavily.
Yuto was kneeling,not defeated,but exhausted.
They looked at eachother and let a smile.
Renjiro then said:
"For someone who builds cages...you're suprisngly good at showing people the exit!"
They laughed.
"The winner..."
The referee raised his hand.
The crowd holds its breath.
And-