After an exhausting streak of seventy-five consecutive showdowns in the tournament, the holographic marquee above the central arena finally flickered to display the long-awaited pairing for Group 25, Match 5.
GROUP 25 - MATCH 5: BAYU (G.O.D OF WIND) VS WIELDER
In the participant prep room, Bayu leaned against the metallic table, staring at his opponent's registration file on the monitor. "Ah... he has a summon."
Lam glanced over from his visor diagnostic station. "So what? You are a G.O.D, so you must win this."
"Yeah, but..." Bayu began, scratching his cheek nervously.
Before he could finish, Asadullah stepped in, slinging a heavy arm across Bayu's shoulder with a menacing grin. "Dude, look—we all won our matches. So if you don't, Father will be so angry with you."
A cold sweat broke out on Bayu's neck at the mere thought of Mufasa's reaction to a loss. He gulped hard and nodded. "Ok... I will win this."
***
High above the planet in the quiet vacuum near the red star Colex-5411025, space twisted violently. A deep crimson portal opened in the empty void, and the Five-Armed Man stepped out, returning smoothly from the Lost World. He twirled his cosmic plunger on a lower finger, looking down toward the planetary arena with a quiet chuckle.
***
Bayu walked out onto the stone arena floor, the wind whipping gently around his robes.
Across the arena, his opponent stepped into the ring. Wielder was a ten-year-old boy with bright, confident eyes who specialized in Fire-Type techniques. According to the database, he possessed a summon classified at +z tier. Yet, as Wielder stood on the stone platform, he was completely alone.
He has a summon, but where is it? Bayu thought, narrowing his eyes as he scanned the empty space around the kid.
Taking a deep breath, Bayu took his stance. "Ok, I will end it as fast as possible!"
Wielder smirked, crossing his arms with surprising confidence for his age. "Let's see if you can."
"MATCH BEGINS!" the referee drone blared.
Bayu moved in an instant. He leaped into the air, instantly executing a high-speed Blink—a Normal-Type movement technique that allowed him to teleport mid-flight directly above Wielder.
Appearing in the air, Bayu swept his arms downward, releasing a torrential Hurricane. The violent, swirling vortex tore across the stage, completely blinding Wielder and obscuring his line of sight with howling wind and debris.
Capitalizing on the distraction, Bayu primed his hand for a follow-up strike. "AIR SLASH!"
A sharp, crescent-shaped blade of compressed wind shot through the swirling dust directly toward Wielder.
THUMP!
The wind blade slammed into a massive, heavy barrier. As the dust settled, a huge, wart-skin giant toad stood right in front of Wielder, having materialized in a split second to tank the entire combo without taking a scratch.
"Wah! A toad!" Bayu exclaimed in genuine surprise.
"Go! Take him down!" Wielder commanded from behind his summon.
The giant +z tier toad let out a deep, earth-shaking croak and charged straight at Bayu with terrifying speed.
Bayu swung his arm, firing another Air Slash, but the toad leaped over the gust with unnatural agility. Bayu quickly followed up with another Hurricane, but the chaotic winds swirled uselessly past as the toad shifted its weight mid-air.
BANG!
The toad's heavy foot slammed directly into Bayu's chest. The kinetic force hurled Bayu backward, sending him crashing violently into the arena's reinforced outer wall.
Groaning, Bayu scrambled up against the wall, raising his right hand to unleash another Air Slash. But before the wind could form, the toad dropped directly in front of him, sweeping its massive arm and launching Bayu clear across to the opposite side of the battlefield.
Bayu hit the ground hard, rolling across the stone floor. Desperate to turn the tide, he gathered dark energy around his fingertips as he sprang to his feet.
"PHANTOM CLAWS!" Bayu yelled, executing a swift Shadow-Type strike.
The dark energy claw slashed through empty air as the toad dodged it entirely, vaulting high into the sky and landing heavily on top of Bayu, pinning him flat to the ground.
Up in the participant balcony, Lam watched Bayu struggling under the massive creature's weight and shook his head. "Hah... Bayu isn't that strong, like us."
Asadullah just smirked, watching intently.
Down on the field, Bayu gritted his teeth under the overwhelming weight of the summon. "Not... yet!"
Bayu began channeling his internal Urja, summoning an immense aura of gathering currents. The winds around the arena began to howl violently, swirling into a tight vortex around his body.
Seeing the surge of power, Wielder shouted, "Finish him! FLAMETHROWER!"
The giant toad opened its wide maw, unleashing a massive torrent of blistering fire directly down onto Bayu.
Instead of dodging or panicking, Bayu grinned through the heat. As the roaring column of fire engulfed him, Bayu used his mastery over wind to catch the incoming flames, forcefully spinning the elemental fire into his own atmospheric vortex.
"FLAMING AIR BARRAGE!" Bayu roared.
The combined storm of high-pressure gale winds and intense fire violently exploded outward from under the toad. The superheated vortex ripped through the +z tier summon, completely overwhelming its defense grid. The giant toad let out a final croak before collapsing to the ground, defeated and dissolving back into spirit energy.
With the summon dispelled, Bayu burst out of the smoke, closing the distance to Wielder in a fraction of a second. He pulled his fist back, channeling raw physical force into his knuckles.
"MEGA PUNCH!"
BOOM!
Bayu's Brawl-Type strike landed squarely on Wielder, sending the young fighter sliding off the ring into the boundary zone.
The referee drone hovered over the fallen boy. "WINNER: BAYU!"
Bayu exhaled a long sigh of relief, wiping the soot from his forehead as he looked up at the screen. "Phew... Father won't kill me today."
***
High above in the orbit of Colex-5411025, the Five-Armed Man stood suspended in space, watching the final match wrap up on a hovering projection screen.
"Oh, that was a close call, isn't it?" the Five-Armed Man said with a dry laugh, twirling his plunger around his fingers.
He stretched his five arms, looking down at the planetary surface as the stadium lights began to dim.
"So... all the matches of Mufasa's sons are ended. At least their Round 1 matches are ended," he murmured, his central third eye narrowing slightly. "Now... it's time to hang with Necromancer."
With a flick of his wrist, a dark spatial rift opened beside him, and he stepped through, vanishing into the cosmic shadow.