Showtime

{Day: Tuesday}

{Time: 12:00 PM}

{Location: Summer City Stadium}

"Alright, our team is Georgia, Royal, Nova, Kasumi, Freya, and me. The others decided to sit this one out so she can help the others awaken and deal with some stragglers of the Crimson Crows." I said.

"Since it's a Team Tournament, we just need one point to win. So let's send out our best three to get this over and done with.." Kasumi said and crossed her arms.

"Right." I nodded and leaned against the wall.

"Good afternoon people of West Arkington and the world! The first Platinum Fist Tournament since 2024 has finally begun and martial artists from across the globe has come to Summer City to face off against the others to prove who's the best once again! I hope you all are pumped for this because I am!~ I am your host, Lady Trinity and I am—"

Papa Gregory took the mic from Trinity and sighed. "I am the actual host of this tournament, my assistant Trinity will be the secondary host. Let us give our teams a big cheer and wish them luck in the tournament!"

The crowd cheered loudly and the opening ceremony started. The opening ceremony was a band playing a fanfare and a famous rockstar named Ashley Ayami.

Ashley was a slender girl with a pale complexion. Her hair was a black, short, side-swept bob, with blue highlights and her eyes were teal. Her makeup consists of light smokey eyeshadow. A succubus like tattoo could be seen just below her clavicle. She wore a black shirt with the name The Darkness on the front, a white long sleeve t-shirt underneath her band shirt, black ripped jeans, and black boots.

"I know her." Georgia said and watched the performance.

"Who is she?" I asked as I watched the performance and listened to the crowd go wild.

"She's a close friend of Shiro and Lance. She's one of the hottest metal artists right now. She featured a lot on Who Am I and Global Superstars. She's also extremely strong using Alchemy with her music to turn her guitar into a weapon of destruction." Georgia said.

"So her guitar is also a weapon? I kinda wanna fight her so I can see this power you speak of, but I have to focus." Nova said and smiled.

After Ashley's opening performance, the brackets we're ready. Our first fight was against a team named New Solaris. Most of their team consisted of people who were able to use the Fire Element.

I stood up and looked at my team. "Alright, who's willing to come with me?"

Royal stood up and nodded at me. "Let's do this!"

Freya stood up as well. "I'll go."

"Alright, Team 1 is decided. Georgia, Nova, Kasumi, you three will have the honors of battling in the next one." I said.

"Right. Good luck you three~" Georgia said and smiled at us.

"Alright!~ Our first matches of Bracket A! We have Equinox vs. New Solaris, Crimson Crows vs. Regalis, Flora Power vs. Dawn Knights, and Eternals vs. Wadakata! Good luck to all of our participants!" Trinity said excitedly.

My team was first up and we walked into the battlefield. The tournament was being broadcasted across the globe for the world to see as the Platinum Fist Tournament is a legendary event.

{Your opponents are named Riku, Fiora, and Heidi. All of them specialize in the Fire Element, Heidi, their leader can wield Fire, Water, and Lightning. Be careful with him.}

Heidi looked at us and scratched the back of his head then yawned. "Alright...Let's see what you've all got. I'm ready to get this over with."

I stared at Heidi and looked at his team members. I looked at Freya and Royal. "You two ready?"

"Always!" Royal said and smirked.

"I will not let Mom down." Freya said and smiled.

The words begin showed up on a large screen and Heidi wasted no time dashing toward me. I dodged his strike then blocked his next kick. I tried to counter, but he dodged it and struck me with a powerful hook punch then kicked me away. He launched a powerful fireball at me and ran behind it.

I caught his fireball and absorbed it then released the energy from my body, knocking Heidi away. He grunted and slid backwards then noticed a bolt of lightning headed his way. He used his fingers as a lightning rod and absorbed the lightning.

'This guy is pretty good, but I can't let my guard down...I need to find an opening on him..' Heidi thought to himself.

I stared at Heidi then looked over at Freya. 'They don't seem like much of a challenge, but then again we have been trained by the best..' I thought to myself.

Freya flipped over Fiora and landed behind Fiora then struck her back. Fiora groaned and arched her back then grunted as she was kicked away by Freya. Freya dashed toward Fiora and hit her with a swiping chop, staggering her then grappled onto Fiora and used her Bio-Wind to propel herself in the air then came down with an Izuna Drop.

Freya jumped back and rushed toward Royal to help her out. Riku noticed Freya and dodged her attack then parried Royal then slid backwards then constructed two flaming hands behind himself. He dashed toward Royal and went for a right hook, but she blocked the initial strike but Riku's flaming hand struck Royal then the hand exploded and blew her away.

Royal recovered and slid backwards then smirked. She cloaked herself in lightning and stood up straight. "That one packed some heat, no pun intended...However I've toyed with you for quite enough!"

Riku looked at Royal and braced himself. He formed another hand of fire and looked serious. 'These Equinox people are something different. Their leader is just watching us...he doesn't even seem worried..'

Heidi stopped Riku from attacking and watched Fiora get up. "We need a change of plans. Everyone awaken!"

"Awaken?" Royal asked.

Riku smirked and chuckled. He began to generate a lot of energy then let out his battle cry and his aura surged powerfully around his body. Fiora grunted and markings appeared on her body then her aura spiralled around her body powerfully.

"You thought you had us beaten? We won't go down so easily! Not now, not EVER!" Heidi bellowed and his hair shined then became orangish red. His eyes shined a crimson red and his aura surrounded his body.

I looked at them and smirked. "I wasn't planning on taking this too seriously since I want to save my energy for worthy opponents."

Heidi took offense to my words. "What..? Who do you take us for?!"

Light blue mist appeared around the stadium and I sacrificed all of my Sloth Energy and began to utilize my Diligence Drive. Heidi, Riku, and Fiora looked around, noticing the light blue mist.

"I guess it's time for us to take things seriously now." I said and the Diligence Symbol shined on my back.

I hopped up and down then got into my battle stance. I dashed toward Heidi and surrounded myself in Esoteric Light Energy then began to strike Heidi at light speeds. I kicked him upwards and a bolt of of lightning struck him down. Heidi groaned and tried to recover, but I hit him with a superkick, blowing him away.

"Don't tell me that's all you've got!" I said and dashed toward Heidi.

'Their energies feel even stronger..! How is this possible?!' Riku through to himself and barely dodged Royal's attack.

Royal chuckled and her electricity crackled powerfully then she began to move around Riku at lightning speeds and rapidly struck his body then kicked him upwards. A pillar of light struck Riku and knocked him down. Royal hit Riku with a 540 Kick as he came down and knocked him away.

"Rush! Rush! Rush! Rush! Rush! The Equinox Team is showing insane strength and synergy! They've become Empowered by Kaden and his Diligence Drive!" Trinity announced.

Freya dodged each of Fiora's attacks then countered with a palm strike to her stomach, knocking her back. She threw a large orb of darkness at Fiora and it hit her. The orb exploded and knocked Fiora upwards then another beam of light struck down and knocked Fiora down. Freya rushed toward Fiora and jumped up, spinning rapidly then kicked Fiora to the ground.

Fiora groaned as she bounced back up and coughed a bit of blood as Freya came down with a powerful knee strike. They crashed to the ground and Freya rolled forward then dashed toward Heidi.

"Kaden!" Freya called out and cloaked herself in light energy.

I kicked Heidi away and knew it was time. I bellowed and began to awaken all my drives at once and the mist around the stadium turned white. "Mila, let's go!"

"Alright!" Mila said excitedly and her symbol shined brightly.

I awakened my Miracle Drive and white aura surrounded my body powerfully.

Shiro watched the battle from the distance and crossed his arms. He smirked and chuckled. "It feels kinda like my Full Power Ardour Form...He's grown stronger.."

"Yeah, but I can sense a lot of tax from Mila. She's trying her hardest to pull through for Kaden. Their auras are completely synced through. That's a bond you don't find just anywhere." Lustie said and smiled.

Shiro nodded and placed his hands in his pockets. "I'm glad I came out here...Just seeing his progress in person puts a smile on my face."

Heidi bellowed and began to awaken his full power and knocked Freya away then blocked my next strike and went for a multi-strike attack, but noticed I dodged each attack. 'What..? How did he—'

I struck his stomach and he groaned then I kicked him away. I gripped my wrist and raised it to the sky. Royal fired a powerful bolt of lightning at the sky and formed a raincloud. Thunder boomed and lightning began to crackle around the raincloud.

Heidi dashed toward me and bellowed then groaned when Freya kicked him away then rolled on the ground. Freya stomped on the ground multiple times and imprisoned Heidi in stone bars. Heidi tried to break out, but Freya kept the bars sturdy.

I snapped my fingers and a powerful white bolt of lightning crashed down on Heidi then caused a massive explosion. Royal grunted and slid back from the wind the explosion caused. Freya guarded herself and grunted softly.

The crowd watched in shock and watched the smoke clear. Nicholas watched and crossed his arms. He frowned and his eyes shined.

I lowered my arm and reverted to normal then walked off. "It's done."

Mila panted softly and closed her eyes. She smiled and floated after me.

The smoke cleared and Heidi reverted to normal and fell to the ground.

"Match over! Match over! The winner goes to Equinox!" Trinity cheered.

Papa Gregory smiled as he watched then nodded. "A fine opening battle from both sides, but when it comes to the Mitsuki Technique, there are little to no counters to it."

Shiro chuckled and walked off. "His next match won't be for a while. We've gotta get through all the teams before we see his team again."

"You sound like a supporter. Have you found respect for him?" Lustie asked as she followed Shiro.

"Let's just say after our first battle, I sensed promise. He has definitely showed it, however if he faces off against Gloria, Naomi, and Whitney, he won't have a chance." Shiro said and shrugged.

"That isn't very fair, Gloria is a Love Demon like me, Naomi leads an entire organization, and Whitney was personally trained by you and knows almost every technique you do. However he does utilize the power of his little entities so I guess it's fair to an extent." Lustie giggled.

"I'll let Gloria know to take it easy. He's lucky I didn't ask someone like Ikeshia to come out...We both know what she and her brother is capable of." Shiro said.

Lustie smiled and nodded. "They do come from my homeworld after all~"

{Time: 12:30 PM}

I checked on Mila and made sure she was okay. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine, my love~ As long as I haven't reached Full Tax, the tax goes away on its own..~" Mila said and smiled at me.

"That's why you shouldn't be begging him to use your power. All three of us can get taxed. Well I don't know about Akari since she's the Equinox between us." Rhea said.

"Oh I can get taxed as well. My Tax is my Spirit Energy is slowly drained the longer he's synced with me. At Full Tax, I'm practically dead until I've recovered." Akari said.

"Okay so she has it the worst, but still." Rhea said and crossed her arms.

"Is this what you go through everyday?" Nova asked.

I nodded and smiled. "I don't mind it though. They are only trying to help me. I just have to use their power carefully because if they get taxed too much, I can't use my Drives. Not that it's any problem, but if we run into a danger our normal skills can't handle, they are the only ones who can help us take them down."

"Good thing our battle isn't for a while so we have time to rest and think of a strategy." Freya said.

"Right. Mila, you take some time to rest alright?" I said and looked at Mila.

"Okay~" Mila said and nodded.

"Wow! An instant KO?!" Trinity said on the TV.

Nicholas looked down at his opponent and his eyes shined. He turned away and walked off. "I hope Shiro's watching, that's what we're gonna do to his team."

Lance nodded and followed Nicholas. "I still can't believe he'd turn tail on us like that...He's more of a snake than anyone else."

"He will realize his mistake.." Nicholas said.

I watched them on the TV and crossed my arms. "An instant KO..."

Kasumi closed her eyes and turned away. "Nicholas is just like you, Kaden. He also has two companions...I can only assume he learned how to use Sin and Virtue Drives just like you.."

"Yeah but they aren't like mine. Beatrix and whoever that other angel is can never be Rhea and Mila. Nicholas can run the discount versions all he wants, but in the end...I will destroy him for what he did.." I said.

Freya watched the TV as well and looked at her hands. "I want a rematch against him as well...His heart is too far gone. There's no bringing him back to us. Mom has already disowned him as well. He is no longer out brother."

I nodded and crossed my arms. "Once we rid of Nicholas and the Crimson Crows...Father is next. Then it's just me and Shiro.."

{Notice: To Be Continued!}