Act I: The Crushing Weight of Crimson
The air inside the arena grew heavy in an instant. The dark-crimson aura (Crimson Aura) emanating from around Bai-Long was no ordinary mist; it was a suffocating field of pure energy (Field of Pure Energy). Small chunks of stone from the shattered concrete floor defied the laws of gravity, floating into the air as if an invisible force were pulling them upward.
Watching this scene through the window of the VIP cabin were the Head Officer and Kai's training coach. Beads of sweat had formed on the coach's forehead.
"Head Officer..." the coach said, his voice trembling, "Has Bai-Long unleashed his aura? He was supposed to be an ordinary trainee! An aura of this caliber is usually only possessed by special cadets from first-rate military academies!"
The Head Officer placed his cigar in the ashtray and said coldly, "Bai-Long is a natural-born fighter. He has grown up since childhood in the rugged mountains and forests under the harshest laws of nature. His body and mind are already attracting magic energy, or 'Prana'. That boy, Kai, is truly unfortunate to face a monster like Bai-Long at this age. The game is already over."
Meanwhile, right in the middle of the ring, Kai stood holding his twin swords tightly. The concrete beneath his feet was cracking under the pressure of Bai-Long's aura. Kai felt as though someone had loaded a iron sack weighing several hundred kilograms onto his shoulders. With every breath, it felt as though he was inhaling boiling lead into his lungs instead of oxygen.
"Kai..." Bai-Long's voice no longer sounded human. His words echoed from all directions through the vibrations in the air. "This is my 'Tiger Heart Aura'. When I activate this, my physical strength and speed increase threefold. It is impossible to stand against this power with an ordinary sword or armor. I am giving you one last chance—quietly step out of the ring."
Kai closed his eyes for a moment. The weary face of his grandfather flashed before him.
*'Kai, when your body no longer complies, when everyone around you says you have lost... that is precisely when your true fight begins. The true fighter never doubts his own will!'*
Those words from his grandfather kindled a new light in the dark chambers of Kai's mind. Kai opened his eyes. His pupils were now glowing intensely. He wiped the blood trickling from the corner of his split lip with the back of his hand.
"I am not going back, Bai-Long!" Kai roared. "There is no such word as 'surrender' in my dictionary! Bring it on!"
"Very well!"
**BOOM!**
As Bai-Long took a single step forward from his position, the entire arena seemed to shake. His movement was no longer discernable to the naked eye. He became a mere flash of crimson light, appearing right in front of Kai. Drawing his right hand back, he unleashed a devastating punch aimed straight at Kai's chest—**"Calamity Strike!"**
Kai knew that attempting to block this punch directly meant certain death. Using all his reflexes and speed, he bent his body backward in a swift backbend. The punch whizzed past just a few millimeters above his chest. But the wind pressure from the strike was so immense that Kai's thin metal chest armor ripped down the middle, slicing his skin and drawing blood.
From that bent position, Kai used his twin swords to execute a sweeping attack aimed at Bai-Long's knee.
*CLANG!*
But the red aura surrounding Bai-Long's legs blocked the blades of Kai's swords. It felt as though an invisible layer of liquid iron had absorbed the momentum of the strike.
"Too slow!" Bai-Long barked, raising his knee to deliver a powerful kick straight to Kai's face.
Kai crossed his arms at the last second to block the kick, but the impact was so overwhelming that he was launched into the air, flipping several times before landing hard in the corner of the ring. The bones in both of his arms throbbed with numbing pain.
Act II: The Clashing Echoes of the Arena
While Kai was risking his life to keep a monster like Bai-Long occupied, a ferocious battle had broken out in the rest of the arena. Seeing Monica get injured, the other three members of Bai-Long's team erupted in fury. They realized that taking Kai's team for weak, ordinary trainees had been a grave mistake.
"You've got some nerve!" screamed Bobby's opponent—the Shadow Magic user named Ren. "You dared to hurt Monica! Now, you will all pay dearly for this!"
The shadows around Ren suddenly came to life. His own shadow on the ground stretched out, lunging rapidly toward Bobby.
"Bobby! Fall back!" Rick yelled, stepping in front of Bobby with his heavy metal shield.
*Shhhkk!*
The sharp shadows struck Rick's shield like arrows. Deep cracks splintered across Rick's metal shield. Rick stood his ground, gritting his teeth, though his feet began to slide backward across the floor.
"Bobby, I can't hold this back for long! His shadow attacks are melting the metal of my shield!" Rick gasped in pain.
Bobby gripped his sniper rifle, trying to track Ren's movements. But Ren was like an invisible specter in the air—appearing to the left of Rick one moment, and to the right the next.
"Bobby, don't focus on his body! Focus on the light!" Roose shouted from a distance. Roose himself was locked in a fierce struggle against a defense-type fighter. Roose's opponent was a massive fighter whose skin had turned a stony gray color—Earth Magic.
Roose had realized that Ren's Shadow Magic relied on the presence of light. Because of the bright midday sun in this open arena, the shadows of the surrounding pillars were extremely dark, and Ren was using those exact shadows to travel.
"The position of the light..." Bobby muttered. He quickly looked up through his sniper scope toward the shattered ceiling of the arena. A broken portion of the roof was letting in a harsh beam of sunlight right onto the pillar behind Ren.
"Rick, tilt your shield slightly to the right!" Bobby commanded.
"Done!" With all his might, Rick angled his shield toward the sunlight. The bright sun reflected off the polished metal surface of Rick's shield, casting a blinding glare directly onto the dark shadow behind Ren.
*Screeech!*
The sudden reflection of bright light disrupted Ren's shadow travel. Losing his balance, he was forced out of the shadows, solidifying back into his physical body. He shielded his eyes with his hand, trying to block out the light.
"Now, Roose!" Bobby screamed.
Roose did not waste a single second. He threw two toxic smoke bombs and three sharp daggers at Ren. The smoke bombs exploded at Ren's feet, enveloping the area in a thick fog and leaving Ren completely disoriented.
At that exact moment, Maria loaded three arrows onto her bowstring at once. Having defeated Monica, she felt a newfound wave of confidence.
"This is our coordinate strike!" Maria fired her arrows, aiming at the ground around Ren's feet—**"Tri-Arrow Bind!"**
The arrows pinned the fabric of Ren's trousers firmly to the ground, stripping him of his mobility.
"Great job, team!" Rick panted. But their sigh of relief was cut short. The Earth Magic user fighting Roose slammed his hands onto the ground.
"Earth Spike!"
*Rumble! Rumble!*
Suddenly, the concrete beneath the feet of Rick, Bobby, and Maria shattered as sharp stone spikes thrust upward. Forced to dodge, they scattered in all directions, completely breaking the team formation they had worked so hard to establish.
Act III: The Shattered Steel
Meanwhile, the battle between Kai and Bai-Long had reached a brutal and savage climax.
Kai's armor was now almost entirely obliterated. His left arm hung uselessly at his side, and the blood dripping from his forehead had partially blinded his left eye. Yet, his right hand still firmly held one of his double swords. His other sword had already been snapped in two by one of Bai-Long's heavy punches, its broken pieces lying uselessly on the ground.
"Are you still refusing to yield, Kai?" Bai-Long sighed, standing in place. The crimson aura around him burned even brighter. "Your friends are fighting, but you know very well that I could wipe out your entire team in an instant. Standing before me with that broken body of yours is pure foolishness."
Kai cast aside the hilt of his broken sword. He gripped his sole remaining weapon with both hands. His legs were shaking, but his stubborn resolve remained unshaken.
"Foolishness?" Kai smiled, a savage, primal thrill in his bloody grin. "Perhaps. But my grandfather used to say—fate itself is forced to bow before a man who fights until his very last drop of blood. I have come too far to give up now!"
Kai screamed with the last of his lung power, channeling all his remaining energy into a single point.
**"Swift Flow Style: Void Slash!"**
Kai dashed toward Bai-Long at the absolute limit of his speed. A violent gust of wind whipped up around him, forming a vortex around the blade of his sword. He swung his sword in a final strike, aiming directly at the center of Bai-Long's neck.
*Clang!*
But Bai-Long caught the blade of Kai's sword barehanded with his left hand!
Yes, without any weapon, using only his red, aura-infused hand, he stopped Kai's sword. The blade managed to slice slightly into the skin of Bai-Long's palm, and a single drop of crimson blood trickled down his hand.
"You actually managed to draw blood from my hand... Kai, I admire you," Bai-Long said, looking at Kai with calm eyes. "But the game ends here."
Bai-Long drew his right hand back. His entire fist now blazed with the fire of his crimson aura. If this punch connected with Kai's chest, there would be no surviving it.
Standing outside the arena, Lina could no longer hold back her tears. She cried out, "Kai! Move! Please, don't fight anymore!"
In the VIP cabin, the coach closed his eyes. He could not bear to watch his favorite student get destroyed.
Bai-Long's punch hurtled toward Kai's chest. Time seemed to slow down. Everything moved in slow motion. Kai watched as the giant fist advanced toward him. There was no fear in his heart, only a deep, bitter regret—would he never find his grandfather? Would he never take revenge on the cunning relatives who ruined his family?
*'No...'* A lion roared from deep within Kai's soul. *'I cannot die like this! I refuse to die here! I need more power... MORE POWER!'*
Act IV: The Awakening of the Forgotten Power
At that very moment of impending death, a dormant, ancient power within Kai's body awoke.
Kai recalled the words of the teacher in the classroom—*After one year, the best cadets get the chance to awaken their 'Magic Spark' at the Military Academy. For an ordinary person, doing this on their own is impossible.*
But was Kai ordinary?
Flowing through his veins was the blood of an ancient and powerful lineage, hidden away for years.
**THUMP!**
Kai's heart shuddered with a violent, resounding beat. A new, surging blue lightning energy (Blue Lightning Energy) began to course through his numb, exhausted veins.
*BZZZZZT!*
Suddenly, arcs of blue lightning crackled from Kai's body, tearing through the surrounding ground. His eyes, which had been blurred by blood, now blazed with an intense, brilliant blue glow!
"What... What is this?!" Bai-Long's pupils contracted in sheer shock. He could feel this surging blue electricity shattering the strength of his own crimson aura!
The sword in Kai's hand—which Bai-Long had been holding—was suddenly enveloped in the blue lightning. The blade vibrated so violently that Bai-Long was forced to yank his hand away.
"This energy..." The Head Officer stood up abruptly from his seat in the VIP cabin, dropping his cigar onto the floor. "This is no ordinary magic! This is... **Lightning Awakening!** Is he a natural-born magic user (Natural Awakener)? And of the Lightning Element?!"
The training coach could not believe his eyes. His lips trembled. "Kai... he awakened his own Magic Spark on his own in the face of absolute danger!"
⚡ Act V: The Clash of Red and Blue
The air around Kai was now filled with crackling sparks of blue lightning. The agonizing pain in his fractured hip and the utter exhaustion of his body vanished like mist, replaced by a miraculous power. His entire body was wrapped in an ethereal blue light.
"Bai-Long..." Kai spoke, his voice carrying the deep resonance of thunder. "Our battle starts now."
Kai took a new stance (Stance), holding his lightning-infused sword.
"Amazing..." A wide grin spread across Bai-Long's face. Instead of fear, he felt an overwhelming rush of excitement. "I knew you wouldn't disappoint me! Let's see just how strong your new power is!"
Bai-Long concentrated all of his crimson aura into his right fist. His right hand became a literal sphere of burning red energy—**"Tiger's Final Roar!"**
On the other side, Kai drew his sword back, channeling every ounce of his blue lightning into the blade. The blade shone so brilliantly that it rivaled the sun—**"Lightning God's Judgement!"**
The two trainees looked at each other one last time. In their eyes lay a profound mutual respect, and an absolute desire for victory.
**"GOOOOOO!"**
Both of them lunged forward from their spots at the speed of a bullet. In the center of the arena, a beam of crimson light and a beam of blue light surged toward each other.
**BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!**
The final collision of the two forces shook the entire military camp. The concrete roof of the arena came crashing down. The entire area was shrouded in a violent explosion of dust, debris, and red and blue light. Nothing was visible anymore, save for the roar of thunder echoing in the air and the final cry of a beast...
**[To Be Continued in Chapter 9...]**