The monitor in the waiting room flickered as the camera zoomed in on the main stadium. Match 4 of the quarter-finals was a grueling, grinding war of attrition.
Daigo Kurogami's Doomscizor was executing its jagged, bouncing Quake Shoot with relentless precision. It struck the green layer of Ken Midori's Kerbeus from completely unpredictable angles, trying to force a fatal tilt.
But Ken wasn't moving. He stood at the edge of the arena, his eyes wide but completely focused. His hands were raised, the blue and brown puppets leaning forward as if they were physically shielding him.
"Hold the line, Kerbeus!" the blue puppet, Keru, barked aggressively. "Don't give him an inch!"
Kerbeus's layer was shaped like a heavy chain. Every time Doomscizor struck, the rounded, continuous defense absorbed the shock, dispersing the kinetic energy smoothly around its circumference. It didn't try to counter. It just absorbed.
Daigo gritted his teeth, a bead of sweat running down the side of his face. He knew the math. His Quake driver was burning through its stamina twice as fast as Ken's smooth defense tip. He needed a burst, and he needed it immediately.
"One more time!" Daigo commanded. "Tear it open!"
Doomscizor bounded off the stadium wall, dropping down for a massive, downward strike. But as it hit the plastic, the unbalanced tip caught a microscopic groove in the arena floor. The timing was off by a fraction of a second.
Instead of striking Kerbeus with the heavy scythe contact point, Doomscizor hit flat against the chain layer. The recoil was instantaneous and violent.
Doomscizor bounced backward, entirely stripped of its remaining rotational speed, and hit the stadium floor.
*Clack.*
It stopped dead.
The referee chopped his hand down. "Spin Finish! One point to Ken Midori! With a score of two to zero, Ken Midori advances to the semi-finals!"
Ken let out a massive, shaky breath, dropping to his knees. The brown puppet, Besu, cheered softly. Daigo walked over, picked up his Bey, and looked at Ken. He didn't look angry. He just looked completely exhausted. He offered Ken a respectful nod before turning to leave the stage.
In the waiting room, Ryu O'Hara stood up.
The quarter-finals were officially over. The brackets shifted on the massive digital board.
*Semi-Final 1: Ryu O'Hara vs. Valt Aoi.*
*Semi-Final 2: Shu Kurenai vs. Ken Midori.*
"Alright!" Valt cheered, jumping out of his chair. He spun around to face Ryu, practically vibrating with adrenaline. "It's time! I've been waiting all day for this!"
Ryu looked at Valt. The boy had been sitting in that chair for exactly forty-five minutes.
"I am going to get some air," Ryu said flatly. He turned and walked out the door before Valt could attempt another physical embrace.
The lower corridors were packed with stadium staff, but Ryu bypassed them, taking a service stairwell up to the VIP observation deck. The upper concourse was entirely deserted, offering a massive glass wall that overlooked the sprawling Tokyo skyline. The late afternoon sun painted the concrete buildings in deep shades of orange and violet.
It was quiet.
"You're slacking."
Ryu stopped. He didn't sigh, but his shoulders dropped a fraction of an inch.
Standing a few feet away, leaning against the thick glass railing, was Lui Shirasagijo. He wasn't wearing his usual flamboyant fur boa today, just a dark training jacket. His blue hair caught the sunset, and his jagged teeth were bared in a sharp, entirely unamused smirk.
"Lui," Ryu acknowledged quietly, walking up to the glass a safe distance away from the aggressive blader. "I wasn't aware you cared about the District qualifiers."
"I don't," Lui scoffed, turning his head to look out at the city. "I care about the National roster. I came to see if anyone here was actually worth my time. So far, it's a joke."
Lui turned his sharp eyes toward Ryu. "Except for you. And you're playing with your food. That match against Hoji was pathetic."
"It lasted less than ten seconds," Ryu pointed out, looking at his own reflection in the glass.
"You let him set up a wind barrier," Lui snapped, pushing off the railing and stepping closer. "You just sat there and let him dictate the opening pace. If you try that passive garbage against me, I will shatter Nidhogg into dust before you even realize you've lost the center."
Ryu turned to face him. Lui's competitive fire wasn't just an act; it was a physical pressure that radiated off him in waves. Lui was obsessed with absolute, overwhelming dominance from the very first rotation. He fundamentally hated Ryu's reactive, analytical style.
"It was a tactical drop to bypass an aerodynamic defense," Ryu said, his voice entirely calm. "It required minimal energy expenditure."
"It was boring," Lui shot back, stepping into Ryu's personal space. His eyes burned with an intense, furious demand. "Listen to me, Ryu. You've been sitting on that island for too long. You're starting to believe you're untouchable. But the kid you're facing next—Valt."
Ryu blinked. It was rare for Lui to even acknowledge another blader by name, let alone a rookie.
"He's an idiot," Lui continued, his voice dropping to a low, heavy register. "He has no technique, no strategy, and his footing is a mess. But he swings a hammer. A massive, heavy hammer. If you just stand in the center and expect your hollow layer to absorb everything, he is going to crack you wide open."
Lui backed away, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets. "Don't embarrass yourself. And more importantly, don't break your Bey before I get the chance to do it myself at Nationals."
Without waiting for a response, Lui turned and walked down the concourse, disappearing into the shadows of the stairwell.
Ryu stood alone in the quiet hallway. He looked down at the city. The traffic flowed in perfect, predictable lines.
He reached into his pocket, his thumb brushing against the jagged rubber edge of Nidhogg's driver. Lui was right about one thing. Valt was a hammer. And Ryu had spent the last three days teaching that hammer exactly how to strike with maximum efficiency.
He pulled his hand out of his pocket.
"Will all competitors for the first Semi-Final match please report to the main stage immediately," the intercom chimed.
Ryu turned away from the glass. The silence was over.
---
Walking out onto the main stage for the semi-finals felt completely different than the earlier rounds. The ambient lighting in the stadium had been lowered, leaving only the blinding, concentrated spotlights focused entirely on the center arena.
The roar of the crowd was a physical weight. Thousands of people were chanting, stomping their feet, and waving glowing batons.
"Tokyo, are you ready for this?!" Hanami screamed into his microphone, standing right at the edge of the stage. "We are down to the final four! And kicking off the semi-finals is a match nobody predicted! In the red corner, the undefeated, unmoving wall of the tournament, Ryu O'Hara! And in the blue corner, the miracle rookie who just won't stay down, Valt Aoi!"
Valt jogged out of the tunnel, waving both arms wildly at the crowd. He was beaming, soaking in the noise and the pressure as if it were oxygen. He stopped at the stadium edge, pulling his new carbon-fiber grip from his belt and locking Valkyrie onto it.
Ryu walked up to the opposite side. He didn't look at the crowd. He pulled his heavy, custom-machined launcher from his belt.
He locked Eclipse Nidhogg into place. *Click.*
"I promised I wouldn't hold back, Ryu!" Valt called out over the noise of the arena. He dropped into his launch stance. His back foot planted firmly. His knees bent, dropping his center of gravity. It was the exact, flawless foundation Ryu had corrected on the roof.
Valt's brown eyes locked onto Ryu, completely devoid of their usual goofy warmth. Right now, he was a blader. "I'm coming straight for the center!"
Ryu stood perfectly upright. He held his launcher casually at waist height. He didn't offer a smirk or a nod. He just held Valt's gaze.
"Prove me wrong then," Ryu said quietly.
The referee stepped up to the edge of the plastic, raising his hand high into the air.
"First Battle! Ready... Set!"
The entire stadium took a collective breath. The noise vanished, leaving only the hum of the spotlights.
"Three!" Valt roared, his voice tearing through the silence.
"Two," Ryu stated.
"One!"
"Go Shoot!"
Both ripcords were ripped with massive, explosive force.
Valt's torso twisted perfectly. The carbon-fiber grip absorbed the shock. Valkyrie hit the stadium's upper ridge with a terrifying *crack*. The rubber driver bit into the plastic with absolute traction, tearing down the slope as a blinding blue streak.
Ryu didn't use a light launch. He pulled his arm back with a sharp, heavy snap.
Nidhogg hit the dead center of the stadium. The deep, vibrating hum it produced was so loud it echoed through the microphones. The dark violet layer was a blur of pure, immovable mass.
"Rush Shoot!" Valt screamed, throwing his fist forward.
Valkyrie banked hard off the lower slope, turning its massive rotational speed directly inward. It didn't bounce. It didn't hesitate. It slammed into Nidhogg head-on.
The collision was deafening. A shower of white-hot sparks erupted from the center of the stadium, illuminating the faces of the bladers.
Up in the spectator stands, Rantaro gripped the railing so hard the metal groaned. Daigo leaned entirely over the edge. Shu was standing completely still, his red eyes tracking the impact.
Valkyrie rebounded off the heavy mass of Nidhogg, hit the stadium wall, and rocketed back for a second strike in a fraction of a second.
*Clash!* Sparks flew again.
*Clash! Clash! Clash!*
Valkyrie was attacking with a ferocity that defied logic. The star-shaped pattern of the Rush Shoot was tighter, faster, and significantly heavier than anything Valt had produced before. The sheer kinetic force of the repeated impacts was causing the entire plastic stadium to physically shudder.
Ryu stood completely still, his mismatched eyes tracking the blue blur.
*His strike rhythm is flawless,* Ryu calculated, feeling a faint, unfamiliar spike of adrenaline in his chest. *He isn't letting the stadium wall dictate his rebound. He is controlling the angle. He is maintaining maximum velocity.*
In the center of the stadium, Nidhogg was taking the hits. The hollow outer layer absorbed the shock, but the force was compounding.
Valkyrie hit a sixth time. Then a seventh.
The dark violet Bey began to skid. It was only millimeters, but the immovable wall was being pushed backward.
"Keep going, Valkyrie!" Valt roared, his face flushed with effort. "Break through!"
Valkyrie dropped slightly lower on the slope, accelerating into an eighth strike with terrifying momentum. It slammed directly into Nidhogg's side.
*Click.*
The sound cut through the noise of the clashes like a gunshot.
Inside Nidhogg's layer, the heavy metal weights snapped violently to the outer edges. The entire center of gravity shifted in a microsecond. The Bey titled, the jagged rubber of the Phantom driver catching the stadium floor.
The crowd gasped. The wall had moved.
"Eclipse Counter," Ryu said, his voice entirely calm, but laced with a heavy, undeniable intent.
Nidhogg exploded from the center. It lunged at Valkyrie. The dark Bey accelerated with ungodly speed, tearing across the plastic to intercept Valkyrie mid-rebound.
But Valt didn't panic. He didn't flinch. He had been waiting for this exact moment.
"I knew you'd move!" Valt yelled, throwing both hands forward.
Instead of letting Valkyrie take the counter-attack head-on, Valt screamed his command.
"Flash Shoot!"
Valkyrie hit the stadium wall just as Nidhogg lunged. But instead of bouncing back horizontally, Valkyrie used the steep angle of the lower groove to drop its height entirely. It ducked under Nidhogg's immediate trajectory, banking sharply and accelerating with a jagged, unnatural burst of speed.
Ryu's eyes widened.
Valt had weaponized the Flash Shoot not out of stamina decay, but as a deliberate, high-speed evasive maneuver.
Valkyrie shot up the opposite slope, using the momentum to climb the ridge, and then dove straight back down, directly at the exposed, aggressive flank of Nidhogg.
Nidhogg, having missed its counter-attack target, was still moving at maximum velocity across the stadium.
The two Beys were on a direct collision course, both traveling at their absolute peak speeds, carrying the massive weight of their respective layers.
"Tear it apart!" Valt screamed.
Ryu didn't speak. He just watched the two blurs converge. The usual logic was entirely out the window. This was pure, raw consequence.
They collided.
The resulting shockwave of displaced air blew outward, physically whipping Ryu's silver hair back and making Valt stumble a half-step. The sound was like a hammer striking an anvil. A massive, brilliant burst of sparks flooded the center of the stadium, blinding the cameras for a fraction of a second.
Both Beys were violently thrown backward by the sheer force of the kinetic transfer.
Valkyrie hit the upper slope, teetering dangerously on the edge of the rim, its rubber driver screaming against the plastic as it fought to stay inside the arena.
Nidhogg hit the opposite wall, its heavy metal weights grinding against the basin. The dark Bey wobbled heavily, its stamina severely drained by the massive impact.
For three agonizing seconds, both Beys scraped against the plastic, fighting to stabilize.
Then, Valkyrie's rubber driver gave out. The friction was gone.
The blue Bey tipped over, scraping to a complete, dead halt on the upper slope.
A second later, Nidhogg hit the lower floor, wobbled twice, and settled onto its sharp center tip, spinning with a weak, dying hum.
The stadium was completely paralyzed. Nobody breathed.
The referee stared at the arena, his eyes darting between the two Beys. He slowly raised his hand toward Ryu.
"Spin Finish," the referee announced, his voice trembling slightly over the microphone. "One point to Ryu O'Hara."
The crowd exhaled, a massive, collective sound of disbelief. It wasn't a burst. It was a brutal, grinding survival.
Valt dropped to his knees, staring at Valkyrie. He was breathing heavily, sweat dripping from his chin. He reached down and picked up his Bey. It was completely intact, just out of spin.
He didn't look angry. He looked up across the stadium at Ryu, his brown eyes burning brighter than before.
Ryu walked over and picked up Nidhogg. The metal wasn't just warm; it was hot. He looked at the white paint on the layer. There was a deep, visible scratch running right across the center.
Valt had actually damaged the layer.
Ryu closed his hand around the Bey. He looked across the stadium at the rookie who had just pushed him closer to the edge than any normal blade ever had.
"That was just the first point," Valt said, standing up and locking Valkyrie back onto his grip. He wiped his face with his sleeve. "I'm going to hit you even harder this time."
Ryu stood up straight. He slipped Nidhogg onto his heavy launcher. He didn't feel bored. He didn't feel the crushing apathy that had plagued him for years.
He felt the heavy, thumping rhythm of his own heartbeat.
"I expect nothing less," Ryu replied, his voice carrying a sudden, sharp edge.
He lowered his stance, planting his feet firmly against the stadium floor. For the first time in his life, Ryu O'Hara was actually preparing to fight.
...
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