Harpstein walks back into the stands. Peak is looking at him with amazement in his eyes. Azarath and Selene both congratulate him on his win. Peak wants to know how Harpstein won without taking any damage. Harpstein just laughs. The score is now 5-0 in the attack team's favor. The once impossible win now seems possible. It just rests on Peak's shoulders. Peak is so excited about his fight that he can barely contain himself. Peak goes to get ready for his fight.

  15 minutes later. The round is about to start. Truth walks back into the stand to watch with Harpstein, Selene, and Azarath.

  [Azarath: Why are you back?!?]

  Truth laughs with an arrogant tone.

  [Truth: After helping Blake tame them, I have some extra time. So let's see this fight.]

  ____________________________________________________________________________

  [Announcer: For the final fight of day 1 of The Ascended Crucible, we have a good one! Our first contestant was a vigilante! He loves jokes and fights, and he is the only Grade 1 of the vassals! Within the span of a week or two, he got to intermediate in the Akon and Mirror sword styles. He is a beginner in the ? sword style. Finally, he is Saint level in the Gold sword style! Give it up for… Peak Whitlock!]

  Peak comes bouncing into the arena with a smile on his face, clearly very happy it is his turn to fight. He has a specially made sword that can withstand his strength.

  ____________________________________________________________________________

  Selene looks over at Truth.

  [Selene: Sword styles, levels? What is that about.]

  Azarath laughs a little at Selene's ignorance. Harpstein is about to explain, but Truth stops him and starts his own explanation.

  [Truth: Four sword styles. ? Style: Uses the environment and the person's abilities along with the sword to create unpredictable scenarios that throw the opponent off guard and lead to an easy victory, hard to master. Akon Style: A bloodthirsty style that is only attack-based, and almost all of its techniques kill if they hit. Gold Style: An agility-based style that is based around getting hits off on your opponent as fast as possible. Due to this, it is less lethal cuts, and they rely more on dodging attacks than blocking them. Mirror style: A defensive-based style based around blocking and countering. Finally, the Sword God style that Akon, the strongest swordsman in history, used himself. It was a style so perfect it had to be split into other styles for people to learn a fraction of it. No one other than Akon is known to have learned any of Sword God's techniques.]

  [Selene: Thanks for that. What about those levels, though?]

  [Truth: There are seven levels to learning a technique. God: The strongest user of a style. Emperor: Top 5 strongest users of a style. King: The only requirement for this is to beat a Saint-class user of your style while also being a Saint in the same style. Saint: Completely mastering every technique of a specific style. Advanced: Mastered 5+ techniques. Intermediate: Mastered 2-4 techniques. Beginner: Knows 1-2 techniques. I will say it is a little odd. Aric is only an intermediate in the four styles, so how did Peak reach Saint rank?]

  Harpstein looks at Truth.

  [Harpstein: I did see Peak reading various books about the gold style from the library.]

  [Truth: Are you suggesting he mastered an entire style based on a book he read? Maybe I underestimated Peak. He might be an interesting person in the future.]

  ____________________________________________________________________________

  [Announcer: On the other side, we have another beast! With his electrifying aura and staff mastery, he is a deviating force! He also is a Netsu master! Not something you see every day! Welcome Hiroto Kazehara! Let the battle… Commence!]

  A muscular man enters without a shirt. His vivid purple hair stands tall like spikes, and he wears dark purple pants. With sharp teeth and no shoes, sparks of purple lightning flicker around him. He is wielding a big, golden staff. He has sharp purple eyes with slit pupils like a cat.

  [Hiroto: Yo bigman! No hard feelings! I only entered this tournament to fight. I could care less about the prize. So show me a good time. I might let you live!] The aura around Hiroto starts to go insane with lightning flashing everywhere.

  Peak readies a stance, but he sees a streak of lightning. Hiroto is already behind him.

  [Hiroto: Come on man, you gotta be faster then-]

  Without skipping a beat, Peak turns around to punch Hiroto. Hiroto goes to jump back, but he can’t move. He looks down to see his feet covered in webs.

  *Hiroto: Fuck!*

  『Spiderlimb Strike』

  An acid-covered fist hits Hiroto square in the chest. The force would have sent him flying, but the webs kept him in place. Peak goes to cut Hiroto with his sword. Hiroto blocks with his staff.

  『Shockfest』

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  A bunch of lightning bolts emit in a circle from Hirotos body, all culminating in the staff as if it were a lightning rod. The lightning goes through Peak's sword and into his body.

  [Peak: AHHHH!!!]

  Peak screams in pain as thousands of volts flood his body. Hiroto keeps it up for a few seconds before stopping the lightning. Peak falls to the ground, smoke emanating from his body.

  [Hiroto: I get you are a Low Grade 1, but is this really all you can do? I had better hopes, man.]

  Hiroto turns to walk to the exit but sees Peak in front of him in a stance.

  *Hiroto: Wait? What? Peak was just on the ground behind me?*

  『Gold Style 7th form: Sword God Speed』

  Around thirty cuts appear all over Hirotos body. Hiroto quickly summons a big bolt.

  『Zues』

  Hiroto grabs the big bolt in his hand and throws it at Peak like a projectile. He shoots the bolt off at the speed of lightning. Peak gets into another stance.

  『Mirror Style 2nd form: Full counter』

  Peak quickly sidesteps the bolt, closes the distance, and sends a slash directly at Hirotos neck. The blade stops. It hit Hirotos neck, but it didn’t cut. The blade stopped dead at his neck. Peak notices a small transparent grey aura covering his neck.

  *Peak: Huh? What is that?*

  Hiroto moves with lightning speed and shifts beneath Peak. He prepares an open palm, surrounded by the same grey aura, and thrusts it forward.

  『Netsu Blast』

  Blood spills from Peak's mouth as he's slammed against the wall.

  *Peak: How? His palm didn’t touch me! Shit, that hit did a lot of damage!*

  Peak's sword is on the ground a few feet away from him. Peak wants to get up to grab it, but he needs to stay on his knees and rest from that last attack. After a few seconds, the smoke clears, and Peak is forced to stand up.

  [Peak: I'm still alive goofy! I got this!]

  Hiroto looks stunned before clapping and smiling.

  [Hiroto: I like you! Let’s be friends!]

  [Peak: Sure!]

  Hiroto thinks about how easy that was for a second.

  [Hiroto: Since we are friends now, I won’t kill you! That being said, I still want to win!]

  Hiroto uses his lightning speed and goes in for a punch. Even without his sword, Peak is able to use Full Counter and punches Hiroto in the face.

  *Peak: A wall?*

  No damage, the grey aura stopped the attack again.

  『Shockfest』

  Thousands of volts start to invade Peak's body again. Peak quickly jumps back, but it still does a lot of damage. Peak looks around and uses a web to grab his sword.

  *Peak: So he can attack me? I can’t attack him.*

  Peak pouts and looks at Hiroto.

  [Peak: Hey, this is unfair! You have some grey stuff around you! What is that?]

  Hiroto looks confused.

  [Hiroto: You can see netsu? No, more importantly, you are students of Aric, and you don’t know what netsu is?!?]

  Peak still looks clueless.

  [Hiroto: Because we are best friends, I will tell you. Netsu is the life force of everything! Everything emits or has netsu. Attacks use netsu. With every hit you take, you lose netsu. Around 1 in 100 people are like me and can manipulate their own netsu for devastating attacks or reinforce it to bolster defense! It’s just surprising cause Aric’s whole ability is called “Netsu Manipulation”.]

  Peak's eyes glow.

  [Peak: Really?!?]

  [Hiroto: Yeah, why do you think Aric is widely considered the strongest man in the world? He can manipulate the netsu of anything, including nonliving things. Meaning not only does he have an unlimited amount of netsu for himself, but he can also transform the surrounding netsu into anything he wants. It is a godlike power. He can even take away other people's powers by stealing their netsu.]

  Peak starts bouncing.

  [Peak: Wow! I didn’t know Aric was so cool! Thanks! Can I learn this too?]

  [Hiroto: No problem bigman. Remember I said you gotta be born with the ability to manipulate your own netsu, it isn't something you can just learn. Let’s give it a shot, though! It is all about energy. Think about the energy you emit and how that interacts with the energy around you! Try to move it!]

  To Hiroto's surprise, a grey energy forms around Peak. It starts changing shape according to what Peak wants.

  [Hiroto: Well, color me silly, bigman! You can manipulate your own netsu! Congrats, let’s see if you will be able to try it out!]

  Hiroto gets ready to summon more lightning, but Peak is now under him with his palm out. Netsu is covering his palm.

  *Hiroto: No way. That’s what I used on him earlier!*

  『Netsu Blast』

  Peak thrusts his palm forward and sends Hiroto hurling into the opposite wall. Hiroto starts to get up.

  *Hiroto: Impossible! He only saw my attack once, and he learned it? He is also covering his body in netsu consistently as well. What the fuck is his learning curve? I need to be careful about showing him attacks he can reproduce.*

  Hiroto gets up from the rubble.

  [Hiroto: Hey bigman. I got a question. What is your goal? Ambition?]

  Peak thinks for a second before smiling a huge smile.

  [Peak: It is simple: I want to help all that need to be helped! I want to bring smiles to children across the globe! Most of all, I want to save the world!]

  Peak addresses the entire audience, including Hiroto, who appears stunned. The sincerity of his desire and the clarity of his voice are evident. He truly meant everything he said. A tear streams down Hiroto's face.

  [Hiroto: I was wrong… You are not my friend… YOU ARE MY BROTHER!!!!]

  Peak lets out an audible [Huh?] in confusion as Hiroto smiles bigger. Hirotos netsu grows and grows. Lighting starts appearing all within his netsu.

  [Hiroto: BIGMAN! I HAVE DONE YOU A DISSERVICE! I WON'T HOLD BACK ANYMORE!]

  Crackle crackle crackle

  Various crackles appear all over the arena. Each making noise in turn. A beat starts to form.

  [Hiroto: Can you hear it, Bigman? I call it “Techno” music!]

  『Techno Ring』

  A large grid of lightning covers the entire barrier that surrounds the arena.

  [Peak: What is this?]

  Hiroto looks energized!

  [Hiroto: This is my Techno Gate! By covering the arena with lightning grids, I can send my netsu to the grids. Spreading it out across the whole arena! With my netsu covering the whole arena, it acts as a pseudo-domain! Buffing all of my stats to a Grade 1! Let’s finish this with an epic clash!]

  Hiroto materializes a giant lightning spear and gets ready to charge.

  『The Chariot of Zeus』

  Infusing his legs with lightning, he speeds at Peak. Peak gets into a stance.

  『Gold Style Ultimate Form: Legs of the Sword God』

  They both appear behind one another. Peak has a large burn mark on his chest from the spear. Both of Hirotos's writs suddenly get slit, and get drops his spear. Peak jumps in front of him and capitalizes on this opportunity.

  『Akon Style form 1: Whirlwind slash』

  Peak grabs his sword handle with both of his hands and spins it around for momentum. He aims at Hirotos chest. Hiroto infuses his chest with netsu to defend. In response, Peak infuses his sword with netsu and cuts through Hirotos chest like butter. Blood pours out as Hiroto falls to the ground. Peak walks up to Hiroto.

  [Hiroto: You gonna finish me off?]

  Peak looks at Hiroto.

  [Peak: I'm going to knock you out. After all… I can’t hurt my Bruzza!]

  Hiroto starts crying.

  [Hiroto: You are so kind! My Bruzza!]

  Peak punches Hiroto in the face with a netsu infused punch and knocks him out cold.

  [Announcer: The winner is… Peak Whitlock via knockout! The score is 6-0, and the Attackers team wins the first game of the Ascended Crucible!]

  The crowd goes wild as Peak raises his hand in the air.

  To be continued…