An ambient aroma of rose petals and cheap perfume swam through the air. The clouds were striding sluggishly as the crowd applauded for the tense conflict below.

At the midst of the temple were twin siblings that stood in front of each other, filled with different personalities and goals but arrived here for one reason only—to fight. Keiko and her brother gave off a stern look towards one another as if they disregarded their relationship as a family and saw each other as mere obstacles. The atmosphere around them was so cold it was like you could exhale condensation.

Haruto could sense this just from the monitor alone. Though the tension around them was great, the screams from the audience silenced it, making their confrontation a stand-out amongst the stadium.

"They seem really serious about this thing." Haruto thought. Thinking of what could happen during the match but also how fast it could end. "Well, it's only a small sparring match. How much is it gonna hurt?"

Taekwando and Muay Thai, both different but very effective fighting styles. The former uses agility, speed, and quick attacks while the latter uses every limb in their body to enact powerful and devastating fast blows that could crack a victim's skull. Tonight was the night that Haruto would witness what these two fighting styles really look like when they collide. He never got to see it in personal throughout his life, only through talks and video clips online but he knew it was a fierce and lethal technique.

Keiko stared at her brother dagger-eyed. She took a step closer to make sure her brother could hear what she would say. She muttered. No one could figure out what she mumbled and she stepped back to ready herself again.

The wind, howled through the night, a gentle breeze dancing across the hunching audience, on it carried a fresh sakura petal on top of dust and rubble. Flying through the middle of the siblings and finally, landing on the center of the field.

Without a moment's notice, they ran, both of them charging towards the enemy to strike like an assassin's bullet fired at its target, and as quickly as they ran, they came in contact. Amidst the vibrant environment and the entertainment that was being broadcasted in front of him, there was only one thing that clouded Haruto's mind, how he felt about the tournament. Describing it with merely one word, he uttered to himself.

"Awesome"

The air around them vibrated as both their legs came into contact with sheer force, enough to push both of them away. But it wasn't enough, they continued. Attacking each other with punches, slashes, kicks, and many more deadly attacks, all cheered upon by the audience.

"Wow sis, you're really giving me a hard time here aren't you?" Gokuro said sarcastically as his arms trembled in contact with her sister's. He caught his breath. His eyes flashed and he gave a broad grin all the while laughing menacingly at her. "But let's see how well you do with this, bitch!"

As the wind howled again, he ran towards his prey once more, Gokuro enacted the first strike, this time attacking with very heavy punches. But she proved that she wasn't weak and used her agility to dance around him like a ballet. Keiko was fast, twisting and turning like a snake slithering through every grasp. With every missed attack from her brother, she retaliated. Her hand movements that somehow imitated graceful fluttering butterflies, hit her psychotic brother. But after a moment, they stopped. Retreating from each other as they caught their breaths. As the crowd continued to applaud the two of them, Haruto noticed something from the boy.

"How did you get hurt from that?" Haruto thought.

The camera zoomed in on Goruko, revealing the various small cuts on his face, arm, and chest. His red liquid slowly dripped down from his hands to his toes, causing the ground beneath him to turn red. Haruto, having noticed this, began to wonder what was happening. Something was off.

The camera zoomed in on the girl, showcasing her elegant, tied long-hair, almost like Sayozane's hair, it looked soft and smooth, like a string of cloth dangling from a beautiful dress, she was beautiful but somehow at the same time, gave off an aura of danger, the camera zoomed in on her even more but there was nothing on her that could potentially inflict a wound on the boy, but she did, and no one knew how.

"What's going on?" Haruto thought, his focus on the monitor became more apparent.

But the battle didn't stop, neither of them wanted to give the other a chance to breath. Gokuro ran toward her and fought more ferociously, using kicks and punches to overwhelm her. It was working, the pressure was pushing her back against the wall and she needed to do something quick. She tripped on a rock, her body becoming off-balance and Gokuro used it to his advantage, delivering an elbow uppercut to her chin that sent her flying into the air and crashing straight into the dusty ground. But Gokuro wasn't finished. He jumped high into the air. Readying his fist and descending on top of the still girl. Haruto and the crowd held their breaths. 'Was this going to be the finishing blow?' They thought.

The earth shook and smoke of dust enveloped the two as Gokuro slammed into the ground. The arena became silent. There was no sign of the girl in the smoke and they feared the worst.

But the sounds of surprised gasps took the audience.

Jumping out of the mist, a weakened fighter landed on the ground, her clothes all tattered and dirty, Keiko, seemingly unharmed from his attack, survived the crash. But upon closer inspection, her mouth was bleeding, it seemed that the blow on her chin earlier was really devastating. She touched her chin, her fingers getting soaked in her own bodily fluid, she stared at it.

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This was no more friendly tournament, but an all-out battle for who could survive. She closed her eyes and clenched her fist. The wind stopped howling and the crowd's voices faded away. Everyone could feel something resonating from her, a burning sensation that burst into an inferno. She opened her eyes and wiped the blood off her face.

The smoke dissipated to uncover the dust and rubble that came out from the ground. At the edges of the circle small cracks that came from the epicenter. When the smoke finally revealed what it hid, the audience gasped. Glowing in the center of the arena, a fading green light of a symbol, the wind blew away the smoke and it revealed the Muay Fighter inside with his fist still inside the ground. The tattoos on his arm were glowing. His gigantic grin terrified some of the audience as he turned to face his sister with the look of a murderer.

"What the hell?!" Haruto said to himself as he watched in horror over what was happening outside.

The air around Gokuro swirled like a hurricane and his robes were dancing in the wind.

"I've always wanted to do this, sister. Let's finish this fight!" He screamed.

The final part of their battle was here, as she took off her robe to reveal her covered chest, she closed her eyes and became still. The wind around her fell into a void before shooting upstream. Creating a poweful aura that rivalled that of Gokuro's. "Then I shall respond to you in full power as well, brother!" She answered back. Her wide-open eyes revealed the lavender-like pupils inside, glowing with an iridescent gem-like purple light. Everyone watched in shock as the battle transformed into a much more powerful conflict.

In the blink of an eye, both of them ran at blinding speeds. Gokuro attacks because faster and stronger, his body almost resembled a hurricane during his onslaught. But Keiko seemed untouchable, evading each and every attack thrown, dancing through the chaos with majestic movement like a string of ribbon. They both gave their all in this final match, the air around them swirled aggressively as the winds slashed their threads and the dirt on the ground. Haruto stared closely at the abnormal fighting that was occruring, not even the audience was given a moment to blink in this powerful match. They seemed excited in what was revelling. From the intense kick they gave each other, to the blows and slashes under the vibrant night sky, it almost looked like a performance, a dance, no, rather, a waltz. And a deadly one indeed.

As the fight progressed, each second grew more intense as blood and tears of cloth wreath the fighters. Their dance took a toll on both of them, eventually slowing down from exhaustion, Gokuro, in particular, became sluggish, his attacks getting slower and slower as the battle went on. Fatigue covered his face and Keiko had found her opportunity. She parried his attack and flung his fist into the air.

"Sorry brother, this is the end!" She kept her fingers closed as she readied them for one final slash at her target, with his opponent off-balance, she swung her hand towards his throat. This was it, the final blow, Haruto and the crowd couldn't keep their eyes off of them, with the switch of her hand, she held his leg up to prevent him from using his left kick. But as Keiko was just about to finish him off, his brother's grin startled her again and she lost concentration. Gokuro spun his body and parried the blow from his sister and not just that, he used his other leg spin around and attack her, a powerful kick to the head that sent his sister flying towards the walls. Crashing and causing a small shockwave around the arena.

The crowd went silent for a moment, Haruto's mouth and eyes remained wide open, horrified by the outcome of this round. Gokuro stood up and rested his palms on his knees, his grin was gone but his smile became wide. The match was finally over.

The thunderous praise of the audience filled the night. They praised him for putting up such a godd fight and he basked in their glory. The smoke from the crash slowly faded to show the girl lying down on the floor, unconscious and bloody.

Haruto took a step back as he tried to process what had happened. 'But what did happen?' He thought to himself. His mind couldn't comprehend what he saw. It was a lot to take in. His eyebrows drew themselves closer as his vague frustration became more apparent. Every question that came into his mind only had more questions for answers, they surged him, shocking him. Everything about that match seemed unpredictable.

Some things that he witnessed were not something you'd usually see in real life, cutting someone's flesh with your own hands or sending them flying towards the wall wasn't exactly something that could happen in real life. The only time things like that happened were in movies and anime. "What is going on?" He kept asking himself.

As he stood there wondering and scrambling in his sweaty thoughts, he lost track of his surroundings and the noises of the people slowly faded away. His heart beated faster then before and a creeping feeling of fear crawled up his spine. A blow from a whistle sent him back to reality and he recovered from his state of mental shock. The light from the monitor flickered and he saw that the next match had abruptly started. He took a closer look towards the contestans and realised it was Sayozane. The situation became dire and he panicked once again. "If things like that happened in the first match, what's going to happen in the second?" He thought. But to his surprise and relief, the emcee called out Kenriki's name and he came walking from the door of the waiting room.

"Great..." Haruto whispered to himself. At least his friends were only fighting each other and not some random contestant who might have some bone-breaking or wall shattering abilities that could kill them in an instant.

But then he realised something else. He turned and saw everyone else still looking away from each other. They didn't want to make eye contact nor did they make a sound. Everyone could be a threat and they didn't give any sign if they did. Some of them had weapons and some of them had nothing but robes and sleeves but it wasn't enough to determine if they had something hidden up their sleeves. It was scary for Haruto to think that all of them might possess something extraordinary that could easily overpower the three of them just like what Gokuro and Keiko had. But he wasn't sure of it yet and all he could do was wait for what was about to happen.

The cheers of the crowed penetrated the walls once more as the emcee announced the winner. Haruto came closer to the monitor and saw Sayozane pinning down Kenriki in a body lock. They were finished and she was the winner of the round. They both returned from outside, Sayozane in particular, happy that she won against her older best friend. The emcee spun his device again and this time, his name was called.

"Kenriki, you really hurt my elbow." Sayozane said as she rubbed the bruise on her arm.

"I'm sorry Sayo. But congratulations on winning!" Kenriki replied. "I need to use the bathroom first. Be right back."

Sayozane noticed Haruto sitting all alone at the chair she originally sat. The silent room unnerved her as she came closer towards him. She placed her hand on his shoulder, her face gave off an expression that Haruto somehow understood. "You okay?" Haruto merely replied with a thumbs-up and smile, telling her that he was okay. The door suddenly opened men in black entered the room looking for Haruto and the other fighter.

He was ready, standing up from the chair and hugging Sayuzane, Haruto was escorted outside the courts to meet the thunderous crowd, cheering at the top of their lungs. The moonlight on the night sky shining down on the entire field and the cool breeze of the windswept through Haruto's hair. It was time to get ready, not knowing what to expect in this fight or if he could get out of this unharmed after witnessing the first fight, but he knew that he didn't want to back down. He convinced himself that all of those vigorous training sesssions were preparing him for this. Grasping tightly on his sword, he took a deep breath, ignoring his surroundings yet again, in this state, everyone else was merely a blur, the loud crowd, the joyful emcee, or even the men in black suits.

The world became gray as only two people resided in it. There was only one person he focused on and one person alone, his enemy. The crimson boy standing in front of him who was of the same height and holding a wooden katana. He bowed at his opponent, took up his wooden sword, and assumed a battle-stance. Grasping it tightly and pointing towards the figure standing in front of him, he readied himself for whatever trick, attack, or perhaps "ability" that was going to be laid out on his side of the field.

His opponent did the same, the sound of the katana coming out of its sheath filled his ears.

He closed his eyes. This gray world was about to experience a moment of action, waiting for either one to make a move, the sound of his own heartbeat filled his head, full of sweat and anxiety but determined enough to not back down. This was it, what he prepared for his entire training, in the distance the faint blow of a whistle was finally heard. His heartbeat stopping and he heard the footsteps of someone running.