Arena: Combat Zone Omega-1 — an open battlefield designed for raw clashes, complete with cracked tiles, scattered rocks, and faint scorch marks from past battles. There's no place to hide here. Just two people, one winner, and a whole lotta smoke about to happen.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, GET READY FOR THIS NEXT MATCH!! In the red corner, we have Hideki Nomura! A POWERHOUSE FROM CHIBA WITH AN EXPLOSIVE COMBAT SPARK!!!"[1]
Cheers from a few rowdy fans in the crowd. Hideki bounces on his heels, fists crackling with static, lightning dancing up his arms.
"FACING THE FIRE NEMENTAL FROM THE PRESTIGUOIS IZUMAKI BLOODLINE... KIRITO IZUMAKI!!"[2]
Momentary silence, then cheers from the spectators. He steps out, sleek, refined. Jet black hair trimmed neatly. His eyes — glowing faintly orange. No flames. No theatrics. Just presence. Like he knows he's already won.
"LET THE MATCH...
BEGIN!"
BZZZT!
Hideki launches forward with thunderous speed, his fists sparking with high voltage.
"You're all smoke, pretty boy!"
Kirito doesn't move.
As Hideki draws close, throwing a right hook—
FWOOSH.A trail of controlled flame dances across Kirito's arm, intercepting the punch—not with firepower, but with heat precision so intense it ionizes the air.The electricity flickers out mid-strike.
Kirito steps aside, a dancer in a field of sparks.He flicks two fingers outward. A thin thread of fire snakes across the air, barely visible—then sears Hideki's shoulder.
"Your electricity loses conductivity when the sweat on your skin evaporates. I've raised the humidity around you by 5%. Enough to mess with your charge."
The audience: silent. Mind-blown.
Hideki snarls and launches a flurry of punches, trying to overwhelm him with rapid strikes. But Kirito just—
Glides.
Tiny flames ignite and extinguish around him—not to attack, but to siphon heat and kinetic force. Each step, each dodge, converts energy into stored flame aura.
His body emits zero wasted heat.
"He's recycling energy…""He's building pressure—""—without even fighting back?!"
Kirito extends his palm.
A ripple of heated air erupts from the center, not outward, but in a circular current — forming a vortex of fire, spinning like a cyclone of scalpels.
He murmurs:
"Flash Incision."
The flame ring implodes inward.
BOOM!!
Hideki is flung back, clothes singed, knees buckling. The fire didn't burn him.It cut the air pressure around him, creating a vacuum punch with surgical heat that crushed his momentum.
He tries to get up—crackling one final time—
But Kirito simply raises a finger.
One. Tiny. Flame.
It floats, gently. Then—
SPEAR.It pierces the floor beside Hideki's head, exploding into a flower of fire.
Hideki freezes.
The announcer's voice blares, him also vivibly shocked
"A-AND THAT'S IT!! KIRITO IZUMAKI IS YOUR WINNER!! IN A MATCH OF PURE TECHNIQUE AND TERRIFYING CONTROL, KIRITO ADVANCES TO THE QUARTERFINALS!!"
In the spectator's seats, Natsumi, whispering to Kaito:
"He didn't even get serious... did he?"
Kaito, arms crossed:
"Nope. That was him playing nice."
Rei, staring at him, visibly blushing:
"He's amazing~"
Yuna:
"…I wonder how much stronger he actually is…"
[1] Hideki's Spark is a C-Type. He stores electrical energy in his fists and unleashes it with devastating punches!
[2] Kirito's Spark is a Nemental spark, obviously. Surgical fire. He can control the temperature, shape, and even the combustion level of his flames at a micro level.