The air in Sector 5 was thick with a tension that felt like static electricity against the skin. Fiftythousand citizens roared as the holographic brackets shifted. The Round of 25 was no longer a display of skill; it was a collision of monsters.
In the midst of the crowd, a man sat quietly.
His face was unremarkable, his Evo-energy tuned to the low, humdrum frequency of a standard civilian. This was Maglas, the 10th Commander of the Zethrian Army. He watched the arena with a predatory patience, his disguise so perfect that
Even the captain didn't notice him
Match 1:
Elias (10th) vs. Vex (2nd)
Vex stepped onto the ring with a terrifying fluidity. He was the 2nd Division's secret weapon—a man who lived seconds into the future. "Don't bother breathing, Elias," Vex said, his voice echoing. "I've already watched you fall ten times before the buzzer even rang.
The buzzer sounded. Vex didn't move—he displaced.
To the audience, Vex was a blur of stuttering frames. He appeared behind Elias, a time-dilated palm strike aimed at the base of Elias's neck. But Elias didn't turn. His skin simply erupted into Obsidian Scales at the exact point of impact.
CLANG.
Vex recoiled, blinking back two seconds in shock. He accelerated his personal timeline, moving so fast the world appeared frozen to him. He circled Elias, delivering a hundred strikes in a single heartbeat. But every time his fist reached Elias, a patch of obsidian grew to meet it.
"How?!" Vex screamed, his voice high-pitched from time-compression. "I am in the future! You shouldn't be able to react!"
Elias opened his eyes, which were now glowing a frightening, liquid silver. "I'm not reacting to you, Vex. I'm evolving to your time evoliths ."
Elias realized that as long as he fought Vex's physical body, he would lose. He had to fight the space Vex occupied. Elias dropped into a low stance, and the ground beneath him began to crack—not from strength, but from Kinetic Absorption. He was pulling the very vibration of the molecules into himself.
Vex lunged for a final, time-shattering strike. Elias didn't dodge. He unleashed a Zero Point Radial Burst. He didn't hit Vex; he hit the gravity around Vex. By creating a localized vacuum, Elias robbed Vex of the medium he needed to move. Vex's time-stutter failed. He was caught, frozen mid-air like a fly in amber.
Elias stepped forward, He delivered a single, focused strike to Vex's solar plexus.
Vex was launched across the ring, his temporal anchor shattered. He hit the arena floor, unconscious before he even felt the pain.
WINNER: ELIAS
The stadium went into a frantic silence, followed by a deafening roar. In the 9th Division's section, Dr. D adjusted his glasses, looking at the stunned soldiers around him.
"Explain it, Doc," Kross muttered, his jaw dropped.
"It's simple and terrifying," Dr. D said. "Vex plays the game of 'Action and Reaction.' But Elias's Evolution is a Biological Constant. Elias didn't try to see the future. He forced his body to develop a sensory field that detects 'Temporal Ripples.' The moment Vex committed to a future move, the displacement of air and time warned Elias's cells. Elias didn't outfight Vex; he out-adapted the concept of time itself."
Renji, who had just returned from the medical wing with a bandage over one eye, leaned against the railing. He watched Elias walk off the Reign and smirked. "I wouldn't expect anything less from my rival ," he whispered.
In the Captain's Spire, the air was cold.
"Liora," Kaizen Flux (3rd Captain) said, glancing at the 2nd Captain. "Your boy Vex just lost to a kid who didn't even use a weapon. Thoughts?"
Liora gripped the railing, her eyes narrowing. "Vex didn't lose his power. He lost his rhythm. That boy, Elias... he isn't just a soldier. He is something else "
Zainab Virel (5th Captain) nodded. "He didn't just win a fight. He taught us that even time has a breaking point. Drakye, where did you find this monster?"
Drakye Void simply chuckled " all I can say it is fate"
On the highest balcony, Zane and Doc Von stood in silence. Zane's hands were trembling slightly. He looked at the way Elias walked, the way he carried his weight. Those eyes, Zane thought. The depth, the silver eyes ... I recognize those eyes anywhere
He's alive "
Match 2:
Nyx (10th) vs. Leo Rho (3rd)
Leo Rho didn't wait for the buzzer. He was a master of Super Speed, a human lighting bolt.
As the match began, he became a golden streak, circling Nyx so fast he created a cyclone of dust.
Nyx looked bored. "You're making me dizzy, Leo."
Leo struck—a thousand punches a second. Nyx didn't block. POP. She teleported an inch to the left. POP. An inch to the right. To the crowd, it looked like Nyx was "glitching."
Leo grew frustrated. He used his speed to build up a Sonic Boom, intending to blow Nyx off the platform with the pressure wave alone. But Nyx wasn't there. She teleported into Leo's slipstream. She used his own speed as her own.
As Leo reached his top velocity, Nyx appeared directly in front of him, standing perfectly still. Before he could react, Leo , moved back then ran towards NYX , NYX waited for he's hand to touch her , the timing had to be perfect the moment he touched her she teleported 20 feet above ground and kicked him outside the, Leo was out of the ring .
WINNER: NYX
Match 3: The Unbreakable Forge
Rook (10th) vs. Draken Malcor (6th)
Draken Malcor was a tank. His power allowed him to harden his body into a diamond-like substance. He stood in the center of the ring, arms crossed. "Break me if you can, metal-boy."
Rook didn't argue. He raised his hands, and the metallic alloys in the ring's floor began to scream. He didn't just manipulate metal; he re-forged it. Rook pulled the steel out of the floor, wrapping it around his fists until they were the size of boulders.
Rook lunged. BOOM. The impact of his fist against Draken's chest sent a shockwave that cracked the arena force field. Draken didn't budge. "Is that all?"
Rook smirked. "I'm just getting the temperature right."
Rook began a relentless assault. He didn't just hit Draken; he used High-Frequency Vibration through his metal armor. Every punch wasn't just a hit; it was a resonance strike. He was finding the "shatter-point" of Draken's hardened skin.
Rook turned his arms into twin industrial drills made of high-density tungsten. He pinned Draken to the floor and began to vibrate at a frequency that turned Draken's "hardened" skin into brittle glass. With a final, thunderous roar, Rook delivered a "Giga-Impact" palm strike.
The hardened-skin shattered. Draken, now vulnerable and gasping, was tossed off the platform like a scrap of iron.
WINNER: ROOK
Match 4: The Lightning and the Beast
Jaxen (10th) vs. Kross (9th)
The crowd stood up for this one. Kross was a fan favorite from the 9th, a boy who could transform into a monster—a hulking beast of fur, claw, and raw primal power.
"Jaxen don't hold back" Kross said,
"I'm not, I'm gonna give it my all" Jaxen replied.
Kross roared, his body expanding until he was ten feet tall. He lunged at Jaxen, his claws tearing through the stone of the ring. Jaxen, crackling with blue lightning, moved like a jagged spark.
"Sorry about this, Kross!" Jaxen yelled, launching a Lightning Spear.
Kross swiped it out of the air, the fur on his arms absorbing the shock. "You're gonna have to do better than that, Jaxen!"
The fight was a brutal chase. Kross was surprisingly fast for his size, his beastly instincts allowing him to predict where Jaxen would "dash" next. He cornered Jaxen at the edge of the ring, raising a massive fist to crush him.
Jaxen didn't dodge. He smiled. "Looks like I have no choice, I wanted to try it on Elias , but..., I guess I have to use it".
"Static Overload," Jaxen whispered.
The sky change, Jaxen grabbed Kross , and channeled all the lighting in Kross body ,
Lightning didn't just strike Kross; it invaded him. Kross's transformation relied on cellular energy—energy that Jaxen began to "overclock." Kross's muscles began to twitch uncontrollably as Jaxen turned the beast's own nervous system against itself.
Kross let out a gargled roar as ten million volts bypassed his fur and hit his heart. The transformation broke. Kross shrank back into his human form, his body smoking and paralyzed from the neurological shock.
Jaxen caught the falling boy before he hit the ground and g
ently laid him near the edge. "Good fight, man."
WINNER: JAXEN