AN - Criticism is greatly appreciated. this chapter is my best by far and longest. i surprised even myself.
[Time skip - 4 months, tournament] - [POV 3rd] -
After 4 months of intense training, 4 months of sorcery education, and 4 months of battle tactics in his training regime, it was now Kazuhi's time to prove himself, to prove his worth within the Akashi, to prove his strength, and to prove that his arduous training has been worth it...
It's all or nothing.
.....
[Semi-Finals]
'The last 4 months of this life have been the hardest I've ever endured... they've changed me, inside and out. They've caused my hidden potential to be unleashed.'
'The last 5 battles to work my way to the semi-finals bracket have been tough. I only won the last one based on a technicality, however I won't give up, even if I almost pass out, I'll fight—'
He was interrupted by the intercom blaring, acting as the finality of his thoughts on that topic.
"THE SEMI-FINALS ARE BEGINNING IN 5 MINUTES, PARTICIPANTS GET READY!"
'Alright... my fight's almost up... get ready for me, opponent, because even if I lose, it wont be without a fight!'
With that declaration, he walked out to the edge of the tunnel and started stretching, getting ready for the intercoms to sound out again.
"PARTICIPANTS, GET READY TO MOVE TO THE FIELD WHEN I CALL YOUR NAME!"
Kazuhi's ears perked up at that and he stood at the exit, waiting for his name to be called.
"KAZUHI ZENIN, STEP UP!"
'Me first, huh..'
Kazuhi started walking out of the tunnel towards the field. He could hear shouting and cheering of his name from his fellow Akashi members and friends.
'Forgot that a majority of the Zenin clan watches this for leisure.'
As Kazuhi thought that, he locked eyes with Naohiro, who was standing in an upper stand with the other higher up's of the clan even including the head of the clan. They both held said stare with some grit for a few seconds before sharply breaking it collectively.
'Now I'm fucking pissed off... at least I'll be able to blow off some steam with this fight.'
While Kazuhi continued waiting for the intercom to blare out again, he kept stretching and started to get his cursed energy to whirl about his body, forming cursed energy reinforcement, which boosted his physical abilities and senses many times over, even at his amateur level.
'Ooh~ could never forget the feeling of cursed energy warming my body up for a fight. Feel empty without it.'
"UP NEXT, GENYA ZENIN!"
'Wait, what... I'm fighting him... this is gonna be hard... who else was I even expecting?...'
'Well... at least I know I can give him a tough battle anyway, especially if I use my attacks wisely.'
While Kazuhi was deliberating on how to defeat Genya, who knew many of his weaknesses and strengths due to their frequent sparring together, Genya was also doing the same.
'Kazuhi... really... hmm. I'm physically stronger than him from having more training, but when he uses cursed energy reinforcement his Cursed energy output causes him to have absurd durability and strength for someone of his grade.'
'My cursed technique may be able to deal with it, though...'
Genya started copying Kazuhi and began stretching, waiting for the referee to start the countdown.
'Whatever, let's just do this. This cheering is making my ears bleed...'
The intercom blared one last time, cutting through the noise.
"EVERYONE, PAUSE YOUR CHEERING."
The referee in front of them looked up towards the organisers, who nodded. As such, the referee began his countdown.
"3!"
'This is going to be fun... sigh.'
"2!"
Cursed energy started whirling from the two participants, both readying their attacks for when the countdown ended.
"1!"
Both participants were completely focused, ignoring everything beyond themselves and their opponent.
.....
"GO!"
.....
-SLAM!
Kazuhi's pure cursed energy beam slammed into Genya's 'Rock Palm' technique, causing them both to have a short clash before exploding in a wave of dust.
Before the dust even cleared, the Fighters were already clashing. Each punch was parried and each kick was countered until Genya used his technique to spawn a rock palm in the still-flying dust on Kazuhi's right.
Despite it being covered by the dust, Kazuhi jumped back just in time for the rock palm to miss him, demonstrating his heightened instincts. As the rock palm flew past, it covered the view of both fighters.
To try and take advantage of this, Kazuhi pushed out and manipulated his cursed energy into a thin square for it to act as a barrier.
Said barrier was barely created in time to protect Kazuhi from the wall-sized rock palm flying towards him. As the barrier held back the attack, Genya flew forward towards Kazuhi using a rock palm beneath his feet to ride on, massively increasing his speed.
The barrier broke under the force, and the huge rock palm slowly flew past, allowing Kazuhi to dodge.
While dodging, and after noticing Genya's approach, Kazuhi began charging a high-output cursed energy blast. which, When ready, was shot towards Genya, who was closing in fast.
To dodge the blast, Genya jumped forward and to the left off of his rock palm. which, As a result, caused the Rock Palm to get hit by the Blast instead, causing it to explode and create even more dust across the field.
-BOOM!-
Sensing a high amount of cursed energy building up underneath him, Kazuhi once again dodged out of the way to the right.
A second later, two huge rock palms came up from the ground, enveloping half of his vision.
Waiting for Kazuhi after he dodged to the side was Genya, dashing towards him with inhuman speed.
almost in slow motion Kazuhi thinks,
'Can't this guy give me some space... he's much stronger than when we last sparred. that, or he was holding back before. He's certainly a zoner if I've ever seen one.'
Kazuhi and Genya continued their previously interrupted clash, with Genya taking more damage than Kazuhi but still wearing him down enough for it to matter.
despite that, Genya still landed more blows than Kazuhi as a result of his extra training.
Their exchange was broken when, after Genya threw a right hook that Kazuhi dodged, Kazuhi shifted his stance and counterattacked, gathering cursed energy into his fist before throwing a hard right hook that landed against Genya's head, sending him flying.
The strongest landed attack of this battle yet.
As Genya was flying, he caught himself with his rock palm, slowly reducing the speed while thinking to himself.
'Damn, that one hurt. One more of those and I'm definitely out of it... however, I won't let that happen. We're both worn out. This will be the final clash.'
Kazuhi, having some time to breathe also starts to think to himself.
'Finally, I got some space... his hits were starting to get to me. I can tell we're both worn out, but I'm definitely more stamina-deprived. If only I reincarnated into an earlier point in this life or something... no. focus.'
Immediately after their thoughts, they both locked eyes with each other, seemingly both having an understanding of what they were going to do next.
'My strongest attack it is then.'
'Max output beam it is then.'
They both started charging cursed energy, Kazuhi through both his hands, while Genya channelled his through the wall above him.
After a few silent seconds, they both shouted out their attacks, their shouts acting as the finality of this round, the declaration that this was the end.
"MAX OUTPUT BORDER BLAST!"
"MAX OUTPUT ROCK PALM!"
Kazuhi's max output cursed energy beam shot out from his hands, expanding multiple times over, reaching the size of a small wall.
Genya's max output rock palm flew out of the wall above him, shrouding his body in darkness. The small house-sized rock palm surged towards Kazuhi's energy-dense beam.
-SMASH!-
As they clashed, everything else went silent... silence created by multiple seconds of focused intensity as both fighters poured all their cursed energy into the attack... until something shifted.
they both felt the shift and raged to put the rest of their cursed energy into the attack.
"RAHH!"
"RAH!"
however as a result of Kazuhi's energy dense beam and higher Cursed energy output,
Kazuhi's beam won...
The beam broke through Genya's technique and headed straight for his head. It could have been deadly, but it was too late for Kazuhi to stop it and for Genya to dodge it.
"Shit!"
However-
It was blocked.
The Head of the Akashi, Shiga Zenin, stood where the blast would've landed, his palm proudly stopping the attack, after the blast slowly dissipated he looked at his 2 of his most prodigious students thoughtfully.
'i guess that shows how far Rivalry can get people, getting multiple times stronger in just 4 months is absurd, even with my cursed technique buffing them.'
he then gesturing to the displeased referee.
said referee then looked up at the higher-ups for confirmation before announcing the conclusion of the match.
"BY FACT OF ELIMINATION, KAZUHI ZENIN... WINS!"
After the declaration, the crowd went wild, screaming, shouting, cheering for their new recruit beating someone older than him, especially a 4th seat. Such a feat was mostly unprecedented for someone's first tournament.
As Kazuhi basked in the cheers, he once again looked up and locked eyes with Naohiro, who immediately broke it and walked away with a slight smile that Kazuhi barely couldn't see while whispering to himself.
"Maybe he won't need the Secondary pit after-all"
Kazuhi, who was confused by Naohiro breaking the stare that fast and immediately walking away, thought to himself.
'Weird...'
After a brief pause, Kazuhi walked over to Genya and offered him a hand. Genya accepted it immediately, and they began walking away together while talking as if they weren't exhausted from their fight.
"Good fight, I barely won. You had me on the ropes the entire fight."
"I could say the same to you."
"Wanna go get some food? That fight starved me."
"Sure, but don't go too crazy. After beating me, you have your finals in a week."
"I was trying to forget about that..."
They walked away together, ready to grab some high-quality food, laughing boisterously with each other.