Voltiana

Inside Raijin Arena...

Akari walked around the now quiet arena, looking for any signs of a portal. In the stands, the crowd had disappeared, leaving only the remaining competitors.

"Gotta be a way..." she thought, walking towards the center of the arena.

Balgrim dropped down, slowly approaching Akari.

"Hey, elf! What are you doing?"

She briefly turned to look at him before waving him off. "Important things. Go away."

"What things? Ever since we were ditched, everything's been SO boring!"

He pointed up to the remaining competitors, who were yawning and sitting about.

She shrugged. "Not my problem. Now if you will excuse me..."

She knelt down over the center of the arena. "This is where that swordswoman was teleported. Maybe if I can find a way to re-summon that portal..."

"A portal?" Balgrim blurted out. "You want a portal?"

Akari put her finger to her lips. "Shhh! Don't let the entire world know!"

Balgrim laughed. "Summoning portals in this place is easy!"

Akari stood up, eyeing him. "What do you mean?"

"This arena was made by a powerful god long ago! They say that the god left traces of his power inside it, and that if you stand in the eye of the arena, you can transport to his domain!"

"The eye?" Akari thought. "Does he mean stand directly in the center?"

She positioned herself in the middle. "Is this right?"

"Yeah!"

She straightened up. "Well, I don't feel anything..."

"Maybe if you let me come with you—-"

"No."

She closed her eyes, waiting for any mysterious signs, but after a while, she sighed.

"This is hopeless. Did you lie to me, you little tree crawler?"

He put his hands up. "No, no! It's supposed to work!"

"Then why am I still here—-?"

BOOM.

Just then, the floor of the arena began to glow yellow, and before Akari knew it, she was sinking into the ground below.

"The hell?"

All the competitors got up, shocked at the sight. Balgrim clapped his hands.

"I told you it would work!"

As Akari sank deeper into the ground, Balgrim called out to her. "Also, one more thing! It might not send you where you want to go!"

"Wait, then where am I—-?"

And just like that, she was gone, and the floor returned back to normal. "Man, I wanted to go too..."

Meanwhile, in the Underground...

The crowd watched on the screen as the battle unfolded. All they could see were the blurs as Dachii and Ayana attacked each other relentlessly.

"This race is HEATING UP!" Venus announced. "How about we add some more fire?"

Dachii repelled Ayana's strike with a powerful punch, sending her flying into the ground.

"Sorry!" he called out. "My bad—-!"

In an instant, she appeared in of him.

"Don't apologize!"

She swung her blade, which narrowly missed him. "I want you to hit me."

He jumped back, landing on the ground, but as soon as he did, she caught up to him and repeatedly swung at him.

"My GOSH!" Dachii gasped, attempting to dodge the onslaught of strikes. "Where I'm from, human girls just throw parties and gossip! How can you MOVE like this?"

He side-stepped her upward slash, which barely grazed his shoulder.

"You've got to get out into the real world, Dachii," she replied. "You'll see things you've never dreamed of before!"

Dachii looked up at the mountain. "I've gotta shake this woman, but she doesn't wanna be shook!"

She landed next to him, stabbing her blade in the ground. "Now, let's make this fun!"

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, no, NO—-!"

She looked at him, a smirk playing on her lips. "Watch out."

In the blink of an eye, she charged at him, making him crash through a few nearby mountains.

From the arena, Hikari and Grishna nervously watched.

"Come on, Dachii! You've got it!" Hikari exclaimed. "She's just a human!"

"She don't seem like any old human..." Grishna pointed out.

Himeka pumped her fist into the air. "Go, Dachii, GO!"

On the screen, they saw multiple mountains beginning to shake as the fight continued. The crowd began to cheer.

Kazue, still on the steps, looked down for a moment before taking off.

"Damn it, why do I get the hard job?"

She ran up the steps, dodging the cracked ones, as the trembling continued below. After making it up a few floors, she spotted Zok and Haruto.

"There they are," she thought. "Maybe I can creep past them!"

As she stalked behind them, Zok heard her footsteps and turned around.

"Hmph, we've got one on our case!" he yelled. "I'll handle her!"

He turned around, throwing a punch at her head.

"EEK!"

She ducked under it, but he spun around, forcing her to make a shield out of gingerbread to counter the attack.

"What is this, a candy shop?"

He prepared another punch, but a powerful shockwave below shook the entire staircase.

BOOM.

Kazue stumbled and fell off the stairs, barely managing to cling to the edge.

"Ha!" Zok said. "Can't even stand, can you?"

Haruto motioned him over. "Come on! If we hurry, we can make it while the others are occupied!"

Zok looked between Kazue and Haruto, before begrudgingly following. "Fine! We better win!"

Kazue tried to pull herself back up, but another tremor below kept her from doing so.

BOOM.

As she hung on tight, Dachii and Ayana crashed through another mountain below.

"Look, I'm not really fond of hitting girls!" Dachii called out, getting to his feet.

Ayana picked up her blade, which fell on the ground. "I see."

She lifted her sword and sliced Dachii's arm when he went to block. "That'll have to change!"

She went for another strike, but Dachii clapped his hands together, causing a massive wave of force that pushed her away.

"I'll kindly ask you to step aside now," Dachii said.

She looked him over once before giving him a serious look. "No."

In a flash, she went for his head, but he got out of the way. Just as he did, she noticed someone behind him, who threw a powerful punch at her.

BOOM.

Ayana blocked with her sword just in time, only stumbling back a few feet.

Dachii looked up and saw Tsugumi standing there, fist clenched. "Tsugumi?"

"This is so dumb," she remarked. "Just take a seat, I'll deal with this."

Ayana gave her a glare as Tsugumi cracked her knuckles. "Fine, I'll go through you too."

As they faced off below, Kazue began to pull herself up, but the steps began to shake.

"No, no, no!"

She formed a grappling hook out of licorice and threw it into the side of the mountain, using it to anchor herself.

"Okay, one step at a time, one step at a time..."

She gently pulled herself onto the stairs, taking a few moments to catch her breath. Once she did, she peered over the stairs, catching glimpses of the fight below.

Once she did, she briefly looked down at the fight, where Tsugumi and Ayana were battling it out.

"Out of the way," Tsugumi said, delivering a punch aimed straight at Ayana's head.

Ayana gave her an unimpressed look before spinning around and attempting to slash her neck, but Tsugumi ducked the blade, quickly kicking her into the side of a mountain.

"Now, let's move—-"

WHOOSH.

A blade pierced through the air, nearly cutting part of her hair off.

"We're not done," Ayana said, a scary look in her eyes.

From inside the arena, the crowd began to erupt.

"That's right, make some noise, folks!" Venus announced. "How about we spice this up? RELEASE THE THUNDER!"

BOOM.

A bolt of lightning struck right next to Dachii, making him fall over. He looked up and saw a giant storm cloud above them, sending down lightning bolts like a hailstorm.

"Tsugumi, look out!" Dachii called out.

BOOM.

A bolt of lightning narrowly missed her, hitting a mountain instead. While Tsugumi was distracted, Ayana hit her in the face with the butt of her sword.

"Damn it!" Tsugumi thought, dodging Ayana's next attack. "Why can't I beat this damn human? What's going on with me?"

As Ayana geared up for another strike, Tsugumi froze in place when she realized she remembered the look Ayana was giving her...

...the same look that Tomoko and Arata did.

"Damn it all!"

Above her, another bolt of lightning appeared, shooting down like a bullet.

But right before it landed...

"COMING THROUGH!"

Before the bolt could hit her, Tsugumi was tackled to the side, and she found her brother standing over her.

"That makes us even!" Tetsuya said. "Now then..."

He sized up Ayana, punching his hand into his fist. "Time to go to work."

Ayana looked at him with an unimpressed look. "Hmph."

And without warning, she slashed a deep cut into his chest.

Up above, Haruto and Zok were moving as fast as they could, the citadel in sight. Haruto pointed at it. "There's the end! All we've gotta do is make it first!"

Zok looked back again, noticing Kazue catching up to them. "That girl is back! We need to get rid of her for good this time!"

Kazue held out her hand, firing a jawbreaker at them, but Zok turned around and split it in half with one punch.

"Keep going, kid! She's mine!"

She fired a candy cane spike at him, but he simply batted it away. "They sent the wrong person! Well, no complaints here!"

He brought both arms down in an attempt to smash her, but she evaded it. The stairs that he struck crumbled and fell off.

"Kazue, you've got this, just focus!" she thought, keeping her cool.

BOOM.

Another lighting bolt traveled past her and down to the ground.

"EEK!"

Down below, Tsugumi got to her feet, glaring at Tetsuya. "Why are you here? What are you DOING?"

Tetsuya stood his ground, keeping his eyes on Ayana. "I'm here to help, whether you like it or not!"

She grabbed him by his shoulders, shaking him violently. "Are you STUPID? Take Dachii and GO! You'll both just hold me back!"

Tetsuya batted her arms away. "You're not invincible, you know? I can name like five or six girls who are BETTER than you!"

While they argued, another bolt of lightning rained down and struck them, dropping them both to the ground.

"Guys!" Dachii blurted out, but Ayana quickly leaped forward and tried to slash him, forcing him to summon a gauntlet to block.

"What's your game plan here?" Dachii asked. "Trying to take all three of us down?"

Ayana laughed. "Oh Dachii, I don't have to take you down! I just have to keep you here long enough to win the race!"

She pointed up to where Zok was attacking Kazue.

"Aww hell..." Dachii thought, just as Ayana raised her blade and slashed repeatedly at his gauntlet.

BOOM.

A bolt of lightning forced Ayana to jump back. Tsugumi and Tetsuya were on the ground, coughing.

"Ugh..."

Ayana watched for a moment, just as another storm of lighting bolts rained down, forcing Dachii to drag Tsugumi and Tetsuya out of the way.

"Why me?" he thought. "Life can never be simple..."

Just then, Zok backhanded Kazue off of the steps, sending her flying toward the ground.

"AHH!"

Dachii quickly reacted and grabbed her once she got close enough. "Are you okay?"

"Y...yes, thank you..."

"Dachii's entire team is on the ground, and look, Ayana is catching up to her teammates!"

Dachii caught a glimpse of Ayana heading up the mountain, just before more thunder and lightning rained down.

"What now?" Kazue asked. "They're gonna make it to the citadel before us!"

Dachii grabbed his head, attempting to think, when he saw Tetsuya and Tsugumi beginning to stand up.

"Idiots..." Tsugumi muttered. "Look...at what you've done..."

Tetsuya spat out blood. "You're one to talk...you're ruining the entire team!"

From the arena, Hikari tugged on Himeka's arm. "They don't have any teamwork! They're going to lose!"

Tsugumi weakly rose up, clenching her fists. "We've failed...now I'm a failure...like you...!"

Tetsuya pushed himself up. "Not yet..."

"I can't make enough rope to get us up there..." Kazue moaned.

Dachii stared up, watching as the other team got closer and closer. "No, I'm NOT LOSING THIS!"

He knelt on the ground, his body beginning to glow. "Everyone, GRAB ON."

Kazue and Tetsuya both clung to either side of Dachii, but Tsugumi stood in place, confused.

"What are you—-?"

"Just DO IT, sister!" Tetsuya exclaimed.

She reluctantly grabbed onto Dachii's back, and he lifted his arm into the air just as more lightning began to rain down.

"We're GOING HOME," he said, as his hand began to glow and shake. "Now...DENSITY..."

And he slammed his hand hard into the ground, causing a massive shockwave.

"...PUNCH!"

The force sent the group flying into the air, just as a bolt of lightning struck down where they were.

"WOAHHHH!" Kazue yelled, barely hanging on.

"AWE...SOME!" Tetsuya remarked, nearly throwing up.

As Dachii flew past Ayana and Zok, they watched in shock as he soared through the air. Soon after, he came within view of the citadel, and saw Haruto running toward it.

"There is it...the TOP!"

And with another powerful punch, he tore right into the citadel, causing a powerful explosion that tore the entire thing apart.

Inside the arena, the crowd cheered, and a plume of flame erupted.

"We have a winner! Dachii's team has made it to the citadel first, so DACHII'S TEAM WINS!"

—-