For many, this was their first real test.
For others, a shot at climbing higher.
The halls of the Spark Syndicate's main headquarters, usually cool and metallic, buzzed with a hum of raw anticipation. Every recruit across Japan — hundreds of them — had arrived. The air itself was charged, the ground beneath them almost vibrating with energy, confidence, anxiety, and pressure.
They stood near the entrance, the crowd humming around them. Hana had walked them there earlier, still tossing light jokes and warnings before leaving to sit with the instructors. Now, the trio was on their own. Jin whistled low, his silvery hair falling into his eyes.
"Yo," he muttered. "Why does this place feel like I'm about to get disintegrated?"
"You might," Ikazuchi said, arms crossed, lips twitching into a grin. "This isn't a playground."
Jin snorted. "You say that like you've done this before."
Yuna stood a bit apart from them, her fingers fiddling with the edge of her jacket. Her eyes scanned the place—not nervously, but alert. There was more of a subtle confidence now in how she stood, more strength behind her once tentative gaze.
"They're gathering us," she said, nodding toward the circular formation of mentors and ranked members stepping onto the elevated stage at the dome's center. "Guess it's starting."
Ikazuchi rolled his neck, sharp yellow eyes narrowing as a familiar thrill started to crawl down his spine. The tournament had officially begun.
A booming voice echoed through the arena. "Welcome, recruits of Spark Syndicate."
A tall figure stepped onto the central platform—a woman with piercing gray eyes and silver-lined robes that signified her as a top-ranked official. "You've been gathered from every branch across the nation. Today marks the beginning of the Crimson Circuit. Every step, every breath, every decision will be evaluated. At the end of this, the strongest will rise. Some of you may walk out of here changed. Or not at all."
Jin blinked. "...Not at all?"
Ikazuchi elbowed him. "Metaphorical. Hopefully."
The events began one by one.
TEST 1: PHYSICALS
The first test was brutal in its simplicity—an open terrain filled with platform jumps, gravity shifts, weighted sprints, and Spark-neutralized areas that suppressed powers completely. Pure body against body. No tricks.
Ikazuchi blazed through the early rounds, his lightning-fast reflexes—pun intended—launching him ahead. His stamina and reaction time had clearly improved since his training began, and his Spark-enhanced muscles allowed him to tank much heavier weights than before.
Jin, on the other hand, was all heart and chaos.
He wasn't the strongest, nor the fastest, but he refused to stop. He threw himself at every obstacle like it insulted his mother. Several members in the crowd—especially those from other branches—watched in awe as this "Sparkless guy" clawed through every physical challenge, his silvery hair soaked and his face red with exertion.
Yuna, meanwhile, shocked more than a few people.
She wasn't a powerhouse. But she was precise. She measured her steps, read wind patterns, and ducked around gravity shifts like she felt the terrain. When she struggled with a vertical wall, she paused, then used a strange lateral roll and bounce to climb. Not flashy. Not fast. But sharp. Calculated. She placed in the upper mid-ranks for that event.
It was during rest breaks that the other competitors began to stand out.
A tall, flame-haired guy loudly declared he'd break the obstacle time record. He did, but bragged about it so hard that even the instructors rolled their eyes. "The rest of you can go home now!" he shouted, punching the air. "Lord Kaito's taking the crown!"
Beside him, a quiet girl with long raven-black hair and oversized glasses sighed. She wore support gloves and had a calm but reserved demeanor. She didn't interact much—but whenever Kaito went off, she'd mutter "Idiot..." under her breath.
Another standout a sleepy-eyed girl who seemed half-awake during the whole physical stage. But when it was her turn, she glided through with icy precision. Her eyes never wavered. She barely broke a sweat.
Then, there was one final contestant...
No one missed him. With jet-black hair, sharp posture, and a gaze that could slice steel, he was the embodiment of perfection. Clean movements. Perfect scores. Utter silence.
Yuna watched him run. "That guy's not normal..."
Ikazuchi watched too. His expression unreadable. "No... he's definitely not."
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
TEST 2: MENTAL
A massive arena converted into digital panels. Puzzles. Tactical simulations. Pattern recognition. Decision-making scenarios under pressure.
Ikazuchi was in his element.
He breezed through each task, eyes narrowed in intense focus. At one point, an instructor overseeing the challenge muttered to another, "Is he hacking this thing?"
Yuna held her own, choosing intuition where logic failed. Her answers were sometimes unconventional, but they worked. She surprised even herself.
Jin, on the other hand, stared at the digital interface like it was written in an alien language.
"I think my brain just shut down," he whispered.
Yuna leaned over. "Don't overthink it. Try going with your gut."
"My gut says punch the screen."
"Maybe try your second gut."
Despite a rocky start, Jin passed enough to move on.
It was during this stage that a boy with blazing orange hair introduced himself—Hinote. His energy was infectious, and he complimented Ikazuchi mid-test. "Dude, you're insane! You're that guy who knocked out Ryo, right? That whole Inferno base thing? You're... amazing."
Ikazuchi blinked, wary. "What?" He couldn't understand how he knew about it. How could he know that much about it, when he himself had no idea what happened in that period?
Hinote nodded enthusiastically. "I've been following your file since Day One. Honestly, I think you're gonna be the strongest here. Can't wait to see your spark in action."
Ikazuchi offered a guarded nod.
But behind Hinote's smile... something simmered.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
TEST 3: STEALTH
This was brutal.
Dark corridors. Spark-sensitive alarms. Illusion traps. Enemy projections that could "catch" you and subtract points. It was like playing hide-and-seek on steroids.
Yuna was like a ghost.
She slipped through shadows, bent around corners, and even used minor manipulations on her observer to "blind" them temporarily. She didn't make a sound.
Ikazuchi… wasn't stealthy.
But he was clever. He used distractions—metal clinks in opposite directions, fake echoes, even leaving behind bits of charged sparks to confuse sensors.
Jin? He walked into a trap in the first two minutes, screamed, and then spent the rest of the test running from ghost projections like it was a horror game.
He exited the trial pale and shaking.
By the time the fourth event was announced, most recruits were already fatigued — physically, mentally, and emotionally. But when the words "team battle royale" echoed across the training grounds, a ripple of adrenaline surged through the entire crowd. Everyone straightened. No one wanted to lose this one.
The staging area resembled a military deployment zone. Screens lined the walls, showing a birds-eye view of the arena: a sprawling landscape split into zones — half urban decay, with crumbling buildings and rusted cars, and half forest, dense and shadowed with towering trees. Supply crates were scattered, and the terrain had been rigged with traps, drones, and sensors.
"HELLOOOOOO EVERYBODY!!!" A voice blared from the speakers. "IT'S TIME FOR THE NEXT EVENT!! You did your best in the other challenges by yourself, BUT NOW YOU GET TO HAVE A BUDDY!!! YOU ALL WILL START AT RANDOM POINTS ON THE MAP BEFORE YOU, WITH YOUR TEAMMATES. THE GOAL... BE THE LAST TEAM STANDING!! THERE'S GONNA BE SUPPLY CRATES ON THE MAP TO HELP YOU. SO, WORK TOGETHER AND SHOW THE REST WHAT YOUR MADE OF!!!"
"may the best team win."
Each team had exactly fifteen minutes to strategize before deployment.
Team 237, composed of Ikazuchi, Yuna, and Jin, sat around a flickering holomap.
"Forest zone is too open," Ikazuchi said immediately. "We'll get picked apart. Urban ruins give us vertical cover and chokepoints. Best chance for funneling and disrupting enemy movement."
Jin, who was busy trying to balance his sword on one shoulder, shrugged. "Sounds like you're trying not to fight. I thought this was a battle royale."
"It is," Ikazuchi replied, deadpan. "It's also not a brawl. We don't have raw power. We need to dictate the battlefield."
Ikazuchi added, tapping the side of the map. "This area here — northeastern ruins. It's vertical, narrow, and hard to navigate. We can bottleneck any pursuit."
Jin squinted at the terrain. "Orrrrr we could just charge in and clobber anyone we see."
"Jin, your Spark isn't even active yet," Ikazuchi said flatly.
"Who needs a spark?" Jin shot back, pulling the sword from his back. It glowed faintly, the cold ember of Flames of Malevolency dormant within. "Sparks are overrated anyway"
"Okay," Yuna interrupted, sensing rising tension. "Ikazuchi, you handle strategy. Jin, when we need chaos — you bring it. I'll do recon and confusion. Just... let's work together. Yeah?"
Ikazuchi gave a small nod.
"And no heroics." Yuna added
Jin piped up "Define heroics"
All he got was death stares
"Sorry, sheesh. Just trying to make it fun."
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Team 237 landed in the second-highest floor of a decayed industrial office building. Metal groaned beneath their feet, sunlight spilling in through jagged holes in the ceiling.
"Split," Ikazuchi said, already moving. "I want sensor mines and fallback lines on all entry points. Yuna, scan for movement and keep your field active. Jin, first-floor lookout. Notify on contact."
"On it," Yuna said. Her pupils flickered faintly, her Spark kicking in as she looked outward through the shattered wall, establishing her field of mental distortion. Anyone within her direct line of sight would experience everything from mild vertigo to fractured perception, an illusion that made time stutter.
Meanwhile, Jin bounded down the crumbling stairwell, Hexen glowing faintly in his grip.
Five minutes in, the quiet was pierced by the rumble of displaced air.
BOOM.
A wall exploded inward. Frosty
"YO! NICE CLUBHOUSE YOU GOT HERE!"
His trademark grin was plastered across his face, eyes blazing with energy.
"Found you," he said. "Let's have some fun."
Behind him, a blonde haired girl, Natsumi, raised a glowing barrier to protect their backs, and another light blue haired girl, Rei, calmly walked in with a hand dragging along the icy wall she formed behind them, sealing the only exit.
"Kaito, stop announcing our entrance," Rei sighed.
"You're welcome!"
Ikazuchi raised a brow, already adjusting his plan. "They're splitting entry. Yuna, blink the left side. Jin, flank from the right stair. I'll bait the entry."
Jin was already charging. "Say no more."
Yuna narrowed her eyes, locking onto Rei and Kaito as they advanced. The second they crossed into her vision, they hesitated.
Kaito blinked. The ceiling appeared to stretch. The wall bent sideways. His timing — off by milliseconds — caused him to misstep.
"What the—"
Rei grunted, forming a quick ice pillar under Kaito to stabilize him. "You're in someone's field. Focus."
Hexen came crashing down toward Kaito from the side. He twisted and swapped places with a chair at the last second. Jin crushed the poor furniture.
"Okay, that was cool," Jin admitted.
Ikazuchi appeared behind Rei and struck — but her back dissolved into mist.
"Hologram," he muttered.
The real Rei struck from above, sliding down an ice slope and aiming a jagged icicle at his chest. Ikazuchi sidestepped and shoved her into a wall of rebar, locking her arm temporarily.
"Yuna, light tap!" he barked.
Rei's world distorted. She saw Ikazuchi multiply — five copies of him circling her. She slashed wildly.
"Too easy," Ikazuchi muttered, striking her pressure point. She dropped.
Downstairs, Jin and Kaito were still going blow-for-blow. Jin was wild and improvisational, but Kaito had finesse — switching places with concrete blocks, poles, even a drone at one point.
"YOU CAN'T HIT WHAT AIN'T THERE!" Kaito cackled.
"You're lucky I can't throw this sword!" Jin yelled back.
Yuna stood in the stairwell, breathing evenly, watching the battle unfold. She spotted Natsumi trying to flank from the opposite stairwell.
"Not today."
She held her gaze.
Natsumi paused mid-step, confused. The stairs looked longer than they were. The shadows distorted. Her hand slammed into a barrier she didn't realize was hers.
"Snap out of it," she muttered, reinforcing her Spark. She broke through and launched a blast of kinetic force — but Yuna had already moved, using the corner to blindside her.
A blast of illusion shimmered across her field of view. Natsumi recoiled.
"That's two down," Yuna said quietly.
Upstairs, Ikazuchi regrouped with Jin.
"They're falling back," Ikazuchi said. "We move to the forest. Now."
"But I was winning," Jin groaned.
"Then win harder in the trees."
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
In the forest...
Trees towered, mist curling between trunks. Ikazuchi's team moved like a unit, laying traps — tripwires, sensor mines, false trails.
"Anyone could walk into this deathtrap," Jin said.
"That's the point," Ikazuchi replied.
Just then, they heard crunching leaves.
"Ikazu-chi~! Where aaaaare you?"
Hinote.
He strolled casually into the clearing, arms raised. Alone. Smiling.
Yuna narrowed her eyes. "Why's he alone?"
"Because he wants us to ask that," Ikazuchi said flatly.
"Yo, relax," Hinote said, grinning. "I'm just spectating. Really curious about your moves, Ikazuchi. What you did to Ryo was... beautiful."
Ikazuchi tensed, the comment digging under his skin like a splinter.
"What do you mean by that?" he asked.
Hinote tilted his head innocently. "Oh? You don't remember? Thought you'd at least feel it... y'know, the moment everything flipped. The look in Ryo's eyes. The pressure. The change."
Ikazuchi narrowed his eyes. "You're a little too into this. Why do you care so much about Ryo?"
Hinote smiled blankly, showing that there was something he didn't want to say-at least, not yet.
He turned to walk into the fog, flames briefly flickering around his body — bright, intense, unmistakably like Ryo's. But the moment passed.
"See you soon, lightning boy."
He disappeared into the mist.
Just then — explosions rocked the east forest. Firelight shimmered.
He had arrived.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
He stood calmly as another team surrounded him. Ten meters. Nine. Eight.
They charged.
In three seconds, Kirito had downed two with pinpoint blasts of compressed fire. A third got close — he used the heat rising off his own aura to blind them, then knocked them out with a single blow.
"Too predictable," he murmured, sidestepping a high-speed tackle and firing a blast directly into the ground, launching dust and embers into the air.
As smoke cloaked the area, Kirito vanished into it like a ghost, reappearing behind another fighter. His foot slammed into the back of their knee, dropping them — a controlled, surgical motion. He didn't need to overpower. He dissected.
Another opponent tried to use the terrain — jumping from a tree.
Kirito glanced up. His aura flared, and a pillar of fire erupted skyward like a geyser, knocking the enemy out of the air and hurling them into a bush.
"Four down," he said quietly.
More came.
A coordinated team of four surrounded him, each wielding weapons enhanced with Sparks. They moved in tandem.
Kirito didn't flinch.
He raised one hand. "Let's test your formation."
The air shimmered. He spun — a wheel of flame erupting around him in a perfect circle. The momentary dome incinerated two projectiles mid-flight. Then he advanced.
He didn't just fight. He analyzed. Broke stances. Exploited weaknesses. His flames weren't just hot — they were smart. Following movement, adapting, curling like snakes toward the ankles and wrists of his enemies.
Five minutes later — the forest clearing was empty.
Except for him.
Standing calmly, aura pulsing steadily.
He glanced down at his wristband.
"Twelve eliminations. Not bad."
A pause.
"Still not enough."
And he vanished into the woods, looking for more.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
The battlefield had dissolved. The exhausted, blood-pumping rush of the team battle royale still lingered in the air, but now recruits had a moment to breathe. A large digital display flickered above the main hall, announcing the final event:
"ALRIGHT EVERYBODY!! GOOD JOB ON THE TEAM BATTLE. NOW THERE'S ONLY ONE MORE EVENT, AND IT'S THE MOST PUMPING ONE. GET READY TO 1V1 EACH OTHER IN A CLASSIC TENKAICHI-STYLE BRAWL!! YOU'LL HAVE FIFTEEN MINUTES BEFORE IT BEGINS. SO REST UP, AND GOOD LUCK!!!"
Excitement burst through the room like electricity. Recruits who were once bruised and silent were now huddled in circles, animated and loud.
"Hey, Nakamura, did you see what Yuto did with that wind blade?! He curved it around a wall!"
"Nakamura's Spark duplicated her shadow, "Bro I didn't even notice she was gone until I got kicked in the face."
"I bet Kirito's gonna sweep this whole thing. No way anyone beats that guy."
Kirito sat alone, polishing the hilt of his flame-threaded blade. Several other recruits kept sneaking glances in his direction—some admiring, some intimidated, and others openly swooning.
"He didn't even say a single word while vaporizing that ambush squad. Literal fire god."
"Do you think he even talks? Like, does he have a voice?"
"He doesn't need to. His aura speaks for him."
"I heard he can melt concrete just by walking."
"I heard someone tried to flirt with him once and got sent to the infirmary just from eye contact."
Kirito glanced up from his blade.
"You're loud," he said simply.
The group went silent instantly. One of the girls near him fainted on the spot.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Meanwhile, Team 237 and Team 721 were gathered near the training terminals, sharing battle stories and water bottles like old war buddies.
Kaito was lying flat on a bench, arm behind his head, an energy drink in his hand. "So anyway, had I not tripped on that random loose pipe, we would've taken first place. You're all just lucky Lord Kaito doesn't take these things personally."
Natsumi giggled. "You literally yelled, 'I'm gonna sue the floor' when you fell."
"Because it betrayed me," Kaito replied with mock seriousness. "A true battlefield hazard. Clearly sabotage."
Rei was quietly sipping iced tea, using her Spark to keep it ice-cold. "I still can't believe that guy—Kirito—farmed a whole squad without breaking a sweat. He's so..." She broke off, a dreamy look on her face. "powerful..."
"Simp," Jin accused.
"You watched the replay five times," she replied.
"Tactical analysis!" Jin barked.
Ikazuchi, seated on a crate, leaned forward. "You guys fight like you've been teamed for years. It's weirdly in sync."
Kaito flipped up, grinning wide. "That's because we are weirdly in sync. Our Spark synergy is unmatched, and I, Lord Kaito, am a master of improvisational strategy."
Jin blinked. "You mean dumb luck."
"Same thing," Kaito shot back.
Yuna was smiling faintly. "I'm glad we met. You're all... chaotic, but fun."
"We're not just fun," Kaito said dramatically, putting an arm around Jin's shoulders. "We're the only things keeping this place from being a total drag. Myself especially."
Jin shrugged him off. "Get off. You smell like fur and ego."
Everyone laughed.
Just then, a chime echoed. The tournament brackets were almost ready. But before the list was shown, Hinote tapped Ikazuchi on the shoulder.
"Yo. Can I talk to you? Alone."
Ikazuchi glanced at his team. Yuna gave a small nod. Jin just yawned.
They stepped out to a quiet corner behind the stage structure. The buzzing noise of the excited recruits faded into background static.
Hinote leaned against the railing, the fire in his eyes a little dimmer than usual.
"You're probably wondering why I've been so... fixated. On you. On the Inferno incident."
Ikazuchi folded his arms. "You gonna explain it? Because even I don't know what really happened back then."
Hinote's gaze dropped. "I'm Ryo's brother."
Silence hung heavy.
"What?" Ikazuchi said, frowning.
"Yeah. That's why I knew about the whole thing. About the power transfer. Ryo told me everything before it all went down."
Ikazuchi's expression shifted slightly. Guarded.
Hinote continued, "I'm not here to finish what he started. I'm not like him. If anything, I'm... trying to figure out how to not end up like that. Watching you fight — not just fighting, but protecting people — it made me realize maybe Ryo was wrong about some things."
Ikazuchi didn't say anything, but his shoulders relaxed just slightly.
"I just want you to know," Hinote said quietly, "I'm sorry. For what my brother did. And if it means anything, I hope we can be friends. Maybe even fight side by side someday."
Ikazuchi met his eyes. Searching.
Then, slowly, he nodded.
"Alright. But I'm watching you. You screw up, and I'll put you down myself."
Hinote chuckled, a bit of that grin returning. "Fair enough, lightning boy."
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
As Ikazuchi and Hinote walked back to the others, the speakers blared, and the screens lit up. "ALRIGHT EVERYBODY, THE TIME HAS COME!! THE ULTIMATE BATTLE IS ABOUT TO BEGIN!!! EVERYONE GET TO THE STADIUM AND TAKE YOUR SEATS BECAUSE IT'S ABOUT TO GET EPIC!!!!!"