Voltiana

"FIGHT!"

Almost immediately, the two got into their battle stances. Tetsuya raised his fists to attack, and Atomu picked up an elegant-looking sword from the rack.

"Go on now. Strike me!"

Wasting no time, Tetsuya jumped up and slammed his hands on the ground. Immediately, the force from the slam rushed through him, and he rushed at Atomu.

"Take this, Prince!"

But as he swung, Atomu looked in the direction of the fist.

"Left!"

He parried the strike with his blade, which created a huge shockwave that nearly knocked the entire crowd out of their seats. The sword was partially damaged from the attack.

Tetsuya punched right this time, and yet again, Atomu immediately turned his attention to his right side, ducking under the punch and hitting Tetsuya with the butt of the hilt. Every time Tetsuya made a move, Atomu's RIGHT eye began to glow.

"Ow!"

But instead of falling back, his eyes blazed and with even greater speed, he swung haymakers again and again at Atomu, who nimbly dodged all the attacks. After deflecting an uppercut and jumping back a few feet, Atomu grabbed a shield from the rack behind him, just as Tetsuya began a spin attack that raged like a tornado toward Atomu, who looked around and jumped over him.

Meanwhile, as the others looked at the fight, Tsugumi slapped her head and yelled at him.

"No technique, no focus, no strategy! Get it together!"

Akari pointed to Atomu's left eye, which was starting to turn to glass.

"It's happening again. He's overdoing it."

Tetsuya took a blow to the face from Atomu's shield, and as he fell back he stood and slammed the ground, shaking it while Atomu had to jump onto the rack to keep from falling out of the ring.

"Hmm. I see."

"I'M COMING AT YOU!"

He kicked the rack so hard it broke in half, but Atomu had already backflipped away. Tetsuya head-butted right into Atomu's shield, shattering it into pieces.

"Your power. It's strong."

"I know! Sorry about this!"

As Tetsuya reared a fist back, Atomu tapped his glass eye, and he began to see the world much slower. He began to see what he NEEDED.

"Mmm."

Tetsuya went up for an uppercut with his right arm, coming close to Atomu's face, but at the last moment, Atomu raised his sword to block his left, just as Tetsuya switched hands to try and strike him. The sword fell apart, making the prince take a few steps back.

"You're good too, Prince! What IS this?"

"My curse."

He got in close, surprising Tetsuya, and with every attack, and every move Tetsuya made, he was ahead of them. TOO much ahead. He dodged, countered, and held his own, as Tetsuya became more and more determined. The faster and more ferocious Tetsuya attacked, the stronger the glow on Atomu's RIGHT EYE became.

"THINK FAST!"

He sidestepped left and right, moving at extreme speed, and aimed a punch right at Atomu's head. Atomu rubbed his left eye as the fist nearly made contact with his face.

"Blink!"

He put his arm up, but the blow was strong enough to knock him back a couple of feet. As he got up, Tetsuya aimed a kick at him.

"Crap."

Weighting his options, he tapped his glass eye once more, which was now extending down his left cheek.

"Huh—-?"

The glass quickly spread down the entirety of his left face, making cracks on it.

"Sorry, Tetsuya. I must achieve victory, it's the only way."

As he leaped away from the kick, Tetsuya got his foot stuck in the ground.

"Damn it!"

Instead of attacking directly, Atomu feigned an overhead strike, which Tetuysa prepared to dodge, but he reversed it and did an underhand leg sweep.

"Ow!"

He fell on his back, partially sinking into the floor with a groan. "Ugh, what to do?"

As he saw his sister's disappointed and disgusted face, he closed his eyes.

"Well, she...I tried..."

5 years ago...

"Harder, Tetsuya!"

A younger Tetsuya was training in his parents' regal backyard, lifting heavy trees and moving them.

"It's so heavy, I'm trying! Can't we get the robots for this?"

His dad studied him with a harsh look.

"You want to be strong? Want to join the military?"

"Yes, of course—-"

"Then move the damn tree! Gosh!"

Meanwhile, Tsugumi was busy cleaning the rest of the yard with ease with her power. Tetsuya always felt aggravated by it.

"Enhancement."

It was fine. He didn't care. He picked up his tree, but he didn't have enough strength to move it. Tsugumi walked over to her dad.

"I'm finished with the yard, father."

"Good! That's my little girl! Always on top of things."

As Tetsuya tried his hardest to pick up the tree, his magic had to be restored with brute force, which left him as nothing more than a blank. Suddenly, the tree moved. It was being held by yours truly.

"Ugh. Can't even lift a tree. Go inside, before you get hurt."

There she was, lifting it with one hand. She tossed it up in the air and with a few well-placed punches and kicks she splintered it into small enough pieces for firewood.

"Here Dad, you can use it to barbecue."

"Great job, Tsugumi!"

He gave her a hug as Tetsuya watched.

"Every time...she's always doing so great..."

Their mother came out and hugged her too, as they led their daughter into the house for drinks and snacks. Tetsuya was left alone, to try and control his own abilities.

"Boy, come inside! It's dinner time!"

He'd been outside practicing for hours now, punching himself to try and activate his abilities. He tried to lift more trees around the district, failing horribly. He was in the neighbor's yard right now, trying to lift their giant oak tree.

"Put that tree down, boy!"

His father was annoyed, as Tsugumi was being given half of Tetsuya's portion. Their mother smiled at her.

"Here, sweetie. Your weak little waste of a brother doesn't need that much food."

"Thank you, mom. But give it to him. I'd hate to see him disappoint the family any more than he has."

"Aww, dear, you're so humble!"

Tetsuya sighed. "There she goes getting all the praise again." He didn't even realize his strength had run out, and he accidentally dropped the oak tree, right onto his neighbor's house.

"Oh no!"

It went through the porch and part of the living room. While the neighbor, Mr. Remasaba, wasn't too mad, his family came over immediately and didn't share the same views.

"You idiot boy! I knew you were no good to the family! Look what you've done to OUR OWN NEIGHBOR!"

"Honey, let's drop him off to those Batango scum. He's as weak as a human anyway, why not treat him as such?"

"He's shameful. I bet Sir Morino would kill him in a heartbeat. A voltian who IS WEAK? What a stain on our bloodline."

"But, wait...I didn't mean to, you know..." Tetsuya had to hold back tears, watching as his parents bad-mouthed him and apologized to Mr. Remasaba.

And then, SHE came along to save the day.

"Here you are. Good as new.

Mr. Remasaba looked up in surprise. His roof was ALREADY fixed, and it hadn't even been an hour yet. "Wow! Great work! And with no technology or anything?"

"Of course not. For a job this simple, all it takes is a little handiwork. Lucky for me, I have the means for it."

As if to emphasize, she touched the building and a white glow surrounded it. Then she took a bat and hit the material, and it didn't even budge, breaking the bat in two.

"Wow!"

As the man admired his new and improved home, Tsugumi walked over to Tetsuya.

"I told you. Stop using your magic. Not only are you too weak to control it but you also don't have any self-awareness; you could have killed this man."

"But..." The tears were nearly flowing from his eyes now, but she stopped talking to him and went to apologize and converse with Mr. Remasaba and her parents.

"And this is our pride of the family! She counters the ignorant brat we have."

"Yep, she's my sweet little angel! She can do no wrong!"

"Sorry about my brother. It won't happen again."

The entire family pointed for Tetsuya to go home. He clenched his fists, tears flowing.

"Fine then! I'll show you, I'll show you all! I'm entering the military tryouts as soon as I come of age, don't you worry!"

He ran away, not home, but to get stronger. Tsugumi peered after him.

"Hey, you get back here!"

Present Day...

Tetsuya opened his eyes, as Atomu was about to throw him out of the ring.

"Sorry, I know you have a lot to prove to your sister. I feel the same about my own."

Tsugumi wasn't even looking at the fight anymore, just chatting with Akari.

"Then, you know I must do THIS!"

He punched himself in the face so hard he nearly passed out.

"You would really pull off such a move—-?"

He coughed and punched Atomu so hard that the Prince had to take a minute to recover.

"Incredible."

Tsugumi looked at him. His body was bulkier. "The hell...?"

"Now then! Let's try this again!"

He began rapidly punching Atomu at an EVEN GREATER speed than before. Atomu had to put his hands in front of his face to block the blows, but the hits carved through even his defenses. He looked down and saw an uppercut coming, so he did a backflip, kicking Tetsuya in the process.

"Heh!"

He wiped his face and did a ground pound, one that nearly knocked Atomu out of the ring, but the Prince recovered and landed on his feet.

They both stood each other down, breathing heavily.

As they locked eyes, Tetsuya saw Atomu rubbing his glass eye once more. The effect seemed to begin to spread to his other eye. "What's going on with his face...?"

His glass eye began to glow a silver hue.

"Uh, you okay?"

"You are indeed a strong warrior. I respect that."

In an instant, his right and left arms turned into glass variants.

"WHAT THE—-!?"

"Now then..."

Tetsuya swung at Atomu, who brought his left arm up to block the strike, but not without a few cracks to the glass. He countered with a right jab to Tetsuya's jaw, making him stumble back a little.

"What's going on?" Himeka asked, standing up a bit too far over the table. "The prince is turning into a glass window!"

As Tetsuya and Atomu exchanged blows, with the latter forming more and more glass on his body, Fujii rubbed his chin and stared. "He isn't like his sister. His power isn't a gift."

Then he was lost deep in thought.

"No, not a gift at all."

At the side with the female contestants, Akari slowly clapped for her brother.

"Great job! I see you've gotten better. Try to ease up a bit! That's too much strain."

Tsugumi wasn't as talkative anymore. She just stared at her own brother with a curious but distant look.

Nishiyama had calmed down to a degree, while Hikari was busy offering food to a sad Kazue, while they both glanced to the fight. Hikari tapped her friend.

"Um, Akari? What's wrong with your brother?"

"Stuff. Lots of stuff."

Atomu's entire arms and the top of his chest were covered in a thick layer of glass now. Tetsuya kept the pressure on him, hitting him with powerful blows that cracked his glass and forced it to reform.

"I've never seen you use this before, Prince!"

"No. No, you haven't."

One more powerful punch to Atomu's face left him on his knees, holding his jaw and staring up at Tetsuya, who grabbed him.

"Now, I must achieve victory—-"

He threw Atomu in the direction to the left, the closest path out of the ring. But just as Atomu got close to the edge...

"REFLECT!"

He banged his arms together, causing the sunlight above him to shine off him, blasting the entire arena and propelling himself into Tetsuya, knocking them both over.

"What'd you just do?"

"Turned the tables!"

Tetsuya got up and PUNCHED Atomu, who blocked with his arm. In a surprising moment, the attack repelled and Tetsuya got punched instead by the force of his own attack. Recovering from the energy, he used an even stronger punch to create enough wind pressure to knock Atomu back.

Arata cracked his knuckles. "Look at those chumps going at it. The Prince and the insecure little brother."

Kai looked at him. "You see the Prince? What's on his body?"

"Obviously some kinda glass. Don't know how he can use two forms of power, but it's clear it's not natural."

"What makes you say that?" Kai asked, with confusion and awe on his face.

"Just LOOK AT HIM! LOOK at the guy."

Umeda brushed his hair back with his comb and sighed. "Well, usually the Prince is a handsome fellow, but with that glass and unrestrained appearance, he looks more "bleh," if I do say so myself."

His hair hit Obara in the face. "Ew, move your hair! You know how dirty hair can get?"

"My hair is NEVER DIRTY! How dare you insult me—-?"

BOOM.

A thunderous shockwave rattled the arena as both Tetsuya and Atomu collided punches. Tomoko got up out of his seat.

"Yeah! Go at it, boys!"

Nishiyama stared daggers at him, and he waved at her, which forced her to have to be held back by Hikari, Kazue, and Akari. Tsugumi, meanwhile, was glued to the fight, staring deeply at her brother now.

"Huh...? He's holding his own?"

BOOM.

Another blow that nearly shook the entire stadium occurred. Atomu and Tetsuya both rapidly started punching each other, fists meeting in midair.

BOOM.

And another blow.

BOOM.

And even more.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

Akari started to stand up.

"I think this might be going a little far, my brother can't handle all this—-"

Tsugumi pointed at the fight "Your brother? What about MINE? Look at this stupid—-"

BOOM.

"Take this!"

Tetsuya hammered more and more punches into Atomu's blocking arms. The glass began to crack and break but it regrew into even thicker glass. By now, his face, chest, and arms were completely covered in glass.

"A good battle, you truly are a worthy opponent."

His right eye glowed and he looked to his right to see a speeding fist heading for the side of his head.

"Nice try!"

He ducked low, and Tetsuya missed. Once the attack went over his head, Atomu flipped Tetsuya over his back.

Tetsuya slammed the ground in anger.

"I. WILL. NOT. LOSE!"

He slammed it again and again, shaking the core of the ring. Tsugumi was now standing.

"Calm down! What the hell are you doing—-?"

BOOM.

Striking the ground once more, Tetsuya charged one more time at Atomu, whose glass was now as thick as a shield. With both his left eye and right eye glowing, he reared back one final punch as both guys connected attacks in midair, causing a huge, explosive burst of energy.

BOOOOOOM.

Everyone was knocked out of their seats. As the crowd and the other competitors got up, they managed to see the result of the fight.

Tetsuya had been punched into the stands, and Atomu was left standing in the ring.

"And our winner is, PRINCE ATOMU!"

—-