Cheers rained down on the ring as Gido and Sub faced off. Once the referee finished explaining the rules, the excitement generated by the previous match between Bara and Zushi surged even higher.
Sub narrowed his thin eyes, staring at Gido. He tried to read the expression hidden behind the mask, but all he could sense was an aura of relaxed confidence, devoid of any excessive tension.
(His rank is somewhere around 20th, I think. Bara and I should be able to handle this without a problem, but his fighting style—specifically adapted for Heavens Arena rules—is going to be a pain.)
As the referee jumped out of the ring to signal the start, Sub lunged forward, aiming for a preemptive strike. But before he could reach his target, small objects scattered from Gido's flashy armor. They were spinning tops—each a different shape and color, but all roughly the size of a fist and covered in jagged, colorful spikes.
Gido struck a pose, soaking in the cheers of the children in the audience. He flared his aura and roared the name of his ability:
"Battle Dance Tops: Go Shoot!!"
Over twenty tops began to spin violently, ricocheting off one another as they zipped across the ring.
"What the—?!"
While spinning, they looked like ordinary tops, but the speed at which they bounced off each other was unnatural. Sub, unable to stop the deployment, tried his best to evade, but a top eventually slammed into him from his blind spot.
"Gwaaaah?!"
Sub's body, which was by no means small, was tossed into the air as if he weighed nothing. He flew across the ring and tumbled onto the floor outside.
"Clean hit plus Ring-out! Two points for Gido!!"
The children's cheers reached a deafening roar. Sub scrambled to his feet outside the ring, looking up at Gido with pure venom in his eyes.
(Damn it! That didn't even hurt, so why did I make such a pathetic noise?!)
After his humiliating defeat against Kurapika, Gido had rebuilt his strength from scratch. During his research into spinning tops, he had discovered a certain anime and manga that changed his life. He studied every chapter and episode, collected the real-world toys, and adjusted his Battle Dance Tops specifically for the Heavens Arena point system.
The tops were modified to deal zero actual damage. Instead, all their power was focused into a single point: Knockback.He had abandoned the idea of a KO victory. Instead, he bet everything on point victories—scoring "Downs" by breaking an opponent's balance and "Ring-outs" by blasting them off the stage. This specialization allowed Gido to break through his plateau as a "rookie hunter" and finally secure a seat as a Floor Master.
As for the pathetic scream Sub let out? That was the byproduct of the pure, innocent hopes of children worldwide infused into the ability.
"And there it is! Gido has entered his signature rhythm!! As always, this is a clean, safe match with no blood or gore—perfect for the whole family!!"
"The first hurdle is either navigating or destroying those tops," the long-haired commentator added. "I wonder how Sub will choose to handle this?"
(Tch. I didn't want to use this yet, but I don't have a choice.)
Sub waited until the very end of the ring-out countdown before stepping back into the ring. Before the tops could swarm him again, he flared his aura and forced his perennially squinted eyes wide open.
"Wha—?! Sub has opened his eyes! He has surprisingly big, round eyes that totally clash with his fighting style and facial structure!!"
"He could see fine even when they were narrowed," the commentator noted. "Is there another purpose? ...Wait, is that?!"
Sub began walking toward Gido. The tops swarmed him, but he evaded every single one by a hair's breadth, continuing his steady advance.
"Whoa..."
"Look at that! Sub's eyes are darting around independently like a chameleon! It's actually kind of gross!!"
"That's the Scattered Eyes technique! It's a legendary skill said to have been developed to parry arrows coming from all directions! And look at that footwork—his center of gravity isn't shifting at all. He's combining it with the Udun-di style to eliminate every opening?!"
Gasps of admiration filled the arena as Sub displayed the technical prowess befitting the "Skill" member of the Bombers. Internally, Sub was already planning his revenge against Bara and Genthru for laughing at his "big eyes" while he continued his march.
"Hey. Now that I'm this close... I can reach you."
"N-no! Tornado Top: Gido Typhoon!!"
"Too slow!!"
Gido tried to spin himself into a human top, but before he could build up speed, Sub's pent-up frustration exploded in a flurry of strikes.
"Take this!!"
"Gfuh?!"
Sub's barrage shattered Gido's armor—which was designed for aesthetics rather than actual protection. A final, powerful blow sent Gido flying across the ring, where he slammed hard into the canvas.
"What a magnificent counter-attack by Sub! The children are screaming in terror as Gido is beaten to a pulp!!"
"He took a lot of hits there. Is this the end?"
"""GIDO, DO YOUR BEST!!!"""
Gido lay crumpled and broken while Sub looked down at him, seemingly unscathed. A relaxed atmosphere began to settle over the crowd, thinking the match was decided, but Sub didn't drop his guard. He felt a lingering sense of wrongness.
(I definitely hit him, but he felt too fragile. It was almost as if his armor was designed to break on impact to disperse the damage!)
"Truly impressive," Gido said, his voice steady despite his state. "I didn't think you'd push me this far."
To Sub's dismay, Gido stood up slowly.
"My armor is shattered, but the shackles have been removed!"
A burst of aura erupted from Gido, blowing away the broken shards of his suit. Beneath it was a new set of gear—smaller, sleeker, and colored in brilliant black and gold.
"No way?! Is that the Final Gear from the season two finale?! He actually finished building it?!"
"You know about this, long-hair?!"
"It's Gido's ultimate move! He even performed it in the live-action segments of the anime with zero CG! Here it comes!!"
The fans of the anime erupted, their collective excitement fueling Gido's ability.
"Combat Arena: Battle Dome—Deploy!"
"What is this?!" Sub yelled.
Suddenly, the edges of the ring began to curve upward. The flat stage transformed into a giant bowl, trapping the two of them inside.
"Behold! My ultimate secret art! Super Typhoon Top: Gido Hurricane!!"
The tops scattered across the floor—along with the shards of his broken armor that had transformed into mini-tops—began to bounce and spin wildly within the bowl. Gido himself joined the chaos, spinning at high velocity.
"Hey, wait! This is cheating—Gwaaaaaaah?!"
With the increased number of tops and the bowl-shaped ring concentrating the density, Sub couldn't even be knocked out of the ring. He was bounced around like a ball in a blender, unable to find his footing.
There was no real damage, but the human inner ear is not designed to withstand being treated like a pinball.
"This is the end! Aiming the top at the body—SHOOT!!"
"""SO EXCITING!!""" the kids roared.
Sub, unable to even scream, was blasted out of the ring by Gido's final charge. The loudest cheer of the day shook the building. Sub lay on the floor, shaking like a newborn fawn. He was conscious, but the sheer humiliation and motion sickness kept him from standing as the countdown reached ten.
"Ten count! The winner is Gido!!"
Soaking in the adoration of the children and the "big kids" alike, Gido spread his arms wide.
+++
"So it comes down to this. Well, the opening acts did a good job of warming up the crowd, didn't they?"
Genthru's dark aura flared, cutting through the celebratory mood like a knife.
"Heh. I'll make sure no one says the opening acts were better than the main event," Kastro replied, his own brilliant aura surging.
"This tension... it feels just like the legendary match between Gon and Hisoka!"
"It's not quite at that level yet," the commentator said, "but what we are about to see is undoubtedly the peak of Heavens Arena combat!"
Genthru patted the trembling Sub on the shoulder and stepped into the ring. Kastro gave Gido a high-five and did the same. The referee, sensing the sheer intensity of their auras, decided not to stand between them and called the start from a safe distance.
"Fight!!"
A thunderous impact shook the arena as the two met in the center, their fingers locked together in a contest of strength.
"What's happening?!"
"I see. Genthru's style involves grabbing and exploding, while Kastro's Tiger Bite Fist relies on open-handed strikes and tears. They've both specialized in hand and finger conditioning, leading to this stalemate."
Both fighters had poured everything into mastering their aura flow to their hands. Their styles were surprisingly similar, allowing them to instantly recognize each other's high level of mastery.
"Good hands," Kastro said. "But at this level, you'll only be trampled by us!"
"Urgh!"
The stalemate broke instantly as Kastro activated his ability, My Self. Suddenly, Genthru was facing two identical opponents of the same high caliber. The numbers advantage was simple but devastating, and Genthru began to rack up injuries.
"Dance of the Twin Tigers — Chaos!"
"Tch!"
Genthru didn't fight the flurry of blows hitting his guard; instead, he allowed himself to be blown back to create distance and escape the relentless pressure.
"Hah... I knew it. Little Flower isn't enough to handle this. Aren't you ashamed of yourself, making this a two-on-one fight?"
"The rules allow it, so I don't care," Kastro replied calmly. "Besides, this is a one-on-one. A match between Genthru and Kastro."
In the past, Kastro's pride as a martial artist would have made him recoil at a two-on-one advantage. But his match with Gon had shattered that dilemma. He realized that a Nen battle was a contest where anything goes. He had seen the gap between himself and monsters like Hisoka and Gon. Most importantly, he no longer viewed his clones as "doubles," but as "himself."
The mental stress that once plagued him was gone. He was focused purely on reaching the top. He wasn't quite a "monster" yet, but he was reaching the absolute pinnacle of what a martial artist could be.
"Phew. If you're that far gone, I can't shake your resolve with words. By the way, Kastro... I've already set the bomb on you."
"...What?"
"Every time I touched you while calling myself 'The Bomber,' I was setting a charge far more powerful than Little Flower. It's called Countdown. It's a time bomb that is essentially impossible to remove. The only way to disarm it is to touch me and say, 'I caught the Bomber.'"
Kastro watched Genthru with a suspicious gaze as he began explaining his ability, but then he noticed the faint sound coming from his shoulder. A bomb infused with powerful aura was ticking away—a literal countdown to his death.
"Explaining the ability is the condition for activation. Your life is now in my—"
"There's quite a lot of time left before the explosion," Kastro interrupted. "I assume there's a way to speed it up?"
"..."
"It's also helpful that the bomb didn't appear on my other self. You probably know this, but as long as we don't both take damage at the same time, we can handle it."
"..."
"What would have happened if you'd activated this before the match started? What else are you hiding?"
"..."
Kastro remained in a perfect guard while Genthru adjusted his glasses, his expression unreadable. The audience held its breath, sensing an even more desperate clash. Finally, Genthru spoke.
"Let's... let's talk. This goes back several months—no, years ago..."
"I'm not falling for a stall tactic!" Kastro roared.
"DAMN IT!"
On one side was a martial artist who had perfectly adapted to the Arena rules. On the other was a powerful thug who still hadn't fully grasped the nuances of a sanctioned match. To the disappointment of the crowd, Genthru was sent crashing into the canvas with surprising ease.
"I can't believe it! Is the gap between them really this large?!"
"Numbers are power," the commentator sighed. "Their individual skill was actually quite close, but that advantage was too much."
"BOOOO!"
"Give me my money back!"
"I thought you were the leader of the Bombers?!"
The crowd grew rowdy, bordering on a riot. Many people stood up to leave, disgusted by the anti-climactic finish.
"Wait! Everyone, please calm down! Our first Team Battle may have ended with a whimper, but we have a surprise exhibition match that was just finalized this morning!!"
"Wait, I didn't hear about this," the long-haired man muttered.
"I've been dying to tell everyone! I promise you, this will more than make up for everything!!"
The announcer's excitement was palpable. Her genuine joy was enough to make the departing crowd stop in their tracks. The fighters in the ring stayed to watch as well.
Then, she announced the return of a fan favorite with a scream:
"OUR EXHIBITION MATCH!! THE SADISTIC CLOWN VERSUS THE SILVER LEOPARD! IT'S HISOKA VS KILLUA!!!"
The crowd was stunned into silence for a heartbeat. Then, Hisoka and Killua emerged from the entrance and stepped into the ring.
"Ah! Ahhh! It's been so long, Killua! You guys! None of you are going to be able to sleep tonight after this!!"
It felt like a dream match, a joke that shouldn't be real—but as it unfolded before their eyes, the crowd's energy exploded.
"THE TURNING POINT OF HEAVENS ARENA! A LEGEND REBORN!!"
The building shook with the force of the roar as two "asuras" faced each other with fearless grins. The perverse clown and the lightning boy—a deathmatch between two peak predators was about to begin.
***
10 Advanced Chapters Available on my Patreon!
https://patreon.com/Well_being