Ava stood in the center of the arena, golden eyes steady, the air trembling around him. Across from him, Tavius stared him down like a predator ready to strike. The teacher raised his hand, voice echoing through the silence.
"Get ready… fight!"
Tavius roared. "It's time I teach you a lesson!"
Water and energy erupted from his palms in a violent surge, spiraling toward Ava like twin serpents of pressure. Ava didn't move. He closed his eyes for a breath, and when they opened again, his irises shimmered with divine geometry the pattern of a golden lotus woven with the luminous rings of the Hopf fibration.
"Tenshi no Me," he whispered.
The world slowed. Ava vanished from the spot as the torrent passed through the space he had been standing. A golden string of light, Life strings burst from his hand, wrapping around Tavius in a perfect coil. With a flick of his wrist, Ava pulled Tavius's body snapped forward like a yoyo caught in divine control.
Ava struck him once, twice each punch cracking the air like thunder. But just as Ava was about to deliver another blow, Tavius twisted at impossible speed, ducking beneath the strike and countering with a brutal punch to Ava's face. The impact launched him skyward, the golden string shattering into dust.
Tavius shot after him, aura boiling with pressure. Ava steadied himself midair, both of them streaking across the sky, fists colliding in rapid bursts that rippled through the heavens. The entire planet trembled beneath the weight of their power.
Then Tavius began to change. His skin darkened to a smooth, gray sheen, teeth sharpening into jagged blades. When Ava's next punch landed, it barely moved him. Tavius grinned and slammed his forehead into Ava's skull, sending him flying through a mountain ridge.
In the next instant, Tavius appeared before him again, both hands glowing with condensed energy and water. He thrust them forward, releasing a massive torrent. Ava crossed his arms, bracing himself—then came the explosion.
The planet beneath them shattered into oblivion. Chunks of molten rock drifted into the void. Amid the wreckage, the two warriors floated in open space, surrounded by burning debris and starlight.
Tavius laughed, his voice echoing across the void. "You're tougher than I thought. Good. I was hoping for a challenge this year."
He raised his arms, power spiraling out of his body like an ocean unleashed. "Let me show you, brat, why I'm one of the strongest here!"
His form expanded fifteen feet tall now, muscles rippling like waves beneath the moonlight. A shark's tail erupted from his spine, his legs merging into scaled strength, his eyes glowing red. He had become something monstrous, half-man, half-shark.
Ava smirked. "Wow. I didn't think you could get any uglier. I guess anything's possible."
Tavius grinned, rows of teeth glinting. "Let's see if you can still talk when you're dead!"
Water burst from his pores, swirling with energy until his entire body glowed with liquid power. Then, in an instant, he was gone moving at Massively FTL+ peeds. Ava barely registered the blur before pain exploded through his chest. Then another hit. And another.
Tavius hammered him across galaxies, smashing him through planets like glass.
Ava steadied his breathing, his body flickering through strands of starlight. He's too fast… he thought, forcing himself to focus. Especially in my current state. I don't have all my strength back—my powers are still fractured, my body weak. His eyes narrowed. And I can't use Omnipresence here. If anyone finds out I have that power, it'll ruin everything… my entire plan to move unseen will collapse.
He exhaled slowly. Then I'll use Velocity Sync.
Ava lifted his gaze, locking eyes with Tavius. The moment their energies met, a spark of golden light flashed across Ava's pupils. His aura shifted, harmonizing perfectly with Tavius's rhythm.
In the next instant, Ava moved matching his speed exactly.
When Tavius struck again, his fist found only empty space. Ava had already slipped behind him.
Ava appeared behind Tavius in a flash, his fist surging with black and purple lightning. The energy coiled around his arm like a living serpent, snapping and screaming through the void.
"Thunder Strike of Chaos!"
His punch connected and the explosion tore through creation itself. Shockwaves rippled across galaxies, bending stars and shredding constellations into ribbons of light. The strike left a gaping hole in Tavius's chest, purple lightning dancing violently across his body.
Tavius staggered, eyes wide in disbelief as the pain sank in. Then his expression hardened. He clenched his fists, forcing his energy to surge inward. The wound began to close, flesh knitting itself back together beneath arcs of dark electricity.
But the anger in his face burned hotter than any star. His body convulsed as torrents of energy and liquid burst from him, shaking the cosmos itself. He screamed, his voice echoing through the void
"What a prison!"
Water erupted from his skin, expanding outward until hundreds of miles of ocean filled the vacuum of space. In moments, the two of them were suspended in a vast sphere of water, a false ocean orbiting the ruins of a shattered planet.
Ava struck again, his punch missing as Tavius darted through the depths like a shark. The water shimmered with his movement, his outline ghosting from one corner of the ocean to the next.
"Well, well," Tavius said, his voice bubbling through the current. "You're not drowning. I guess you can survive in water. Impressive." He circled Ava, predatory and calm. "Tell me, how did you dodge my attacks? You were slower than me everyone saw it during your other matches. So how did you get faster?"
Ava's golden eyes glowed faintly even underwater. "Because those matches… I wasn't trying." His voice was steady, confident. "And these eyes give me something special. Just by looking at someone, I can copy their speed… or even swap it. The strings of light you saw those are Life Strings. They map existence and nonexistence itself."
Tavius snarled. "I doubt it. Every power has a limit."
He pulled a red and gold medallion from his waist. Its center pulsed like a beating heart. "I wanted to save this for someone stronger… but I guess you'll do."
He pressed the medallion to his chest. In an instant, his body multiplied one, ten, then hundreds of Taviuses surrounded Ava in the dark water, each grinning with rows of serrated teeth.
"Let's see if you can copy my speed now!" he roared. "Inside my water prison, I can move at immeasurable speeds. And you" his eyes narrowed"you're trapped."
They struck all at once. Claws, teeth, and tails tore through the water, slicing toward Ava from every angle. Each clone hit like a drill, a storm of shark-shaped missiles tearing into him. Ava twisted and dodged, but the swarm was relentless.
Too fast, he thought, blood trailing through the current. Even with Velocity Sync, I can't match all of them.
"I can't use full Omnipresence," he muttered, "but I can use it through my eyes."
A black halo appeared above his head its edges jagged, its surface burning with horned flame. The symbol of his demonic aspect.
"Tenshi no Me… activate: future site Omnipresence."
For a moment, time fractured. Ava's consciousness stretched through every version of Tavius past and across countless parallel worlds of his existence. He saw every reflection of his opponent's life: his birth, his training, his rise to this very moment. But in the present, Ava's vision only reached an hour into the future of their battle just enough to read Tavius's movements before they happened.
His breath wavered. My body's still weak… I'm nowhere near full power. Even so, with every heartbeat, the fractured threads of time pulsed before his eyes, guiding him through the chaos.
Tavius's clones lunged again but this time, Ava was ready.
Purple and black lightning flared from his hands, discharging in wild bursts that shattered the water around him. Every time a clone drew close, it was obliterated in an instant. Ava spun, his energy crackling like a storm.
"Thunder Strike of Chaos!"
Bolts of divine lightning pierced through the ocean. The prison trembled, cracks of black and purple lightning racing through its walls until the entire sphere collapsed. The water exploded outward in a radiant detonation, scattering into vapor.
Ava floated amidst the debris, his body glowing with black-and-violet energy.
Tavius stared at him in disbelief as the last of his clones dissolved into nothing. "This… doesn't mean you've won! You hear me?!" he shouted. "I'm not going to fail my father or my planet! A brat like you isn't taking my spot in the top twenty!"
He roared and charged, his aura surging with desperation.
But Ava didn't move. He floated calmly in the void, arms crossed, a faint smirk on his lips.
As Tavius closed in, he didn't notice the faint shimmer beneath him the golden outline of a card spinning slowly in space.
It snapped open.
A massive black hand erupted from the card, covered in ancient curse marks. It grabbed Tavius mid-charge, its fingers closing around his chest. The markings spread across his body like molten fire, freezing him in place.
Tavius thrashed and screamed, his voice raw with rage and fear. "Let me go! What is this?!"
"The Hand of Chaos," Ava said quietly, his tone calm almost amused. "One of my favorite trap cards." He tilted his head slightly, eyes glinting with cold confidence. "You're not getting out anytime soon."
The curse flared around Tavius like molten chains, freezing him in place. His body turned rigid, suspended mid-motion, trapped like a statue of terror and disbelief. Ava stood before him, hand raised, black and purple energy swirling and converging into his palm the Lightning of Chaos.
"You'll be fine dying," Ava said, his golden eyes narrowing. "You are chaos, your chaotic
… and chaos bows to me."
But just as he was about to release the Thunderbolt of Chaos, a memory stopped him, a soft voice echoing in his mind. "Father would take you back if you do the right thing. Learn from your mistakes, and your banishment will be over," his sister had said.
He exhaled slowly, lowering his hand. The cosmic storm around him faded.
Then, through the silence, the teacher's voice boomed:
"End of match! Winner Ava!"
The shattered void around them began to mend, the stars and planets that had been destroyed fading back into existence until they stood once again at the center of the arena. The crowd erupted, half in cheers, half in disbelief.
"There's no way… he beat Tavius…" someone whispered.
Ava's demonic halo faded from above his head as he turned and leapt back to his seat, calm and expressionless.
Up in the observation deck, the principal and senior faculty exchanged stunned glances. One figure leaned forward Lunark Vail, eyes sharp and thoughtful.
"Who is this boy…" Lunark murmured, eyes narrowing as he watched Ava return to his seat. "That energy… it feels so familiar." He leaned forward, his voice dropping to a whisper. "His energy and even his appearance resemble Adamus, the Black Lotus Sunyata, the one who cast the Dark Lord into the shadow of the Omniverse. And those purple flames… they carry the essence of Lady Death, the Queen of the Omniverse herself."
Lunark's expression hardened, suspicion gleaming in his eyes. "I must watch this kid carefully. He might be hiding something… perhaps even planning to kill the Dark Lord himself."