After Kazuki made his sudden appearance during the intense battle, Alex's eyes widened with surprise and excitement. He couldn't hide the smile forming on his face.
Kazuki looked at Alex with a smirk.
"You hopeless loser."
Alex laughed lightly.
"Looks like you came right on time. Honestly, I was expecting some flashy entrance from you… but not this one."
Kuro rose back to his feet, brushing off the damage caused by Kazuki's earlier lightning bolt.
"Now, now… I hope you both haven't forgotten about me?"
Kazuki tilted his head.
"Who the heck is this guy?"
Alex answered casually,
"Oh, nothing big. Just my opponent. He's kinda strong, though… I'm not sure I can take him down alone."
With his arms transformed into lightning blades, Kuro launched himself at Kazuki—moving fast enough to appear directly above him. He tried to strike a fatal blow, but instead of hitting Kazuki, his fist slammed against an invisible force field.
Kazuki, completely uninterested, snapped his fingers.
The forcefield expanded outward like a shockwave, blasting Kuro violently into the wall.
Kuro stood up again, staring at Kazuki in fascination.
"A forcefield, hmm? It looks like you're another beast entirely compared to your friend… but your barrier isn't invincible. If I surpass a certain speed, I can bypass it."
Kazuki's eye twitched.
"How did he figure out the weakness of my forcefield with just one hit?! But he only touched it for a second."
He exhaled sharply and said to Alex,
"You're right, Alex. This guy is strong. If we take him lightly, we're toast."
Kazuki activated his Spirit Mark—its diamond shape with circles glowing at each edge.
Alex smirked.
"Looks like you've gotten stronger, Kazuki. But as long as I'm alive, you won't be the strongest."
Alex powered up—his hair turning bright blue as massive amounts of energy burst from his body.
Kazuki smirked back.
"Whoever lands the most hits wins. Sound fair?"
"Yeah! It's a deal!" Alex replied with excitement.
Meanwhile…
As Sōn was moments away from receiving the final blow from Lisa, flames erupted violently from his entire body. The explosion of fire spread across the city like a tidal wave.
Sōn stood up, the lightning needles that pierced him evaporating as intense flames wrapped around him—forming a burning armor over his body. His firepower skyrocketed, heat distorting the air around him as flames ripped through nearby buildings.
Lisa stepped back slowly, her intuition screaming danger "What the hell? Where did this amount of firepower come from?", she asked herself.
Sōn tilted his head with a twisted grin.
"You want to know why I didn't use this earlier?"
He raised his face, revealing a crazed smile.
"It's because if I did… the fight wouldn't be fun."
He laughed like a menace before launching himself at her. The ground cracked and cratered beneath his feet.
He gathered overwhelming fire on his fist and punched Lisa, sending her flying into the sky. He followed instantly, moving even faster than before, striking her repeatedly mid-air. Each blow triggered massive explosions above the city.
Lisa felt her body shaking with heat, Sōn's speed had increased so drastically that she couldn't keep up.
She was able to keep her distance in air and formed a powerful lightning needle thats she launched it at him, but Sōn instantly countered with a massive fireball that completely overpowered the attack. Lisa narrowly dodged—the fireball exploded behind her, obliterating an entire mountain.
Sōn yelled out like a monster "AAAAAAAAAH!", and raced after her at devastating speeds. He started gathering flames into a colossal shape.
"Dragon's Fists!", he growled the name of his attack.
A flaming dragon formed around his arm as he hurled it at Lisa. The resulting explosion wiped out several mountains and scorched the forest below into ashes.
Inside his mind, Sōn thought:
"I was saving this firepower for Saito… but she pushed me this far. At least now, I know how strong I really am."
As he continued unleashing explosions in the sky, he muttered:
"With this power… I should be at B-rank. This should be enough to defeat Saito."
Lisa, desperately flying as fast as she could, realized he wasn't slowing down at all.
"How do I escape this? Just a minute ago, I had the upper hand… How did he get so strong?"
Her thoughts ended abruptly as Sōn appeared above her and unleashed a devastating blast of flames. The firestorm incinerated an entire forest and melted mountains into slag.
Lisa crashed into the ground in a powerful explosion and was severely injured. Sōn walked toward her slowly, laughing maniacally with a deranged grin. He was completely out of control. Lisa thought to herself "Damn it, I've got to do something fast before this guy burns me to death.".
As he prepared the finishing blow, Lisa suddenly puffed her cheeks slightly, tilted her head, and said in the cutest voice:
"Please don't hurt me… If you continue, I'll be really sad and hurt."
Sōn froze.
His entire brain broke for a moment.
"W-What…? Is she flirting with me?! Matter of fact...how can a girl be this cute?"
His flames immediately weakened. The armor melted away. His body released smoke as he collapsed from exhaustion.
Lisa gasped and quickly knelt beside him.
"Hey—are you okay?"
She offered him a bottle of water.
Sōn weakly looked at her.
"Why… are you helping me? You could easily attack me right now."
Lisa smiled gently.
"I felt bad for underestimating you. And… I really like you. I didn't mean to be that heartless during the fight."
Sōn's face turned completely red.
Lisa tilted her head.
"Can we be friends?"
Sōn looked utterly confused ".....", he was speechless.
END OF CHAPTER.