Shirano's first character was gone.
The arena erupted in chaos.
"What lightning reflexes!" Nagai Kenta, watching from the player's viewing area, his smile fading.
Shirano took a deep breath and switched to his second character, Blue Mary.
Mary was renowned for her swift command throws and agile ground game. Shirano aimed to disrupt Goro Daimon's rhythm with close-range combat.
The match resumed. Mary moved with the speed of a cheetah, circling Goro Daimon, searching for an opening.
Yet Goro Daimon stood like an impenetrable fortress. Even against Mary's dazzling array of attacks, his defense remained flawless.
During a rapid exchange of offense and defense, Shirano seized an opportunity, attempting to finish the match with Mary's signature move, the Mary Spider Hold.
But the moment he entered the command, Daigo's stick traced a faster arc.
*Hell's Paradise Drop!* again!
Goro Daimon, with his signature "late but precise" style, flawlessly countered Mary's throw and hoisted her overhead once more.
The screen was again dominated by the massive letters "K.O.!"
"No way... Shirano has already lost two characters?"
"Goro Daimon still has more than half his health bar! How is Shirano supposed to win this?"
The audience erupted, stunned into silence by the young player's terrifying skill.
Shirano stared at the screen, only one character remaining: Kyo Kusanagi.
He closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his gaze had completely changed.
There was no turning back.
The moment the match began, Shirano's Kyo Kusanagi transformed into a raging inferno. Abandoning all caution, he charged forward with reckless abandon!
His fingers hammered out a frenzied rhythm on the buttons, Kusanagi Kyo's combo raining down like a tempest. Finally, seizing Daigo Umehara's momentary hesitation, he tore through Goro Daimon's defenses!
Amidst the roar of the crowd, Goro Daimon's massive frame finally crumpled to the ground.
But at a price: Kyo Kusanagi's health bar had already depleted by a third.
"Great!" The arcade owner jumped up excitedly, then quickly covered his mouth.
Daigo's second character, Choi Bounge, made his entrance.
The short, clawed figure with his shrill laughter completely changed the atmosphere.
*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!*
Choi Bounge buzzed around the screen like a fly, using his Flying Sky-Rending Slash to harass Kyo Kusanagi from the air. His piercing laughter filled the entire arena.
Shirano's brow furrowed deeply.
*This is infuriating!*
Choi Bounge's small size and high mobility made it difficult for Kyo Kusanagi's ground-based attacks to land. Shirano was forced to rely on passive air defense with Demon Burn, putting him on the defensive for a time.
"Hahaha! Shirano's getting pummeled!"
"This monkey is disgusting! He's impossible to catch!"
The audience watched, torn between frustration and amusement.
But Shirano was a champion-level player. After adapting to Choi Bounge's rhythm, he began regaining control through precise movement and quick strikes.
Both players' health bars plummeted rapidly as the match intensified.
Just as Kyo Kusanagi's health was down to a sliver, and Choi Bounge's was similarly low, Shirano saw an opportunity!
Choi Bounge's character froze briefly upon landing!
*Now!*
Shirano's Kyo Kusanagi lunged forward, unleashing a combo that would secure the round if completed.
But just as the final strike was about to land, a blinding light erupted from Choi Bounge's character on the screen!
*Super Special Move! "True! Super Ultimate Tornado Vacuum Slash!"*
Daigo Umehara, on the verge of defeat, had seized a split-second window to input the command for his Super Special Move!
A massive tornado erupted, sweeping the barely-hanging-on Kyo Kusanagi into its vortex and instantly clearing his health bar.
*K.O.!*
In the second match, Daigo Umehara's momentum surged. He started with Choi Bounge and dominated Shirano, winning three games to none.
Shirano's fingers froze over the buttons. He stared at the dimming screen, then glanced at the expressionless boy standing on a beer crate in the distance.
He had lost.
He had lost fair and square.
After a brief silence, a deafening roar of applause and screams nearly tore the roof off Akihabara Hall One.
"Monster! He's truly a monster!"
Nagai Kenta stood up, gazing at the small figure across from him. For the first time, he felt genuinely challenged.
The final match.
As Nagai Kenta and Daigo Umehara's names flashed onto the giant screen, the air in Akihabara Hall One seemed to be sucked out, leaving everyone breathless.
On one side stood Nagai Kenta, the reigning champion since his coronation six years prior. Steady as a mountain, he represented the pinnacle of Tokyo's fighting game scene.
On the other side was Daigo Umehara, the mysterious prodigy who had emerged from nowhere in this tournament. At just eleven years old, he had crushed all comers, earning the nickname "Little Beast."
Nagai Kenta removed his iconic red-and-white baseball cap, revealing a face even more resolute than the last time they had met four years ago. He stared at the child standing on a beer crate across from him, his expression impassive, a myriad of emotions swirling within him.
Six years ago, Shirano stood beside him as a challenger.
Now, he himself had become the king being challenged.
"The Tokyo Strongest Tournament begins now!"
The commentator's voice cracked with excitement.
First Match.
Nagai Kenta selected his classic lineup: Kyo Kusanagi, King, and Goro Daimon.
Daigo Umehara adjusted the order: Choi Bounge, Chang Koehan, and Goro Daimon.
"That monkey again!" someone wailed from the stands.
The moment the match began, Kyo Kusanagi demonstrated a maturity starkly different from Shirano's.
He didn't rush into offense, instead maintaining a steady defensive stance. With precise jumps and ground control, he built an impenetrable barrier.
He knew all too well that against a character like Choi Bounge, even the slightest impatience would be ruthlessly exploited.
On the screen, Choi Bounge leaped and darted, his laughter shrill and piercing. But Kyo Kusanagi remained immovable as a boulder, unshaken by any provocation.
The scene fell into an eerie stalemate.
"Nagai's so steady!"
"He's waiting for that monkey to make a mistake!"
But Daigo Umehara's patience proved far greater than anyone imagined.
Finally, after what seemed like a routine mid-air probe, Nagai Kenta caught Choi Bounge in a landing stun.
*Now!*
Kyo Kusanagi's combo struck, a dazzling sequence of moves brutally pummeling Choi Bounge.
K.O.!
No, no K.O.!
Choi Bounge's health bar showed only a sliver of HP remaining, but he somehow withstood the fatal blow! The price was steep: Choi Bounge's last-ditch counterattack nearly halved Kusanagi Kyo's health, dropping him as well.
Nagai Kenta's second character, King, entered the fray.
She wasted no time, opening with a precise Double Venom Strike that knocked back Choi Bounge, who had lunged to seize the initiative. Closing the distance, King followed up with a Delusion Kick, cleanly finishing off the barely alive Choi Bounge.
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