Light chased the darkness of the night as the sun slowly rose on the Cook Islands. Impactor stood on the beach and basked in the sunlight as he stared at the horizon.
"Did you wake up early too?"
He turned around to see the rest of his teammates.
"Nah, I couldn't sleep."
"Won't you be tired though?"
Mira asked with a smug smile.
"If you have the luxury to be tired when facing death, then you're not truly in danger."
"Oh? When did you learn to sound so smart?"
"He's repeating something a video game character said from what we were playing last night."
Kira whispered to his twin. Mira burst out laughing.
"Let him be, after all, he's excited."
Belinha clenched her fists.
"Strangely enough, I am too."
She showed a grin.
"I can't wait to show those Calamities how much we've grown."
"Really, I'm excited to see that."
A voice came from above. Their eyes drifted and the image of Sinvula floating in the sky opened up before them.
"You're early."
Belinha spoke in a casual tone. Sinvula descended to the ground.
"You're not even surprised. Not bad."
He clapped as he looked at them one by one.
"This is what I like to see."
A grin crawled onto his face.
"Your confidence makes me excited."
His grin was overflowing with savagery and bloodlust.
"So, are you going to be the first to fight us?"
Mikel asked, causing Sinvula to focus his attention on him.
"Hm...Impactor is one thing, but you...."
His grin grew wider as it was stained with madness.
"You're a bit like me, aren't you?"
Batu and Belinha instinctively moved to shield Mikel.
"Ah, my bad."
Sinvula covered his mouth with his hand and his face relaxed.
"Having someone talk to me and Alala without an ounce of fear makes me a bit too happy"
He floated off the ground again.
"To answer your question, yes, I'm first, but it's not time yet. Since it's still early for you guys, I'll give you time to prepare."
He pointed his finger at the beach and the sand came to life. It formed a map in front of them with a location marked on it.
"Meet here in two hours."
"We're not going to fight here?"
Belinha asked.
"Nah, it would be a waste to destroy the facility that the GHF prepared to make you stronger. Alala and I decided to fight you somewhere different."
He flew higher into the sky.
"Anyway, use your time to prepare wisely. Otherwise, you'll die on the first day."
He flew off with a burst of storm-like winds. Belinha silently glared in his direction.
"This location..."
Batu looked at the map Sinvula left behind. Belinha and the others went over to see for themselves.
"This is....Japan?"
Formerly Toyama, Japan. Sinvula was sitting on a stone throne with a big smile on his face. Before him was a wasteland that stretched further than his eyes could see. He pointed his finger down and something fell from the sky and crashed in front of him. It was a satellite.
"Even though I wasn't trying to destroy this thing, it barely has a scratch on it."
He gestured with his finger and the satellite flew towards him. It stopped at his face.
"You guys must've paid quite a bit to build this spy satellite."
The small cameras on the satellite reflected in his eyes, while his face reflected in their lens.
"So let me guess, you're planning to broadcast our fights with Kismet and turn it into a big event to generate funds and attention for the GHF?"
The smile fell from his face.
"What a capitalistic mindset. Normally, I would send a hurricane your way for daring to try and make money off me...."
The smile returned.
"But I'm in a good mood, so I'll let it slide."
Not too far away, Kismet was seen making their way towards him.
"After all, my guests have arrived."
"Japan, really?"
Belinha didn't hide her displeasure.
"Toyama, Ishikawa, Fukui, Gifu, Nagano, and Niigata all reduced to this. You Calamities have already destroyed a large portion of this country and yet you still want to cause destruction here?"
"Hey, hey. That was all Mishma. I wasn't even a Calamity back then."
He stood from his throne and it crumbled.
"Besides, Mishma said it was an accident."
Belinha gritted her teeth.
"Nice."
Sinvula smirked at this.
"The little girl who was afraid to face me those years ago is ready to fight for justice. It brings a tear to my eyes."
He clapped his hands and the satellite was shot into space by powerful winds.
"Alala and I have chosen to use the destroyed prefectures of Japan as our battlefield. This way you can fight without worrying about civilian life."
"How considerate of you two."
Impactor stepped forward.
"So...Time to fight?"
Sinvula smirked.
"Try your best not to die too fast!"
The two flew at each other, swinging their fists. Their fists clashed and shockwaves spread around them. Impactor leapt back and lasers shot from behind him. Sinvula thrust his fingers out and lightning bolts intercepted the lasers. Impactor flew at him again. He punched at him from a distance and fired overwhelming force. Sinvula lifted his hand in front of him. The force hit a wall of wind and dispersed.
"Other than the first attack, they seem to plan on keeping their distance."
Sinvula smirked and black clouds quickly blocked out the sun. He snapped his fingers and lightning bolts descended from the heavens. Batu leapt into the sky and punched the air. The bolts hit an invisible wall and were unable to reach their targets.
"And with that, the first one is drawn out."
Batu turned his head and his vision was dominated by electric sparks. Sinvula slammed his fist in his midsection and electricity spread across the sky. He grinned as Batu held onto his fist.
"You actually blocked that."
Batu flashed him a grimacing smile as scarlet flares appeared around them. A crucifix of scarlet flames formed with them in the centre. Batu flew from the sky, covered in burns, before flames wrapped around him and started to treat him. In the sky, the flame cross dispersed with Sinvula still in the air.
"Using flames against me would normally be suicidal, but you're the exception, Blood Phoenix."
His clothes had small burns on them. The blood flames were able to reach him. Sinvula fell on the earth like a meteor and burst open the ground. Pieces of earth floated in the air before spinning like a drill. They flew at Kismet like bullets. Bojana stepped forward and waved her hand. The earth bullets softened into mud and circled around her. She slammed her hands on the ground and the earth came alive. The ground lifted and softened into a tidal wave of mud.
"Oh?"
Sinvula showed an amused expression. He flicked his wrist and a fireball blew through the tidal wave. The heat started hardening the wave just as it was about to reach him.
*BAM*
A storm of gunshots flew from the hardening wave. The gunshots all stopped inches away from his body. At the corner of his eyes were grenades. The grenades exploded and he was swallowed up by the explosion. The twins flew out of the mud wave simultaneously as Sinvula flung himself back out of the explosion. They instantly cut the distance and swung their bladed limbs at his neck. He leapt back again with a smile. That smile vanished as Mira was still closely following him. He lifted his hand to block her slash. The blade cut through his ultra-thin barrier and into his arm.
(What physical prowess!)
He kicked her away before her blade could cut deep. As he did, Kira caught up to him. His blade arms vanished and sparks flew between him and Sinvula.
(How many times did he swing his sword in that instant? Hardening my skin was the right choice.)
A grin returned to his face. An explosive noise rang out. The twins were seen cutting throw the air with their eyes rolled to the back of their heads.
"This is what I'm talking about."
Sinvula appeared with storm-like winds dancing around him.
"With this I can have a bit of fu—"
He was cut off by Impactor and Mikel popping up at his side. Impactor fired a punch while Mikel shot a giant laser beam. Sinvula was swallowed up in another explosion. Mikel and Impactor quickly retreated while on high alert.
They blinked.
"That's the spirit."
Sinvula was in front of them, stretching his hands towards their faces. He stopped and the two distanced themselves again. Sinvula stood in silence for a bit before bringing his hands back to his sides.
"I guess that was good for the first day. It was quite promising."
Beeps came from Belinha's stopwatch. She knew what that meant; ten minutes had passed.
Sinvula placed his hand on his hip.
"I didn't get to test all of you the way I wanted, but whatever. It was a good appetiser."
He floated off the ground and showed them three fingers.
"If you don't step your game up, you'll all die by the 3rd round of this game. So, you'd better work hard."
He showed a devious smirk.
"And don't let Alala kill you because she will come at you guys harder than I did."
He shot off into the distance without saying anything else. Belinha fell to her knees.
"We survived..."