Pride and Tranquility

I walked down the hall and cracked my knuckles then my eyes shined. I fixed my clothes and walked onto the battlefield. I heard the crowd cheering and looked around. Orimi, Fujin, Rimuri, and Karasu was in the crowd cheering for me. Bachiko smiled as she saw me. She crossed her arms and licked her lips. Naora was watching from the Staff Section of the Stadium. Chiziwa smiled as she watched as well.

"The next battle might end up being one of my favorites and no Yonaka I am not being biased! We have The Human Monster Hybrid, the man who's tamed and saved technically three monsters! The newest member of the Main MPT squad, Yoshida Asato!" Himeko announced.

"Go Big Brother!" Orimi cheered.

"Kick his butt!" Rimuri yelled.

"On the other side we have Lotus Council's second leader! The Grappler of Light! The Luminous Lotus, Kanda Shihi! He's proven to be a star member of the Lotus Council and has NEVER lost a battle in his life! He's went toe to toe with some of the best like Yumeji Kugo and Kikyo Maeda from St. Fraskia!" Yonaka said with a proud laugh.

"Yoshida! In this battle...I will show you why I am the Luminous Lotus! Now prepare yourself!" Kanda said and got into his battle stance.

I stared at Kanda then took a deep breath and exhaled. I gracefully got into my stance then my eyes shined a bit. "I don't care what they call you. What you said about Mae is unforgivable. You should be the one to prepare yourself, Kanda."

"That stance." Keishi said.

"Yeah. I taught him the Wing Chun stance." Yan Mei said proudly.

"Let's get started!" The AI Voice said.

Kanda surrounded himself with Light Aura and propelled himself toward me at lightspeeds then struck my chest, sending me flying backwards. He dashed toward me and jumped up and grappled my leg and somersaulted forward and slammed me on the ground.

I grunted and went for a quick kick, but he countered by grabbing my leg and tossing me upward then grabbed my face and threw me. I rolled backwards then recovered and summoned multiple voids on the ground as he ran toward me. He dodged each one then bellowed and went for a spinning kick. I dodged the kick and countered with a sweeping kick then grabbed his leg and threw him into a void.

Another void was summon and he was blasted out the void. I used the wind to propel myself toward him and used my Chrono Energy to accelerate myself through time and struck him with a flurry of powerful strikes then kicked him away. Kanda groaned as he rolled backwards.

"It's already a heated battle! This is what I like to see! Neither side is holding anything back!" Himeko yelled into the microphone.

"Rush! Rush! Rush! Rush!" Rimuri yelled and threw punches in the air.

Kanda dashed toward me as I ran toward him. I evaded his first hook punch then countered with a body blow then followed with a spin kick that he dodged and he countered with a body shot of his own. I bellowed and struck his face then he staggered a bit. He dodged my next strike and punched my face, making me stagger. We bellowed and struck each other's faces, launching each other backwards.

The crowd roared and the crowd was divided between chanting my name and Kanda's name. Orimi and Fujin cheered loudly.

I stood up and chuckled then wiped my mouth. I stood tall and my Chi surged powerfully around my body. "Alright...this is getting interesting!" I yelled and threw off my jacket.

Kanda stood up and glared then summoned his gauntlets then smacked his fists together. His light aura grew stronger then he got into his stance. "You're not too shabby yourself! But I won't allow you to win!"

He stomped on the ground and five medium sized boulders came from the ground and flew in the air. I watched and braced myself. He dashed toward me at lightspeeds then evaded my roundhouse kick then kicked me upwards then jumped up and grappled me with his feet then threw me to the ground at high speeds. I groaned and bounced back up. He grabbed my leg and threw me up in the air.

"Luminous!" He bellowed and used one of the floating boulders to propel himself toward me and kicked me higher in the air.

He used the second boulder to propel himself toward me and struck him with a barrage of spinning kicks then launched me higher. He did the same for the third and fourth boulder then he landed on the fifth boulder then propelled himself down toward me and kicked my back, crashing down with me.

"Crash!" He bellowed and crashed down then a burst of light shined. He appeared away from the explosion and dusted himself off. "No one can get up from my Luminous Crash."

"Yoshida!" Karasu yelled.

Yan Mei was a bit surprised. "What power...I didn't account for Lightspeed attacks like that.."

"He might be durable, but attacks like those are hard to endure. His battlesuit, Luminous Lotus offers Lightspeed Attacks with Monstrous Power. Not to mention his Light Energy can not only blind people but also paralyze them." Keishi said. "He can move at lightspeeds and strike at the same speed..."

Kanda noticed a burst of energy and looked at me. He was surprised that I was standing up. "What?! How-"

He grunted as he was blown away by a force of powerful winds. I stopped time and Bachiko's smile grew even wider. Orimi watched in shock and stood up. I ran behind him and resumed time then kicked him away and summoned a void in front of him. He went into the void and another formed in the air then blasted him down to the ground. A force of wind was blasted out the void and struck Kanda.

Kanda crashed to the ground then groaned when he heard my Sonic Scream. He held his ears and yelled. I stopped my scream and looked at Kanda. He slowly stood up and panted.

"You underestimate me. I have four monster abilities under my belt and I can use all four at the same time. If you think that moving in lightspeeds can help you defeat me...then let me show you the fruits of my training." I said then took a deep breath and summoned four voids.

Kanda watched me and noticed the voids gathering energy from the environment without killing the environment. Rimuri watched in awe as she didn't know she could gather energy without killing everything around her. I held my hand at the voids and the voids fired that energy at me. I closed my eyes and my Chi surrounded my body then spiralled around me.

"What is he doing?" Keishi asked.

Himeko and Yonaka watched closely as they also wondered what I was planning.

I cleared my mind completely and imagined the waterfall. I cancelled out the cheering from the crowd and only imagined the sounds of the Secluded Training Area. The voids disappeared after I collected all the energy and I opened my eyes then they shined silver.

"No way..." Yan Mei said and stood up. "He did it!"

Melody stood up as well and stared at me in awe. "Tranquil State!" She said and let out a roar of triumph.

"He actually reached it!" Yan Mei said and gave an excited smile.

I lowered my arm and stared at Kanda then my Chi disappeared. I got into my stance and waited for Kanda to move.

"That's the Tai Chi stance I taught him...He actually learned that quickly...Yoshida!" Yan Mei yelled.

Himeko smirked and crossed her arms. "Yoshida has taken the crowd by surprise revealing his Tranquil State!"

"This is reminiscent of Yan Mei's and Liao Ru's battle a year ago. I am actually interested in seeing how this will go." Yonaka said and smirked.

Yae watched me from her waiting room on the TV and let out a soft giggle. "Yoshida Asato...you are a man of many mysteries..~"

Kanda watched me and grunted. Sweat began to roll down his cheek. 'His energy levels are noticably higher...but he doesn't seem any different other than his eye color changing. Whatever, I should still be able to outspeed him!'

Kanda dashed toward me at lightspeeds then went for a punch. I dodged it and he looked surprised. The crowd was surprised as well. Kanda vanished and appeared behind me and went for a kick, but I ducked under his kick. He bellowed and went for a flurry of kicks, but I dodged each one then moved away from him. He ran toward me and went for a lightspeed strike, but I blocked it with my hand. He was genuinely surprised and I just gave him a stoic look.

"What's this?! Kanda can't even land a single attack anymore! This is the power of Tranquil State!" Himeko yelled.

I pushed him back and walked backwards then got back into my stance. I propelled myself toward Kanda then slowed down his time then kicked him away then used a wind current to send him back toward me then palmed his stomach. Kanda groaned in slow motion then flew backwards at full motion. He landed on his feet and slid backwards.

He dashed toward me at lightspeeds then went for a strike, but I dodged it and countered with a right hook. He groaned and went for a spinning kick, but I dodged it as well then grabbed his leg and used his momentum to spin him around again then struck him with a spinning heel kick. I stood on my two feet and looked at my hands. My power wasn't there at all, my strength was unaffected as my body isn't used to these types of movements.

Kanda bellowed and his light aura surged powerfully. He looked at me with an angry expression. "I shouldn't be losing! I shouldn't be losing to you of all people!"

I stared at him and lowered my hands. I stayed silent as talking too much would ruin my concentration as I needed every bit of it to maintain this state until I've mastered it.

"I'm ending this with my strongest attack! You will be defeated!" Kanda roared and fired a ray of light at me.

I dodged it and stared at him. He roared and began to rapidly fire spheres of light at me. I dashed toward him and dodged each one then he fired more at me. I deflected them all and generated a sphere of wind in my hand then summoned a void behind him. I threw the sphere of wind and it curved around him and went inside the void.

"Luminous Shine!" He bellowed and fired a massive beam of light at me.

I performed a perfect handspring then flipped over the beam and landed behind him. I let out a roar and the void shined red then released a powerful blast of Abyss Energy at Kanda. He looked back and his eyes widened then he was struck by the blast and an explosion happened.

I softly groaned and reverted back to normal. I stumbled and my legs shook. I watched the smoke clear and noticed Kanda still standing. His aura disappeared and he stumbled as well.

"Come on, Yoshida...Don't fall..!" Yan Mei said and cupped her hands together.

I smirked and slowed down my time as I began to fall. Kanda noticed then groaned as he fell to the ground.

"Battle over! Yoshida wins!" The AI Voice said.

I groaned and reverted my time to normal then sat on the ground, panting. I heard the roar of the crowd and smiled.

"Yoshida made a big brain move using his own Time Manipulation on himself to make himself move in slow motion and because of that he won the stamina battle! This is what we call high IQ!" Himeko bellowed with excitement.

"Yoshida! Yoshida! Yoshida!" The crowd chanted.

I stood up slowly and walked over to Kanda. He looked up at me and I held my hand out toward him. He closed his eyes and grabbed my hand then I helped him up.

"Although what you said about Mae was something I couldn't let go, I deeply enjoyed our battle. I didn't think I would make it any much longer." I said.

Kanda closed his eyes and sighed. "Our battle was enjoyable, but this isn't the last you'll hear from me. Next time, I will win."

I watched him walk off and smirked. I began to leave the battlefield as well.

------

I sat in the recovery room and heard running. I noticed Orimi burst into the room and tackle me into a hug. I chuckled and held her. I watched the others walk in after her.

"That was so amazing! When you tapped into your Tranquil State it made everyone surprised even me!" Orimi said happily.

"Yeah, I must admit that your battle against Kanda was really fun to watch~" Fujin chuckled.

"Yeah and I was really on the edge of my seat!" Karasu said and giggled, covering her face with her fan.

"I was like 'WHOA!' and then you were like 'WHOOOSH!' and Kanda was like 'IMPOSSIBLE!' then when you transformed I was like 'WOOOOWW!!'" Rimuri said and giggled.

I chuckled and looked at them. "Thanks. It wasn't an easy battle though. I have to admit that Kanda gave me a hard time."

Yan Mei walked into the room with Melody and smiled at me. "Well well, if it isn't my favorite student."

"I'm your only student." I chuckled.

Yan Mei giggled softly and crossed her arms. "You've really surprised me. I'm glad to be your teacher.."

Melody smiled at me and nodded. "Since you've practically passed Yan Mei's lessons, I can teach you now and soon you'll be even stronger than ever~"

Bachiko walked into the recovery room and looked at me. "Well well, my darling~ That battle was most impressive and you've really raised the bar for the rest of us~"

Everyone looked at Bachiko and I smiled at her.

"Well...what can I say?~ When I get into the zone, I go all out..~" I said.

"Oh I know..~" Bachiko giggled softly.

Rimuri, Orimi, and Karasu looked at Bachiko then looked back at me. I looked at them and smiled. With my win under my belt, I only had four more people to face off against before the Promotion Matches. I felt confident in my abilities and knew the only way to go from here was up. I really felt good about myself and was ready for my next battles.