Tsayan grunted and rushed to the enemy.

Lee put out his hands and released a stream of magma. It was hotter than hellfire, heavier than a meteorite. It wasn’t too fast, though, but if it hit it would hurt like hell.

Tsayan created a perfectly smooth massive round quartz glove on one of his hands. He was holding an angular-shaped shield in the other one.

Everything happened in a second.

With the shield, Tsayan made his way through the flows of heavy lava like a locomotive through the snow and landed a crushing blow with his glove to Lee’s head, or rather to the place where it should have been. He cried out loud the name of the technique:

«The giant's hammer!»

~ bam ~

The round yellow rock passed through the magma and hit Lee in the head. He flew out of his lava cover and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

«Whaaaat?!» - Everyone gasped

«He... Lost…» - Stephanie whispered. She sighed and closed her eyes in despair with her hands.

The Stones’ hearts sank. They could not utter a word. Their god-like champion had been shamefully defeated with a single blow! What were all those pretentious big words for?! What was the point in his looks and god-of-fire effects if he collapsed with one blow!? And who was the winner? The arrogant idiot who was not even one of the thirty best Browns. Why did he have to show off? God, what a shame... They had failed at their own party, they couldn’t even reach the semifinals. Their belief in the best fighter in the family was fading. Despair had covered the whole family like a wet blanket. Many of them were ashamed to raise their eyes. A few disappointed Stone girls were weeping bitterly.

Why were they so weak? Why was Lee so weak? They had to return to their chambers, hide from everyone and bury their faces in the pillows.

The scene had even tugged at Kyon’s heartstrings. For some reason, he felt he belonged to those desperate guys. Well, that was nothing, everything was according to his plan.

«Yeah-ah-ah-ah!» … «Tsayan is our hero!» … «Tsayan is better than Lee!» … «The Stones have lost! What a shame!» … «The Stones collapsed in the sixth round! They are too weak for family number one!» … «Tsayan is the new king of the battles! Now he deserves this title!» - The Browns rejoiced in insane delight.

«Your number one did not live up to my expectations. It was a pathetic show that proved he is nothing but a dumbbell with a vile core. I do not care for the public recognition that he is a mediocrity. It’s become obvious to everyone that he is wretched incompetence not deserving an ounce of respect.» - Tsayan said with contempt and went to his jubilant family. They took the winner in their arms and tossed him into the air.

Tsayan’s joy knew no bounds. The elder would have to reward him with high-quality breakthrough medicine! He was bursting with happiness. He would dance through the next round and get to the finals! He couldn’t have come up with a better grid. The luck was with him yet again.

The other families hurried to shake hands with the new genius. In the future, he would rise to the highest positions of the strongest Browns. It is always useful to make acquaintance with such a promising person.

«Don’t feel so bad, Juno. I won’t stop respecting your family even if it slides to the hundredth place in the rating.» - Kara said and pinched the girl on the cheek.

«Who said we’d lost?» - She asked coldly.

«What are you talking about?»

«You will see it soon... And stop fussing over me! I’m not a little girl!»

«Come on, my sweet.» - The princess whispered sensually. She couldn't care less for the battles of the wimps. She was there for Juno. All her attention was for the girl.

The loud voice of the judge interrupted the incessant cries of joy in support of Tsayan’s victory:

«Kaisen Romanov, the sixth stage of the advanced phase against Kyon Stone, the seventh stage of the base phase!»

When the gloomy Stones heard the names of the next fighters they looked at the tournament grid. In the turmoil of the recent events, everyone had forgotten about the lucky one, who had made it to the sixth round under the patronage of Lady Luck.

Stephanie paid no attention to that. She helped Lee to get around. He looked depressed and remained painfully silent. Together with his friend, he retired to the hall to suppress his grief with alcohol. Most of the Stones followed suit. Contemptuous glances and malevolent giggles on all sides exacerbated his situation. He wished the damn party would end soon. One thing pleased him. The princess would get the prize and not those slippery snakes.

Only two Stones remained in their seats. They were eager to see the face of the boy when he realized that luck had left him. Their family had no chance.

The Browns grinned like hyenas and glanced viciously at Kyon. They kept screaming insults. «Hey, sucker! Hit the road before he breaks all of your bones!» … «Get the fuck out of the arena! Don't disgrace your family!» … «Is your name Kyon? I will get a grave ready for you!»

Richie nudged his friend. «His opponent is the unsurpassed lord of thunder Kaisen Romanov! I’ll eat my tongue if he doesn’t win... Son of a bitch, I have to win something back. I blew so much money betting against the lucky guy…»

Dinah gave Kaisen a long, studying look. She smiled vengefully, anticipating the imminent death of her sworn enemy.

On the other hand, Anna examined Romanov with a little curiosity and Kyon with concern.

Kyon went to the center of the arena with a serious face and gave the audience an icy look. It made no sense to respond to the screams of the ratty crowd.

Opposite him was a guy with an arrogant expression on his face. With his cold eyes and a lazy arrogant smile, he was like a boa constrictor looking at a rabbit inviting him to be his dinner. «I am Kaisen Romanov. I’ve sent three Stone fighters to hell. It was a miserable sight... And my last opponent is 9 stages below me. It’s a shame! Give up now and don’t waste my time.»

Kyon made an obscene gesture.

«You are little…» - Kaisen snapped then suddenly burst out laughing. – «Okay, okay... I must admit you’re funny. You remind me of those little dogs whose bark is worse than their bite. They can be crushed like a piece of shit... My next opponent is Tsayan but I won’t defeat him. So, I want to give you a chance to prove yourself. If you survive five of my blows the strongest Romanov at the party, that’s me, will admit his defeat and bow to your feet. What do you say, sucker?!» - He kept mocking Kyon to put on a show.

«Ha ha ha ha! Kaisen knows how to cheer up the audience!» … «Five blows are too many, one is enough!» … «Don’t waste your time! The arrogant bug will die at your sigh!» … «Well done! I’ll give you a hundred spheres if you break his spine!» … «Let him beg for mercy. Kaisen, amuse the audience, please!» - The audience cried out their wishes.

Kyon put his hand forward. «Five strokes and you will bow to my feet.»

Kaisen guffawed. «That's right! If you survive five blows I will do it!»

«You are mistaken. After five of my blows, you will lick my feet.»

The smile evaporated from Romanov’s face. «Are you out of your mind, son of a bitch?! Sick bastard! I take my words back! I’ll get you with three blows!»

Kyon put out 3 fingers. «Good. Three blows and you will whine at my feet.»

The audience laughed to tears. The last two representatives of the Stone family looked at each other, perplexed. {What is he doing?!} ... {Is he an idiot?! We should cut off his tongue for this groundless impudence!}

«I’ll definitely break your back for your insolence! You’re crazy!»

«If you insist, I’ll break your back, too. Anything else?» - Kyon asked with a cold smile.

Kaisen flushed and then laughed with the others. He decided not to take seriously the words of the pipsqueak in front of him. «I get it... Your true calling is to be the clown in the Stone family! Great. I’d love to hear you wailing and pleading for mercy. Judge, I'm ready to start!»

The judge nodded and gave the signal.

*beeeeep*

Kaisen confidently approached Kyon. His fist was sparkling with lightning. The buzzing sound meant a huge discharge within.

«He wants to kill him at once!» … «Burn him from inside, Kaisen!»

Kaisen grinned. «I got a little too heated. One blow is more than enough!» - The speed was so great that his hand blurred. However, the fist that was supposed to crash the opponent’s skull had missed. The head of the enemy had vanished in the mist.

A strong gust of wind flew to Kaisen’s cheek.

~PAM~

A distinct, loud sound of a slap was heard on the arena.

Kaisen did three somersaulting in the air and fell heavily to the ground. His cheek burned with fire. It took some moments for his brain to stop dangling in the skull.

Kyon blew on the back of his reddened hand. «It was the first blow.»

The audience gasped in amazement. They thought Kaisen would break Kyon’s head with his mighty fist and fry the contents inside, but the reality was completely different. Kyon had slowly, casually dodged and successfully counterattacked!

The words “the first blow,” that the weakest of the Stones had impassively uttered, sobered up some minds.

Anna raised her eyebrows in surprise, Dinah frowned.

«Are you kidding me?!» … «Did you see that?!» … «It’s impossible!»

Sometimes the fighter who is a stage weaker can win. In rare cases, they might be three stages below. In the most exceptional cases, the gap can be half the phase (if the elements are right). But here a practitioner who is almost an entire phase below had humiliated Kaisen with a slap in the face in an instant!

Juno fidgeted on the princess’s lap like a naughty kitten. She smiled against her will. The servant had smacked down impudent Romanov well! But she couldn’t allow herself to think like that. It was not a royal matter to rejoice at the servant’s success.

Kaisen caught his breath a bit and rose to his feet with an empty look. His cheek was burning slowly turning into a red monkey ass. It seemed he’d been hit fucking hard...

He looked at Kyon. «Ha... Ha ha ha! Perfect! I intentionally let you attack first so that you wouldn’t lose your face. But since your flawed brain couldn’t recognize my good intentions, get ready to face the consequences!»

Everyone heard lady Juno's sincere laugh... It sounded pleasant, caressing the ear like silver spring bells ringing. Beautiful like an angel, lovely like a delicate rose. And that wonderful being was sitting on the devil’s lap!

The guests focused their eyes on the charming girl.

«Dear Kaisen, do all Romanovs lie to save themselves from falling flat on their faces?»

The boy swallowed nervously. «What do you mean, Ms. Juno? Don’t you believe me?»

«I probably don’t. If you miss the next blow nobody else will believe you.»

Kaisen looked around absentmindedly. The looks of the audience did not bode well. The boy blushed even more with anger and shame. «Lady Juno, I will prove my strength to you!» - He roared. His hand sparkled with huge bolts of lightning. It became heavy, collapsed to the ground and plowed it.

«Chidori! One of the best Romanov lightning techniques!»

Kaisen clearly intended to blast his opponent off the map. The ground torn to pieces under his sparking hand suggested that the lightning strike could break through the steel wall. The miserable practitioner of the base phase would turn into the burnt mash of flesh and bones.

«Die!» - Romanov growled and raised his hand with effort. It blurred into a violet ray and crashed into Kyon’s chest. Or rather, it went right through it.

«What the…»

Kaisen opened his eyes wide in surprise. His body moved forward by inertia. The next moment, a piercing, sharp sound cut through the air.

~Pam~

A powerful deafening blow hit his face again.

Romanov did four bizarre somersaults and hit his jaw on the barrier. His mouth filled with salty blood, a couple of teeth flew out. His second cheek swelled just like the first.

«It was the second blow.» - Kyon said.

The shocked guests were speechless. The young minds had difficulty digesting the absurd facts.