Riu sucked in a deep breath as he stood on one end of the field, clutching his stomach. Misora hadn't dealt any wounds to him.

She had only palmed him through the gut in a single strike but it felt like his organs were still shaking afterward like someone had reached inside his body and rearranged everything, then put it back slightly wrongly.

'What a monster...' Riu thought with his breath coming in ragged gasps.

The roots had lashed out instinctively, surrounding the field and attacking her to protect him so right now, they were thrashing wildly with dozens of them as thick as tree trunks, whipping through the air like angry serpents but Misora was barely even moving to avoid them.

She stabbed her hand to the side and a shockwave of mana followed outward, radiating from her palm in a perfect circle.

The roots that were caught in the blast simply exploded shredding into splinters and sawdust, scattering across the arena floor like confetti.

Riu winced.

As long as parts of the roots remained, they would regrow and keep dying.

The cycle was endless but still, he didn't like seeing them being attacked. He didn't like watching nature get destroyed over and over again because of his weakness.

'I'm supposed to be fighting…' Riu thought while gritting his teeth. He was well aware that his body had two sides to it, they were two halves of a whole that never quite fit together properly.

There was the thin side… the weak and scared side, the part that wanted to hide, to run, to avoid conflict at all costs until necessary and then there was him.

The part that wanted to be everything the other one couldn't… The part that wanted justice… The one that wanted to fight bullies and make them change their ways… To protect people like him who were stripped of their peace and forced to live in fear of these kinds of people and here he was, in the moment that mattered most.

'I'm actually trembling in the face of a bully…' Riu thought bitterly.

He gritted his teeth harder tasting blood and then slowly, he staggered onto his feet.

His legs felt like they were made of wet paper, threatening to collapse under his weight at any moment.

Misora looked at him while casually slapping away another branch that had gotten too close. The motion was effortless, like she was swatting a fly.

"Are you actually ready to take this seriously?" Misora asked.

Riu didn't reply to her question but instead, he cocked his head back.

Immediately, green mana flooded around his body.

It poured out of him like a dam had broken, surrounding him completely. The air around him began to tremble from the sheer pressure of it and the ground beneath his feet cracked with spiderwebs of broken stone radiating outward.

His eyes glared at her, glowing with that same light.

The roots that had been attacking Misora suddenly stopped mid-strike. They froze in place for a heartbeat, then dispelled entirely… dissolving into particles of green light that scattered on the wind.

Riu took off his cloak and the heavy fabric billowed in the wind generated by his mana, catching the air like a sail before flying away across the arena then he unbuttoned his shirt with his fingers working quickly down the front. He let that go too, the white fabric joining the cloak in its journey across the field.

"We must all return to nature." Riu said and he took off his trousers as well, revealing the shorts he wore underneath.

He let the pants blow out of his hand as well, carried away by the wind.

「😂Is this dude really about to go naked in front of 20m people? I didn't know nobles had kinks like that tbh」

「"We must all return to nature" 🥷just say you like stripping」

「Underrated Take: Riu has a better body than Koya」

|__「I know this is ragebait but why am I so mad????」

|__「How does your body look like huh? Riscord Mod ahh build 😭✌️」

Misora's eye twitched.

"What the hell are you doing?" She asked but Riu seemed to ignore her completely.

He took on a stance with both feet planted wide, one leg extended outward as far as it could go while the other bent behind him.

His two arms angled forward with his hands open like claws and positioned in a way that looked like something out of a budget martial arts movie.

Misora became even more confused with her eyebrows knitting together.

"No matter what happens…" Riu said with conviction. "I fight for justice… You will never be able to defeat me because you're a bully."

Then Riu took a step forward and the ground below him trembled violently.

A root traveled underneath the arena… invisible to the naked eye but sending vibrations through the stone then stabbed outward right under Misora's feet.

Misora pushed off the ground, making her body launch into the air with explosive speed.

The root released several other sharp roots from its surface… dozens of them, all pointed upward like spears aimed directly at her airborne form.

"Tachibana Palm Technique…" Misora said calmly then she raised her hand back with mana gathering in her palm until it glowed with brilliant white light.

The roots were converging on her from all sides now, closing in like the jaws of some wooden beast.

"Force Palm!" Misora shouted.

She stabbed her outstretched palm forward and a wave of radial mana exploded outward from the point of contact into a perfect sphere of destructive force that obliterated everything in its path.

The roots didn't just break… They disintegrated, reduced to sawdust and splinters that scattered in the shockwave and a wall of wind followed, rippling outward and kicking up debris across the entire arena as she landed on the ground.

Through that wave of wind, Riu was already dashing at her with the green mana still surrounding his body like armor. His fist cocked back and his muscles coiled like springs ready to release.

He punched forward with everything he had though Misora ducked under it smoothly, the strike passing so close to her head that it ruffled her brown hair then she drove her fist into his stomach… the same spot she'd hit before making him cough out a spray of saliva but Riu didn't stop.

He countered with a kick aimed at her side, his leg whipping through the air with surprising speed but Misora moved to the side making the kick miss her by inches but before she could counter, a root appeared below Riu's feet.

It erupted from the ground and pushed him off the arena floor, launching him toward her like a bullet fired from a gun.

Riu cocked his hand back as he flew through the air, ready to hit the brown-haired woman with everything he had but then he blinked.

Suddenly he was facing the sky.

Riu saw the clouds drifting lazily overhead and also the sun burning bright above. His arms were spread out to his sides as if he was lying on a bed.

'Did I black out?' Riu thought with confusion in his eyes.

He turned his head to look down at the ground far below and Misora was still standing there with her palm pointed into the air with smoke rising from her hand.

She had hit him into the air and launched him skyward with a single strike.

'That doesn't mean anything…' Riu thought while gritting his teeth.

He turned his body around in midair extending his palm downward.

Roots shot out from his hand and they wrapped around Misora's body, coiling around her torso and limbs like constrictors, then with all the strength he had, Riu lifted the woman into the air.

He began spinning. His body rotated faster and faster while Misora rotated with him with both of them caught in a vortex of green mana and wooden roots.

The arena became a blur of colors and the crowd's screams faded into white noise. Riu stopped the spinning as he almost hit the ground then his body reoriented itself and he brought Misora down with tremendous force aiming to slam her against the arena floor hard enough to crater the stone.

Misora slammed down except she landed on her feet.

The impact sent a crater spreading across the stadium floor with cracks radiating outward like lightning frozen in stone and chunks of debris flew into the air with dust billowing upward in a massive cloud then Misora grabbed onto the roots that were still attached to Riu's hand.

She whipped him downward, using his own roots like a flail to smash him into the ground but Riu detached them from his hand at the last second landing on his feet in a crouch.

Before Misora could react, he shot in her direction again with a root pushing him from behind accelerating him to inhuman speeds.

Misora and Riu clashed elbows and the impact generated another shockwave making a visible ring of compressed air explode outward from the point of contact.

The force rattled the protective barriers around the arena, making them flicker and spark.

"What a nice fight…"

Riu pulled back immediately, throwing a kick at her head but Misora dodged it.

After that, Riu poured mana into his hands until they glowed brilliant green, then he started throwing a combination of punches forward at rapid speed… left, right, left, right, each strike faster than the last.

Every punch he threw dispelled mana outward in a burst of concussive force, creating miniature shockwaves that rippled through the air but Misora dodged every single one.

Her body moved with impossible speed weaving between the strikes like she could see them coming before they even started.

She tilted her head left, ducked right, stepped back and leaned forward when she needed to. It was as though she had some kind of… ultra instinct.

Roots popped up behind Riu, attacking Misora from her blind spots. They came from above, below, from both sides coordinating with the bursts of mana from each of Riu's punches to create an inescapable net of attacks but Misora dodged them all.

It was like watching someone dance and her hair didn't even get ruffled then Misora laughed.

"I'll show you how to use your mana to attack in bursts like that…" Misora said and she took a step back.

Mana spread across the whole ring in a radial wave, emanating from her feet.

It was harmless but it covered the entire arena floor in seconds, turning the stone into a canvas of glowing light and Riu immediately pulled back, not because he wanted to.

His body pulled back on its own as his instincts screamed danger but it was already too late.

"Tachibana Secret Palm Technique…" Misora uttered.

The mana on the ground lit up like petals of a flower forming intricate lines across the stone.

Geometric patterns spread outward from where Misora stood, forming circles within circles, connected by perfectly straight lines creating a mandala of destructive intent and Riu's whole body turned black to her vision.

She could see his mana points now… every single one of them glowing like stars against the darkness of his silhouette.

Major points at his joints, minor points scattered across his torso, and one particularly large concentration right at his core.

'Got you…' Misora thought.

"Sixty-Four Palms of Divine Retribution!" Misora shouted, then she moved.

Her first two strikes hit Riu's shoulders simultaneously…

"Two palms!"

… and Riu's body jerked backward with saliva spraying from his mouth.

Four more strikes landed across his chest…

"Four palms!"

… and cracks appeared in the stone beneath his feet from the impact.

Eight strikes hit him in rapid succession… 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"Eight palms!"

… targeting the mana points along his arms and legs. Riu tried to dodge or to defend himself but his body wouldn't respond.

Each strike disrupted his mana flow and made his muscles seize up, turning his own energy against him.

"Sixteen palms!" Misora's hands became a blur of motion, striking so fast they looked like they were in multiple places at once.

Riu coughed up more saliva and his eyes were wide with shock and pain.

"Thirty-two palms!" The strikes came from impossible angles now… from above, below, from the sides.

Each one landed properly, hitting mana points that most fighters didn't even know existed. Blood began to leak from the corner of Riu's mouth and his body was trembling violently while barely staying upright.

"Sixty-four palms!" Misora's final strike hit Riu directly in the center of his chest… right where his largest mana point was concentrated and the impact sent a thunderbolt through his body.

At the end of the combination, Misora appeared behind him… she'd moved so fast during the assault that she'd somehow ended up on the opposite side of where she started and Riu's body collapsed to the ground, hitting the stone with a dull thud.

Misora sighed rolling her shoulders.

"Though the Tachibana Secret Palm Technique was made to kill…" Misora said. "I altered it to only rattle your mana points. It won't kill you, but you'll be unable to use mana for a while."

Roots popped up from underneath her suddenly and Misora pushed away, feigning surprise. Her eyes widened slightly and her mouth opened in mock shock.

'I already knew the roots had a mind of their own…' Misora thought. 'But since I'm not in my Hakua form, I shouldn't know that yet.'

"You fool…" Riu called out in a strained voice. He was still on the ground, but his eyes were open now and glowing with that same green light.

"Nature follows me of its own regard!" Riu shouted and roots rose from the ground.

They erupted from every surface… from the arena floor and from the walls.

More and more roots kept assembling, growing thicker and taller. There were even trees being pulled in from all around ALI with full-grown oaks and pines uprooting themselves and dragging toward the arena.

Itsuki looked at the sky with a bead of sweat falling down his temple and Misora moved backward as Riu stood but he wasn't standing normally. His body was being lifted by the roots as wood assembled around him and the roots wove together, creating a structure that grew larger with each second.

A mecha.

A giant humanoid figure made entirely of wood, towering over Misora. It stood tall with thick legs like tree trunks and arms that looked like they could crush buildings.

Riu stood inside its chest cavity, he was visible through gaps in the wood.

「The Genre of this fight just changed real quick 😭✌️Tf is this? Transformers?」

「FROM MARTIAL ARTS TO MECHA ANIME IN 0.5 SECONDS😭」

「🥷 is that a mecha???」

「RIU STOCKS RISING 📈📈📈」

"This is the combination between me and nature!" Riu's voice boomed from within the mecha, amplified by the wooden structure.

The mecha lifted one massive leg slowly, then slammed it against the ground in an attempt to flatten Misora beneath its weight but Misora dodged the foot easily however she couldn't dodge the shockwave that followed.

The impact of the foot hitting the arena floor created a concussive blast that shot air outward in all directions.

The force was tremendous… it was enough to send debris flying in every direction.

The pod of water around Itsuki remained active, but even he was almost torn off the ground by the wind pressure. He had to grab onto the ground's platform with both hands to avoid being blown away.

As for Misora, she was blown back several feet with her feet skidding across the broken stone then she stood, brushing dust off her clothes and ran straight toward the wooden mecha.

Roots shot out from the mecha's hand, dozens of them… all aimed at her. They moved like living things, they were twisting, coiling and trying to grab or impale her but Misora latched onto one.

The root pulled back, trying to retract and instead of resisting, Misora let it pull her using the momentum to launch into the air, soaring upward toward the mecha's head.

More roots came from above, raining down like wooden spears however Misora twisted in midair, dodging between them. One came too close but she planted her foot on it, using it as a stepping stone to leap higher.

Another root wrapped around her ankle. Misora generated mana and shattered it with a single flex.

More roots attacked from all sides and Misora spun through gaps. The mecha's left hand swept across, trying to swat her from the air but Misora landed on the palm, then jumped before the fingers could close.

More roots erupted from the mecha's chest, creating a wooden wall but Misora punched through them.

"Force Palm! Force Palm! Force Palm!"

Each strike cleared a path to him but Riu who was inside the mecha's chest raised both of the construct's massive arms.

The hands came together with the palms facing each other and Misora caught directly in the middle.

The mecha's hands moved to clap, attempting to crush her between them like an insect; however Misora kept her hands out with one pressed against each approaching palm.

The hands closed around her and the force was tremendous… enough to pulverize stone or to bend steel.

The wood creaked and groaned under the pressure as the mecha tried to compress its palms together but Misora held them apart.

Her arms trembled from the effort with the muscles straining and veins standing out on her forearms.

Mana poured out of her hands in waves, creating barriers of force that kept the palms from fully closing.

She was defending against each palm barely since her body was caught in the narrow space between them but she was holding on.

'This is good,' Misora thought calmly on the inside. 'I'll drag out the fight a bit more and—'

Suddenly her ALI phone rang. The sound was muffled, coming from somewhere in her jacket that she had taken off onto the ground before charging at the mecha but in the relative quiet of the moment, it was clearly audible.

Misora's eyes widened.

'That's the alarm for lunch...' she thought with genuine panic flooding through her. That meant it was 2 PM and she hadn't prepared lunch yet… How preposterous... How utterly unacceptable…

'What will Koya eat when we're done?'

She generated mana in her palms, pouring everything she had into two concentrated shockwaves and the mecha's hands exploded.

Wood splinters flew everywhere as the palms disintegrated from the inside out with the force of Misora's attack completely overwhelming Riu's construct then she dove forward, passing through the gap where the hands used to be, heading straight for the mecha's chest.

She burst through the wooden armor like it was paper and her hand shot out with her fingers wrapping around Riu's neck as she grabbed him mid-flight then she angled her body downward, using the momentum to carry both of them toward the ground.

They landed with tremendous force, Misora's feet hitting the arena floor and sending cracks spreading outward in every direction and behind them, the mecha collapsed.

Without Riu's control, the massive wooden construct fell to its knees.

The impact kicked up shockwaves that rattled the arena even more than the invisible slashes had earlier in the tournament.

Dust billowed upward in massive clouds and the sound of creaking, breaking wood filled the air but at the end, Misora held Riu up by his neck with his feet dangling above the ground.

"This is over…" Misora said simply and Itsuki brought down his hand defeatedly with the water pod around him dispersing into mist.

"Misora Tachibana from Class 5 is the winner!" Itsuki announced making the crowd burst into deafening cheers.