The table of matches on the screen above her showed the opponents by the match it assigned them to. The first bricks gleamed and her picture, name, and syndicate she belonged to appeared, circled by blue light. Next to her picture, in a green box, appeared the picture of Roan, her opponent. 

Skye had never crossed paths with Roan in combat, but his reputation had reached her ears. Although she was part of the UA League for many years, so was the amount of UA fighters participating. Each year the number decreased, though. The UA League had to be alive, and it would die without the fighters. The decrease in numbers was alarming, but not as much as to raise the eyebrows of the ivory-tower UA guys. After all, Hirou wielders could be imported from other islands as well. It would be messy, considering none of the islands were friendly with each other, but Skye trusted the UA guys to come up with a solution.    

She stepped into the circular arena, and Roan followed her to the chants of the crowd. The sound was like music to her ears. Some of the people in the crowd chanted Blue while others Green, and she took all the energy in, filling herself with motivation. Roan’s massive figure stood in front of her as he folded his arms across his chest. His hair was neatly shaved atop of his head and the green shirt he wore had a large golden print of his name. Skye’s attire, in stark contrast, was rather unremarkable, comprising black sweatpants and a matching top, as if she intended to take a leisurely afternoon nap in the arena. A smug smile decorated Roan’s face, but she didn’t bother to react.

The ear-piercing sound of a trumpet broke the chanting, making the arena as quiet as an abandoned house. Skye wiggled her fingers and turned her right foot from side to side. Roan stood like a rock, only his eyes moved and followed each movement she was making. 

“Fighters! You know the rules but I’ll repeat them anyway because I have to!” The crowd giggled. “No guns, no bombs, no firearms or cold weapons of any sort are allowed inside the ring. Three fights, three minutes each, or until full discharge. The winner is the one who’s still standing or less injured.”

Skye stretched her neck, moving it from side to side.

“Ready? Fight!”

The moment the words were out, the Cage rose above them with a sizzling sound, blocking them inside. A clock was on each of the walls of the cage, counting the minutes from three to zero. 

Roan didn’t budge. He kept his posture grounded as before and studied Skye, while she studied him, waiting for him to make the first move. The rings on both of Roan’s forefingers caught her eye, and she smiled. So this was where he transformed his Hirou to. 

Roan moved his forefinger, and two green bricks flew from both sides of Skye, almost smashing her. She jumped, turned midair, and pushed herself higher with the blue electric force manifested from her hands as it entertwined with the straps. Her Hirou kindled in a bright blue light and scattered across the arena. 

As she neared her landing, Roan hurled another brick in her direction. With a confident smile, she touched down on it, her hands making contact with the brick's surface. However, instead of using her hands as usual, she unleashed an electric wave-filled kick that shattered the brick. It was a rarity for fighters to manifest Hirou from body parts other than their hands, but she possessed the skill to conceal it effectively. Roan's astonished expression provided her with a momentary amusement, though there was no time to dwell on it. Employing Hirou from her legs without channeling the power through the straps on her hands proved challenging; it offered a quicker discharge. A risky but calculated gamble.

She landed next to the broken brick and released more electricity as she kneeled and touched the floor with her hands. The power painted the floor blue as Roan flew up on a green brick, avoiding electrocution. She redirected the wave towards him, but he stopped it with another brick while sending a few others at her. Avoiding each one of them made her pant, but her speed, and agility, and more so, small size came to her advantage. And luck. Luck was a big part of it as well.  

The fight was halfway through and wasn’t moving the way she expected it to. She was more of a close combat fighter, whereas Greens typically relied on taking cover behind their bricks. As Roan was floating midair on his flying brick-carpet, there was little she could do. Skye had to find a way to throw him down. Avoiding his attacks and waiting for him to discharge was a legit option, but it could take a while. 

Then she had an idea. 

Jumping and touching the wall of the cage, she let it transmit the electricity through it, making the cage a bomb of electrical force. Roan tried to protect himself from the shock wave, boxing himself inside one of his bricks, but it wasn’t enough. His brick shattered, and Roan fell on the ground with a loud thud. 

The sound of ‘ooh’ echoed throughout the arena while Skye landed back as swiftly as a cat and circled her neck again, letting out a few knacks escape. This was better.  

Roan stood up, his nose bled, and a not so very subtle bruise was blowing up above his eye, holding it half shut. He cursed under his breath and shot a trail of bricks at her with fury in his eyes. She managed to evade all of them, all but for one brick that hit her from behind, on her lower back, forcing her to fall forward. Pushing her hands forward, she blocked the fall when another brick fell on her from above. 

With a quick move, Skye turned around and caught the brick with both hands, an inch from her face with gritted teeth. Roan pushed the brick harder while she pushed against it. Energy flowed through her, from her belly to her hands. It mingled with the straps in her hands, passing through and breaking the brick into smithereens of green light. As fast as she could, Skye moved her hands above her head while continuing to lie on the floor, and blindly shot, hoping this would hit Roan. If she wanted to win this fight, she’d better hit the mark.

A scream followed by the buzzing sound of the clock told her she might have just done that.

Skye pushed herself back to her feet and turned to face Roan while panting hard. He laid on the floor, unconscious and by the flow of energy, discharged. 

“The winner of the first UA battle of today is Skye Allen from Chrono! But don’t worry about Roan, guys! He could still win enough points to move on!”

Skye spat blood on the floor and sighed. The key out of her cage seemed closer than ever.

As she returned to her home, a few men fought in the street, knives out, shouts and screams, shots and curses broke the stillness of the darkness. Some people checked through their windows what the source of the noise was all about, while others quickly shut the lights, pretending it was just a peaceful night. With an eye roll, she parked her bike away from the gang and stepped to the entrance of the building she lived in. 

Another shot erupted, right before another scream pierced her ears. This was too close for comfort. Fighting next to Bradley’s building, especially with guns, was never a clever choice, but the dumb choices of other people were never her problem. She turned her head with a frustrated grunt. If this would go on like this, she could forget about sleeping tonight. 

Her gaze drifted down. A dead guy was lying next to her. If the shooter missed him, this bullet would’ve met her instead. The gang of men stared at her with fury in their eyes, waiting for her next move with guns pointed at her. Or was it fear? Everyone around the neighborhood knew who she was and what the consequences for hurting a Hirou fighter were. 

In response, she merely tsked in mild annoyance before calmly entering the building. The shooters mumbled something about how fucked up thing could get if they hurt her, and they were right to do so. Bradley wasn’t a forgiving man, and he hated the most when others played with his toys. At least, hopefully, they didn’t plan to make more noise tonight.