The fifty thousand fans in the WBBA National Dome were completely unglued. The noise was a continuous, deafening roar that vibrated through the floorboards of the center stage.
Lui Shirasagijo stared across the plastic basin. His jagged teeth were locked in a vicious grin. He had just scored a point on the undefeated Wild Card. He had drawn first blood. But looking at Ryu O'Hara, Lui realized he hadn't demoralized his opponent.
He had just woken him up completely.
Ryu stood in his heavy, grounded stance. He didn't adjust his collar. He didn't brush off his jacket. His pink and grey eyes were burning with a fierce, absolute thrill. The heat radiating from his heavy aluminum launcher was palpable.
"Second Battle!" the referee shouted, visibly sweating under the stadium lights. "Ready... Set!"
"Three!" Lui roared. The icy blue aura of the White Tyrant violently erupted, freezing the air around him.
"Two," Ryu commanded. The dark violet shadow of the dragon flared, rising to meet Lui's aura head-on.
"One!"
"Go Shoot!"
The dual launch cracked through the arena.
Lost Longinus hit the plastic and immediately carved its aggressive, left-spinning path. It tore down the slope, hunting for a quick, brutal finish.
Eclipse Nidhogg dropped onto the opposite rim. Ryu didn't wait in the center. He didn't want to absorb the blow. He wanted to fight.
"Intercept," Ryu stated, his voice carrying a heavy, commanding resonance.
Nidhogg dove. The two Beys collided on the mid-slope.
Because they spun in opposite directions, the impact was a brutal, head-on crash. Sparks flooded the basin. Longinus shoved forward, using its heavy metal dragon heads to batter Nidhogg's chipped polycarbonate layer.
"You can't out-push metal!" Lui screamed, thrusting his arm toward the stadium. "Crush him!"
"I am not pushing," Ryu replied, his eyes tracking the rapid, violent rotations.
When opposite-spinning Beys collide, their outer edges move in the same relative direction at the point of contact. They act exactly as two interlocking gears.
Nidhogg didn't resist the push. It leaned into it. The jagged, chipped edge of Nidhogg's layer perfectly caught the metal slope of Longinus's attack ring. Instead of deflecting, Nidhogg latched on.
The dark Bey violently accelerated, using Longinus's own left-spinning momentum to supercharge its right-spinning velocity.
Lui's eyes widened. "What?!"
"Throw it," Ryu commanded, throwing his own arm in a sweeping, upward arc.
Nidhogg translated the massive, shared rotational speed into a single, devastating heave. it physically ripped the white dragon out of the center groove.
Longinus was flung entirely out of the stadium. It soared over the referee's head and clattered heavily against the padded floor.
The stadium erupted into absolute chaos.
"Over Finish!" the referee yelled, waving his arm frantically. "One point to Ryu O'Hara! The score is tied, one to one!"
Up in the VIP balcony, Valt Aoi jumped so high he nearly cleared the glass railing. "He threw him! Did you see that?! Ryu just used Lui's own speed against him!"
Shu Kurenai stood nearby, his bandaged hands resting on the glass. He watched him. Ryu was fighting with instinct, rhythm, and raw, unfiltered power.
Down on the stage, Lui walked over and picked up Longinus.
He didn't scream. He didn't throw a tantrum. He held the Bey in his palm and began to laugh. The laugh grew louder, echoing through the dome, a harsh, grating sound of pure, unadulterated madness.
"Yes!" Lui roared, spinning around to face Ryu. His blue eyes were wide, entirely consumed by the thrill of the battle. "This is it! This is what I've been waiting for! Stop hiding behind your island! Show me everything!"
Ryu locked Nidhogg onto his launcher. The metal clicked.
"You will not survive it," Ryu promised, his fierce smile returning.
"Third Battle!" the referee shouted, taking several steps back toward the edge of the stage. He knew the plastic basin couldn't contain the next launch. "Ready... Set!"
The dome fell into a breathless, suffocating silence. The entire world was watching.
"Three!" Lui screamed, his muscles bulging, his feet digging into the floor.
"Two!" Ryu yelled, his voice tearing from his chest, completely abandoning his quiet demeanor.
"One!"
"Go Shoot!"
The stage physically shuddered.
Lui ripped his cord with such catastrophic force that a hairline fracture appeared in the stage floor beneath his boot. Longinus hit the basin with an earth-shattering crack.
Ryu pulled his heavy aluminum launcher with everything he had. The metal gears shrieked, sparking violently. Nidhogg hit the plastic, the chipped layer screaming against the air resistance.
"Tear the arena apart!" Lui commanded. "Lost Spiral!"
Longinus took the center. it created a massive, violent vortex of displaced air. The heavy metal dragon heads chewed into the stadium floor, turning the center ring into a hazard zone of pure destruction.
Nidhogg hit the outer ridge. It didn't slow down. It accelerated, riding the high slope, waiting for the opening.
But there was no opening. Longinus was a wall of metal and speed.
Ryu felt the pressure. The vibration traveling from Nidhogg to his launcher grip was immense. The dark violet polycarbonate layer was groaning under the sheer stress of its own maximum velocity. The chip in the armor was widening.
Ryu gritted his teeth. The sterile analysis in his head was completely silent.
Instead, he heard a sound.
It wasn't a voice. It was a deep, resonant, rhythmic thud. It echoed in his chest, syncing perfectly with his own elevated heartbeat. It was Nidhogg. The Beyblade was pushed to its absolute physical limit, but it didn't want to stop. It wanted to shed the dead weight. It wanted to evolve.
Ryu closed his eyes for a fraction of a second. He felt the connection—a burning, violent thread linking his pulse to the dark violet layer spinning in the basin.
He opened his eyes. The pink and grey irises were blindingly bright.
"Break the shell," Ryu whispered.
He thrust his hand forward, pouring every ounce of his willpower, his passion, and his newly awakened spirit directly into the stadium.
"Eclipse Sever! Full Output!"
Nidhogg dropped from the high ridge. It dove straight into the center of the violent vortex.
Longinus raised its metal dragon heads, ready to crush the intruder.
The two Beys collided dead center.
The stadium lights blew out.
The sound of the impact defied description. It was a massive, ringing shockwave that shattered the transparent upper walls of the WBBA plastic basin. Shards of plastic rained down onto the stage. The sheer kinetic force blew Lui's feather boa violently backward and forced Ryu to brace his boots against the floor.
In the center of the wreckage, the Beys were deadlocked.
Longinus ground its metal into Nidhogg's chipped layer. The dark violet polycarbonate began to crack. The spiderweb fractures spread across Nidhogg's white armor.
"Burst!" Lui screamed, his aura blazing.
Ryu didn't step back. He stepped forward.
"Shatter."
The white polycarbonate shell of Eclipse Nidhogg completely broke apart.
But it didn't burst.
The outer armor shredded away in a brilliant flash of violet light, revealing the true, dense core underneath. It was a sleek, dark, jagged design, entirely optimized for pure, unapologetic attack power. The glowing eye of the dragon wasn't just a chip anymore; it was the defining feature of the newly exposed layer.
Nidhogg had shed its defensive wall. It had taken its first step toward evolution mid-battle.
With its new, jagged contact points exposed, Nidhogg violently twisted against Longinus's metal heads.
The torque was absolute.
Lost Longinus couldn't withstand the sudden, catastrophic shift in density.
*BURST.*
The white dragon exploded.
The metal forge disc and the left-spinning energy layer were violently ejected from the center of the ruined stadium. They flew upward, catching the emergency lights, before clattering heavily onto the stage floor at Lui's feet.
In the center of the cracked, completely decimated plastic basin, the dark, unshelled core of Eclipse Nidhogg spun with dominance.
The WBBA National Dome was completely silent. Nobody moved. Nobody breathed.
The White Tyrant had been dethroned.
The referee, covered in a light dusting of plastic shavings from the shattered stadium walls, slowly, mechanically raised his trembling arm.
"B-Burst Finish," the referee whispered into his headset, the sound echoing through the arena. "Two points. The winner of the Grand Final... and the new National Champion... is Ryu O'Hara."
The stadium didn't just cheer. It erupted into a state of total, unhinged pandemonium. Fireworks launched from the stage rigs. Confetti rained from the ceiling. Valt Aoi was screaming so loudly his voice gave out entirely, grabbing Rantaro and Daigo in a massive, crushing hug.
On the stage, Lui Shirasagijo stood completely still.
He stared at the broken pieces of Lost Longinus on the floor. For ten long seconds, the absolute ruler of the WBBA did not move a single muscle. The fierce, feral aura around him had completely vanished. He looked dazed.
Slowly, Lui bent down. He picked up the pieces of his Bey, his hands moving with careful, deliberate precision. He locked them together.
He stood up and looked across the ruined stadium at Ryu.
The manic rage was gone. The jagged teeth were bared, but it wasn't a sneer. It was a massive, genuine, shark-like grin of absolute, unadulterated respect.
Lui walked around the edge of the broken plastic basin. He stopped two feet in front of Ryu.
He extended his right hand.
"You completely destroyed my arena," Lui said, his voice rough, lacking its usual arrogant bite. "I am going to get that point back, islander. Count on it."
Ryu stood up straight. He looked at Lui's outstretched hand. He felt the sweat on his own brow, the heavy, satisfying ache in his right shoulder, and the thrumming resonance still humming in his chest.
Ryu's fierce smile returned, bright and entirely alive. He reached out, gripping Lui's hand in a firm, unrelenting handshake.
"I will be waiting," Ryu promised.
The crowd roared louder as the two strongest bladers in the country shook hands over the wreckage of the final stage.
Ryu released Lui's hand. He turned and walked to the center of the basin. He reached down and picked up the dark, unshelled core of Nidhogg.
The metal was scorching hot. The white defensive armor was completely gone, scattered as plastic dust across the stage. What remained was a jagged, aggressive weapon that had finally tasted absolute freedom.
Ryu held the Bey up to the stadium lights, his pink and grey eyes reflecting the dark violet glow of the exposed dragon.
The National Tournament was over. But as Ryu looked at the newly evolved shape of his partner, he knew this was only the beginning.
...
Yo!! How's it going!!!. My school is starting so you won't get two chaps daily . I got a lot of material to cover but i will try my best to keep the quality and length of chaps up. Thanks for all the support you have shown. (^o^)(^o^)