God's Island, Upper Yard. Deep in the forest basin.
Three months slipped by in a blur of daily, grueling special training that pushed them almost to the point of madness.
"Boom!"
A deafening, muffled crash suddenly shattered the morning's quiet.
In midair, a figure wrapped in faint blue lightning flew backward like a boulder hurled by a catapult. His feet gouged two deep furrows through the scorched earth, and he slid more than ten meters before finally managing to steady himself.
Enel panted heavily, his chest heaving like a battered bellows. He raised the back of his hand and roughly wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. His proud face, usually marked by an air of arrogance, was now smeared with sweat and dirt, and had taken on the rugged, ruthless look of someone who had fought with everything he had.
"Again!"
Enel gritted his teeth, showing no sign of backing down. He let out a low growl laced with thunder. Instead of instinctively putting distance between himself and his opponent and summoning a massive lightning strike as he would have in the past, he drove off with both legs and charged straight at the man before him.
"Good. You've finally learned to fight head-on instead of relying on your elemental body."
Not far away, Sabo stood on a raised piece of rubble. His once finely tailored dark-blue tailcoat had long since been reduced to rags; now he wore only a thin black tank top soaked with sweat. The Alloy Staff in his hand pointed diagonally toward the ground. It wasn't wreathed in blazing orange flames, but its entire length was coated in a dense, profound black.
As Enel's fist, carrying the force of thunder, closed in on his face, Sabo dodged without retreating. He calmly tilted his