Chapter 1-The Lion Rises

"Rekka, wake up! You're going to be late for school!" Rekka's mom called.

The red haired boy then crawled out of bed, landing on various trash in his room.

"HURRY UP!" This command led Rekka to scramble for his school uniform and dash at the speed of a Olympic runner into the bathroom.

"God... Today's Thursday... That means volleyball club meeting! I better run!" As Rekka ran, a bright light surrounded him. A man with a tattered cape walked up to him with a green light and blue light behind him.

"You." The man pointed at Rekka. "Accept your fate."

"What? What are you talking about-" Rekka asked.

"The first of the Judgement Rings. Take this." The man threw a red ring at Rekka. "My name's Hibiki, let's start training."

"But I have sch-"

"This place... Even if you spend a million years in it, you won't age and the time is still the same. It's been 10 minutes and the time outside this white space is still 8:40 AM."

"I don't get it..."

"Shut up and pick a weapon."

As Rekka slid the ring onto his finger, it flashed a bright red and a red flame danced around him.

"WHAT THE?" Rekka yelled.

"You have been accepted." Hibiki announced. "Aurora, Elder," Hibiki said to the green and blue lights. "You guys can rest until that day..."

The two lights flew away as Rekka tried to stay conscious.

"Just faint already... Moron." Hibiki simply tapped Rekka.

(Later...)

"If you weren't in this time bubble it would've been 12 hours already! STOP WASTING MY TIME BOY!" Hibiki yelled.

"If you really want to," Rekka picked up a pair of tonfas "THEN BRING IT ON!"

"I would expect nothing less from a Iudicium Orbis. Despite rankings listing you as the weakest." Hibiki pulled out nunchucks from his cape and covered them with flames. "Arcus, Red Blaze! Ardentes Gemina Feriunt! (Burning Twin Strike!)"

Both ends of the heated nunchucks hit the tonfas and burned Rekka's hand.

"Screw that! Take this back!" He threw a tonfa at Hibiki which Hibiki dodged swiftly. "AND A KICK TO YOUR FACE!"

"SHIT!" Hibiki flew back 10 meters and threw back the tonfa at Rekka. "You just made a mistake... And you'll pay..."

Hibiki then swung his nunchucks rapidly, "Velox Simulium Ictus! (Swift Aerial Slash!)"

Hibiki jumped up and swung his nunchucks at Rekka, slicing his uniform.

"What the... Aren't nunchucks blunt?" Rekka asked, keeping his tonfas for a moment.

"Yes, but with my skills," Hibiki showed a red flame burning on his nunchucks. "I can make them sharper than a katana."

"Interesting, maybe the volleyball club will accept me as a player..."

"No go, I won't teach a Iudicium Orbis things for his own benefit, you are to protect this Earth."

"You know you don't control me right?"

"I know... And I'll try to control you. If you want to learn it, focus and put all of your energy into that one ring... Focus..."

After a while, a small glow ignited on the ring.

"Focus, don't lose it..." The red flame flickered slowly and grew bigger with each passing second...

"Alright! Let's do it!" Rekka transferred the flames into his tonfas and started attacking.

"Very impressive, but you'll die before you can do that in battle." Hibiki coughed.

"Damn pessimist..." Rekka growled.

"This move is basic and you can do it with or without your Arcus. It's the "Celeri Turbo Has" (Rapid Tornado Smash) which consist of holding your weapon steady and spinning around like a top." Hibiki demonstrated it before closing the time bubble, explaining that Rekka has to go to school.

(Volleyball club meeting after school)

"Boring... Boring meeting..." Rekka yawned.

"And we have a new teacher, welcome Mr. Hibiki!" Rekka spit out his water as he saw Hibiki. "And that's all for today."

"HIBIKI! WHAT'RE YOU DOING HERE!" Rekka yelled as they were away from the rest of the volleyball club.

"Training, get out your tonfas." A explosion rang a few blocks away which caused Hibiki to turn his head towards that direction. "No time for training."

Hibiki ran off towards the explosion where there was a guy with a yellow belt and another guy with violet earrings.

"Shit... The Seven Deadly Keys..." Hibiki muttered.

"Oh, you know us, I'm Asmodeus, call that guy over there Belphegor." The man with the yellow belt laughed while pointing at the guy sleeping on a flying carpet with violet earrings.

"This is serious, Rekka, get out your weapons and ignite them now! FORME CHANGE, PHOENIX!" Hibiki morphed into a phoenix and attacked Asmodeus.

"Hmm... No girls? Well, let's fight!" Asmodeus kicked Hibiki twice and shot him with a bullet.

"REKKA, STOP WASTING TIME! GO!" Hibiki screamed. "USE FORME CHANGE, ARCUS, DIVINUS SENSIBUS! ANYTHING!"

"Y-YES! F-Forme Change, Lion!" A flaming lion stood in place of Rekka as he lunged at Belphegor shakily.

"Pft... Violet Flora, Milia Comantem Flores (Thousand Blooming Flowers)." The flowers grew and wrapped around Rekka and sprayed pollen while Belphegor was still lying down on the flying carpet. "Can I use the key now?"

"Nope, Belphegor, Golden Mask hasn't given a command to use it." Asmodeus smiled brightly at Belphegor who snorted.

"Pft... Fine then, Violet Flora, Virent Flores Conterat! (Blooming Flowers Crush!)" Rekka yelled as he felt the flowers tighten around him, forcing him back into human form.

"REKKA! Forme Skill Activate! Phoenix Ardentis Nent! (Phoenix Blazing Spin!)" Hibiki set a wall of fire around Asmodeus as he flew towards Rekka.

"Sorry sunshine, Arcus, Yellow Shine! Ultimum Crispare Sol! (Ultimate Bursting Sun!)" A sun appeared in front of Hibiki and blew up, sending fragments of the 'sun' around.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Hibiki growled as he flew towards Belphegor, slamming into him and disabling the flowers. "Rekka, we've got to go first to train, let's run."

Hibiki transformed into a phoenix and placed Rekka on him before taking off.

"Hmm... Interesting, let's destroy them the next time we meet." Asmodeus smirked. "And hope they bring girls along as well."