"Where did he even go? That blind, drunk, dirty bastard! What If he dies? Ms. Ayano would never let me meet Nasaki if that happened!" Pablo starts to panic. He cuts between every alleyway and street, he doesn't notice his unnatural stamina.
"Mister! Please!" He yelled, hoping somebody would hear his voice. But It's futile. Everything he has got, all focus is on finding the man right now. He wants to accomplish this more than anything.
What would they say if they learned Pablo couldn't even protect a homeless man?
As Pablo kept running, he saw somebody in front of him. The person wore a black and gold uniform, indicating that they were a High-Ranked UG Agent. With careful consideration, Pablo realised it was a woman with very long orange hair collected in a ponytail. She couldn't be older than 20.
"Well well well, guess this is my lucky day! What dumbass doesn't leave the island immediately after infiltrating an UG Facility? You, apparently." The woman crossed her arms mockingly.
Pablo didn't stop running, infact, he didn't even realise she was an UG-Agent. That's how focused he was. "Fucking MOVE!" Pablo grips her shoulder and pushes her aside and passes by her. She gasps, caught off-guard. "Huh?!" Her back is slammed onto the wall. "You can't just go! I order you to-" But it's too late for her, Pablo already left her sight.
"...Damn It!" She stomps the ground in frustration. "It's not over yet, Pablo Drake! This is the start of a legendary rivalry! You shall know my name, Suberi Yasui!" She yells with all her might, causing bystanders to side-eye her. She gets embarrassed and recollects herself. "I'll get you!" She starts sprinting.
Pablo gets into another alleyway the smell leads to. As he turns to his left, he sees the drunk man collecting trash from the dumpster. Pablo sighs in frustration and stops him. "Stop that! God, you're infuriating. Thanks for giving me another reason to not drink alcohol."
Hearing the word 'alcohol', the man's face lights up and he looks at Pablo with hope in his eyes. "Drinks?"
Pablo grabs him by the arm and starts walking him to somewhere safer. "No?! No drinks! You're not leaving my sight again, got it?"
The man pouts and sits on the floor, not letting Pablo drag him. "Cut that out!" Pablo tries to pull him, but the man is too heavy and Pablo is far too weak. The fatigue from the sprint is catching up to him. Pablo feels a bile coming up, and can't help but vomit on the floor. It's mixed with purple blood, reminding him of his impending doom.
After he gains his composure, he wipes his mouth. He looks at the man with judgement on his face. "God, you're so pathetic. Did Ms. Ayano do this on purpose? Did she make me look after a joke?"
The man still has that stupid smile on his face, which infuriates Pablo even more. "You like it, don't you? You're doing this on purpose. You're sabotaging me! Why would someone like this? Why like making somebody's life harder?"
The man doesn't give up the smile. Eventually Pablo snaps and draws his fist, which makes the man flinch. Pablo cackles in amusement. "God, you are a joke. No wonder you're out on the street, nobody would let you stay inside surrounded by walls. By all means, what can you even do in life? Why are you still living?"
The man's lips move, like he is trying to form a coherent sentence. "..."
Pablo's eyes widened, waiting for a response from him. He was just starting to enjoy this, what does he even have to say?
The man's mouth opens wider…
…He starts to shit himself.
Pablo is disgusted. He cringes immediately, looking away. "Oh my god…" He groans. He looks at the man and can't bring himself to say just one more insult. He gives up and sits on the floor too. "You know, that just made me…" The smell gets to him, so he scoots a little bit away from him. "...feel bad making fun of you."
Pablo looks at him with pity in his eyes, not judgement. He slowly starts to realise why Ayano made him do this. "Just vomit or something. Maybe that gets the alcohol out, I don't know. Please."
The man opens his mouth again, Pablo expects him to shit again, but the shit never comes. "Maybe you bring me down, so you'd be higher."
Pablo grunts in response. "Shut up, you drunk- Oh." Realization dawns on him. He looks down in shame. "That's… fair. I just want to do something properly for the first time."
The man burps, fixing his blindfold. "But you did something proper, haven't you?" Pablo's eyes widen, he looks at him in surprise. "What do you-"
The man farts, interrupting him.
Pablo rolls his eyes and gets up. "Probably just nonsense. But thanks anyway."
He hears a woman yell towards him in the alleyway. "Pablo Drake!" Pablo looks at the direction of the voice. "Huh?"
He notices Suberi, her uniform finally sinks in with him. Realising it's a High-Ranked Officer. "Why the hell..?"
She starts panting, trying to catch her breath. "You… bastard… you ignored me! Just… who the… hell…"
Pablo can't help but get amused by this. "It's okay, take your time-" She yells, not tolerating his tomfoolery. "Shut up! You don't have anywhere to escape, Pablo! I'll fight you here and… not now, let me just…" She takes a deep breath. "...Give me a second."
Pablo rolls his eyes. "Where the hell did she steal that uniform from?" He turns towards the man and points at him. "You stay here until I beat her, okay?"
He turns towards her again. "I don't buy for a second that you're a High-Rank officer. But even if you were, I'm done running away." He struggles drawing his Zweihander.
She catches her breath and looks at Pablo. "That's what I wanted to hear!" Her necklace, stuffed under her uniform glows. "A Treasure." Pablo notices.
He decides he should be the first one to attack and take advantage of her fatigue. He swings his blade towards her. "Wait, right for the killshot?! Of course- As expected from my rival!" Her footslips trying to dodge the blade.
But she doesn't fall down, the slipping looks like supernatural aid. She flows like water and cleanly avoids the blade. Pablo gasps at the weird movement. "That's so uncanny. Hard to predict where she'll move…"
Pablo checks his surroundings, and takes a bite out of the metal pole next to him. His ring glows as he shoots metal shards from his mouth towards her. "So that's your gimmick- As expected from my rival!"
The shards hit her, but they slide off of her like soap. "That's all you got?"
Pablo points his ring finger towards her. "No, not really." He tries to channel his mana and shoot mana out of it. Magic attacks can nullify one another if they are stronger. But nothing happens. "Huh? Why can't I-" Before Pablo can identify the problem, she slides towards him. "Wide open!"
Pablo swiftly sidesteps, making her go past him. "Her movement is unpredictable. But Treasures glow before activation. That lets me know when she does what she does."
She tries to stop herself and de-activates her Treasure to brake. "Such strategy, as expected from my-" Pablo snaps and yells. "Can you just stop saying that?!"
She gets embarrassed from his outrage, and goes quiet. "Whatever." She jumps to the alleyway's wall, and slides on it, allowing her to wall-run. Pablo brings his sword to block her attack, but she touches his hands, causing the sword to slip and fall. "She can make me slippery too?!"
As the sword is off his hands, she lands on the floor and kicks him in the chest. "Too slow!"
The air leaves Pablo's lungs, she keeps sending rapid punches. Pablo can see the pattern in her attacks and dodge most. When he finds an opening, he punches her stomach but the punch does no real damage. "That's weak! I expect more from you, my rival!"
Pablo grabs the sword when she is too busy monologuing. He dashes back to create some distance. "Yeah, but I've figured something out."
He looks at her, going over his plan. "Her abilities aren't selective. She is either slippery, or she is not. So It means she can't attack me while her Treasure is active. Otherwise it would just slip by me." He ponders, he regains his footing. "I've got the range advantage. I should focus on counter-attacking."
She notices the shift in his stance and gasps. "Oh no! Did you figure out my one and only weakness, blunt-attacks?!"
Pablo raises an eyebrow. "...No? I've thought of something else. But thanks." She goes pale as he says that, and tries to dismiss it. "Whatever, I was bluffing anyway!"
He genuinely gives up putting up with her and waits for a chance to counter-attack.
She activates her Treasure again and starts accelerating towards Pablo. She de-activates it before attacking so the full force of her fists is felt. Blunt attacks don't fully slip like slicing attacks do, but they are still less effective. Suberi doesn't want his rival to think she is weak.
"There!" Pablo parries her fist and tries to stab her before she activates her Treasure again. But her reaction is too fast and manages to dodge it normally without using her Treasure.
"Phew, that was close!" Suberi manages to grab Pablo's blade to avoid being sliced. "Give it up, my fierceful determined rival! Even if you defeat me, I have already called for reinforcements!"
She wasn't bluffing. For whatever reason, the United Government really wanted Pablo. The Island was surrounded by countless soldiers, looking for every hole in order to find Pablo. Tsuyoi himself was a victim of this, and was actively grappling with 3 Mid-Ranked Agents. "Sick uniform, mind letting me go?" Tsuyoi struggled to break free from their grip but managed to grin anyway.
Pablo groaned with this revelation, he met her gaze. "Like I care. I'll find a way to survive!" His words were hopeful, but fear was hard to miss. "I… I will."
She grinned, pushing him away to create some distance. "I haven't shown you my best move yet!"
Pablo gained his footing after she just shoved him, his grip on the sword was firm. "You're very annoying."
She grabbed the metal shards Pablo shot a moment ago from the floor. She threw them in the air and activated her Treasure. The shards made contact with her body and started slipping, but she didn't let them fall. She maneuvered swiftly and made the shards move all through her body in order to accelerate.
"I can't see when she'll launch them because of how she is moving!" He prepares himself to parry. The shards follow up to her left wrist and she lets them fly away at Pablo in top-speed.
"There!" Pablo parried 3 of the 4 projectiles with his sword, barely. He expected the fourth but there was nothing.
"Gotcha!" She brings her right leg to the air, and reveals the fourth shard was still accelerating through her body. The shard goes up her leg, and she spins her leg in order to shoot it. Pablo cannot react in time, and it pierces his left shoulder. "Agh!"
Pablo winces and almost drops his sword, but he keeps carrying it with his right. Due to this, he can't swing the sword swiftly. "I can't rely on my intelligence this time, she is very unpredictable! I have to use mana in one way or another and simply just overpower her." He tries to push through the pain and focus.
He tries to think of something that makes him angry, sad, scared, or all at the same time. But it's like his mind is blocking him from making himself get hurt. "Please… whatever thing is inside me- lend me your power! I know you can, you did it before…" He thinks to himself.
Suberi watches him concentrate. "I won't fight dirty, what kind of rival would I be? Plus, he gave me time to breathe a moment ago. I can't disrespect him!" She allows him to focus and gives him space to think. Naive? Maybe.
THAT WAS ALL YOU.
Pablo opens his eyes in shock as the voice responds. He gulps, trying to make sense of the words. "What?"
YOU CAN'T RELY ON ME FOREVER, CAN YOU?
Pablo takes a step backwards. "What do you…"
LEARNING HOW TO FLY ON YOUR OWN, ISN'T THAT WHAT YOU ALWAYS WANTED?
OR DO YOU WANT TO HELP OTHERS FLY, SO THEY CAN'T FLY WITHOUT YOU LATER?
The wound on Pablo's shoulder leaks blood. He starts to feel himself lose strength slowly. He tries to ignore the voice, and sprints towards her. "Whatever, just shut up!"
She grins and raises her hands, her stance is weird like she is preparing for a new attack. "Now, I will show you what I've been working on! I never managed to do it before. But I'll do it now!" She yells and jumps in the air. She activates her treasure and places her palms and feet like she is 'holding onto' the air. Pablo's eyes widen as he realises what she is attempting. "Don't tell me, is she trying to slip on air? What kind of bullshit is that?!"
Her palms glow, the air around them thickens like it's about to snap any second.
It does nothing, and she starts to fall. "Oh- OH!" She realises she is falling right on top of Pablo, fully open for an attack.
"I was about to say…" He reverse grips his sword, and smashes her face with the hilt knowing she is immune to slashing attacks. The hit is strong and clean, knocking her out instantly. She falls onto the ground, groaning. "...Well played…"
Pablo starts to loot her uniform for anything useful. "I don't even feel like I've won. You shouldn't have tried that." He doesn't feel happy, accomplished or anything like that. He just feels disappointment.
"So that was a one time thing, huh?" He looks at his ring that pierced Sanita with mana a few days ago.
As Pablo keeps looking for anything that could help him, he realises the end of the alleyway is blocked by UG Agents, all armed, aiming at Pablo. There are 4 of them at each side. Pablo gasps and looks around him. "The drunk-" He realises the man is long gone, he didn't even notice that.
His jaw clenches with fear and he looks around to see any escape routes, sees none. After careful consideration, he reluctantly raises his hands, they are shaking. "Alright. I'm surrendering." Pablo thinks to himself that maybe he can bite off the handcuffs and run away when he finds an opportunity.
But the agents open fire anyway. "Wait, No!" He yells but the bullets pierce his body leaving him like a sieve. He falls face-flat on the floor and starts bleeding.
The agents get closer.
"It's… cold. I feel cold. Not pain. It's cold. Why is it cold?" He looks at his own blood spreading across the floor. His heart beats rapidly like it is about to leave his body. His body enters a shock state, he doesn't even comprehend that he just got shot. His ears ring, the only thing that hurts him right now is that.
"I'll just rest here, for a bit." He mumbles, and closes his eyes.
Before he fades to sleep, permanent sleep, all he can feel and hear is the ground shaking and men around him screaming.
"What the hell is going on?!" One of them yells, the ground beneath betrays them, swallowing them whole. The violent earthquake shakes the entire island of Eldoria, leaving none alive at first glance.
Only one remains standing.
Standing on the peak of the highest building in Eldoria, watching it all. The sole culprit.
Truly, the strongest.
Pablo starts to feel again. Water washing his body, waves hitting him. This wakes him up as the water enters his mouth. Pablo slowly opens his eyes and coughs water. As he opens them, he realises he is stranded in the middle of an ocean.
Pablo tries to struggle and swim up, but he doesn't know how to swim. "Oh god!" He yells, he gasps for breath as the waves swallow him. The sky is clear with the only thing watching him being the sun.
"Somebody help! Please!" He yells. He looks around desperately, trying to find a surface. After scanning his surroundings, he sees a woman far away from him.
Without any words, he starts to swim towards her. Atleast, he tries to. He shakes his hands violently and tries to close in the distance.
The woman watches him approach, a soft smile on her face. "Poor thing."
As Pablo gets closer, she swims a little away. Pablo is left confused, but he keeps swimming anyway. Every time he gets closer, she swims away. "Why?! Why are you running away?!"
The woman doesn't let him get near her. "Me?"
Her eyes pierce through his soul. "I'm not running away, you're just not swimming fast enough."
Pablo tries to reach for her, but ends up swallowing a lot of water. He coughs violently but keeps trying to reach her anyway because he is close to drowning.
"Why won't you let me…" He yells. But when he gets close enough, she grabs him from the throat firmly and increases her grip on him. "...Why won't you let yourself?"
Pablo tries to kick her, swat her hands and arms away, but he is too weak to do so. He is dying, and he knows it. His brain slowly runs out of oxygen. Before his vision goes black, he can see a giant Tsunami approaching behind her. The last words he hears:
"You're still not ready."
Pablo feels water hitting his face, he screams and opens his eyes, gasping for air. He tries to hold onto something, not realising he is snug as a bug in bed. As he moves, his wounds start to hurt. "Where… Where am I?!"
He sees who hit him with water. The drunk man from before. He is inside a cabin which appears to be very old. The man cackles upon Pablo's reaction. "Wakey wakey."
Pablo stares at him in disbelief, he checks his body only to see himself fully covered in bandages. "Why- What happened?"
The man moves to the bowl standing on the table next to the bed. Something slug-like seems to be inside it. The man mixes alcohol inside the bowl and grabs it. "Drink this."
Pablo gags upon seeing what is in it. "N-No. This looks gross!" The man grabs his mouth and opens it forcefully. "The bullets had toxins in them. Their aim was precise, they didn't hit any vital parts of your body. They just wanted you down, knowing how stubborn you are."
He tries to break free from his grasp, rejecting the bowl. "That still doesn't explain jackshit!"
The man starts to pour down the alcohol-slug mixture into Pablo's throat. "These little fellas love alcohol. One sip of it, they start freaking out and drinking whatever they meet. But there is one thing they love more than alcohol. And that is poison. They will drink the poison collecting up in your stomach. But this also makes them drink the stomach-acid, so no eating anything until I tell you to."
Pablo can't help but drink it fully, as it tastes… better than he thought. But still, the texture of the slugs is something he won't forget for a long time. He gags again, holding his throat. He coughs, he can feel them moving inside his stomach.
The man pats his back. "Don't vomit, yet. But you'll have to after a while or otherwise they will eat your stomach entirely." Pablo gasps upon hearing this. "How long? When?!"
He puts a hand on his chin, thinking. "Dunno." He shrugs and sits down. Pablo yells in disbelief. "Huh?!"
The man waves his hand in dismissal, grabbing a bottle of alcohol and sipping from it. "Relax, you'll be fine."
Pablo looks at how casual the man is. Is this the same person from before? "How- How am I here?"
The man chugs the bottle like he hasn't drank for a decade, even though he drank a few hours ago. Pablo gets annoyed at him not answering his question. "All I remember is… an earthquake. And then I heard them screaming."
The man finishes the bottle and puts it down, he burps. "That was me."
The man gets up and looks at the shelves for anything to eat, for anything else to drink. "If you want something to eat- Oh, you couldn't. My bad-"
Pablo yelled with all of his might. "WHAT?!"
The man laughed when he yelled, he pulled out a small piece of bread and raw meat and slapped it on top of the bread. "Who the hell are you?!" Pablo gasped. Each breath he took hurt.
The man took a bite out of his meal and sat down again, leaning back. "I'm the guy you're looking for."
Pablo looks at him like deer in front of a headlight. "I still don't get it."
The man smiles, he takes off his blindfold slowly. "Do I have to spell it for you?" He reveals his eyes, they look… indescribable. He has cataracts, but even through the fog the beauty in his eyes is visible. They look otherworldly, possibly they are otherworldly. "I'm Nasaki Ryuko, nice to meet you."
Awkward silence fills the room. Despite every wild thing he heard in his life before, every unbelievable thing he has encountered, this is by far the most unbelievable one. "Yeah, okay. Keep dreaming. You're telling me, you're Nasa-"
Before Pablo can finish his sentence, a wave of devastating mana hits his face like the entire room is being flooded. He screams in fear and tries to hold onto something. It's so dense Pablo feels like he is swimming in solid concrete. The flow of mana stops, and Pablo opens his eyes to see the man in front of him. "You believe me now?"
Pablo starts to breathe heavily, and nods, his hands are shaking after everything he just felt. "Y-Yeah."
Nasaki gives him a thumbs-up, and seats beside him. "Scoot." Pablo opens space for him. "Gladly." Even though the reveal of this pathetic man was once upon a time the strongest being ever, the smell is hard to ignore. "You're one interesting guy. But why would Ayano send you after me? Out of everyone she would know I don't mentor just a random ass person."
Pablo gulps and hides how offended he was being called 'random ass'. "I'm not just anyone."
He takes a deep breath and gathers his courage. "I can use mana."
Nasaki looks at Pablo in the eye, raising an eyebrow with a subtle smile. "For real?" Pablo nods in response. "I know you probably won't believe me, but-" Nasaki interrupts Pablo once again and bursts out laughing. "What's so funny?" Pablo says.
Nasaki pats his back again, trying to ease the awkwardness in the conversation. "I know, dumbass. That's what I called you interesting. I asked 'for real' because you possibly can't think that using mana makes you special enough? No offense Pablo but you're still nobody for me."
Pablo looks down in shame. "Offense taken. But how do you know?"
Nasaki grins and meets his gaze. "The mana that hit you a second ago wasn't mine. It was yours."
Pablo's eyes widen in disbelief, he tries to make sense of what Nasaki just said. "What do you mean?"
Nasaki channeled mana through his hand, but it wasn't visible. Normally the blue light of mana that would always be there is absent. He can feel it, but cannot see it. "Your mana is all over the place. I don't know why but after you got shot you started to rapidly release mana into the area. I'm just suppressing yours with mine so it doesn't kill you."
Pablo's mouth is wide open with this news. "So the reason I can't see your mana…" He looks at Nasaki's hands. "That's right. It's because the room is already flooded with mana."
Pablo starts to get worried and looks at his wounds. He is afraid to try to regenerate because any wrong move can explode his body with immense mana. "I'm here but-" realization dawns upon Pablo. "Where is Tsuyoi?"
Nasaki sighs, he pinches his nose. It looks like he doesn't know how to respond. Pablo gets even more worried. "That's… not good news."
Nasaki nods. "Before I could sober up, they already got him on that ship." Pablo tries to get up after hearing that news, but due to his wounds he is hit with immense pain. Nasaki helps him sit down. "I know that's not what you wanted to hear. But have my word, they won't kill him…"
Nasaki looks away and mumbles under his breath. "...yet."
He is shocked by what Nasaki said. "Yet?! I heard that!" Nasaki curses under his breath and tries to calm him down. "Okay, okay. Either way, you can't help him in this state."
Pablo winces in pain and looks at him in anger. "So what do I do? Wait for him to die? I gotta do something! He has a family!"
Nasaki exhales sharply. "I don't know, but I'm not teaching you jackshit. I'll help you recover and we'll wait for your mana overflow to end."
Pablo clenches his fist and teeth. "How could I be so careless..?"
Nasaki tries to reassure him and puts an arm around his shoulder. "Look, kid. None of us could see it coming. It's not your fault."
Pablo looks at Nasaki in anger and despair. "You don't get to say shit. I risked my life to protect you back there! I stared at her and fought her anyway, knowing I could die! Doesn't that mean anything to you?!"
Nasaki furrows his brows in response and is visibly annoyed. "Yeah, It doesn't. You think you're a fearless hero? Newsflash, dipshit. You're not a martyr for dying in a situation you yourself have created. We call that suicide."
Pablo forgets he is talking to a legend, and reduces him to the pathetic man from before. "What do you know about being a hero?"
Nasaki gets up, turning his back on him. "I don't. But you don't either."
He gets back to the table and starts to work on another mixture, pours a few fluids Pablo doesn't recognise in it. "I have no interest in mentoring people that are willing to kick someone that's already on the floor. You looked at me and saw a drunk senile man."
Nasaki looks at the bowl, carefully choosing his next words. "And I looked at you, seeing the failure that is me." He doesn't say it outloud, the sentence fails to leave his mouth.
Pablo keeps looking at the floor left without a response. He gulps and tries to hold himself back from crying. He decides to lay down on the bed and sleep for a little bit longer. "Hang on, Tsuyoi. Just hang on."