Two guards were dragging Tsuyoi through the prison hall. Their armor was perfectly fit, not giving any hint to whatever is inside it. Tsuyoi decided to make it hard for them, and fully gave his weight to the floor. "Do I have to wear this?" The blue prison jumpsuit was not his style. He wanted to rip this shirt, be free once again.
"Silence." The guard on his left spoke. Tsuyoi guessed his armors were made of Magiblood infused steel, he noticed the subtle noises it made. Magiblood infused steel (often just called Manasteel) is a result of the oppression the United Government carries on against the Magiborns. They harvest their blood, and use it for all sorts of things.
When metals are coated with it, they grow stronger, more resistant to magic and gain the ability to repair themselves over time. But that's not all; even though mana is dangerous to Dawnthinkers, the 'blood' of Magiborns (which is just mana in clear liquid form) can be safely inserted into the bloodstream of Dawnthinkers and it boosts their immune system, helps with recovery, and battles diseases that were thought to be incurable.
Magiblood is one of the main factors of Magiborn trading. It is valuable, easy to harvest and extremely useful.
He looked at his handcuffs, also made out of Manasteel. His robe was taken away by the prison, making sure he couldn't fly out of there.
As he was dragged, he noticed many inmates around him. Locked, imprisoned, and hungry. They watched Tsuyoi with excitement in their eyes.
Eventually, he arrived in his own cell. The guards threw him in and closed the door. They opened their hands and chanted a phrase in a language Tsuyoi couldn't understand. The prison bars glowed, in a color Tsuyoi never saw before. Something close to purple.
He fell on his face after he was thrown inside. He groaned and got up. His handcuff disappeared into thin air after the guards left. "That's interesting." He flexed his wrists, he had them on for so long they started to hurt.
He looked at his cell. It wasn't that filthy, he saw worse in Thalorien, given how this isn't his first time in the slammer. There was a bunkbed in the corner of the cell. To its right, was the sink and the toilet.
The prison was barely lit. The only light-source was the small barred window out of his reach letting the moonlight in. Facing the outside world.
On the top bed, he saw a man sitting. Possibly his cellmate. He appeared to be in his thirties. He had short white hair, and dark eyebags under his eyes. He looked solemn, lost in his thoughts.
"Yo, my guy. Could you let me have that bed? I get claustrophobic in the lower bed." The phoenix spoke. The man didn't respond, he stared into the wall.
"Yo!" Tsuyoi yelled, trying to get his attention. The man flinched slightly. He looked at Tsuyoi, sighed and got down. His voice barely came out. "Of course."
Tsuyoi smiled and climbed to the top-bed with relative ease. "Thanks."
He laid down and exhaled in relaxation. "This could've gone worse." He stares at the ceiling, cracking his fingers out of boredom.
His cellmate's expression was burned into his eyes. He can't help but feel a hint of pain deep inside of him. If there was one weakness of Tsuyoi, it was his empathy. He could feel that this man went through something extremely painful. "Hey, mister." He called out.
The man responded with a quiet 'hm', showing that he is listening.
"What's your name?" Tsuyoi asked. The man left Tsuyoi in silence again, but eventually sighed and gave up. "It's-"
"Suberi you useless twat!" She heard a voice yell her name. She was in her office, scouting through the documents that she definitely and totally reads before filling. She lets out a squeak when someone yells her name in that manner. The papers in her hands fly away. She gets up and leaves her office in a hurry, running down the hallway desperately.
"Huss huss huss!" She charges through her colleagues, leaving everyone looking at her, confused.
She barges through the door of Commander Erik's office. She immediately salutes and enters a statue-like stance. "Here, sir!"
The room is pretty minimalistic, boring even. You wouldn't guess this is the office of one of the Great Commanders. A big table for Erik, and 2 little seats in front. A shelf consisting of trophies, photos of his family and a photo of himself.
Erik was a man of soft stature. His face was soft, paired with his white skin, it was impossible to see him as intimidating. His hair was ginger. He wore a pair of glasses over his green eyes. His height isn't really visible right now because he is sitting, but he is just above average. His uniform was less flamboyant compared to Suberi's, despite being leagues above her. He had a soft smile upon seeing her enter, making it obvious that he wasn't the one that yelled out an insult.
That was the man next to him, Juryo Ku. One of the 12 Apostles, being the third. He had purple hair in a french-chop. He was visibly annoyed by Suberi's failure to capture The Anomaly. He was light-skin, but darker compared to Suberi. His eyes were also purple, matching his eyes. His teeth appeared dirty, some broken and some out-of-place. He was tall, combined with his athletic figure, looking at him made Suberi nervous. "Tsk." He looks away from her in anger.
Erik chuckles, amused by Juryo's reaction. "No need to be so rude, Juryo. She was just promoted into a High-Rank, you can't expect immediate competence."
Suberi nodded, she tried to hold the salute but was visibly hurt. Erik sighed. "At ease."
She relaxed into a casual stance, she fidgeted with her fingers nervously. Juryo avoided looking at her. "Damn woman." He muttered under his breath.
Erik carefully inspected a few papers. Even if she couldn't fully see them, she could tell they were related to the incident in Eldoria.
"We are withdrawing," Erik stated. Juryo and Suberi both gasped in surprise. "For now." He added.
"What kind of bullshit is that?" Juryo couldn't help but object. The United Government withdrew only once. No mission, no matter how small it was, was disregarded by 'retreating'. "End of argument, Juryo." The Commander coldly stated.
"But, boss… you're seriously running away just because of a little earthquake?" Juryo kept digging further. He didn't take no as an answer. "Well, if you insist." Erik got up and faced the window behind him, staring into the outside world. "Do you know the name Nasaki Ryuko?"
Juryo grunted in annoyance. "What kind of question-" Erik quickly interrupted. "I wasn't asking you, third."
Juryo was left speechless, and quickly stopped talking back, noticing the change of tone in Erik's voice.
Suberi pointed at herself. "Me? Well," She scratched the back of her neck. "Of course. Who doesn't?"
Erik sighed and turned back to her again. He walked towards Juryo and patted his shoulder. "Appearently, this man." Suberi was surprised by this news, he had to be living under a rock.
Juryo gritted his teeth, his anger started to boil over. "Just who the hell is this Nasaki guy?"
Erik snapped his fingers. "I'm glad you asked. Nasaki Ryuko was… to put it simply, a 'fuck you' to the United Government. Even if you don't know him, you know the golden age. Back when Treasurers so strongly roamed the world, the United Government was obsolete. They did whatever they wanted. We had the power to stop most of them, yes. But it was deemed unnecessary in the grand scheme of things because of the war that could boil up with just one encounter." He slowly looked Juryo in the eye. Despite the difference in height, he was the one in charge.
Juryo met his gaze. "I don't see your point, boss."
"In summary, there were kings that made us peasants. But what made it interesting was… Nasaki. If Infamy was King Solomon, Nasaki was God Almighty." He was inches away from Juryo's face. Erik then scoffed and turned around and sat down again. "Nasaki wasn't just strong, he was the reason we are who we are. %45 of the weaponry the United Government invented was for the sake of having a chance of survival against Nasaki Ryuko if things went wrong." Erik scrolled through countless papers, like he was trying to find something valuable. "I once saw him lift an entire island and he still kept fighting with relative ease."
Juryo let the words sink in. He gulped, his confidence falling apart. "Boss. I can do this. We don't need to withdraw. I'll finish what Sanita started-"
Erik eventually snapped and yelled. He looked towards Suberi and pointed at Juryo. "Did he not hear a single word I said?"
Juryo flinched when Erik raised his voice, he took a step back. He looked away, shutting up. Suberi too grew nervous with each word. "I don't see how this connects to our problem, sir, respectfully… sir."
Erik nodded, returning to his usual attire. "Nasaki Ryuko was with Pablo Drake. He is the one that caused the earthquake."
With the news, Suberi gasps. She is left speechless and in disbelief. "Nasaki? What was he doing there? Why Pablo? …Sir."
Erik shrugged. "No idea, really." He pulled out the mugshot of Tsuyoi and looked at it. "So as long as Pablo is with him, we have no realistic chance of capturing Pablo."
Suberi nods with understanding. Juryo is too lost in thought to digest it. "So, what do we do?"
"We won't go after Pablo. We'll make him go after us. We have Tsuyoi, his best friend, boyfriend — I don't know what the hell they are. But I know he matters to Pablo. So he'll want to save him. And that is when you two will get him." With Erik's new statement, Juryo was pulled back from his trance and looked at Erik with annoyance in his eyes. "You're pairing me with this?"
Suberi tries to find words to express his gratitude for another chance. "Sir! Thank you for this chance. I'll make sure to not disappoint you." She smiles.
Erik too returns her smile. "I'm expecting great things from you, Suberi."
Juryo scoffs and storms out of the room like a child throwing a tantrum, without saying a single word. He bumps into Suberi knowingly, and shuts the door behind him.
Suberi tries to ignore this. She already can guess how hard he will make it for them. "You said Nasaki was with him. How do you know he won't come with Pablo?"
Erik snapped his fingers again. "I knew you would say that. Like I mentioned before, Nasaki is a super-deterrent. If we fight him, millions die. If he fights us, millions die. He won't bring up a fight with the United Government. And don't get us wrong, we'll put up a fight. We have someone that can keep up or maybe even surpass him in some aspects, but that information is too classified for your rank. So he won't start a world war just to save some loud, obnoxious bravo man." Erik scoffs once again.
Suberi nods and salutes. "Alright, sir! I won't disappoint you, off I go then!" She turns towards the door in excitement, but Erik quickly interrupts. "You know you aren't going anywhere right. He is coming, not the other way around."
She stares at him with a frozen, ashamed expression. She tries to smile. "Of course, I was referring to my office when I said that."
Erik leans back in his seat and smiles. "Oh, of course. My apologies."
She awkwardly stares at him, then eventually salutes once again and leaves. As she walks in the hallway, she smacks her own head. "Stupid, stupid! I better not mess this up…"
Meanwhile, things weren't looking so… bright for The Anomaly.
"You sure flexing my glutes is necessary? How is this related to my mana control?" He was meditating next to Nasaki. Both were on the floor, sitting with their legs crossed in a lotus pose. Pablo opened one eye and peeked towards him. "It isn't. I was just fucking with you." Nasaki said.
Pablo sharply exhales and closes his eyes once again. He tries to focus and meditate, but Nasaki just can't stay still. He moves around in his seat, cracking his fingers, scratching his body. "Stop that!" Pablo opens his eyes again, breaking his concentration.
After a while, Pablo groans. "This isn't going anywhere." He rolls his eyes.
Nasaki nudges him with his shoulder. "Hey, don't give up yet!"
Pablo nudges him back. "I don't have a mana reserve. I can't control its flow, can I? So why are we meditating?"
Nasaki thinks about his response and nods. "Fair point. Let me think of something else."
Pablo slams the ground in frustration. "If I'm releasing mana, won't I run out? Wouldn't that cure me? Why am I trying to keep it inside me anyway?!"
With the bombardment of questions, Nasaki tries to calm Pablo down and holds his arm before he punches again and hurts himself. "That's what I thought too. But when you were asleep, I realised waiting won't fix it."
"How?" Pablo spits back. "I looked into your soul, your Aura Link. In order to see just how much mana you were carrying. What I saw shocked me, Pablo."
"You can't see." Pablo raises an eyebrow. Nasaki scoffs. "You know what I meant. I realised that… your mana was like a bottomless well. The source was depleting, but I couldn't see the bottom of it."
Pablo gulps at the mention of a 'bottomless well' "Huh? You mean… I have that much mana?"
Nasaki pats his back. "I don't know. You can be ambivalent. You have insane amounts of mana. But that means you can't just wait it out." Pablo sighed and got up, he was lost. Nasaki looked at him with a hint of worry. He got up and helped Pablo get up too. "You should get some rest now. Pushing yourself isn't always the solution."
He avoided his mentor's gaze. "I can't just rest while Tsuyoi is there, suffering. I have to do it. No matter what. Even if it means destroying myself, I'll do it! Please just teach me something! A rare deadly technique you never taught to anyone because it's so dangerous maybe?" Pablo starts begging Nasaki. He puts a hand on his neck and avoids looking at Pablo. "Sorry, kid. I don't have anything like that. Even If I did, that's not what you should do."
He yells, grabbing Nasaki so he doesn't turn his back on him. "Why? What should I do then?"
Nasaki grabs Pablo's arm, a sharp glare on his face. "Breaking your limits and pushing beyond your limits are completely different shit, kid. The latter often ends up killing you."
Pablo listens to Nasaki, his face still has a hint of frustration and anger. "For example, back in your fight with Sanita, why did you oversurge your legs with mana?" As Nasaki says that, Pablo is stunned. "H-How do you know that?"
"That's not the point. Why did you do that? Sanita would charge at you anyway, you did something your body wasn't able to handle." Nasaki lets go of Pablo.
"You don't know what you're talking about." Pablo objects. "Would It kill you If you just say 'You're right, I'm sorry.'? Does it bother you that much? Listen. I think you have enormous potential, but you lack the mindset to bring it out."
The words fly right above Pablo's head. "What? Are you saying I'm not enough?"
Nasaki snaps and raises his voice too. "This is what I'm talking about! Did you want to save Tsuyoi's life, or do you just want to defeat Sanita? The latter is a splendid motivation, but Tsuyoi and I would try to get you out of there alive if we were in your shoes. I'm not saying you didn't have to beat Sanita, he'd be too dangerous if left alive. But do not forget, your motives matter more than your actions. You can't become someone who surpasses your limits before imagining that future-self.
Pablo doesn't respond, the anger is still on his face. But calm enough to hear Nasaki out. "Breaking your limits and pushing beyond your limits aren't the same thing," Nasaki adds, he turns his back on Pablo and walks towards the cabin, expecting him to follow. "Should there be a next time, accept yourself before evolving beyond that self."
He watches Nasaki walk away into the cabin, with a lost look in his face Pablo decides to follow him in. As they get in, he sinks himself to the bed, just now realising how exhausted he is.
Nasaki grabs a few things from the cabin that Pablo doesn't get to see, then heads for the door. "I'm going to the physical world. Don't worry, I'll still suppress your mana. You get some sleep and get ready for tomorrow's ass kicking, because I'm not gonna hold back."
Pablo doesn't respond and closes his eyes. Nasaki looks at Pablo, a hint of worry in his face. He then leaves and closes the door.
He recalls Nasaki's words as his body relaxes, drifting to sleep. Eventually, he finds himself in that dream again.
He finds himself in an ocean, with no visible land nearby. He tries to swim up and tries not to panic. "This is a dream... This is a dream. None of this is real." He reminds himself but the fear never disappears. He can't see what's under the water, the sky is cloudy, blocking the sun from hitting his face.
The waves wrestle with him to sink him down. Pablo tries to reach for the surface but just can't push off his body.
In the distance, he sees her again. The woman that haunts him even to this day. He tries to swim towards her, to reach her, to grab her and be safe.
But just like before, the woman slowly drifts away when Pablo gets closer. She has a soft smile on her face, but he feels like she is mocking him. "Don't you get it?" She said.
Pablo tried to ignore her words and reach her. "Just stop!"
"Did his words really have no effect on you?" Even though the waves are so chaotic, she blissfully swims. Pablo meanwhile, is desperately trying to stay alive and grab her. "He can't understand!"
He gets so close to grabbing her, but she swims to the left and avoids his hands. "Understand what?" She giggles.
"He wasn't born weak, he wasn't born pitiful! He didn't start at zero! Everything was given to him…" He yells. "...Is it a crime if I don't want to be pathetic?"
"You answered my question." As she says that, Pablo just stops trying to reach her. To maybe talk some sense into her. The waves calm down a little, allowing Pablo to stay on the surface. "I can't do anything right. I'll weep in sorrow, while Tsuyoi is over there suffering."
She doesn't respond. But Pablo feels like she will.
"And yes, I want to save him this time! I don't care about… breaking into a prison, beating someone powerful! I just want him to be safe, okay?!" Pablo yells, his eyes tear up.
Her smile becomes even softer, and less judging. "I'm tired of feeling guilty. I'm tired of feeling like I did something wrong all the time. This guilt paralyzes me. I beat Sanita, I killed Doctor Blessings, I saved my friend's life! What more can I do?" The tears fall, but It's uncertain if that's really his tears or just the ocean water streaming down his face.
She doesn't respond. But Pablo knows she will.
"What more can I do…" Pablo repeated to himself, he closed his eyes.
She responds.
"You can save yourself." She giggles again. She slowly starts to swim towards Pablo. "If you want to save him, you'll have to learn how to swim."
He gulps. "How do I do that?" Pablo doesn't know what to do as she gets closer. She laughs like Pablo asked an obvious question. "You know."
"But, am I worth saving?" His voice shook.
The distance between the two starts to close. "You can't know without trying."
As she gets closer, Pablo feels the urge to swim away. He peacefully pushes himself against the water, drifting away. "There you go." She says.
His movements become less sloppy, and more confident. He floats above the water pretty easily. Even when the waves start to pick up their strength again, Pablo manages to stay on the surface. When she gets closer, he gets further away. Eventually, she stops following him.
"Maybe… the hug can come later." The last thing he hears before waking up.