"Why did you even attack my dojo?" Ayato grinned and placed a hand on his chin. A vein popped on his forehead after Pablo's comment. "To prove a point." Pablo took a step forward.
Ayato stepped back, just slightly. "And that is?"
"It's not something you can understand with words." He took another step forward, but Ayato didn't back down this time. "Sometimes you need to be hurt in order to understand!" He raised his voice and started charging towards Ayato.
Ayato raised his guard and inspected Pablo's mana flow, it was almost impossible to see. "That's strange. His mana isn't flowing in his body, unlike Nasaki. It's deep in his soul. If it wasn't for my soul understanding, I wouldn't be able to see it." He thought to himself.
Pablo swung his left punch towards Ayato, intending to take him head-on. Ayato blocked it with his right and lowered Pablo's arm. In the fraction of a second, he then hit Pablo's chin with his left. "That's too bold, don't you think?" Ayato then hit his face again with his right elbow.
"You can't outpower your way through me! Your lack of technique has already declared the winner of this duel!" Ayato front-kicked his stomach with his right leg, then rotated mid-air to kick his face with his left.
Pablo blocked it in time, then created another Zweihander made of bones. He didn't have time to amplify it with mana, so he just swung it towards Ayato who was wide-open.
But the sword just phased right through him, and Ayato disappeared into black smoke. "Huh?!" Pablo looked around him frantically, looking for Ayato.
Just as he turned around, a punch belonging to a dark silhouette was about to connect with his face. He ducked just in time, and dismantled the shadow with his sword. It was purely on instinct. "That dark cloud again!" He thinks.
He then feels an arm wrap around his neck, getting him in a chokehold. "Distracted much?" Ayato said, his grip tightening. "Agh!" Pablo yelled, tendrils sprout out of his back, ready to pierce Ayato.
But the attack didn't land, he was gone once more. The tendrils retracted. Pablo coughed violently and tried to stop. "Is he teleporting? Or is he just that fast? I have no clue, I can't see a thing in this damn storm!"
"The burden of power, the solitude of godhood… it was the responsibility Nasaki shouldered. No one could understand it. Except for Uso. And me, of course." Ayato began rushing at Pablo in high-speeds. He created a wide distance between them so he could accelerate.
"You think you can take on the government? That's foolish crap! 'Proving a point' my ass! The only point left will be the holes left in your body if you even dared to fight an Apostle!" Ayato yelled.
The direction where the voice comes from keeps changing. "Fuck that!" Pablo gives up and pierces the ground with his sword. He then imbues mana into it, unleashing a devastating wave of mana into the area.
This makes him lose his breath. "Boundless mana… very bound body." Pablo breathes out. "I can't even see if my attack landed-" Before he could say anything, Ayato comes flying and dropkicks him in the chest, the two fly and Pablo is dragged through the snow at violent speeds. "You're…" Ayato clenched his fist. "YOU'RE…" His voice came out raspy.
He grabbed Pablo from his collar, and threw him at full strength. "YOU'RE A FRAUD!" He screamed.
Pablo tried to think straight through the pain and think of a plan, he regenerated his body and accidentally dropped his sword in the process. He crashed into the floor, barely able to move.
He felt somebody nudging him, he flinched and tried to get up. "It's me." Kori said, smiling. "You've been busy, huh?"
"Kori…" Pablo starts panicking, enough to forget his pain. "It's not what it-"
"It's okay, I don't mind. It's just a duel, right?" She raised an eyebrow. "Yeah… you could say that." He nodded and gulped. He then stood up and readied himself. "It's a duel, so I won't intervene. But you're not fighting with all of your abilities, are you?"
"What do you mean?" He turned towards her. Her hands went to her pockets, and pulled out his ring. "I've taken good care of it. Don't you worry."
She hands him the ring and starts to walk away. "With that healed brain of yours, do your best." She disappears into the storm. "Always a mystery with you." Pablo muttered.
He takes a deep breath, and slowly puts on the ring on his right ring finger. As he does so, an enormous surge of mana releases from his body which quite frankly, does not hurt him at all. Pablo looks at his body overflowing with mana.
He looks at his own hands in sheer disbelief. He then smiles, confidence rising back up. "That's right." He clenched his fist, his treasure glows in purple.
"I'm a Treasurer."
The flames inside his eyes crackle, growing stronger.
"What the hell is that?" Ayato stops his charge after witnessing Pablo's mana pushing the storm away.
Pablo generated another bone Zweihander and raised his guard. "His output is rising, how is he not dead? If he was a Magiborn, his mana structure would be destroyed already." Ayato continued his charge.
Ayato attempted to punch his stomach again, but Pablo parried the attack with his blade. Ayato tried to push through, but Pablo's feet didn't move an inch. The two met eye-to-eye. "Those eyes…" Ayato's grin dropped as he noticed the flames.
Pablo poured his strength into the sword, pushing his arm away. He then attempted to front kick Ayato, but he grabbed his leg and threw him away again. Pablo's back hit the mountain behind him but he landed on his feet this time, and saw more silhouettes rushing through him. He raised his right hand, and shot mana from his ring to destroy them.
Ayato appeared out of nowhere once more and attempted to deliver a rapid fist barrage. Pablo manages to sidestep just in time, and Ayato's fist lands on the rock behind him. The pieces scatter around the air, and Pablo bites one of them mid-air. He then shoots it out of his mouth. "Welcome back, Gluttony!" He thinks.
One of the rocks pierce Ayato, catching him in surprise. The rest just phase right through him. "So it's manual." Pablo notes.
"Really? That's your Treasure? You shoot rocks?" Ayato chuckled mockingly. "Let's hear about your Sorcery then, huh?" Pablo raised his guard again.
"I'll have you know it's- Wait, I'm not falling for that!" Ayato raised his guard too.
"The black clouds… Intangibility… Teleportation…" He ran a quick simulation in his mind. "...The fake clones too, they all seem tied together. If I don't figure out his Sorcery, I will lose."
Pablo was the one to engage first this time. His swordsmanship was sloppy, but he is a quick learner. After flowing mana into his sword, he thrusts his sword forward. Ayato dodges the attack by leaning sideways.
Pablo flips the sword quickly and grabs it from the blade itself, he then hits Ayato's face with the hilt. The attack staggers Ayato, Pablo then flips the sword again and holds it properly this time, delivering a swing to Ayato's chest.
Ayato doesn't falter however, and punches Pablo's face with all his might. Pablo is unable to defend due to committing to the swing.
The fist connects and breaks Pablo's nose, he is knocked back several meters at least. "That hurt…" His hands shake from the pain, but he regenerates his nose.
Or atleast, tries to.
His nose erupts with blood. "Huh?" He falls to one knee as he feels an 'impending doom', per se.
"It's my soul… I pushed it too far! Wait, no. That's not it!" He properly regenerates his nose this time, but can't fully heal it. "I healed it too much! The sheer output destroyed my nose…"
"Somebody is running out of fuel!" Ayato flickers in and out of existence while rushing towards Pablo at high speeds, the distance between them quickly disappearing. He leaves behind a trail of black smoke.
Pablo gets up and blocks Ayato's incoming punch, shattering his sword. He is too afraid to attempt creating a new one. After the sword breaks, Ayato leaps backwards and multiplies into several shadows. All are visually identical to him, and they are walking towards Pablo.
"He can do things with shadows, I understand that. But still, I don't know what he can do with them." He tries to figure out which one is the real one, but they all engage with him without giving him time to think.
The fakes phase through him, but occasionally punches lands from the real Ayato who blended in. "I can't keep up! Which is the real one?!" Pablo attempts to defend himself but whenever he defends in one direction, he gets hit in the opposite.
Suddenly, all the shadows merge into the one behind Pablo. "Here, you dumbass!" Ayato then delivers a barrage of fists onto his back, sending him flying again. "This is tempo!" Pablo says through the pain, gritting his teeth. "Create distance… create opportunity… hit… repeat! But I can read his mana, his strength is getting split across the clones." Pablo raises his fists as Ayato multiplies once more. "Now that you can't heal… time to finish this!" Ayato yells.
Pablo takes a deep breath, his mind races for an option and settles for one. "The blind protects their mind from what is fabricated…" He repeats Nasaki's words.
As a last desperate attempt, Pablo closes his eyes.
"The world… it's fabricated." He mutters, true darkness fills his vision. It's too silent, too peaceful.
"Is he praying?" Ayato cackles while sprinting. The clones surround Pablo, and he repeats his attack pattern from before.
Pablo doesn't defend. The attacks hit him repeatedly, but he doesn't open his eyes, he doesn't raise his hands.
"He isn't fighting back? Alright then, don't mind if I do!" Ayato raises his hands for the finishing move.
Suddenly, Pablo turns around and surges his body with immense mana, then he swings his fist towards Ayato's face. "The shadows. I figured it out. You enter and exit out of shadows to teleport, but you can also create them. The shadows are disrupted when they come in contact with mana, that's why my sword was able to hit you a moment ago."
Ayato's eyes widened, unable to react in time.
"So in order for the shadows to exist… they must not have any mana. Which is why they cannot attack me. But that is also why they were invisible to me when I closed my eyes." Literal centimeters were away from his fist and Ayato's face. His fist glowed brightly with mana, his skin slowly tearing apart from it. "The only thing that remained… was the mana signature from the real you."
Ayato's jaw is opened wide in shock, he clenches his teeth and fist in rage. "Damn you, you fr-"
Pablo's fist smashes through Ayato's face and slams him to the ground, cracking and shaking the ground violently. Ayato is left unconscious, Pablo's hand is mutilated beyond belief. His hands shake, but he pulls it out from his smashed face. "Shut up."
He falls on his knees, fully exhausted. The adrenaline eases the pain, so does the cold.
God knows how much time has passed, but Ayato finally opens his eyes in the infirmary. The superiors were around him but Forte wasn't there. They both seemed to be fully regenerated with no visible injury. "Master, you're awake!" Vitis said.
"Eugh asugh geug…" He mumbled nonsense, each sentence hurt. His jaw was dislocated, his nose was broken, his teeth were all over the place and he could barely open his eyes. "The brat beat us. But I'm sure he called backup on you, Master. He wouldn't be able to take you head-on." Radior crossed his arms.
Ayato managed to regenerate his mouth, but the rest of his mana structure was too fragile. "I think so. I think he even called Nasaki! I couldn't see anyone but I saw the huge mana output, surely that was Nasaki right?" Vitis raised an eyebrow.
"Stupid Vitis! Don't you know? Master Ayato could take on Nasaki like he defeated him before, don't you remember him telling us that?" Radior raised his voice.
Ayato watched them banter in guilt and shame mixed together, he attempted to speak up but only a fragile cry came out. "I…"
"Then that Nasaki bastard must've fought dirty!" Vitis raised her voice as well.
The door opened, both Vitis and Radior flinched when they heard his voice. "No, that's not true." Pablo said.
Noticing their anxiety, he waved his hand in dismissal. "Relax, I'm not here to fight again."
He faced Ayato, his hand is still not healed but it was wrapped in bandages. "What do you mean that's not true, you bastard! You better get the hell out of here before I-" Vitis was interrupted by Pablo. "It's too late for that now. I could beat the living hell out of you and not waste a drop of mana in the process." He said plainly.
"He is not the man he says he is. He is not this legendary figure, and he for sure did not defeat Nasaki. Not that I was there but… him? Hell no." He scoffed.
Radior clenched his fists. "What the hell are you talking about?!"
"I'm elaborating, dude. Don't interrupt my elaboration." He loses his patience and raises his voice as well, contributing to the already tense situation. "I don't know what he told you but, he lost to me. He lost to me, myself and I. Simple as that."
Ayato stares at Pablo, speechless.
"Master, tell me he is bullshitting." Radior looks at Ayato, worried and conflicted. Ayato looks away, ashamed to even look at him.
"He is an insecure, racist piece of shit that couldn't accept himself when he was surrounded by Gods. And I hate that…" Pablo gulps. "...I hate that I relate." He lowers his voice. "Not to the racism part." He adds.
"I too kept comparing myself to my friends when it came to power. Being the weakest just hurts. It hurts so fucking much." Pablo clenched his alright hand. "And I'm sure I'll keep doing that, no matter how strong I get."
"You've built this wonderful place and community. Trained countless people and shielded them from the government. You fed them, you gave them shelter."
His lips press against each other, racing to find the next words. "You've built something Nasaki couldn't. You're a beloved teacher and he is a miserable shithead. Power or not, you're better than him. But that's a very low bar."
He sighs. "You should be proud of that." With that said, Pablo turns his back and heads for the door. But before leaving, he turns towards Radior and points at him. "Go prepare my ship and get us someone that can steer a ship. I don't care what you did with my previous helmsman."
"I'm not taking orders from you, you bastard!" Radior yells, Pablo quickly raises his fists and Radior flinches and squeaks in response. Pablo chuckles. "Bitch. That's what I thought. Go get my ship." He then leaves the room.