Arc 3: Choosing Reality by Embracing Life
Road to a Hero:
Three chances in another world
Chapter 6: An unstoppable force and an immovable object
Gray comes to, waking up in a soft bed, bandaged up. He struggles to move his body, unable to move at all without feeling like he’s going to die from the pain.
Gray: “GAH!”
Rosemary: “You’re awake.”
Gray: “How…Ug…long was I out?”
Rosemary: “They took a break after your match to repair the arena, Julius’s match is going on right now with Rosine.”
Gray: “So I lost huh…”
Rosemary: “Yeah… that move you did against Edward, that swirling ball of mana, what was that?”
Gray: “Oh my Titans impact? I just focused a bunch of mana into the palm of my hand, then swirled it around. Saw something similar in a show I saw once.”
Rosemary: “Titans impact? And that is something that should take a lot of training to do, to say it like it was nothing is amazing!”
Gray: “Oh the name is just my mom's family name, it’s Japanese for Titan, so I just used that as the route of the name. And if you have a lot of something it’s easy to do more stuff with it, and it destroyed my arm so I can’t just use it willy-nilly.”
Rosemary: “That makes sense…also what’s Japanese? And what's English?”
Gray: “Long story... Is Soku…alright by chance?”
Rosemary: “I talked with Ophelia, and she said that Soku was overwhelmed…by….um..her.”
Gray: “Oh…gross..yeah I get it, I still feel kind of bad though.”
Rosemary starts to sob, trying not to let Gray notice.
Gray: “What… what's wrong? Did I do something, are you okay?”
Rosemary: “Yo…you could have died! They wouldn’t have stopped the match until you either passed out, died, or gave up! Your body was torn to shreds! Your bones are broken and your OD almost crumbled! Since your mana is like your soul's energy, you almost killed yourself.”
Gray: “Oh…I’m sorry I didn’t think that far ahead. I…I…I was terrified, Edward was moving like a monster, I don’t understand what set him off, I’m just lost.”
Rosemary: “I think I know what it was…I understand what it’s like for everyone to hold you to a standard just because of your family. He told me he hates fighting. He said he’s never really had friends before and he felt embarrassed from just talking about it. He didn’t go into much detail but, with Al’s death and all the pressure he’s being put under, I think he just wanted to be what they wanted him to be, A monster in the body of a man.”
Gray: “Sorry for sounding so pitiful, it seems like it’s the only thing I can do recently.”
Rosemary: “You have gotten this far with hardly any work I think that’s something.”
Rosemary kisses Gray on the forehead, leaving through the medical room door.
Gray: “Um…damn.”
Gray's happy and surprised face turns to annoyance when he sees the wounds on his body.
Gray {To hell with this, I’m gonna see that match!}
Gray struggles to move, reaching for his clothes and sitting on the dresser next to him.
Gray {She…brought my jacket. Get up, GET UP, DAMMIT COME ON, NOW, NOW, NOW!}
Gray: “I am so damn tired of losing.”
Gray stands, his leg bones about to collapse from the pressure. Gray almost passes out, falling to the ground. He crawls to some crutches near his bed. He grabs them, using them to stand up. Slouching on the wall, putting his clothes on. While this is happening Rosemary is walking back to the stands.
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Rosemary {Did…I DID IT! I’ve been thinking about it for weeks and I FINALLY DID IT!}
Ophelia: “You seem happy.”
Rosemary: “AH! HEY! OPHELIA!.”
Ophelia: “What’s wrong? Did something…oh...OH, YOU DID IT!”
Rosemary: “NO! No, no, no, no!”
Ophelia: “It’s fine I won’t spoil your moment.”
Rosemary: “Is Soku doing okay?”
Ophelia: “I was coming over here to come to find yah while Soku watched the match.”
Rosemary: “Sorry for making you miss the match.”
Opheilia: “Well I don’t like fighting, I think it’s scary.”
Rosemary: “Oh, well then yeah you’re right. Fighting is scary.”
Ophelia: “Do you like Gray?”
Rosemary: “WHAT! Where did that come from… I don’t like him. Um, it’s just that, he’s different than anyone I have ever met. He reminds me of myself, I don’t know if that makes me selfish but he’s scared, just like me. But he still prevails pushing himself to the brink of collapse to get what he wants, so I want to be like him in that way.”
Ophelia: “Um…so you like Gray?”
Rosemary: “I like Gray.”
Gray falls out of the room, failing to catch himself from falling. Before he can hit the ground Rosemary catches him, saving him from an undiscernible amount of pain.
Rosemary: “WHAT ARE YOU DOING? You need to stay put.”
Gray: “Nah I wanna watch the match.”
Ophelia: “SO LET’S GO ALREADY, Julius finished his match! Edwards is about to start.”
Gray: “Come on let’s go then! I wanna see the end of this thing.”
They all walk to the stands, sitting near Soku.
Soku: “You healed up fast.”
Gray: “More like woke up fast, I’m trying not to cry from the pain right now.”
Announcer: “AND NOW FOR THE MOMENT, YOU HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! A BATTLE BETWEEN A HELSING AND A CROMWELL, TO FINISH THIS EVENT BEFORE THE ELECTION OF THE THREE ROYAL CANDIDATES IS A BATTLE BETWEEN A HELSING AND WALGONIA AGAINST VALATROCITUS AND EDWARD VAN HELSING AGAINST JULIUS CROMWELL! NOW FIGHTERS! READY, SET, BEGIN!”
Instead of immediately rushing toward one another, Julius and Edward both just look into the eyes of each other.
Soku: “That guy Julius…I’m usually good a reading people, but that guy I can’t read him, I have no idea what he’s thinking.”
Edward: “You seem to be very curious about me. Why is that?”
Julius: “I utterly hate people who lie to themselves. People who do things to make people happy even if they don’t want to. That friend of yours, Kyojin. He lies to himself, acting like a big shot compared to his actual attitude. But you are true to yourself. You know what you want though you do things you might not like, though you still stay true to yourself. Now please show me the animal you were when you fought Kyojin.”
Edward: “It seems I’m only useful if I give in to the warrior's spirit.”
Julius: “The world just wants what it needs from us. Not what we want.”
Julius starts walking toward Edward, delivering multiple quick strikes to the front of Bjørn. However, Edward fails to react to Julius's strike to his side.
Edward {OW! Damn! It was too fast to fully stab me but a bunch of small cuts sting!}
Julius’s speed and dexterity are vastly above Edwards and due to this Edward fails to react or move out of the way of every one of Julius’s strikes.
Gray: “He’s getting his ass beat.”
Rosemary: “Yeah I don’t see him winning this one.”
Ophelia: “COME ON EDDY YOU GOT THIS!”
Soku: “Julius Isn’t even out speeding him, it’s like he’s predicting his moves like he knows when Edward is about to strike.”
Musashi: “It’s because he can.”
Gray: “AHH! Don’t sneak up on people, god damn.”
Rosemary: “What do you mean he can?”
Musashi: “I figured out why I recognized that monocle. It’s because of the metal it was made with, that fine craftsmanship is only found in Alfheilm. So it’s enchanted, and usually, anything like that gives you a small foresight ability.”
Gray: “THAT’S BUSTED.”
Soku: “That’s gotta be cheating.”
Musashi: “Well…all’s fair in war.”
Edward tries to grab Julius's rapier, though with no luck. Julius lets go of his blade, readily striking Edward's chest, performing a flip kick to Edward's chin, before grabbing his rapier and moving backward.
Gray: “DAMN!”
Arthur: “He’s getting his ass beat. GO JULIUS!”
Elizabeth: “This is embarrassing.”
Kioshi: “Come on Edward…”
Edward's mind slips back, his eyes turning blank. The warrior's spirit is taking over, about to run on pure instinct.
Gray: “HERE IS COMES!”
Julius looks Edward in the eyes with such malice, that it brings only fear into Edward's heart. It brings Edward's mind back into his body, making the warrior spirit leave his mind entirely. Julius moves forward once more, jumping over and evading Edward with such ease it makes Edward look like a child fighting an adult. Slashing his legs, arms, back, and face Edward to stunned to be able to react, Julius lands on the ground, pushing his left leg into the ground, crushing and moving the stone floor back, putting his left arm forward, and pulling his right arm back.
Elizabeth: “Is he going to….Unthinkable.”
Kioshi: “For a knight in training to be able to perform such a high-level attack.”
Gray: “What’s he doing?”
Soku: “That’s a move from Legends!”
Rosemary: “This may be the end of Edward's match.”
Gray: “Come on tell me!”
Musashi: “That right there boy…is the dragon’s fist, an attack that uses your internal strength and pushes it to the max. the man who made that attack used it to hit a dragon and was able to damage it.”
Julius swings his right arm, hits Edward's chest, and completely crushes his armor. The wind pressure from the attack rushes past Edward, crushing the wall behind him
Gray: “HOLY SHIT!”
Rosemary: “Just like in the legends.”
Soku: “That…was overkill.”
Musashi: “Uh…I’ll go get Edward.”
Edward falls to the ground. Utterly defeated.
Edward {I…didn’t even land one blow…}
Julius: “Thank you for the match. I now know my limits.”
Julius's arm falls out of the socket, crushed due to the force of the attack.
Announcer: “AND THAT’S IT! JULIUS CROMWELL, THE THIRD SON OF CORNELIUS CROMWELL KING OF VALATROCITUS, AND WINNER OF THE KNIGHTS EXAM!”
They all leave the stadium, entering the main hall. Which is now filled with chairs, and three large podiums with all the country's flags behind them. Everyone else picks a seat, though before Gray sits down he walks up to Soku.
Gray: “We good right?”
Soku: “Whatever just sit down.”
They sit down, with everybody awaiting the candidates to enter. The candidates enter the room, then they get up to the podiums. Standing awaiting the room to get quiet, a room filled with knights from other kingdoms and lords of their smaller domains.
Arthur: “ALRIGHT! HOPE YOU GUYS LIKED THAT LITTLE EXAM FOR OUR FUTURE KNIGHTS!”
Kioshi: “Also, you all that participated will be evaluated after the election.”
Elizabeth: “Which will start now. We will be asked questions about what we would like to do with Walgonia if we are elected, and then you all will vote.”
Arthur: “BEFORE YOU ALL LEAVE THE ROOM ONE OF US UP HERE WILL BE THE NEW KING! NOW THE SELECTION WILL START!”
END OF CHAPTER
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