Arc 4: What families entail
Road to a Hero:
Three chances in another world
Chapter 44. Childhood connections
Outside Beauregard's room, Julius and Rosemary find themselves face-to-face with Calgary.
Calgary: “So this is it huh?”
Rosemary: “It seems so.”
Calgary: “You can stop this you know, give up, stay with me in the castle.”
Rosemary: “I already have a plan, and somebody I want to spend the rest of my life with.”
Calgary: “That’s a shame…what about you Julius?”
Julius: “I am on the winning side, which is the same side as my comrades. You are not on our side so you must be dealt with, it’s as simple as that.”
Calgary: “I guess you have to…DIE!”
Calgary's damaged and bandaged body surges with bright gold mana. He enters the fifth stage immediately and bolts toward Rosemary. Julius quickly moves in front of her, thrusting his sword at Calgary. Calgary narrowly avoids the strike, flipping over him, and winds up a powerful punch. The pure force and power coming off Calgary's hand would scare any soldier, but not Julius. Julius looks right at Calgary before he swiftly moves out of the way. Resulting in Rosemary going into the fourth stage and punch Calgary right in the face. Calgary gets sent back, but he’s quick to recover. He starts punching at the air, randomly sending a blast of wind after blast. Julius’ monocle gives off a faint glow, and then he moves into the barrage of attacks. He ducks, dodges, flips, turns, and runs around all of them, perfectly making it to Calgary without being hit. Julius stabs Calgary in the shoulder, but Calgary swings his leg up, breaking the sword in two. Julius ducks down to let Rosemary leap at Calgary. Calgary catches her hands, leaving themselves in a clash mid-air.
Calgary: “You’re…holding the fourth stage throughout your body. Nice job.”
Rosemary: “IT HURTS LIKE HELL, BUT IT’S WORTH IT!”
The wind, the force, overwhelming her. But just like the others she's been training and training to raise her bodies control. So no matter how much it hurts, her mind or body, she'd insure she did what she had to. So playing her part, Rosemary twists her body, freeing herself and letting Julius throw his broken rapier at Calgary. Calgary dodges but is struck on the side of the head by a punch from Rosemary. He bursts into the fifth stage and punches her in the stomach, launching her down the hallway. Calgary starts to laugh but is stopped by Julius, who starts to fight him with only his fists. With Calgary's enhanced strength and speed, he easily overpowers Julius. Hitting his sides over and over again. Julius feels his bones cracking, and his muscles tearing, but he remains content and stable as if he doesn't even feel the pain. What Julius does know is that Calgary's punches are a lot weaker than they should be. With each one feeling weaker and weaker, he knows his body is going to fail him; he just needs to hold out. Calgary goes for a headshot, but it’s slow enough for Julius to duck. Julius, in a flash, extends his leg back, pulls his arm back, feels all the mana in his body erupt, and jabs his arm into Calgary's chest.
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Calgary: “THE DRAGONS FIST!?”
Calgary gets hit, his bones breaking on impact. The force sends him barreling back, tumbling backward. Julius feels the broken bones in his hand, cracked and crushed with the force of the dragon's fist. He feels Rosemary's hand on his shoulder, signaling that she will take him on for a bit.
Rosemary: “YOUR PUNCH BACK THERE WAS WEAK! Last time you almost killed me in a few hits, even being near you in the fifth stage was scary. You really can't handle pain at all can you?”
Calgary: “SHUT UP YOU STUPID BITCH!”
Luckily for them, they hadn't taken as much damage in their fight against Calagary as he had done to himself. So while Rosemary wasn't in the best of shapes, she was better than Calgary. Calgary tries to force himself into the fifth stage but his body won’t let him. He strains himself to get anything out, having to go into the fourth stage to compensate. Even if Rosemary can barely handle the fourth stage, his body will fail long before hers does.
Inside Beauregard's room, Leo thrusts his spear at his brother. Beauregard tries to dodge but the difference in strength between the two is vast. Beauregard backs up, trying to keep his distance.
Leo: “YOU CAN’T RUN BROTHER!”
Beauregard: “THIS IS JUST LIKE YOU! ALWAYS RESORTING TO VIOLENCE, EVER SINCE WE WERE KIDS THAT'S ALL YOU DID! Crying to Mom and dad because you're failing in school. Always needing their help, you NEVER DID ANYTHING FOR YOURSELF! I HAD TO! I RELIED ON ONLY MYSELF.”
Leo: “THAT’S NOT ON ME YOU IDIOT! YOU ALWAYS ACT AS IF THE WORLD IS AGAINST YOU! YOU WERE BORN INTO A RICH AND POWERFUL FAMILY, WITH AN OKAY DAD AND A GREAT MOTHER! YOU’RE JUST WHINING!”
Beauregard: “SHUT UP! YOU KNOW NOTHING! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! I TRIED OKAY! I TRIED! I TRAINED MY BODY, TRIED TO LEARN THE DRAGON FISTS…BUT I COULDN’T DO IT! DAYS, MONTHS, AND YEARS OF EFFORT FOR NOTHING! THEN YOU LEARN IT IN THE FIRST WEEK!? WHAT’S THAT BULLSHIT!”
Leo: “BECAUSE YOU’RE NOT INTUNE WITH YOUR OWN BODY! I HAD TO BE, I was born with this damn mark, a mark that I could barely control. Shocking people, or myself. Burning my skin off, dammit I have a huge scar on my shoulder from when it awakened! I had to force myself from the time I was five years old to be in tune with my body…I HAVE PROBLEMS TOO, ALWAYS BEING THE DUMB ONE! EVERYONE TREATED ME LIKE A MUSCLE HEAD, LIKE I WAS TOO DUMB TO EVEN THINK FOR MYSELF!”
Beauregard: “Oh boohoo, you just didn’t study. I didn’t get everything the first time either, but you just gave up and cried about it. NOW LOOK AT ME, I MADE MYSELF KING…FINALLY! AND YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE BY MY SIDE, MY RIGHT-HAND MAN! BUT NO! YOU JUST SPAT IN MY FACE!”
Leo: “BECAUSE OF YOUR DAMN RULES! ARE MOTHER TAUGHT US TO BE ACCEPTING, AND TO LOVE! BUT YOU HAVE ONE BAD EXPERIENCE WITH DEMI-HUMANS AND YOU HATE THEM FOREVER!”
Beauregard: “WE SPENT SEVENTY YEARS FIGHTING THEM! THEY WANTED TO EAT US, AND THEY DID, I SAW THEM EATING BABIES DAMMIT! I WAS TEN YEARS OLD WHEN SAW A HALF-DEVIL EATING DAMN BABY AND TOLD ME I WAS NEXT! I HAVE A RIGHT TO HATE THEM, TO BE SCARED OF THEM, BECAUSE I KNOW WHAT THEY CAN DO!”
Leo: “THEY WERE DOING THAT BECAUSE THEY WERE ENSLAVED FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS, OF COURSE, THEY WOULD BE ANGRY! WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS, WHY HAVE YOU ALWAYS BEEN LIKE THIS! WHY COULDN'T YOU BE A TRUE KING, A TRUE SOILDER! WHY COULDN'T YOU BE THE MAN YOU WANT TO BE!"
Beauregard: “Why couldn’t you just be my brother!”
END OF Chapter forty-four