Chapter 4: Broken

Mantaro dropped his bag to the ground and pulled around his Lantern of the Soul clasping it in both hands and focussing his energy onto it. Before his fight against Kevin Mask, before Kevin had stolen the lantern from him and somehow lit it himself, Mantaro had found it quite easy to make the flames inside the lantern blaze to life in a swirling inferno of energy.

But since his defeat the lantern had been completely unresponsive.

Mantaro gripped tighter until his knuckles turned white and threatened to burst through his skin, but still nothing. The lantern remained as dull and lifeless as it had been when he had first laid hands on it before his trials against Fork the Giant, Hanzo and Bone Cold. It was almost as though even the Lantern of the Soul had given up on him. It was pretty obvious that his father, his friends and even Rinko were all disappointed in him.

"Damn it!" he yelled flinging the redundant lantern at a nearby tree.

As the lantern smacked into the tree it made a dull ringing sound followed shortly by a small cracking sound. Mantaro stiffened his anger subsiding as a cold panic flooded his being. Had he just broken the Lantern of the Soul? He slowly lowered his eyes to where the lantern had landed on the grass. In the encroaching darkness of nightfall it was difficult for him to see clearly if the lantern had sustained any damage, but the small voice in his head that had been taunting him relentlessly since seeing Kevin Mask stand on the ring-ropes with the championship belt around his waist began to talk to him again, admonishing him for ruining something else precious to his family.

"I messed up," he said aloud. "I broke it. I broke the lantern and I broke the Kinniku Legacy. I'm the first Kinniku to lose at the Chojin Olympics."

Mantaro's breath quivered in his throat as his eyes began to blur with tears. Saying the facts out loud only made them all the harder to fathom. His mind began to replay his fight against Kevin in the same way it had been doing since the day after the fight. His entire being zoned out of reality as his own memories overtook his senses, his brain forcing him to relieve every horrid moment of what was easily the most difficult, painful and upsetting thing ever to have happened to him. The continued look of determination on Kevin's face was the hardest part of the memory. No matter how hard, how sudden or how well Mantaro had attacked Kevin, still the masked Brit had stood right back up and looked even stronger than before. Kevin had arrived at the ring barely able to stand, covered in scars and in a battered old mask, looking the complete opposite of Mantaro, who had acquired himself a brand new outfit and made his entrance in his father's battle gear looking noble and strong.

Kevin had looked a mess but still he had won. Mantaro had always spent so much time and effort perfecting his appearance and entrances but suddenly that all seemed childish and pointless when a Chojin could turn up for a fight looking dreadful and still pull off a phenomenal win.

He had made it all look so easy. During his stay in hospital Mantaro had been unable to escape replays of his fight against Kevin or new reports of Kevin waving at adoring fans with his championship belt over one shoulder and his trophy held aloft in the other hand. It was unbearable and yet nobody else around him seemed to think it wrong that he be made to watch it over and over again. Over and over again he saw the moment that Kevin bent over backwards and halted his Muscle Millennium in mid-air, a moment that had seemed to happen in slow motion, a moment that had made Mantaro's heart stop as he became overwhelmed by shock and a feeling of utter hopelessness. The Muscle Millennium was meant to be unstoppable but Kevin Mask had made it look like a textbook move that could easily be overcome with a textbook counter. Over and over again Mantaro had been forced to watch as Kevin kicked him to the ground and leapt onto his back locking the OLAP into place. Over and over again Mantaro had watched as his body slowly sagged under the weight and pressure from Kevin's hold. Over and over again he had seen the Niku mark appear on his forehead as he attempted to fight back for the sake of his cheering friends and fans. Over and over again he had seen Kevin glow a brilliant golden and lean further back, tearing Mantaro's shoulders from their sockets and breaking a series of bones from his fingers up to his shoulders. Over and over again Mantaro had seen his face contort in pain, disbelief and despondency as he sank to the mat with his arms twisted and discoloured, his brand new outfit ripped and ruined. Over and over again he had watched as Kevin then mercilessly pulled him to his feet and wound his already painful arms around themselves and spun him up into the air, setting him up for the Big Ben Edge.

But watching himself get demolished at the hands of Kevin Mask seemed insignificant when compared to what followed. After sustaining the Big Ben Edge Mantaro had tried to stand, tried to walk, tried to fight on – after all, he was a Kinniku, it was his destiny to become the champion of the Chojin Olympics – but nobody had been able to look at him. The Nosonman, Jacqueline Muscle, Terry the Kid and even Rinko had all turned their heads when he looked at them. The only one who had been able to look him in the eye the moment before he passed out in his ultimate moment of weakness had been Kevin Mask.

And for that, Mantaro despised him.

He resented the others for turning on him when he had been unable to win for them: clearly they only cared about him when he was successful. But Kevin had looked him in the eye in a cold and calm way that told him had he tried to fight on Kevin would have obliterated him. Kevin was so confident that he out-classed Mantaro, he did not even care that Mantaro was still standing after suffering the OLAP followed by the Big Ben Edge.

"Bastard!" Mantaro blurted out, kicking at the tree in front of him.

Seeing a small chunk of bark and woodchip crack off the surface of the tree where he had kicked it Mantaro suddenly felt an overwhelming surge of energy and a burning desire to fight. He kicked at the tree repeatedly with both feet delighting as the tree shook and groaned and broke apart from his attacks. Forgetting his situation in his rage Mantaro began punching at the tree the adrenaline of his anger blinding him to the pain he was suffering until he heard a deep clunking sound emanate from his left shoulder and he suddenly found himself lying facedown on the grass, crippled and breaking out in a cold sweat from the agony.

It was just like his fight against Kevin. He had gone into that with the wrong attitude too. He had been full of energy then and he had been punching and kicking aimlessly, spurred on by rage and emotion, so blinded by his own foolishness he had not noticed that Kevin was calm, focussed and completely in control.

Mantaro turned his head a little to see the Lantern of the Soul lying by his side. Amazingly it was unharmed from his earlier tantrum. The crack, he concluded, must have been the bark of the tree. The glass surface of the lantern was slightly reflective and Mantaro could see his own face and shoulder. He looked ridiculous. He could see the collar around his neck and the start of the extensive support bandage at his shoulder that ran the length of his arm. He knew his other arm looked exactly the same and that his clothes were filthy and tattered only adding to his pitiful appearance. Meat had brought him a replacement mask since his own mask had been badly damaged during his fight against Kevin, but Mantaro had chosen to keep his old mask. He could see the large hole over his left cheek still glaringly obvious and the scratched skin underneath. As he watched his reflection Mantaro felt his own hand reach up to his face, his eyes staring back at him in a dull and expressionless manner as he gripped his fingers into the top of the hole, ripping upwards and outwards until he had removed another chunk from his mask, exposing a large part of his scalp. A mass of dark brown hair fell loose covering his scratched skin but otherwise making him look really untidy.

Just like Kevin Mask had for their fight.

And that was just how Mantaro liked it.