Disclaimer: I do not own MapleStory, or any other references or shoutouts to other series that appear in this story. This is a work of fiction, any resemblance of characters or events to real-life persons or events is purely coincidental.
A/N: All right, those of you who read the later part of this chapter, I KNOW that the second job advancement test does not involve fighting a Stumpy, but I decided to change it up a little so that it's a little more a la Naruto's Chuunin Exam i.e. fighting one-on-one against an exceedingly powerful opponent to earn your higher rank. Also makes it a little easier to sync up with the present events as Abel fights Latanica. There's a lot more backstory and history to Abel's character as well as his development in this one, and I'm sure some of you might have found the previous chapter quite shallow with all its mindless action. Well, enjoy the latest chapter!
The Flying Dutchman
W... WHAT!? Abel howled mentally in his head, as he watched bits and pieces of Latanica's "corpse" fall off one by one, clattering to the floor and disintegrating into puddles of ectoplasm, until the entire dummy had reduced itself to nothing but a large pool of spiritual particles.
What the... When did he- When did he switch!? That can't be!!!
But even as he considered the question, Abel already knew the answer - and he cursed himself for it. It must have been when he had briefly paused from the pain of his assault; Latanica must have taken that brief moment to switch out and leave a decoy in his place!
As he realized that, Abel suddenly felt a monstrous presence rise up behind him, and he didn't need to turn around to know who it was.
Latanica was pissed, and it didn't take the soft maniacal laughter coming out of Latanica's maddened grin for Abel to figure out that the fallen captain was planning on doing very painful things to him.
Grinning madly, Latanica didn't even raise his whip - instead dropping his weapon to the floor, Abel's confidence plummeted as he realized that Latanica was in fact, pulling out a stop. As the fallen captain raised his hands, Abel watched them form the all-too-familiar shape of the seal of the Tiger, and in response, his spirit shield came alive, writhing and squirming, and reaching right for Abel like the hands of death itself.
Cursing, Abel struggled to move, and screamed out in pain as his ravaged muscles violently protested. Shit, there's no time...!
Desperately, Abel raised his arms to block, barely able to parry aside the first blow that lashed against him, but before he could even react a second one slammed right into his chest. Screaming out in pain as his ribcage nearly caved in, Abel was flung backwards with such force that he was slammed into the engine room's wall yet again.
Damnit... This isn't good! Swearing internally, Abel desperately raised his palms to block again as his legs protested violently once more when he attempted to dodge. Unable to even move, Abel could only hunker down, and he bit back the scream of agony as Latanica's attack slammed into him once again like a battering ram, sandwiching him right between the rock that was the wall, and the hard place that was Latanica's attack.
Gasping for breath and panting furiously as Latanica retracted his attack, Abel struggled to force himself back onto his feet. He had to do something, anything! Even as he made small, tiny hops to dodge Latanica's subsequent blows, throwing himself to the side with what little strength he had left, it was still better than just standing there and taking it.
Shoot... Abel realized as he forcibly dragged out more energy from his tortured legs, pushing himself into an agonizingly slow run that still, somehow, managed to make Latanica's attacks miss him by mere inches... only that he soon realized he wasn't really dodging them.
I can barely even move, and his attacks are still missing... The bastard is toying with me!
As Latanica sent attack after deceptively slow attack after Abel, the fallen captain watched on gleefully in sadistic pleasure, licking his lips in excitement. Like a cat playing with a mouse that it had trapped by its tail, Latanica raised his hands again with excruciating slowness, making sure that Abel could see with painful clarity everything that he did.
Forming the seal of the Tiger again, Latanica sent forth another wave of blows extending from his sentient shield, and cackled in maniacal laughter at the panicked expression on the White Knight's face as Abel barely managed to throw himself out of the way in time.
His tortured body screaming out for respite, Abel pushed himself further than he ever had in ten years, even as his legs threatened to give out from beneath him. He reacted as best he could to Latanica's attacks, while desperately trying to come up with a solution to the situation that was getting more dire by the second.
Cheeks burning in shame, Abel rolled to the side as he dodged another blow, but it nicked him directly in the side with enough force to send him spinning several feet backwards.
Crying out in pain, Abel rolled back onto his feet as best he could, cursing the fact that he had been stuck in such an environment to fight against Latanica. Yes, he still had a trump card or two left... But if he released it here, the sheer force and power of it would absolutely destroy the ship around them, killing them both.
There was still the other one; it would still give him an edge while not causing as much disturbance as the former... but he would still need a much larger open space than this engine room to pull it off.
He didn't have a choice - he would have to lure Latanica out onto the deck of the ship.
So, when Latanica prepared to deal yet another torturing blow, the White Knight suddenly turned on his heel, and began sprinting for the door leading out of the engine room, fleeing from the battle.
"What, done already!?" Latanica boomed out in mocking laughter, immediately giving chase to the retreating Abel. "Just try to run, warrior! I'll find you, I'll hunt you, and before I kill you, I will make sure that you suffer, just as I have suffered!"
Goddamnit... What the hell is he, some kind of Implacable Man!? Abel thought frustratedly to himself as Latanica smashed through the closed double doors behind him. In a desperate panic, the White Knight sprinted through the labyrinth of corridors and cabins that made up the Flying Dutchman's interior, desperately trying not to trip and stumble, to ignore the white-hot burning in his legs as he pushed them far past their limit.
At this rate, I'm going to... Damnit!
I have to get to the deck of the ship before I run out of steam...!
Fifteen years ago...
"Come on, you guys! Do your best! I'm going to add another 200 laps!"
The subsequent groans from the gathered group of eight-year-olds running laps around the field in front of him were so familiar that Warrior Instructor Iruka Umino wasn't affected at all. Still, the 200 laps that he had just added were nothing: the group of fledgling Swordsmen standing in front of him were used to running as many as 500 laps at a go without even breaking a sweat.
As the youngsters picked up their running paces again, he heard some familiar laughter ring out, followed by a cry of, "Hahaha! Idiot! There's no way you'll be able to become a Swordsman!"
"Yes I can!"
Mentally, Iruka sighed. The boys were at it again...
And inside the group of running youths, an 8-year-old Abel Wade Wilson Locke was surrounded by his peers, every single one of them poking fun at him ruthlessly.
"Come on! A guy who can't even use sword artes properly can't become a swordsman!"
Pouting stubbornly, his face set in a determined expression that refused to let his aggressors know they were getting under his skin, Abel refused to give in.
"Yes I can!"
The kid running in front of him, a spiky-haired boy, turned his head to face Abel, a stupid, mocking grin on his face. "You know, it doesn't even make sense why a guy like you is even in the Academy in the first place, when your sword arte techniques are sub par, and you can't even control your mana properly!"
As the kids all around him continued laughing, the one running next to him suddenly shoved himself into him, running side-by-side with Abel, and sneered into his ear with a snide grin, "Do you know what you're called around here, Wade Wilson Locke?"
Scowling, Abel closed his eyes and clamped his hands over his ears, determined not to hear it, but as they all ganged up on him at once, shouting the word that cut deeper into him than any physical weapon could, Abel couldn't take it any more.
"HOT-BLOODED!!"
"HOT-BLOODED!!!"
"HOT-BLOODED DROP-"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!!"
Screaming a wordless denial, Abel sprinted forward, shoving aside those standing in front of him, and sprinted away from the group as fast as his legs could carry him with his hands still clamped over his ears, ignoring the instructor's cries for him to get back in line.
And unknown to Abel, from the other side of the field, observing from the second-floor window of a nearby building, was the White Knight Kisuke Urahara, looking down at the group from afar, quietly chuckling to himself.
"So, is that the rumored hot-blooded dropout I've been hearing about?" He asked his companion who was leaning against the window next to him, to which the Crusader shrugged, and beneath his helmet, Urahara knew that he was smiling.
"He certainly resembles someone, doesn't he?" Jake Giles Cyrus commented off-handedly, smirking from behind his helmet's visor, its 'window' open only just enough for his eyes to be visible. "Especially his eyebrows."
Turning to face Jake, Urahara raised a very thick, fuzzy eyebrow at the father of James Price Cyrus, and then gave a short laugh, turning back to watch the group as Abel sprinted further and further away.
"Abel Locke... A student who can't use his sword techniques properly, hmm?"
But... you practiced even those below-average sword techniques so hard...
THWACK!
"Three hundred and ninety-six!"
THWACK!
"Three hundred and ninety-seven!"
THWACK!
"Three hundred and ninety-eight!"
THWACK!
"Three hundred and ninety-nine"
THWACK!
"Four hundred!"
The morning air was cool and dry, and even though the sun had not even begun to rise, Abel Locke was already up and training.
Gasping for breath as his chest burned, the fledgling swordsman still doggedly pushed on with his training as he kicked the training log in front of him, again, and again, with such fervor, until the bark on the log's side had actually began to get chipped off, revealing the lighter wood beneath. He had been kicking with such force for so long, that even as blisters formed and burst on his foot, and his skin became severely abraded, he did not pause.
"If I can't finish kicking this log five hundred times, then I shall do one thousand squats!"
THWACK!
"Four hundred and thirteen!"
THWACK!
"Four hundred and fourteen!"
THWACK!
"Four hundred and fifteen!"
THWACK!
"Four hundred and sixteen!"
Unbeknownst to the vigorously training child, another individual had approached his practice spot. Looking up in surprise as he heard a very young voice counting out the numbers with every thwack that sounded, Kisuke Urahara quickly replaced the blade of the Sparta he had been making practice swings with back inside its sheathe.
"Hmm?" The White Knight quirked up a fuzzy eyebrow in surprise. "Someone got here before me?"
THWACK!
"Four hundred and twenty-one!"
THWACK!
"Four hundred and twenty-two!"
THWACK!
"Four hundred and twenty-three!"
THWACK!
"Four hundred and twenty-four!"
Kisuke Urahara took a good long look at the youth doggedly kicking at the log, and then decided to leave him to his devices.
"I guess I'll come back later..."
The afternoon sun was relentless in its heat, beating down upon the rocky cliffs of Perion, but Abel continued on regardless, ignoring the developing sunburns on his arms and neck. Still at the very same log that he had been training at since the wee hours of the morning.
"One thousand squats!" Abel forcefully told himself. "If I can't do that, then I'll have to do two thousand practice swings!"
Legs and stomach muscles already burning from the morning's regime, Abel stubbornly pushed his body onwards, ignoring the pains of his training even as his muscles threatened to cramp up. Sweat poured down his forehead and his body, and still he did not stop.
"Seven hundred and ninety-five! Seven hundred and ninety-six! Seven hundred and ninety-seven! Seven hundred and ninety-eight!"
The sun had long set already, and the night sky was dotted with glimmering stars, the constellation of Orion shining brightly upon the cliffs of Perion below. Kisuke Urahara had returned to his regular training spot to catch up with the exercise he had missed in the morning, and discovered to his surprise, that the youth was still there, making practice swings at the worn out log with his Beginner's Sword.
The White Knight's jaw dropped as he watched in awe, the youth's sheer doggedness and stubbornness completely unbelievable.
"By the Wise Men... That boy is still at it!?"
"Two thousand practice swings!" Abel shouted as he slashed at the practice log again and again, ignoring the fatigue in his arms, and the abrasions developing on his hands. "If I can't do them, then I'll have to jump rope two thousand times!"
"Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!..."
You kept on practicing those sword techniques so frantically, and then, finally...
One year later…
"All right!" Urahara regarded the three youths seated on the sofa in front of him with a wide, welcoming smile on his face, examining the assembled trainee team from the Academy that had been placed under his tutelage. "Today is the day you three are promoted to your First Job rank! First of all, I want to know what your goals are!"
Almost immediately, a hand on the right shot up, the ten-year-old girl that it belonged to beaming energetically. "Me! Me me me me!"
Already impressed by her youthful vibrance, Urahara looked at her, giving the girl a smile and his undivided attention. "Yes, Tricia Telfair?"
Fidgeting in her seat, and wrapped up in wizard robes two sizes too large that she looked absolutely tiny inside them, the daughter of Kerning City's Police Commissioner continued beaming as she enthusiastically answered, "I want to become a really strong wizard, just like the legendary archbishop, Clynine-sama! It's my dream!"
Nodding in approval, Urahara turned to face the archer who was seated to his left, on the right of the couch, his arm casually slung over the back of the sofa while maintaining an air of indifference.
"What about you, Ethan Mendez?"
The nine-year-old child prodigy turned to give his new sensei a blank stare, and then simply turned back to continue regarding the sofa's armrest. "I don't want to answer."
Upon hearing this, Urahara held back a frown. He had heard about Ethan's aloofness and indifference, despite the archer's phenomenal Academy grades, and he had been concerned should it develop into outright sociopathy. He would have to pay close attention to this one.
And as though mirroring his sensei's sentiments, the third ten-year-old sitting between his new teammates shot up his hand as well, looking straight at his sensei with a fire and determination in his eyes that Urahara immediately spotted.
"Me! Me! Even though I can't control my mana properly and can only use hand-to-hand combat techniques, I want to prove that I can still be an excellent warrior! That's everything to me!!!" Abel Wade Wilson Locke cried out with such passion that Urahara could not help but be completely taken in by his child-like, innocent enthusiasm.
This boy... Urahara thought to himself with a smile. He has good eyes.
As if on cue, Ethan let out a derisive snort, and Abel almost immediately rounded on him.
"You!!!" The freshly-promoted swordsman pointed an accusing finger at the lounging archer. "What's so funny about that!? I'm serious!"
"Even if I can only use hand-to-hand combat techniques, I will still carry out my job as a warrior!"
Four years later...
Panting furiously as he sprinted as fast as he could despite the Dark Master Sergeant plate armor weighing him down, the level 30 Swordsman hefted his Gladius as he dodged another yet another swinging tree branch, wildly swinging out at it as he recovered from his roll. Barely managing to cleave a small bit of it off, the Stumpy that Abel Locke was fighting roared in rage as one of its many limbs was hacked off, though more in annoyance than pain.
Charging forward as fast as it could on the four stubby legs that its roots had combined to form, the Stumpy swung its many trunk-like branches at the tiny swordsman dwarfed beneath it whomping-willow style as it attempted to crush him again and again, but the warrior always managed to dodge its blows at the last second despite his obviously growing fatigue.
And observing the fight from a nearby cliff edge, were the rest of his teammates, as well as his sensei, and Urahara's friend and rival, Jake Cyrus. Simply by watching how the fight was going, Tricia Telfair was already sighing, and had her palm placed exasperatedly on her forehead.
It was hopeless – aside from that one jaw-dropping dive-bomb manoeuvre Abel had pulled out at the start of the fight, only for Stumpy to shrug it off thanks to its immense size, the swordsman had only managed to land a handful of glancing blows on the Stumpy, while it had already managed to smack him around numerous times, sending him flying across the rudimentary arena that they looked down upon.
"He should just give up already," The newly-promoted Cleric murmured to herself as she continued watching Abel struggle futilely. "Cut his losses and pull out. At this rate, when he runs out of stamina, Stumpy is just going to toy with him before dealing the killing blow... not that Urahara-sensei would let it happen to begin with."
But Ethan, the freshly-promoted Hunter standing next to her, was watching his struggling teammate intently, observing his movements closely - seeing the underlying, burning determination, stubbornness, the refusal to give up despite the obvious fact that he was on the verge of failing his Second Job advancement test.
"Locke..."
Three years earlier...
Abel sprinted through the woods of Ellinia as fast as he could, knowing that if he stopped, his opponent would surely catch up. When the sound of footsteps behind him faded, Abel slowly slid to a relieved halt, gasping for breath. That had been a close one...
Abruptly, his adversary suddenly dropped down in front of him from the branches above, and Abel cried out in surprise as Ethan leveled his bow at him, launching Double Shot after Double Shot, inexorably advancing forward a step with every shot he fired. Abel dodged the arrows as best he could, but multiple shots ricocheted off his plate armor as they impacted, each one knocking him further off balance.
Eventually Abel took a stumbling step backwards so far that he left behind a huge opening, and Ethan took the chance to swing his bow with all his might, smacking Abel across the face and sending the swordsman flying backwards several feet, leaving him to land in an undignified heap upon the ground, at Tricia Telfair's feet.
"No... I'm... not done yet..." Abel muttered weakly, struggling to push himself back up onto his feet, and above him, Tricia sighed, shaking her head wearily.
"Abel... You really don't learn, do you? You can't beat Ethan." The magician chided her teammate, reaching out a hand to help Abel up. "Ethan's a genius, and he's got natural talent, unlike you."
Snapping his gaze upwards furiously to meet Tricia's eyes, Abel angrily slapped aside her hand, and pointed accusingly at Ethan.
"A genius!?" The swordsman howled; his pride was already wounded, he did not need Tricia's pity either. "And just what exactly is a genius!? Even if I have no talent, I will surpass a genius with hard work! That's everything to me! It is my way of the warrior!"
"It's useless, Locke." Ethan suddenly said with such certainty that even Abel was given sudden pause. "No matter how much you try, there's no way you will ever be able to defeat me. This has already been decided."
In the face of his rival's certainty, Abel suddenly found his resolve wavering. What if what Ethan said was true? What if... no matter how hard he tried, hard work was useless after all...?
No! That couldn't be! He had come this far with nothing but the hard work that he had put into his training, there was no way it could be...
"That's not true!" Abel cried out in disbelief. "It... it can't..."
Unable to meet Ethan's unforgiving eyes any longer, Abel averted his gaze to the ground beneath him, his hands clenched in frustration.
Damn it... what if the archer was right?
But... despite everything that you faced, you never gave up. No matter what obstacles were placed in your path, you never gave in to any of them, because you kept working hard, Abel...
"If I can't jump rope 1,200 times in a row, I'll have to kick the training log 2,000 times!" Abel exclaimed as he hopped up and down over the skipping rope time and again, embarking upon his usual evening training regime, in his attempts to catch up with Ethan.
"One thousand, one hundred and sixteen! One thousand, one hundred and seventeen! One thousand, one hundred and eighte-" THWACK!
With a surprised, pained cry as the skipping rope suddenly smacked itself against his left foot, snagging onto his toes and sending him flailing off balance, Abel could do nothing but topple forward in a tangle of his own limbs.
As though to add insult to injury, the log in front of him served only as yet another hard object for his head to slam itself against – Abel's head smacked painfully into the hardened wood, earning yet another yelp of pain as another bump began to form, and the Swordsman toppled into an undignified heap on the ground.
Cursing inwardly, Abel struggled to push himself back up onto his feet… but it was already too much to bear.
Ethan's hannibal lecture had dug even deeper than Abel thought it had. Voices in his head began to whisper again that he was a failure, that he would never make it as a warrior – voices he thought he had shut out years ago. Voices that shouldn't have been getting under his skin the way they did… and yet, now they did.
Abel just couldn't take it any longer. His arms gave out from underneath him, and the swordsman collapsed against the ground, tears of shame flowing freely from his eyes even as he struggled to choke back the sobs that came with them.
What if… what if all this time, Ethan had been right all along?
What if he had come all this way, all for nothing?
Sniffing, Abel fought the despairing urge to simply curl up where he was and not move at all. No, he wouldn't show weakness like this! He… he couldn't…
"Abel! Taking a break already?" A familiar voice suddenly called out, and Abel's head shot up, his eyes so wide with shock that his tears abruptly stopped.
No, I can't let him see me like this… Abel thought ashamedly to himself, and the swordsman quickly picked himself up, dusting himself off, and resumed kicking the log in front of him with whatever strength he could still muster.
"Urahara-sensei…" The swordsman muttered noncommittally. "What do you want? If you want to talk to me about my failure in the last mission… *grunt* I've already apologized to you."
But Urahara did not have any reprimands for him. With his back turned to his sensei, Abel could not see the understanding smile upon Urahara's face.
"Abel…" Urahara began slowly, the smile on his face never wavering. "It's true that you are different from Ethan. You might not be able to control your mana properly yet, neither are you a genius in hand-to-hand combat. But then, Abel… You too are a genius, that has to potential and the power to exceed Ethan."
"If you're trying to make me feel better out of pity…" Abel grunted as he continued kicking at the log, ignoring his sensei's words. "Please… just stop."
Chuckling inwardly, Urahara shook his head at his student's naiveté, and assured him, "No, I'm not saying this out of pity at all. Because you are…"
Hardly believing what he was saying, Abel stopped kicking the log for a moment, if only to hear what ridiculous reassurance his sensei had. So far nothing in the world had gone to prove him right – what reassurance could Urahara-sensei possibly provide?
"A genius of hard work!"
With a small gasp, Abel looked upwards, his eyes wide in surprise. Urahara-sensei believed in that too?
No… it was too good to be true.
"Is… is that really so?" Abel asked, his voice wavering, his body shaking, his feet so unsteady that he grabbed the log in front of him to steady himself. "I've… I've come so far, all the way here believing that… If I trained two or three times harder then Ethan, I might be able to match up with him."
The words just came out unbidden, the burden that Abel had been carrying for so long within himself desperately needing to be unloaded. The swordsman's body shook so hard that he gripped the log so hard just not to fall over that his nails began to dig painfully into the wood, but that pain was nothing compared to the sharpening aching in his chest.
"But lately… I've started to think that maybe… I really just can't match up with a real genius… Wondering if hard work really pays off…" Abel choked back another sob, even as the tears of shame threatened to flow again, until eventually, the dam burst.
"I wanted to find out! I challenged Ethan to a match so many times, and every single time the outcome has been the same! I'm no match for him at all!"
"Even during missions… my legs still shake. I think that no matter how hard I try… I just can't get any stronger than this! I'm scared of it, Urahara-sensei! I… I'm scared…"
"What should I do…?" It didn't come out as more than a pained whisper, Abel leaning his forehead ashamedly against the log in front of him. He had never felt more lost in his life. His very purpose of being here was being put in doubt, and if his way of life had been a sham all along… what did he have left to live for?
Watching his favourite student break down in front of him, Kisuke Urahara's smile faded, and looked upon the lost, broken boy before him, sighing internally.
Looking up solemnly, the White Knight locked his gaze upon his student, and said the words that would change Abel's life.
"There is no use in working hard, if you do not believe in yourself!"
"Abel, actually, you are very similar to me."
"The eyebrows?"
Laughing, Urahara looked at his student, sitting on the rock next to him beneath the night sky as the constellation of Orion gleamed upon them.
"No, not just the eyebrows, Abel. To be honest, I was dropout when I was your age as well."
Abel stared at his sensei with eyes as wide as saucers, unable to believe that someone as brilliant as Urahara could have been a dropout when he was a First Jobber.
"You, sensei!?"
Smiling, Urahara nodded. "But now, I am in the lead in my competitive matches against the elite genius, Jake Cyrus. It's because I worked hard!"
"Even if you can't use your mana properly, or can't use sword artes well, you still want to prove that you can be an excellent warrior, right? That's what your way of the warrior is!" Urahara told his student with an approving smile, and patted Abel on the back. "It's a good goal worth working hard for!"
Inside, Abel choked back another round of tears, but this time, tears of gratitude. All his life, everyone he met had told him that he was a dropout that would never make it. All his life, he had felt so alone, the only dropout of his batch. And here, right in front of him, his sensei was telling him that he had been a dropout too, and had still managed to become great in spite of it, and was telling him that he could do it too.
Not noticing the emotional reaction building up within his student, Urahara continued smiling, and raised a fist to emphasize his point.
"So, Abel, all you have to do is believe in your path, and run through it!" The White Knight told his favourite student, looking up to the night sky, his smile never wavering.
"Become a strong man, Abel! So that I can smile proudly upon you, when I watch you fight!"
Placing an affectionate hand on his student's head, Urahara ruffled the boy's hair with a wide smile. "Got that, Abel?"
At that moment, Abel made a solemn vow to himself – he would never, ever, disappoint his sensei, ever again.
"Yes, sir!"
Abel's lungs were burning by the time he burst through the wooden doors that led to the deck of the Flying Dutchman, and his legs were more than ready to give out from under him. The moment he burst through the doors and into the cool night air, Abel simply collapsed from sheer exhaustion, panting and gasping.
But there wasn't any time to rest – he could hear Latanica getting closer to catching up with every passing second, and groaning in pain as his tortured body protested, Abel forced himself back up onto his feet, Zabimaru feeling like a leaden weight in his hand.
The situation was getting worse by the second, and Abel felt his desperation growing. At the rate he was going, by the time Latanica reached here, he wouldn't even have any energy left to even pull out his trump card, much less use it…
Rolling himself onto his back, Abel found himself staring at the night sky, the constellation of Orion shining down upon him, and suddenly the White Knight's eyes widened, before being tightly shut, as the very same tears of gratitude that he had shed the night Urahara told him to believe in himself began flowing again.
Thank you… Urahara-sensei…
For from the stars above, Abel could sense that his old sensei was looking down upon him fighting, and was smiling proudly.
Cursing at the White Knight as he stomped down the final corridor leading upwards, Latanica swore that Abel would suffer for the indignity of making him stampede through the halls of his ship in a wild goose chase.
As the final door that led to the deck of the ship came into sight at last, Latanica almost breathed a sigh of relief, but that relief soon turned to anticipation – that warrior was going to pay!
The moment Latanica burst through the doors in an explosion of rage, he saw the White Knight standing motionless in the middle of the deck, blade raised in a blocking position, and his eyes locked and focused on Latanica.
Hmph! The fallen captain thought to himself as he sent yet another wave of hardened spirit particles flying towards Abel from his spirit shield. Let him try what he will, he's still going to die here!
So, then, imagine Latanica's surprise as Abel's body suddenly blurred, and then the White Knight appeared ten feet away from where Latanica sent his attack, his stance still utterly focused and unflinching, and devoid of any trace of exhaustion.
What the…? Latanica frowned at this sudden development. His movement… since when did it get back to normal?
Smirking, Abel merely shifted his stance, and raised a hand towards Latanica, his movements no longer unsteady.
Sensei is smiling for me… Abel thought confidently to himself; already, he could feel his strength returning, as though he had just injected himself one of Hiroshi's more potent Elixir hypos. That alone is enough to revive me and make me stronger.
Gesturing towards Latanica in a bring it on gesture, Abel began dodging smoothly and effortlessly again, even as the fallen captain sent blast after blast of hardened spirit particles and psychic force after him.
Stronger…
Far stronger!
The smirk never left Abel's face even as the Stumpy before him roared in rage, sending several of its branches crashing towards him at the same time. The branches came, and yet despite the fact that he was supposedly worn out to the bone by now, Abel began to dodge the branches effortlessly, almost with preternatural efficiency, his focus sharper than a razor's edge.
Urahara-sensei was smiling proudly upon him – he could not fail his Second Job advancement test here!
Up above, Tricia was looking on in amazement as she watched Abel's strength suddenly return as swiftly as a spring wind. "Wow… Abel's laughing, even when he's cornered? That smack on the head Stumpy gave him must have been harder than I thought."
Chuckling, Urahara turned to his other student. "No. This time, Abel is going to corner Stumpy."
Uncomprehending, Tricia looked up at her sensei, not understanding how such a sudden reversal could have been possible. "What? I don't get it. How can he reverse the battle so quickly? Stumpy's absolutely dominating him out there."
Urahara's explanation was simple; with a smile, he merely had one thing to say with a confident smile.
"The Lotus of Perion blooms twice."
"Blooms twice…?" Tricia frowned at the familiar phrase. "Wait, Abel once said that to me too!"
Eyes widening in realization, Tricia remembered the time when she had been ambushed by a horde of green mushrooms in Ellinia, and while Ethan had been too far away to help, Abel had suddenly barged in with his sub-par sword techniques, and despite being too weak to take on green mushrooms, he had single-handedly held back the horde while buying time for Tricia to recover.
Abel had been beaten to nearly an inch of his life, and only Urahara's sudden intervention had prevented him from being killed. When Tricia had asked him if he was all right, Abel had simply given her a smile, and told her not to worry – the phrase that he had uttered still rang in her head even to this day.
"It's all right, Tricia. The Lotus of Perion blooms twice. The next time something like this happens again… I promise that I will be a stronger man."
Standing next to Tricia, Jake Cyrus listened in growing consternation, but when he heard that not only Urahara, but Abel too knew of the Lotus of Perion, he could keep silent no longer.
Turning towards Urahara, Jake exclaimed in disbelief, "That can't be, Urahara! Did you…!?"
Smirking unashamedly, Urahara turned back to the arena, his eyes intently watching Abel fight Stumpy. "Yes, Jake. It is just as you suspect."
Eyes narrowing behind his visor, Jake looked upon his colleague in disapproval. "So, then, that boy, a mere First Jobber, is capable of opening the Hachimon, and using Ura Renge?"
Listening intently, Ethan continued to feign ignorance as he pretended to watch the fight. Ura Renge…?
Urahara nodded. "That's correct."
The crusader placed a hand on his forehead, breathing out in dread.
"What a disaster…" Jake was silent for a second, and then he looked again at the White Knight, his eyes grim.
"Urahara, how many gates is that boy capable of opening?"
It was a moment before Urahara answered, his eyes closing solemnly. "Five."
Tricia looked between the two adults in puzzlement, understanding about as much as she would if they had been talking about Fourth Jobber techniques. "Just what is this Hachimon and Ura Renge thing you're talking about?"
The answer came from her sensei – no doubt the one who had taught whatever it was to Abel.
"The Hachimon, also known as the Eight Celestial Gates," Urahara explained. "It is a preparation by way of taking limiters off one's body, in order to be able to use Ura Renge, the Reverse Lotus."
"Taking off…. limiters?" Tricia's eyes were wide in wonder, and she took in every word that her sensei said, not wanting to miss a single detail.
"That's right," Jake answered the Cleric, turning to watch the fight between the giant tree and the fledgling swordsman. It was discreet enough for Tricia to miss it, however Urahara had seen it a million times, and he spotted it the moment Jake discreetly formed the ubiquitous seal of the Tiger.
Immediately, the crusader's eyes flickered from their normal mahogany brown to a dark crimson, and his pupils became surrounded by the three tomoes of a fully matured Sharingan.
"Mana is circulated around our body by a circulatory system, much like our blood – however it operates on a much more spiritual level." James' father continued explaining, his sharpened eyes now never leaving the swordsman fighting in the arena below him.
"Inside this mana circulatory system, there are gates located in certain parts of the body: the Kaimon (Open Gate), Kyuumon (Energy Gate), Seimon (Life Gate), Shomon (Wound Gate), Tomon (Limit Gate), Keimon (View Gate), Kyoumon (Insanity Gate), and the Shimon (Death Gate). These are the eight places where mana in our body is the most concentrated at; also known as the Eight Celestial Gates."
"These eight gates constantly control the flow of mana inside your body – they regulate the body's functions, making it much weaker, but also keeping it from expiring to soon. But the Lotus unfastens these controls with brute force, and grants the user more than ten times more power with every gate forced open. That is the source of its power."
Nodding, Urahara continued his colleague's explanation.
"Omote Renge, the Front Lotus, is a technique that opens the first gate, the Gate of Opening, located inside the brain. It unfastens our brain's control on the usage of our physical strength, and allows a person to use his muscles at their absolute limits."
Gasping in realization, Tricia realized what was that spectacular dive-bomb manoeuvre that Abel had executed on Stumpy earlier on in the fight – Abel had been using his muscles at their limit simply by executing that move, no wonder he had exhausted himself so early into the fight!
Wait, but then, if that was the case…
"Then… what about Ura Renge?" Tricia asked in trepidation, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer.
"It opens the second gate, the Gate of Energy, also located in our brain, and grants one a second wind, revitalising the body with extra mana. And then, after opening the third gate, the Gate of Life, the first of four gates located on our spinal cord, the Reverse Lotus is carried out."
"No way…" Tricia breathed out in disbelief and horror. "But the Front Lotus alone already wears his body out so much. He got so exhausted even after using it only once on Stumpy! If he tries to do anything even more straining than that…!"
"You're right, Tricia," Jake confirmed. "By opening all the Eight Gates, a person would be able to temporarily gain powers to rival even that of the Four Wise Men combined. But in doing so, that person… will die."
Tricia gasped in horror, her hand flying to her mouth. No way… that couldn't be!
Rounding sternly upon Urahara, Jake fixed his crimson gaze on his colleague.
"I have no intention of prying into what that boy is to you," Jake said gravely. "And I'm not going to tell you to leave personal matters out of this either… But there's such a thing as a limit! I've lost faith in you, Urahara!"
Looking at her sensei as Jake's words hit him like well-aimed arrows, Tricia gasped, as she beheld her normally jovial sensei looking more furious than he had ever appeared before. His eyes had narrowed, and he was staring right at Jake, meeting the crusader's eyes unflinchingly, his hands clenched tightly into fists.
"And just what… do you… know about him?" Urahara all but shouted. "That boy has something important to him that he must protect and prove to everyone, even if it means his own death!"
Closing his eyes, the White Knight momentarily recalled the words his student had once so passionately spoken, words that Urahara would never forget.
Even though I can't control my mana properly and can only use hand-to-hand combat techniques, I want to prove that I can still be an excellent warrior! That's everything to me!
"That is why I wanted to make him into a man who could hold on to those words!" Urahara explained, looking fondly down upon his student inside the arena. "That is all."
"Abel, today I'm going to be teaching you a new, secret technique." Urahara told his student standing attentively in front of him, earning a series of excited shouts from Abel and causing the young swordsman to begin jumping for joy.
"Abel, listen, this move is going to be your ace in the hole… DAMN IT ABEL, ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME!?" A vein temporarily popped in Urahara's forehead as he lost his patience for an instant, and the swordsman instantly quieted down.
"Y-yes, sir!" Abel apologized profusely, now listening in rapt attention. "Sorry!"
"Now let me warn you," Urahara said seriously. "This move is even more forbidden than the Front Lotus. And this move, it is going to be your most special technique."
"Huh?" Abel's eyes widened in confusion at his sensei's words. More forbidden than the Lotus? "…Special?"
Urahara nodded. "But then, if you ever want to use this technique, there is one strict condition that it must be under. And that is…"
Catching his breath and forcing his panting under control, Abel closed his eyes and sheathed Zabimaru, the whip-blade reverting to its sealed form of the Dragon Sword, and the White Knight raised both of his arms, crossed in front of him, fingers curled inwards while his palms faced outwards.
That is…
Almost immediately, a shimmering pillar of translucent energy surrounded him, and Latanica's eyes widened in surprise.
What the…!?
"I don't know what you're trying to do, warrior," Latanica growled as he narrowed his eyes and formed the seal of the Tiger again. "But you are going to be finished here."
"Yes, you're right." Abel's answer was not one Latanica had expected, and the fallen captain raised an eyebrow in suspicion. Hmm? What is he up to?
"Either way, this next move is going to end everything." Closing his eyes, Abel withdrew his consciousness into his body, and reached inside as deep as he could to draw out the power he needed. As he did so, the faces of his comrades flitted through his head, and with every face he saw, he dove deeper and deeper.
Ethan… Logan… and…
Briefly, the image of James Price Cyrus flickered through Abel's mind's eye, and Abel's curled fingers clenched into determined fists.
I… I cannot be the only one who loses here!
From up above, Abel could feel his sensei's proud approval.
Urahara-sensei, please acknowledge this! Now is the time…
The shimmering aura surrounding Abel had grown to such strength that the floorboards he was standing on had actually begun to splinter, the broken fragments of the planks rising up in a powerful updraft that the aura seemed to be generating. Even Abel's hair was blown upwards by the aura, his dark locks pointing upwards and turning rigid. Latanica could literally feel the sheer amount of mana pouring out of the warrior in ungodly surges, rising off of Abel's body in tangible, crimson wisps.
In a sudden burst of sheer power, Abel's aura exploded, the White Knight straightening his back, arms thrusting out to his sides, and showing to Latanica the sheer amount of veins in his temples that were bulging out from the stress.
To abide by, and protect my way of the warrior! Abel stated ardently to himself the condition Urahara-sensei had given him, and from inside himself, Abel Wade Wilson Locke welcomed the terrifying, monstrous torrent of power that poured out from his innermost being with wide, open arms.
"Dai san, Seimon… Kai!" [Third Gate, Life Gate… Open!]
"Kaio-ken… x20!!!"
A/N: I spent a lot of effort on this pride and joy of a chapter, so if you would be so kind, leave a review behind, would you kindly?