Gabriel recognized the figure instantly.
"Hmm… Yami Sukehiro?" he murmured softly, his brows knitting just a little.
Within his mind, memories of the Black Bulls' captain flowed at once—the wielder of the Darkness attribute, magic that could swallow space, devour other spells, and force the world itself to bow before the dark.
Something inside his thoughts clicked, like a switch being pressed.
The Ash persona rise fully.
A faint smile formed on Gabriel's lips as a long-suppressed desire slowly began to burn.
Truth be told, Gabriel had once planned to meet the wielder of darkness—complete with several carefully prepared "cool" performances.
Those plans had simply been buried beneath other matters. Now, the moment Yami entered his radar, that desire flared back to life.
He fell silent for a moment, gazing at the half-bitten apple in his hand with the air of a god observing the world below.
"Oh?" Gabriel murmured softly. "So… there is a darkness aiming for me?"
Without reading Yami's past memories, without caring about the purpose of his arrival, Gabriel unilaterally claimed the situation as his own.
He placed the half-bitten apple on the tree branch, then leapt down lightly.
"In that case…" he murmured low. "It's only fitting that Ash appears before him."
Before Gabriel could take another step, Yami adjusted his broom, slowly descending.
From his direction, Yami drifted toward Gabriel's position, until the two of them faced each other directly.
Realizing that Yami was truly approaching him, Gabriel felt a brief flicker of confusion. But he cast it aside at once—the stirring of Ash within him was far more important right now.
"Ash did not summon the night," Gabriel said calmly. "Then… why does Darkness still come?"
Silence rose between them.
Yami frowned slightly, staring at the black-haired boy as his thoughts churned.
"…What the hell is this kid talking about?" Yami muttered inwardly. "And from the way he's speaking… he already knew I was coming?"
In silence, Yami's thoughts drifted back to a rather troublesome incident two days earlier—his encounter with Mereoleona.
The lioness woman had given him a short yet irritating order: recruit someone he had never even met, a boy who called himself Ash, the watcher of the stars.
If it weren't for Asta—who had suddenly begun training with some strange breathing technique taught by someone named Ash—Yami wouldn't have bothered coming all the way out here.
A few seconds passed.
At last, Yami let a faint grin spread across his face, his eyes sharp and testing. Slowly, he raised his katana and pointed it at Gabriel.
"Oi, kid," Yami said casually, though an edge of threat ran through his voice. "I got reports about some weird activity around here. That you?"
"The pale mist always watches the stars," Gabriel replied flatly. "There's nothing strange about that."
Behind his calm exterior, Gabriel's thoughts spun rapidly. 'Weird activity? I've just been training Asta for the past few days. No bandits, no rituals, nothing like that… so what exactly do they consider 'weird'?'
For a split second, a new awareness jolted his mind. 'Is Yami trying to set up a narrative for Ash? Maybe… but it doesn't feel like that.'
Then reality struck without mercy.
Yami had already moved.
"Get your neck ready, kid!" Yami barked.
In an instant, the black-violet grimoire stored at his waist floated out on its own.
Darkness-attributed mana surged forth, wrapping around Yami's body and the grimoire alike, flowing like dense black mist that pressed down on the surrounding space itself.
Gabriel narrowed his eyes.
That aura… was heavy.
The trees around them trembled faintly, as if crushed by an invisible pressure.
Leaves rained down, while birds in the distance took flight in instinctive panic.
The katana in Yami's hand was now shrouded in pitch-black darkness—mana that absorbed light, devoured the mana around it, and gave the impression that the blade itself was gnawing at the very fabric of space.
The pages of the darkness grimoire flipped rapidly—
Then stopped.
"Darkness Magic: Dark Cloaked Black Blade!"
In less than 0.10 seconds, Yami pulled his katana back—just for an instant—then swung it in a single, clean, lethal horizontal arc.
SLASH—!!!
A black slash shot forth.
To ordinary eyes, it was nearly invisible.
But to Gigan, the world slowed—Yami's movement breaking down into clear, cold frame after frame.
Fast… Gabriel thought.
He lowered his body at the very last moment.
The slash of darkness passed just above his head, crashing brutally into the trees behind him. Trunks were cut clean through, collapsing and falling as if snipped by emptiness itself.
The residual wind of the attack shook the ground.
Yami exhaled softly, then grinned—a familiar smile of someone who had just tested his opponent.
"Oh…?" he muttered. "You dodged it."
He turned slightly, his katana still raised, the dark aura not yet fully faded.
"So it wasn't just empty talk after all," Yami continued, his black eyes narrowing sharply at Gabriel. "If a kid like you can read an attack like that…"
His grin widened—wild—then burst into unrestrained laughter.
"Hahahaha! You're definitely not an ordinary human!" he said loudly. "Interesting, kid!! I like you!"
The Darkness aura enveloping his body vanished in an instant, as if it had never existed. The pressure in the air disappeared, and the trees stopped trembling.
From his waist, Yami tossed a black cloak bearing the emblem of a black fortress on its chest. The fabric fluttered through the air and fell toward Gabriel.
Yami then turned his back, slinging the katana casually over his shoulder. His left hand waved lazily.
"Join the Black Bulls Squad, kid," he said lightly. "You'll fit right in."
He took a few steps away, then paused briefly—scratching the back of his head.
"Oh, right," he added casually, as if he'd just remembered something trivial, "I actually stopped by because Mereoleona told me to… but also 'cause I'd just finished taking a dump and felt like going for a walk."
Yami glanced back halfway, looking at Gabriel from the corner of his eye. "Heh, meeting you actually made my stomach feel even lighter," he chuckled. "The world's a weird place, huh?"
With that, Yami continued on, mounting his flying broom and departing—leaving Gabriel behind, along with an offer that couldn't be taken lightly.
On the other side, after standing still for several seconds and making sure Yami's presence had completely vanished, Gabriel bent down and picked up the black cloak.
He stared at the black fortress emblem on the chest of the fabric for a moment, then smiled faintly.
"So that lioness was the one pulling the strings, huh…" he murmured softly.
A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips—half amused, half resigned.
"Heh," he continued quietly. "In that case… all that's left is Main Quest Two."
Gabriel let out a light sigh.
"Even though from the very beginning, I never intended to clear any quests at all."
The cloak lay neatly folded in his hands—a sign that, whether he liked it or not, the flow of this world was slowly dragging him further in.
***
One hour had passed.
Within that time, Asta finally arrived. He was late because there were matters in the Black Bulls squad that needed to be taken care of—and Gabriel didn't mind in the slightest.
Now, after some warm-ups and muscle stretches, the two of them stood atop a massive rock at the edge of a waterfall cliff. Below them, a deep river surged violently, reflecting the morning sunlight with a cold, shimmering gleam.
"Listen carefully, Asta," Gabriel said in a serious tone. "What I'm about to pass on to you is called a Breathing Style."
Asta immediately shot his hand up, his eyes sparkling with excitement. "Sensei! What's a Breathing Style?!"
Gabriel smiled faintly. For a moment, half of the Ash persona rose within him. He turned his body slightly, gazing at the waterfall beside them.
The wind blew at just the right moment, causing his cloak to ripple softly. In his heart, Gabriel admitted it—the timing was perfect.
He looked cool.
"Total Concentration Constant Breathing is the foundation," Gabriel said calmly.
"And a Breathing Style is the form—a combat style born from that foundation."
He glanced briefly at Asta.
"Just like the Thunder Breathing you mastered before."
Gabriel turned his gaze back to the endlessly falling stream of water.
"This time, the Breathing Style I will pass on to you is Water Breathing."
He raised one hand, tracing the flow of the waterfall with a slow, deliberate motion.
"This technique imitates water," he continued. "Its flow, its flexibility, and its ability to adapt. All of that is replicated through the user's movements, techniques, and control."
"Most—almost all—of its techniques involve fluid motions of the body, arms, and weapon. Like water that can rush violently or remain calm, adjusting its form without ever losing its strength."
Finally, Gabriel concluded in a low but unwavering voice.
"And when using it, the practitioner imagines themselves as if they are creating and controlling the water itself."
"All right," Gabriel said as he turned back to face Asta—even though both of his eyes were hidden behind his bangs.
"The explanation should be more than enough. Now it's time for practice," Gabriel continued. "And remember—imagine yourself as water."
For some reason, at that exact moment, a bad feeling slammed into Asta.
"Uh… Sensei?" his eyebrows shot up. "W-wait, when you say practice, you mean—"
Too late.
Without any warning whatsoever, Gabriel straight-up threw Asta off the cliff.
"WAAAAAAH—!?!?"
Asta's body went into free fall, plunging through the air along with the mist of the waterfall. The wind slammed into his face, his heart nearly jumping out of his chest.
"SEEEEENSEEEEI—!?" Asta screamed in panic. "IS THIS PRACTICE OR A LIFE-OR-DEATH TRIAL—!?"
Up on the cliff, Gabriel merely smiled faintly and shouted down calmly:
"Remember, Asta! Imagine yourself as flowing water! FLOWING WATER!"
"FLOWING WATER, HE SAYS—!?!" Asta yelled back as he continued to plummet. "WATER DOESN'T JUST FALL LIKE THIS, SENSEI—!!"
___
Author's note:
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