Pablo dashed, then threw a rapid barrage of kicks. "These are Tsuyoi's kicks!" Otoru could react to each kick as he had seen all of them before. "Tsuyoi probably taught him. He can't have a talent like that guy."
"The truth is, I'm a liar." He pondered. "I have lost before. I lost to a monster that scared me just like you did. That was the only defeat I have suffered."
Otoru threw a right hook. Pablo couldn't block in time, so he tanked it with his shoulder, sacrificing his posture.
"This is my chance at redemption. I can't lose again." His earrings glowed, and the ghost swept Pablo's feet.
Otoru followed up by slamming down his fist into his face, but Pablo rolled away in time. "I can't lose to another prodigy! I will show my beloved father, my captain, and my best friend, Captain Infamy, that I too deserve to stand amongst them! I will be so powerful that the Captain will regret making Tsuyoi his right-hand man instead of me! I won't lose to a prodigy like you!" He yelled while pressuring Pablo with his punches.
"What are you blabbing about?!" Pablo was still unable to get up. He crawled and rolled on the ground to avoid his attacks.
"I will become so strong… I will become someone you're unable to copy!" Otoru gritted his teeth before Pablo grabbed another bottle and ate it.
The firing shards bought him enough time to get up even if they were all dodged.
"I'm still afraid of using my Sorcery to its full potential. I don't know if my soul is stable enough." Pablo wiped the blood on his nose again. "I guess I'll just have to defeat him in close quarters." Pablo aimed his ring towards Otoru and shot mana out of it.
Because mana isn't physical, Otoru slapped it away with a ghost from his Treasure. "Talented people like you are trash. You're born powerful, so you think you're the shit. You never had to work and you smashed everyone that dared to oppose you with their hard work. You were never desperate for power. I bet you're not even from Thalorien, yet you dare to copy a style that is our pride." Otoru took a step forward. "I won't let that sl-" Otoru was interrupted.
"...Huh." Pablo's eyes widened. He stood in pure disbelief, shock, and anger. "What the fuck would you know about me?" His hand shook from anger.
"What the fuck do you know about me?" he repeated. "A prodigy? Talented? Never desperate?" His voice came out raspy.
"What the fuck do you know about me?" His voice shook. "I've made up my mind. I will really kill you."
"Angry, huh?" Otoru grinned and changed his stance. "I'd like to see you try."
Pablo flew in with a knee-strike again. Otoru dodged it by stepping to the side. But before touching the ground, Pablo spun a kick towards Otoru's face, which knocked him back. He then made contact with the ground again.
"How did he gain leverage midair?!" He couldn't know that just a moment ago, Pablo unconsciously stepped in the air by emitting mana from his feet.
Otoru sent a rapid barrage of fists. Pablo evaded most of them and blocked the remaining. And just a second later, he sent the same barrage back. "Agh!" Caught off guard, he cried out in pain and was knocked back all the way to the end of the room.
Otoru's mind shifted to memories as he was desperate enough to dig through his brain just to find an advantage.
"The truth is, son…" Infamy chugged a whole bottle of beer and crushed it in his hands once he finished. "...You have zero talent."
"I know." Otoru looked down. "Your Treasure shows great potential, but it still requires you to be skilled and powerful. What good are ghosts if they are weak, right?" Infamy grabbed another bottle.
Otoru nodded. "Yeah."
"When someone is born with a weak Treasure, most weep and give up. Some accept the reality. And others rebel with sheer stubbornness, the opposite of a cocky prodigy. Even with a useless Treasure, one can fight back against the strongest there is." He drank from the bottle again, then wiped his mouth. "No one in this world can do that." Otoru desperately looked up, a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
"Ah, you foolish boy. This scar I have… the only defeat I have gained…" He pointed to the giant diagonal slash scar on his chest. "The kid that did it had a Treasure that allowed him to laugh very loudly." Infamy chuckled.
Otoru gasped. "How?"
"He was stubborn enough. He was surrounded by the greatest prodigies there were. And he did it by using his Aura Link. If one is talented at controlling it, they can use it to enhance their power and even invent techniques like a Magiborn bending mana." He finished the bottle. "Do that, and I'll make you my right hand."
Back to the present, Otoru's fears mostly vanished. "I never told you, my Captain. Because I know how much you loved Tsuyoi, I had already invented 4 techniques that day."
"The first one I invented missed, and I'm sure he's ready for it if I use it again." Otoru stomped the ground, placing his feet firmly. "Now my second!"
His earrings glowed.
"He can't hit me that far with his Treasure." Pablo waited for an opening instead of defending.
Otoru's second Aura Technique, Haunt, allowed him to bypass the 2-meter range limit of his Treasure.
As he released those ghosts, he started sprinting towards Pablo with all his might to close the distance before a second passed.
It was because the origin of those ghosts is Otoru, which means their range is calculated from their distance from him, not the distance from the moment they were first released.
So even if he activated his Treasure meters away, closing the distance in time meant he could land a hit from the ghosts.
"He's moving! Was it a bluff? Is he not using-" Before he could raise his guard, he was hit in the stomach by one of the ghosts, strong enough to make him unable to breathe.
"I wasn't fast enough. I released 4 ghosts; only one reached!" Otoru followed up by sending an uppercut towards Pablo.
"I won't fall!" Pablo grew a bone blade from his forearm and stabbed Otoru's stomach before the punch landed.
But he realised he had lost the moment he saw the fire in Otoru's eyes.
"We're done here." It was inevitable, really. The punch sent Pablo flying into the air and his head pierced the roof, knocking him out.
He almost fell after that, dropping onto one knee, and could barely breathe.
All that was left in the room was the sound of his labored breathing, nothing else.
"A last-minute ace up your sleeve, huh?" He placed a hand on his stomach. "It's my first time feeling like this. Heh, if my body wasn't burning, this would stop me."
"Well, well, well, this is a surprise." Someone spoke out behind them, entering from the gap in the wall Pablo left. "Who would've thought this skinny guy would push our right-hand man this much?"
He turned around to see who it was and sighed in relief when he realised it was a crewmate.
The man was shirtless and only wore a leather jacket. He was bald and had 5 other crewmates behind him. He had a grin on his face, almost like he was amused.
"Jun. Get out of here, go take down that girl-" Otoru's sentence was cut off by Jun's fist smashing his face. "Shut up."
"What the fuck are you doing?" He took the hit head-on. "Taking you down. Because you fought him, he won't suspect it was us. And after that I can finally take my rightful spot as the right-hand man."
Otoru scoffed. "He's old but he's neither blind nor deaf. I can just call out for him-"
"Go ahead. He's out cold." Jun cackled. Otoru gasped. He looked outside the window.
"That blind guy took him down within seconds after taking off his blindfold. You should've seen it. It was as if two gods were fighting." Jun cracked his knuckles.
"Captain…" Otoru's voice shook. "I see." He smiled. "This is a test, right? You lost to him on purpose, so everything would be up to me." He laughed.
"What is he blabbering about?" Jun looked at his allies and laughed mockingly.
"You think this ladyboy was enough to make me break a sweat? Me, Legendary Infamy's Right-hand? Gimme a break." He ripped his shirt apart and wrapped it around his stomach to stop the bleeding. "Come at me, you bastards." The flames in his eyes grew only stronger.