The Desire to Impress - Hero's Lies Arc

“You need to be able to control this power. Otherwise, I’ll always be the one fighting,” Kuro-Yami sighed, leaning back in his chair. It was four months prior, and Hiroshi was determined to use the darkness more effectively.

“You can hear my thoughts, so you know I want that too,” Hiroshi retorted. “It doesn’t seem easy.”

Hiroshi stood alone in the forest that surrounded Lightley. He took a deep breath, aimed his palm towards a tree, and fired some darkness at it, forming a hand and grabbing the tree trunk firmly.

“It’s weird, I don’t feel anything when I grab things with the darkness,” Hiroshi muttered to himself.

“Yes, that’s because the darkness that you emit can’t be destroyed, but it can be dissipated. It is not a physical hand, so you can use it freely when you want, as long as you have good manna control,” Kuro-Yami explained to Hiroshi, who had an idea.

“So can I emit darkness from anywhere?”

“Yes, you can. Why?”

“Well, you can’t be killed, right? The darkness is your power, not mine…so theoretically…” Hiroshi’s mind rushed with thoughts as he began running back to his cottage. Kuro-Yami jolted up, realising the young man’s intentions.

“Are you stupid?! Don’t try that!”

“You can't stop me! If it works for you, it can work for me!”

Hiroshi burst into the house and immediately went to the chimney in the living room. He started a fire and began warming up his hands. He put some coal and paper on it, making the flame more violent and dangerous, roaring red with hatred. After a few minutes of hesitation, Hiroshi put his hand in the fire, burning himself.

“Ow! Shit, that’s hot…” he reeled his hand out. The hand had turned a bright red colour, and some of the skin was peeling off. Hiroshi focused really hard. He made the hand of darkness come out, and go back inside his own hand, covering the burn areas. When the hand dissipated, the burn marks were gone, and so was Hiroshi’s pain.

“Yes! It worked! Now all I need to do is train with this, and I will be able to defend myself a whole lot better, without your help,” Hiroshi gave Kuro-Yami, who was still stuck inside Hiroshi’s mind, a big smile. The God of Darkness gave a small grin back. Hiroshi was getting smarter. And stronger.

Back to the present day, Hiroshi grabbed Grant by the collar. The man yelped out as Hiroshi hit him as hard as he could three separate times in his nose. Eventually, Grant hit Hiroshi back, causing him to fly against the side of the cave once more. The cave was starting to lose structure, and it could cave in at any moment. Grant felt his nose and winced in pain. It felt broken. Just like him.

His eyes darted around the cave, trying to find where Hiroshi would come from next. It was next to impossible. The darkness was going to swallow him up. He couldn’t see. He could hardly breathe. It was as if he was being suffocated.

Hiroshi launched himself at him, his fist connecting with Grant’s face again. He flew back into the darkness. He came from a different angle and hit Grant in the back of the head with a flying kick. Back into the darkness. Again. And again. And again. Grant’s eyes opened wide as he tried his best to pinpoint Hiroshi’s exact location.

On the sixth attempt, Grant caught Hiroshi’s fist. He laughed to himself. He knew that he could turn the tables now and start a counterattack.

Or so he thought.

Hiroshi ducked under him, and using his raw strength, spun Grant in circles through the air horizontally. Both men yelled at the top of their lungs, one enjoying himself and the other in pain, as Hiroshi let go. Grant flew into the opening that Eve and Schulz had escaped through earlier. He flew so far, his body rushed by them, hitting the back entrance of the cave wall. Debris crumbled from the roof, as he looked up wearily.

“Grant!” Eve exclaimed in horror, running over to help him. “Are you alright?!”

“Yeah…I’m fine…” Grant spit out blood as he staggered to his feet, his eyes fixated on the cave floor. He felt so useless. Weak. An idiot for believing in himself. Hiroshi had him outmatched, despite being weaker than him by over three times.

He felt a strong hand grab his shoulder.

“Grant, look at me.”

He obeyed the command, looking up, directly into Touma Schulz’s eyes. However, instead of being angry or upset, he had a big, goofy smile on his face.

“I’m sorry, Touma…I failed you…he’s so much weaker and yet…I’m losing,” Grant stuttered out, blood dripping down the corner of his mouth.

“No, Grant. Remember that day when we first met? Ever since then, you haven’t ever let me down, and you will never let me down. You are my best man,” Schulz said, pointing at Grant’s heart. “You mean everything to me. You will win. I know you will. Search your heart, Grant. I believe in you.”

“Wanna…win…wanna…win…” Grant gasped, standing up straight. He seen Hiroshi, walking towards him slowly. Rage started building up inside of him. He wanted to be good enough for Schulz. He would die for him, if he had to. Just as Hiroshi was about to reach Grant, something inside of him snapped. He opened his left palm, and slammed his right fist into it, and closed his left hand over it.

“Oh, shit,” Hiroshi sighed. He knew he was in trouble.

Tomokazu, who was currently flying around to try and find Hiroshi, while also carrying Bibi and Wisteria, stood still. He paused, listening out. Then, he shivered, a bad sensation residing deep in his bones.

“What is it, Tomo? Why did we stop?” Bibi huffed, folding her arms as she was carried by the man himself.

“Do you not feel that?”

“Feel what?”

“A recent power surge…it…it isn’t Hiroshi…it’s someone else. Is it a Grade One? It seems very weak…” Tomo thought aloud to himself.

“Grade One?” Wisteria asked.

“Yes. Carte Blanche’s are divided from Grade One being the weakest, while Grade Five is the strongest,” Tomokazu explained, suddenly rushing at a very rapid speed through the air.

“Carte Blanche? Hiroshi has achieved it already?!” Wisteria blurted out in shock.

“No, Wisteria,” Tomokazu replied with a stern look on his face. “It’s not Hiroshi.”