Chapter 148: Real Man (4)
Koshiro lay trembling on the floor with his head pressed against the cold ground.
They’re... causing a massacre?
Even as the shocking news burned through his mind like fire, the thought of defying Sosuke never crossed his mind. If he allowed himself to be consumed by these emotions, he would lose the one he cherished most.
“Koshiro.”
Korshiro’s shoulders flinched at Sakaki’s calm, almost indifferent tone. It cut through his chest like a sharp blade.
A memory surfaced of when he first met Sakaki.
“Oyabun...”
Back then, a Celestial hadn’t chosen him yet. Despite that, he volunteered for the vigilante group to protect his younger sister. They rejected him countless times because non-Awakeners couldn’t join, but he refused to give up. For days, he knelt in front of their base. Then, a man appeared before him one day when he was on the verge of collapsing.
“Why are you so desperate to join the vigilante group?”
The man with a buzz cut looked like he was made of muscles so dense that he could crush bones with a mere touch.
Sakaki Ryo, the vigilante group’s commander, had come to see him personally.
“I... want to protect my family.”
Koshiro’s lips barely moved. The words eked out with difficulty.
Sakaki remained silent for a long moment before suddenly bursting into laughter and patting Koshiro on the shoulder.
“Kuhaha! That’s right! A real man protects his people! His family! And his country!”
Sakaki lifted Koshiro off the ground and grinned. “Alright! I’ll make you a real man!”
And so, Koshiro became the first non-Awakener to join the vigilante group.
At first, he only did menial chores and errands. Before long, he awakened the Stigma of Scutum and began to fight on the frontlines alongside Sakaki.
The relentless battles exhausted Koshiro to the point of throwing up, but every day spent with Sakaki felt exhilarating. Koshiro dreamed of becoming just like Sakaki, tearing through monsters like an enraged bull.
Through grueling effort, he finally earned the same eight strokes as Sakaki. At last, he believed he could finally stand beside Sakaki with pride and also become a great man.
In the end, I turned out like this.
Koshiro bitterly chuckled with his forehead still pressed against the ground. He couldn’t even cry with no tears left to shed.
He felt pathetic that he had wished to become a man like Sakaki, but failed to protect even his own family. A wave of nausea hit him from the fantasy he had created for himself.
I was never capable of becoming like Sakaki in the first place.
“Get up, Koshiro.”
“Oyabun.”
“You said you wanted to protect your sister, didn’t you?” Sakaki clenched his fist and took a fighting stance. “Then stand up and fight like a real man.”
Koshiro’s voice trembled. “I’m... not a real man. I’m not like you, Oyabun. I couldn’t even protect my own sister. I’m just a worthless fool.”
He buried his forehead into the dirt as his shoulders shook. “Please, just kill me, Oyabun.”
Would death bring him peace? Would it free him from this gut-wrenching despair? He didn’t know, but it had to be better than living like this.
Sakaki’s deep eyes locked onto him.
“Get up.”
The weight of his gaze made it feel as though the air had been sucked from Koshiro’s lungs. The cold, commanding tone almost brought him to tears.
“Oyabun.”
Staggering, Koshiro rose to his feet. He planted his hands on the ground and pushed himself up, standing firm on both legs.
Sakaki raised his fist.
“Here I come, Koshiro. Stop me if you want to save your sister.”
Boom!
The ground shook and caved in as if a bomb had exploded. Rubble scattered in every direction.
Koshiro hastily crossed his arms, and a blue shield materialized before him.
“Kuuugh!”
This isn’t enough!
This alone wouldn’t stop Sakaki’s monstrous strength.
“Hup!”
Three layers of blue shields formed, and Sakaki’s fist collided against them.
Boom!
A deafening explosion threatened to burst Koshiro’s eardrums. It sent him into the air as if a sledgehammer had crashed down on his arms.
“You can’t even withstand a single hit?!” Sakaki roared and pulled his elbow back. He bent at the waist and slightly bent his knees. Then, with a powerful jump, he launched an all-out uppercut at the midair Koshiro.
Boom!
Koshiro quickly materialized another shield and blocked Sakaki. A bone-crushing pain shot through both his arms. He was flung back in an arc and barely managed to execute a landing roll to safely land.
Koshiro’s voice trembled as he spoke. “W-Why aren’t you angry?”
Even if he had been threatened, Koshiro had betrayed the organization and aimed a blade at Sakaki’s back. He had repaid Sakaki’s kindness with treachery, and yet?
“Why! Why don’t you say anything!”
If only Sakaki had exploded in rage. If only he had hurled insults and condemnation. Maybe then, Koshiro wouldn’t be drowning in this unbearable humiliation.
“You sure do yap a lot.” Sakaki swung his fist through the air, creating an invisible shockwave that rushed toward Koshiro like a crashing wave.
“Shield!”
Koshiro’s Stigma shone brightly. Six shields unfolded like petals, protecting him from the incoming force. It wasn’t a direct hit from Sakaki’s mana-charged fists, but just the residual shockwave.
“Reflect!”
The force rebounded off the shields and surged back toward Sakaki. A deep metallic clang echoed like a hammer striking solid steel.
Sakaki furrowed his brow.
“Grrrh!”
Shields created by Awakeners of Scutum could not only reflect attacks, but also amplify them with added mana. The intensified shockwave slammed into Sakaki, rattling his internal organs.
Sakaki heartily laughed and wiped the blood trickling from his mouth. “Kaha! I wonder whose punch that is. It’s got a real kick to it! You’ve grown a lot since I last saw you, Koshiro!”
With a smirk, Sakaki clenched his fists once more.
“But!”
Rumble!
His Stigma of Taurus erupted with a blinding light, shaking the ground like an earthquake.
“That won’t be enough to stop me!” Sakaki shouted.
Like an enraged bull charging forward, Sakaki hunched low and rushed toward Koshiro. The violent surge of energy gathering around Sakaki swept across the ground.
“Oyabun.”
Koshiro bit his lip and crossed his arms into an X. The six shields that bloomed like petals gathered protectively around him once more.
“Haa,” he exhaled a slow breath and summoned as much mana as he could.
The six shields became twelve, then twenty-four, and forty-eight.
“The shields that guard the stars encompass all directions, forming an unbreakable barrier where not even a sliver of opening may exist.”
With his low incantation, all forty-eight shields interlocked like the cogs of a massive gear. It could no longer be merely called a shield. This was a fortress.
The raging bull charged at this impenetrable fortress.
“Koshirooooooo!”
Each of Sakaki’s steps shook the ground and left deep footprints. Concentrated energy swirled around him like a storm, violently tearing through the surroundings.
Twenty meters, ten meters, five meters... The gap between Koshiro and Sakaki closed in an instant.
━━━━━━!
The silent impact was so immense that it swallowed sound itself.
The sheer force of their clash caused the ground to cave by a radius of dozens of meters as if a sinkhole had formed. Jagged rocks and debris shot up. This level of destruction was unimaginable for a fight between two mere humans. The dust settled like a thick fog.
“Kugh!”Sakaki’s raspy cough echoed from within the haze.
His mangled fists looked like a child’s crushed clay figurines. The blood he coughed up splattered on his broad chest.
Sakaki turned his head with a stiff expression.
Shattered fragments of all forty-eight shields lay strewn across the battlefield. Amidst them, Koshiro barely stood upright with ragged breathing.
“Oyabun...”
Koshiro swayed as if he would collapse at any moment. He leaned against a big jagged rock that had shot up.
A hollow laugh echoed in the air, “Hah... haha. I really... am an idiot, aren’t I?”
Koshiro’s vision blurred as tears trailed down his cheeks. They gathered at his chin before dripping to the ground.
“I wanted to be... a great man like you...”
At first, he thought Sakaki was nothing more than foolish. He had laughed at him, wondering who still clung to such outdated ideas of being a real man in this day and age. However—
“Kahaha! Did you see that, Koshiro?! This is what it means to be a man!”
When monsters flooded the city like a tidal wave, when everyone else was too terrified to do anything but run, Sakaki had thrown his head back with booming laughter and charged straight into the chaos.
He had been reckless, foolish, and utterly absurd. Despite it all, no one looked more heroic in that moment. Koshiro wanted to be like that. A man strong enough to protect those he loved.
“But...”
He started to lose his strength.
“I couldn’t even protect my family... My people, I couldn’t protect anyone.”
In the end, he could never be like Sakaki. No matter how hard he struggled, how much effort he poured into it, all of it had been meaningless.
“I’m sorry... Oyabun.”
His consciousness wavered. He leaned forward, unable to stand straight, and fell forward.
Thud.
Sakaki’s hand shot out and grabbed him by the collar, slamming him against the rock. Was Sakaki about to make the final move?
Koshiro could only silently close his eyes. He never expected to survive after betraying the organization.
I’m sorry.
He recalled his little sister’s face, who was poisoned and trapped somewhere, waiting desperately for him to save her. How terrified was she feeling? The guilt of failing to protect her in the end pierced his chest like a blade.
I’m sorry... for being such a worthless brother. For not protecting you. For not saving you.
“How many times do I have to tell you, Koshiro?”
Sakaki placed his hand on top of Koshiro’s head.
“If you’re a man, never bow so easily.”
He left Koshiro leaning against the rock and simply walked toward Kwon Oh-Jin, who was still fighting Sosuke.