The Ancient Revelation: Rewrite

Heeding Genkei's instruction, Akio manages to materialize it: Genkei, in the liberation pose. All his magic energy is concentrated into his body, flowing smoothly. Furthermore, Akio does sense another source behind Genkei.

That source is actually Jack, who is sleeping on his desk. Apparently he never slept or anything, he continued working on his inventions instead.

- "Genkei.. I see it. I see you.. and Jack."

- "Don't focus on Jack. Focus on me."

- "Alright."

Suddenly, Jack sneezes. Was it a coincidence? Nobody knows. Meanwhile, Genkei stands up.

- "Don't open your eyes. Continue focusing on my energy."

Without letting out a roar this time, Genkei boosts the flow of magic through his body. Akio picks up on that, as he sees Genkei's muscles bulge.

"What do you see, Akio?"

- "You've.. powered up. Your aura.. it's completely different."

- "Indeed. This is what I used to beat you. Open your eyes."

Akio does so, marvelling at Genkei's form.

"Now.. what exactly did I do?"

- "You enhanced the flow of magic through your body, enhancing your abilities.. right?"

- "Precisely. However, you did something different."

- "Huh?"

- "Focus on your own energy."

- "Alright..."

Akio takes a deep breath, materializing himself in the neutral energy.

- "I see myself. The energy inside me, and the energy outside."

- "The energy around your body, is it the same as the energy inside you?"

- "Yes."

- "Good. It's the energy that's passively leaking outside of your body. You must contain that, and allow your body's flow of magic to become stronger, as if you're allowing a current to flow more freely."

Genkei's example helped Akio. With another deep breath, he attempts to force the energy outside his body to return back in. Slowly, that works. Genkei can see that principle in action, both with energy sensing and in real time.

Akio's muscles tense up, as Genkei feels the power emanating from Akio. A wild flame, condensed into a small form, with its power building up steadily. Suddenly, though, Akio gasps for air, opening his eyes.

Even so.. in that very slight moment, Genkei saw it. Akio's sclerae turned orange again, but they turned to normal far too quickly.

- "Damn it."

- "Akio..."

- "What?"

- "You did it."

Akio's eyes widen, as he gets excited.

"If only for a moment, you achieved that state. Your power increased exponentially. That's it."

Genkei and Akio high five. Now, while Akio hasn't fully grasped this level of power, he's able to sense energy. That was the point, after all.

"The training's done.. for now. Akio, do you still think that there's no time to rest?"

- "I.. feel a bit weak."

- "Of course. Have you even eaten?"

- "No."

- "Then I'll answer my question for you: no. You don't think that anymore, Akio. That stupid idea has gotten off your head now, right?"

Akio looks at the ground. On one hand, Genkei's right. Rest is required. But on the other hand...

That 'dream' comes back to Akio. That commander, the way he humiliated him...

- "I need to beat him, Genkei. I want to take revenge."

Genkei is a bit.. surprised. Akio's eyes hide desparation and anger, but instantly, his power rised up a fair bit.

- "Alright, then. You'll need to grasp that ability fully, though."

- "Of course. I don't think I'd be able to beat him with just my current power alone."

- "Correct. However.. you need a push to reach it. That push is one that I cannot give."

Genkei's statement alarms Akio.

- "What? What do you mean..?"

- "Akio, that power.. be it when you're calm or when you're pushing your limits, you need someone who's going to put you in a life-or-death situation."

- "So what? You can do it, right?"

- "I can't. Even if my power is enough, I can't be hostile towards you. You know it. I can't bring myself to kill you."

Akio's expression softens up.

- "I know. In that case..."

Slowly, Akio walks towards Genkei, as he punches his chest lightly.

"Let's become better, together. You have a similar power now too. You'll need to hone it, right?"

Genkei laughs.

- "Right."

With that, Akio and Genkei call the Generals into another Council.. just one day after they assume office together, and their other Council. Genkei leaves to grab the girls, as Akio opens the doors to Jack's office.

As the doors open, suddenly, an earthquake erupts. Shaking everything, Akio decides to simply hold onto Jack's desk. It doesn't look like its magnitude is high, after all1. After a few seconds, the earthquake finally stops. Akio looks at Jack.. and he's still sleeping.

Akio is.. surprised, for a good reason. He nudges Jack, but nothing. He throws Jack down, still nothing. He throws Jack some water from the glass that he had in his desk, no response. Akio yells in his ears, but Jack simply turns his head.

 - "Hey, what the hell!?"

Resorting to violence, Akio starts slapping Jack. Even so, Jack simply won't wake up. Akio gradually puts more strength, but Jack doesn't react to anything. Fearing the worst, and doing the first thing he should have, Akio puts his fingers on Jack's neck.

...

...

...

Jack.. has a pulse.

"Looks like someone's not waking up. Let's take this up a notch!"

Akio drags Jack into the training room, throwing him in and closing the doors. First off, Akio throws a fireball at Jack. It hits him, naturally. Jack's clothes are torn, but there are no signs of him waking up.

Letting out a sigh, Akio continues. A barrage of fireballs later, Jack's injured but still not awake. This makes Akio think.. is he in a coma? Eh, who cares. Akio continues his attack, throwing Jack up and this time barraging him with fire magic-infused punches.

Jack becomes more and more injured, and only now is he showing signs of waking up but still nothing. After a while, Akio is about to give up.. until the hallway's doors open.

- "The hell are you doing? Genkei told me to come see what you were up to. You're a bit late to the Council you called."

In comes Harumi, questioning Akio and Jack, considering that the latter is simply knocked down.

- "Yeah, yeah. My bad."

- "You good? I heard you got injured training with Genkei."

- "I'm fine, but someone else isn't."

Akio points towards Jack, and Harumi looks at him.

- "What? Did you kill him or something?"

- "He's sleeping. And.. he won't wake up."

- "Let me see him."

Harumi walks up to Jack, checking his vitals and everything. She's a bit.. distrustful of Akio. Seeing that he's injured and still has some of that leftover water that Akio threw at him, Harumi realizes that there's only one thing she can do.

From Akio's point of view, it looks like Harumi is giving Jack a kiss on the cheek. To his surprise, even, that even seemed to wake him up.. even though he's screaming.

- "Ow! What the hell!?"

- "Wake up, sleeping beauty."

- "Can't a man have some time to rest his eyes for a while?"

Harumi gets up as she walks away, with Akio walking towards Jack.

- "Considering that you slept through an earthquake and my attacks, no."

- "Gah, damn you. Is that why I'm in pain?"

- "Probably."

Akio helps Jack gets up, as they get to the meeting room.