Chương 52: R&R Ch. 52 — Prove our Point

Nicholas did his best to restrain both the eye roll and the groan as he and Jasmine were being lectured on all the things they had done wrong with the wave. Rend had several opinions. Opinions that Nicholas had objective proof that they were wrong, but their mentor was convinced that because he and Jasmine had focused on teamwork and relying on one another that it was wrong.

"Heroes have to draw power from themselves," Rend said, placing a hand on the table of the war room.

"And at every turn, you two decided to draw power from others. You won't reach the summit like that. For the rest of your life, you two have to drag the other along, even if they would be a detriment. Are you truly okay with that?" He and Jasmine exchanged a look.

"Yeah, I did it willingly." Jasmine confirmed. Nicholas wanted to prove his name was Retort for good reason.

"So, to get this straight, boss man, you're upset and surprised that the registered team acted like a team?" Nicholas asked innocently. Nicholas supposed it was a reasonable stance to hold if the two of them had just been random supers they had picked up. But he and Jasmine had registered as a team before they had even enrolled. It would be like acting surprised that a pyrokinetic used fire to stop a crime. Rend stared at Nicholas eyes empty of the usual mirth or amusement that adorned their mentor's face.

Nicholas stared back with his own blank stare. Nicholas was willing to accept his faults and all the places where he had fucked up, but he refused to be cowed by someone's opinion. There were eleven pinnacles. So what if nine of them did it alone? Two of them were teams, so Nicholas and Jasmine's road wasn't wrong. More than that, they had fought plenty solo too.

"You think that just because you guys are a team you'll be able to work together in every situation. Or that you can make up for the fact that one of you will be useless?" Rend asked. Nicholas could feel Jasmine urging him not to continue egging on their mentor, but Nicholas didn't care.

"Wow, for someone who picked us because unlike you, we would have a power for every situation, it seems pretty convenient to forget that fact now." Nicholas said, unable to help himself.

"Or how about this one," Nicholas said, tapping at his tablet and pulling up one of the several videos of Rend fighting side by side with supers to help the wave. A group doing together what the sum of their parts couldn't do.

"So you're allowed to draw strength from others and do what we did, but we aren't? When you guys were all punching down in the wave ranking wise and we were punching up?" Rend's expression turned murderous while Nicholas kept smiling innocently at his mentor.

"Let's test your conviction, Retort," Rend said with a smile.

"Oooo scary, the C-rank is going to bully the F-rank recovering from critical soul damage." Nicholas said, standing up.

"Yeah, let's do this." Jasmine could only gape as the two vanished, reappearing on the cameras in the sparring room. They were saying something, but she couldn't hear it as she scrambled for the remote to turn up the sound. If her best friend was going to commit suicide by pissing off a higher rank, she had to witness it. Jasmine paused. She didn't actually have to do that. Nicholas was proving Rend's point false just by fighting solo, that it was an unfair comparison. More than that.

Jasmine loathed calling on her grandma. She hadn't done it during the wave because she refused to just let her solve all of her problems. But this was different; this was a situation she couldn't solve. Nicholas called forth his golden book out of his soul. Rend drew the black sword that looked to be a sword-shaped hole in the universe. And Jasmine called her grandma.

"The point of this is to prove you can still fight on your own, not use your power of friendship ass book." Rend pointed out. Retort made a point of looking around the room, even checking underneath his shoes.

"Last time I checked, it is only you and I in the room." Rend could not stand Retort at the moment. Not only had the duo abandoned the real path of power, he had to take every chance he could to tweak Rend's nose. He had hoped that they would listen to his lecture, but it was clear that hadn't worked. His second hope was that they would listen after he dominated them, but they weren't wrong. It would just be bullying if he attacked with their rank difference.

"So, to prove that the path to power is better walked solo than alone, you're going to fight me solo? Right?" Retort asked as if it was the funniest joke in the world. He couldn't swallow his rage forever, but he had to try. They were just children, children who didn't know any better. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. They thought they could fight with their friends, and Rend had too, but betrayal was the only path teamwork brought.

There was a reason nine individuals stood at the top.

"I'm going to show you what I have gained walking the real path," Rend said, his voice calm.

"Oh, so are you going to restrict yourself down to f-rank?" Retort brightened.

"Since that's what I am right now, so if you want to prove your path is better at every step of the way, it's only fair, right?" Rend knew it was a trap. His students were at the peak of the f-rank and the only reason they hadn't gone up higher was because both of them were still healing from soul damage, even if he had scoffed and thought they should just go forward, anyway.

If they couldn't turn the scars into rivers of strength, there wasn't a point, but the doctors had been on their side, so he hadn't pushed too hard. Couple that with the book he held, and Nicholas would be stronger than almost any F-rank. Stronger than when Rend had been their rank.

"I will restrict my power down, yes," Rend said, smiling as he forced his power to diminish. No amount of veils and limits would take away his hard-earned skill, and the lessons he learned forging his own path after the betrayal of his own team. And it wasn't as if Retort was the only one that had an artifact at his side, though it would be hard to use at F-rank. Retort whistled softly.

"I thought you wouldn't bother; guess you really do think your point is right, don't you?"

"You asked, thinking I would just beat on you the whole time?"

"That's exactly what I thought you would do." Rend set his stance and ran through the options that Retort would have to win. He would most likely go with the barrage since it would track him even through space. He could deal with that.

"System signal." The intercom crackled, and a countdown began.

"Go!" Rend had years of experience, and had spent nearly a century honing his ability to cut space to be the first mover and wielder of an absolute offense. He was second on the draw." Lullaby" Rend forced himself to move his sword swung through space, and he tumbled through the portal, trying to force himself through the delirium induced by the haunting melody. Rend's portal missed. He came out halfway across the room, facing his old position instead of attacking his student.

Stone spears launched themselves out of the ground as the haunting melody continued to play, reducing his reflexes. That damned book. Retort must have used the book to cast the lullaby and used his normal command for the playroom.

"You know, I hadn't figured it out originally. Your power isn't to cut through space; it's just to cut, and that's your specialty. But you want to know something fun? You have as much authority over where you're going as I do. And with the reduced rank taking away your speed and power, and the lullaby slowing you down. You can't make portals faster than I can twist their end location." Retort taunted from above him. Rend cut through light, turning invisible as he dodged to the side to make another portal.

Someone figuring out his trick couldn't stop him. Rend was unparalleled when it came to his own branch of reality warping. Gravity warped as the power of his sword dragged everything towards him. Retort fell off the platform he had been lurking on as Rend dragged his student closer. If he wanted to show the difference between them, Rend would show him. There was no golden book fluttering around Retort, but Rend pushed that thought to the side as he prepared his next attack.

A cut that would injure his student and show their difference in power without cleaving him in half. An attack that would show Retort and Retribution the only path to power was the one they walked alone. Karma, Belief, and Power wove together as Rend aimed for his target. A hole through reality swung through the air. Retort's hand rose to meet the attack." Warp" The command clashed against Rend's own working. The two authorities fighting for dominance. Retort won.

His student hadn't chosen a battle of wills; he hadn't faced him head-on. He had just gone for the win. The attack that could cleave through nearly anything met the power, and it warped. Instead of one powerful cut, dozens ripped through the air in random directions, warped out of the way of his student.

Jasmine stared at the two clashing her phone on the table, helpless. Her grandmother said that it was their job to prove their point to their mentor. Neither of them would die from this, so there wasn't a problem. Jasmine chastised herself for not believing in Nicholas more. He was calm and focused. And what he was doing was enchanting. She had damn near had a heart attack when she realized he had just brought the book out to taunt Rend and had put it away the moment their mentor had vanished through space.

They had figured out what Rend's power was together, and watching Nicholas dismantle it was incredible. Rend's authority might have been the highest Jasmine had ever seen. But only when it came to cutting. Against Nicholas, now that he knew the trick, he would never lose. It just didn't seem like he was going to be able to win as the two continued to clash, the haunting lullaby trying to slow their mentor down further. She wanted to fight too.

If Nicholas was going to fight for their path, then damn it, she was going to do it too; she wouldn't be defeated either. Her grandma and mom had told her the same thing: that the best path to power was the path you walked alone. But Jasmine would not accept the best path to power. She would walk her path to power. Cuts appeared all over Nicholas's body at the same time as a horde of energy pulses slammed into Rend, both of them falling to the ground.

But where Rend had only fallen to one knee, Nicholas had fully collapsed to the floor.

"You won't break me," Nicholas said, levering himself to his feet using the wall for support.

"I'm going to do it my way and go all the way."

"You're a fool," Rend said, sword in hand.

"But I suppose even a fool deserves a chance," Rend said, sheathing his sword as his power released back to full strength.

"Retribution, do you feel the same?"

"Of course." Jasmine promised. Rend and Nicholas reappeared in the conference room, Rend seeming right as rain even as Nicholas dripped blood. The golden book finally reappeared." Recover""That's better," Nicholas said, slumping into his chair next to Jasmine.

"You two are positive that you refuse to listen to me and will continue your power of friendship path?" Rend asked, levelling a stare at both of them.

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Prove it to me that it's not a waste, and when you fail, remember I warned you it's not too late to change roads at your rank." Rend said simply. With that Rend turned back to the lecture, this time going over what the two of them had done well in the wave. The compliments were nice, but Jasmine couldn't help but wonder. Was Nicholas singled out because he had mouthed off? Or because he didn't have a pinnacle for a grandma who would smite Rend for hurting her.