Chapitre 176: Shattered Hope Part Five
Seventeen years ago, on the day of Akira and Emiko's birth, Strout was nothing more than a street dweller who spent the majority of his time begging for money on the streets of Grava City.
At the time, he was in his mid-twenties and had short gray hair. He was skinny, with dirt stains all over his clothes and body.
"I can't believe I have to do this shit for another year," Strout exclaims to himself.
On this fateful day, Strout was making his daily rounds, begging for money in various areas of Grava City.
"Hey, mam?"
The second the lady sees Strout with a beat-up hat in his hand, she looks at him with disgust.
"Could you spare just a little change for a poor unfortunate young man such as myself?" Strout begs with a friendly expression on his face.
"Eww, you smell! Back away from me, you creepy old man; you're not fooling anyone with that young man act!" the woman screams as she runs away from Strout with a disgusted expression on her face.
When the first lady runs away from him, everyone also runs away from Strout.
"Uhh, I hate living like this!" Strout screams at the top of his leg.
At the end of the day, after finishing all his rounds, Strout returned to his stand in a shady part of the city.
"Damn it, I got less money than I did yesterday! All the people in this city are a bunch of greedy fucks, and why won't anyone believe that I'm actually twenty-five?"
As Strout walks to his stand, he feels his stomach growl.
"And great, I'm going to go another week starving like a bitch," Strout yells as he throws his hat full of money to the ground out of frustration.
"Hmph, are you really supposed to help me?"
After hearing a voice speak to him, Strout looks straight and sees someone sitting on his stand with an irritable look on his face.
"Wait, I know you, your Chirs Sato, one of the richest people on the planet. What the fuck are you doing here sitting on my only piece of property?" Strout asks with an annoyed expression.
"Is that how you talk to a customer when you're the one late?" Chris asks with a calm tone.
"Customer? You must set up an appointment with me first before you just come over here demanding shit. So get lost, rich boy, I got shit to do," Strout says with an irritated tone.
"My first child was born today..."
"This bastard is still going to explain what he wants anyway," Strout screams in his head.
"I use an OGI scanner to look for potential, but I didn't see a drop of potential, so I want a new one with limitless potential, and I want them born today so I can raise them myself. I heard from a friend who has many other friends, and he told me around these parts, "Mister get shit done," so I came here to give you this job. I need it done today by 12; so hurry up."
After hearing Chris's commands, Strout starts to become infuriated.
"Did this rich bitch really come to me asking for bullshit I never agreed to? Wait, now that I think about it, it's fucking 9 right now, and he wants this shit done by 12. Is he insane? Wait, did he say he used an OGI scanner to test his newborn potential? I guess the rumors of the rich being fucking idiots are very true. An OGI scanner doesn't give an accurate result of potential at birth; you've got to give the damn brat a few years to develop potential! I'm broke, and even I know that shit! I'm just going to tell this dumbass to fuck off!" Strout thinks to himself with veins popping out of his head.
Strout looks Chris directly in the eyes.
"Look, I don't know who you think you are bu—"
"Wait! I forgot to mention if you complete this job, I'll give you six billion dollars so you can pull yourself out of this shithole you call a life," Chris remarks with a condescending tone.
The second Strout heard the words "six billion," and he smiled widely.
"Sorry for the rudeness earlier. I'll have that baby with limitless potential hot and ready within two hours. How about you go grab that money so we can make this transaction as fast as possible?" Strout says without hesitation.
"Good, I'm glad we came to an agreement. You better not fail me. I won't take it lightly," Chris says in a dark tone.
Thirty minutes later, Strout snuck into a hospital, and there he stole a baby who would soon be named Akira while the family was resting.
Another thirty minutes passed, and Strout was back at his stand, waiting for Chris to bring him the money to exchange.
"Ok, soon I'll be out of this dump, but I got to make sure this deal goes through.
Strout looks at the sleeping baby in his arms and smiles.
"This will be easy, but I got to get it right. Hmm, my power allows me to curse anything with a chant and a bunch of random movements from my hand. The only issue here is that this is a lifetime curse, and I must have a positive effect with a negative effect that is greater than the positive effect. I hate that my powers always had this stupid rule. Why do even the simple curses work like this?"
Suddenly the baby starts to drool while sucking her thumb.
"Uhh, this is why I hate damn brats! Wait, now that I think about it, the positive and negative connotations of the curse depend on how she feels about them, but she's a baby; she doesn't know what she likes and doesn't."
Strout starts to think hard to figure out a way to complete Chris's assignment.
"Wait, maybe I can apply the curse to fit how she will feel in the future. Yeah, the positive connotation doesn't matter as long as the negative part of the curse is to her disliking in the future."
Strout starts to swipe his right middle and index finger in front of the baby.
"This baby girl will have limitless potential as long as she breathes, but every time she grows in anything OGI-related, the person she loves the most will suffer from decreasing growth and stunted potential!"
Strout puts his palm forth directly in front of the baby.
"Now curse!"
After applying his curse to the baby girl soon to be named Akira, Strout started to chuckle.
"Heh, it worked! Now someone in her life will suffer for the rest of their lives all because of her, and I get my hands on 6 billion dollars! Extraordinary coming from me if I were to brag. Hahaha!" Strout screams while laughing hysterically.
On this fateful day, Akira and Emiko were born in different worlds, but with a few words, they were intertwined forever.
Back in the present time, Strout has told the entire story to Akira, and she is in pure shock.
"What are you talking about that can't be true? Father... Father got me from a nice family who were willing to give me up. So that means you couldn't have put that curse on me." Akira says as her voice shakes.
"Oh, don't give me that pretend foolish bullshit, missy!" Strout yells as he gets up despite his injuries.
"No! Shut up! It's not true!" Akira yells as she grips her head in anguish.
"Why the hell are you denying it now? For the past ten years, you've been wallowing in guilt for what you've been doing to your own sister." Strout screams with a sly smile on his face.
"Shut up, you're wrong. I didn't know! I had no idea something like this was the reason!" Akira screams in anguish.
"Oh, so now you know what I'm talking about? How pitiful of you to try to pretend. I can sense the progress of my curses, and I noticed that about ten years ago my curse upon you started to slow down until it stopped being activated completely! It's because you realized what you were doing to Emiko wasn't!"
"Shut up!" Akira screams.
As Strout laughs, Akira starts to think to herself.
"I was becoming so good with OGI so fast back then, but I thought it was because of my father's harsh training. I only noticed when I became so good with OGI I could sense other people's OGI really well. That's when I realized that Emiko was getting weaker by the day while my power increased at an alarming rate. Before I knew, I put two and two together, even though it took me years to fully realize it," Akira thinks to herself with tears spilling from her eyes.
"Oh, you're finally admitting it to yourself, I see! You stopped applying yourself to everything that could possibly improve your power and activate the curse! You figured it out, but too late! Your sister is stuck! She's stuck as a pathetic OGI user and a disappointment to her last name, which led to her father making her suffer!" Strout screams in antagonizing tone.
"No! Stop!" Akira yells.
"You did this to her! You'll always cause Emiko's suffering for the rest of your miserable lives." Strout shouts with no remorse.
"No!" Akira screams as she turns around, falls to her knees, and slams both her fists on the ground, cracking it.
"Heh, this is good. I've broken her mental state, and now I can escape this place without her medalling.
As Strout starts to walk away, many emotional things go through Akira's mind.
"I hurt her! I made her this way! Emiko will never find peace because of me! Why! Why! Why do I exist?" Akira asks herself with tears in her eyes.
Akira places her right hand where her heart is.
"I don't deserve anything! I don't deserve to live!"
An image of Emiko and Akira playing together as kids pop into Akira's mind.
"I don't deserve her as a sister!"
"I'm...so sorry," Emiko repeats in Akira's head five times.
"No, don't say sorry! Stop! Don't apologize to someone like me!" Akira screams to herself as she pushes her fingers into her chest so hard they start to poke holes around her heart.
After many conflicting words go wild in her head, Akira remembers one statement made by her father a long time ago.
"You can't just stop applying yourself to a power like this, you foolish girl! If you don't practice it and lock it away like some beast, it won't be controllable once you release it later in life! It will be too strong to control!"
After remembering these words, Akira stops crying, pulls her fingers out of her chest, and begins to turn around.
"I don't care anymore," Akira utters.
Akira turns around and sees Strout walking away. Then slowly her pupils turn red, but it seems wavy within them, almost like there's a sea of lava reflecting in them.
"It's not my fault," Akira whispers.
Lava starts to crack out of the ground under Akira as she gets on all fours.
"It's your fault! Strout!" Akira screams as the lava around her sprays out of the ground and engulfs her entire body.
Once Strout hears the commotion behind him, he turns around.
"What the hell is that girl trying to commit suicide with lava?" I thought she would be immune. Whatever let the girl kill herself, I don't care," Strout remarks.
Strout begins to turn around, but then he notices something out of the corner of his eye.
"The hell is happening to her?" Strout asks with a shocked expression.
Inside the lava, Akira's body starts to enlarge alongside her muscles. She continues to grow bigger and bigger until she reaches ten feet tall. Her muscles continue to grow at an alarming rate, tearing apart her clothes.
"Rahhh!"
Akira's face starts to reform all over the place until it looks like a vicious dog with horns. Then, in an instance, her new head splits into three. Then finally a long tail grows out of her back.
"What the hell is going on? This isn't her power! Her power is lava manipulation! What the fuck is this?" Strout screams in fear.
Most people who know Akira have a strong misinterpretation of how her power works; actually, they don't even know what her power is called. The only people in the world who know the truth of her power are Selena, who read her mind, and her father, who first witnessed it.
The lava spraying out of the ground stops, and Akira's form is revealed. Her body is complete muscle, with lava flowing through each vein and rib, causing a glow that is visible from the outside. She has black fur all over her skin, excluding her stomach area. Her head is the form of a rabid dog with lava burns all across the skin. Her head is also split into three, and she is standing upright, showing off her thirty-pack. Then finally, a long tail completely made of lava moves around slowly, almost like it has a mind of its own.
With drool made out of lava and soot releasing from all three her mouths, Akira steps forward toward Strout.
"Eek!" Strout exclaims; he backs away and trips in fear.
The true name of Akira's level two power is Lava Cerberus.
"This is what that limitless potential did? How is that even possible? She's not even human anymore!" Strout screams while trembling.
Akira bends her knees with lava forming under her feet.
"No, stay away, you damn monster! Stay away!" Strout screams in terror.
Akira starts to run toward Strout, with each step turning the ground into lava.
"I said stay away, damn it!"
"Rahhhh!"
Chapter 176 end
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone