Chapter 47: Athena 2 (Part 2)
TL: Scaramochi
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[Athena's POV]
And the next day.
When I went to the living room to have breakfast, Frey, who had changed into the same street clothes as Meimei, was serving the food.
Hmmm...it suits her well, doesn't it? Apparently, Frey had been woken up early in the morning by Meimei, and had been working hard on chores such as cleaning and cooking.
I heard that is part of the work of an disciple. I wanted to help her, but she said that unlike Frey, we are only guests, so we don't have to do any work.
I felt kind of bad, but Dale said, "Just spoil them when you can." so I thanked him and decided to ask for his help.
After finishing breakfast, Dale asked me to follow him, so I went into the mountains with Mirialia. Apparently, Mirialia and I have separate menus.
As I was looking forward to seeing what kind of training it was going to be, Dale suddenly stopped and said to me, "I'm not going to be able to do that."
"Is this about right?"
"You're going to train here?"
"Well, I'll be in Mirialia, but that's a different place. Now Athena, you have one flaw. What is it?"
Flaw......? I have no idea which one is a flaw because I have so many ideas.
I am not as durable as Frey, nor can I use powerful magic like Mirialia.
But if I had to say--.
"Attack power......?"
"Correct. What the hell, you know what you're talking about. Athena has the best evasion ability and is learning how to parry, so there are no gaps in her defense. But if you only look at her offensive ability, it's not enough."
"That's true ...... but my power is not as good as Mirialia's advanced magic or Frey's full power."
I had felt this myself for some time. Even when fighting monsters, I have defeated them by striking precisely at their vital points. In short, the destructive power of a single blow is weak.
"What I'm going to do now is to train to increase the destructive power."
"I see....... but what the hell are you going to do? Are you going to increase muscular power? Or are you going to apply it with magic power?"
"There's also magical manipulation, but that's the second step. The first step is much simpler."
Simpler? Is there any way to increase attack power without increasing muscular power or using magic?
When I am dubious, Dale tells me how to do it.
"For example, when do you think a human being has a burst of power?"
"What kind of time...... when you want to win someone or protect someone...... or something like that?"
"Yes, that's about right. In short, human power involves more than a little bit of emotion. And the strongest of all emotions is anger."
Anger....... may indeed be true.
There are many emotions, but anger may be the strongest of them all. Anger drives people crazy. Even if the impulse is temporary, it can have the power to kill people, even normally mild-mannered people.
"Look at Frey, she's always so pissed off, she's always hitting monsters to vent her anger, right? It narrows her field of vision, but it's more destructive because she's unhinged. Except for the physical enhancements."
"So you want me to be angry, too?"
"Well, that's the short answer."
But can I really do it?
I have never been really angry at someone. No, I do get angry.
I have been angry at Frey for her selfishness and egoism, and I have also been angry at Dale and Mirialia for their insolence. But I have never been angry to the point of forgetting myself, to the point of wanting to kill someone in the extreme.
"I call the release of anger 'emotion.' The opposite power, calming the mind and making it powerful, is 'emotional quietness'. To use a familiar analogy, Athena is the emotional quietness type and Frey is the emotional type."
Emotion and emotional quietness...... Dale is right.
When I think about it, I try to be calm at all times, and I feel like Frey is always following her heart. We are completely different types of people.
That's why the question arises.
"But is it possible for me, an emotionally calm type of person, to master emotion?"
"Of course you can. In fact, Frey is in the process of mastering emotional quiteness too. Originally, Kikagei-ryu is a posteriori, static fighting style. By training in Kikagei-ryu, you will naturally be able to do amo-jing as well. I don't think she understands that, though. I want Frey to be able to train in seishin and Athena to be able to train in emotion. They are completely opposite types of things, but if they can do them, they will become exponentially stronger."
"Okay. What do you want me to do?"
"Right. I'll show you anyway."
"--?
--It was the moment I said that.
A powerful killing spirit gushed from Dale's body, and his whole body was awash with fear.
No, it wasn't only me. The grass, the trees, the mountains, and this space all seemed to be threatened by Dale's anger.
While I was too afraid to move my body, Dale pulled out his sword from the scabbard on his back and slammed it against a nearby rock. The rock was sliced in half - not in half, but smashed into tiny pieces. As he lets go, Dale releases his killing intent.
"And well, this is what I call emotion. How's that? You're freaked out, aren't you?"
"Oh, oh...... I was so surprised. I've never felt such an urge to kill before. And the destructive power of the rock shattering."
"I'm telling you, I'm not physically enhanced right now. I just smashed the rock with a burst of emotional rage."
What the ...... was he able to achieve that kind of power without any physical enhancements?
It's hard to believe, but I saw it with my own eyes, so I guess it's true.
"This is how I get Athena to be able to do emotions. The trick is to imagine the person you want to beat to death, and then it's like hitting them with your anger. You know what they say about "hitting things"? You have to do that intentionally."
"It's hard....... I don't have anyone I want to kill."
"Well, you can start with a little anger. Let's just do it. You know, try that rock right there, just like I just did."
With that being said, I drew my sword from the scabbard on my hip. I hold the sword up, close my eyelids, and imagine.
Yes ...... the anger I've felt lately might be toward Ryu and his disciples.
I swing my sword as hard as I can, building up my anger against them.
"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
I swing my sword to strike my anger. The rock was torn cleanly in half, but I couldn't shatter it like Dale.
"Haa...... Haa...... that's not easy to do."
"Well, you can't do it that well the first time. It's the opposite of Athena's emotions. But if you can master your emotions, you can take it to the next level. So I'm going to go somewhere else with Mirialia, and you keep going."
"Okay."
With that, Dale leaves with Mirialia.
After seeing them both off, I exhaled deeply.
"Phew......... let's do it."
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