"Let’s call it a day. We’ve done enough."
Time marched on until evening fell. As the sun began to sink and the sky bled into a deep orange, Ryuga sheathed his katana and brought their mock battle to an end.
The metallic click of the guard resounded through the air. Ryuga maintained a perfectly composed expression as Marcos stared up at him, one knee still pressed firmly into the dirt.
"Pant... pant...! Not... yet! Give me... one more round...!"
"I told you, we’re finished. We’ve fought plenty; there’s no need to continue."
"Guh...!"
Marcos’s ragged breathing and the sweat pouring from him in rivulets told the story of his absolute exhaustion.
As Marcos struggled to stand through sheer force of will, Ryuga watched him with a gaze that implicitly warned him not to overexert himself. Marcos felt a bitter cocktail of frustration and inadequacy welling up inside him.
(Is this really the limit...? Does such a massive gap still exist between us?!)
How many times had they crossed blades since Ryuga arrived at the training grounds?
Marcos had stopped counting once they surpassed ten, but they must have gone through dozens of rounds.
He had lost every single one of them.
And it wasn't just that he kept losing. He had suffered total defeat after total defeat without even managing to glimpse a path to victory.
Whether it was the gale-force flurries, the fluid, ever-shifting strikes that flowed like water, or the thunderous slashes that struck like lightning... he had been unable to parry a single one, taking hit after effective hit.
Facing Ryuga’s overwhelming swordsmanship had forced Marcos to confront the chasm between them. He clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white.
"You’re in a different dimension... literally! Your strength is one—no, two levels beyond mine!!"
"Marcos-san..."
Fee watched with concern, having overheard Marcos’s groan as the weight of the power gap settled on him.
Marcos's subordinates also looked on with worry, seeing their leader so thoroughly thrashed.
However, they all knew that clumsy consolation would only wound Marcos’s pride further. While Fee and the others hesitated, unsure of how to bridge the awkward silence, Ryuga finally spoke.
"You’re being far too self-deprecating, Marcos. You need to have a little more faith in yourself."
"---?!"
Marcos gasped.
His face immediately clouded with a sharp, defensive edge. Once he caught his breath, he snapped back at his rival.
"Have faith? In this situation? Is that sarcasm? Are you mocking me?!"
"No. I mean exactly what I said. You’ve become excessively humble."
Answering the question with uncharacteristic directness, Ryuga looked Marcos straight in the eye.
He wasn't joking, nor was he offering empty words of comfort. Realizing that Ryuga was speaking with total sincerity, Marcos fell silent. Ryuga continued.
"It is a fact that you are currently weaker than Yugo or me. However, the gap in our abilities is not nearly as wide as you think. To begin with, you are a powerhouse in your own right. You aren't weak."
"But the fact remains that I couldn't even touch you—!!"
"So what if you couldn't beat me? Failing to reach the same level as Yugo or myself doesn't make you a weakling."
"...!!"
It felt half like a lecture and half like a blunt compliment.
As Marcos struggled to process whether he was being praised or scolded, Ryuga maintained his serious expression.
"The first step to growing stronger is to evaluate your own ability correctly. Overestimating yourself is obviously a mistake... but underestimating yourself is just as bad. You fall into the latter category, Marcos. Because you’ve spent so much time watching Yugo—a man whose strength is in a realm of its own—your standard for power has become warped."
Starting with the Crab Magic Armor Beast that Rush transformed into, then the massive Gigantes that Yugo and Ryuga defeated together, the Level 2 Magic Armor Beasts like the Siblings of the Insect Museum and Kurotobari, and even Zaraki in his Dragon-man form... Marcos had witnessed one high-level threat after another, all while watching Yugo strike them down.
Consequently, he was so focused on chasing Yugo that he hadn't noticed his own growth. He failed to see that his strength, forged in the fires of those same brutal battles, had leaped significantly.
He might be weak compared to the two outliers, Yugo and Ryuga. However, if he were to fight a human who had transformed into a Magic Armor Beast or any of the other students known as Hero Candidates, Marcos would win without question.
Ryuga argued that the problem was that Marcos, by constantly looking up at the peaks, had lost sight of the ground he stood upon. He was viewing his own power as far lower than it actually was. Marcos could only let out a low groan.
"But... what does any of that matter? I might be strong by normal standards, but I can't be satisfied with that! It’s meaningless unless I’m strong enough to stand beside you two!"
"Don’t be so impatient, Marcos. I told you, didn't I? Evaluate your ability correctly... Those words mean that you must understand which stage you are currently at."
"Which stage...?"
Ryuga gave a small, firm nod.
To Marcos, whose eyes were wide with shock, Ryuga made his declaration.
"Realize it, Marcos. You’ve already reached the threshold of the next phase. The time has come for you to break out of your shell."