Chapter 82 Jake Vs Heracles Part 5

After ducking under a fearsome slash from Heracles, Jake attempted to deliver his own attack. But the strike was pitiful and weak. The attack didn't feel like an attack; it barely felt like a poke to Heracles. Jake's body had reached its limit a long time ago; he was done, and everyone knew. Yet he still kept pressing on. After his weak strike, Jake mustered up all his strength to pull back his heavy weapon to prepare another swing. Before his attack could weakly hit the massive man once again, Jake was swatted away by Heracles' hand. The strike the man dealt wasn't that strong, but it hurt Jake all the same. He was sent flying briefly, and while in the air, his mind started to wander.

He started to think about everything that led him up to this point. He thought of his mother being in the hospital, then his mind shifted to the operation he took part in on that fateful night. He thought about Judas and the first time he believed he was going to die. Thinking of it made him chuckle. That mountain of a man sliced him across the chest, but compared to the shape he was in now, Judas's strike seemed like a paper cut. As his body was hitting the ring, Jake's recollection shifted to the man with the slicked-back black hair, Nolan, who spoke to him about his ordeal, about why he was still alive, why they were letting him live because he was the only one in a hundred years who could unsheathe the katana he had. Jake's mind focused on the words Nolan told him: that only who could unsheathe that katana, no one else.

Jake's mind shifted back to that night when he unsheathed that blade for the first and only time. It had been a hundred years, and Jake was the first to draw it from its scabbard. But now, only a few days later, he couldn't do so "why…. why… what changed?" Jake then bounced off the ground twice, then slid, coming to a stop. "What changed?" Jake thought. "What changed?" Then he heard the voice of Zack speaking in his head. "I don't know, I guess something changed for the sword to view you differently, but I'm not the one you should ask." Remembering what Zack had said brought something that Jake had forgotten to the surface: that the mystic swords were alive. From the stories Jake had heard growing up, he thought the swords were just magic swords, but the comment Zack made contradicted what he had believed all his life. The swords were alive, meaning the katana in his hand was alive, meaning it was choosing not to let him unsheathe it. "But why…. Why?"

As Jake was filled with questions, he remembered the solution Zack had given him: to simply ask it, to talk to the sword and ask it why. When Zack had said it before, it sounded foolish; even now, it seemed ridiculous. But as he lay there on the ground, bleeding to death, his body slowly shutting down, one more memory rang in Jake's head: when he was scared to even enter the ring with Heracles. Jake recalled Zack screaming at him.

"YOU HAVE TO SPEAK TO IT, JAKE! YOU HAVE TO BE SEEN AS WORTHY OR YOU CAN'T WIN." In the moment, with his mind and body wrapped with fear, Jake didn't know what Zack was talking about. But now, the pieces of the puzzle started to align. He can't win as he was; that was clear to everyone, including himself. The only way to do so was using the power of this katana. He had to unsheathe it at least one more time. But as Zack said, he needed to be seen as worthy; he needed to know what changed. He needed to speak to the source.

As Jake laid limp on the ground, his opponent Heracles took a step, getting closer to the boy. The man was ready to end this. While he closed the distance between the two, Jake's entire body felt heavier than a boulder. He wasn't sure if he could move. As he looked around, his vision became weaker, less focused, it became blurrier and hazier. It was happening; his body was slowly starting to shut down; he was dying. But before everything went dark, before he crossed from this side to the next, Jake's weary eyes landed on the sword clasped in his hands.

He stared at the sword for what felt like ages. He was trying to muster up the courage. Then he opened his mouth, and for the first time ever, Jake addressed the sword. "Hey…. You…. Can hear me…. Right? You…. Can speak... can't you? Tell... me... why won't you let me... unsheathe you?" Jake paused after asking the question, yet he received no response. His eyebrows frowned as Heracles got closer. "Hey," Jake spat out. "I'm…. talking… to... you... answer me." Jake spoke to the katana again while shaking it in his hands, trying to get its attention. "Why won't you...answer…me...why won't... you…. Let me…. use you?" Jake continued speaking to the sheathed blade, yet it Never gave him the dignity of an answer, but his word didn't fall on deaf ears. She was listening. She had always been listening and watching. Within the past few days, her viewpoint of the boy fluctuated. At first, he reminded her of him, then he quickly became weak in her eyes, then determined, then weak again, then determined once more. The boy's shifting attitude bothered her. She couldn't get a grasp on him. She thought she had made up her mind on him, yet still, he could command shadows, even though she was sheathed, even though she had a low view of him. He could still use a percentage of her power. Tears started to fall down Jake's face as he could feel his heart slowing to a crawl. He started to clutch the sword hard in his hand as he let out a desperate "Why?" Then, after that, he received an answer. He heard a voice, clear as day, but he heard it not with his ears, but in his head.

"Because you are not worthy of me," Jake's eyes went wide as he stared at the sword. He had heard it, the voice, the voice of the sword. Zack was right. But that wasn't the only thing that shocked him. What threw him off was that he recognized the voice. This female voice was the same voice he heard during the exam, and now he could fully recall that this was the same voice he heard on that night, giving him commands while in battle.

"You… Can… Speak… So, it… was you... it was your voice…. That I've… been hearing," the sword answered with a "Yes."

"Then… tell… me why... why am…. I not…. worthy?" "Because you are a coward." Jake was surprised to hear this answer. He didn't expect it. He was almost frazzled, but the sword continued to speak. "You are a coward, and I refuse to be used in battle by a coward such as you. I was wrong the first time I let you unsheathe me. I assumed you were like him. I thought you possessed the same spirit as he, but I was wrong. You are nothing like him. I should have let that man kill you back then, but I'll let this new one kill you now." The katana's true feelings toward Jake hurt him deeply. All he could think about was what she had said. He was a coward. "I'm not a coward," he thought. But even though he thought it without using words, Jake didn't say it in his mind with much confidence as he laid there, Heracles inching ever closer.

Jake thought back on his past actions, going to rob the Sullivans and fighting Judas. Those weren't the actions of a coward. Hell, taking this exam wasn't a coward's move either. But when he thought about the exam, his mind zeroed in on his performance in the first phase of the exam. He thought about how fearful he was of the robots, then his thoughts shifted to how he abandoned Zack in his fight with Angus, the beastmen. Then he shifted to the second phase and how, at first, he ran in terror and fear of the Sun and Moon Brothers. He thought of the fear he had when he knew he would be fighting Heracles in his match. It was then that the curtain was pulled back, and the light of realization shined on Jake. He understood. He had been cowardly, and the entire time, the katana, the sword he held in his hands, was there to witness his actions. Jake felt shame. He was disgusted with himself. Understanding how the sword saw him formed a knot in his throat. For a moment, he was willing to accept his fate and die as the coward she saw him to be.

But in the end, he did not accept it. While still holding the silent sword, Jake spoke to it once more. "You're right. You're absolutely right… I am a coward." Jake's acknowledgment stunned the sword. "I'm scared. I don't even want to be doing this. I don't want to be wrapped up in the Sullivans' mess. I don't want any of this…. I don't even want you." The sword continued to listen intently. "But what I do want is to save my mother. It's all I want, and it's what I need to do… I need to save my mother's life because she's all that I have left, and I refuse to let her down." Tears started to fall from Jake's eyes as he clutched the sheathed blade tightly in his hands. "IF IT'S FOR HER, THEN I'LL KEEP MOVING FORWARD. IF IT'S FOR HER, I'LL FIGHT EVEN THOUGH I'M SCARED. IF IT'S FOR HER, I'LL BECOME THE STRONGEST IN THE WORLD…. BUT I CAN'T DO IT ALONE. I CAN'T DO THIS BY MYSELF. I'M NOT STRONG ENOUGH…. SO PLEASE LEND ME YOUR STRENGTH." Jake's words resonated deep in her soul. Even though she didn't want it to, Jake's passionate words triggered a memory of hers that happened over 100 years ago. She remembered being in a canyon after a long battle. Her wielder, a handsome young man named Mifune, had just finished slaying a giant behemoth. As he sat on the beast's corpse, he exhaled an exaggerated breath, then broke out laughing. "What's so funny?" she asked him. Nothing really, just thinking how badass a team you and I make."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, by myself, there'd be no chance in heaven or hell that I could kill a beast like this." He said, rubbing the dead creature's fur. "But with you, it's as easy as taking a stroll in the park."

The katana chuckled softly from Mifune's kind words. For a while, the two sat in silence, not a peep spoken between them. Then the man spoke, "Hey, Tsubaki."

"Yes, what is it?"

"You know, I'm good on my own, great even, but with you, I'm fantastic… so please, Tsubaki, continue lending me your strength."

The man looked at his sword and he smiled. Then she was snatched back to the present. Jake wasn't him. He wasn't this man, Mifune, and she knew it. She knew it deep in her soul, yet still she couldn't help it. Like on that night, the katana in Jake's hand started to shake. It was rattling in his hands as streams of darkness came off it like steam coming from a boiling pot.

She never gave Jake an answer with her words, but she was with her actions. Jake only watched the blade shake for a moment, then he understood what it meant. The boy laid flat on his back as Heracles was right over him now, about to end this match with one final blow. But he wouldn't get the chance because in one fluid motion, Jake unsheathed the katana.

There was no restriction coming from her part at this moment. The mystic blade named Tsubaki wanted to be wielded in battle, and as her blade was exposed to air, darkness erupted from her.