Ex-Rank Awakening: My Attacks Make Me Stronger

Pascal finally reached the bottom of the mountain, his small body trembling as he leaned on the rocky base for support. His lips parted in a faint smile despite the pain.

"I'm almost there…" he whispered to himself.

But then, two faint glimmers appeared in the undergrowth behind him.

The boy froze. A chill crawled up his spine. Slowly, he turned his head toward the forest. The shrubs swayed gently in the wind, leaves rustling, but there was nothing there. Nothing but shadows.

He bit down nervously on his lip, convincing himself it was nothing, and reached forward to climb.

It was madness. A child, injured and frail, trying to ascend a mountain was no different than begging for death. Yet grief and innocence pushed him on. Pascal was still too young to understand the depth of loss, too young to know that some wishes could never be answered.

Just as his small hand gripped a jutting rock for leverage, the bushes behind him burst apart.

A massive rat lunged, its yellowed fangs bared, its body a blur of fur and filth. Pascal flinched, too slow to react,

But another blur cut across the clearing. As a boot slammed down on the rat's skull, crushing it instantly into the dirt. Blood splattered, the creature's screech silenced in a heartbeat.

Pascal barely had time to register what saved him before the "rock" he was clinging to shifted.

The surface peeled away, wings unfolding in a sickening stretch. What he thought was stone revealed itself to be a monstrous moth, its body camouflaged against the cliffside.

With a screech, it snapped its legs forward, seizing Pascal's body like a doll. His small frame was yanked into the air, his frightened cry swallowed by the wind as the moth beat its colossal wings and ascended.

"Damn it!" Leon's voice cut sharp through the chaos. He still held Racheal in his arms, his eyes locked on the creature above. "How good is your aim?"

Racheal instantly understood. Her bow was already forming in her grasp, conjured with seamless grace. "Good enough to take down a giant bug."

A rare grin tugged at Leon's mouth. "Hold on tight, then."

He bent low, calves tensing. Tier IV Force ignited in his muscles. The ground beneath him cracked as he launched himself upward like a cannon shot.

The air roared past them, the moth drawing higher and higher. Pascal dangled limply in its grip, the boy's breaths coming shallow, the altitude was already stealing the air from his lungs.

Leon grit his teeth. He wasn't fast enough alone. They had one chance.

He shifted his grip, one arm securing Racheal by the waist as his other hand swung back for balance. Her body twisted smoothly against him, her bow raised, arrow nocked.

Her eyes narrowed. She drew in a breath, her voice no louder than a whisper.

"Crimson Shot."

The arrow ignited with blazing scarlet light, humming with deadly precision as she released.

The arrow punched clean through the moth's skull. Its great body convulsed once, then went limp, wings folding like torn sails as it tumbled. The creature's grip loosened and the unconscious boy slipped free, falling toward the earth.

Leon didn't waste a breath. He activated Astral Ascent. As a towering avatar of aura coalesced around him and Racheal, a hulking silhouette of armor and light. The avatar's arm swung out in a practiced arc and caught the boy in midair, cushioning the drop long enough for Leon to deactivate the projection and take hold himself. Gravity finished its work, but Leon absorbed the impact with knees bent, and muscles burning as he cradled Racheal and the limp weight of Pascal.

Racheal set a foot on the ground and untangled herself, bow still warm in her hands. Leon drew a vial from his inventory and tipped it into Pascal's mouth. The gulp sounded small and raw in the forest hush. The boy coughed, sputtered, then his eyelids fluttered open.

His gaze was immediate and fierce. "I have to get up. I have to prove I'm brave so Dad comes back." He pushed at Leon as if the man were an obstacle, urgency sharpening his words.

'How do I handle this?' Leon thought, a weight settling in his chest. He wasn't an expert when it came to children.

He found himself considering the blunt option out loud. "Should I knock him out?" he said, more to the air than to anyone.

But Racheal still heard him. She looked at him with something like pity and incredulity. Is this truly how humans care for their young? her expression asked without words.

****

"Do you want to see your dad?"

The boy in his arms froze. His small body stopped squirming, though his chest still heaved with ragged breaths. The sun hung low through the treetops, casting its glow behind Leon, turning his face into nothing but a dark silhouette. To the boy, it looked as if a figure made of shadow and light had asked him the question.

"Yes," the boy said quickly, desperately. His small fists trembled against Leon's arm. "That's why I have to climb the mountain. If I prove my bravery, if I make it to the top, I'll get a wish. Then my father can come back."

Leon's expression didn't change. His grip didn't soften. He simply answered, flat and without hesitation.

"Your father won't come back."

Disbelief cracked across the boy's face like lightning. "That's a lie!" His voice wavered between defiance and fear, and he twisted as though to fight free again.

But Leon cut him off before he could. "It's the truth. And it's because you're weak."

The forest went still. Not even the rustle of leaves stirred, as though the world itself recoiled at the bluntness of the statement.

The boy's struggles stopped, his arms falling slack. His wide eyes stared at Leon, incredulous, as though he had been struck.

Leon continued, his tone hard, unyielding. "You only made it this far because of luck. And in the end, you still had to be saved by me. What you're chasing isn't bravery." His eyes narrowed, the words landing with the weight of a blade. "It's foolishness."