What one might consider the pinnacle of strength isn't so. This is the lesson that Akame was trying to hammer into Gil's brain before he was tainted by what the world would have told him true strength was. Was this an insane idea? Of course it was, but then again we can only imagine who the first guy testing parachutes was like. He probably was as insane as he was right now.
"Excuse me? Again I ask, do you think he can beat me?" Jericho was getting impatient, all she could think of was fighting Akame. Forgetting what had brought her here in the first place.
"Again I answer, let's test that hypothesis. Me and Teddy here will the referees. If you can end it in an instant then that's fine." Akame closed his eyes, "But if you can't then…" He didn't finish that sentence on purpose.
"mmmmmH" Jericho mumbled to herself, "Fine, c'mon kid I'll beat your ass first then fight guy with white hair and prove my dominance."
"I think you're missing the core lesson of this entire fight." Teddy announced, however, he of all people should know how Jericho is when she's on a mission. She never does anything halfheartedly regardless of whether she enjoys it or not.
"Alright." Gil began stretching, 'It's a good thing I wore something light.' He thought, referring to his sleeping clothes or as people around here would call them, pajamas.
"Good." She raised her hands.
ORGANIC ALCHEMY: CARBON BASED RODS!
Multiple of them came raining from above. Gil looked as multiple of them crashed on him.
"I understand that use organic alchemy. So, does she remove carbon from carbon (IV) oxide in air when she's not using a part of her body?" Akame asked.
"I guess its something along those lines." Teddy answered, "Honestly I have little understanding of how she can make those rods come from anywhere but her body."
Jericho almost laughed at how quickly she was able to take Gil down. Sadly for her, it wasn't long until she realized that this was no ordinary person she was dealing with. He appeared behind her as traces of blue static followed him.
"My turn."
He coated his hands with blue lightning aiming for her spine. But it wouldn't be that easy, Jericho's reaction time wasn't to be slept on either. As she was able to move out of the way, she then used the rod in her hand to block Gil's fist, but the rod broke.
'He's able to break through pure iron?' Jericho moved a bit further, 'I have to control the distance between us.'
"When I kicked her, her face should've been destroyed completely." Akame made a conclusion, "Her regeneration must be off the charts?"
"I suppose you could say that." Teddy answered, "Not to sure, however, her entire lower jaw was taken out. But it regrew back instantly."
"Interesting."
Jericho decided to take the initiative, controlling the space was something she'd need to do or rather its always been her strategy regardless of which kind of opponent she was facing. Because controlling the space was the same as controlling the fight.
She spun the pole extending it by
ORGANIC ALCHEMY: CARBONATION (OR CARBON ADDITION)
She then lifted it aiming directly at Gil, who was able to dodge it.
"It's interesting how both of them seem to have the same reaction time." Teddy said, "But it's obvious that Gil's putting in more effort to keep up than Iman."
"Yes, that is completely true. But then again you guys have had more experience and enough time away from concentrated fragment areas as such you guys have less reserves of fragment energy which makes it easier to control the energy rather than someone who lives in an environment where there's so much fragment energy that their body has to constantly leak it out of their system. Thus why Gil is working harder, because he physically trying to suppress the amount of fragment energy he's currently using."
"True, that does make sense." Teddy rubbed his chin.
Another reason the two were keeping up that Akame didn't mention, on purpose, was most likely due to Gil's lightning based sorcery which naturally flowed out.
'He can naturally transmute, yes like alchemy transmutation, his fragment energy into lightning.'
After missing she decided it was perhaps time to close the gap a little bit more. She came in with her rod ready to land a hit on Gil's face but he folded his hands and punched through the rod cutting it in half. Jericho had anticipated this, thus she took both halves and dual wielded them both.
SMACK!
She finally landed one on Gil's right arm which he was using to try and defend his face.
"But that's not the only thing." Teddy mentioned.
"Why?"
"I can tell that his physique is also stronger than Iman's. Especially because he's able to tank hits from the rods. Which are imbued with fragment energy to enhance their strength."
"True, building a strong physique might be the most tasking but important part of using fragment energy. Because regardless of how many body parts you enhance if your body is not equipped to handle that amount of power it'll just collapse."
(Like what happened to Gil back in Chapter 31)
Jericho seemed to be taking control of this fight as she was able to land multiple hits on him. This was probably because of her combat prowess. She gave Gil no time to try and move as she attacked with her rods.
When he was blinded a bit she decided to unbalance him by tripping him. She then aimed the rod in her right hand at his face. But Gil was prepared with both hands going in opposite directions he was able to break the rod into smaller pieces. Jericho then took this opportunity to use the rod in her left hand.
But nope, in an instant Gil disappeared reappearing a bit of a distance away to one of the broken pieces of the rod.
"Incredible!" Teddy exclaimed, "Was it teleportation?"
Akame grabbed his chin, 'Unlikely, its more likely that he did the thing he had told me he was able to do. He must have created a…'
POTENTIAL DIFFERENCE!
'With that piece of the rod, this makes sense. I had told him while we were doing physical training that that was the only thing he should practice until we began doing actual fragment combat, seems that skill came into use immediately.' Akame thought.
Gil kicked a piece of the rod at Jericho, who deflected it with the other half of the rod which she switched from her left hand to her right.
ELECTROSTATIC POTENTIAL DIFFERENCE!
Instantly Gil appeared next to the piece of the rod Jericho had deflected, prompting her to turn back immediately. Her senses screaming at her to do something.
And something she did, well tried to do anyway. Gil was a bit faster this time landing three kicks. One to her lower right thigh, another to her lower right abdomen and the last one to he lower right jaw. This sent her skeeding.
"Hey, isn't that the same move you used?" Teddy asked.
"You noticed that I kicked her three times?"
"Somehow, it was incredibly fast though. Almost instantaneous. But since I wasn't the one being attacked I was able to catch a little glimpse of it."
'But I wonder how he learnt it.'
'Yes I've got her this time!' Gil exclaimed as he ran towards her, 'And I think I've built up enough energy to do this…'
He brought his two index fingers together and a current passed from one to another, next was his entire hand.
BLUE: ELECTRIC DISCHARGE!
Rapidly he dashed towards her. But the following events were kind of a surprise even to Akame who was analyzing everything as it happened.
HYDROGEN ALCHEMY: BLUE IGNITION!
BOOM!
The entire top half of the building blew up. But not to worry. Akame and Teddy safely landed on the ground, instantly jumping off before the two collided.
"What was that?" Akame asked.
"Most likely hydrogen ignition." Teddy answered, "She's insane to use that in a public space."
"Oh, a mixture of hydrogen and air is highly explosive. And with Gil passing that current it must have ignited it. But I thought once you gain a certain alchemical type you can't use another. Hydrogen isn't organic at all."
"True, but when she fulfills certain conditions she's able toooo…." He trailed off for a moment, "I mean who knows, its not like she'd tell me something that important."
"Right." Akame knew Teddy was hiding something, 'Getting all the information we can from this people will prove necessary just incase we might have to fight them in the near future. But first…'
The two jumped back up to see the two had created a giant crater which extended to all the floors below. The two of them lay down on the concrete. Their figures indented into the ground.
"HA! Your fun, I couldn't even bad mouth you during the fight." Jericho laughed.
"Seriously? I guess I am getting stronger." Gil smiled as well.
"But, still I'd love to fight the guy with white hair. No offence but he seems stronger than you."
"No, your right, he is. Blake told me he's incredibly strong. One day I wanna be strong enough to be his friend and not his pupil."
Jericho didn't speak for a long time, her mind was too preoccupied by that single statement. 'Strong enough to be your friend and not just your pupil.' Maybe it resonated with her just a little bit.
"God your so corny." She turned her head to see him passed out. "Seriously, don't tell me you were talking to me in your sleep." She yawned, "God, now I'm sleepy."
Before she closed her eyes she saw two figure standing above her. "Good night Teddy." She whispered.
"Good night Iman." Teddy grabbed her and carried her in his hands, like a baby. If she was awake she'd be so mad.
Akame grabbed Gil carrying him on his back. 'Why am I getting a strange sense of deja vu?' He wondered.
"Yoo, what do you think they were talking about?" Teddy asked.
"Honestly, I'd think I wanna know. But whatever their conversation is sure looks like they had a lot to say to each other."
With that the two walked out of the building. A perfect night to have a perfect conversation about strength.
TO BE CONTINUED