Omega Wars Chronicles

Chapter 94: What You Are

   Obaru and Ziron gazed at each other and Ziron being filled with wonder concerning Obaru's new looks, began to speak inwardly.
  "What is this? A new form? I never knew he had something like this. Was he hiding it all along or did he just get it? Whatever the answer is, i might be forced to use more power than i intended, meaning i could end up killing a lot of hivelings in the process."
   "Hey, Ziron, you like my new form?" Obaru asked with a smile, "I was preserving this form, waiting to use it against an abnormally strong opponent and you have shown to be an abnormally strong one.
   I call this form of mine…"
   "Black steel Obaru." Obaru said with a grin as he points at himself, "And guess what? This isn't my final form."
   "He can't be serious?" Ziron said within himself, "The power i am feeling from him is tremendous and his speed earlier almost rivaled Govo's, yet he means to tell me that this form of his isn't his final? What other form is he hiding then?!"
   "Get ready to be amazed, air boy." Obaru said as he placed his hands on the ground.
   "Dammit!" Ziron said as he immediately covers himself with an air sphere.
   In a flash, Obaru struck the sphere Ziron covered himself with, therefore pushing him higher in the sky but the sphere remained unharmed, however, Ziron looks back and his eyes widened as he sights Obaru far above him.
    "Obaru style: clapping canon!" Obaru said as he swiftly claps his hands, creating a strong wave that propelled him down to Ziron.
   Obaru knocks down the sphere but it was still unharmed and was rolling on the ground, and while this happened, Obaru showed up in Ziron's front and kicks the sphere like a ball into the sky. Obaru leaped in the air, twirls his body and performs the clapping canon again, thereby propelling him with enough speed and force to knock Ziron higher again but the barrier was still unharmed.
     Obaru appeared far above Ziron again and performs another clapping canon to knock the sphere down to the ground again and Obaru began attacking the sphere rapidly from different directions and sends the sphere into the sky again, however just as Obaru was moving towards the sphere, Ziron's irises glowed in frustration.
   "Enough!" Ziron said as a powerful wave blew back Obaru and destroyed a couple of trees.
   Obaru raised his head and takes notice that the sphere Ziron created grew out multiple tentacles.
   "Gale force: Karnic Arms." Ziron said within.
   Ziron stretched forth his arms, controlling the tentacles to attack Obaru but Obaru was evading them while seemingly running from Ziron.
   "Speed mode." Obaru said within as his eyes glowed brighter.
   Glowing insect wings sprung out of Obaru's back and Obaru vanished from where he was running to and began to attack and knock Ziron around from different directions. Obaru knocks Ziron's sphere to the ground once again and still continued attacking from different directions; Obaru appeared a bit far from Ziron and with a bawl, Obaru spread his arms apart and a golden wave went across their vicinity.
   "What the…?" Ziron said in shock. 
  Obaru's black steel form had become extremely bulky and each step of this mode created cracks on the ground.
   "Black steel: power mode." Obaru said, "Come on!"
   Obaru showed up in front of Ziron and punched the sphere and the power behind the blow was strong enough to throw Ziron out of the sphere and bounce violently on the ground. Ziron stabilized himself, only for Obaru to appear before him with his fist set in position to attack.
   "He's still fa-!" 
   Ziron was cut short in his thoughts as Obaru lands a gut wrenching punch to the belly that broke Ziron's ribs and made blood spill out of his mouth along with tears flowing out of his eyes. As Obaru's fist had connected to Ziron's belly, the power of Obaru's punch created a powerful shock wave that moved past many of the  trees in the grey-leafed forest and threw Ziron high into the air.
   Obaru leaped off the ground, twirls himself and performs the clapping cannon technique that propelled him to swiftly fly past Ziron and as he was above Ziron, Obaru claps again, thereby sending himself down towards Ziron to punch the back of his head and bury his face to the ground with his fist, creating large craters in the process.
   Ziron laid inert and Obaru seeing Ziron lack of response, changed back to his normal form.
  "I told you i was holding back." Obaru said with a smile.
   In an instant, an air blast erupted and threw Obaru back and as just as Obaru steadied himself, he noted Ziron standing with his body completely healed.
   "Black steel: Speed mode!" Obaru said as he quickly transforms back into his black armored mode with glowing wings.
   Obaru flew towards Ziron at high speed but suddenly found himself slammed to the ground while Ziron was holding his face and glaring at him with glowing irises.
   "What the…?!" Obaru said within himself in disbelief.
   "Power mode!" Obaru said as his eyes glowed brighter.
  Another air blast immediately erupted and created large dust-clouds which Ziron hops out of; Obaru emerged out of the dust-clouds and hurls his fist at Ziron but suddenly found himself frozen in one spot and shaking rapidly.
     Ziron stared at Obaru for a moment and creates a shimmering air ball with his right hand, clenched it and punched Obaru in the face, thus shattering Obaru's black steel form and causing him to violently roll back and crash through obstacles.
  While Obaru laid on the ground, injured and groaning in pain, Ziron descended to the vicinity Obaru laid. Obaru stands on his feet and was breathing heavily while staring at Ziron, but before Obaru could even make an attempt to move, two large holes appeared on Obaru's thighs, leading Obaru to fall on the ground and scream in agony.
   "Enough." Ziron coldly said, "Enough of your stupid tricks."
  Despite the injuries on Obaru's legs, Obaru still made efforts in trying to stand.
   "Light covering." Ziron said as he stretched forth his hand.
  Obaru was immediately covered with Ziron's aura which made him to lay flat on the ground and create crack large cracks in the act.
   "I said enough." Ziron said, "I'll admit, you did surprise me with this form of yours, but in the end it wasn't enough to beat me. I am going to kill you now before you can access your other forms and waste my time."
   Obaru groaned as he struggled to break free out of Ziron's light covering but it was all in vain.
  "Idjra admitted it took a lot of stamina for her to even break free. Do you honestly think you can do with in your base form and with your legs injured like that?" Ziron asked, "Turns out you are not as amazing as you hype yourself to be."
   "I still want to know why." Obaru said which left Ziron to slightly bend his head in a confused manner, "Why did you kill all our friends and comrades?"
   "I've already told you my reason; you were all nothing more than a mission to me, and besides, just staring at you humans makes me sick." Ziron replied.
   "Humans makes you sick?" Obaru asked, "What could humans have done to make you feel that way?"
   "You have no idea." Ziron answered, "Humanity is just a terrible a disease… A mistake that should never have been made and i am going to help erase it."
   "You haven't given an actual answer my question. What could humanity have done to make you harbor so much hatred?" Obaru asked.
   "I already told you: they are nothing but a mistake." Ziron replied, "Humans are vile, deceitful, trust-breakers, hypocrites…! There are so many things i could mention that makes me so sick when i look at a single one!"
   "Vile, deceitful, trust-breakers, hypocrites? In other words you are human." Obaru said with a smile.
   Hearing those words from Obaru's mouth Ziron's irises glowed in anger.
  "You deceived us and gave everyone the impression you were our friend but you weren't. You killed our friends and comrades and you are proud of it. You've broken the trust of those that now know who you truly are and you've cold bloodedly murdered the one that had the most respect for you and yet still talk about the atrocities of humans." Obaru said, "I guess it's easier to judge others than to judge ourselves, or maybe you know what you are but you are just too angry and arrogant to admit it."
   "Humph. This is coming from the one that constantly hypes himself like he is the biggest thing alive?" Ziron asked.
   "But i never talked about myself being better than everyone, neither have i talked down on anyone." Obaru replied, "Maybe i did when i was a little boy but not at my current age."
   "When i was a little boy, i was one of the best." Obaru said as he recalls his little self standing on a podium of top 3, "Everything i did was amazing."
  "When i would come first in class… Amazing!" Obaru said as he recalls his little self holding a piece of paper and grinning in front of the entire class.
  "When i would win a race… Amazing!" Obaru said as he remembers his little self running with a huge smile on his face.
   "Even when i would win in a combat competition… Amazing! Amazing!" Obaru said as he also remembers his little self standing with crossed arms and smiling smugly, "I got so much praise from everyone that at a certain point, i began to see myself as one who was bigger than life."
   "But that all came to an end." Obaru said as he remembers his little self standing with a dead looking expression, "Yeah… Let's just say i was starting to hit my limits in what i could do and what i couldn't."
   'I was no longer at the very top.' 
An image replays as little Obaru stood in the midst of children in the crowd and gazed at the top 3 contestants standing on a podium which happened to be little Grei (standing as number 1 in position), Jagami (standing as number 2) and a Graundar boy (standing as number 3).
   'I couldn't make it to top 3 anymore. I couldn't even make it to top 10. No matter how hard i tried, the results were still the same; top 20 was the highest i could reach.'
  Another image replays of little Obaru sitting alone in the class and staring at a piece of paper he was holding.
   'I wanted to remain at the top spot. I wanted people to continue praising me and calling me amazing, but no matter how hard i tried, it was always the same, and it got to a certain point i started blaming people for not praising me; for not acknowledging me as one who is amazing. 
   Until one day…'
   A flashback takes place as little Obaru sat outside a house with an expression filled with misery and a blonde Graundar woman with a permed hair, dressed in a silk robe approached him.
  "Obaru, what's wrong?" The woman asked.
  "Mother, am i amazing?" Obaru asked as he raised his head to gaze at the woman.
  "Huh?" Obaru's mother said in puzzlement.
   "I have been trying so hard to reach the top and yet no one wants to acknowledge me." Obaru said, "Why can't i get everyone to see that i am better than all of them? That i am amazing?"
  "And that's your problem." Obaru's mother replied, "You're struggling so hard to get others to praise you and call you amazing; you're struggling so hard to show that you are better than everyone, but in doing that you are not getting any better, you are becoming worse.
   You look at the stars so much that you pay no attention to the ground. Obaru, you are not better than everyone, but you don't need others to tell you you are amazing. As long as you keep trying to show how much better you are compared to the others and as long as you keep trying to get their praises, you won't go anywhere."
   "I… I don't understand. If i can't show i am better than everyone then what good am i?" Obaru asked, "If i can't get more praises and acknowledgements from others then i am a nobody."
  "No, no, you're not a nobody." Obaru's mother said as she squats to stroke Obaru's hair while smiling, "Though you are not better than everyone, you are unique in your own way. You have your flaws and your strength just like everyone, but you working on them is what will make you different.
   Focus on building yourself and not competing against others. In the world of the warriors, only the strong can survive and you are strong. You don't need all this; you don't need to show you are better than everyone and you don't need others to praise you."
    "But… If you still think you can't do it, then try telling yourself this: I'm Obaru and I'm amazing." Obaru's mother said while smiling with closed eyes, "Do you think you can do that? Go ahead and try."
   'Since that night, i stopped trying to show that i am better than everyone and getting them to acknowledge me. Since that night, I focused more on building myself."
  Another image replays during the day time as Obaru was meditating on the ground while discharging his aura.
   "That's why i am the way i am now." Current Obaru said to Ziron, "I stopped looking at others and starting looking more at myself and the more i look at myself, the more i destroy my flaws."
   "What does this have to do with my hate for humans?" Ziron asked Obaru with an irritated demeanor
   "You still don't understand, do you?" Obaru asked, "You are so focused on the evil of humans that you haven't taken a good look at yourself to see that you are just like the humans you hate. Sure, there are a lot of bad people out there, but there are a lot of good ones; people that are worth fighting for."
   "You don't have the right to talk about that. You haven't seen half of what i have seen." Ziron said as his irises glowed, "You haven't seen half of the cruelty i have seen from other humans… From the bastards of the higher ranked tribes to the rats of the lower ranks. The cruelty i have seen from my own parents… My first family!
   And here you are, talking to me about goodness and what i am. You even had a good mother, my mother constantly wished me death! But there was something you said about acknowledgements… Something about you not caring if others acknowledge you or not, but i remember earlier that you punched me hard in the face during our fight for not acknowledging you."
   "Oh? That?" Obaru asked with a smile, "I was running out of things to say when punching you so that just kind of came out of my mouth. But the truth is i don't actually care if you acknowledge me, because i'm Obaru and…"
   "I'm amazing." Obaru said as his irises glowed.
  In a flash, Obaru activated his black steel form and swung his fist on Ziron which threw him back and made him tumble viciously on the ground but Ziron steadied himself again and raised his head with a mixture of shock and annoyance.
    "What the hell?!" Ziron said within, "How was he able to move in my light covering? His legs were also injured, he shouldn't even be able to move or stand!"
   "Hey, Ziron!" Obaru said as he descended to the ground.
   "Surprise." Obaru said as he raised his head and grinned at Ziron, "Pretty shocked, aren't you?"
   "Do you know your problem in battle…? Your biggest problem?" Obaru asked as he stood on his feet, "Your confidence. You underestimate your opponents and feel you could easily crush your opponents any time you want, and because of that you don't bother using your full power to fight."
   "And in case you are wondering how i am still standing, i used the technique of self healing known as Redoku." Obaru said with a grin while stretching his neck, "It's the same technique Dam used when fighting Karma. Memorizing healing techniques is far from my strongest skills but i was able to learn a few things on how it is done, and it turns out it came in quite handy."
   "You kept me distracted while you were using it, weren't you?" Ziron asked.
   "Yeah. You were careless with me." Obaru replied.
   "Regardless of what you've learnt, i can still crush you whenever i want." Ziron said.
   "But you won't still do it at your full power… Just as i said earlier." Obaru replied, "The more this fight is prolonged, the more i learn from it."
   "You're not using your full power to fight me, either." Ziron said.
  "It's time for me to confess. My final form isn't something i can just switch to like that." Obaru said nervously, "It takes a bit of time to activate."
   "Just die!" Ziron said as he threw a shimmering air ball at Obaru.
   The attack created a powerful blast of air, but as the dust-clouds cleared, Obaru stood unfazed by the attack, leaving Ziron in shock.
   "What the?! It was the same i amount of force i used before!" Ziron said.
  "There is something you should know about this form; what makes me like this black steel form so much is that each time it is broken, it's defenses becomes stronger when i activate it again." Obaru said while smiling.
   "What?!" Ziron said with disbelief, "You're bluffing. There has to be some kind of drawback in it."
  "Still think you don't need to crush me at full power?" Obaru asked.
  "I don't need my full power to crush a moron like you." Ziron said.
  "It's your downfall. Don't say i didn't warn you." Obaru said as he sets himself in a fighting stance.
  "Hold." A masculine voice said.
  Ziron and Obaru turned and noted the person to be Izaiya.
  "Izaiya? You're in this forest, too?" Obaru asked.
   "This is actually a pocket realm; smaller than an actual realm like Earth but there are claims that it is tougher to destroy because it was created through kan energy and the mind of the creator." Izaiya replied.
   "So it's somewhat similar to domain authority?" Obaru asked.
  "Yes and no. But that's for another day." Izaiya said as he glanced at Ziron.
   Ziron and Izaiya stared at each other for a while until Izaiya smirked at him.
   "So you finally showed your true colors, huh?" Izaiya asked, "You managed to fool everyone in the academy."
   "Wait, you know the truth?" Obaru asked Izaiya.
  "I was informed by someone who saw what Ziron did to Enida and a couple of our friends." Izaiya replied Obaru while still staring Ziron.
  "Oh?" Ziron said as he slightly bent his head, "Someone was watching and i didn't notice? Like i care.
   Whoever the person is, i will still extend the arm of death to him or her, just like i will extend it to you."
  "Is that so?" Izaiya asked, "Well you've heard him, people. These words came out of his mouth, not mine."
   Obaru became slightly surprised as a group of humans stepped forward and stood behind Izaiya, some with an expression of disbelief and some of anger as their sights were all focused on Ziron and while they were staring at Ziron, some of them began to murmur.
   "This can't be."
  "Ziron, a traitor?"
  "That bastard!"
  "I knew there was something strange about him."
  "What is this? Seems like the hivelings aren't doing the task assigned to them." Ziron said.
  "They are, but these are the ones i was able to help; there are still more struggling as we speak." Izaiya replied.
   "Hoh? So what, you brought these people to fight me?" Ziron asked with a smile, "You brought an army to feed me, Izaiya?!"
   Hearing the words coming from Ziron, Izaiya frowned at him while Ziron grinned.
  "Ziron, please tell me this isn't true." A redhead Tenplar girl with bobcut pleaded as she stepped forward, "Please tell us this is all a joke and i will believe you."
  Ziron immediately bursts out into laughter while covering both of his eyes with his right hand which left the girl shocked.
  "How many times have you people told me that?!" Ziron asked, "You know if i had a boost of power each time i was told that kind of crap, i would make Onak look like a weakling!"
   "Ziron, please!" The girl pleaded, "You are our friend! We don't want to fight you to the death!"
  "Your friend?" Ziron asked with a raised brow, "Tell me you are stupid without saying you are stupid. Take that friendship crap of yours and shove it up your behind, you daughter of a whore!"
  Shocked and heartbroken by his words, the girl stepped back a bit.
   "That was your last chance to repent." Izaiya said to Ziron with closed eyes, "Now you've made it clear what you truly are, I'm going to do what needs to be done, and so you know…"
   "I have little to no patience for traitors and word-breakers." Izaiya said as he opened his eyes while his irises glowed.
   "Bring it on. I'll kill all of you and i won't even do it at full strength!" Ziron said with a smile.
  "Dahmu." Izaiya said with a deepened voice at the time he was emitting an extremely large menacing aura.
   Many of the humans jaws dropped as Izaiya's aura drew to the sky and in a split second, Dahmu appeared as a giant and roared heavily.
   "Come on!" Ziron said as he discharged his aura and Obaru followed suit.
   The other humans stood trembling at the pressure of those three and as this was happening, Ziron smiled at Obaru and Izaiya.
   "Final round... Humans."