It was as if a switch had been flipped in Jaku’s head.
If the world wouldn’t permit him to be lazy, then he’ll change the world itself. That’s how Michael would have done it.
He couldn’t help but laugh at himself for not realizing it sooner.
"What are you laughing at?" Mauricio asked, pausing mid-swing.
"I’ve been doing it all wrong," Jaku said. "I don’t know why I was trying to change myself. I’m lazy. I’m always going to be lazy."
Mauricio scoffed at him. "And that’s what made you lose."
But Jaku shook his head. "No. It’s what will allow me to win."
One could only laugh at Jaku’s words, seeing as how he looked like he was on the brink of defeat.
Just then, Jaku changed his posture.
His previously straight and taught stance was now loosened, becoming a little bit slouched. He was in his most natural state.
He put his katana on his shoulders and almost leaned on one foot.
This was a stance that any sword teacher would hate. It was full of holes, it had a lot of vulnerability, and most of all, it was lazy.
Yet Mauricio frowned as he saw this. There was a change happening right in front of his very eyes. He didn’t know what it was, but he knew that something wrong was happening.
And if he could see Aubility Power just as well as Michael, he would see that his intuition was right. There was a change happening in Jaku’s body.
His heart, which had cooled down due to recent events, was now starting to glow and warm even more than before. The GodForge pieces in his chest were becoming more and more active, pumping faster and faster until strands began to form from it which slowly slithered their way towards Jaku’s hands.
An invisible force began to emanate from Jaku.
Mauricio was the first one to notice. His Diva twitched, feeling the presence of another slowly starting to form.
"Im... impossible!"
A figure started shimmering in and out of existence above Jaku’s head until eventually, his Diva was finally able to manifest itself.
It was a giant egg, dark blue color, with multiple lightning streaks going around its surface.
"WHAT IS THAT?!"
"THAT’S A DIVA! THERE’S NO WAY!"
"HE’S A DEMI-HUMAN!"
People in the crowd began gasping and shouting at seeing a Diva manifest above Jaku’s head.
They felt like they were dreaming. Jaku was a demi-human—not a human who could have GodForge pieces in their heart, or a Beastfolk who had a Dao Heart in their chests.
Yet, the invisible power emanating from that giant egg above Jaku’s head proved its existence to be the same one as other Maugnetics, the same one as the one above Mauriocio’s head.
Right now, they saw a miracle.
Mauricio’s hair stood on end as he saw this. He knew that there was something going on with Jaku. and as it turned out, he was right. Jaku was a freak of nature, one who denied the very limitations of his species.
"Monster freak!" Mauricio shouted. Fear started to creep into his heart of the implications this had for Jaku. If he had a Diva, then this meant that he had an Aubility Power.
And with Aubility Power, his base speed—by very definition—exceeds that of what reality could consider normal.
And this scared Mauricio...before he realized something.
"I knew I should have defeated you before. But it doesn’t matter. I don’t know how you got a Diva, but at the very least, you’re still in the 1st stage. I eat those for breakfast."
Mauricio raised his greatsword above his head and charged towards Jaku, the Diva above his head shuffling its swords into a blur.
Despite this obvious anomaly, Mauricio was right. There was still a one stage difference between the two. Coupled with experience, Mauricio should come out on top in a battle between their two Aubilities when they clashed against each other.
But instead of worrying about it, Jaku did the unthinkable.
He closed his eyes and tilted his head back, as if he had fallen asleep.
Correction. Not as if. He really did fall asleep!
Up close, Mauricio realized that Jaku’s eyes were actually closed. He didn’t know why Jaku did that, but this was the best opportunity he was going to get. He swung his greatsword from above his head, imbuing it with more power than ever.
And even as he was mid-swing, Jaku’s eyelids were still closed.
An instant later, Mauricio’s Diva finally stopped shuffling its arms.
His weapon now became a simple sword—one completely versatile, having both speed and power.
It matched perfectly with Jaku’s katana.
But Jaku was still asleep! Even if he awoke now, he would have no chance of reacting to Mauricio’s swing especially if it was just an instant away from hitting.
Right at the very last moment, the dark blue egg above Jaku’s head started to twitch, before a single crack spread from top to bottom.
Suddenly, lightning began to arc around Jaku’s body.
It was instant. Lightspeed.
Jaku opened his eyes and saw everything in the world slow down to a stop.
Mauricio’s weapon, which had just finished its transformation from a greatsword to a sword, was right in front of him, seemingly stopped in time.
An overwhelming feeling of annoyance welled up in Jaku’s heart.
I gotta deal with this?
He just wanted to sleep more! However, the sword in front of him was currently in the way of that.
His dreams were calling him with such intensity that more lightning arced around his body and his eyes, as if the world itself was giving him light speed in order to deal with whatever situation he was currently in.
Jaku moved his katana from his shoulders, with lightning streaking behind it like a comet’s tail.
Then, he sliced in front of him with the most casual of swings.
A few moments later, a large amount of red stained Mauricio’s armor and clothes from his chest to his stomach.
Then, the world blurred back into its normal speed.
Mauricio finished his swing, his sword striking nothing but the ground.
"Wha—"
He couldn’t even wonder how Jaku suddenly disappeared from his vision from one instant to the next because he suddenly felt a pain in his body.
He looked down, only to see blood dripping out of his chest. His body armor had a clean cut from his left shoulder to his right torso.
Even the other people around him couldn’t understand what happened. It was as if they missed a huge chunk of time.
"How did he end up there?!"
People only realized that Jaku had somehow appeared on the other side of the arena, a couple of meters from where he was supposed to be ’hit’, and was now laying down on the ground, sleeping!
People thought they were going crazy!
They didn’t know what happened. But for Jaku, everything happened just like normal.
This was his Aubility Power!
Sleep became his source of energy. Anytime that his sleep or his relaxation time got disturbed, an enormous amount of light speed would get imbued into his body so that he could fix his ’problem’ and go back to sleep!