Superhero CITY - The Test

Chapter Eighteen

Andrew drew his sword as I lofted my own. He reached behind him, to the small of his back, and grabbed a naked hilt.

It was made of a delicately carved wood, the smooth grains even darker than his skin, with a leather wrapped handle and garnet embedded pommel. But where the blade should have been there was only empty air below. A small groove ran its underside, as if to outline where the blade should have connected to it, like two joined arrowheads.

However, that changed the moment he held it properly. The hilt was a hand and a half, giving him the option to wrap a second set of fingers around it but still short enough that he could wield and balance it single handed without any issues. His ring finger and the pinkie behind it were wound tightly around the jewels of the pommel, and when they were in place the dark red stones began to flash from within.

It was the first any only warning given before quicksilver flowed out of the grove. The malleable mercury glowed faintly the same way the precious stones above it were, a pale and sun bleached bloody red, as it moved to fill an invisible template. It extended just over three feet and came suddenly to a sharp point; the rest of the lines of the blade had remained so straight that they were almost parallel. Only after it had finished growing did the glowing too stop. The inner light shut off as quickly as it had first come on only three seconds ago.

I knew that particular weapon very well, h ad since he had rescued me from my birth father when I was five.

Have looks brittle, but that didn't mean that it could be broken. He had been using it since before I was even born. Apparently, he had spent all three of his final years in school detailing and finalizing the design, and had used his first paycheck from the field to have it specially made.

This was a man with more skill than me, holding a weapon that he knew more about than I ever could. I had no chance of winning this match. I never did.

"Why can't you just tell me straight what is going on?"

Our blades clashed. Flat edge against flat edge, and I barely managed to stop myself from flinching away when Sparks erupted along the scraping corners of our grooves. I knew that my Gloves were more than thick enough to protect my hands, and I knew that the overcautious response was not just all in my head but could force me to forfeit the match, as well. Across from me, Andrew grinned as if he II knew both the racket going on inside of my skull, and the advantage that it would result in for him. Because he couldn't just be a mature stepfather and ignore it.

"I might as well learn if all those expensive fees were worth it."

I didn't let the comment bother me, for he and my mother had been the ones to insist I go to Wilde's Academy. Had told me that as the school did have both the best reputation and the best results on our island nation, that it would therefore best teach me how to stay alive long enough to have children of my own. Would make me the best super being that I had any chance of becoming.

I parried his swing and the blade slid all the way along my own before encountering the steel guard just on the other side of my fingers. With my other hand, I swung the reinforced edge of my shield against it, not sure if I was attempting to trap tt between my own blade and the missile rim, or attempting to batter it away before he could push the point any closer to my chest. But whatever it was, I failed.

My stepfather twisted his wrist and the solid Mercury point jerks past my God and towards my solar plexus. I had to jump back to avoid it hitting me, and groaned under my breath at the lost ground.

"Really?" I huffed. "Are you trying to back me into a corner, again? It is sure feeling like it right now."

I was talking about more than just our mock battle, and he knew it as well.