The Crow Code

Arc 2: The Toothpick Test: Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Unexpected (Part 1)

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Recap:

In her hand was a tiny wooden stick with a small, dull point at the end.

"A toothpick?!"

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"Yes, this is exactly what it looks like. I can hand it to you to verify that it is not rigged or anything." She said indifferently.

She handed the toothpick the size of my pointer finger to verify that she wasn't lying. I take a good look at it to make sure that there aren't any hidden tricks to it. It was just you're every day toothpick. I handed the toothpick back to her feeling a bit anxious.

"What are the rules?" I asked.

"It's simple," she said indifferently, "I will use this toothpick as my weapon and stand in this five-meter circle. Your goal is to try to make me step out of the circle, take the toothpick, or force me to take out my Hero Weapon. By the way, you can use anything, I won't judge if you use cheap tricks. Give me all you've got."

This girl even acknowledges cheap tricks. She understands that cheap tricks are sometimes needed to win. I thought.

With a snap of her fingers, a red circle appeared below her feet.

"I'll let you have the first move." She offered.

"Fine by me," I replied as one of my eyes turned gold.

"Oh, one of your abilities is Horus's Eye." She noticed the color change.

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Horus's Eye is one of the few abilities that can predict an opponents movements and find their weak spots. However, every ability has a downside to it. For Horus's Eye, it can only read and predict the movements of someone who's around the same level or lower than you in combat power. Judging that it's working on Titanium Fist, that must mean she's around or lower than me in terms of combat power.

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"Alright," I said judging her combat power, "I think I may have an over fifty percent chance to beat you."

"You're pretty confident. Let's see how long you can last!"

I sped towards her but when I did, I noticed something strange. If she knows that I'm heading to her at a high speed then why isn't she moving? Then I realized something.

'Titanium Fist is not known for her offensive power but for her defense.'

What was it again? Speed is good against power types but are horrible against...SHIT! I'm a speed type and Titanium Fist is a defense type. I internally panicked.

It was too late. If I stopped my momentum, I would go flying out of the training room so my only choice was to attack! As I got into the five-meter radius, Titanium Fist's eyes followed my movement. When I got a closer look at her eyes, what I saw, horrified me.

I infused my energy into my right leg and sidestepped to get around her.

"Too late." I heard her whisper at that moment.

At that moment, my body instinctively moved on its own, round kicking Titanium Fist to the back of the head.

She brought up her arm and my foot collided with something hard. The power from my kick after it collided with the 'thing' created a shock wave that almost shattered the training room. The surrounding dust went flying, as it cleared, I realized that the 'thing' kicked at was the toothpick Titanium Fist was holding in between her thumb and pointer finger.

"Hey," she smirked her eye gleaming red, "That was one damn hard kick you gave me."

"So one of your abilities is the Rose Eye," I said in amazement.

"You have a good eye." She said in acknowledgment.

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Rose Eye is another Eye Enhancement ability in the flower category; however, there are some conditions that make it unique. First of all, the user has to be a pureblood Roselily Platian. Second, the person needs to have more than four abilities, it's very rare to find someone who has more than four abilities.

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"Judging from you're gold eye, you must have either Horus's or Hermes's Eye."  

"Enough chit-chat and let's get on with the fight," I replied indifferently.

She nodded her head but her next action astonished me. She dropped the toothpick. As it fell, it almost seemed as time stopped. My body was frozen, every muscle was tensed up. I knew I had to think carefully about my next move but my body wouldn't listen to me as it told me to attack her from the front. I ran closer and closer, the chilling fear getting into my head with every heartbeat being as audible as a drum. Suddenly I  remembered something that could help me beat Titanium Fist. It was too late to stop running so it was time to improvise.

Four meters.

Three meters.

Two meters.

One meter.

Now!

I pounced directly at Titanium Fist like a cat.

"Is that guy an idiot?!" One bystander exclaimed.

"No," Another bystander chuckled, "that kid, found the answer."

"What do you mean?" AJ asked.

"Just watch."

Titanium fist jumped over me to avoid a head-on collision. In mid-air, she flipped to build momentum for a counter attack. I only had one shot to pull this off!

With ever muscle in my body working themselves to their limit, I skid into the middle of the circle using my hands to propel myself of the ground and into midair. Craning my back and neck until I met Titanium Fist's eye level, I launched my left leg forward like a pile bunker to Titanium Fist's head.

"You think that trick will work on me?!" She yelled bringing up her arms to block her face.

Got you. I smirked inwardly.

At that moment her eyes went blood shot but it was too late for her to do anything.

Since she had both arms up, even if she was extremely fast or flexible, she couldn't block this last move. The moment she put both arms up, I instantaneously retracted my left leg and round house kicked her with my opposite leg to the back of her head. It was a clean connection. I followed through with the kick aiming Titanium Fist to the ground creating a sonic boom. Luckily the training room was extremely durable or else the bystanders may have gotten injured in the process.

"Hee, you win new hero. You pushed me out of the five meter circle." Titanium Fist groaned as she pushed herself up from the dent in the ground.

Suddenly a guy with skyblue hair in one of those mafia suits ran over holding a clipboard.

"Titanium Fist-senpai!" He called shoving his way through the crowd.

"Oh, Amel," she waved at him, "are you here to run the Interior Ranking Exams?"

"Yup, I'm here to evaluate Jay Takamoto and Andrew Izuku."

"Oh, well you can evaluate AJ Izuku cause I just evaluated Jay Takamoto." Titanium Fist pointed at me.

"Senpai," he sighed, "it's not good to cause trouble with the new recruits."

"Well," she pouted, "he did volunteer. Also, he's gotten full marks!"

"Ehhhh!" The bystanders around us yelled in shock.

Titanium Fist walked over to me and held out her hand while cocking a grin of acknowledgement.

"Welcome to the Hero Association, newbie."

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HVP is back in the house once again after another hiatus! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Currently digging my own grave,

-Digi (; -_-)