When Swords Turn Black

Writing the test, Omari was tired. He kept having those white hair dreams in increasing frequency. He would wake up from one only to fall asleep into another. Despite being tired while writing the test, Omari thought, this is fine; Soren thought, I got this; Samson thought, this is easy, and Athena thought, I'm fucked. Their thoughts reflected their marks, but Omari's added fatigue made him fail. The next test wasn't announced after this one, though. It left the students wondering until the day of the test came. As they were entering the city, they saw big, digital billboards installed on tops of the buildings, all of which were turned off, "We meet again, students. I know you all have been wondering what the next test would be, and I am delighted to tell you it has just concluded." Murmurs broke out amongst the students. 

"To explain, this test was a special one, as its duration was your entire stay here. Since your very first cityscape traversal class cameras have been installed in the buildings and we have been tracking your speed-" Soren smiled "-and most importantly, your growth." That smile died. "So here, in descending order, is the list of those who have grown the most." The enormous billboards turned on, the list was on display for everyone to see, and Samson was smiling. Top two of the list was Omari with an insane 250% growth, with the second highest being Samson with a 150% growth. In the middle of the top half was Athena with a 100% growth and at the top of the bottom half was Soren with 75%. Athena chuckled. I beat the son of Lightning at something. How about that, dad?

In the next class, the test wasn't announced either. When the class concluded, though, Soren approached Omari and asked, "Can I train with you today?"

"Sure," Omari said. They made their way to the field of close to fifty students exercising. "Don't worry about them. They're with me." Soren inspected the faces of the people and noticed they were students Omari saved, with one exception.

"Son of lightning!" Athena got him in a head hold.

"Don't call me that." Soren slipped out. "Can we workout?"

"Gladly," Omari said before telling him the routine so they could start.

Omari could now do five 400m sprints, 250 weighted pushups, 250 weighted squats, and a thirty-minute dragon flag was ahead of what most people in that group could. Soren was amongst the fittest in the group doing seven 400m sprints, 75 weighted one handed pushups, 75 weighted one legged squats, and an hour dragon flag. But outperforming everyone was Athena at ten 400m sprints, 150 weighted one handed pushups, 100 weighted one legged squats, and lastly, an hour and a half dragon flag. She flexed about her score but when told, "Samson did more." She almost lost it. 

One day, when they were working out, Athena, in the middle of her pushups, called, "Son of Lightning."

Soren, who was right next to her and doing his dragon flag, grunted, "Don't call me that."

Athena smirked, not looking his way. "Why are you friends with Mari?"

"Omari?" Soren thought a bit but got embarrassed by the answer, so asked, "You first."

"Mhmm…" Athena started thinking. She preferred acting to, so it took her a while to think up something. An annoying long amount of time for Soren, but eventually she thought of something. "I wanna see what he becomes."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Have you seen how fast he picks up things? Techniques that took me years to master—he's learning them from me in months and I'm a shit teacher."

Soren scoffed, "You're more of his beater."

"True, but fuck you. Did you even look at the results from the last test? A 250% improvement. Where else do you see that kind of growth?"

"So you like him?"

"Not like that," Athena said quickly, rolling her eyes. "It's… more than that. Even if he grows stronger than me someday, I just want to keep feeding his flame, you know? Watching him rise, being part of what gets him there… It's fulfilling in a way I can't really explain. Maybe this is what mothers feel like." And with those last few words, Soren completely understood. "Now your turn."

Soren was about to speak when he heard Omari screaming, "Guys, guys!"

Both Soren and Athena dropped their workout and got to their feet. "What's wrong?" They said together.

Omari, in his cupped hands, held a bird. "It broke its wing."

Athena's mouth watered, "We should eat-" "No!" Omari clutched the bird to his chest.

"Soren, do you know how to nurse a bird?" Omari asked Soren, but he was too busy smiling.

Athena took a good look at Soren, and then it clicked. "So you like him." She said, and Soren quickly socked her in the face. A fight broke out and even though Omari tried to stop it, he couldn't stop Soren from getting his ass handed to him. The rest of the days of practice went on normally til the day of the next test. It was time for combat training, but when they went to the field not to find many chalk arenas but one big one with a table of weapons outside it. "Greetings again, students. Today, as many of you guessed, is the day of your final test. Because a slayer's job is to fight, this test will be worth two tests, meaning for all you who had only passed one test so far, passing this one will mean you passed the majority of your tests thus can proceed to the exams." Athena did a little victory dance.

"For those of you with only two passed tests under your name, fail this one and you'll have failed the majority of your tests, disqualifying you from the exams." Omari began to sweat. "Those who have passed no test so far will not participate and those who passed three tests will participate to eliminate competition for the exams. Now for the details of the test. It is common for slayers to face off against controllers- misusing their power so this test will assess your ability to eliminate the threat," Eliminate? Omari thought. "In this exam, you will be paired with someone we see to have equal fighting abilities to you and will have to beat them into submission, incapacitation, or death. With all that said, may Soren and Samson please grab their weapons and enter the arena?"

The two both grabbed swords, but Samson grabbed two. They walked in and looked at each other. I need to win this, Soren thought, but in the open field there was no lightning to draw from, and Samson knew. Should I use that? Soren thought, but as soon as the fight started, Samson yelled, "I submit!"

Soren, who was about to rush in, froze for a moment. "What are you doing?"

"I'll give you the win. I don't need it like you do and if we have to fight again, I want to embarrass you on a bigger stage than this." So with that the first fight ended, but as they walked off the stage, Samson could have sworn that as soon as the match started, Soren's hands sparked for a moment. Sparked with red lightning. A few fights ensued til Athena's fight came around. 

Whether it was that she had only passed one test or because she strictly only trained with Omari but they horribly mismatched Athena leading to her punching an actual hole into her opponent's heart despite him putting toothpaste in her eyes. Athena's opponent was quickly healed but the teacher before Omari's name was called out alongside a Brent. He didn't recognise the name, but when he went to get a sword, so did he. I remember him. Brent had a cold appearance, skin like bronze, eyes like brass, and a body and face that looked almost scalped. "Hey, suicide slayer." He was the Terran. "If you try that stunt with me, I'll watch you kill yourself because that's not how I embarrass my family. So if you can't bring yourself to hurt me, just give up now or I'll kill instead."