Acronius

Chapter 3: Alvin

"I assume you already know this Cedrik, but you should probably have Bryce send some soldiers from the Militum to watch Eudon. The Mentis Legatus should be put on alert as well."

"Yeah, I know. I'll summon Bryce and Jasmine in a few moments, I just need some time to collect myself."

"Cedrik, Eudon did this to himself. I don't like it either, but our nation can't stay still and wait for him to right his wrongs."

"Shut the hell up Alvin! Criminal or not, he's my brother, and I will not sit here and forget him because it's the easy way out!"

The room is left in an eerie silence.

"Alvin, you may be a great advisor, but your a terrible friend if that's how you really feel."

"I'm sorry Cedrik, it just pisses me that Eudon would throw away his life with no regard for anyone or anything. I leave you to your thoughts though."

I walk out in disgust, hating the fact that Cedrik is still defending Eudon. He's an idiot! To think that he was dissatisfied with being the Emperor. I just wish he would have acted like I was his advisor and listened to me sometimes. It's literally what I am here to do, advise. Being apart of the Terita Oculus bloodline, I inherited the role of the Emperor's advisor. My twin brother isn't as smart or as calculated as I am, winning me the role of advisor rather easily. And even though I call him an idiot, Eudon's intelligence rivals even mine. When we'd train together as youths, Lord Aruthur and Emperor Eli would both watch, saying it was like watching the nations elders play chess. Though I wasn't the most talented fighter in our class, my intelligence made me equal to everyone but Eudon. He was always a certain kind of special when it came to combat of any kind, but he was most dangerous with his two swords. Even now the memory of our greatest battle comes to me, and with it comes chills.

—

Looking around the room on a weapons day is always a little unnerving. Everyone has an extremely deadly weapon, and after about ten years of extensive training, our weapons work just like extra limbs on our bodies. Me and my identical twin brother, Kalvin have standard, identical katanas. Our swords were once their own set that belonged to our grandfather. These were his final gifts to us before he passed away. The other twins in our group of eleven, Jasmine and Jarin, are directly across from us. Jarin wields two dual battle axes, and Jasmine wields the deadly dual naginata, which has the base of a staff, but is built with a terrifying blade on each end. If you get past her mid range attacks with the naginata, she can split the weapon into two separate blades, giving her an advantage at close range. Both weapons are considered sacred to the Lenta Mentis bloodline. Representing the Fortis bloodline is Bryce and Alice. Bryce currently holds the Malleus, a hammer that is given to whoever is being groomed to hold the legendary Virubus. His sister Alice holds two sai, which are daggers that each have three needle like blades, the middle one being longer than the other two. Juliet of the Gratus wields two Dao swords, that have thick, curved blades. Ryia of the Amor bloodline has the most deceiving weapon of us all. She is just as deadly as she is sweet, and can be easily underestimated. Her weapon is the very same. She wields a bow and arrows, and she keeps a dagger in case someone gets too close to her. Her bow has small blades on either end making it as dangerous as her dagger and arrows. She also has the ability to suck energy out of a person, and she can infuse her arrows with the ability, taking small amounts of her opponents energy from long range. And to top it all off, she never misses. Ever. Even if your fast enough to block or deflect one of her arrows, your going to lose some energy from it. I call her the assassin of the group. There's also Quinn of the Oratio bloodline, who wields dual hook swords, with he likes to use to trip his enemies, and then he'll freeze them over with his frost breath. Although he hasn't done it to us, he also has his dragon breath, which allows him to spit up blue hot fire. Lastly would be the Rectio brothers. They carry the most classic, but iconic swords of us all. Cedrik, having excelled in his swordsmanship, has already been gifted the blade previously held by his father, the Gladius Magnus. This longsword was forged by the great Emperor Magnus of the Salvatores Septem himself, and used by him to fight off our former enemies from Klevainia. With his teleportation powers, he can teleport both him and his sword, making him very tricky to fight. But surpassing even the Gladius Magnus, is Acronious's Duo Gladii, held by none other than Eudon. These two twin katanas are unrivaled, and once belonged to the god Acronious himself. The divine blades were given to Magnus once he became emperor, as a gift from the god who watches over our land. They can only be wielded by a Rectio with the rare talent of telekinesis. Magnus had both telekinesis and teleportation, but only a few of his descendants would ever inherit his stronger ability of telekinesis. Eudon was one of them, and his ability to wield those blades is absolutely astonishing. Today was the day we're we'd fight out our last two fights, ending our tournament. A win is determined by either submission, stoppage, or if you cut the necklace off of your opponent that we've all been given. In my last win, I edged out a victory over Bryce and his Malleus, and my next opponent beat Alice in a tough fight. That opponent is none other than my brother Kalvin. He has enhanced reflexes, allowing his body to dodge attacks without him even thinking. He's extremely quick, and though he's cocky and not quite as smart as I am, he's still very tactical in a fight. I myself have danger sense. My eyes allow me to see an opponent's intentions so I can plan out my dodges and counters anywhere from three to five moves ahead. Though our powers work differently, me and my brother both have defensive mechanisms that make us as powerful as anyone else in our group of eleven. On the other side our tournaments bracket is Eudon, who barely broke a sweat beating his brother in his last match, and Ryia, who flat out embarrassed Juliet in her last match. Juliet can be a little cocky sometimes, and it got her nearly murdered within the first seconds of her and Ryia's match. As Lord Arthur comes to explain the rules, I zone out, trying to map out my victory against my brother when I hear that we will all have a four way brawl. My brother smirks, knowing his reflexes are perfect for this kind of battle.

"Ready? Begin!!!"

Lord Arthur started the battle and already Ryia has put an arrow into the two of us. We should be able to dodge this kind of attack, but Ryia has outsmarted our abilities. She shoots three arrows at us at the same time, ensuring that even if we dodge 2 arrows, that the third is guaranteed to hit us. Eudon used his telekinesis to block her arrows, but she even had a trick for him. Once she finished shooting at Eudon, he found himself surrounded by arrows, which trapped him in a sphere that would absorb his energy if he tried to break out. I can't believe it, it seems we actually beat Eudon, it seems too good to be true. He looks at us all and gives us a nod of approval, as if to say you finally got me. With Eudon out of the way, the rest of us might actually stand a chance. After getting the arrow out of my arm, I join the clash between Kalvin and Ryia. We stand toe to toe to toe, clinging our weapons together and looking for and opening on one another. All of a sudden the ground under us breaks apart and two blades appear with a soft green glow around them. Eudon fooled us. He explodes out of the ground, surrounded by the soft green glow of telekinetic power. With one clean slice, Kalvin and Ryia are relieved of their necklaces. Lord Arthur hasn't realized that I was able to block his blow.

"Eudon, that was a hell of a move kid, great win."

"Think again Lord Arthur, I'd never underestimate Eudon. I knew he'd escape somehow, I just hoped he lose some energy in the process."

"Lord Arthur please step back, it looks like I've got some competition. Let's do this Alvin!"

As soon as Lord Arthur moves, we clash blades, furiously trying to out smart the other. I know everything about Eudon's powers and how he uses them. Bryce explained it to me of all people. Though Bryce isn't the smartest, he was able to assess Eudon's powers down to every last detail. Even with that kind of knowledge on him, it only makes him scarier. But I always have a plan. I fake a stab and when he moves back, I'm already throwing my real attack, and he barely has time to block. My goal is to repeat similar moves until I back Eudon into a corner. If I stop him from getting a chance to activate his telekinesis by always being three or four steps ahead of him, then I can put him into a corner and remove his necklace. Right as we approach the corner I had in mind, he jumps up against the wall, at a speed that even my eye couldn't read or plan for. I do however turn and guard my necklace just before he cut it off from behind. Being in this corner is more than I can handle and I can't find a way out. I'm beat, but maybe I can take him out with me. I swing my sword a few times to throw Eudon off, and just as I anticipated, he goes for my necklace. With a slight flick of my hand, I slice under his blades, to slice his necklace. At last minute Eudon uses his second blade to turn my blade sideways, keeping me from slicing his necklace immediately. My necklace falls to the ground, and I can't hear anything but the clicks of each bead hiting the ground. I look to see Eudon has used his telekinesis to further neutralize my blade. He looks at me, and slowly uses my blade to slice off his own necklace.

"Thank you Alvin, you kept me on my toes, and you almost took me out. If it wasn't for my speed and strength, you'd have beaten me early on."

Emperor Eli is here now, and him and Lord Arthur look impressed. Even still, I'm embarrassed to have come so far just to lose again. The emperor speaks directly to me now.

"Good work Alvin! Not even I, at this old age at least, can come so close to beating Eudon. Pick your head up son, you have done with intelligence alone what nobody else in this room could do."

Eudon grins first at his dad, and then at me. He holds out his right hand, and I shake it. I raise my head, knowing that I had earned my respect as a warrior and not just a scholar.