Superhero CITY - The Test

Chapter Four (edited)

Natalia shot out of her seat like a rocket, hand stretched high up in the air like we were back in preschool. Her bloody red ringlets bounced behind her like a messy halo as she practicality vibrated from excitement.

The attitude was contagious, and I could see the other two picking themselves up in their seats.

It wasn't like my friends' reactions were unexpected. This upcoming competition was after all the largest and most anticipated event of the year across the entire nation. The arenas would all be jam packed with eager spectators, just waiting to see what powerful marvels the next generation would bring to the fight. More bets were made and more money exchanged in this single month on the superhero teams than was on horse racing in a year. And Lia's more extreme reaction was certainly predicted; she had been talking about entering them since I met her – and hated her guts – in first grade. Unlike everyone else, she told me that she hadn't joined the duelling team because she wanted the popularity that came with it or because she loved the sport, but most simply because she wanted to prepare for the Test as much and soon as she could.

That determination had lead to her becoming the youngest female duellist to compete in our academy in over a decade.

"Miss Ivanof," Mr St John turned towards her, "I take it that the students you are sitting with are your team? Isn't correct, Mr and Miss Knight, and Mr Knightly?"

She popped back down onto the bleachers as rapidly as she'd jumped up in the first place, and we all nodded our heads in one of those perfect, synchronized moves that freaked me out.

"Good. Now are there any other complete teams in this class?" Another eight people put their hands up, each seated in clusters of four as we were. "Wonderful. You twelve will spend the next hour in a three way battle. The rest of you will perform standard one on one drills. Begin."

I turned to grin at Chuckie and the girls. Whatever misgivings I might have about actual superheroing, it did not bleed over into duelling. I had lived and breathed the sport since the day that I had realised it existed. Whether we were charged with using our powers, our weapons, or only our bodies in the match, I loved it. There was nothing like forcing yourself to new limits in every way to win against your opponent.

Natalia knew exactly how I felt in these fights, and we shared a massive smile that Allison remarked on as "creepy" as we rose from our seats and walked off to the far end of the court.

Only once we had each grouped together in a corner, our weapons drawn and strategies in place, Mr St John moved over from where he had been observing the rest of our class pair up and spar each other to take his place in the remaining corner. "And one more thing, no abilities today."

That titbit of information only had me smirking harder. Almost everyone in the course had already manifested, meaning that the few of us that were not yet had instead required additional weapons training to be even.

In other words, my team would be the most powerful because we had the fewest manifested talents, so we would be the best in a restricted battle without use of our abilities.

Mr St John raised his arm and began to count down, "three... two... one... begin!"

The moment he lowered his hand below his hip, we jumped into action. Chuckie and Allison sprang ahead of me whilst Natalia dropped behind. The sibling's movements were a perfect mirror to each other as they both drew matching blades from thigh holsters.

The four seaxes each had a single heavy edge and were almost a foot in length from the single hand hilt to the pointed tip. To the unexperienced eye, they looked difficult to wield, especially against the longer blades of our opponents' swords, but the blondes' technique was almost elegant as they curved the stifled atmosphere into a song. The air rang and blurred as each seax moved too quickly for the naked human eye to track.