The Prodigies: The Return of Equinox

Chapter Two - Jacks of All Trades

Beads of sweat were running down his face and his arms felt heavy. He stood in a battle ready stance waiting for his opponent to make a move. He walked slowly to the right, but his opponent tracked him with a steely stare. Before he could think of a plan his opponent dashed at him with the intent to stab at his abdomen. Muscle memory and fear kicked in. He parried the sword with both knives to his left and slide one blade up to his opponent's neck. He stopped when the knife's edge touched skin. Both of them were breathing heavily, but only the victor, Noromac, was smiling devilishly. This was the first time that he beat his mentor, another Prodigy.

Even though Noromac was stronger and faster, his mentor was able to predict most of his movements. Whatever he couldn't couldn't predict he could guess, and he always guessed correctly until now. The mentor, Volum, was about twenty years old which was only four years older than Noromac, but Volum had experienced much more battles, sparring matches, challenges, and had fought and detained other Prodigies on multiple occasions. After this sparring match he would have to remove Noromac from the list of beatable Prodigies, maybe. There was still some flaws in Noromac's defense to allow for defeat that Volum could manipulate if he needed to.

"So, you want to that knife away from my throat? Huh, kid?" asked Volum

"Oh, yeah. Sorry," said Noromac, exhausted. Noromac let his arms fall and let his knives drop to the ground. He backed off a couple of steps before falling cross-legged. He was shaky and lightheaded, but sound.

"Do ya think that you could pull that off again if you wanted? Huh?"

"I don't know," said the younger Prodigy, shaking his head, "I honestly think that I was lucky. If you wanted to you could probably take my head off as fast as I can blink." He chuckled.

Noromac had only one mentor to oversee his training. That's how it usually was for Jack Prodigies. Jack Prodigies trained in all three general aspects that the Prodigies are known for. It could be argued that Jacks were under the Ranger aspect as Rangers need to learn a variety of skills from both Militant and Witch aspects. Jacks, however, are insulted by this notion and take great pride in being their own aspect. Equal to all, under no one.

"Do you think you could beat Tora? Huh, kid?" asked Volum.

"Maybe if she had no tongue to cast those spells of hers," he chuckled, "but even so, she's the second strongest of my year-group. I would have to be crazy to fight her."

"Too true," said Volum, "I wouldn't want to fight, nor spar with her. That farmer girl would crush me with just one hand. If she got a hold of me that is." Volum grinned while he spoke that last sentence. He knew very well that Tora wouldn't be able to catch him, unless she gained greater skill in magic. That, of course, wouldn't be possible due to her Jack status. Training a single field to defeat an opponent other than the one they were waiting for was prohibited.

"Hey!" yelled Noromac, "could you stop spacing out and help me up?"

"Maybe you shouldn't exhaust yourself to defeat just one opponent."

"But you said to go all out!" Noromac protested. "Give me a break, too. I just beat you."

"Hum...well how about this. If you can beat me again, then I will allow you to graduate to a full-fledged Prodigy. However, I will use everything in my power to beat you, and it won't be a fair fight. Everything from close combat, magic, and ranger technique will be allowed. If you win even with all of those conditions I will send in my word to the Vanguard and have you high-listed as ready to fight Equinox. And you don't have to worry about being told what to do by me."

"What?"

"I feel that if you can beat me, a high-listed Prodigy, then you can definitely have a spot on the killing crew," said Volum dryly. "Of course though," he then said with a slight smile, "only if you feel up to it, kid"