Chapter 2 – Wielding a Driftblade

  Once again, the Sinners were on board Hermes, and one by one, they all went to their designated places.

  Sumi slumped down on the couch, lighting a cigarette right after.

  Avidia furiously scribbled what could presumably be the report of the fulfilled mission.

  Null sat in the corner with bookshelves, comfortably reading a book.

  Rita was refilling the fuel for her Gas Spear, trying not to get herself dirty with the liquid.

  What was on the table for Damien and Elmer, however, was a visit to the training room aboard Hermes. It is hardly believable that it can even be considered a vehicle with several different side rooms, but it was indeed the truth. Right beside the library corner on the right lay the entrance to the room.

  “Oi, Avi! I'm taking the kid for training, alright?” Elmer shouted across the room at Avidia.

  She nodded, still scribbling away.

  With confirmation, Elmer and Damien went inside the training room's entrance, which, to the boy's surprise, contained an elevator heading downwards. They promptly got on, and descended to another floor.

  Elmer struck up a casual conversation, “So, how was it? The bloodshed of filthy Husks — do you see yourself doing that?”

  Damien assumed a thinking pose, “I still can't look past that they were once humans, too. But... there is no choice for us, is there?”

  “That there isn't, boy. Once you look past that, it becomes quite fun!” He hollered, laughing. The boy wasn't.

  Damien had seen Angels dying ever since his encounter with Soren. However, Angels being once humans was a fact that Soren never bothered to tell him. It left a sour impression on him.

  “I suppose you've been doing this for a long time, huh?”

  “Bah, I wouldn't call a year a long time, but you do you.”

  “Did you also meet Soren back then?”

  “That chap appeared to us like some kind of saint, I tell you. You've got it good that he is your buddy, otherwise you'd be in a den of snakes right now,” Elmer said, somewhat menacingly.

  Damien became a bit unnerved. Him being stuck in the elevator with Elmer was not helping, either.

  Elmer clarified, “Don't take it the wrong way, man. You are pretty much a walking human shield at best right now. Before we can consider you one of us you need to become something else.”

  “Ah, I see. What kind of weapon is that Driftblade?”

  “Well, for starters, it's a sword. But in the right hands, it is one scary weapon. With it, you can easily rival even some medium-grade Association members.”

  Damien looked puzzled, “Association members? Do you mean...?”

  “Yeah, not all of our missions are smashing Angels. Sometimes we get hired to take care of Wanderlust — that's bandits for you, or any other crime Syndicate, or sometimes the blundering idiots come after us and we have to defend ourselves instead.”

  “Oh...”

  The elevator ride ended, and the pair got out. Damien expected a slightly larger room with target dummies, but to his surprise, the room was entirely different. It could not even be considered a room — it was massive, easily spanning a squared kilometer, and the walls and ceiling were instead a bright blue sky. Whether they were still in Hermes or if this was one of its stops was up to debate. Either way, this is where the Sinners trained.

  Damien posed a small question, “So... how do you actually train in here?”

  Elmer turned towards the boy. He gave him one stern look before producing Heist in his hands once again.

  “Simple. Once you take a limb, the training for the day is over.”

  The boy was mortified. Was he supposed to turn his weapon against his own ally?

  “Oh, even this you don't know? Did you never take a tumble as a kid? You really live under a rock, man!”

  Damien could only nod, as it was basically true.

  “Look — the golden juice we have allows us to regenerate limbs, even if it might take a day or two. Some are faster at it, and some can't do it at all, which is why I will be going easy on you.”

  Before Damien could absorb the information, Elmer threw his way a sheathed sword. The handle was made of carbon, designed for efficient grip with various patterns and indents. The sheath was similar, carefully wrapping the blade.

  “Open it.”

  It took a bit of force, but the sheath came loose. Damien uncovered a wide curved blade that was the size of his stretched-out arm. At the guard, a strange blue object was seen spinning inside once he put his hands on the hilt. It was seemingly heavy in his hands.

  “This is a Driftblade. Never used it, never will, but I've seen them pointed against me. I know a thing or two about them, so let's get started.”

  “So, I just swing this until I cut off an arm?” Damien asked, visibly unsure of his own words, wobblily holding it with both of his hands.

  “Pretty much, except these things have a few more tools at your disposal. There are two triggers on the handle, see them?”

  Damien spotted the two triggers. They were located right beside each of the thumbs' positions. All he needed to do to activate them was to press the sides of his thumbs into the grip.

  “The top one accelerates the speed of your swings using the spinning motor inside. I don't know how that works, Avi is better at explaining these things. Either way, try it. Hold it straight in front of you, steady your form, place your feet slightly apart for balance, and do an overhead swing.”

  Damien noted the instructions and listened. He placed his feet firmly into the ground, held the blade high above the ground, and performed a swing with the Driftblade.

  The press of the trigger made the motor within spin. The sound emanating from the motor with every press sounded like a sharp whistling of oxygen. Each press made the blade light up in a blue hue.

  The blade moved with such haste that it connected with the ground less than a tenth of a second after pressing the trigger. The momentum of it made Damien stagger forward, but he still remained standing.

  “Too late on the trigger. Would have flown out of your hands if someone blocked it. Again.”

  Elmer subverted the boy's thinking of success. Damien assumed that he did it, at the very least, correctly.

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  He tried again, this time putting more emphasis on pressing the trigger in time. His attempt resulted in the Driftblade flying out of his hands like a thrown javelin, landing at least fifty meters away. Damien was propelled by that swing, too, making him jump forward into the air, and then fall flat on his face.

  “Too early.”

  The boy went to pick up his accidentally thrown weapon with a light sprint. After a few seconds, he was back, sword in hand.

  “Once you do it just right, we'll move on to the second trigger. Again.”

  Damien assumed the stance once again. This time, he knew the repercussions of pressing too early and pressing too late. The first time, he pressed it at the usual point of impact. The second, he pressed it before the sword was even swung. The boy thought about the ideal time to activate the acceleration, and he realized that it was somewhere mid-swing, before the blade was in front of him, and after the blade was in motion.

  Damien performed the swing with closed eyes, not wanting to see the result. He pressed the trigger for the exact amount of time for it to not overshoot, and the blade rested calmly in his hands. He did not see it, but it swished through the air in one swift and controlled motion.

  “Well done! Your first sword swing!” Elmer clapped, somewhat proud.

  Damien only then opened his eyes. He successfully swung the Driftblade, and it remained in his arms afterward. The tension he felt in his arms seemed like it would rip them off, but they held on, and so did he.

  “Now then — the bottom trigger is a whole other game. That one does not accelerate the blade's movements, but yours.”

  “Mine?” Damien asked, still amazed at his achievement.

  “Yeah. The fancy technology in the blade is not any old motor, but a Warp Motor. Avi said that this little thing shortens the trajectory of the weapon, or you, by bending the space around itself.”

  Damien did not understand it fully but nodded like he did.

  Elmer cleared his throat, “Anyway, that sounds too science-ish, so I came up with my own explanation. The top trigger is for Offense, and the second is for Speed. Hopefully, that clears it up for you.”

  The boy tried to piece it together, “So... pressing the bottom one makes me go faster?”

  “It accelerates your own legs. Think of it like taking one step is now two, or three, or four — that depends on the quality and model of a Driftblade, and also how hard you can use the triggers.”

  While taking his swings, Damien did notice how they were very difficult to press down. Their activation happened with a light enough press for it to not be a hassle, but also to not happen accidentally. It would seem that the stronger the press, the stronger the outcome.

  “Go try it, boy, take a step with the trigger pressed.”

  Damien composed himself to not mess up on the first try this time. Then, from the same stance as before, he pressed the bottom trigger with his left thumb and took a single step.

  His body lit up the same way as the Driftblade did, and his one step turned into a leap that spanned five meters. In less than a second, he moved a further distance than he could ever jump. However, his attempt was not without flaw, as he pressed off the trigger before he finished moving, making the momentum throw him even further than intended.

  “Oh, right. That one has a built-in stop if you keep holding down, but you didn't do that.”

  Damien got up, brushing off the dirt his clothes gathered on the ground. He felt like he should have been told that beforehand.

  “You'll get used to it at some point. Just know that the blade overheats if you press it for longer than five or six seconds, assuming you can hold on to it for that long! Hah hah!” His hollering laugh started up.

  “Got it. What's next?” Damien uttered confidently, still brushing dirt off his sleeves.

  “What's next? You know what's next!”

  Damien's eyes widened as he recounted what he was told at the start.

  'Once you take a limb, the training for the day is over'

  Elmer smirked at him, “Shall we get started?”

  The boy subconsciously gripped the sword harder upon hearing those words. The tension between the two heightened, and both of them knew what was coming next. A real duel was about to begin.

  Damien had grasped the basics of a Driftblade, now was his chance to show if he could think proactively and choose his moves accordingly.

  “I won't be using the ability of Heist, just to make sure you don't explode after getting hit once.”

  That sentence Damien interpreted as a challenge. He was still looked down upon, and if there was one thing he wished to accomplish, it was to surpass the expectations of the Sinners.

  Elmer towered over him, not just with stature, but also his experience. He wielded a large bat that was almost as tall as Damien, only a head shorter. All he needed was to sever an arm or a leg, but could he do that?

  This was no time to doubt.

  Damien used the Speed trigger to step right beside Elmer. Right after, he swung at his leg from the side using the Offense trigger. The movement and activations were surprisingly coordinated, startling Elmer, who was barely able to react to it.

  A collision reverberated between their weapons, and the boy was knocked back, still standing. Elmer swung his bat from his shoulder down to his leg to intercept Damien's slash. At that moment, Elmer gazed at the boy, whose eyes burned brighter than he had seen on him so far. He was completely caught off-guard by Damien's sudden attack.

  “Don't get too cocky, boy.”

  The real battle started then. Damien accelerated towards him, this time not using the triggers. He did not believe he could do that same action twice. Something overcame him back then — a wave of valor.

  Elmer got ready to block his attacks, wielding Heist with both hands. He was sure of his ability and skill, which is why he was on the defensive. He knew he could defeat him easily, but he wanted to see what Damien was capable of.

  The boy was ready to take a running swing from below, positioning the Driftblade behind him as he ran. Elmer saw exactly from which angle he was about to attack and blocked from that direction. Right before that, however, Damien activated Offense, and their weapons crossed.

  Damien held on with all of his strength as blue sparks flew off their clash. He held the trigger for as long as he could, and for as long as the weapon allowed it.

  “Not good enough,” Elmer taunted, before disengaging from the clash with an effortless upward swing, putting some distance between them.

  The boy was starting to breathe heavily — he exerted too much too early. He was aware of a few advantages he had, such as speed and attacking his low points, but he was starting to become predictable. He needed to surprise both himself and Elmer.

  They stood there for a moment, Elmer still composed, and Damien recovering.

  “Are you giving up?”

  A nerve in Damien's head snapped upon hearing that. He was not going to give up no matter what. Even if his skill was limited, even if every trigger press had a chance to go wrong, he was still determined to go on.

  He devised a plan. He was going to use Speed to jump upwards to his side, and then immediately switch to Offense to chop off his arm from the shoulder. A plan so brazen and unexpected had a low chance of succeeding, but there was no other way to damage this man in front of him. Damien had to act fast; Elmer was not going to stand there forever.

  The man charged forward at Damien at hurling speed; his bat was already aimed at him and almost struck him from the side. If Damien had not positioned the Driftblade to take the impact, his arm would have been shattered. Even with his countermeasure, he flew back a good distance, spinning around in the process once or twice.

  Damien understood what Elmer tried to teach him there. The enemy will not let you breathe no matter what. He could not stop even for a slight second, because that gives the opponent an advantage. He always had to act quickly and efficiently, not giving the enemy a single opportunity to attack.

  The boy let out a battle cry and went ahead with his plan. He gripped the Speed trigger with all of his might, subsequently doing a running leap. He was going faster than expected, and, taking the earlier experience of building up momentum, he had enough speed to run him through.

  Did he have enough strength, though?

  Damien took an accelerated swing from below, but he failed to acknowledge something. Using Offense in the air will lead to spinning out of control if used incorrectly, which is exactly what happened to the boy. He barely managed to scratch his right deltoid, flying right past him and crashing into the ground.

  Elmer did not even see what happened until he heard Damien tumbling behind him at rapid speed. He only felt a slight nick on his shoulder, from which a drop of Ichor seeped out. More than hurt, Elmer was surprised. Damien did truly surpass his expectations, turning himself into a fighter in the process.

  Elmer was proud, and that feeling reminded him of something, although he did not recollect what.

  “I think we are finished here,” he said, withdrawing his bat, Heist, back into nothing.

  Damien lay beaten up on the ground, wholly covered in dirt and debris, still thinking that the fight was going on. When he glanced toward Elmer, who already discharged his weapon, he assumed that he failed.

  Elmer clarified, “You did well, Damien.”

  That marked the first time the man spoke his name. It was a tone not of loathing, but utmost respect. They glanced at each other as they exchanged warm-felt smiles. Their battle was short and brief, but it taught Damien a lot about what he is able to do and what he needs to improve upon.

  A sigh of relief exited the boy as he dropped his weapon on the ground, ultimately ending the fight. Fatigue overcame him soon after, and he dropped to the ground from exhaustion.