"Where did Lucius say this weapon was again?"

  Percy asks Maximus as the two hike through a forest with closely spaced, tall coniferous trees. The ground is wet and muddy. The surroundings are relatively dark for the time of day. Maximus, who is walking behind Percy, stops and pants slightly before answering the boy's question.

  "He said somewhere here in the Black Forest, but nothing more specific."

  "Does he think he's funny? The Black Forest is massive."

  They continue to travel through the forest along the side of a small mountain until they reach the edge of a big crater. Uprooted trees lie on the ground or are barely supported by other trees still standing. The crater is deep, and in the middle, stuck in the ground, is a massive battle axe. Made of some black material, with an orange glowing tear from the middle of the blade to the upper end of the long handle. Maximus musters it and murmurs.

  "Looks like we found it."

  Percy slides down into the crater and slowly nears the axe. As he gets closer, the sheer size of the mysterious weapon becomes truly clear to him. He stands right in front of it, needing to look up to see the lower end of the handle, as the axe is more than half a meter taller than him. Maximus walks up beside him.

  "This thing is bigger than it looks from afar. Are you sure you can pick it up?"

  Percy nods and assures his teacher that he should be able to pick it up. He grabs the handle where it becomes one with the blade and pulls on it. It doesn't budge. The surface feels surprisingly smooth, especially because it looks like it's made of jagged black rock or something similar. Percy pulls harder, but as nothing happens again, his cheeks flush slightly, and he grabs the handle with both hands.

  "It won't move. Maybe some help... please?"

  Maximus sighs and steps forward. He grabs the handle a bit higher up and pulls. But even with both of them pulling with all their strength, they can't get the blade out of the ground. Maximus lets go, panting.

  "It didn't move a single bit."

  "Maybe it's cursed, or like Excalibur,only a worthy person can pick it up."

  "No, you little humans are just too weak!"

  Both of them freeze as they hear the deep, slightly scratchy-sounding voice of a woman. Unable to move, they witness as a big pitch black hand reaches past, between the two. The clawed fingers wrap around the handle before it is being ripped out of the ground, small rocks flying around as the blade leaves the ground. Percy and Maximus finally manage to turn around and see a tall humanoid nightmare, laying the axe over her shoulder. Flawlessly pitch-black skin spreads over the whole body of the monster's muscular body; in its face are two big orange glowing eyes, as well as a big grinning mouth with long pointed teeth. From her head falls long hair, only a bit brighter than her skin, down her back and her shoulders.

  "Allow me to introduce myself before I kill you. I'm Cynder."

  Percy and Maximus jump into a safe distance and draw theri weapons. Maximus, pulls a gladius from the sheath on his hip, while Percy pulls a trident out of his pocket dimension. Cynder laughs out as she sees Maximus sword. The sound of her voice sending shivers down the mans spine.

  "Cute. You really think you can hurt me with that?"

  Her attention switches to Percy, and her eyes lock on the trident. Its appearance is rather simple, made out of an unknown greenish-turquoise color, with detailed lines carved into its surface. The handle, on its lower end, ends in a double-edged point. At the place where the trident's head starts to split into three is a diamond-shaped hole. Each of the upper ends of the trident tapers.

  "Now, this is a powerful weapon, worthy to fight me."

  Maximus scoffs, drawing Cynder's attention back to him.

  "This is the sword of my ancestor. The greatest gladiator to ever live."

  "Whatever."

  Cynder's grin disappears, her arm snaps, and the axe speeds down towards Maximus. The old man raises his sword to block the attack, but before the two weapons connect, Percy pushes him out of the way, and the axe hits the ground, and its blade is buried all the way to the handle in the stone. Maximus watches in shock and eternally thanks Percy for pushing him.

  "Are you nuts, Maximus?!"

  Percy yells at him. Before Maximus says anything, Cynder pulls the axe from the ground and lays it back on her shoulder. Her grin returns.

  "I introduced myself. Now it's your turn."

  The two men ignore her and attack. She just watches as Maximus attacks her leg and Percy jumps through the air to strike her head. As the trident is about to pierce her face, Cynder opens her jaw and bites down on the weapon. At the same time, she slaps Maximus away with her free hand. He flies to the edge of the crater and slams into a tree before slumping down to the ground.

  "I'm way too old for this shit!"

  He thinks to himself before slowly propping himself up on his sword. Meanwhile, Cynder still holds the trident in her mouth. The corners of her mouth move up further, and her already terrifying grin becomes even worse. Percy lets go of his weapon, and while falling to the ground, he draws an old Viking battle axe. Its blade is decorated with runes. Before his feet hit the ground, he strikes at the nightmare's abdomen, but the attack doesn't even leave a scratch. Cynder spits the trident out, which flies a few meters before landing flat on the ground.

  "Interesting. Not as powerful as the trident, but still a strong weapon. I bet if you try hard enough you can hurt me with this."

  She swings her axe with incredible speed, horizontally, at Percy. He ducks under it, closely avoiding his immediate death, and straightens up again, holding the axe in his right hand; he gets ready to fight.

  "Do you really know how to fight with an axe, small human?"

  "You bet I can!"

  "Perfect!"

  Cynder screams out happily before swinging down at Percy. He at the same time sidesteps and swings up. Their weapons collide, and sparks fly around. Percy stumbles backwards, the axe that was in his hand flying through the air before it lands near behind him on the ground. The blade was heavily damaged.

  "Go and pick your weapon up. It's more fun to kill prey that can fight."

  Percy slowly walks backwards to his axe, never letting his eyes leave Cynder, before he reaches it. Finally looking away, he picks it up, and in one swift motion, he hurls it at her face. Cinder looks surprised at the unexpected speed of the throw and just manages to raise her axe to use the flat side of its blade to block the incoming attack.

  "Why did he throw his weapon?"

  Percy's weapon bounces off the bigger axe, and Cynder lowers it again to see what's going on. Her eyes widen as Percy comes in her view. In the air right in front of her, he reaches for the still-flying axe and slams the cracked blade right into her forehead before landing on the ground. Cynder's head falls back, her mouth wide open, axe still stuck in her forehead while she stares at the sky.

  "Why isn't she turning into sand? That was a more than deadly strike."

  Percy watches, shocked, as Cynder's free hand slowly reaches up, her fingers wrapping around the axe's handle. In her hands it looks like a baby toy being held by an adult. She rips it out with an excruciating fleshy sound before letting it fall to the ground. A bright orange fluid runs out of the gap in her forehead and down her face before dropping to the ground. While still looking up, she speaks, her voice even lower than before.

  "You really surprised me there, human. Now I really know your name. Please tell me so that I know the name of the warrior I'm about to kill."

  "Fine... I'm Percy."

  Cynder slowly looks down at the boy before her before repeating his name, savoring the sound of it on her tongue. The grip on her axe tightens.

  "Ready to die, Percy?"

  After she speaks those words, she slowly raises the hand that holds her weapon at the very end of its handle. To Percy, her movements look like she is charging an attack in a video game. One would think Percy would have enough time to dodge the attack, but something about it caused him to freeze on the spot. Just as the massive blade moves down towards him, he manages to move and jumps to the side, rolling himself up and jumping back to his feet. His eyes are glued to the weapon as it hits the ground. The impact splits the ground, the mountain they're on, and all the mountains behind it. Trees fall into the massive gap, and animals flee their territories.

  "Still got some fight left in you? Fine, I let you live... for now. MY mission was to find my axe anyways, not kill some weak humans. If we see each other again, be stronger and give me a real fight. Till then, Percy."

  Cynder turns away from the shivering boy. Axe draped over her shoulder once more, she disappears into the forest. Percy starts breathing again. He didn't realize that he held his breath the moment Cynder's axe swung down at him. He runs to Maximus, who is still propping himself up on his sword, only half conscious.

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  "This was way too close!"

  Percy thinks to himself before picking his teacher up and carrying him on his back to the middle of the crater, while still leaving a good distance between them and the massive gap in the ground. Then he gathers his weapons and puts them into his pocket dimension before pulling a phone out of it. He dials a number and waits for the person on the other end to pick up. Moments later they do.

  "Yeah, Percy here... I need a medic helicopter... Of course, I'll send you the cords immediately."

  After sending the person on the other end of the phone their coordinates, he hangs up and sits down next to Maximus. The old man slowly opens his eyes and looks around the crater; his gaze stops at the gap.

  "Are we dead? Is this the afterlife?"

  "No, we're still alive."

  "What happened?"

  "It left."

  Percy looks down and starts to scribble with a stick in the ground. Maximus watches him draw line after line in the dirt until a very rough sketch of Cynder.

  "It left?"

  "Yeah, I'll explain it later."

  After a while of sitting in the crater and just staring at their destroyed surroundings in silence, Percy hears the faint sound of rotor blades, coming closer. He looks in the direction it is coming from and sees a small point becoming bigger and bigger until the Soul-Corp helicopter lands a few meters away from them in the crater.

  It looks different from the ones Percy saw at the base.

  "Must be regional design."

  After hours of flying, the heli passes the big entrance gate of the great vehicle bay of the Soul-Corps base. Percy jumps out and is greeted by Lucius and Rumi.

  "What happened, Percy? You look terrible."

  Ignoring Lucius, Percy takes a deep breath, the smell of gas and oil filling his nostrils, before helping Maximus out of the heli.

  "Get him to the hospital wing."

  The Helis pilot nods before supporting the old man and walking towards the exit. After the two are out of Percy's view, she turns to Lucius. His eyes wander up and down the man's body, taking in the way he is dressed. Percy notices for the first time that Lucius wears the same simple militaristic clothes that he and his friends wear too, despite his rank. The boy's eyes switch to Rumi standing slightly behind Lucius. Arms crossed in front of her chest, a stoic expression covering her face. Usual for her. She claims it's just her natural look, but Percy doesn't believe her. After looking at the two, Percy starts talking. He tells them how they found the axe and how they got ambushed by a nightmare who owns it. That the nightmare could speak and how it left, even though it could've easily killed them both. He ends with the detail that this nightmare even had a name. The two adults in front of him look surprised, and Rumi lets her arms fall to her sides.

  "A... Name?"

  "Yeah, she called herself Cynder."

  Without explaining any further, the boy walks past Lucius and Rumi and disappears into the hallway. Rumi sighs annoyed, her eyes moving from Lucius to the helicopter.

  "A nightmare this intelligent and powerful is going to be such a pain in the ass."

  Lucius nods in agreement before turning around, walking to the same door Percy took to leave.

  "Where are you going?"

  "I'll talk to Maximus to find out if we could send Nova to take care of that thing..."

  "Or?"

  "Or if one of us should take care of this."

  Rumi's eyes light up as she hears those words. It's been a long time since she last fought a real enemy. Even if it's not the right thing, internally she hopes it's too much for Nova.

  Somewhere else in the base, after walking through long empty halls, Percy finally arrives at the room he shared with his friends. He slams the door open and enters. Inside, Kaia winces as their door is opened so aggressively.

  "Percy?! Where do you come from?"

  "Lloyd, come with me. I need to let off some steam."

  "Okay..."

  Confused, the group of Lloyd, Max, and Kaia follow him to the training field. The moment Percy sets foot on the ground of the field he is so used to fighting his friends on, he takes the elegant trident out of his pocket dimension and drags the three-spiked end over the ground, carving rills into it. Kai and Nova, who are sparring on it as so often, stop looking confused. Ragnar and Teon, sitting on the side, share their feelings. While walking close behind Percy, Lloyd asks him what he needs him for. Percy stops in the middle of the field, Nova and Kai making him space.

  "I need a punching bag I don't break my weapons on."

  Lloyd swallows hard, but he doesn't argue. Then the sound of cracking bones, growing fast, breaking through muscles and skin, echoes against the walls. Slowly, white plates of bone grow over Lloyd's body until he stands in full armor, with jagged spikes coming from his spine and two massive blades. Ragnar, never having witnessed this transformation, leans forward and props his chin on his hands.

  "Now that looks interesting. I wonder how durable he is."

  "I'm ready, Percy."

  Percy breathes in deeply, then he quickly spins the trident around and thrusts at Lloyd. One of the boneblades grows with incredible speed into a shield to block the incoming attack. The trident effortlessly breaks through it and pierces Lloyd's forearm. The boy gasps in pain and rips his arm away. Percy smiles before putting the trident away and taking out two cestus, leather gloves that have iron spikes woven into them, and puts them on.

  "Hand to hand, Percy? For real?"

  Lloyd sighs, and his face contorts in pain as the shield and blade shrink back into his body, and instead long claws emerge from his fingers. Not wasting any time, he starts to attack Percy with patternless strikes. Percy does his best dodging any incoming attack before delivering a devastating uppercut that breaks Lloyd's lower jaw with a loud crack and sends him stumbling backwards. Lloyd's jaw heals, cracking before his teeth grow sharper, and armor plates with sharp edges grow around his face. The two are going blow for blow, to the point where Percy is covered in deep bleeding cuts and Lloyd's armor has many huge cracks. Both of them get ready for a final attack. Then suddenly Percy falls forward in exhaustion, but Lloyd doesn't stop his attack, his claws now aimed for his friend's face. Just as they are about to graze Percy's skin, a loud thud echoes over the field, and Lloyd falls backwards. The boneplate on his left cheek is broken, and between the two boys stands Teon.

  "That's enough!"

  In this moment the viewers, with the sole exception of Ragnar, all have the same thought. When Teon moved to get between the two, they couldn't see a thing. Kai especially looks confused and maybe even a bit hurt in his pride, because he never saw Teon train in the most recent past, and still he just demonstrated speed he couldn't comprehend. Teon helps Percy to stand on both feet, looks over to Lloyd, and apologizes for hitting him that hard. Lloyd just grins and responds that it might've been for the better.

  "Why were you even so aggressive?"

  Lloyd's smile disappears, and he stares at the ground for a few seconds. In a slightly more serious voice than normal, he explains that this occurred recently. Each time he uses his ability on too big an area on his body, he enters a kind of bloodluststate. The last time this happened, it was so bad that Dane had to knock him out. Lloyd stops explaining and scratches the back of his head, his smile returning.

  "But I think I can learn to control it."

  He walks towards Teon and Percy before holding his hand out to Percy for a handshake. Percy accepts with an exhausted smile. Teon steps back from them, and Lloyd helps Percy off the field to rest a bit at the side with the others. Meanwhile, Teon sits back down between Kai and Ragnar. Both muster him for seconds.

  "Since when are you so fast?"

  Teon looks over at his best friend to see a shimmer of jealousy in his red eyes and smiles teasingly.

  "That's a secret."

  "Now my interest is piqued as well. How strong are you?"

  Ragnar speaks up. But he doesn't give Teon time to answer the question. Instead, he stands up and walks into the middle of the field, where boneshards from Lloyd's shattered faceplates lie scattered around.

  "Spar with me, Teon."

  Nova's head shoots in his direction as she hears these words leave her brother's mouth. Kais's look of jealousy intensifies, but he pushes it aside and encourages Teon to do it, saying that Ragnar refused his own request and that this is an amazing opportunity. As Teon hesitates, Kai grabs his arm and drags him towards Ragnar before turning back, slumping down next to Kaia, and crossing his arms over his chest. His breath is faster than usual, as his excitement of finally seeing Ragnar fight grows. Ragnar opens his arms, leaving him wide open for an attack while sharply observing Teon.

  "Entertain me!"