Showing Off

I got email from Lauri yesterday morning. I'm hereby cleared of all ill will between the AMU administration and myself. The security guards are likely to continue with their judging stares, but whatever.

I spent last night in one of the common areas of the school, celebrating with Elie. Jane and Kimiko were both with him, and Kallaway, Paris, and That Guy Tyler decided to tag along with me. There were a handful of other students there, but I had no idea who they were. We spent the night drinking beer and catching up on our lives.

After a few drinks, That Guy Tyler requested that I show off some of my powers for everyone. Something I had promised him a while back, but never followed up on.

"Fine," I said. "If you insist. Know a good place where we can set up some target practice?"

"We can use the old training ground," Elie said. "It doesn't see much use since the bigger one was added."

"Sounds good," I said. "As long as you all stay at a safe distance. Some of my powers are a bit... problematic."

We grabbed our drinks and headed to the old grounds. It was a clearing no far from the school grounds. We found Malkator there already, seemingly testing his Mana out. He was launching bolts of flame and ice at a target he had set up.

"Hey Professor," I said.

"Daniel," he said. "How'd things go with the admins?"

"Just fine," I replied. "Doing a bit of magic training?"

"Yes," he replied. "I'm sure you're here for a similar reason?"

"Showing off my own powers," I said.

"Well, let's see then," Malkator said. "I'm curious to see your progress as well.

We set up some cans in a straight line on top of a bench and stepped back.

"Is this far enough?" Elie asked from a distance behind me.

"Take a few more steps back," I instructed.

They all did so. All except Malkator, who remained a couple feet to the side of me. Smug dickhead... When I was sure they were far enough back, I turned to the cans, raised my right hand, and unleashed several sparks of lightning at the cans. They were some gasps.

"That was way cooler than the finger gun thing!" That Guy Paris said. "Why don't you use your lightning like that more often?"

"Look at the cans," I said.

None of the cans had been hit my the bolts. The bolts had all veered off, hitting the ground all over the place, but didn't strike a single can.

"Not a single target was hit," I said. "When I just let the lightning out like that, it's chaotic, unfocused, and, most importantly, dangerous. Hence you all standing back."

I then made the gun shap with my hand, allowing sparks to dance along my forearm as I did, for added effect.

"However, if I focus that power," I said, raising my arm. "If I single out a target, force that energy forward, and concentrate it all into a straight line, then... BANG!"

A straight line of electrical power burst forth from my fingertip, obliterating one of the cans on contact.

"...It makes for one hell of a signature attack," I said.

While everyone else stood around being impressed, Malkator stepped u next to me, raising a finger gun of his own. Son of a bitch...

"I swear to God," I said. "If you even think of saying 'bang'..."

"SHAG!" he said, smirking at me, as a bolt of lightning shot from his own fingertip, striking another can.

"You know what?" I said. "Fuck you."

I turned back to the remaining cans, focusing a different power. He wanted a competition? Fine. Always happy to indulge...

I sent out a wave of coldness, spreading a layer of ice, zig-zagging across the ground, ending just before the bench, before an icy stalagmite shot upward at an angle, pierxing one of the cans and lifting it into the air.

Malkator, seeming to accept the challenge, waved a hand, sending several crystals of ice fanning out in front of us, piercing the remaining 3 cans.

I turned back to our audience.

"Everyone finish your drinks," I said. "We need more cans."

Kallaway sighed.

"This is unlikely to end well," he said.

Everyone provided us with a new can, and I stepped forward. I raised a hand, and a small whirlwind comprised of a large number of multicolored flower petals began swirling around my forearm.

"Wow," Elie said. "Pretty."

"Indeed," I said. "However, sometimes beauty... KILLS!"

I trust my hand forward, and the petals went flying, and not only hit the cans, but shredded them into pieces.

"Razor sharp petals," Malkator said. "Neat. But I'm not done yet..."

"We're out of cans again" I pointed out.

"Who needs cans?" He replied.

He suddenly tossed a ball of flames right at the bench itself, cracking it in half and setting it ablaze. there were several gasps, both of amazement and alarm.

"You realize the schools gonna charge you for that, right?" I said.

"They'll let me off easy," Malkator said. "They always do."

"Can you wield fire too?" I heard somebody I never learned the name of ask.

"No," I said. "Although..."

"Although what?" Malkator asked, seeming curious.

"I can come close," I said, turning to Paris and That Guy Tyler. "You guys remember Spider Wolfie?"

They nodded, and I tuned to the burning bench, flexing my right hand and forearm.

"Let me show you all the power I got from her," I said.

As I spoke, chitin grew over my right hand and forearm, and the internal structure of my arm and palm changed drastically. It was... unpleasant, to say the least, but I was expecting the results to be rewarding.

"Arthropod Physiology," Malkator commented. "Pretty neat, but how are you expecting this to impress anyone?"

I approached the bench. I got a good few feet away before turning to Malkator and speaking.

"Ever heard of the Bombardier Beetle?" I asked, grinning.

Malkator briefly looked confused, before looking very alarmed and maybe even a little worried. I tuned back to the bench, raising my hand, and a burst of boiling hot liquid-gas erupted from my palm, spraying all over the bench. While Malkator's attack set it of fire, mine completely burnt it to ashes. Everyone seemed impressed.

Myself included.

That was way more damage then I was expecting it to do. Either my calculations were off, or the Eldritch nature of my powers had a stronger effect on the chemical reaction.

"Not bad," Malkator said. "Anything else you wanna show us?"

"Yes, actually," I said, returning my arm to normal. "I want you to bring out your amr blade and strike me as hard as you can with it."

"Oh no...," I heard Kallaway mutter.

"How much have you had to drink?" Malkator said, chuckling. "You absolutely sure you want me to do that?"

"You fucking heard me," I said. "Do it."

Malkator shrugged, and brought out his arm blade.

"Don't go regretting this," he told me.

He rushed at me, swinging his blade. Just before the impact, I allowed a power to flow through my blood, causing it to harden. His attack hit my chest, barely grazing my skin as my blood rotected me from the full damage of the attack. As the blade cut my skin, a surge of pain and satisfaction flowed through me, and I felt myself become energized. He stepped back in alarm, noticing the change that had overcome my body.

"Son of a bitch," he muttered.

"Good color on me, right?" I asked, examining the sleeve of my labcoat.

My coat, as well as my hair and eyes, had shifted to a deep red, and the wound on my chest quickly closed up.

"Now then," I said, clicking the switch on my cane to release the sword hidden within. "Shall we continue the party?"

He didn't need asking twice. He charged at me, and I charged back. Our blades clashed a couple times before I teleported behind him. He was expecting that, and turned to block my attack. I dropped my Red form and tapped into my ice powers, sending a wave of coldness into the ground, freezing his feet in place. He projected a force field between us, and used it to push me backwards. As I was getting back to my feet, he melted the ice holding him in place using a fire attack. I teleported back up to him, slashing twice and managing to cut his jacket a bit.

The jacket restored itself pretty quickly. As it did, the damaged sots briefly took on black, mist-like properties. Which confirmed a suspicion of mine. I glanced at the tip of my sword and smiled a bit. I had what I wanted. Time to wrap this up...

I teleported a few feet back, and allowed my sword to slip from my grasp as I aimed my finger gun at Malkator. In response, he formed a fireball in his hand, preparing to fire it at me.

"Sod off!" he exclaimed, propelling the fireball forward.

"BANG!" I replied, unleashing a lightning bolt.

Before I could set my attack off, Kallaway charged in, hitting my forearm to the side, sending the lightning bolt flying into a raining dummy. He then turned, raising his gauntleted hand, catching Malkator's fireball. He struggled against the power of the fireball for a few seconds before crushing it in his palm.

"That's enough!" he snapped  "Out of both of you!"

Malkator and I tensed up for a few seconds before breaking into laughter.

"Calm down, man," I said. "What, never had a rival before?"


"We'd go toe to toe all the time when he still studied here," Malkator said. "Sorry if we got a little carried away there, but we weren't gonna go kill each other or anything like that."

"I also hear you permanently damaged Daniel's leg when he studied here," Kallaway pointed out.

"Well, to be fair, he showed a lot more restraint in this fight," I said. "Besides, Having a bad leg means I get to carry around a sword-cane, so it's not all bad.

Kallaway continued to glare at us both.

"Well, I've pissed away enough time here," Malkator said. "I'm off to bed now.

Malkator left, and we all eventually went back to the scholl as well. Paris and That Guy Tyler approached me on the way there.

"That was an intense fight," That Guy Tyler said.

"Woulda been more intense if Kallaway hadn't gotten in the way," I said.

"Seriously, though," Paris said. "Was that really necessary?"

"Absolutely," I said.

"How so?" he asked.

"You see, the Archangel has been known tp produce weapons and tools out of some kind of black, mist-like substance," I said. "Malkator's coat is made of a similar substance."

"That's interesting and all," Paris said. "But why is that important?"

I showed him my sword, which had a small bit of fabric from Malkator's jacket still stuck to the tip.

"Because now I have a sample," I said.

Paris grinned back a me.

"Oh, you are the worst," he said.

"Yeah, I'm an ass," I said, plucking the fabric off of my sword. "And soon, I'm gonna be an even stronger ass."