Chapter 9: Friendly Spar

After he broke the wrist of one of the knights, they all went out towards the colosseum in silence. The roof slowly disappeared to allow the natural warm light in. "Another wonder of technology" thought Barbados as he stared mesmerised.

"Barbados," said one of the 6 uninjured knights, "I am going to make you wish you were never born." This ticked Barbados off. His birth was already controversial enough, he didn't need the input of a mortal to spread his dignity through the dirt. While the knight began to speak again, Barbados was mere inches away from his neck with a blade sharp enough to cut through steel. Adam had to intervene and used his mana to freeze Barbados in place and make the knight realise just how close he had gotten to see death. He slowly backed away while trying to hide his sweat and reinforce his pride. Adam yelled at him that if he didn't shut his mouth, he wouldn't be able to contain the creature for any longer. And he didn't, for Barbados broke out easily out of the ice prison and barrelled again towards the knight with his machete in hand, but this time Okia manifested from the ground and dragged the knight into the ground, leaving the black smoke to dissipate into the air.

"So that's how you appeared in our first meeting." he said smiling.

"Barbados," said the raspy voice, "Think of the consequences." There was a hint of genuine worry, not for Barbados but for the rest of the academy.

"They requested a duel. I am enacting my honourable duty to provide them with an enjoyable battle to highlight my superiority. Now, bring out that cowardice scum who dared mention my birth." Barbados saw them disappear, but had limited knowledge of mana and was unsure of how to bring the knight out. No weapons he had on him would be any effective against this strange power. He switched his gaze to the remaining 7 knights and smiled devilishly.

"We will only engage if Sir Crant acknowledges you to be an opponent he can't take down." A little blue ball of mana came from the shadows and spoke into the ears of the other knights. "A pity you must die here, you nonconformist." They surrounded their bodies with the mysterious substance and all rushed to attack him. He was going to simply allow the weapons to bounce and break off his skin, but the sword tips began to pierce him. For the first time in his life, the immortal was damaged by the instruments of a mortal. The only other weapon to injure him was that of Angels and Demons. Barbados clenched his fist and struck one of the knights in the stomach, sending them hurtling back. He conjured a warhammer and hit the hands of the other knights to disengage them from their weapons. Glistening red liquid oozed slowly from the wounds.

"They even pierced my blood veins" thought Barbados as he pulled each sword out individually. Burning sensations travelled through his nerves as his body tried healing.

Barbados found a new found interest as he never pondered the thought of mana being able to injure him. The once gone smile returned to his face as it twisted from shock to pleasure. The knights were frightened for a moment as they witnessed Barbados heal. Okia was preparing to intervene again, but Adm forced them to stop, looking at them and shaking his head. Even though his blindness prevented him from seeing the fight, he was able to visualise it in his mind perfectly and just began to understand the true horrifying power a Sinborn held. Everyone anticipated Barbados's next move, the air itself tensing up. He grabbed the warhammer by the handle and stretched the metal to form a malleable whip. He began to spin the metal block and launched it at the knights, trying to aim at their centre of mass to knock them over. He got annoyed at the impracticality and felt a single tear run down his cheek for ruining a perfectly good hammer in the heat of the moment.

The knights were preparing something. Barbados could feel the change in air pressure around him as their strange movements cultivated the strange power and shaped the orbs. They created countless orbs of the strange coloured material and surrounded them in another layer of mana. The orbs were split even further to create marbles the size of a corn kernel. Barbados waited in anticipation to see what mystical arts they were about to perform a circus act.

"Launch!" yelled the knight in charge of the formation, as they all sent the ball-ception clusters into the air. "Shater!" he yelled afterwards and hundreds of mana globulles appeared that floated for a second, before descending down in a barrage of rain droplets. "Form!" was the last sound that came from his mind as the hundreds of marbles morphed into needle-like spikes formed from a reflective material. As the rain of silver spines descended, Barbados could see that the needle-like structure was being formed of a silver liquid that was surrounded by a thin layer of a different clear material. His eyes shone with excitement. This power was the dream for any being specialised in creating weapons and artefacts. From his special space where he stored all his creations and other important items, he pulled out a bottle made from a reflective crystal, and in the other hand he conjured a metal tower shield and held it high above his head to protect his body. The projectiles hit the shield with the force of an earthquake and shattered the ground beneath him. The projectiles that missed created a field of dangerous plants around him. "Explode!" The last command startled Barbados, and as he looked down at the surrounding field of explosives, the intense heat burned itself onto his body.

A plume of smoke lay on the surrounding area. The Knights triumphed at the lack of cocky remarks and celebrated at the eradication of the radicalist. But a smooth metal spear flew out of the dense field and struck one of the knights in the abdomen, piercing through the metal armour. Another projectile flew out of the smoke, this time a kunai that pinned a different knight in the shoulder. The injured men screamed as the rest tried to heal them using mana. One last item was thrown out of the smoke, a circular ball made of black marble that had a strange ingrave covering the entire surface. Adam could smell the mesmerising aroma of a fine reactive powder emanating from the orb. It was one of the training orbs that the students used to try and improve their control. But the knights didn't know that, they were all busy and ignoring the innocent looking object. Adam knew Barbados had done something to it, otherwise he wouldn't have launched it, and his intuition was right. The ball had cracks that were deep enough to reach the core, but not penetrate it. As the ball made contact, the explosion brough the other knights to their knees. Lastly, Barbados emerged from the smoke, his left arm and most part of the body having been torched beyond recognition and all that remained was the charred flesh that resembled a husk. His skeleton was poking through the gaping gaps in his body and almost all his clothing had been burned. But the most disturbing grotesque imagery that even made the mysterious Okia gag and turn away, was the large perfect hole that showed inside his ribcage to a lacuna, his heart had completely disintegrated. His skin vibrated and pulsated as it slowly healed from the explosive ambush. His wings seemed to have been unaffected.

"I enjoyed that skuttle," his voice resonated, sounding rough as his lung struggled to keep the escaping air contained, "I learned a lot from you about mana. Oh and Okia, I promise I won't hurt the other bald one."

Okia turned to look at the slowly regenerating zombie and gagged once again.

"Please Barb, look in a different direction." they said as the man re-appeared from the ground, and before he could comprehend the situation, Barbados punched in the face, sending him flying. "Barbados, you promised to not hurt him." said Okia in between deep breaths.

"I lied." Barbados said.

****

Barbados analysed the vial of the strange material in Adam's office while the knights pleaded their apologies. The man that he had struck with the javelin had died but he didn't mourn him. While they couldn't prove it, he struck with the intent to kill. He already tried questioning the men but they didn't answer him. One thing he did recieve was the shock of him being able to contain that material. No one elaborate but he could tell that there was an uneasy thought shared between them all. He spun the flask 3 more times before storing it away. He decided the sweat pleas had bored him and interrupted them.

"Yes I am almighty. I know. But you would really be showing me appreciation if you answered me about the material." Silence. "Fine, keep your dirty mortal secrets. I will uncover them eventually. Let me establish one thing," he said while clasping his hands, "you will no longer be able to enforce your so-called 'mandatory selected weapon' rule. Oh and mentioning me or my past to myself or anyone else will result in me chasing you down and decapitating you." He smiled while threatening them. Adam had long given up on controlling the beast and let it bear its teeth at the knights. The meeting ended after they agreed to his terms and they left carrying their fallen comrade. Barbados stretched his nearly healed body and thanked Adam for introducing him to Grent as he left. Adam tried to stop him, but the Sinborn was already gone. He picked up the communication and dialled Okia.

"Hi Okia, catch Barbados and send him to find Grog and to go shopping for new clothes. Also, you called him Barb, didn't you?"

"You mention this to him or anyone else and you can bid farewell to your head." they responded with intense killing intent that Adam could feel.

"Understood."

Barbados walked with Grog through the vibrant city.

"So, if I was to decapitate you, would you grow a new head, or would you grow a new body?" Grog looked down to see the Sinborn look appalled at the question.

"Why is that the first question you ask me? And how should I know? Until now, the only type of damage I acquired was cutting my skin and losing a finger or two."

"Did those fingers start growing a new hand?" Barbados was beginning to question if his friend had any screws loose in his head.

"No. They didn't."

"Huh. There's the answer then. You would grow a new head." he responded satisfied. They continued their conversation about the implication of his body and the differences between a finger and a head while browsing through the shops. Some heads did turn to hear who was spewing such blasphemous information in a public space. Grog and Barbados were oblivious to this.

"Grog, can we go get me a 3 piece suit?"

"I don't see why not. It would also make you look like a proper teacher and not like a beggar."

"Oi. The cleric's clothing is extremely comfortable."He responded by trying to defend his fashion choices." Barbados tried a variety of suits that looked like they would fit, only for his wings to not fit. There was only one suit left and it fit him perfectly, the colour as black as an endless void, with a texture that irrigated his senses."This is the one."

Grog felt defeated after wandering for the rest of the day. "Who knew having wings could pose such a handicap" he thought. He looked at Barbados and asked if he wanted anything else.

"Yeah actually. Let's go get some ice cream. My treat." Grog smiled and agreed. They spent the rest of the day talking about the stupidest of things, but everytime Barbados tried asking Grog about Okia, he said it wasn't his place to tell him about them.

"It's not that I am not allowed to say anything, but more like I don't have enough justified information to give you. You should ask Adam about Okia and the rest of the teachers." As the sun started sinking, so did the city, descending into the life of the nighttime. The two were set on a bench near the city centre, and Barbados saw the multiple races interacting freely wishing the hungry Angel hands to leave this land alone.

"Grog, let's say hypothetically, I wanted to start a religion or a cult based on me, would you join?" Grog choked on his drink and nearly spit it out.

"What type of question is that? No I won't. You're already a big nuisance, I don't want to be part of a fanclub for that nuisance." Barbados laughed.

"Another question. How do you call someone on this device," he asked, holding up his phone, "and how do I add someone on here to call them?"

"Let me show." Grog explained in the simplest way how to use it. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I met this person on Sunday and their face has subconsciously been coming up time and time again while I was making weapons." Grog put his hands on his face, expressing a shocked face.

"You're in loooove!" he said as he teased Barbados. "So, who is it?"

"It's a druid lady." he looked and saw Grog staring in disappointment.

"Is that all?"

"I know and I just can't understand why I have feelings for her. Genuinely confuses me."

"Here's some advice. The next time you see her, ask for her number. I have experience with the ladies." he said smugly.

"You do?"

"I hate you." he responded while the two laughed again.

They walked back to the campus and Barbados found out that the staff got their own building to themselves.

"That is bullshit! Adam stuck me in a student dorm room. Isn't that like a hazard, I could be a paedophile."

"Are you?"

"No."

"It's fine then."

"How come I, the creature from long before morals and ethics were important, care more about this than you?"

"You're just old. Also, when's your birthday?"

"Birthday?" asked Barbados.

"You know, the day you were born."

"I haven't got a clue. The Angels and Demons used a separate calendar to you folk. Why do you ask?"

"It's a tradition of us mortals to celebrate the birthday of a person every year. Did you not have that?" asked Grog curiously.

"No. All my life I was told my birth was a mistake, that I should have never been conceived."

"Brutal." replied Grog, unsettled. "But if you do figure it out, let me know. I would like to celebrate it with you."

"That means a lot. Thank you."