Chapter 4: my first battle exam.
The day of the battle came shortly. It seemed like a week flew by like it was nothing. I had Grell help me practice every day after school. We would jump up on the roof and he would attack me with his chainsaw. I managed to block everything by the third day. He didn't actually try to hit me or I would be a bunch of scrap meat. I felt great by the last day.
"I'm going to rule the world!" I yelled as I stood on top of the chimney with my arms spread out into the light. The best part of living in the shinigami world is that no one can hear anything when they sleep. We're usually all dead when we sleep. We stop breathing, and our heart stops working until we wake up the next day. Which means we're totally deaf when we sleep. Also a good thing, and a bad thing; we never dream. So nothing stopped me from climbing up onto the roof with Grell and yelling out into the darkness.
"You're going to do amazing, Lee-lee, I'm sure of it." Grell said as he put away his chainsaw. I smiled happily.
"I'm sure I am." I said happily. I might not even need my telekinesis powers after when Grell helped me.
"Remember, you won't be fighting in the arena, but on the rooftops of the fake houses. You can levitate the shingles; you can rip the chimneys off, you can make fire come out of the chimneys, you can throw your enemies… I'm sure you'll do fine. Oh, I'm so proud of you!" He said as he pulled me into a bear hug.
"Ow… Grell, I can't breathe…"
"Sorry, just excitement. I can't believe you've gotten this far. Soon you're going to be as much of a beautiful and attractive grim reaper like myself! I'm sure boys will just come falling for you. You'll be the mangosteen of all grim reapers!"
"Not sure what mangosteen means but okay." I said. Did he make that word up by himself? He sure was capable of it.
We walked to the library together despite what William said about Grell not being allowed to escort fellow grim reapers into the facility. I didn't care. He could go to hell and do everyone a favour.
"Good luck, Lee-lee. I have to go now. Kick his ass for me." Grell said.
"Will do. See you later!" I waved goodbye to Grell. I was one of the first people in the training room. After the class got assembled, we trudged down to the fake part of the world. They were basically uninhabited houses that were ruined and crumbling since the war of the green world and the blue world. We had total control of the green world now. The green world and the blue world were now the same place, in one big shinigami world. Everyone got along now, as this had been several hundred years ago. No one had really ever bothered to reconstruct this part of the world.
William walked in front of our group. Soon, this group would be half as small.
"You will all be fighting each other in the order I called your names yesterday. The rest of you, have a seat on those benches. So, Edward and Isaac, you two are up first."
I watched as two shaky looking grim reapers got up and jumped onto the roof.
"Begin!" William called. He took a seat on the other side of the roof, watching the battle intently. I kept a firm hold on my death scythes. I had been aware of dirty tricks like stealing someone else's death scythe so that they couldn't fight.
"Are you nervous?" Jordan walked up and asked me with a coy smile.
"Not in the least bit."
"I hope you don't have anything to hide in your cinematic record, because I'll be seeing it."
"Gosh, aren't we cocky?" I asked. "Even if you do get to see my cinematic record, you'll die just by looking at the events that happened." I said, smiling. "Don't the reapers that see the events of the souls sometimes feel the emotions of those who the cinematic record belongs to? The fear will choke you to death." I promised. "You will be lucky if you lose."
"Hmph. Nothing can scare me. We'll see…" Jordan walked away. I laughed. I watched as the cinematic record rolled out of Edward. Isaac helped Edward up and a light shone above him.
"Oh, awesome!" He said as he grabbed the sword out of the air and stroked it fondly. "Is this my new death scythe?"
"Yes. You can now consider yourself halfway there to becoming a grim reaper." William said. Those two went to sit down. Edward's cut healed immediately and his cinematic record stopped rolling.
"Next" William called.
The fight progressed like this. Most weak people were paired with strong ones, so the competition wasn't real. I began to get slightly nervous, the way I usually did as my turn neared.
"Next, Leah and Jordan." William called. Both of us walked forwards and jumped onto the roof.
"Begin!" William called.
Jordan ran forwards with a feint and a strike to the face. It was a good move, but I was ready for it. Every time his axe moved to strike me, I used telekinesis to make it move slightly away from me so that he missed every time. I kicked him into a wall. He got up and charged again. I flipped over his head and tried to stab his back. He countered and flung one axe out of my hand. I retrieved it quickly and we kept fighting.
I was trying not to use telekinesis as much as I could because he might file a cheat. All grim reapers had telekinesis powers. Only a select few could actually manifest them and use them. It was possible to learn, but it was very, very difficult. Those grim reapers that could use telekinesis were very revered in the shinigami society, so I figured William would cut me some slack.
He seemed to be getting angry that he couldn't cut me as quickly as he thought. His movements began to get wilder and faster. Instead of being orderly, he began to get unpredictable and I found myself more on the defensive side than on the attack side. I knew that you could score big if you attacked more often, but you could fall seriously as well. And I would make him fall.
"What's wrong, can't hit me?" He asked. He had a crazy looking light in his eyes. I took a step back. It wasn't like my eyes that glowed like crazy. My eyes were bright. His eyes were still the normal color, but they looked like the eyes of a madman. Something was wrong. Something was really wrong with him. William seemed to see it too. His attacks began to get so fast that I could barely defend myself. A black aura surrounded him. William stood up.
"That's enough! Both of you, stop fighting!" He called. Nothing happened. He got his death scythe to try to restrain Jordan, but his scythe clanged against an unseen force field. I was trapped. He got out his cell phone and began calling the managerial class. What would happen when they came? Would both of us be kicked out? Who knew? I knew that I didn't want to look like a helpless princess who needed rescuing. I was going to kick his ass without anyone's help. Something inside me told me that if I cut him hard enough, the darkness would leak out as well as his cinematic record and he would turn back to normal.
I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, they were glowing. I felt the wind rush through me. I raised my arms. The wind got faster. Shingles got blown off the roofs in a tornado around me. I ripped the chimney off the roof and flung it at him, hitting him square in the chest and throwing him into the wall. I raised my hand and a pillar of fire came out of the chimney. I made it turn into a dozen flaming arrows.
The whirlwind of debris flying around me got stronger as I added pieces of wood and metal from other ruined houses to the tornado. I flung it in all directions. I was able to see where the force field was and how far it extended by the amount of stuff that stuck to the edges. He ran towards me. I made a wall of rubble and slowly walked towards him. I found two sticks of wood and two pieces of metal and stuck them together, pretending they were my death scythes. As planned, he flung them out of my hands. He thought I was no longer armed and advanced on me. Apparently everyone else thought so too, as they screamed out warnings to me. I just smiled. Just the right time… I waited until he raised his arms to strike. Now!
I ran forwards as fast as I could and I made several deep x shaped cuts to his chest with my real death scythes. The force field disappeared and all the debris clattered to the ground. His cinematic record rolled out of his body. I didn't care to watch it, as I was so tired. I sat down on the roof, completely exhausted. A light shone above me.
I watched as my new death scythe took place. It looked huge. What materialized was an enormous traditional death scythe that was a pure bone white color with a skull joining the place where the blade and the hilt met. It was like the death scythe of the last legendary shinigami. It fit perfectly in my hands. I grinned. It was awesome.
The managerial class came running up. There were several people there. The guy's cinematic record was still rolling. He looked out cold. One of them knelt beside him.
"I thought so… he used a dark spell meant to enhance combat prowess. What a stupid thing to do. It seems that the spell took control of his body." He said before turning his attention to me. "You did well, miss. You fought very well against the spell influence. We haven't had a grim reaper that could use telekinesis in a while. I'm glad to say you passed. You're halfway there to your goal."
"Thank you." I said. I walked over with my new death scythe to the group of people who had won. I was halfway there. Soon I would be a real grim reaper. I couldn't wait.