Mania and the Executioner (23 page)

…

[May 27th]

Waking up to Cheza’s sleeping face is a pretty great way to start a morning. I untangle
myself from her sleeping form, head to my room to get my basic training clothes on, and walk out to the kitchen. Sara is already out there making eggs and bacon. When I finish eating, I stand up and turn to walk to the basement when Sara stops me.

“Cole, come to my room for a moment.” Sara says as she stands up and walks to her room while I follow. I sit on her bed as Sara goes to her closet, which I can only assume is some sort of portal to another world because she seems to keep everything in there. She comes out with what I assume is my new holster.

“I was able to make the modifications you wanted.” Sara says as I inspect the new holster. This one is also worn like a backpack, but there is an X on the back that connects to the looped straps in the front so that it sort of looks like an infinity sign. The bottom legs of the X have metal buckles that clip into the pack on my lower back.

“I had to make the pouch a lot longer to fit the length of two 25-round
magazines, which is why I had to change the gun holster’s placement. I also made the hole at the end wide enough for the silencer to pass through it.” Sara says. I look and see that the gun holster is now positioned so that the grip of the gun faces up instead of to the left. “I had a little trouble with the placement for the short Sic blade. I knew that you needed the handle to stick out to the right but the magazines would get in the way. That’s why I made it so the handle faces diagonally up and to the right.”

“This is great Sara, but what about the pouch for the silencer when it isn’t in use?” I
inquire.

“That’s another problem I had. I could put it on this left end but that would be a poor placement choice when you have to use your right hand to attach it…” Sara said.

“Wait a second…if I’m only using the 25 round magazines, which are about four inches longer, couldn’t I reload my gun just by sliding it over the magazine until it locks if the magazines were on my left side?” I ask, but Sara just looks at me puzzled.

“Just a second.”
I say before I race to my room, grab my gun, and head back into Sara’s room.

I un
clip the pouch from the straps and stick it to my back upside-down, so that the mags are sticking out to the left. I let the mag that is currently in my gun drop to the floor. I move the gun around behind my back and try to slide the protruding magazine into my gun, only to find that the knife attachment gets in the way.

“One more second, I need to use your bathroom.” I say as I walk
over to her desk/workbench. Grabbing a pair of scissors, I slice open my right wrist just below the bangle. I walk into the bathroom and hold my right hand flat and parallel to her sink as I form a Mu-cutter. After I pour one and a half liters of blood down Sara’s sink, I use the Mu-cutter to slice off the knife at the bottom of my gun; I rarely use it anyway.

“That Mu-cutter is so cool
!” Sara says as I disengage it.

I try and reload my gun again and this time it works.

“That’s what I’m talking about! Can you flip the whole pouch?” I ask.

“Ugh…yeah, I just have to scrap most of my work…” Sara says slightly downtrodden.

“I’m sorry Sara but this way the pack will be more effective. You can make it so the Sic blade’s hilt sticks out horizontally to the right and then put a silencer pouch on the right as well! Keep the gun’s holster how it is though; I like the feel of that more than the previous design.” I say excitedly.

“Alright, I can probably salvage the
magazine pouches just by adjusting the front and since I don’t have to make those from scratch, I can probably have it done in two days.” Sara says.

“Thanks Sara; you’re the greatest!” I say while hugging her.

“Oh stop it!…Cole? Can we talk about what happened the other night?” Sara asks quietly. Does she know about how I almost killed her?

“Tia, could you please come in here?” Sara asks at a
normal volume as Tia walks in.

“Spill it little bro; what’s with the helmet and the new swords? I’m not all that surprised by the ‘still being alive despite gett
ing shanked in the heart’ thing. Your regeneration skills have always been impressive, but the helmet interests me.” Tia asks and I let out a breath of relief.

“Well, as I was blacking out, these voices said that I wasn’t allowed to die yet and that they were going t
o help me just this once. It was like I was back in a drive state again; just watching and feeling as I reached around to the back of my neck and scratched it from my crumpled position on the floor. Then this silver liquid enveloped my head and suddenly I could see clearly in the pitch black room. I stood to my feet while the creepy voices started laughing as I cupped two handfuls of blood from my chest, and clapped them together. As I pulled my hands apart two scimitars, that I identified as Talwars based on the hilt, formed in each hand. I thought about how I didn’t like single-edged blades and suddenly they morphed into those clear, double-edged blades that are in my room.” I explain. Tia and Sara both look really concerned.

“Cole, go grab the blades from your room and then go downstairs and try to cut through your old Sic blade.” Tia says. I walk to my roo
m, grab the diamond swords, and head for the basement.

“Sara,
tell me the truth; do you know what’s going on?” I hear Tia sternly ask as I reach the base of the stairs.

“No…but I plan to find out. Go keep an eye on Cole.” Sara says.

This isn’t sounding too good…

Chapter
19: I don’t care if you want to play Christopher Walken! I said no rain scenes!

“Hey Tia, I can’t get a good swing in on the Sic blade; could you hold it?” I say to Tia as she walks down the stairs after I try to cut my first three foot Sic blade with one of my Diamond swords. Tia walks over and I hand her my Sic blade; she holds it steady while I swing my Diamond sword as hard as I can
. The Diamond sword chips the Sic blade, but just barely.

While th
ey may resemble diamonds, if the swords were made of diamond then they would break because diamonds are hard, but rather brittle. Even silicon carbide is relatively brittle because of how hard it is so how has it been standing up to steel this whole time? The only logical explanation that I can come up with is that it utilizes a carbon nanotube structure for its strength.

I think something like this would be perfect for Cheza but I’m not sure if I can make pure silicon carbide that large. I’ve probably become
more capable at making pure silicon carbide since I made Cheza’s ring, but to make the short swords I have in mind, I’ll need far more blood than I have.

(To make the twin blades that connect together and slide into a sheath
, making them look like a single sword, you will need 20.4 liters)

“Wow, that’s way out of my league. There h
as to be some way to do this…Hey Airi, is it possible for me to do something like drain my blood into a container to use at a later time?”

(I am proud of you
, Master. Yes, you can save your blood in containers. My recommendation is to drain 3 Liters of your blood each night. Your blood supply will be restored each night while you sleep and you will have enough blood in a week’s time)

“Thanks Genie! If only you could grant wishes so that I could just fast forward that week.”

(I could put your body on autopilot so that you will respond normally for a week’s time. Your consciousness will not feel the passage of time)

“Uh, no thanks.
I know how this ends: with me dying in a hospital gown while lying in the street when it’s raining. I am not Adam Sandler!”

(Damn…I really wanted to play the part of Christopher Walken…)
10

I laugh out loud
at the thought of Airi impersonating Christopher Walken while Tia looks at me. “Airi again. Hey, do you think blades made of pure silicon carbide would work for Cheza’s icy abilities?”

“Most likely, but how are you going to make it when you drained yourself making a small ring?” Tia asks.

“I’ll just show you in a week, but first I need a container that can hold 20.4 liters of liquid.” I say.

“Well gallon jugs hold about four liters and the sports drink cooler holds ten gallons so that should do it.” Tia says.

“Perfect! I need to bring it to my room when Cheza isn’t paying attention…I’ll do it while you two are training. Where is it by the way?” I ask.

“The garage.”
Tia says.

“A
lright, thanks Tia!” I say and head upstairs. I pass Cheza as I open the basement door.

“Good
morning! You’d better hurry up; Tia is waiting.” I tell her.

“Yeah, Yeah; I’m going!” Cheza says g
rumpily. I wonder what’s wrong…

I head out the front door and into the garage. I expand my hearing to make sure that Cheza is in the basement. She is, but I also hear that Sara is on the phone so I listen in.

“What the hell do they think they’re doing!? It isn’t time yet and they keep slipping him hints! The only thing that has kept him from realizing exactly what is going on is the fact that I taught him that stuff a decade ago so he probably doesn’t remember it all that well.” Sara says.

Okay so it’s clear that she is talking about me, but who are they? What hints have I been slipped? And what did she teach me that I’ve forgotten?

“Fine! Bye!” Sara shouts angrily and hangs up.

I take
the cooler to my room and put the cooler in my shower so that Cheza won’t see it, even if she goes in my bathroom. I head for the basement; my performance yesterday showed me that my accuracy with the needles and spikes still needs a lot of work. As I reach the basement door, the doorbell rings.

I walk over and answer the front door, only to be
immediately tackled to the ground by my neck.

“COLE!” Lila squeals in my ear.

“Well, well, if it isn’t my favorite girl with wings!” I exclaim as I sit up. Lila is wearing a white sundress similar to the one from last night. “How are you?”

“I’m good! I came with daddy to watch your training!” Lila says as I notice
Dagda standing in the doorway.

“Training?”
I ask, directing it at either of them.

“Well, after that close call last night, I told Mama Quilla at the meetin’ that I’m goin’ to train you to
fight at a higher level. Bein’ the head o’ a high tier pantheon, I can get you prepared to fight most gods in any other pantheon.” Dagda informs me.

“That would actually be really helpful, thanks! It would be nice if I could avoid losing any more
appendages!” I say while holding up my still bandaged finger.

“I
see you got it reattached! How’d you do that?” Dagda asks.

“I sliced a small sliver off tissue from the finger and from my hand and then reconnected them. I had this idea that the magic that makes Moralltach’s wounds unable to be healed might work like a poison
coating on a blade, and sure enough, it worked! I’m just a little lucky that it sliced clean through my finger; had it been a stab wound, I don’t think I would have been able to heal it.” I reply.

“Alright, well let’s go downstairs, grab some weapons, and head for the backyard so we don’t disturb Cheza’s training.” I say as I walk to the basement door.

I grab my new Diamond swords as well as my diamond Sic blade while Dagda grabs a long sword from the armory. I explain what’s happening to Tia and Cheza, even though Tia probably already knows. Dagda and I head upstairs, I put on some shoes, and out the front door we go.

“Alr
ight lad, how does that weapon from last night work?” Dagda asks.

“Well, it basically slices through the bonds of the atoms in a molecule. It has several major weaknesses though: One, it takes time for me to form it, roughly 15-30 seconds so it is something that requires preparation. Second: when I’m forming it, giant globs of blood drop from my hand which immediately gives it away to anyone relatively intelligent. That is the main reason for my taunting last night, to make Aengus angry so he wouldn’t notice the blood under the table. Lastly, it uses up nearly two liters of blood to make, so I can really only make one every two hours or so.” I explain.

“I see now…so we have to work on your speed most importantly. It sounds like buying you enough time to make this weapon in battle will be crucial. Let’s get started with a bit o’ sparrin’; this way we can work on your swordplay too, but I’m also goin’ to be hittin’ harder as well.” Dagda forewarns.

I
grab one of my Diamond swords while Lila flutters up onto the roof and lets her legs dangle over the edge. Dagda starts and I’m able to block his first blow before he slices into my left arm. We keep going until I feel Cheza get cut in response to my hit, causing me to take another blow from Dagda.

“Okay, this isn’t going to work; I’m too close to Cheza. Did Kira say anything about my attachment to Cheza?” I ask.

“She did, when a member brought up how you might hurt Chezarei, Mama Quilla explained that you have some kind of connection with the lass and that hurtin’ her would be like hurtin’ yourself, but what does that have to do with anythin’?” Dagda asks.