Blunt Edge

Joey stared daggers in the doctors back, he was furious but he couldn't attack the only lifeline his sister had.

He needed to hatch a plan that would allow him to get his sister from the hospital but anyone could tell she was not healthy enough to leave.

When Joey was leaving he realized it was earlier than most people because the sun's dawn gave off an orange hue, signifying the morning sun.

As Joey was leaving the hospital he was starting to think of ways to get his sister out of the hospital in good health.

He started getting this uneasy gut feeling that the doctor wouldn't fully heal her and he was only taking care of her until they wanted to take her away.

It was virtually impossible to be able to steal someone from Bulwark City Hospital.

There was security in the vicinity and sneaking out his sister from the hospital was too tall of a task, to make matters worst he only had himself to rely on.

As he was thinking about his predicament he eventually reached work where he saw Sina opening the shop, she looked like a regular person, not someone who could chop up 1-ton beasts for a living.

She had a stacked chest lightly hidden away behind her clothes, she was taller than and wore skin-tight jeans showing beautiful bodyline in her Neropostale shirt with Bollister jeans.

You couldn't tell if she was frugal or it was her style simple.

But you definitely wouldn't think she would butcher animals for a living.

Joey watched her opening the store from afar and she looked right at Joey like she felt the stare on her from afar.

She looked at him and smiled "Well aren't you early, afraid I'll fire you?".

Her guess wasn't half bad but Joey just shook his head with a smile and waited for her to open the door.

The place was still freezing cold from the cold being on all night.

Sina saw Joey shudder and said, "Don't worry kid you'll get used to it soon, this place is like a freezer and we simply just cut the meat inside."

Joey nodded and went over to his station but his mind wasn't in the right place. He was thinking about his sister and how best he could help her.

Could he develop a superpower in this little space of time?

How would he be able to make sure his sister is safe?

Was he just being paranoid?

The only thing Joey could think of was getting stronger.

Who would have ideas about selling them off?

Strength was the only true thing in the world because if the earth was stronger would 9 Skies be a threat?

No!

Joey at that moment swore to himself to get stronger not just for himself but for his sister, her condition was getting worst by the day and being in danger all the time wasn't helping.

"I need martial arts books and lots of them" Joey muttered to himself.

Sina saw him talking to himself and coldly said, "Stop being all gloomy make sure before you spoil the meat, we are going to pick up some beasts from some sky Warriors from Skyfall soon so try not to look dreaded".

When Joey heard this he was indeed happier, getting to see Skyfall Military warriors was something that could excite anyone.

They were looked up to as the defenders of the earth and protected against attacks from the skies, they were dragons amongst men and meeting them was an honour.

Joey tried to relax his mood and moved to start carving up a sky beast. He handled the knife like a professional and made sure to allow the back of the knife to sink into the meat.

Butchering with the back of the knife was something that he did for almost a decade but was still tedious, trying to cut the bones of animals with the back of the knife was what some people would refer to as a pipe dream.

The bones of the animals were large and dense because they were reinforced many times.

Joey recalled what his uncle said about keep using the back of your knife if you didn't want to die and realized that he meant getting stronger.

Joey's teeth clenched tighter as he fought through the fatigue he felt in his hand, His hand started to go numb and he couldn't even feel the knife in his hands.

His hand started to get slippery from all the sweat that developed in his palm.

His face wasn't sweating yet thanks to the temperature being sub-zero and never had to worry about sullying the meat.

Joey's hand quivered as he continued to squeeze the knife against the bone and cut the beast into smaller portions based on the specification of the customer.

This particular customer wanted the beast solely for eating.

So he was trying his best not to spoil the meat as struggled to slice the meat off the bone.

His eyebrows were scrunched and his jaw was clenched unconsciously as he started to slice the meat away from the tendons.

The muscles around the shoulders blade made Joey wish the knife had a guard but he knew that the knife wasn't made to be used like this.

He forced his hands to make even the smallest incision in the muscle so he could make it easier to slice the rest of the meat, all while getting rid of the fat.

He wondered why this was so much harder than yesterday but that wouldn't help him cut any faster.

His face started to turn red from strain, the muscle finally had a small opening after pressuring the tiny dint in the muscle.

The work he did this time around was vastly different from the beast he did when he was with his uncle and even the day before.

He panted as he wiped the frozen perspiration off his face.

Joey looked at his hands with shock froze him in his seat, his biceps spasmed uncontrollably and his fingers had deep gashes and were bloody.

He never felt this sensation before even after the first time he carved up a sky beast with the blunt edge of the knife.

Sina glanced at him looking at his hand with wide eyes like he was trying to tell his future.

She scoffed at him and said, "If butchering the sky beast that kills countless people was that easy everyone would do it, the knife you used yesterday was a double edge.

I'd say whatever your uncle gave you was only slightly dulled to give you a little challenge."

Joey looked at her when he came to the sudden epiphany that she was right, but he couldn't understand why his uncle did things the way he did.

He left him with a bunch of unanswered questions, no matter how he thought of things his uncle said were hazy puzzles in his mind that he couldn't solve and felt like a distant memory.