Persecuted

Three knocks at the door. It was late at night.

"You will not survive the trial unless you let me in butler." A familiar voice. Simon opens the door and it was a familiar face. Master Yue Fei came to visit him. Simon immediately opens the door as wide as possible then beckons the master inside.

"You shouldn't have bothered coming to this humble apartment master. Sending one of your servants would have been enough." Simons says looking to prepare some beverage for his guest.

"Do not bother with formalities. I came prepared." Yue Fei says putting a large bottle with unknown letters on the table. "A bottle from before the Earth was invaded. Lazar told me to open it with him on his last day on this planet. If I would have known..." He says opening it and smelling the liquid inside.

"Bring us two glasses, we have much to talk about." He says crossing his arms and raising his back. Simons does as told and Yue Fei pours them a drink.

"The man who taught me the endless cut technique told me once to pour a drink in his honour when he was going to die. He failed in life since he was unable to teach anyone his technique properly. That which I have mastered is the sixfold cut technique."

"I wouldn't call such a powerful technique a failure."

"You will once you'll master it. Butler! It is very simple, in three days there will be a trial and the two culprits who plotted and conspired to kill Lazar and you, will be set free. It's guaranteed. We have a man, his name is Damian and his powers allows him to recreate events from the past using apparitions, holograms of sorts. His power is so precise it was used to recreate the original schematics for the Redeemer bomb. He won't take part in this trial, too busy they say." Yue Fei says raising his glass and drinking.

"To put it simply, we have very few allies and even fewer people who want to see those two behind bars. Soon friends of yours are to arrive here, isn't it so? They'll be in danger, you'll be in danger and everyone will try to sweep this under the rug as soon as possible."

"There is nothing I can do, is there?"

"There is though. If you try to challenge the tower fair and square you'll be stopped from killing them in a duel for their position. Although your abilities are the ultimate counter to their powers, there is no way in hell you'll be able to reach the 18th spot as you are, even with my training you won't reach them. You can however keep doing what you were doing beforehand. Become my butler in the meanwhile, I will protect you and even if I lose my life in this, the two won't be able to walk freely a second time."

"That is the problem though! You're life will be in danger."

"As if it isn't already as a guardian of humanity! My life is death. I will not rest my head in bed giving my last breath surrounded by family and friends. I will die tired and cold, bleeding out on the battlefield against the enemies of humanity. Death I not something I fear!"

"Death for humanity is not the same as death for a single man."

"Yet the man who can save one can save one hundred. You will do as I order you, you have no choice. I will teach you the sixfold cut technique and once ready we will enact justice over Lazar's death." Yue Fei says pouring and drinking a second glass.

"Although we were friends, Lazar was also my mentor, alongside many others. I have no powers, I have only this failed technique which I have inherited but I will never be able to master. The man who taught me it, he had powers but not super strength or super speed. He was able to divide his sword each time he hit with it. His technique was devastating on the blade, breaking it into a million shards after every use, hence why he was the only one capable of using it. The sixfold cut is more lenient on the blade but it is devastating on the arm." He says revealing his arms being covered by a black layer of material with numerous attachments on the surface. That special cloth was fused with his arms and kept his muscles and bones together while using the sixfold technique.

"You will suffer, you will be in pain, but you will master the endless cut technique."

"Is the principle what I believe it to be?" Simon asks and Yue Fei gets up puzzled. He knew Simon's eye was good, he knew the young man had quite the instinct for using a weapon but... he had to know. Yue Fei puts down the glass.

"What principle?"

"I do not know how yet, but I've seen the students training. Their muscles tensed and relaxed twice during the swing. They were not removing strength from their strike then applying it again, but rather... it was as if they were layering it one on top of the other."

"As a basis, that is the concept behind the endless cut. Take the length of the blade. You apply your strength once at the tip of the sword and once at the base of the sword. It is as if you're wielding a sword like a whip. The strength comes from the fact you are not distributing your strength over the whole blade, but only when the weapon makes contact."

"Therefore the twofold cut doubles the strength of the user."

"You realise what the endless cut entails."

"Infinite cutting power."

"The second technique he has developed is a mystery he never taught anyone. It is called "Claimed Ground" and it allowed him to cover any distance before striking. If you ever learn such a technique known somebody already walked that path before."

"And together, what are these techniques called?"

"They need a name don't they?" Yue Fei lowers his head. "When I come up with one I'll tell you. I will see you tomorrow morning. The trial is in three days, you'll have to learn the technique in two." Yue Fei says standing up all of a sudden. He heads towards the door and leave, the bottle of ancient liquor staying behind.

The next day, as soon as the sun was up Simon presented himself in front of Yue Fei's door. He is welcomed by one of his students then allowed inside. The dojo was already very lively although it was so early and immediately Simon was given a uniform and told to get ready. As a warm up for the training, he would have to swing up and down, increasingly heavy ropes, some attached to a device which makes the oscillations even more powerful and hard to control. He starts as instructed, looking at the other students training just as he did. Many of them had scars on their forearms and biceps, unmistakeably from the training.

"Good morning students. Keep as you are." Yue Fei says arriving in the dojo. He was holding a large wooden box and beckons Simons to come.

"We have no time to strengthen your body the normal way, therefore we'll use brute methods to teach you the technique as fast as possible." The sword master says opening the box, revealing small chocolate balls covered with something small and crunchy.

"One hundred bacon, chocolate balls glazed with caramel, butter sauce, spicy chips and crispy fat powder. One of these has around 2500 calories in it. Enzo's most calories dense food per size. One of these is capable of growing back a man's leg once consumed. I've had to call in a favour in order to have so many of these spared from the army's supply."

"These are used on the battlefield to regrow limbs?"

"Precisely. Luckily for you, while you're healing they won't make you gain any weight, however you'll quickly get absolutely tired of the taste, one of these every seven days is overwhelming enough." Yue Fei says putting the box on top of a small round, wooden table and ordering his students to make space on one of the training mats. Yue Fei invites Simon to follow him into the ring.

"I do not have the time to teach you the motions of the cutting technique step by step, so I'll push it into you by having you be on the receiving end of it." Yue Fei says holding a metal rod.

"Grab onto it and don't let go." Simon does as told. Yue Fei raises his arm the makes the rod move as if he was striking with it. Simon's arm follows the movement as he holds onto the other side. From the tip of his fingers he could feel it, the sensation raising through his bone, through his muscles. Instinctively he reinforces his arm with the weapons inside his body, they break to pieces and so does his arm. Muscle and bone are torn apart as the damage goes as high as his shoulder.

"Eat boy eat and savour the pain. Remember the sensation since in 50 strikes you'll be the one starting the movement." Fifty, fifty times that morning Simon had his arm absolutely destroyed, each time suffering as his muscles and bones are reconstructed by Enzo's magical food. He was feeling like throwing up from the overwhelming amount of calories he has ingested and his body was burning them at an incredible rate while recovering his body. Usually after an individual has his limbs reconstructed in such a manner, the process is so invasive, it takes a few hours if not a whole day for them to use that limb again. Simon did it fifty times in less than 6 hours. They continue training as the morning students leave and the afternoon students arrive. Simon gets a blessed 50 minutes of rest while the new students arrived and started training.

"This is a single strike Simon. You haven't experienced a double strike yet. All of this is necessary for you to learn the movements and the forces into play on your body and weapon while using it. It takes months to learn the movement alone, even more to learn the second strike, then the third and fourth." And since Simon made no progress with the technique, they kept training as it was, spending all the 100 chocolate balls only on receiving the technique. The next day it was the same however, one noticeable difference was that around the 70th time, Simon's hand stopped breaking completely and only superficial muscles were being destroyed. That is when he asked for weapons he could use to reinforce his limb and not long after, right before the 80th ball was eaten, his hand was not fully healed but able to receive a second strike before needing to be cured.

"Now, I will attempt the strike." Simon says and a dummy is presented to him, enclosed behind walls of protective glass. For the first time it is expected for the training sword to break. He rises his weapon arm into the air and prepares to strike. The blunt blade starts approaching rapidly towards the target and on contact both the fake sword as well as the dummy explode into tinny pieces, breaking even through the protective glass. The destructive power was impressive however things got complicated. The explosion tore Simon's whole front to shreds and although they fed him one of the healing candies, his body wasn't recovering.

"Call a doctor immediately, there are pieces of shrapnel struck inside his body!" Leo is called and not long after a doctor arrives on the scene. He painstakingly removes every single piece of metal from Simon's body and the medicine finally starts working on him.

"How are you doing? Are you alright?"

"I've been in a terrifying and I've learnt a terrible secret."

"What have you seen boy? Did a piece of metal hit you in the head?"

"No, a piece of metal hit me in the ankle and instinctively I used a blade to deflect the blow." The students look baffled as Simon points back at the destroyed glass chamber. There were two impact holes, not just one.

"Reactive armour. A last ditch effort, if I cannot avoid the enemy's blow I can mutually assure destruction."

On the third day they could not train. The trial was about to start and they were key witnesses to the whole ordeal. For three days the prince and king of Carpathia were relegated to house arrest inside their apartments. This being an event of worldwide interest was quite troublesome. On one hand, the Tower wanted to publicise it as much as possible, on the other hand, making the informations too public and displaying too much corruption in the trial might sour the people's opinion on the whole ordeal. At the same time, at least in the city Lazar was very popular and not doing enough to convince the people that the trial was fair, could be damaging in the long run. Regardless, Simon was a witness and had to be present. As guest on the trial, as well as part of the comity in charge of deciding whether Stephen and Alexandru are innocent, three members of the 10 ten are present. The ever present Jebe is one of them, alongside number 2 and number 9. Number 2 is quite taller than expected although he didn't wore the suit he usually does. Most commonly he wears an astronaut suit with the helmet being a simple bowl inside of which his head, which is a black hole, is contained. This time he was wearing a jet pilot's suit with an encased helmet. Although everyone knows how he looks like as a hero, he can actually turn his powers off and appear fully human, an identity he kept secret since the beginning. As for number 9, his name is Leopoldo Osuna and he stands out like a sore thumb, even among the other two heroes. He is dressed like a luchador, wearing his colourful mask and costume, with a cape wrapped around his left arm to boot. He was the largest of the three, even larger than Jebe although not as physically muscular. He was not out of shape by any means but he wasn't pure muscle, his belly was quite round and he appeared more like a strongman than a wrestler.

"Those three people, can destroy a country." Simon says looking at the intimidating trio, funny how the smallest of them all was also the most powerful. Number 2, Star Gazer. Besides the pilot outfit he appeared quite unassuming, none of his gestures were unusual. Compared to Jebe, the 4th and Leopoldo, the 9th, that was quite the challenge. The 4th was dressed weirdly, with a flowery shirt and short pants and sandals. Regardless of the weather, he doesn't feel it, it was a statement. This was beneath him and it was all a joke to him. His mind was already set, but in the same comity was sitting Leo who absolutely hates those who abuse their powers.

"We shall begin the trial. All stand for the Judge." And inside was brought a black box, 2*2*4 metres in height which hid completely the judge's appearance. As not to be threatened and not to be influenced beforehand, the judge was completely hidden from anyone involved, having only a distorted microphone to communicate with the outside world.

"Let the first accused begin." And Stephen starts telling his side of the story.

"As father has ordered me."

"Please call all individuals by name."

"As Alexandru of Carpathia ordered me, I have returned home in Carpathia the very same day I assaulted Simon inside the Century Tower. There I have resided until I've received a letter from Lazar which called for reconciliation."

"The letter has been in our possession and our top investigators have studied it for the past days. The writing appears to match Lazar's writing stile and the paper is similar to the letters he used to send to other people. If necessary, we have in our possession another letter which has been previously sent to number 48, one month before the incident." Stephen's lawyer intervenes.

"As I've made my return to the Tower, I went to the 89th floor to speak with Lazar where he invited me inside. I was expecting him to try and talk me out of my feud with Simon, but instead he attacked me out of nowhere. I've tried subduing him during the whole fight, hence why I as the 61st hero struggled so much during the battle and why it lasted so long. As I was being pushed back and forced into retreating, Lazar nearly managed to defeat me. That is when Alexandru and Simon returned from their mission on the Caspian shore. My father, caught off guard by the circumstance, killed Lazar while trying to defend me."

To those words the prosecuting side explained Stephen's feud with Simon and tried convincing the jury it was all a plot to frame Lazar as the assailant.

"I find it impossible that Lazar would have sent a letter to Stephen trying to argue on my behalf. He was a very realistic man and knew a high sense of self-esteem combined with a noble title would have been impossible to dissuade from his quest for revenge. Lazar must have been caught off guard by Stephen's presence who was seeking to kill me that night."

"As we've analysed the crime scene multiple times, we've discovered signs of the struggle going all the way to the entrance door and the hallway, that however is impossible to fully pinpoint as there have been discovered spears going all the way into the bathroom and several other rooms besides the living room. Since each floor is designed with the other residents in mind, even when two heroes are fighting, it is very hard for the others to notice."

"If he was attacked, why hasn't Lazar tried to escape the situation?" The judge asks.

"With his powers it would have been impossible. Although it is the 89th floor from the bottom, it's still more than 20 floors up and he cannot fly. Even the fall from one balcony to the other could have left him crippled from the height, something he had to take into consideration when trying to flee from Stephen. At the same time, the floors and roofs of each floor are so thick, his powers couldn't be active for long enough for him to fall through the floor. His only option was to subdue or kill Stephen."

"Yet, if the accused intended to kill Lazar, why not do it immediately? Although not as impressive as the king's powers, Stephen's spears are just as sharp and fast in activation. Lazar could have been impaled on the spot if those were Stephen's intentions."

"Not necessarily if you expect a man immune to all weapons to open the door. Since I was working as Lazar's servant, Stephen must have expected me to open the door, which means he must have had some other way to kill me."

"Has such an item been discovered?"

"It's impossible to tell. With all the damage done during the struggle and the vagueness of what such an item could be, we cannot tell. It is too vague to consider what could be used as a lethal weapon against an individual immune to all types of weapons. Could it have been a gun or poison? It's impossible to tell."

"One such item has been discovered though. A spear which doesn't display the same characteristics as the others. When analysed, every single spear displays the same physical and chemical characteristics, all besides one which has been fragmented and broken amongst the rest."

"Could be it one belonging to King Alexandru?"

"No, it is like DNA. The King's spears are similar but have their distinct fingerprint. This one was crafted to appear similar to the other spears but not quite like them. A fragment of the blade was blunt."

"If the primary victim, Simon, cannot be hurt by spears, how could a blunt spear hurt him?"

"It could actually hurt me. If the intent behind the weapon's creation is not that of being a weapon, but being an item for display for example, it could hurt me. He could have wounded me with a fake spear by all means."

"Where was that spear discovered?"

"Stuck into the ceiling with four other spears passing through it."

"It is a very common defensive technique used by both me and my son Stephen. When we expect and attack from above we create a net of spears to protect us. That must have been some form of counter attack."

"Or it could have been aimed at the potential victim's head. Simon is a little bit shorter than Lazar. According to the trajectory of the spears, they must have been aimed with an angle which points right at Simon's neck. A modified hanging of sorts, crushing his neck against the ceiling with a metal rod. Simon would have been unable to pass through or absorb the weapon thus being suffocated to death."

"Then why was Stephen invited to Lazar's residence. The king took Simon away from the residence on the same night Stephen was invited to talk. Alexandru wasn't even the first choice for the mission since his rank heavily outperformed the mission at hand yet both left for the Caspian sea. It would have been much easier to convince Stephen to stop his quest for revenge with both of them present."

"Could I see the letters myself? I've been delivering those letters for the past few months."

"We shall allow the persecutor to make one last analysis of the letters in presence here." The judge says and gloves are provided to Simon. He studies the letters and notices that both of them had no smell.

"These letters don't smell. Lazar used scented paper."

"It is possible that the smell wore off in time."

"It so happens that I have at my house a letter which Lazar sent me, two days before the incident. I would like the prosecutors to analyse it as well."

"Let us retrieve it." Leo says from the jury opening a door to Yue Fei's apartment. He enters then comes back not long after with the letter Lazar sent him. The commission smells the letter. It was still scented.

"The letter sent to Stephen is a fake." The prosecutors conclude. Although the paper is similar, the smell wouldn't have disappeared this fast. A chemical analysis might further prove how the letter to number 48 is veritable while the one provided by Stephen is not. At those words, the room went silent. It was proof Stephen was guilty, he crafted the whole scenario to kill Simon. It was inevitable, the verdict was guilty.

"Yes, I did it." Stephen says wishing to save his father from the jury. "I did it alone and so it happens father saved me from the fury of a man stronger than me. When I came before Lazar he sent me away and I though he was hiding Simon from me. I wanted to kill him for a spite done to me by others. I attacked Lazar in a fit of rage but he proved too strong an opponent. If not for my father's intervention I would have been killed or maimed during that fight."

"The prosecuted has confessed." The judge proclaims.

"A favour if you may. Throw my son out of the tower if you must, but le me deal his punishment." Alexandru says, he himself wanting to save his son.

"Granted. If this charade can end any faster. It was obvious the snotty brat was guilty from the start. Fool cannot realise only strength makes right. If he could have killed Lazar by himself then I would have called him innocent." Jebe says leaving his seat and exiting the room. Now that number 4 left, everyone agrees with him. Stephen is found guilty and removed from the position as the 61st hero, yet not punished beyond that. A victory nonetheless.