“Ow. What happened? The last thing I remember was stabbing the fallen angel version of me,” said Shane as he sat up from the corner where he was lying down.

  As Shane looked up, he saw Arthur heading toward him with concern all over his face. He looked as if he had aged 10 years in 2 hours.

  “Shane, are you alright? What happened inside your head? What did you see?”

  As Shane saw Arthur in a panic right in front of him, he wondered what had happened in the real world.

  “What happened here? It seems like an explosion went off in here. And what happened to my shirt? Why am I wearing a new one?”

  As Shane looked around, he saw that the equipment organized around the area was now scattered, and the area around him looked as if it had been burned. The area even smelled like a fire had broken out and engulfed the area where Shane resided.

  “This all happened when your power awakened. It seems like your father and I couldn’t predict just how strong your angel side is. You even burned half my arm. And your shirt was completely destroyed.”

  As soon as he heard that, Shane panicked as he looked at Arthur's arm to see what exactly he had done. But as soon as he looked at Arthur's arm, it seemed like nothing had happened. The only thing Shane noticed was that his shirt sleeve had burn marks.

  “If I really do that. Then how does your arm seem completely fine?”

  “That's due to my angel's powers. Our angel side greatly improves our durability. If I were human, the only thing that would be left of me would be my ashes. The only thing is that I didn’t know how strong your power actually was, so my arm got heavily burned. I was only able to heal it by condensing a large amount of my angel power into my arm.”

  “I-I-I-I’m sorry for hurting you. I just couldn’t control my emotions and let the pain I was feeling go through.”

  “Sigh. Hey, you don’t have to worry about me; you are still young. I knew that this was going to be dangerous, and even you got hurt.”

  “...”

  Shane didn’t know he'd gotten injured; he couldn’t feel anything. As he looked at his arm, he finally realized what Arthur was talking about. His arms had marks that looked as if they had been struck by lightning. His skin was covered in lightning marks from his wrist to his shoulders.

  “What happened to my arms, and why can’t I feel my body?”

  “I suspected this was going to happen. It's going to take a while for your body to accustom itself to your angel side fully.”

  “So how long am I going to be like this?”

  “Well, that I don’t know. The last time a half-breed awakened his power was way before my time. It happened over a thousand years ago, and he was a demon.”

  “It’s been that long since someone who is half-human awakened their power, and what happened to him?”

  “That much is not known. He disappeared when he was in his 20s.”

  “I wonder what could have happened to him. … So I’m the first one to awaken their other side in a thousand years.”

  “Yeah. It took your father and me a while to figure out how our children could awaken their power without being noticed by either side. We only hypothesized that the method you did would work, and I’m so glad it did.”

  ***

  About 4 hours later, Shane finally felt his body. As he tried to force himself to get up, he felt every sore muscle in his body.

  “Shane, are you sure you can get up?” asked Arthur as he watched Shane struggling to get up. Arthur may not be Shane's biological father, but he did consider him his son, so seeing him struggle getting up made him concerned that Shane might get hurt again.

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  “Don’t worry about me, Arthur,” said Shane as he was forcing himself to get up. “If I can’t do this now, then how am I supposed to protect the people I care about. I told myself that I would get stronger so that Mona would never need to pick up a weapon.”

  As Arthur looked at Shane, he could no longer see the carefree kid he had been a year ago. He now saw someone weighed down by a heavy burden and determined to protect the one he cared about.

  As Shane finally stood up, lightning began to form around him again.

  As soon as the lightning formed around him, Shane felt all the fatigue in his body fade away. It was as if the lightning was healing him.

  As Arthur saw Shane standing, he noticed that Shane put his arm to the side.

  “Shan…” before Arthur was able finish what he was saying, he was paralyzed by the amount of power that was coming out of Shane. The power Arthur felt was not just happiness; it also had hints of sorrow. It was as if Shane could combine the two within his power.

  As the lightning around Shane faded away. Arthur could fully see Shane again, but now he was holding a katana and a dagger, both of which had lightning accents around the blade and a purple woven hilt.

  “Shane, are you alright?”

  “Yeah, I’m completely fine. What just happened now?”

  “It seems like your power just fully awakened, and you were able to manifest your weapons.”

  “Huh. These are the Katana and dagger that I used to stab the fallen angel version of myself. So the reason they weren’t here when I woke up was that my power still wasn’t fully awakened.”

  “It seems like you have to go through two trials, one within the mind and one that shows your determination.”

  As Shane looked at the katana and dagger in his arms, he wondered why two weapons came out. He was confused because Arthur had only a katana, which was the manifestation of his angel power.

  “Hey, Arthur. Why do I have a katana and dagger? Are they both the manifestation of my Angel side?” said Shane as he looked at Arthur, who had pulled out his katana.

  “It looks like, since your raw power is too much, it has manifested into a katana and a dagger.”

  “Did my father know this would happen? Is that why he always had me practice with two swords?” said Shane as he began to closely inspect his katana in his right and the dagger in his left.

  As Shane grew accustomed to how the blades felt in his hands, he began practicing swinging them. He did the same movements that he had practiced since he was five, but now with real blades instead of the wooden ones he used to practice with. He could feel the weight of the blades as he struggled to use them properly.

  “It seems like you still know the moves that your old man taught you?” said Arthur as he proudly looked at Shane practicing.

  Every time Shane swung, his movement became more fluid, as if he were adapting to the weight of his katana and dagger. As time went on, Shane would only improve his swordsmanship; he would do the moves his father had taught, but within the year, his father was gone, he developed his own technique.

  As time continued, Arthur began to see purple lightning come out of Shane's blades every time he swung his blades.

  “Hey, Arthur, could you help me practice by going 1 on 1 against me?”

  “Sure, kid. I’ll be happy to fight you.”

  As they stood on opposite sides of the room, they adopted different stances. Arthur took on a more formal stance, while Shane took on a more energetic stance.

  “You don’t have to be easy on me, kid. I’ve been around for 200 years. Even if you slash me, I will be able to heal it in no time.”

  “Ok, so you're saying I can go all out,” said Shane as he stared Arthur directly in the eyes.

  As they stared each other down, the first one to make the move was Arthur.

  When their blades first struck each other, lightning came out of Shane's katana and dagger, and water came out of Arthur's katana.

  When Arthur tried to strike him, water splashed on Shane's face. The only thing they were able hear was the crackling from Shane's lightning and the splashing of water that came from Arthur's katana.

  Shane would use his dagger to block Arthur's attack, and he would use his katana to do a counterattack, which was the same move he would use against his father.

  Every time their blades came into contact, the lamps that lit the caves went dark for a second. The only light that Shane and Arthur were able to see was the lightning coming out of Shane’s blades.

  “Why don’t you try to initiate an attack for once. I know you and Dad used to spar back then. He always told me you were a good fighter, but he was the one who had to attack first. Don’t tell me you don’t have any attack moves of your own,” said Arthur as he was trying to get into Shane's head so that he would slip up.

  “Oh, getting too cocky, old man. I’m just waiting for the perfect time,” said Shane as he looked at Arthur with a smile.

  When Arthur went for his next attack, he expected Shane to block his attack, but instead of doing the same, Shane dodged his attack and kicked him in the chest to push himself back.

  As soon as Shane was about 20 feet away, he took a different stance. As soon as Shane took a different stance, the lamps that lit up the cave went dark.

  As Arthur looked in the direction from where he last saw Shane, he saw a crescent moon with Shane at its center. The crescent moon was the only light in the cave. As Arthur looked at the crescent moon, he was paralyzed by how much Shane's control over his power had grown in the 3 hours since he had been training with his blades.

  As Shane began his attack, he said, “Crescent moon peaceful night slash.”