Rebellion: Prince of Dawn

Chapter 18.3: Goodbye Blue Sky

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JAIME FONTOYA

"Hey, are you sure about this, kid?" Tony asked as he loaded his pistol.

I unsheathed my sword, swinging at the air to warm up my muscles. "Yes, shoot me and go for the kill."

The fields and trench had been flooded with water. We were under strict orders not to leave the walls. It'd be safer testing out Clash's ability outside, but picking out a secluded location inside the village was the best thing we could do.

Tony sighed. "So this sword lets you deflect anything coming at you?"

"Yes, and I think I can control where I deflect it to."

"In that case, deflect it away from me." Tony pointed his pistol. "You ready?"

"Nope, but my sword is."

Tony shot all six bullets consecutively. My sword reacted for me, deflecting all of them around Tony.

"Woah, that's actually a really good cursed artifact. You deflected all of them with instinct."

"So I can deflect multiple bullets at the same time!" I cheered.

Tony reloaded. "Hold on, let's do this again, but I'm going to shoot you with the roses as well."

"You know what, Susan, I was about to suggest that. Let's see if I can deflect a dozen."

Tony bloomed the bullets I deflected into roses, pointing them at me. "It's just past noon. That means the rose bullets will be shooting at their fastest speed."

"Got it."

Tony fired his revolver at the same time as the roses fired their shots. Without any issues, I was able to deflect everything away.

I thrust my sword in the air. "Yes! I love Clash so much!"

"Clash? That's the name of your sword?"

"Of course, a lot of people name their weapons. It makes them special. Doesn't your gun have a name?"

"Nope, equipment can be lost, broken, or replaced. Naming them will just emotionally break you when they do."

"Maybe Mondatta was right. You do have a cold heart."

"Let me tell you something, the men that play hard to get are the ones women like the most. We act like we don't care which makes the girls try harder and fall in love with us even more, and once they're where we want them, we snatch them up. Nice guys finish last."

"Ilias doesn't play hard to get and he's nice to everyone."

"Yeah, the boy's a chick magnet. Everyone wants a nice guy. All I'm saying is that men usually play hard to get for smart reasons."

"What about the other way around? If you were to give me advice, what would it be?"

"Woah, where is this coming from? Let's see. It depends on who you're going after. Who are you thinking about?"

"No one in particular, just generally."

Tony grinned. "Uh-huh. Well, for you, you're doing great. Just keep doing you. One suggestion though—be more open and vulnerable. Us guys are stupid so we won't pick up any clues until years after it was given to us. Make it obvious, but I'd say Il..."

"Yeah?"

"Nothing. Don't worry about it."

That one sound we'd all been waiting for summoned us. The sound we all know we'd hear the moment we agreed to this mission. The signal dissipated throughout the unrecognizable village from two months prior.