Cyberknight: One Path

⁕ Sharp Hands

*Many years ago

A gust of sandy wind swept through the barren landscape. Through the yellow mist, Athena's crystals shined with a piercing blue light. It was a day of casual training as Mike stood by the side while Athena used her abilities in an abandoned quarry. Mike would use his ability to raise stones and obstacles from the ground while Athena had to destroy them through an intense parkour session combined with combat.

In the first trial, Mike conjured a storm of pebbles and rocks at Athena. At first, Athena managed to hold her own in defence but the stones would only come back to strike her every time she failed to destroy it, thus resulting in a stalemate.

[Mike] - "Again! "

Every time Athena tried to defend herself, she would only hold on until she fell under the sheer volume of strikes against her. Every time she tried to go the offensive, the rocks would immediately overwhelm her before she could fight.

[Mike] - "Again! "

Time after time, Athena would succumb to either the devastating volley of stones or be stuck unable to move until she was overwhelmed. However, Mike didn't try to lower the difficulty of his attacks despite Athena's apparent inability to adapt. It didn't matter if she gave him looks of plead for mercy, Mike simply kept shouting "Again" as if nothing happened.

[Athena] - "I can't! I'm not like you, I don't have your omnipotent power to simply find a solution to my problems. I have abilities which are the way they are. I can either defend or attack, that's all! "

Said Athena as she fell exhausted on the ground.

[Mike] - "Sigh... For now, you view your ability as a weapon. However, let me ask you something: Is a sword only made to strike a foe? Is there something more you can do with a sword? I don't turn my sword into a shield when I need to, no, I still have a sword. Bridging the gap between a single-purpose tool to its other possible uses, that's what our current lesson is about. "

Said Mike gently as he kneeled down.

[Athena] - "I don't understand. A thing is created with a purpose. What else can you do other than cut with a sword? "

Mike raised an eyebrow as Athena expressed her opinion.

[Mike] - "Alright then. If you think I had it easy, then how about this? "

Mike suddenly pulled a pair of gloves from his bag but there was no area for fingers. Instead, it reduced the wearer's hands into a pair of knives.

[Mike] - "I'm going to live through our whole training session here wearing these only. I will not use my ability and I will not use my hands. I have nothing but knives for hands. "

Athena was confused and shocked by Mike's action. However, as sunset fell below the horizon, Mike signalled for her to follow him back to the nearby Imperial base. That night, as promised, Mike made use exclusively of his gloves. He handled dinner preparation using only the knives and handled the cooking and stir-frying with knives for hands.

For the spatula, Mike inserted one edge through the hole in the handle while his other knife hand controlled the movement of his spatula in the pan. Athena was shocked to see her master cooking up a whole meal using nothing but a pair of knives. Slowly, Athena came to understand her master's motives. The fact that he cooked a whole meal using these demonstrated a level of control Athena could not imagine.

In addition, Mike even ate using the knife gloves without issue. Mike wanted her to learn, not through words but through actions. That night, Athena understood the path she needed to take in her training as she looked at her arms and realized that she had a long way to go still.