Imperium: Volume 1

"June, if you could please join me in the middle." He said.

I walked over blade in hand. I flipped it a couple times in my hand, to feel the weight of it. It was almost like the one I liked to carry on my belt but the hilt was bigger, so it was a little harder to grasp.

"Ok." Davidson started. "Now with any one on one fight you must remember, all rules are out the window. This goes for a gun wielding assailant or any number of weapons. When they are desperate enough, anything goes." So when, it's down to the two of you, try your best to read what their next move may be".

And with that said he turned to me. He had me at first stand and show the basic steps to disarming a knife. Then had everyone work on it for about half an hour with there partners.

Next was sparring.

Obviously when disarming someone, it had to be in a more realistic setting so he had everyone form a circle again, and I joined him in the middle as we were before.

He walked up to me. "June, I dont want you to hold back. I want you to do everything in your power to take me down. Do as you did out there in the real world."

I looked up to him unsure. "What if I cut you." I asked.

"Don't worry about that." He then took his blade and ran it across his hand, breaking open his skin.

I just watched in shock as the open wound began to heal itself almost immediately.

"Ok." I said as I took a few steps back and got ready.

I decided to keep my field down, until it was absolutely necessary. I got the blade ready.

"June." Davidson said to me. "I'm gonna give it my all okay?"

"Ok." I replied.

I looked up to Raeve. He nodded as if telling me that everything will be ok, so I took a deep breath, and he lunged.

He lunged forward with the knife, towards my left shoulder. I quickly maneuvered my body to the side, grabbing his wrist and taking a knee, as I ran my blade on the inside of his quad.

He stumbled forward and grunted as he grabbed his leg. He smiled and I could see the blood that stained his pants, but the gash had already healed itself. I looked around the other trainees and none of them looked surprised. Which assured me, that they've seen this type of stuff before with Davidson.

He lunged again, this time pulling his arm back to go for a gut shot. I jumped back as his blade reached only inches from my stomach. He then quickly turned the knife around to its hilt, trying to hit me on the side of the head, but I threw my forearm up blocking the blow. I had an open shot so I threw my fist at him and back handed his jaw.

The force of my punch, pushed him back a bit.

Raeve' s P.O.V

Fuck she was good. No matter how many attempts Davidson had on her, she sliced him up like thanksgiving turkey. I did notice at one point Davidson looking at Harry, as if to give the ok to continue. I could see he was getting tired, and June looked to be ok for the most part.

June

He was getting tired. I was ok for the time being, but I wasn't to sure how long this was going to go for. I think it stopped being a lesson, and at some point ended up being more of an exhibition match.

This time I made the first move. I charged him, and as I got near to him, I slid onto my knees, slicing the outside of his knee as I past him. I then quickly got up and jumped with both feet in the air, kicking him down to the ground face first.

It took awhile this time for him to get up. I could see him looking at Harry who just gave him a nod to continue.

He walked towards me this time and threw a punch to my chest. It didn't make contact but his other hand came up with the blade and effectively cut me across the cheek. I stumbled back, and wiped the blood with my sleeve. It felt like a minor scratch so I didn't pay attention to it.

Raeve

I don't understand, why is she bleeding? I looked to Harry, who had no sign of stopping the fight. Davidson could heal, and June.......perhaps I was wrong.

He made his first cut. Let's hope it was his last.

June

I could feel the sting of the cut on my cheek. I still kept my field down, cus I didnt plan on letting that happen again, but this needed to end soon before it got too out of control. Perhaps if I let him win and disarm me, it would be and end to it.

I waited for him to make the next move, and sure enough he did. He ran full tilt towards me and used his body to tackle me to the floor. I purposely let go of my blade when I slammed down to the ground. He definitlely looked pleased, but for some reason still had a point to make. He pulled me to my knees from my hair and held the knife to my throat.

"And that's how it's done ladies and gentleman." He said proudly. "Now remember all rules are out the window, and sometimes an element of surprise will either decide your fate, or render you dead."

Element of surprise eh.

I couldn't let him bask in it for too long. My pride got the best of me. I grabbed both his ankles and threw my body up to his, pushing us both back wards. I landed back first on his chest, where I could feel the wind get knocked out of him. He quickly rolled me off to catch his breath, and then we both got up facing eachother. He pulled back the knife and aimed it towards my gut again. I caught the knife with my bare hand, this time feeling it cut through my flesh. He then placed his other hand behind my head, and attempted to drive the knife into me.

"Come on June." He said. "Show me what you really got!" He continued to push the knife further, only deepening the cut.

I was using all my strength to stop the blade from moving forward. I quickly looked down to see where the blade was, and looked to Harry to see if he would call it. Raeve was already in his ear, yelling something. I looked back to Davidson.

"Show me something!" He gritted through his teeth.

I closed my eyes, and took a deep breath.

Raeve.

"Harry, you got to put a stop to this! He's going to kill her!" I yelled.

Harry held his hand up to silence me. "Watch." He said.

I looked back over and could see the blood dripping from her hand that was holding the blade. Com'on June do something! I watched as she closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. Then the next thing I saw, was something I've never witnessed before.

She opened her eyes, and what filled them was an immense amount of energy. She then let out a scream, and a ball of energy grew between her and Davidson, blowing them apart from eachother. The sheer noise it made rumbled through the training room.

It startled everybody. The light the explosion gave off was blinding, I barely made out what happened. However once the room settled I could see Davidson holding his stomach. He laid there motionless, allowing the big gaping hole to heal.

I looked over to see June, slowly sitting up and now holding his blade. She slowly let it go, and I could see she was in pain.

June

I quickly scanned around the room to ensure no one else was affected by the surge. It was a tiny one, but still very effective. My hand was killing me, and I knew not putting up my field was a bad decision. I was definitley going to need stitches.

I saw Raeve make his way over to me slowly. He had a look on his face I wasn't sure that I liked. It was between shock and fear.

"You ok?" He asked.

I looked over at Davidson, who was already up and talking to Harry. I could also see the others talking amongst themselves, and Bowdie.......she looked terrified.

"Raeve?" I murrmured.

"Ya June." He answered.

"Can you get me out of here?"

He helped me up and we made our way quickly to my unit.