Kenji guided Saxon to a seat in his living room and instructed him to sit down.

“You gonna sit too?” Saxon asked.

“I’ll stand,” Kenji replied, positioned behind Saxon with one katana pressed to his neck, and the other having its tip pressed into the back of Saxon’s chair. “Now then, let’s start with question 1. Who are you?”

“An evaluation from Midas,” Saxon answered. “I was sent to reevaluate your ability, so you could come back to work.”

Kenji pressed the blade against Saxon’s neck. “For an office worker, you don’t seem very nervous about the situation you're in.”

“I’m terrified, can’t you tell by the tone of voice,” Saxon said monotonously, realizing that there was no use telling such an obvious lie.

Kenji pressed the blade further against Saxon’s neck, this time drawing blood.

“Perhaps you have some sort of identification that would be more forthright than you are,” Kenji said, vanishing the katana in his right hand, and reaching over to rummage around Saxon’s coat.

Now Saxon was faced with a decision. If Kenji was allowed to search through Saxon’s pockets he would almost certainly find his FMPD badge. Saxon could either let Kenji find his badge, make a run for it, or start a fight.

From Saxon’s experience, people never take kindly to the police, so he quickly ruled out option 1.

As for option 2, Saxon had spotted a room with a window on the second floor, and judging from the interior layout it was left at the top of the stairs. If he could make it in there and shut the door behind him, he felt pretty confident he could use Schrödinger's cat to teleport outside.

However, there was too much mystery behind Kenji’s actions, and for better or worse Saxon’s curiosity was getting the best of him; he felt that if he left now, Kenji would disappear and whatever answers he may have had would be gone with him.

That only left one option.

As Kenji was rummaging through Saxon’s pockets he leaned his head over, and the moment he did, Saxon made the first move. Immediately, Saxon threw his head back, sinking his skull into Kenji’s nose.

Kenji recoiled in pain, grabbing his nose, and stepping back. Meanwhile, Saxon stood up, turned around, and kicked the chair he had been sitting on toward Kenji with all his might.

Kenji quickly looked up in time to see the chair flying toward him. Instantly, he resummoned his second katana and cut the chair in two. As the chair split, it revealed Saxon wielding a fiery red ethereal spear and shield, constructed by the mythos of King Leonidas.

Saxon stuck his spear out from behind the cover of his shield, while Kenji assumed a more defensive position placing his katanas in front of him to guard his midsection. Both the men danced back and forth, walking in a circle, constantly trying to provoke one another to make the first move.

Eventually, it was Kenji who took the initiative.

As the two men walked in circles, once Kenji was close enough to the living room table, he took a glass decanter filled with whiskey, and chucked it at Saxon. Saxon raised his shield as the glass shattered across it.

That momentary raising of the shield cut off Saxon’s vision of Kenji just long enough for him to close the gap. When Kenji went to slash Saxon across the chest, Saxon threw up the shield to guard, but it proved useless.

Just as Kenji’s katana was about to meet Saxon’s shield, he dismissed it, though kept his hand moving as if the katana had passed clean through. Then moments later, once Kenji’s hand had passed Saxon’s shield, he resummoned the blade, having bypassed Saxon’s defenses.

Caught off guard, Saxon realized there was no way to avoid getting hit, so he attempted to trade blows. However, Kenji was anticipating a counterattack, so when Saxon thrust his spear forward, he was able to embed the blade of his other katana into the spear’s shaft to keep it from moving.

Thoroughly trapped, Saxon could only brace himself for impact as Kenji slashed across his torso. Fortunately, the wound wasn’t very deep, but a few more of those, and Saxon knew he would be out.

Kenji pulled back from the exchange, but before he could re-engage he felt his body freeze up as magenta snakes shot out from the back of Saxon’s head. Using the mythos of Medusa, to temporarily paralyze Kenji, Saxon thrust his spear forward.

He expected it to be a free hit, but surprisingly Kenji was able to overcome the paralysis very easily and dodge out of the way of the attack, only being grazed along his midsection.

Additionally, Saxon had made the mistake of overextending his spear. He wasn’t able to pull it back in time before Kenji was able to catch the spear’s shaft with both his blades.

Saxon struggled to free his spear from the scissor grip Kenji had on it, but it was no use. Even with the physical enhancements from King Leonidas, Saxon was unable to free his spear and watched as Kenji separated the shaft from the spearhead by slashing it in two.

Saxon tried to reconstruct his weapon, but before he could fully remanifest it, Kenji was already back within striking distance. Kenji raised both his katanas high in the air and launched an overhead assault. Saxon threw his shield above his head, but it wasn’t enough.

Right before the moment of impact, Kenji vanished the blades, allowing his hands to fall to his waist. Quickly, he thrust his hands forward toward Saxon’s defenseless midsection, resummoning the katanas, and driving them into the stomach.

Saxon grit his teeth as the taste of iron filled his mouth, and blood trickled down his chin. Once again, he called upon the mythos of Medusa. In the brief moment when Kenji was paralyzed, he kicked him in the chest with all his might, shoving him to the floor.

As he was falling, Kenji was able to vanish his katanas and make them reappear, now pointed in the reverse direction, so they would embed in the floor and catch him before he made contact with the ground.

Judging by how quickly he could move, Saxon could see Kenji was getting more and more used to Medusa’s effects; it was likely he only had one more good use of Medusa before it just became a waste of energy.

As Kenji stood himself up, Saxon used the opportunity to create distance between the two, to begin reconstructing his spear and buy time to assess the situation.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

The way things were going. Saxon knew he would be dead in the next couple of minutes. Although Kenji's mythos was summoning two katanas, Midas’ list didn’t mention it granting him any proficiency with the weapons, so Saxon hadn’t prepared himself for a fight.

Moreover, Saxon could tell Kenji was a trained avatar combatant. A mythos that granted you proficiency with weapons typically took from real-life fighting styles--often those that were used by the subject of the myth themself. However, the dismissal and resummoning of a weapon to bypass your opponent’s guard would only be possible with a weapon constructed by a mythos, so it must’ve been taught to Kenji by another avatar.

Saxon considered using some of his non-hand-to-hand combat mythoi, but they were either too destructive, too draining, or both.

During the raid a while back, Saxon recalled being instructed not to use any mythos that could inflict large structural damage.

From what he could remember, it was because during the construction of the Backwater Bridge district it was too costly to import heavy materials over the bridge, so the buildings were made of the cheapest and lightest materials. That meant any big attack could bring the whole house down, so until Saxon could think of something better he would have to rough it out.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have much time left to think, as Kenji was now back on his feet. Kenji noticed that Saxon’s spear was almost reconstructed. Given the distance between the two, he couldn’t get within striking distance before Saxon had his weapon back, so he did the next best thing.

As Kenji stood to his feet, he flung both his katanas directly at Saxon. Even if both attacks were easily blocked, they were enough to break Saxon’s focus. Saxon needed his weapon back and knew if he allowed the blades to connect he could reconstruct it, but he couldn’t afford to take any more damage.

Discarding any chance of obtaining his spear, Saxon threw up his shield and sent both of the katanas spiraling into the air.

Before either of them could hit the ground, with a flick of his wrist, Kenji summoned the katanas back to his hands and charged Saxon.

Kenji’s onslaught of attacks rained down upon Saxon, slowly pushing him back. With Kenji only needing to have his hand pass through the shield to land an effective blow, Saxon felt the best option he had was to align his guard with Kenji’s hands rather than the blades themselves.

While this method did stop one angle of assault, Kenji swiftly caught on and began to distance his arms substantially. Although it sacrificed power, by separating his hands to an unnatural degree, Kenji made it impossible for Saxon’s shield to stop both of them. As a result, Kenji was always able to land a blow on Saxon even if it wasn’t very deep.

As more and more wounds opened on his body Saxon found himself in need of an opportunity, but it wasn’t him an opportunity was given to.

Stepping back once more to avoid one of Kenji’s attacks, Saxon felt his back impact a wall. There was no longer any room left for him to run. Moreover, Saxon’s carelessness of his surroundings, caused him to fumble his footwork, opening himself up to a devastating blow.

For the first time since he had risen, Kenji managed to slip both of his hands behind Saxon’s shield. As the glow of two navy blue katanas manifested mere inches away from Saxon’s torso ready to lacerate him, Saxon decided to gamble.

Rather than try and avoid the blow, Saxon would risk taking it on in full. As the blades closed in on his chest, Saxon rushed his upper body toward Kenji, and the katanas shield bash Kenji backwards. Luckily, Saxon’s gamble paid off.

The blades pressed against Saxon’s stomach, but before Kenji could slash with them, Saxon’s shield made complete contact with Kenji’s ribcage. Mustering up what strength he could, Saxon flung Kenji across the living room. However, Kenji still had one trick up his sleeve.

As he was being flung, Kenji tossed both his katanas toward Saxon’s heart. With Saxon’s right arm being completely outstretched after the shield bash, there was no possible way of him bringing it over in time to guard. Fortunately, Saxon had been given a solution to this problem throughout this very fight.

Just as the blades were about to impact, Saxon threw up his left arm over his heart. Taking a page out of Kenji’s book, Saxon dismissed his shield that sat on his right arm, then resummoned it on his left, causing both blades to be ricocheted off the shield.

Kenji’s eyes narrowed in frustration, only to widen with pain, as he landed on the glass table that sat in the center of his living room, shattering it, and causing thousands of glass shards to dig into his back.

Kicking himself up to his feet, Kenji resummoned his katanas and checked the area for signs of Saxon. His head turned toward the stairs as he heard hurried footsteps ascending them.

Rushing to the base of the stairs, Kenji managed to catch a glimpse of Saxon at the top bolting into the room on his left, followed by the sound of a door slamming shut.

Without missing a beat, Kenji rushed up the stairs to catch up with Saxon. At the top, Kenji turned to open the door on the left, but just before he reached for the knob, he noticed something strange: the door wasn’t connected to the hinges.

Sensing something was wrong, Kenji went to strike the door, but at this point, it was too late. He had already fallen into Saxon’s trap.

Initially, Saxon had planned on leaving through the window, but as he entered the room, he had an idea. Using the mythos of Orpheus, Saxon had caused the door to emit the sound of it being banged shut to trick Kenji into thinking it had been closed. Then using Loki, Saxon transformed himself into the door itself--though couldn’t attach himself to the hinges.

The door morphed back into Saxon, revealing that the door to the room had never actually been closed. Taking advantage of Kenji’s surprise, Saxon firmly grasped both the katanas with his bare hands.

Saxon had noticed that when Kenji had caught his spear using his katanas that Saxon couldn’t vanish it. Moreover, Kenji only apparated his katanas when they were in contact with his hands or flying through the air.

From those details, Saxon ascertained that constructed weapons could only be dismissed when they weren’t in contact with foreign people or objects. Therefore, if he could grab hold of Kenji’s katanas, then he may just have a chance at shattering them.

Saxon tightened his grip around katanas. This was his last chance. Calling upon the mythos of Orpheus, Saxon caused the katanas to emit an intense high-frequency sound. Kenji began kicking Saxon and trying to pull his blades, but Saxon refused to let go.

The katanas continued to emit ear-piercing sounds until eventually, Saxon pinpointed their resonance frequency. Kenji began kicking harder, and harder till Saxon coughed up blood, but after a few brutal seconds, Saxon’s endurance was rewarded and the katanas shattered.

As the katanas shattered, Kenji immediately stepped backward. Kenji was far more experienced with weapon reconstruction than Saxon, so with just a few moments, he would be back in fighting form. However, Saxon wouldn’t give him even a second to breathe.

Magenta snakes flashed from behind Saxon’s head as Saxon called upon Medusa to lock down Kenji’s movements one final time. Saxon knew the effects would last less than a second, but that was all he needed.

Kenji, frozen in place, looked on as streaks of neon blue began to trail behind Saxon with his every move. Invoking Hermes, Saxon blitzed toward Kenji. At the final moment before impact, Saxon called upon the strength of King Leonidas and buried his fist into Kenji’s chest.

Saxon could hear the cracking of Kenji’s sternum and several of his ribs. The blow sent Kenji flying into the next room, impacting the door, and knocking it off its hinges. Still, Kenji retained enough momentum to continue tumbling along the room’s wooden flooring, before impacting the wall and falling still.

Barely managing to stand, Saxon limped his way over to Kenji. Even if he wasn’t moving, Saxon could tell Kenji was a smart enough fighter to feign unconsciousness, so Saxon took the necessary precautions.

As he made his way closer, it became clearer that Kenji was out cold. Saxon checked for a pulse and was unsurprised to see Kenji was still breathing--Saxon figured a fighter of his caliber likely would have suffered much worse injuries.

Still, Saxon knew the damage he had inflicted on Kenji would put him out of commission for at least a week, though the same went for him if didn’t get any medical attention.

Saxon cuffed the unconscious Kenji to a bedpost and made a note to remove the handcuffs before he left so as to not leave anything connecting Saxon to the FMPD.

As Saxon stood, he regained his composure and started looking around the house. It was time for Saxon to find out just what Kenji was hiding.