Part 776: Getting Clapped

January 29th, 2021. Aevum.

Daisy and Jerome took up their positions once more. The tiny crowd of onlookers whispered among each other, with the teens on one side of the stage, while Jason and Nadia were on the other. Phoebe also came over to join them, looking at the young man and woman on the stage with interest.

Jason made a chopping motion with the side of his hand.

"Round two, start!"

Daisy was the first to move. After suffering a loss in the previous round, she was eager to remind everyone that she was stronger than Jerome. Her father was the top dog in Aevum, and her mother was a bonafide badass too! As one of two Trueborn on the scene, Daisy couldn’t allow herself to lose to a Lowborn. It simply wasn’t right!

Daisy’s MindCore was increased to 10% potency, up from 5%. This meant that functionally speaking, the effects of her MindCore were doubled compared to the previous round.

She charged at Jerome, then abruptly stepped to the side before he could even move. Jerome’s hand grabbed at the spot where she had been about to stand, the side-step completely throwing him off. He quickly rotated his palm to slap toward her new position, but Daisy was already ducking again, causing him to whiff the attack.

Jerome was not an idiot, and he had a lot of combat experience, easily comparable to Daisy herself. He had never taken a life, unlike her, so he didn’t have a trained bloodthirstiness burned into his bones, but the Illuminati had gone to a lot of trouble to train him for the entire year he’d been with them, from ages 17 to 18.

Thus, despite Daisy’s spike in combat capabilities, Jerome adapted.

Daisy moved faster than before. She dodged attacks that Jerome hadn’t even launched yet. He countered by mixing more feints into his arsenal.

Jerome twitched his body, retracting his right shoulder as if about to wind up a punch. Daisy dodged the incoming punch, only for his left hand to snap out and grab at her face. She dodged that too, but with way less leeway than originally planned.

Daisy continued to dog Jerome, dodging one attack after another, but she became continuously more and more frustrated by the fact that even if she was able to dodge him, he was moving a lot less than her, expending less energy over time, and relying heavily on his enhanced endurance.

Just like the first round, Daisy started to pant like a dog in a hot car. Her lungs burned as she tried to stay ahead of Jerome, while all he did was breathe a little harder than before. Daisy eventually seized an opening. She slithered around Jerome and grabbed his waist from behind to try and throw him to the floor, but his hand slapped the side of her head and sent her sprawling. When Daisy struck the ground, it took her a couple of seconds to shake off the slap and clamber back to her feet. Jerome didn’t even make a move to pin her down.

Within three minutes, Daisy had once again completely run out of gas. She started coughing and wheezing, and her vision went blurry from lack of oxygen to her brain. Another light slap from Jerome left her in a heap, and this time, she didn’t even try to get up. Her legs were on fire, and they started shaking from overwhelming adrenaline.

Jerome knelt beside her and put a palm on her back to pin her in place. She didn’t have the strength to stop him, so round two was her loss as well.

After a few minutes of chugging sports drinks and wheezing out the fire in her lungs, a teary-eyed Daisy managed to climb back to her feet, but she looked way worse for wear. Two back to back losses had already started to grind her down.

Jerome didn’t mock her. He knew that if she used all her powers, she’d lay him out in seconds. He found it admirable she was pushing her physical body to its limits. After all, wasn’t that what he did every single day? There was no disrespect in his eyes.

"You rely on your powers a lot." Jerome remarked. "You ain’t used to usin’ your raw physicality. Yeah, you’re movin’ too fast for me to land a solid hit, but you’re also blowing too much steam to dodge me. I can just stand in place and let you dance til your legs start shakin’. It’s over after that."

Daisy grimaced. She lowered her eyes, feeling slightly humiliated. She knew Jerome was a big tough guy and all that, but there was no hatred or mockery in his words. Sure, he could be arrogant and prideful, but he loved fighting and he was genuinely trying to help her out.

That didn’t change the fact she’d lost twice. She still felt humiliated because of her own inadequacy.

"I’m going to… raise my MindCore… to 20% this time." Daisy said through choked breaths. "I’ll keep in mind what you said."

Round 3 began far less explosively than round 2. Everyone present now knew of Jason’s general powers, so he didn’t hold back in restoring Daisy and Jerome’s stamina. Almost everyone still knew Jason as the ‘Archseer’ but even the dullest-witted or least observant among them would have had to be truly stupid to not notice Jason’s powers going way above and beyond that of a mere ‘dream eater’.

While his identity as the Wordsmith was not directly known, it was practically a given that all the teenagers knew he was the true architect of Aevum. Their respect and admiration for him had only grown fiercer as time passed. The fact he looked like a teenager meant nothing, because he carried himself as a proper elder would. It was obvious he was not some immature youngster, lacking in wisdom.

With their stamina and bodies restored, Daisy and Jerome launched toward each other, initiating another fast-paced sparring match. This time, Daisy focused less on using full-body movements to dodge Jerome, but instead used smaller evasive maneuvers to make him miss by tinier thresholds.

Immediately, there was a big improvement compared to her first two rounds. Daisy conserved more energy and didn’t get winded nearly as fast. Jerome managed to slap her a couple of times, taking care to hold back his strength and not injure her. If she were using her powers, he’d definitely be the one running out of gas as he struck with his full power. Even so, despite landing a few blows, Daisy managed to remain on her feet for nearly six full minutes.

Eventually, she lost again. The margin of victory for Jerome was growing thinner and thinner, and he was now starting to see the advantages her MindCore provided.

"We’ll increase your MindCore to 50% power." Jason said, after he and Nadia deliberated for a while.

Round 3 had ended with his little girl’s loss, and even Jason was starting to feel bad for her. This was not how he anticipated the MindCore’s effectiveness playing out. Even at a mere 20% power, she should be several times more intelligent and fast-reacting than before. Maybe 50% would provide a serious boost?

Daisy nodded. "Okay, dad. If I still lose, I’ll be too embarrassed to even think of fighting Jerome at 100% power."

Under Jason’s guidance, Daisy raised the energy coursing through her MindCore until it reached 50% saturation. This forced her to take several minutes to adjust.

Daisy felt like a limiter had broken. She looked around the room and noticed countless details that made the hair stand up on her body in alarm. There were bugs crawling on the walls she hadn’t noticed before, a bird that was perched outside one of the windows, looking down at the teenagers with mild interest. She smelled the sweat on Jerome’s body, which caused her vision to waver, slightly. He smelled oddly nice in a way she couldn’t verbalize.

Daisy stepped into the arena again. As Jerome approached, his scent grew more overpowering, more intoxicating. Daisy’s pupils dilated slightly as her eyes were drawn to the curvature of his muscles, the slickness of sweat on his forehead, even the muskiness of his hair. She felt an odd ‘craving’ somewhere in her body she hadn’t experienced before, her mind conjuring images of Jerome pouncing on her, pinning her to the ground, and holding her down while she cried out in protest, yet eventually succumbing to his manly-

Daisy quickly blinked her eyes and looked away, blushing madly while feeling slightly flustered. What the hell was that?

Was she a goddamn animal? Jerome was obviously spoken for and had a girlfriend. Daisy was an intelligent young woman, not a freaking cat in heat. She had no idea where these weird feelings had sprung from, but the culprit seemed to be her MindCore.

She smacked the side of her head to try and get her mind back in focus, and this motion made Jerome and the others raise their eyebrows. There was a stilted oddness to Daisy’s movements, but nobody could quite put their finger on what that oddity was.

"Round 4, start!" Jason shouted, making a chopping motion with his palm.

Daisy’s eyes narrowed. She lunged at Jerome like before, and he took a step back to try and swat her away, like he had several times now.

But this time, Daisy didn’t just passively dodge his slap. Instead, she pulled back, allowed his palm to pass the spot where her face would have been, then she deliberately struck the back of his hand, increasing his momentum and making him swing harder than he intended.

Like this, Jerome’s balance was thrown off! His casual slap abruptly accelerated halfway, and this caused him to stumble forward a couple of steps. He recovered, only to see Daisy springing off her hands and sending a foot flying at his face.

Thunk!

Her kick slammed into his jaw and spun his head, jarring Jerome’s senses. He completely lost his footing and fell to the side, hitting the ground with a hard impact.

Jerome landed on his shoulder and grunted. He wasn’t hurt. Daisy’s strongest physical attack, lacking any magic to enhance it, would never be able to cause him serious injury unless she were stabbing a finger into his eye or something. A kick to the chin only jarred his brain and turned his vision blurry for a second.

He quickly shook off his dizziness, then started to climb to his feet. But Daisy wasn’t in front of him anymore.

Just as Jerome was about to look for his opponent, two palms clapped on both his ears, blasting his head with pain. Jerome cried out and fell to the floor, cupping the sides of his head as stars danced in his eyes and a screeching sound erupted inside his head. He felt Daisy climb on top of him to pin him down, but he was in such pain that he needed several seconds before he could open his teary eyes.

When Jerome finally recovered, he was still dizzy and nauseous. Clapping someone’s ears was an extremely effective tactic that bypassed even Jerome’s defenses and endurance. It directly crippled him and left him vulnerable on the ground.

"Sorry." Daisy said, as she tried to help Jerome to his feet. "That was a dirty tactic."

"Yeah. Bitch move." Jerome hissed through gritted teeth, shaking Daisy’s grip off his arm. He shot her a nasty glare. "That fucking hurt like hell!"

Jason intervened to heal Jerome’s ears, but it was clear the teenager was pissed about Daisy clapping his head like that. The first kick to his chin wasn’t bad, he would have accepted it. But the double-ear clap was a scummy move that only worked because he was momentarily incapacitated.

Daisy was happy because a win was a win. But she also believed she hadn’t really earned the victory, and the fact she’d hurt Jerome sent her emotions into turmoil. Thus, instead of increasing her MindCore another level, she kept it at 50% for the next fight.

They began Round 5 similarly to Round 4. This time though, Jerome’s expression was noticeably more menacing. His movements became more focused, and he looked at Daisy with visible anger in his eyes.

Daisy’s skin prickled. For the first time, Jerome rushed at her from the start of the round, and something screamed in the back of her mind.

DANGER!

She moved without intending. Jerome’s slap careened toward her much faster than before, with a lot more force put behind it. Daisy dodged the slap, her heart racing.

He was truly enraged. He was out for blood. Jerome usually respected other people in fights and tried not to go too hard on them, but in his mind, Daisy’s clap had been an act of cowardice, and that had sent him over the edge.

He slapped again, and again. Daisy was forced on her back-foot, her danger sense roaring in the back of her mind like a rabbit fearing the snapping jaws of a hungry mountain lion.

Jason narrowed his eyes. He watched from the sidelines, frowning as he easily picked up on the bloodlust in Jerome’s movements. Immediately, Jason’s protective fatherly instincts flared up. He took a step forward, but Phoebe grabbed him by the back of his collar.

"No." Phoebe said, restraining Jason. "Don’t interfere."

Jason pulled his gaze away from the anxiety-inducing fight to glower at Phoebe. His expression softened, because he couldn’t stay angry at his ‘wife’ for any length of time. "Why are you stopping me?"

"Because Jerome is still holding back." Phoebe said. "He’s just holding back a lot less than he was before."

Jerome started slapping at Daisy faster and faster. He stomped the ground, causing the arena to buckle and her to nearly lose her footing. A lesser combatant certainly would have, but Daisy’s MindCore sped her mind up and granted her catlike reflexes. When she lost her footing and started to fall, she simply turned in midair, planted her palms on the ground, and lowered herself back into a crouch.

A furious melee followed. Jerome started chasing Daisy around the arena, slapping toward her with enough strength to shatter concrete walls. Each time Daisy dodged, she kept her movements to a minimum. Her animal instincts grew stronger every second the fight continued. Jerome clawed toward her chest with his fingernails, a move that might rip the skin off her bones, but she only allowed herself to pull back with an inch or two to spare.

Just when Daisy thought she had an opening, Jerome revealed a secret move he hadn’t used before. He violently clapped his palms in front of himself with his full strength, causing a shockwave to fire out, slam into Daisy, and send her flying! Daisy spun through the air, twisted her body, and landed on her hands and feet like a cat would.

"Ring out!" Jason shouted.

Jerome took two steps toward Daisy, as if barely containing his anger and still wanting to slap the teeth out of her mouth, but when Jason’s words registered, he slowed his momentum and came to a stop.

Daisy’s ears were ringing now. She and everyone else experienced the pain of Jerome’s ‘Thunder Clap’, but it wasn’t nearly as strong as one Bael or another mighty entity might perform. Daisy gritted her teeth, feeling her proprioception thrown off. Little did she know that her father explicitly called ring-out in order to end the fight because he was worried about the anger Jerome was displaying.

"Jerome!" Jason said, quickly stepping between his daughter and her opponent. "You need to calm down. You’re flying out of control!"

"Oh, now daddy has to step in huh?" Jerome spat. "Your little bitch of a daughter nearly blew my fuckin’ eardrums out!"

"I said I was sorry!" Daisy replied, rising to her feet.

"Oh, and that makes it okay?! Just try to hurt someone for real in a sparring match, but if you apologize it’s all good?!" Jerome argued.

A moment of silence followed. Jerome directed a nasty look Daisy’s way, and she lowered her eyes, wanting to defend herself, but also feeling guilty about what she’d done.

"I’m sorry, okay?" Daisy said, lowering her voice. "I don’t know what came over me. Maybe it was my MindCore. I just really wanted to win and… I don’t know."

Jerome licked his lips. He was still pissed, and he looked like he wanted to say something, but ultimately, he decided not to. He turned around and stormed away.

"Whatever! Go play with yourself then, arrogant bitch! I’m done with you!"

"Hey! Jerome, hey! Young man, I’m talking to you!" Jason shouted at Jerome’s back.

"Fuck off!" Jerome roared back. "Miss me with that ‘old man Jason’ bullshit! I ain’t in the mood for you!"

He didn’t even look backward. He simply kept storming forward until he left the gymnasium, slamming the door hard enough to break the frame.

After the thunderous exit, the entire room went quiet for a while.

"Dad…" Daisy whispered. "I… I didn’t mean to. I feel so bad but like… I don’t know… what do I do?"

"I know you didn’t, baby." Jason said, turning around to smile consolingly at her. "He’s mad, but that’s okay. It’s better he gets it out of his system."

"I screwed everything up." Daisy mumbled, feeling completely dispirited. "So much for testing my new MindCore."

"Why don’t you spar with me?" Phoebe asked, stepping forward. She smiled gently at Daisy. "Don’t let Jerome get you down. You couldn’t make up the size and power gap between the two of you, which forced you to use a cheap trick. I’ll make a better opponent for you than he was."

Daisy’s eyes brightened. "Really, mo- uh, Miss Berthold? You’d do that for me?"

Phoebe noticed that Daisy had almost called her ‘mom’ again, but she pretended not to hear. "Of course. I watched your fight, and I think you might make a good sparring partner for me as well. Let’s give it a shot."

Daisy bobbed her head up and down excitedly, her momentary depression vanishing into the wind. She still felt bad about Jerome, but ultimately he was just ‘some guy’ she’d only known a couple of weeks. Compared to getting to spend time with her mother, his anger left little impact on her psyche.

It might seem selfish to some people, especially Jerome’s friends, but Daisy was only 18, and another 18-year-old holding a grudge didn’t matter much to her.

Daisy hopped back up, unable to stop herself from smiling ear to ear. She jumped into the arena and raised her fists, while Phoebe casually walked over and stood in place, resting her hands on her hips.

"Your new MindCore sounds interesting." Phoebe said. "Why don’t you raise its power right to 100%?"

Daisy’s smile faltered. She was taken aback. "S-seriously? I don’t know… that sounds dangerous. I wouldn’t want to hurt you."

"I was one of King Arthur’s knights." Phoebe said. A hint of arrogance flashed in her eyes. "My mentor taught me well. If I lose to a little girl, then that merely proves I need more training."

Jason slightly frowned. Phoebe’s attitude lately was starting to feel drastically different from the one he knew. Of course, ‘his’ Phoebe would never talk to their daughter that way, and obviously this Phoebe was not Daisy’s mother. But even so, talking down to a teenager like that just wasn’t something Phoebe would do.

Daisy didn’t even notice the arrogance in her mother’s words. Rather, she recalled the last time she got her ass handed to her when she sparred with Phoebe, as well as the thought that Phoebe was way stronger than her. It was only natural her mother would be so arrogant! Clearly this was why her father had fallen in love with her mother. Phoebe was just that much of a badass!

Thus, the misunderstanding persisted and was amplified even further.

Phoebe grabbed the ‘Noodle Swords’ from before and tossed one over to Daisy. "Show me how much you’ve improved."

Daisy caught the weapon with much greater ease than before. "I won’t use my abilities this time. Only my MindCore."

"That’s not necessary." Phoebe said with a smile. "You can go all-out."

"It is necessary. I want to see what my mind and body alone can do." Daisy retorted.

"Alright. Suit yourself then." Phoebe concluded.

Like this, the two women stood apart from one another. Jason’s eyes flickered between them, many strange thoughts swirling in his head.

Mainly, Jason couldn’t stop thinking about how strangely Phoebe was acting, and what a massive power boost the Sphinx had given her. It was very different from the boost granted to the other three people who had acquired the Sphinx’s power in the past.

Still, Jason kept his thoughts to himself. It was true that Phoebe had completely whooped Daisy’s ass the last time they sparred. Even if Daisy got a MindCore upgrade, without using her powers, he didn’t see a path to victory for her. Maybe what he saw as ‘arrogance’ on Phoebe’s behalf was simply well-deserved confidence?

Daisy’s expression grew solemn. Now that it came down to it, she was a little scared of pushing her MindCore right to 100% strength. At 50% she’d acted way out of character and really hurt Jerome. What if she turned into a mindless animal and beat the crap out of her mom? Daisy would never forgive herself.

But Phoebe was so casual about the whole affair, and Daisy had lost so badly to her last time, plus they were using the silly noodle swords… it would probably be fine.

Daisy tapped into her MindCore. She increased its power draw to 100%. In that moment, her senses sharpened to their maximum value, and the world around her came into sharp focus.

For the first time, Daisy started to see colors she hadn’t before. It was as if the world had become enriched with ten new colors she didn’t even originally know existed. When Daisy looked at Phoebe, she realized her mother’s body was cloaked in a faint reddish hue. The hue was barely noticeable at the edges of her body, but extremely obvious around her chest, and especially her head. The intensity of the color pulsated irregularly. Daisy had no idea what it meant.

When Daisy’s eyes flickered over to the other people in the room, she saw a whole assortment of colors. Marco and Brian were both colored blue, Sasha was purple, Nadia was green, and her father had a rainbow hue to him. Jerome wasn’t there anymore, and Farrah hadn’t shown up either, but Daisy already had a lot to take in, so she didn’t notice.

They weren’t standard colors. Daisy equated them to the colors she knew, but they were so dramatically different that she felt like she had to call them by weird names. Not blue or red, but Bled. Not yellow or orange, but ‘yornglow’. It didn’t make sense. What the hell were these colors?

Nobody in the room had any idea what Daisy was seeing. Phoebe raised her sword in a casual defensive stance.

"Your move first, young lady."

Daisy blinked her eyes, as if coming out of a daze. This was no time to be worrying about funny colors. She had a fight to win!

"I’m ready for anything!" Daisy said, as she raised her sword to match her mother.

Jason made a chopping motion with his hand.

"Round one, start!"