The autumn night breeze hit Julius softly as he stepped out of the warm bar and back out into the alley.
The purple door behind him was immediately swallowed by a crowd of bricks, as each one folded over at incredible speeds, shifting over until the door was out of sight and only a plain brick wall remained behind Julius.
Across from him was a large green dumpster, with another plain brick wall to his left, forming a dead-end in the alley.
Julius took a motionless breath as he stood in the night.
From where he was in the alley, he could see a streetlight catching the quiet main road.
"Tomorrow's another day…" He thought to himself, conceding once again to the limits of time, as he finally took his first steps out of the alley and onto the main road.
Outside the alley to his right was a small building belonging to a bar that Julius previously checked out called "Joe's."
This was the building that secretly hid a plane of existence, another bar where all creatures of myth could gather in secret.
The building to Julius's left was a tall apartment complex, with a series of metal fire escapes extending out from the side of the building.
Further up the road from Julius, past all the now closed shops and businesses, was an empty square made from concrete tiles inside a long red outline.
An overpass overlooked the square where a set of bleachers sat.
The bleachers faced toward the square, sitting in front of a concrete pillar supporting the small overpass.
Julius slipped out the mouth of the alley and snapped left onto the main concrete path, approaching a red, four-seater car.
ZWOOM
The moment he passed the car, Julius's entire body jolted with danger at the sight coming from the corner of his eye.
Inside the rearview mirror, a black figure dropped from the height of the fire escapes.
Julius felt his entire body shoot with electrifying energy, a powerful instinctive response that told him-
"DANGER."
The entire world turned slower as Julius's entire body already started shifting behind him, his left shoulder pulling over as his feet went to find a hold whilst pivoting over.
His hand reached toward his blazer pocket, his head turning over and above him.
The darkness hid the figure crashing down, framing a dark silhouette figure with a massive clean black, round head and a lithe form.
A blade in hand, majestic and royal, as if a crown were a sword.
This sword had a golden straight-edged blade, with dazzling gems around the hand guard, raised behind the figure to absorb the strength of the fall into their incoming swing.
The blade was a mysterious piece.
It had a cuboid grip; a golden tsuka with a resin texture instead of cotton.
The guard was nonexistent, with gems embedded inside, merging with the crooked blade.
The bottom front of the golden blade curved slightly inward, as if missing a chunk, before shooting straight up like a rhinoceros beetle's horn.
The figure slashed forward with all their might.
Suddenly bringing the sword down and whipping it in front of them, just as Julius pulled the star-shaped token from his pocket.
With all his strength he crushed it like an acorn shell, though instead of shattering like glass-
FLASH!
A grand white light, like a door that led to the sun and leaked out.
The light was so grand it almost blinded the incoming attacker
SWOOSH!
The golden sword suddenly felt something passing against it, softly flicking the sword aside with the precision of a master, altering the sword's pathway entirely.
SCHING!
The sword, with its pathway altered, swished past Julius as the figure landed with the tampered swing, the two immediately backing away from each other to retreat to safety.
With a shuffle of steps, the two stood a stone's throw away from each other.
Each one observed their opponent, whilst something else secretly observed from the shadows…
The two continued their standoff as Julius watched the black figure stand across from him, their figure graceful and poised.
They were the average height of a male, with a feminine figure.
The round lump of a head was actually a matte-black motorcycle helmet, with a tinted visor.
On their body, they wore a tight black vest that exposed athletic, sun-kissed arms.
On one of their bare shoulders was a pitch-black tattoo.
There was a square frame like a window, with a hollow marking inside the black lines, forming gaps in the lines with the shape of a sword.
It looked almost as if the hollow marking was once filled in, resembling the shape of a sword, before now being strangely empty.
Only now visible from how the hollow of the sword outline was inside the black lines of the window tattoo.
In the woman's hands was a grand golden sword, they stood in a bladed stance and held the sword warily in front of their outer shoulder.
The woman stood across from Julius in a guarded although offensive stance, looking at him clearly now in the dim light of the streetlights.
Upon seeing Julius, she immediately felt a sudden cold feeling in her mind.
It was as if balls of light suddenly floated from her mind.
Though that feeling immediately became nothing compared to the sight across from her.
Her eyes widened behind the mask, alight with astonishment.
Across from her stood a tall boy in a cream uniform, with black hair like a pool of spilt oil, in a squared stance.
He held something in front of him, something legendary, vibrant and sharp.
There was a single-edged blade made of ruby red crystal, it had a rough texture like obsidian, though it appeared as transparent as glass.
The hand guard was round and had a symbol like a golden whirlpool.
The guard was a finely wrapped tsuka made from white cotton, bound over golden silk so the white wraps had golden diamond slits.
Though what caught the woman's eye was that radiant crystal blade.
Celestial bronze
"This mortal really does have celestial bronze?" She thought to herself with disbelief
Julius had no way to grasp the woman's reaction through that thick tinted visor on her head.
His hands tightened in anticipation over his precious weapon.
His gaze was as calm as a morning sea, filled with the darkness of the night sky.
He hadn't even exhaled a single breath to calm himself.
"That tattoo…That blade…" Julius noted internally with intrigue.
"Could it be?" The thought sprang in the depths of his mind, as he remained mentally engaged in the standoff.
His stance tightened defensively, his body radiating with tension as his eyes narrowed.
BANG
He shot off, the tip of his radiant red blade pointed forward in an attempt to catch off his-
BANG
The figure shot off with the same masterful speed, perhaps quicker, anticipating Julius Sparrow's swordplay like she'd seen it a thousand times over.
Her sword aimed toward Julius in the same thrusting manner, except aiming for Julius's other shoulder, seemingly intending to exchange blood.
Julius Sparrow's pupils twisted into two specks of imminent realisation as the tip of the golden sword thrust toward Julius's other shoulder.
The two closed in on each other with the grace of two paper aeroplanes.
B R E A K
Just as quickly as they shot off they abruptly twisted away, each in opposite directions, like two cars spiralling out of control.
Yet the pivoting of their stances was like the dance of a butterfly, already squaring their stances to face off again, reenacting their initial standoff as they both set distance between them.
"I knew he would bail, but I thought it was unexpected enough that it would catch him in his hesitation, but instead he backed off immediately without a second thought, he's smart…" The woman critically concluded.
"She immediately read my attack and countered with such a complicated counter, trying to make me hesitate, she's smart…" Julius thought to himself, drafting another line of thought to constructively critique and refine his swordplay.
"She's good." Julius thought.
"Not bad." The woman critiqued.
End of chapter 37