Rebirth: The Shadow Of Greed

... Odrunn smiled as he answered hesitantly

"What!? This is preposterous, why would A city academy put a strength augment manifester like you into the Vanguards. It makes no sense. Has the academy gained so much talent that even someone like you can only be, pardon my language, cannon fodder?"

"Well, I only have a self- healing manifest... So I guess they put me in the right place? I'm actually not that strong. From what I see back in school I'm way below average."

Manager Sans stared at Odrunn, he was at a loss of words, was A city academy one that bred monsters like this? A vanguard that is stronger than manifesters with strength manifests. What is this world coming to?

Z watched from the sidelines as he noted the mistakes that Odrunn had made.

"Odrunn, come over here."

Z said as he approached the target dummies.

"You're using an artefact, not a normal weapon, otherwise why bother using it at all? Do you know how to maximize the damage?"

Odrunn shook his head as he looked at the gauntlets.

"Pass them to me, I'll show you what I mean."

"Wait, little brother, I'm afraid you might not have enough strength to swing them around like him. You might end up hurting yourself..."

Soli held him back and shook her head, she knew full well how much strength Z had.

Z put on the gauntlets and threw a few practice punch, his barrier was unopened and he pointed his fist towards the target dummy. Watch this, he wound back his hand and swung it towards the dummy in a full-force punch. Right after the punch landed on the dummy, a barrier burst out giving it a second burst knocking the dummy further back.

"Did you catch it? Having the barrier on, to begin with, is quite pointless because you don't need the barrier to guard your gauntlets. Upon landing the blow, the instant barrier would give you a second blow to the enemy perhaps causing even more damage."

Odrunn nodded,

"I think you're right boss, but the activation of the gauntlets is not instantaneous and it will take a while, not everyone can do it like you, boss."

"Well, that's why you should practice right? The overall usage and feel of these gauntlets quite suit your style. You made the right choice picking it. If you can master this you would be a stronger fighter."

Z complimented Odrunn, it was a rare sight to behold as Z seldom gives anyone compliments.

"Boss, can I try out the pieces of eight here?"

Manager Sans still stunned at Z's show of force could only nod asking his assistants to bring the pieces of eight to where they are.

The assistants laid out the pieces of 8 in an Octagon on the table, resembling a shield just there on the table.

"Little brother, I'm not sure how you want to use the pieces of 8, do you need us to affix handles anywhere so you can do something with it?"

Manager Sans tried to ask Z, confused at how anyone could use them, without any handles at all, they are just metal sheets.

Z walked over to the table and gently stroked the cold metal, using his psychic he gently lifted it up and turned it in front of him.

"This... This is, using telekinesis to control the artefact? That's intriguing."

Manager Sans nodded his head as he watched Z control the pieces of 8.

After using the pieces of 8 as a shield and standing on top of it to move as transportation, Z decided to move on to the next phase of his testing. He got off of the pieces of 8 and controlled it to move in front of him. Slowly, the pieces of 8 broke free from its Octagonal shape and formed into 8 separate triangles. The triangles under Z's control started to fly around Z at an alarming speed all at different levels.

The pieces of 8 formed an effective shield against those who would want to approach him. Walking closer to the target dummy the pieces rotated parallel to the ground turning their sharp edges outwards transforming Z into a human blender. Z stepped forward and entered into the target dummy's space his pieces of 8 spun wildly creating sparks as they struck against the dummy.

Taking a step back, the pieces of 8 returned back to its flat surface before Z recalled them back into the Octagon form and returned to his back.

Manager Sans stood there with his mouth wide open, looking at the target dummy that had been lacerated, bits and pieces were dangling and the target dummy was in a really bad shape.

"Young brother, you've opened my eyes. Such a strong attack! You must have already been a strong attacker before but with these pieces of 8, it seems like you have taken your offensive capabilities to another level."

"Err... I'm exactly like Odrunn, I'm also a Vanguard."

Manager Sans fell to the floor, defeated and speechless that the 2 students from A city academy had just been vanguards even with their exceptional offensive capabilities.

Dejected at his wrong guesses, manager Sans brought them up back to the main hall.

"Little brother, since the pieces of 8 really doesn't cost that much, I've decided to give your friend the toughboots mach 2 that he wanted."

"Really? You mean it?"

Odrunn got extremely excited as he started to jump up and down.

"Calm down Odrunn, although you're not fat anymore you still weigh a ton, please don't go destroying his shop."

Odrunn stroked the back of his head as he looked down on the ground.

"Sorry boss, this is the 2nd best thing that happened to me today! I couldn't help but get excited..."

"Oh? What else happened today? The gauntlets?"

Z asked curiously.

"No, his dad replied to his voice messages!"

Soli said matter of factly.

"If you weren't so zoned out looking at the bread you would have heard it too!"