Without wasting any time, Jacob pushed himself off the ground to close the distance between himself and his father. Using the momentum, he thrusted his sword upward, aiming for the neck. Effortlessly, the king parried his attack and crashed an elbow into Jacob's skull. Staggering from the blow, he twisted his torso to throw another strike at his dad's legs. Before the steel could bite into his flesh, the king jumped over the blade and drop-kicked Jacob, sending him flying backwards into the ground.
"Too slow and too predictable. Battles are not as straight forward as you think." Jacob slowly got up and dusted some dirt off his clothes.
"Easy for you to say. You're almost twice my size."
"Then make up for it with wits." Jacob spat some blood on the ground before regaining his footing. "What? Are you going to make me come all the way over there?" Jacob remained silent and held his cold gaze on the king. "Oh well. If you think defense will be different..." Just as Jacob blinked, his father was already on him.
"Shit..." Jacob raised his sword at the last moment. A thunderous ringing resounded from the clashing steel, causing a cloud of dust to form around them. Shaking off the temporary surprise he felt, Jacob threw a kick that connected perfectly with the king's chin, sending it straight up. Not letting up, he followed it up with relentless slashes aimed at the torso. For the first time in his whole life, Jacob had his father on the defensive. 'Adapt. I need to adapt.' Instead of sticking to normal attacks, Jacob combined kicks and punches into his already lethal swordsmanship.
"Now that's more like it! I think I'm about to break a sweat!" The king, who had seemed to be desperately defending, was actually holding back. "But Jacob, I think you're forgetting something." Jacob ignored his words; he kept pushing his father further and further back. His arms were growing numb, his breath was growing haggard, his legs felt like they were on the verge of collapse, but to him, he was so close to finally defeating his father, when suddenly...
"Argh... what... the hell is happening..." Jacob collapsed on the floor gripping his heart. "Damn it..." Struggling to push through the pain, Jacob stood back. Something was terribly wrong. He felt lethargic, weak, his brain was foggy and he couldn't think straight. 'Blood... he's controlling my blood. But how? I thought he-' before he could finish the thought, a fist was already barreling toward his face and collided with a sound that boomed across the training room. Jacob's face was now smeared with cuts and bruises, his nose was broken, but the pain subsided in his heart. Looming above him, his father offered a hand up. Jacob pushed it away and tried to stand up by himself but chose to kneel instead.
"In this world, it's not always going to be a fair fight. Until you get a power of your own or in case you don't get one at all, you need to be prepared to fight people like me."
"I thought your power was limited to controlling your own blood. Isn't that how curses work?" The king looked away from him.
"You are my own blood. You are my son."
"That's incredibly unfair. You wouldn't have been able to use it against me if we weren't related."
"Then you have two options. Curse your own blood for making you weak or become stronger."
"I'd rather just receive a power myself."
"If you think I'm only strong because of my power, you are a fool. Never underestimate anyone. No matter how strong or weak they may seem. Deception is a part of battle after all, am I wrong?" Jacob knew he was hinting at the random moves he decided to implement with his swordsmanship to throw the king off guard, so he chose to remain silent for a moment.
"I'm going to class."
"Good. I told the professor to prepare a special lesson today to help you understand these insidious powers better. Powers like mine are not common, but it's always good to be a step ahead."
"Whatever." With that Jacob limped out of the training grounds to change into fresh clothes, wash his face, and head to class. The classroom he attended was also an extension of the palace, similar to his training grounds. It had seats that slowly rose in elevation the more one went to the back of the classroom and a chalkboard for the teacher to write on. There were windows on the opposite side of the entrance that gave a decent view of the entire kingdom and allowed sunlight to illuminate the room. Upon Jacob entering the class, the other students went silent.
"Welcome young lord. I've been patiently waiting for you to get here to start this lesson. My apologies to the other students." His class only had three students in it total including himself, each belonging to a noble family of the palace. There was Sydny of the Katra family and William of the Rose family. Each family had influence over the kingdom in some way. The Katra's were in charge of the police force and justice system of the kingdom. They dealt with crime, punishments and other similar jurisdictions. The Rose family were in charge of food production and rationing around the kingdom. Even though most of the family were farmers, they were still extraordinarily wealthy. Jacob's family, the Vice family, held power over everything else. When the lecture began, Jacob made sure to sit in the very back of the classroom, where he can look down on anyone he chooses.
"Professor, I have a question before we start." The professor was an older fellow with large round glasses that hardly fit on his nose. He was short and always wore bright blue garments whenever he taught. His frizzy white hair was always pushed back behind his head and his voice sounded like there was always something caught in his throat.
"Certainly. What is it my prince?"
"My father said we were going to talk about powers today. Is it possible to defeat someone with a power as a normal human being?" The professor looked at him with an excited expression.
"It is very possible. In fact, with the right knowledge, it's possible to overcome any threat against yourself, no matter how powerful it may be."
"How?"
"I will get there, I promise you my lord. First, it is important to understand the three basic powers that define our world and what they do." The professor took out a piece of chalk and started writing on the board. "If you are lucky enough to gain a power, you will either receive a curse power, a blessing power or a rend power. Each power is categorized by how it affects the world or a person. A curse power is a power of the self. It allows you to enhance or control parts of yourself at levels normally not possible. A blessing power is a power of others. It allows you to manipulate, enhance, or defect the abilities of another person but never yourself. A rend power is a power that controls the world around you. For example, someone with a rend power may be able to control rocks or certain types of metal, things that have to do with our world or reality. We call these three powers the Triad of Divinity."