Gritting his teeth, Vikir continued to circulate his power through his suppressed star core, trying to awaken his real strength. While he did feel that there was a familiar latent power hidden somewhere deep inside of him, Vikir couldn't break past the seal no matter what he tried, keeping him in a weakened state.
The copy charged again, stepsiding a particularly large chunk of falling stone before attempting to reach Vikir. The young man didn't get much time to think and threw the remains of his sword, now just a hilt with a handle, at the copy, before stepping back to put more distance between them.
His father's copy ignored the broken sword which had been hurled at its face. The hilt scratched his exposed cheek, where no scales covered those areas, drawing a single droplet of scarlet blood.
