Beaumonte's Frigid Fencing Sabre

You create a basket-hilted fencing sabre in your hand, made of pure glacial ice.

When you form the sword, you make a melee spell attack against a target of your choice within 5 feet of you. On a hit, the target takes 1d8 Cold Damage. 

Alternatively, you can forgo making a spell attack and instead gain a +2 bonus to AC until the start of your next turn, imbued with the knowledge of how to parry with the sabre to protect yourself.

At Higher Levels: When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the damage increases by 1d6 for every slot level about 2nd.