Now, a jab!

A punch sailed cleanly by my head.

Jab again!

Another punch whooshed cleanly by.

After two jabs is always a cross; counter!

As soon as Tobis started to pull his left hand back, I bull-rushed him; arms up, slamming gauntlets first straight into his chest. He gasped and staggered back a step, air knocked right out of him. Like a hunting wolf, I pursued, twisting my hips to drill a vicious short upper into Tobis’s liver area. It was a direct hit, the knuckles of my gauntlet sinking deep into Tobis’s silver side.

“GGGGGGUUUUH!” Was all the doppleganger managed to get through his clenched teeth. A hyena’s grin spread across my face. I knew exactly how much a shot to the liver like that hurt, increased endurance be damned.

I stepped in, preparing to follow up with a one-two combo to the face, but Tobis—teeth still clenched tight—whipped his arms up and pushed me away, shoving me off my feet with his increased strength. I went with it, bracing myself for the shock of the liquid quicksilver splash and rolling back onto my feet.

I barely had a second to look up before Tobis bared down on me, both fists coming down in an over head slam. Yeah, there was no trying to block that unless I wanted broken arms. And I really did not want broken arms.

I rolled to the left, springing to my feet just in time as Tobis’s attacked crashed down into where I had just been. He gave chase, barreling across the distance between us.

I met him with open arms and closed fists.

Jab. Bob. Weave. Duck. Strike.

When Tobis so much as twitched, I moved. I knew exactly what punches he’d be throwing and preemptively slipped out of the way, wind from his fist ruffling my hair. Then it was counter time, my fist slamming into whatever unprotected spot they could.

Over and over we did this.

Twitch. Dodge. Counter.

Twitch. Dodge. Counter.

There was no room for stray thoughts, and the world began to bleed away from me as my entire focus was drawn into the powerful vortex of our brawl.

This wasn’t about the Trial, or my Blessing anymore. This was a fight for survival. A fight to prove the worth of my continued existence. Tobis wasn’t some magical copy of me, or whatever the fuck he actually was—he was an obstacle in my path. An indistinct figure whose only context was that I needed to kick his ass.

Ten years—an entire half of my life—I’d been training for this exact moment.

Sneaking out of the house to go running in the morning, even though we lived where no kid should be out by themselves. Cutting or skipping school altogether to watch Adventurer’s train in the Guild yard, then begging the Guild-master to let me join in. He’d been pretty adamant about how I was ‘too young to even think about it’, but I proved my persistence and he eventually changed his mind. Turns out that sobbing and begging on the Guild’s stoop for days on end was a pretty effective argument for admission.

Then it was ten years of sweat. Ten years of tears. And especially ten years of blood. All those crack of dawn mornings and endless nights coupled with Coach’s full body ass beatings. Those first couple years, I think I went to bed crying more often than not.

No fucking way I’m losing.

I fought as hard as I possibly could and then some; my body absolutely flooded with adrenaline. The extra surge of power let me push my body to run beyond my normal limits, going step for step with my opponent. If I had time, I’d make a quip about how he wasn’t as fast as he thought.

But there was no quipping. Nothing but the sound of our fight.

The whistle of a punch as it cuts through the air. The cold splash of the liquid quicksilver as we danced around each other, constantly staying on each other’s toes and re-adjusting attack ranges. The quick bursts of breath accompanying a jab, and the powerful exclamations of fighting spirit that went with a particularly fierce attack.

The sharp *clang!* of metal on metal whenever my gauntlets collided with Tobis’s stupid face. That was a good one. Frequent too, as I continually dodged and punished attempted attacks.

Tobis’s left arm lashed out at me like a striking viper. I slipped to the left, viper’s fangs brushing along my arm. It was close, but it wasn’t a hit, and I retaliated with a strong right overhand into Tobis’s cheek.

*Clang!*

He stepped in and brought his right fist up in a uppercut that ripped through the air towards me. I swayed back just in the nick of time— metal knuckles juuuuuust missing the tip of my chin — then snapped a left hook around to the side that slammed right into the side of Tobis’s head.

*Clang!*

It didn’t send him to meet Mr. Sleep like it would have a normal person, but it still did some serious damage. Tobis recoiled from the force of the blow, stumbling backwards and falling into the quicksilver with a splash, a look of shock on his face. Huh, never seen myself make that particular expression.

Tobis didn’t bleed, but he had his damage signs. Like a new distinctly fist shaped spot near his ear that was already beginning to turn an angry purple color.

He tried to stand up, staggering for a second, and shook his head furiously, shaking out the minor concussion I’d just given him, I bet.

I couldn’t help it. Just one quip. “So, how am I scoring so far? I feel pretty good about the whole thing.”

The shaking stopped, Tobis fixing me with his glare. The pure venom in his eyes forced me a step back. I recognized real hate when I saw it. Where the hell did that come from?

“Hmph. Don’t get cocky, brat. I’ll admit; you have an unusual amount of skill. For a Mundane.” He spat, standing. “But you’re certainly nothing special. Nothing extraordinary, like you seem to think you are. What you’ve shown isn’t good enough to beat me, I promise. And all of this,” he gestured to all the injuries covering his face, “is just prolonging the inevitable. You don’t have the stats to beat me, and as soon as you run out of stamina, well, it’s game over.”

My lips curled in disgust when he spat Mundane at me. God I hated being called a Mundane. They always said it the same way you would say ‘garbage’ or ‘useless pile of shit.’ Like you had no worth at all.

“Well, what happened to the happy attitude, Tobis?! Just because I’m winning you’re gonna get all pissy about it and start insulting me? Nice. Now I just got one more reason to feel happy about beating you. I thought you were a pretty cool magical……entity, but I guess you’re just a big asshole. Good to know.”

I charged right in as soon as I finished talking. Full speed. Fuck waiting for a response. I didn’t need to hear whatever this thing had to say. I had him on the ropes, and it was high time to finish him off.

Tobis brought his guard up, but not in time. A right jab jetted forward, smashing directly into Tobis’s nose, knocking his head back. I unleashed a follow up left, scoring the classic one-two combo, blasting him even father back and opening his guard up completely.

Oh, you just can’t resist bait like that.

Alright Emmanuel, light him up!

And that’s exactly what I did, my fists flying in a whirlwind of punches. Even the hardest metal softens with enough heat, so I stoked the fire. Higher and higher, attacking more and more ferociously as I burned all the fuel I had. Every single one landed with a tumultuous clang, Tobis nothing more than a piece of metal getting worked over by the blacksmith’s hammer.

The screeching clash of metal.

The spraying mists of sweat flying around with every motion.

The scorching blood running in my veins, thundering in my ears.

Amid it all, laced intricately into the flow of the fight, was victory. I could feel it, brushing against my finger-tips even as I laid blow after blow into Tobis’s face.

A yell of defiance tore itself from me as I took a final step forward, winding up for the finish.

“Aaaaaaaugh! Take thiiiiiiiiis!”

Ten years of training. A lifetime of chasing dreams and seeking justice.

Everything I had. Everything I was. It all went into my left fist. It was no jab, no simple cross. This was the big one. A hay-maker overhand punch that threw all my momentum and weight behind it, converting it directly into attack power, hurtling through the space between us like a god-damn meteor.

The crash of metal rang out once more. It was hollow, echoing throughout the silver landscape like the mournful tolling of a funeral bell.

My fist trembled and shook, held in place by the vice that was Tobis’s left hand.

NO! What the HELL!? How is he still strong enough to just do that!? Look at him!

Over the past few minutes (Or however long it was. I wasn’t exactly counting) I’d landed countless blows on Tobis. The angry purple of his ‘bruising’ covered almost his whole face, melding together into a dark, misshaped mask of hurt.

It was the exact opposite of pretty. And more than enough damage to put anything down. At least I had assumed.

“H-How?” My voice was weak, as brittle as ration wafers.

Tobis shook his head as I futilely attempted to pry my hand free from his grip. Then he snorted with derision and let go, allowing me to reel it back in like a limp noodle. I felt like a dog tucking his tail between his legs. Humiliating.

“Hmph. How? Its not complicated. You may have landed hits on me, and I’ll admit, they did sting a little bit. But its all superficial. While it may look bad,” A sneer ticked at the corner of his lips, “the actual damage is minimal, and is easily healed with my natural health regeneration rate.” As if on cue, I noticed a patch of ‘skin’ on his face slowly lightening in color. Smoothing. Fading.

Oh, that is some BULLSHIT. How the hell is that fair?

“Then I’ll just have to crank it up another notch, won’t I?“ I growled at him, struggling to raise my arms in a fighting stance again.

I really had burnt everything on that last rush. Every part of my body screamed in pain, damage and fatigue I’d been ignoring during the fight catching up with a vengeance. Muscles everywhere twitched and contracted violently, snapping like rubber bands. My limbs might as well have been lead bars; seems like they’d weigh about the same.

Oh shit. Please body, you gotta come through for me.

No dice.

The sneer threatening on Tobis’s mouth broke through, curling his lips harshly. “Another notch? Just look at yourself. You can barely stand. And you wanted His Majesty to bestow an S rank on you? Please. That’s so ridiculous I can’t even laugh. In fact, I’m repulsed by your sheer presumptuousness.”

My anger flared, hackles bristling, but it was all show, no go. All I could do was stand there, chest heaving as I tried to recover as quickly as possible before Tobis caved my damn face in. Even so, the condescension in Tobis’s voice made my blood roil. “Shut up!”

His sneer shifted, becoming an ice cold smile, his eyebrows furrowing smugly. “Oh, did I strike a nerve? That’s too bad. It really is your own fault though. You should know your place.” Extra bastardy emphasis on the last bit.

This goddamn son of a bitch! I’m not sure I hated any set of words more than ‘know your place’, and the way he said it made me think Tobis somehow knew that. My teeth ground together loudly, the pain reigniting in my busted mouth completely ignored. Veins popped out in my forehead as blood rushed to my face.

“Godking damn you Tobis! This whole fight is complete bullshit! How was I supposed to beat you in the first place then?! Stronger than me, faster than me, fucking passive healing! Sounds to me like it was stacked against me from the very start!”

The cold smile slid off of Tobis’s face, leaving a look of contempt and hate. He stomped towards me, not-so-disfigured-anymore face contorted in indignation. “Of course the fight was stacked against you! That was the entire point! If you want something extraordinary, you have to overcome a challenge that is equally extraordinary. You already had your fair fight, you complete buffoon!”

As soon as he got within reach, Tobis shot a hand out, grabbing me straight by the throat. He clutched hard, talons crushing into my windpipe. Effortlessly, Tobis lifted me straight up. Shit. This would’ve been bad even if I was in top shape, but as it was, without even the strength to lift my arms, I was just an Emmanuel rag-doll in his grip.

Tobis yanked me in close. Noses touching close. He was royally pissed, steam practically leaking from him as he hissed at me. “How you were going to beat me should have been the very first thing you were thinking about! Because I told you all that! That I’d be stronger, faster, better at everything! Didn’t I?”

“Kah…you never said anything about…ugh…regeneration.” I spluttered out.

Tobis bellowed in anger and throttled me, shaking me around like a choked chicken. Everything went fuzzy, my eyes unfocusing as my brain rattled around in my skull. “Arrrrrrgh! That’s because a certain someone told me to skip the entire explanation! I would have answered any question you asked you stupid brat! But no! You told me to skip it to get straight to the juicy center. No questions. No information gathering whatsoever. I thought you had a plan. But no, just like a Mundane, you charge straight into the problem with no thought at all.”

He suddenly stopped shaking me and yanked me back in, my neck whipping back. Something *popped!*, followed by a white hot knife of pain stabbing into my ear. A sharp, squealing ringing began cutting straight into my head. Even when everything stopped moving, Tobis holding me inches from his face, everything was still fuzzy. No matter how I tried to focus, the image just wouldn’t come together.

My thoughts began to come slower, and were harder to pin down, little fish slipping through my mind-net. Black haze began to seep through the corners of my vision.

Oh, that’s really bad. Come on body, I’m not giving you a choice this time. We have to fucking moooooooove!

With a monumental strain, my arms moved, stuttering upward.

Tobis noticed, eyes flicking downward towards my limbs then back to me. The vice clamped tighter, cutting off more precious oxygen. The darkness in my vision spread, my scope shrinking down to just Tobis’s enraged face. My enraged face.

“Hmph. I don’t know what His Majesty saw in you to even let you attempt a fight against me. You’re clearly not good enough, but more than that, you just don’t deserve it. Not an A, and much much less an S.” The stabbing in my ears had stopped, but his words were hard to hear, like I was listening from a hundred feet away with cotton stuffed ears.

“An S class Blessing wielder is a legend. A hero. A miracle, from the moment of birth—growing up as children easily the match of any average adult even before acquiring their Blessing— to the moment of death, having guided Foronea according to their wishes the entire way. You? Don't make me laugh.”

Dimly, I felt the vice around my neck tighten even further. My lungs were burning, the last dregs of oxygen fading away. I needed air now.

I gurgled and heaved, struggling for any small whiff of air I could get. It was no use. Tobis’s grip was absolute, my windpipe totally blocked off. With no oxygen, even the meager strength it took to lift my arms rapidly drained away.

It hurt.

It hurt so bad. Every cell in my body was screaming at me to do something.

But there was nothing I could do, except hang in Tobis’s grip, like a body from the gallows. Long, agonizing moments passed, my heart trapped in an icy coffin of fear as I watched the darkness swallow the rest of Tobis’s face, one inky tendril at a time.

……shit. I…can’t die……here…Too…much…left…

The darkness covered everything but Tobis’s silver mouth. It twisted in a final grimace. “Curse the bad fate you had to be born as part of the Mundane, and pray you have better luck in the next life.”

And then he was gone.

Mom…Dad…sorry

I…can’t……