The two slammed into the ground as they rolled down the corridor, still punching and wrestling as they tried to kill each other. Arthur rained down punches on Sloth, targeting his injury while Sloth tried to defend and push Arthur off.
The pain from each hit knocked the breath out of his lungs. “Get off me!!” With a loud yell, kicked Arthur in the stomach, almost sending the latter flying. But, Arthur grabbed the man at the last second and then delivered a punch to his face.
He couldn’t use his sword from that close range as he was also trying to defend himself. Arthur’s health was reaching its end and his passive ability ‘Berserker Of The Broken Oath’ would activate automatically which was something he didn’t want at all.
The first time that skill was activated, Arthur turned into a bloodthirsty monster with no regard for anything. He didn’t care if it was extremely powerful, Arthur didn’t want to lose control of himself just like that. It was too risky.
So, even if he was putting everything on the line, Arthur wanted to avoid that outcome as much as possible.
At that moment, out of nowhere, the scenery shifted again as Sloth activated the teleportation ability again. The two appeared in a different section of the building as they fell to the ground with a loud slam.
“Just die!!” Arthur growled as hit the man in his jaw, almost knocking him out cold.
“I have survived in this business for decades! My life isn’t going to end at the hands of a brat!!” Sloth yelled as he teleported them again, then quickly twisted his arm and grabbed Arthur’s face, running his nails over his skin, and leaving bloody marks. The latter quickly grabbed into his arm and then bit his hand with his teeth.
“AAAGH!!” The man yelled from the sheer pain and teleported them again.
The two kept moving from one place to another, appearing and disappearing as they battled to death. They didn’t care about the fire burning all around them, nor the collapsing building. This battle quickly turned from an elegant duel of swords and wits into a barbaric fistfight with no regard for elegance.
Each one of them simply wanted to deal as much damage to their opponent as possible and even cheap tricks were an option.
This lasted for almost a few minutes. At this point, many floors had already collapsed under the intense fire as the entire building shook violently. Windows burst into pieces, sending shards of glass into the sky.
“Run!!”
“The building is about to fall!!”
“Great one have mercy!”
People escaped the scene as they saw the horrifying scene. Meanwhile, the firemen tried their best to keep the situation under their control.
Meanwhile, Arthur and Sloth were deep into the building.
*BOOOM*
Chunks of rock fell near the two followed by large chunks of burning wood that almost hit them and crushed them.
“If I don’t kill you here! We are going to die together!” Even in that horrifying situation, Arthur grinned madly. His bloody teeth made him look even more scary.
‘He’s… He’s crazy!’ Sloth clenched his teeth as he felt his entire body shudder from fear. He couldn’t understand how this kid was able to smile like that in such a situation. Then, for a moment, it hit him. He wasn’t dealing with a normal person at all.
From the very first moment, he teleported that boy to his office and he was only seeing weirder and weirder things. It should’ve been an easy fight, and he would have won with certainty. Yet, the boy kept changing his tactics, and ideas, down to even his battle style, and dealt devastating damage to Sloth.
He had enough. It was only 15 minutes or so and he already had enough of this monster of a kid.
‘I just want to leave!’ He thought to himself.
However, even when he was trying to kill him off, the boy fought with everything he had, wasting the time he could use to escape. He was exhausted, in extreme pain, and on the verge of death. His work was crumbling right before his eyes and he can’t do anything about it.
‘My mana is only enough for another teleportation!’
As one last desperate measure, Sloth tried to kick Arthur off him for a split second so that he could teleport somewhere else without bringing him along. His ability allowed anyone who was touching him to teleport with him which was quite useful in most cases. But, in this particular case, it backfired like never before.
Using his years of experience, he kicked Arthur with his knee right to the stomach. Then, he moved his hand, aiming to blind Arthur with his fingers. The quick attack took Arthur by surprise and he instinctively released his arms.
‘Now!’ The man’s eyes widened as he quickly activated his ability. ‘I’m out!’
But, as he thought he was about to escape, he suddenly felt something on his arm. Looking down slowly, he saw a huge chunk of ice surrounding his wrist. The chunk of ice stretched out of his wrist and linked with Arthur’s arm.
“…”
With wide eyes, Sloth stared at Arthur, unable to speak at all.
“That was a good attack, I won’t lie. I almost fell. But, I’m glad I was ready for this. You didn’t even notice me trapping your wrist in ice.” Arthur licked his bloodied lips wickedly. He was anticipating the man to get desperate and use a cheap trick as a last resort so he kept his hand ready to create a Frost Flame.
From what Arthur noticed, Sloth was quite a coward for someone with that huge ego. He didn’t want to die and he feared death more than anything else. So, to avoid it, he was going to get desperate and try to push Arthur off of him no matter what.
“I have noticed that when I was attacking you way earlier, you couldn’t teleport at all and I thought… Hm, why wasn’t he teleporting at all? Then, it hit me. If you teleported at that moment, you would’ve dragged me along with you. That was why you waited for me to lose speed and momentum to escape.” Arthur explained as he formed a bloody claw around his left hand.
‘… He knew…’ Sloth blinked with wide eyes. ‘He knew this entire time…’
Arthur had outplayed him on every single front and it wasn’t even a challenge. He had noticed that small detail and used it to his advantage instantly. In other words, Arthur had read the man completely.
Sloth then quickly tried to move his body, seeing Arthur about to attack, only to realize… That he couldn’t move at all. His body had run out of mana.
*Swish*
The claws pierced through his chest swiftly, bursting his heart. Coldness filled Sloth’s body as he stared at Arthur.
“You did say that senses are not always right and that was actually pretty useful information and a good moment of learning for me. I was over-reliant on my senses. That was why when I closed my eyes, I simply fought you without using them… I fought you with a completely empty mind, letting my sword take control instead.”
‘… Empty… thoughts…. So that’s… what… defeated… me…’
For a second there, Sloth could only smile. Even though he was slowly dying, he smiled. After all, that was by far the funniest joke he had heard in his life.
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3