BANG!!!!

I barely manage to block the attack in time and the force travels throughout my entire arm as I slide backwards.

Not giving me any room to breathe again.

The guard immediately follows up with another punch, then another, and another. A series of punches that don’t give me a chance to breathe.

THUD!!!! BANG!!!! CRACK!!!!

Each attack feels heavier than the last.

The dark orange aura surrounding him continues to grow stronger as we fight.

He isn’t just getting stronger from whatever power he has, it is something else as well.

You noticed it too?

Hard not to notice it when he is hitting me with everything he’s got. This asshole isn’t getting winded and keeps getting stronger as we fight.

Either he’s been holding back this entire time or there is something else going on.

I dodge underneath another punch and drive my fist towards his ribs.

THUD!!!!

The attack lands.

The guard slides backwards a few steps before stopping himself.

Not enough. Not nearly enough in the damn

slightest.

The guard wipes some blood from the corner of his mouth.

A small smile still resides on his face as he stares towards me.

Honestly I’m starting to get tired of seeing it. What is wrong with this psychopath?!

CRACK!!!! CRUMBLE!!!!

The ground beneath his feet breaks apart once again... the pressure throughout the courtyard starts increasing.

Even the other guards seem to glance towards us for a moment.

The other guards don’t seem to be too surprised by the way he is getting stronger in the slightest. They probably have seen him at this level before or something.

The dark orange aura starts becoming denser around his body, almost like it is being compressed.

What is he doing?

I’m not sure.

King Albus suddenly starts laughing from his throne.

It immediately gets on my nerves.

"You really are impressive!" He shouts towards me.

My eye twitches slightly.

"Shut the hell up!" I shout back.

His smile only widens.

The guard takes another step forward.

CRACK!!!!

The stone beneath his foot immediately shatters.

That definitely doesn’t look or sound good whatsoever; the amount of power coming from him now is far greater than when we started.

Did he always have this much power?

Surely he didn’t. I would’ve been able to sense it from the very beginning but I couldn’t tell. That’s not something that would just slip past me like it is nothing.

Another possibility immediately comes to mind.

You think he’s growing stronger during the fight?

That’s exactly what I’m thinking.

The guard slowly raises his fists, his yellow eyes remain locked onto me.

Then he smiles again and this time it is wider, more confident, almost like he knows something that I don’t.

I’m definitely not a fan of that look.

Neither am I. You need to finish this fight before he gets even stronger or manages to strike a fatal blow to you.

The pressure around him suddenly spikes.

BOOM!!!!

A shockwave erupts from his body, dust scatters throughout the courtyard.

Even I have to raise my arm slightly.

The scales along my body begin glowing brighter in response.

Looks like this fight isn’t ending anytime soon.

The guard lowers himself into a stance.

I do the same while also observing him closely for any sort of changes.

Neither of us move for a moment.

Then—

FWOOSH!!!!

The ground beneath both of us explodes apart as we rush towards each other.

And everything goes black.

BOOOOM!!!!!!

Our fists collide almost instantly but this time I notice that I break through his attack before he can break mine. My fist continues to fly past him until it finally goes across his face once again.

Now is the opportunity I’ve been waiting for.

After knocking him back through the air I quickly appear next to him again and deliver yet another punch to his face. Over and over and over again until I finally slam my fists down onto his chest.

CRASH!!!!!!! TUMBLE!!!!

He hits the ground with an immense amount of force and goes rolling across the floor until he eventually reaches a wall.

I no longer hear the king laughing like the fool he is, it is actually silent for a moment. All the fighting has come to a complete stop as I stand here looking towards the guard in the distance.

He was originally wearing the wolf mask right? It doesn’t seem like he’ll be the one hunting me after all, I’m not a sheep.

It’s about time I put an end to all of this nonsense and get on with asking my questions before killing Albus. He isn’t worth keeping alive either way.

SWOOSH!!!!

In mere seconds I reach the guard who is still sitting on the ground against the wall. At least he managed to sit back up, but I don’t think he has it in him to keep going.

Blood is slowly beginning to surround him as I stand there looking down at him.

"It was a—

I don’t let him finish his thought as I begin to smash his face in over and over again until there is nothing left of his face.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Rokuro.... You didn’t need to do all of that.

Afterwards I look down at my hands, soaked by the blood of my enemy.

Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum.

The red around my vision gets stronger, my heartbeat louder, and I can feel the urge to kill like my life depends on it. Almost like I can’t live without it whatsoever.

Whispers travel amongst the courtyard as the other guards question if it is even worth it to give up their lives.

Meaningless whispers that won’t even matter when we are done wiping them out from the face of this realm. I’d just give up too if I was in their shoes.

Pain immediately jolts through my ribs as I realize that the guard did get a pretty good hit on me after all.

Thud!!

I fall to my knees for a moment and begin to cough up blood as I realize how much damage it really did.