Chapter 12
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'No... No! I can't let that happen! Lars! You must live; let me the only one to die today!'
She was too slow; too weak; helpless before the monster of a man before her.
"Moira!!!" She heard a shout; calling out her name - warming her heart.
'Why didn't you call me out earlier...? Why...? Why couldn't we have embraced each other one more time; just for a moment longer...? Why did you come only now...? Why...'
It needed to be said that she was by no means weak - it was just that she was already on the brink of collapse; at less than 20% of her peak while Linges was too strong; powerful enough to half-kill one of the instructors whose arrogance and indignance at losing to a trainee had almost cost him his life.
Even as she lost consciousness; she held on to one thought; trying to cry out with her last gasp.
'Lars... R-run...'
Then her vision went black.
* * * * *
"Lingeeeeeeessssss!!!"
Seeing the apple of his eye swept away by a brutal palm strike set ablaze a great, rampaging fire, inundating every ounce of Lars' being with rage.
There was no trash-talking, no challenges, no theatrics and no flashy moves; murder the sole thought on his mind.
The one thing that stopped him from going completely berserk and losing his cool-headed assassin's mindset was the fact that she was still alive and breathing, but in a critically injured state.
But when he saw Linges turn and the white, tooth *smile* plastered on the brown giant's face, Lars nearly lost even the last vestiges of his rationality.
He charged forward despite the suffocating pressure pouring down onto his shoulders.
He felt like he was face to face with a great beast; a ruler of the wild - and he was just another meal for this predator at the pinnacle of all creation.
"YOU MUST DIE!!!" He cried out to break out of the instinctive fear he felt; and struck out with his twin daggers at his stationary opponent's abdomen. The tall boy with a small build looked like a twig in front of a soaring mountain as he slashed full-power at his foe's abdomen; leaving trails of dagger-light in a shimmering X-shape.
*Clank! Clank!*
A sound of metal on metal was heard; one that was not supposed to occur when steel met a human's "soft" flesh - because Linges' skin was like steel in rigidity and hardness; resulting in the agile yet strong boy's heavy dagger blows only leaving shallow and thin lines of blood.
Then Lars' jaw dropped and he gasped as felt as if a mountain were crashing down onto him; a descending hammer blow from the towering freak who stood almost a metre taller and weighed likely 100kg more than him.
'Dodge!!!' His muscles screamed in disobedience; freezing up from the primal fear ingrained in his cells towards an organism above him in the food chain. Barely, just barely he slipped aside, the melon-sized fists zooming past him and crashing into the ground.
'That was too clo--' He was silenced mid-thought as countless fragments of stone exploded into his body; the shrapnel akin to that of an explosive fire-bomb.
BOOM!!!!
The stone ground erupted like plaster or soft wood under the hulking trainee's blow; leaving a small uneven crater 1m in diameter.
Crying out in pain and rolling backwards at top-speed, Lars' heart was pumping crazily.
'If I were 0.1 seconds slow... Or 1cm nearer...' He gulped; trying to still his panicking nerves.
'All that would be left of me would be a still corpse...'
Readying his daggers and spells; Lars' mind raced as he formulated a strategy to take down the seething giant.
So far the management had proven that they would not come - the normally upheld rule of "no trainees killing outside the ring" was time and again violated by the champion Linges, and yet the invigilators merely continued to heap praise and benefits on the trainee.
A reflection of their stance - whatever was to their gain would be tolerated; whatever to their detriment eliminated.
First; he needed to test out his assumptions. It would not come for free though; he fully expected to pay for every probe with his flesh and blood.
He only hoped that he could ascertain things before he was too injured to execute. Ignoring the multitudinous wounds from the aftermath of Linges' single "missed" blow; he prayed that his plan would work.
Else this would be the end of the line - both for him and for the only love of his life.
* * * * *
"AHHH!!!!" He loosed a battle cry and ran forward again with all his might; to ensure that the beast-like man before him would not shift his aggro onto the unconscious Moira.
Linges bared his teeth and roared in return; thunderous and overbearing; establishing his dominance as the king of the hill. Then he raised his eyebrows and grinned viciously when he saw the boy repeating almost exactly the same move; aimed at the same place.
The exact same replayed itself - a slim but athletic boy striking out in an X-shape with his left and right dagger slashes on the exact same spot; resulting in a slight deepening of the gashes from 0.5cm to 0.8cm in depth; this time leaving some blood trickling from the flesh wound.
Again a roar; and an earth-shaking, ground-pounding hammer-fist blow fell upon the boy. He dodged backwards - and opened a nearly 5m distance between himself and Linges in a split second; successfully escaping unscathed from the following explosion of stone and rocks from the hulk's two-fisted smash.
Invisible Rope, this time several thick loops of it, attached to the basin fixtures behind him. When retracted at high speed, it provided him with a burst of acceleration to avoid Linges' counter-attack. Nevertheless, despite using 10 rounds of the relatively thicker wire-thin ropes; he still felt pain where the wires cut his skin from the sharpness when he jerked his body backwards roughly.
Linges smiled; a baring of teeth which painted a frightening sight to whomever's misfortune it was to be the focus of his attention. He glanced at the blood on his abdomen; then flexed his steel wire-like muscles to close up the wounds; staunching the bleeding with just a tightening of his abs.
The berserker bared his fangs and charged; consumed by battle-frenzy and bloodlust. Stampeding forward, he swung a palm at Lars as if he were a fly to be swatted, to go *splat* when hit. He was fast, much faster than his size let on and his movements sharp and efficient; completely unlike his bumbling, lumbering appearance.
Lars maintained his cool when faced with the rampaging assault, performing a nimble sideways cartwheel, then hopping away into a roll to get out of the path of Linges' charge.
Then he struck from behind, landing 5 quick slashes before his 6th was interrupted by a spinning back fist swing from his solidly built opponent; one that he avoided but still clipped his clothes; throwing him off balance.
'Shit!!! Dodge!!!!!' Lars threw himself backwards; falling onto the ground and scrambling back up - just in time to get away from his adversary's grasping hands.
If he were caught...
He gulped. One wrong move and it was over.
But he smiled. The fight had just begun.
And it was time for the real counter-attack to start.
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'No... No! I can't let that happen! Lars! You must live; let me the only one to die today!'
She was too slow; too weak; helpless before the monster of a man before her.
"Moira!!!" She heard a shout; calling out her name - warming her heart.
'Why didn't you call me out earlier...? Why...? Why couldn't we have embraced each other one more time; just for a moment longer...? Why did you come only now...? Why...'
It needed to be said that she was by no means weak - it was just that she was already on the brink of collapse; at less than 20% of her peak while Linges was too strong; powerful enough to half-kill one of the instructors whose arrogance and indignance at losing to a trainee had almost cost him his life.
Even as she lost consciousness; she held on to one thought; trying to cry out with her last gasp.
'Lars... R-run...'
Then her vision went black.
* * * * *
"Lingeeeeeeessssss!!!"
Seeing the apple of his eye swept away by a brutal palm strike set ablaze a great, rampaging fire, inundating every ounce of Lars' being with rage.
There was no trash-talking, no challenges, no theatrics and no flashy moves; murder the sole thought on his mind.
The one thing that stopped him from going completely berserk and losing his cool-headed assassin's mindset was the fact that she was still alive and breathing, but in a critically injured state.
But when he saw Linges turn and the white, tooth *smile* plastered on the brown giant's face, Lars nearly lost even the last vestiges of his rationality.
He charged forward despite the suffocating pressure pouring down onto his shoulders.
He felt like he was face to face with a great beast; a ruler of the wild - and he was just another meal for this predator at the pinnacle of all creation.
"YOU MUST DIE!!!" He cried out to break out of the instinctive fear he felt; and struck out with his twin daggers at his stationary opponent's abdomen. The tall boy with a small build looked like a twig in front of a soaring mountain as he slashed full-power at his foe's abdomen; leaving trails of dagger-light in a shimmering X-shape.
*Clank! Clank!*
A sound of metal on metal was heard; one that was not supposed to occur when steel met a human's "soft" flesh - because Linges' skin was like steel in rigidity and hardness; resulting in the agile yet strong boy's heavy dagger blows only leaving shallow and thin lines of blood.
Then Lars' jaw dropped and he gasped as felt as if a mountain were crashing down onto him; a descending hammer blow from the towering freak who stood almost a metre taller and weighed likely 100kg more than him.
'Dodge!!!' His muscles screamed in disobedience; freezing up from the primal fear ingrained in his cells towards an organism above him in the food chain. Barely, just barely he slipped aside, the melon-sized fists zooming past him and crashing into the ground.
'That was too clo--' He was silenced mid-thought as countless fragments of stone exploded into his body; the shrapnel akin to that of an explosive fire-bomb.
BOOM!!!!
The stone ground erupted like plaster or soft wood under the hulking trainee's blow; leaving a small uneven crater 1m in diameter.
Crying out in pain and rolling backwards at top-speed, Lars' heart was pumping crazily.
'If I were 0.1 seconds slow... Or 1cm nearer...' He gulped; trying to still his panicking nerves.
'All that would be left of me would be a still corpse...'
Readying his daggers and spells; Lars' mind raced as he formulated a strategy to take down the seething giant.
So far the management had proven that they would not come - the normally upheld rule of "no trainees killing outside the ring" was time and again violated by the champion Linges, and yet the invigilators merely continued to heap praise and benefits on the trainee.
A reflection of their stance - whatever was to their gain would be tolerated; whatever to their detriment eliminated.
First; he needed to test out his assumptions. It would not come for free though; he fully expected to pay for every probe with his flesh and blood.
He only hoped that he could ascertain things before he was too injured to execute. Ignoring the multitudinous wounds from the aftermath of Linges' single "missed" blow; he prayed that his plan would work.
Else this would be the end of the line - both for him and for the only love of his life.
* * * * *
"AHHH!!!!" He loosed a battle cry and ran forward again with all his might; to ensure that the beast-like man before him would not shift his aggro onto the unconscious Moira.
Linges bared his teeth and roared in return; thunderous and overbearing; establishing his dominance as the king of the hill. Then he raised his eyebrows and grinned viciously when he saw the boy repeating almost exactly the same move; aimed at the same place.
The exact same replayed itself - a slim but athletic boy striking out in an X-shape with his left and right dagger slashes on the exact same spot; resulting in a slight deepening of the gashes from 0.5cm to 0.8cm in depth; this time leaving some blood trickling from the flesh wound.
Again a roar; and an earth-shaking, ground-pounding hammer-fist blow fell upon the boy. He dodged backwards - and opened a nearly 5m distance between himself and Linges in a split second; successfully escaping unscathed from the following explosion of stone and rocks from the hulk's two-fisted smash.
Invisible Rope, this time several thick loops of it, attached to the basin fixtures behind him. When retracted at high speed, it provided him with a burst of acceleration to avoid Linges' counter-attack. Nevertheless, despite using 10 rounds of the relatively thicker wire-thin ropes; he still felt pain where the wires cut his skin from the sharpness when he jerked his body backwards roughly.
Linges smiled; a baring of teeth which painted a frightening sight to whomever's misfortune it was to be the focus of his attention. He glanced at the blood on his abdomen; then flexed his steel wire-like muscles to close up the wounds; staunching the bleeding with just a tightening of his abs.
The berserker bared his fangs and charged; consumed by battle-frenzy and bloodlust. Stampeding forward, he swung a palm at Lars as if he were a fly to be swatted, to go *splat* when hit. He was fast, much faster than his size let on and his movements sharp and efficient; completely unlike his bumbling, lumbering appearance.
Lars maintained his cool when faced with the rampaging assault, performing a nimble sideways cartwheel, then hopping away into a roll to get out of the path of Linges' charge.
Then he struck from behind, landing 5 quick slashes before his 6th was interrupted by a spinning back fist swing from his solidly built opponent; one that he avoided but still clipped his clothes; throwing him off balance.
'Shit!!! Dodge!!!!!' Lars threw himself backwards; falling onto the ground and scrambling back up - just in time to get away from his adversary's grasping hands.
If he were caught...
He gulped. One wrong move and it was over.
But he smiled. The fight had just begun.
And it was time for the real counter-attack to start.
'No... No! I can't let that happen! Lars! You must live; let me the only one to die today!'She was too slow; too weak; helpless before the monster of a man before her."Moira!!!" She heard a shout; calling out her name - warming her heart.'Why didn't you call me out earlier...? Why...? Why couldn't we have embraced each other one more time; just for a moment longer...? Why did you come only now...? Why...'It needed to be said that she was by no means weak - it was just that she was already on the brink of collapse; at less than 20% of her peak while Linges was too strong; powerful enough to half-kill one of the instructors whose arrogance and indignance at losing to a trainee had almost cost him his life.Even as she lost consciousness; she held on to one thought; trying to cry out with her last gasp.'Lars... R-run...'Then her vision went black.* * * * *"Lingeeeeeeessssss!!!"Seeing the apple of his eye swept away by a brutal palm strike set ablaze a great, rampaging fire, inundating every ounce of Lars' being with rage.There was no trash-talking, no challenges, no theatrics and no flashy moves; murder the sole thought on his mind.The one thing that stopped him from going completely berserk and losing his cool-headed assassin's mindset was the fact that she was still alive and breathing, but in a critically injured state.But when he saw Linges turn and the white, tooth *smile* plastered on the brown giant's face, Lars nearly lost even the last vestiges of his rationality.He charged forward despite the suffocating pressure pouring down onto his shoulders.He felt like he was face to face with a great beast; a ruler of the wild - and he was just another meal for this predator at the pinnacle of all creation."YOU MUST DIE!!!" He cried out to break out of the instinctive fear he felt; and struck out with his twin daggers at his stationary opponent's abdomen. The tall boy with a small build looked like a twig in front of a soaring mountain as he slashed full-power at his foe's abdomen; leaving trails of dagger-light in a shimmering X-shape.*Clank! Clank!*A sound of metal on metal was heard; one that was not supposed to occur when steel met a human's "soft" flesh - because Linges' skin was like steel in rigidity and hardness; resulting in the agile yet strong boy's heavy dagger blows only leaving shallow and thin lines of blood.Then Lars' jaw dropped and he gasped as felt as if a mountain were crashing down onto him; a descending hammer blow from the towering freak who stood almost a metre taller and weighed likely 100kg more than him.'Dodge!!!' His muscles screamed in disobedience; freezing up from the primal fear ingrained in his cells towards an organism above him in the food chain. Barely, just barely he slipped aside, the melon-sized fists zooming past him and crashing into the ground.'That was too clo--' He was silenced mid-thought as countless fragments of stone exploded into his body; the shrapnel akin to that of an explosive fire-bomb.BOOM!!!!The stone ground erupted like plaster or soft wood under the hulking trainee's blow; leaving a small uneven crater 1m in diameter.Crying out in pain and rolling backwards at top-speed, Lars' heart was pumping crazily.'If I were 0.1 seconds slow... Or 1cm nearer...' He gulped; trying to still his panicking nerves.'All that would be left of me would be a still corpse...'Readying his daggers and spells; Lars' mind raced as he formulated a strategy to take down the seething giant.So far the management had proven that they would not come - the normally upheld rule of "no trainees killing outside the ring" was time and again violated by the champion Linges, and yet the invigilators merely continued to heap praise and benefits on the trainee.A reflection of their stance - whatever was to their gain would be tolerated; whatever to their detriment eliminated.First; he needed to test out his assumptions. It would not come for free though; he fully expected to pay for every probe with his flesh and blood.He only hoped that he could ascertain things before he was too injured to execute. Ignoring the multitudinous wounds from the aftermath of Linges' single "missed" blow; he prayed that his plan would work.Else this would be the end of the line - both for him and for the only love of his life.* * * * *"AHHH!!!!" He loosed a battle cry and ran forward again with all his might; to ensure that the beast-like man before him would not shift his aggro onto the unconscious Moira.Linges bared his teeth and roared in return; thunderous and overbearing; establishing his dominance as the king of the hill. Then he raised his eyebrows and grinned viciously when he saw the boy repeating almost exactly the same move; aimed at the same place.The exact same replayed itself - a slim but athletic boy striking out in an X-shape with his left and right dagger slashes on the exact same spot; resulting in a slight deepening of the gashes from 0.5cm to 0.8cm in depth; this time leaving some blood trickling from the flesh wound.Again a roar; and an earth-shaking, ground-pounding hammer-fist blow fell upon the boy. He dodged backwards - and opened a nearly 5m distance between himself and Linges in a split second; successfully escaping unscathed from the following explosion of stone and rocks from the hulk's two-fisted smash.Invisible Rope, this time several thick loops of it, attached to the basin fixtures behind him. When retracted at high speed, it provided him with a burst of acceleration to avoid Linges' counter-attack. Nevertheless, despite using 10 rounds of the relatively thicker wire-thin ropes; he still felt pain where the wires cut his skin from the sharpness when he jerked his body backwards roughly.Linges smiled; a baring of teeth which painted a frightening sight to whomever's misfortune it was to be the focus of his attention. He glanced at the blood on his abdomen; then flexed his steel wire-like muscles to close up the wounds; staunching the bleeding with just a tightening of his abs.The berserker bared his fangs and charged; consumed by battle-frenzy and bloodlust. Stampeding forward, he swung a palm at Lars as if he were a fly to be swatted, to go *splat* when hit. He was fast, much faster than his size let on and his movements sharp and efficient; completely unlike his bumbling, lumbering appearance.Lars maintained his cool when faced with the rampaging assault, performing a nimble sideways cartwheel, then hopping away into a roll to get out of the path of Linges' charge.Then he struck from behind, landing 5 quick slashes before his 6th was interrupted by a spinning back fist swing from his solidly built opponent; one that he avoided but still clipped his clothes; throwing him off balance.'Shit!!! Dodge!!!!!' Lars threw himself backwards; falling onto the ground and scrambling back up - just in time to get away from his adversary's grasping hands.If he were caught...He gulped. One wrong move and it was over.But he smiled. The fight had just begun.And it was time for the real counter-attack to start.
