31 Confrontation (2/2)

Glenn rushed towards Taku. He dipped and weaved right as he was about to reach him and slashed downwards with the sword. Taku parried with one of his gauntlets and the blade clashed against the metal strapped to Taku's arms with a shriek that sent sparks flying into the air. The swordsman was quick and uppercut slashed at the hand to hand warrior, attempting to catch Taku from stem all the way to stern.

Taku sidestepped to the right just enough and the blade passed a hair's breath from his face.

Quickly, before Glenn could respond with a follow-up, Taku swiftly punched Glenn in the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of the swordsman, and stunning him for a brief moment.

The fight had taken Taku and Glenn dangerously close to the edge of the cliff and Taku had his back almost to the wall, despite his counter offensive.

Glenn was still open for more attacks though and Taku was not done.

The quick blow had opened Glenn up for another attack and Taku obliged him, putting a simple sidekick into the swordsman's stomach, doubling him over. Taku followed that up with a quick rising uppercut.

Taking the opening and using the environment to his advantage, back flipped onto the tree and pushed off towards Glenn. The manoeuvre sent his front flipping towards Glenn and just before he reached the swordsman, Taku flattened his body out, feet first. Instead of colliding with his adversary though, Taku opted to wrap his feet around Glenn's neck instead.

The manoeuvre caught Glenn off guard as he was recovering his wits, once again.

Taku gave him an apologetic shrug, mid-air. As if to say, ”sorry” for what was going to come next.

Taku used his momentum in a creative, instead of piling into his opponent; instead, he jerked to the right and swung around Glenn. Then, when he was directly behind his opponent, Taku curled his legs into his body and angled his body towards the ground, changing the direction of his fall, putting the weight of his jump into a powerful throw.

Glenn was pulled off his feet violently and was thrown across the ground. He skidded and tumbled along the ground, uncontrolled. He was stopped by the other end of the dance floor, about five feet from the wall at the back of the dance floor... A groan escaped his lips as the pain from the attack started setting in. Glenn looked up and his eyes opened with surprise.

As Taku was about to let go of Glenn, during the throw, he had planted both hands on the ground. When he completed the attack, Taku sprang off his hands, throwing himself into a quick back spring, followed by another, another, and another to build momentum. When Taku was almost to Glenn, Taku bounded off the ground and threw himself into a spin that would have made an expert gymnast jealous. Flattening out in the air like a sideways whirling tornado, so that his body was perpendicular with Glenn's as he neared the fallen swordsman, Taku's spin got increasingly fast as he whipped his arms in and out, efficiently putting Taku into an almost uncontrollable rotation, arced at Glenn.

Just as Taku was about to reach Glenn, the warrior threw one of his legs out, shin angled down. The entire force from the spin was pushed into his leg.

The entire forest was silent and it was as if time itself was holding its breath as Taku descended.

Glenn barely had time to breath, let alone dodge. But, it was a testament to his experience in battle that Glenn kept the presence of mind to roll to the right in a desperate attempt to dodge this deadly attack. Just in time.

Taku's leg smashed into the ground, slamming into the ground with his knee and shin flat into the dirt, crushing the ground into a torrent of fragments that rose up around him in the air.

Seeing Glenn dodge, most warriors would have allowed their opponent to stand up. That was the honourable thing to do. But, there are no rules in a life or death fight.

With the speed of a cat, while the fragments were still hanging mid-air, Taku spun his body around and swept his foot towards his opponent's head. The attack was so quick that Glenn wasn't hurt; it actually pushed the assassin a foot and a half into the air.

Glenn was curious, why had that not hurt?

That was Taku's intention.

Swiftly, Taku rolled forward and halfway through, slid straight, so that he slid under Glenn and stopped facing the rising assassin's back.

Taku cocked both arms back and double punched upwards into Glenn's back. Air whooshed from the swordsman's lungs as he was pushed even higher into the air. The impact from the attack gave Taku a couple feet between him and Glenn.

Taku looked to his right and saw a huge sturdy tree, just an arm's length away now, ”This is going to hurt you, just as much as it is going to hurt me.” Taku promised Glenn with a forewarned wince.

Taku quickly performed a handspring to his feet, crouched just under Glenn with his legs coiled underneath him. Taku exploded from the ground towards Glenn's rising form. He grabbed the enemy around the waist, twisted mid-air, and arched the two of them towards the tree, easily angling Glenn head first, towards the raised lip of the dance floor.

Glenn collided with the raised floor and his head ploughed through the bark with a painful cracking and crunching sound as the tree shattered under the enormous pressure from the attack.

Taku let go and managed to aim himself towards the level below. He landed with ease and rolled to his feet.

Then, Taku looked back at Glenn and a look of brief chilliness flashed across his face.