93 The Medusa Touch Part 1 (2/2)

Blood gushed out of the wound on his arm same as the wound on his leg, but neither seemed to stop him. The man was relentless in his attacks. Even more so now than he was when our fight began. And I think I knew why.

With each heavy blow of his spear, Azuma's chest heaved harder. With each sweep of his pole, his breathing quickened. If I didn't know any better, then I'd think the sickness that drained his life on Mudgard was finally catching up to him here in the Fayne now that he didn't have the Curse of the Morrigan protecting him.

More and more, it looked like Azuma was desperate for a quick finish, but being the annoying teenager that I was, the determination to disappoint him lit a fire in me that strengthened each of my attacks. Each of my blows carried more weight than before. Each of my attacks more daring than the next. It was the wrong move.

As I tried to capitalize on him pushing forward with a forward rotation of my own that ended with a backswing of my sword, I was met by another block from his pole that quickly transitioned into a side smack from his backhand.

I pulled my head back, and the sensation of another nosebleed nearly overwhelmed me. Thankfully, I was just fast enough to duck as his hand came reaching out for me, possibly in an attempt to push me into another knee strike.

I may have dodged his knee, but Azuma came prepared with another surprise. So, instead of a knee to the jaw I got a spinning heel kick that smacked me in the left shoulder. The impact pushed me sideward, introducing me to a left-fisted haymaker that might have knocked my clock out if I hadn't raised my right arm in time to block.

”Yeow!” I yelped.

Even more than the bruise I could feel had appeared on my forearm, the shockwave of his fist passed through my entire arm and forced me to drop my dagger.

”Muddamit!” I yelled while launching another series of sword attacks at him. ”Why won't you just fall!”

Azuma laughed, and it wasn't the crazy laughter he sported during one of our previous exchanges but the wheezing, coughing laugh he'd had back in his hospital room on that night Aura and I promised to set him free from the Magesong clan.

”I don't want to stop! This is too exhilarating! This is what it feels to be alive!” He said in a voice that was half-whisper.

He wasn't unmotivated at all. In fact, it just seemed like the wounds that wouldn't heal like they used to just invigorated him more. Fortunately, I'd already decided that I wouldn't get fazed by any of his crazy antics. Now was a time for action.

A lightbulb exploded to life inside my brain. A sick Azuma, no matter how skilled, could be beaten. The time was ripe to launch my trump card.

After twirling his spear around in a vertical rotation, Azuma raised it high, and using the momentum he'd gathered, launched another downward swing at me that would have been a terrible blow if it had hit. Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

But while he was laughing and spinning his spear around, I was actually whispering a sweet little incantation that went something like this, ”Oh, great fool, let my sight turn deathly cold that I might turn my foes to stone.”

With the final word whispered, an almost searing heat shot out of my eyes, and I imagined it crushed Azuma with a pressure that made him feel like stone. Only, it didn't work out like it should have.

Azuma, who should have been momentarily paralyzed, just shrugged off my fairy gift and continued his attack. And although it clearly took him a great effort to do—nosebleeds and popping neck veins among other signs—he still managed to do it. The man was just that frighteningly strong despite cancer eating away at him.

His spear came crashing down, and I barely had a moment to raise my falchion up to block. The impact sent me down on my knees, but I held. My arms shook as they held my falchion up. Above me, Azuma, his nose bleeding profusely, glared down at me.

”Neat trick,” he said. ”What else can you show me, Dean Dapper?”

”Seriously, dude… why won't you just lose?” I hissed back at him through gritted teeth. ”You're half-dead already!”

”But this fight only became more interesting now that you've revealed your fairy gift!” Azuma replied in a wheezing voice. ”I dare you to try it again.”

Fear began to worm its way into my mind once more at the same time as my vision blurred. And yet, despite it, or perhaps because of it, my arms continued to hold. They did not shake. They stood firm. My breath, too, although ragged from fatigue, wasn't the least bit uneven.

I was reminded of a quote I'd heard long ago. ”Courage isn't the absence of fear… it is the capacity to take action in spite of fear.”

”You truly are an interesting boy, Dean,” Azuma said in response to my babbling. ”Shall we begin round three?”