25 Kessiah Crow (2/2)

Kessiah clapped her hands together as she said, ”We'll tell the story together. That should make the tale come to life.”

I turned around before walking back off to my cavern. A hand gripped on my armor, strong enough to bend it. KEssiah said behind me, ”How about I help you with your training? I may be able to give you a few pointers.”

Althea's shoulders drooped as she said, ”Seriously? Why him?”

”Cause he's interesting. Talk more, and maybe people will do the same for you.”

Althea nodded before saying with reverence, ”Uh, alright...I'll think about it, miss Kessiah.”

I laughed at her sudden change in tone before Althea shot me a pointed glare. Kessiah leaned her face beside mine as she said, ”No need to tease her. Besides, you've already got a date with me.”

I pushed her away as I said, ”Yeah, good luck teasing me with that shit. I'm not some four year old blushing every time someone says the word kiss.”

”Bah, you're no fun.”

”Neither are you and your experiments, miss Kessiah.”

”Ok, ok, I shouldn't have brought up how you're a labrat. Sorry. Come on, let's see what kind of brawling style you've scrapped together.”

We walked over towards the center of the colosseum. I said, ”I'm just a bruiser, that's pretty much it.”

Kessiah shrugged as she said, ”Eh, simple isn't always bad. Let's see how your execution is.”

She lifted her hand and a portal just like Torix's appeared above her. A green bow fell out with a green quiver, right into her hands. Kessiah said, ”Alright, come at me.”

I stomped my heel into the ground, charging towards her. It would be nice to punch that smug face of hers. Kessiah pulled back and launched an arrow in an instant. The arrow whistled in the air as it streaked towards me. Using the very slight precognition, I saw the angle and jerked my hand to divert its course.

The arrow slid off my arm and deep into the stone beside me. I kept running towards her. Kessiah's lips made a circle as she said, ”Ahhh, nice. That armor's tough. It can't block for your eyes though.”

She shot several more arrows, but I knocked them off course, sending them into random directions around me. Kessiah raised an eyebrow as she said, ”Are you doing that on purpose?”

My armor and I grinned, the crimson slit on my helmet turning to a jagged line like teeth. As I reached upon her, she stood with her left arm out in front. She shot out a quick jab with her left hand. Her understanding of the brawl was impressive.

Versus most sluggers in boxing, you could stop their momentum with a few crisp, clean jabs to the nose. Once blood started pouring out, the slugger's stamina turned to shit. Makes it real hard to breath when blood is pouring from your nose. She was trying this strategy on me. Knowing this, I ducked under her jab before shooting a right hook towards her body.

The blow landed like my hand was slamming into a brick wall. My bones didn't break though. The tendrils of armor kept them together. Kessiah pulled her punch back, aiming to elbow my temple since I was beneath her arm. I shrugged my left shoulder, causing the elbow to slide over my head. Right behind the elbow was a right hand coming right towards my jaw.

I lifted my head up, Kessiah's right hand passing right past my eyes. Pulling my torso in a slight arc, I weaved around her left arm. I let my fist trail with me, my right hand building momentum before I smashed the heavy hook right into her cheek.

She didn't recoil much. In fact, my arm creaked from hitting her. She was like a moving diamond, way fucking harder than steel. Still, my bones didn't break against her. Her balance wasn't on point after the righ cross, so I shot a left hook straight towards the side of her face.

My metal gauntlets squealed as the bent on her face. I had one more hook left in my combination, so I smashed my right hand straight into her face. Kessiah laughed as I took a step back after hitting her. I grit my teeth before lunging back at her.

This time she kicked towards me legs. Reading her move with the precognition, I shot out a palm towards her leg. My hand pushed her leg so that it slammed into the ground, stone shattering under her strike. Low to the ground, I lunged forward and created an arc with my hand.

I left the hook wide, feinting the strike towards her face. She pulled her face back right as I pulled the overhand towards me chest. The centrifugal force increased, putting more inertia in the strike as it slammed into her stomach. Yet again, my fist met a wall of stone.

This time, my bones didn't hold. My pinky knuckle broke along with my wrist. I grit my teeth as Kessiah shot backwards. She said, ”It's been a long time since I had someone actually try to fight me up close. It's so refreshing.”

I bolted towards her again. This wasn't the time to stop my assault. In my mind, she fell back for a reason. Whenever I reached her, she said, ”Alright. Fun's over.”

Immediately, my precognition shot out as series of strikes shot out towards me. Dodging them would be impossible, so instead, I angled my arms, shoulders, and face so that her strikes would slide off. Most of the damage would be diverted off me if it worked.

I tightened my arms against my core as several kicks, punches, and palms slid across me. She kept on attacking, her strikes growing in volume. My senses stretched to their utmost limit as I struggled to deflect her blows. Every one of her attacks flowed perfectly into her next attack, giving me no time for rest or for a counter.

These attacks kept flying past, the metal of my armor screeching, sparks shooting off the edges. I kept my ground, only taking a few steps back after a minute or two. After a few more minutes of the relentless assault, I gained a sense of her timing. Random strikes and angles started making some sense. The momentum of her attacks began forming patterns.

Once I was sure she'd repeat a pattern of hers, I let the first two kicks skid off my armor before leaning straight into her next punch. I let my arm drag behind, sure of my strike's timing. Her fist shot past my face, like leaning your face right beside a speeding car. I could feel the wind off it, even the enormous power and weight on it.

But that power slipped right past me as my hand crushed straight into her face. I mean it too. My fingers, my bones, even my poor skin split and tore and ruptured. The armor crinkled as the strike landed with a pristine display of force and skill. In the end, her face was just too goddamn hard for my fist.

The pain exploded all throughout my arm, but it wasn't too bad. I deflected the next kick in her combo before shooting another punch with my left hand directly at her face. The bones in that arm crunched like the last. A kick from Kessiah landed straight into my stomach right after, keeling me over. A punch landed right into my exposed jaw, sending me flying backwards.

I rolled on the ground a few times before looking straight at the renewed mana light at the roof of the cavern. The fight had reminded me why I needed the levels and other shit. Some gaps couldn't be bridged with skill.

Kessiah walked over before saying, ”That was incredible. Those last two counters were particularly awe inspiring...That was riveting. We have to fight again.”

I lifted my arms, the broken bones mending as I said, ”Give me a minute. I gotta figure out a way to avoid getting my arms broken.”

”Fine, fine. I'll be looking at these runes and see if I can't hurry the experiments along.”

After a few minutes of experimenting with the armor, I focused on building more of it around my forearms. The extra structure would help with keeping them strut during my fights. With that handled, Kessiah and I sparred for another few rounds.

During these fights, I found myself pushing forward, despite her superior weight and strength. After an hour of watching her, I incorporated a few of her movements into my own. She slid on her feet from one attack to the other, launching kicks, punches, knees, and elbows. It was an exhausting style, if she applied herself completely. Unfortunately, she never had to when fighting me.

This style of training rapidly leveled deflection compared with blocking the arrows. Before I knew it, sweat dripped from between the joints of my armor. I heaved for breath as I struggled keeping up with her. Kicks and punches that were once easy to deflect became nigh impossible. Weaving in attacks went from something I did every now and again, to a rarity, then to something that never happened.

I never stopped though. The boost in regen meant broken bones healed in a minute or two. Kessiah never relented in her assault, keeping it vicious and visceral. She laughed when she heard my bones break. She'd giggle when my foot slipped, letting her slam a strike into my stomach.

That's when she said, ”You're such a fun punching bag.”

That was it. I wasn't about to let this piece of shit toy with me anymore. I redoubled my efforts. I couldn't just sit here and wait for progress. I had to push, push, then push harder. The lack of life or death had made me lazy. Not anymore.

I desperately clung towards survival, using every skill I hadn't used in weeks. Scorn, desperation, and death's dance all came in like a sudden surge of strength. I pushed through the exhaustion, activating the ferocity and challenger skills. All the bonuses overlapped, enhancing my efforts.

No more of this half ass bullshit. I'd rip this bitch apart or die trying. When her strikes came towards me, I would bend my armor to deflect her blows, reducing the movement required for them. The volume of my attacks increased tenfold as this freed up more of my movements for them.

I countered her strikes whenever I could, landing multiple strikes in a row at times. Her speed grew, normalizing as the change in my attitude became apparent. I wasn't fighting with the aim of gaining strength. I was fighting with the aim to kill her. Kessiah giggled and laughed and snickered at my struggling, enjoying the difficulty.

Her eyes laughed as I hit them. Her lips smiled when I smashed them. She didn't enjoy the pain, she enjoyed the challenge. Here was a fighter different from what she was used to. A fighter who could actually outclass her.

She said right after jumping back, ”It's been so long since I met a real hand to hand fighter. They're so rare now. People always want to use guns.”

I pounded my heels into the ground as sprinted towards her. She continued, ”I've gotten so rusty since the good old days.”

I countered her next strike, then her next kick before she said, ”You must have learned striking before Schema. Your style reminds me of those times, so long ago.”

Her movements grew more fluid. Her strikes became harder to deflect, her smile more hungry. She no longer pressed back as she said, ”You remind me of my brother Calyx. He and I would fight like this all the time.”

I couldn't pressure her back, even with all of my mind honed in on my task. I fought with every piece of myself, grasping at any way of winning. Her own style reflected my own, turning primal. We sat there, at the very edges of our skills for ten whole minutes before she sped her blows up even further.

They went faster than I could react to, even with my precognition. They crunched my armor like crumbling aluminum foil with your hands. The broke my bones like snapping sticks. I fell onto my knees after a few hits from them before coughing up blood. Kessiah stopped her kick, right beside my face as she said,

”Alright Torix. Why did you stop me? I wasn't going to kill him.”

Torix walked out of the darkness at the back of the room as he said, ”Of course you wouldn't, but there's no need to break his pride...or his neck.”

She sighed before laying her foot onto the ground. She turned towards me and said, ”Now I know why he's caught your interest. Speaking of which-”

She sat onto the heels of her feet as she lifted my chin with her finger. She said, ”You've caught mine as well.”

I fell over to my side, fighting for air as my chest heaved. My stamina was below 50. After a minute of catching my breath, I sat up. My bones came back together, the arcane bonds reorienting. It was like my body hated being out of order, so it regenerated with vehement fervor.

Torix had floated over during that time, cleaned himself with the snap spell, and thanked Kessiah for 'saving' us. I zoned into their conversation as they spoke,

Torix was ranting, ”We'd best wait until he's a higher level. Do you think such a pitiful body can hold so much energy?”

”Of course it can. I just fought the guy. He'll be just fine.”

”No, he will not. We must take our time and move with caution. We are working with powerful forces-”

”And that's what makes this so much fun, don't you think? Come on, I don't want to wait any longer.”

I said, ”Wait for what?”

A slight bit of insanity leaked into Kessiah's eyes and smile as she said, ”We're going to rip open a dimensional portal, then fill you up with whatever spills out.”

Torix frowned as she continued, ”Doesn't that sound exciting?”

Torix leaned his face onto his hand as he said, ”Oh how I wish I didn't need you for this...but I do...and Yawm will be here soon. We can't wait anymore for you to get what we need. We have three days longer at most before he arrives.”

Torix raised his face from his palm and said, ”Kessiah, you'll adjust the ritual, then I'll cast and control it. Daniel-”

My armor frowned as Torix said, ”Are you ready for it?”

I smiled at my numerous notifications as I said, ”Hahah...I just might be.”