The man on the other end of the chamber was well over two hundred feet away, but Draco could feel his gaze boring onto his own.
Draco watched the man cautiously, attempting to gauge his own strength.
After all, Draco was no fool!
He might not know what was going on, but the blood-stained floor and dubious circumstances of his imprisonment gave him enough ideas.
'I've seen enough movies to know this is where we fight to the death.' Draco thought, sobering himself with the reality of his situation.
He took the chance to take a cursory glance of his surroundings. He eventually came to the conclusion that there was nothing of use around him.
The vast area was entirely empty, the only notable feature being the two entrances on either side of the chamber.
Looking back at the man, Draco cursed under his breath.
'F*ck, I shouldn't have taken my eyes off of him.' he thought, seeing that the man had taken the opportunity to start rushing towards his position.
The man was rapidly approaching Draco, and in only a few seconds he had already halved the distance!
"So fast!" Draco remarked, his heart rate spiking.
Now that the man was closer Draco became able to make out a few features .
Firstly, he saw the man's impressive physique. He had the body of someone who had been training since childhood.
Secondly, Draco noticed the man's movement. The way the swift man moved was reminiscent of something Draco had seen a lot recently.
As the man approached his position, Draco became sure of it, 'There's no doubt. This man is a Ḥāmin!' he thought, preparing himself with grim determination.
The man was now only a dozen feet away from Draco.
Seeing this, Draco began to look for openings in the man's advancing form.
However, as Draco was preparing to gain the initiative and launch an attack, the man abruptly disappeared from his position.
Draco's heart dropped, and he frantically looked around.
Unexpectedly, when Draco turned back around the man was upon him!
The man punched out at Draco with two extended fingers, his punch moving at a swiftness not beaten out by the speed of a bullet.
Draco was only able to move his head a fraction of an inch, a millisecond too slow to entirely avoid the blow!
With a sickening squelch, Draco's left eye was pierced by the man's fingertips, sending jolts of pain through Draco's entire head.
The man applied more pressure, seemingly intent on stabbing straight into Draco's brain.
Fortunately for Draco, he retained enough of his senses to pull his head back, sliding it off of the man's finger!
A wet pop could be heard as Draco pulled his head off of the finger, and blood began to fall down his face in pools.
Draco jumped back several feet, his wits lost as he attempted to put his guard back up.
Draco's left eye was now entirely useless, and he detachedly figured that it was likely gone forever.
However, in truth Draco was lucky.
If his mind and body hadn't been honed by relentless beatings at the hand's of Samir, or the rejuvenating waters of the Gravis Chamber, he would probably be incapacitated by pain right now.
Draco smiled ruefully, 'So, this is what it feels like to be a caged animal.' he thought, his vision hazy as he clenched his teeth through the pain.
He noticed that the man was now coming back towards him—probably for the kill, he thought grimly.
Draco's mind was now frantically rushing through his options.
Unfortunately, before he could even sort through his thoughts, the man was once again almost upon him!
Draco did not take his remaining eye off the man for even a moment, and as a result he saw the man's approach perfectly.
'Left arm, watch his stance.' Draco's mind thought rapidly, his instincts gained from his time in the Immortality Chamber kicking back in.
Before Draco could even properly register what he was doing, his body was moving on its own.
Draco stepped to his left, sidestepping the man's leading attack with a single nimble movement.
However, without missing a beat, the man sent out a flurry of punches and kicks towards Draco!
Draco's body moved on autopilot, and guided by his subconscious instincts he somehow knew exactly how to read the man's movements.
With swift and sharp movements, Draco ducked an overhead kick, sidestepped several punches, and then jumped over a sweeping leg kick.
However, as Draco was in the air, a sudden punch connected with his chest.
The impact of the hit caused Draco to spin in mid-air, flying backwards a few feet.
Draco managed to re-orientate himself in the air, landing roughly on all fours as he braced himself.
His chest was thrumming with pain from the impact, but he was otherwise intact.
'Nothing's broken.' Draco sighed in relief, but was unable to relax as the man had already started to sprint back to him.
'He's less swift than Sada and Amira, and far weaker than Samir, but I can't afford to underestimate him.' he thought to himself, his eye's throbbing pain a reminder of his negligence.
.
He fought to keep the pain out of his mind, resolving himself to fight until his last breath.
This time, when the man had reached Draco's position, Draco had a surprise for him!
Instead of waiting passively, Draco decided to regain the initiative.
Using all of the strength in his legs Draco launched himself at the man, his leg muscles bulging at the effort.
Draco flew at a speed that caused the man to initially hesitate, creating an opening that Draco took advantage of.
Draco's cellular biology had almost evolved following his stay in the Gravis Chamber. He didn't know why, but Draco strongly felt that he could tap into a reserve of strength within himself.
Using this reserve, Draco's cells kicked into overdrive. His metabolism rapidly accelerated as his cells drew the strength needed to fuel his movement.
Flying towards the man, Draco interestingly did not throw out a punch. Instead, Draco reached for the man, attempting to grab ahold of him.
The man was unable to compensate for Draco's unexpected increase in speed, and thus was unable to prevent Draco from slamming into his torso.
The man felt like he was hit with the full force of a football linebacker, and before he knew it Draco's arms had wrapped around his waist.
Draco didn't wait and roughly hefted the man up in the air, preparing to slam him into the hard tiles below.
However, the man wasn't about to passively let this happen, and he smashed his fists against Draco's back with super-human strength.
These hits each felt like hammer blows, and they made Draco shudder with every impact.
Unluckily for this man though, Draco was unable to be stopped by such paltry blows!
With a loud grunt, Draco threw the man over his shoulder, slamming him into the tiles below with such a violent strength that they shattered from the force.
The man coughed out a mouthful of blood, his eyes temporarily going white.
Draco saw his opportunity and did not hesitate, lifting his right foot to bring his heel down onto the man's head.
To Draco's dismay, the man regained his senses in just enough time to roll out of the way, causing Draco's foot to slam uselessly on the tiles below.
Draco cursed as he felt the broken tile slash open his foot.
Draco watched the man vault upwards and back to his feet with annoyance, blood now trailing behind his foot as he followed after him.
The man now had a desperate look in his eyes, completely different from the viscous look he had worn when first attacking Draco.
In this game of cat and mouse, the mouse and the cat had traded places!
Ignoring the pain in his foot, Draco quickly caught back up to the man.
The man threw a desperate punch at Draco's head, but Draco simply tilted his head to the side, narrowly avoiding the blow.
Before the man could react, Draco reached out and grabbed his arm. Without preamble he slammed his elbow into the man's arm, causing a sickening crack to be heard.
The man let out a shout of agony, creating another opening for Draco to take advantage of.
Draco slammed a punch into the man's ribs, eliciting another series of loud cracks.
Coughing out another spurt of blood, the man jumped backwards.
The man landed on unsteady feet, and Draco eyed him dangerously as he continued forward, unwilling to give the man a moment of respite.
"How's it feel, huh?!" Draco yelled with indignation, running after the man with a righteous fury.
However, just when Draco was within a few meters of the man, something unexpected happened.
With static reminiscent of a school principal's intercom, a robotic voice began to sound off.
**SUBJECT # 5 - 2 - 9, GRANTED AHMAR GRACE**, blared the robotic voice from some unknown source.
This drew the attention of both Draco and the man, and they watched as a hole began to open up in the ground not far from their position.
The hole was only around a hundred feet away, and once it was fully opened it revealed only darkness below.
From this darkness began to extend a small pedestal, and upon closer inspection Draco saw that it resembled a weapon of some kind.
It looked like a gun with a spear attached to it, so Draco figured it was some type of Harpoon.
However, while Draco was appraising this strange phenomenon, the man next to him had already gotten a head start!
The man was now speeding away, evidently ignoring his quite serious injuries.
"F*ker!" Draco shouted out, chasing after him.
Draco winced as his injured foot slammed against the smooth tiles below him, and he fought to catch up with the man.
Unfortunately, Draco's injury was a dramatic handicap, and the man continued to gain distance from him.
Although he was running faster than any un-powered human could ever hope to achieve, Draco could only watch helplessly as the man got closer and closer to the pedestal!