Tearing through his cheek, Aster grinned as her knuckles missed splitting his head in half.
Unwilling to deliver a bad performance, he forced himself to keep up in the flurry of strikes. Redirection and avoidance turned up to the highest degree, but he was still unable to avoid the sting of her attacks.
Slipping a strike that left a cut beside his eyes, he sent a retaliatory fist towards her.
Punching her in the head, she didn't flinch at all, it felt like punching lead. At the cost of landing this hit, he was struck in the gut. He could feel his abdomen being torn through by the brass knuckles on her fists.
Throwing another punch, he managed to knock her back somewhat.
The two stood in a pool of his blood.
'I wanna win.'
|Perfected Skill - [Flow]|
Trying to steady himself, he took another stance.
In response, she simply clenched her fists.
|Austerity - [Lead Breaker]|
They exchanged blows. Unmarred by any attack thrown at them, the Destroyer struck with enough force to kill any human who dared stand in its way. Yet the "Immortal" was not hit by such an attack, evading it with stunning precision.
They continued repeating exchanges. She got ahold of his hand, slamming it against the side of her mouth, piercing it with the knife held in her teeth. Clutching her face in response, he bashed against it with yet another headbutt. Not stopping once, or twice, but three times, he managed to leave the trade with a knife stabbed into his hand.
Clenching his fist, he made no move to remove it, merely keeping the blade between his two middle fingers. Spinning in a circle, he gathered momentum and released a beautiful roundhouse. Blocking the kick, she retorted with an uppercut.
Flipping with the punch, barely being touched, he landed a kick on her chin. Her head was forcefully turned up, but not for long as her stare was brought down towards him.
She threw a right hook, and he brought himself to the ground, avoiding the strike and grabbing her ankle. She was much heavier than a normal human. It had to be at least a hundred kilos, roughly over two hundred pounds. This wasn't all too much to the mercenary though; and fortunately, power couldn't easily stop someone from being lifted if they had nothing to use as an anchor.
Swinging her into a square pillar propping up the floor above, she immediately spun around and dove feet first through the drywall.
Landing on the ground, she caught herself on all fours. Poised and bestial, she leaped up and jumped against the roof.
Crashing into him and breaking through the floor, they both wrestled for control.
Bringing her fist back she missed his head and crushed the ground beside him. Narrowly dodging possible death, he used the knife embedded in his hand to try and pierce her abdomen. It was unsuccessful, failing to get through more than a shallow layer of skin. She gripped that hand, keeping it there so he would be unable to us that blade. As she did so, she brought her head back and got ready to pay him back for all those previous headbutts. Not willing to follow through with this exchange, he posted his other hand on her head and pushed her away with both legs.
Separating, the two made no time to reset, immediately re-entering their battle. Without hesitation, intensity roared as the two threw blow after blow.
Adorned by the blood of the mercenary, the assassin lady continued an onslaught of bone-shattering strikes, still untouched in terms of visible damage.
Catching his right arm, she pulled the knife out of his hand, proceeding to stab it into his wrist, forearms, and bicep in quick succession. Leaving it in, she spun around and landed a spinning heel kick right to the shoulder. With a grimacing grin, he knocked her away with an adrenaline-riddled punch.
She examined him. His right arm was limp. This was the first instance of damage actually affecting the "Immortal".
Removing the knife, it hit the ground with a small tap, and he grinned. The lights had gone out and now all that illuminated them was the moon through a window. He clenched the fist of his busted-up arm. Placing his other hand over the wrist, veins popped out of his arm, as his muscles tensed violently. The intensity reached his neck as veins burst out there as well.
Removing his hand from his wrist and raising the damaged arm, he closed and opened his fist, assessing its functionality.
Her eyes narrowed. She'd seen many things, but this was one of the more absurd. A lot of people have died at her hands, justified or not, strong or weak, good or evil, but this man survived what they definitely would not have. As of that moment, he may not have reached amongst the strongest of those she's ever fought, but... he was no slouch.
On the other hand, for the merc, this was definitely one of the strongest people he's ever had the displeasure/pleasure of dealing with.
'...I should retire.'
As he had that thought, the two met once more.
|Advanced Skill - [Basic Breathing]|
|Advanced Skill - [Basic Breathing]|
|Advanced Skill - [Basic Breathing]|
|Advanced Skill - [Basic Breathing]|
|Advanced Skill - [Basic Breathing]|
'Advance. Advance. Advance. Ahead. Go. Go. Go. BREAK. THROUGH.'
Similar thoughts ran through the other's head. She could feel him gathering intensity, drawing more and more out of his body. He could feel her simply exerting more and more strength.
Moving in a nonstop flux, every hit only seemed to ignite greater fervor in him. Striking her in the head, he was blown away by a fist to the sternum. Stumbling back, he choked out more blood. Looking across from him, he couldn't help but keep grinning.
She placed a hand on her head.
How delightful.
Her gaze narrowed. Irritation was a bit more apparent. He soaked in the moment.
"Hehehehe-" He laughed, rearing his head back as he bellowed with rising intensity. "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
Almost clawing at his skin, he pulled at his face as he couldn't help but continue to cackle.
Their battle continued. Blood streaked across the air as blows rained upon the two, as their fight reached a new high.
Undying unyielding unstopping, Aster wondered if he was cursed or something. Probably not, more than not, it was likely just him. It was one thing to be tough, but stopping was always an option. And every time, he'd refuse it. When everyone else died and he was all that remained, he was always drawn forward. Was it a curse? It didn't matter to him back then. It was like that now. Except he happened upon the answer.
He knew now there was no way he was cursed. Forget all the deaths and suffering. Everything he's seen was worth this much.
He felt terrible. He felt great. Bad. Good. Terrible. Great. Awful. Fantastic. Terrible. Great. Terrible. Great. Great. Wonderful.
Cold? No... not yet anyways. He could still feel his body burning up. Though he blood loss was probably gonna be a bit of an issue. He'd done his best, but he was unable to avoid bleeding.
She took a look at the man. Earlier he'd been wearing a short-sleeved camo jacket, but it was torn now. Ripping it off, there was nothing but a blue t-shirt underneath, the only camo thing left being baggy camo pants. His physicality was impressive. He was a large mass of lean muscle. Short black hair. Blue shirt. Camo pants. Tall. Decent muscle. He was also covered in blood. Honestly, everything about him wasn't particularly noteworthy. His eyes though, were an exception. They were an extremely vibrant shade of yellow. Almost orange but not quite.
Reflected through them was pure and utter authenticity.
His gaze was focused on nothing but her. Her eyes narrowed.
How moving.
She found herself filled with a bit of contempt toward him, a scornful disdain for this pointless emotion he was spilling out.
Blood rushed through and out his body as his mania grew. Breaking everything in him, he gathered more and more. Hotter and hotter. He'd been running on fumes but now he was burning up.
He had stopped caring for life for a while now, but this made him really want to live. More than just a fear of dying, he wanted something. Was it this lady in front of him? Or just the blaze of battle? Or maybe self-discovery?
He threw away those thoughts and continued burning up. She looked onwards expressionlessly.
The two kept dancing. Through walls and around floors, they threw attack after attack. Her suit was adorned with his blood and his blood continued to poor with each attack thrown at him. Jab jab feint, uppercut. BLAM! He felt himself get caught. He'd blocked with both arms but the hit sent shockwaves through his body. He grinned as blood spurted out his teeth.
"Weak!" He taunted her. She reared up for another punch, but he'd already slipped towards her. Covering her eyes with his right hand, he struck them right in the liver.
She tanked the shot and grabbed the hand covering her eyes. Using to pull him towards her, she finally hit him with a headbutt. He felt his nose almost break after getting rocked by the attack, as he was pulled back in for another.
His head violently shook as the two intimately met. Sending out a punch to try and get her away, he missed as she cracked him in the side of his ribs. Shatter.
"JEEZZZXH- GCAGHHH-" Coughing out blood, he covered his mouth as he blocked another strike to the body with his left arm. He couldn't tell if his arm was fractured or broken but it meant little more at that point.
Stumbling back, he couldn't help but still force out a grin, "I gotta say, you really gotta stop doing that."
His voice was raspy from the blood soaking his internals.
Left arm was pretty messed up. Looking at it, his forearm sorta bent in the middle. Clenching his fist, his muscles flexed and it slowly straightened out. Grinning maniacally he looked right ahead at her. "Cool trick aye?"
She didn't respond. And this... he thought about it... did that hurt him more than the punch?
He shook his head and discarded those thoughts, as amusing as they were. His mind was losing clarity. Slicking his blood-filled hair back, it sorta kept hold before falling into a mildly more presentable position.
Closing his eyes, he took in the moment itself. Everything was covered in this dull almost burning pain. The stab wound in his neck felt paralyzing, like weakness spilling into the muscles near it. His arms... they just felt broken. But overshadowing all of that, was this extremely violent pain in his torso. His lungs were in fresh stabbing agony, which didn't feel all too bad but lower down to his guts nothing but terrible liquid pain. He couldn't the specific cause of pain apart from another. Liver? Stomach? Kidney? It was everything.
He grinned and breathed out. Taking in the moment, he dug his fingers into the center of his chest, tearing his shirt off, and splattering blood across the floor as he did so. The pain had begun to dull, like he was in a dream, and nothing was real. One could see the scars that adorned his body, not unlike decorations. Stabs, slashes, shots, burns, but blood slowly dripped over all of them at the moment.
This guy made zero sense to her. Responding in turn, she removed the outer jacket of her suit and dropped it. Her eyes were widened with murderous intent.
"Ya shouldn't make that face ya know? It's terrifying." He kept smiling.
"I don't wanna hear that from a man with that sorta expression on his face." She bashed her metal-clad knuckles together.
Sparks flew as their eyes had met. "Huh?"
"You heard me."
"Was I making that creepy of a face?" He relaxed his smile.
"You are."
"Ah. Apologies."
"No offense taken." She was much more receptive to him than he imagined she'd be.
Action. Abrupt and quickly, the two resumed their dance. Redirecting her fist into the ground, the ground shattered. Down another floor, they went.
Sending elbows and knees toward her, she was not impeded even when she only bothered using her fists to attack.
While he wasn't too surprised, he still found it extremely impressive. Hands, elbows, knees, kicks, he threw everything and she just ate it and spat it back out.
Fortunately, she couldn't block all of his attacks with a punch, as every hit she tossed out had major potential to be lethal. However, it didn't really seem that way, as he didn't seem affected. Every bit of damage he took seemed almost superficial, especially with how indifferently he treated the damage.
He felt his arm get perforated as he took the brunt of a strike. Her fists were hard enough. Wearing brass knuckles made them sharper.
Blocking became an afterthought, he did his very best to parry or divert every strike coming his way, but she was incredibly good at setting up shots.
Having his foot stepped on, he cursed with a smile as a blow flew into his ribs. Shatter.
Stumbling back and manically dodging hits, he spat some blood out to the side and cracked her in the head with a knee. She ate the strike, with it barely budging them. Immediately responding, she threw a punch to try and break his leg. Swerving his leg, he avoided the collision and struck them with his shin.
It was like kicking metal. This time she budged quitea bit as her head turned from the hit. Albeit terrifyingly, her head turned straight back just as fast.
Eyes widening, as he brought his leg back, he shot out a sidekick as a reaction. Blocking the kick and being knocked back, she quickly squared up and took a low boxing stance.
Quickly ducking and weaving towards him, she let out a punch that made his spine tingle at its sight.
In an attempt to stop it he haphazardly sent out a blow, for it to be slipped. The strike landed. He puked blood, feeling his gut get wrecked as he was thrown from the impact. Slamming through drywall, a chair, and into a couple of wooden desks.
It was a little meeting room. Quant. It would've been more quaint if not for the bits and pieces of drywall everywhere with the desks and paper scattered from him flying in.
Standing up, he grabbed a chair and chucked it through the hole left in the wall. Splitting in half, Mel ran through the destroyed chair. Lifting up a desk, he used it to cover himself from a strike and her line of vision. She snapped the desk right in half with a punch and it narrowly missed his head.
From around the two broken pieces of the desk in the air, she saw the blade(priorly lodged in his hand) flying straight towards her face. Going into guard, the blade was lightly knocked away by her metal-clad knuckles, as Aster's fist flew straight into her face.
She was tipped back, grabbing the two halves of the desk, he slammed both into her and they exploded into shards of wood table. With one real table broken, an not so real one was set.
By now. he'd figured enough that she was an unyielding sorta lady. And fortunately or unfortunately, her next move was obvious.
Punch.
|Asceticism - [Titanium Fist]|
He drowned himself in the moment. Pain and weakness, he filtered everything out.
PASSION - HEAT DREAM
He brought his leg up, kneeing her fist away. Despite everything else being pretty banged up, his legs were basically undamaged. She was well aware of his legs due his knees and kicks being a an extremely persistent obstacle.
So she sent a hit towards them. His tibia cracked. Eyes widening, he quickly stepped back. It should've come as no surprise to her, but she was somewhat astounded by his tenacity. Did he not feel pain?
They looked at him as they thought about it.
... No. He definitely reacted to some heavy blows. She supposed he just had fine grit. Perhaps she found it admirable but she was compelled to speak.
"... Do you have any last words?"
"Hah." He laughed and his smile softened. "Offering a chance for last words? How kind."
"Will those be your last words?"
"I regret nothing."
Hearing his answer, she put an end to the talk and moved in with inhuman speed. Darting backward, he grabbed a chair and lobbed it at her. Immediately broken through. As they moved in towards him, he backed into a roll over a desk, getting behind it. Picking up the dropped knife, she lobbed it at him. Dodging the blade, he ducked as she threw another punch. With the duck under the table, he lifted it up and into her.
Again, she punched right through the table, splitting it in half. But this time she'd been tipped over by it prior. With this opportunity of disturbed balance and two halves of the table acting as blindspots, he landed a spinning back kick to their abdomen.
With the blow sending both of them backwards he felt his back hit a table. Reaching for stuff, he grabbed a couple of sheets of paper and rolled them up into balls. As she moved in to close the distance, he tossed a couple at her. One covered her eyes for a split second and he was gone. No wait, he'd gone lower to the ground, pivoting on his hands- Bam! She felt a kick to the side of her neck.
Grabbing his leg, she swung for his femur. Bending the leg, he maneuvered it so his thigh went right above the strike, avoiding a broken limb. Seeming dissatisfied, she lifted him up into the air by the ankle with one arm and slammed him through a table, and secondarily through the floor. But not having let go, she swung him again, tearing the ground away as she ran him across it.
Grabbing a newly made ledge it immediately broke as he felt himself being flipped in the air. His eyes widened, noticing she'd let go, he saw that she'd tossed him up into the air to set up for an unavoidable attack. Rearing up, she sent out a considerably loud punch, making a swishing sound in the air, and an extremely violent-sounding impact to his chest.
A blow to the heart?? His thoughts were thrown into disarray as the pain in his body was completely encompassed by the shock in his chest. He could barely breathe. Slamming into the ground and getting up, his heart was pounding violently and violently weakly.
He collapsed to his knees. "Shit." Coughing a bit more blood, he grinned as she slowly walked towards him.
"Not yet." He rose like an animated corpse. His previous stance and demeanor were nowhere to be seen. Unlike before, when the damage did not affect his movements, even though he was still standing, he was now noticeably less sharp. He slowly wiped his mouth of blood.
His eyes dilated. Fury was evident even as his body seemed to finally be inhibited by his injuries. The presence of his intensity flowed like an unceasing river. It was a surge of inhumane will.
She couldn't help but smile. He was unable to find it anything but captivating.
She seemed...
Their exchange never met.
Kaboom.
Being knocked back by the abrupt explosion, the Immortal felt someone catch him by the scruff of his pants.
"Wow, you look like shit man." It was a dark brown-haired man dressed in camo. He had dark somewhat bluish eyes and a big grin.
"You ruined the moment," Aster replied dryly.
"The fuck you mean?"
"I had that."
"Did the blood loss make you stupid? Who the fuck are you even fighting?" The bluish-eyed man turned to the assassin lady(who was not knocked back at all by the explosion.) "...You got battered by this chick?"
"Yep."
The newcomer's grin dropped into disbelief, "...Is she stronger than you?"
"Yes."
"Can you defeat her?"
"Possibly, likely not."
"What about right now?"
"Whatever chance I had went with that explosion"
"What if I'm here?"
"Maybe."
He doubted that. "Stop being nice and just answer the fucking question."
"I doubt she can be taken down."
"Then why'd you fight her?"
"Her job's to kill me and I like her, so I wanted to give her a really good chance."
"... Bro, what the fuck?"