We locked our gaze as we simultaneously made our way toward each other.
Using my aspect, I crafted a fine obsidian black painted katana with the supposed bladed side cladded in silvery white colour.
I had no say or control over what the colour of whatever I manifested would be. The obsidian black and silvery-white are features I did not know of.
Back to the Orc.
We met halfway through the road. He initiated the first attack by lunging his right fist down, aiming to pummel me into the ground.
I responded to his attack by hurrying my right hand that held the katana to block his fist.
A clang erupted following his fist clash with my katana. He was left unscathed and repeated the same attack form using his left fist.
I withdrew my katana and lept five steps backwards to evade his fist.
The fist attack dealt no damage to me whatsoever. Probably because I was able to block it with my katana. Though to be honest, I was expecting to deal a slash damage to his knuckles when it collided with my katana.
This made me understand more about aspect crafting as an attributer.
I made sure my katana had a bladed side and that was the part I used to counter his fist. Yet no slash damage was dealt to him.
'Even though it takes on the shape of a sword, at the end of the day it is nothing more than an aspect woven into that shape. It is no metallic sword'.
A profitable knowledge I just gained. Is what I thought of it as I prepared to counter the orc's next move.
He came at me swinging his left leg with destructive momentum. And I, mustering all the strength I could, bashed his coming leg with the tip of my katana.
After doing that, I yet again took several steps away from him.
It went on in this exact way with the Orc attacking and me tanking his attacks using my katana.
I would call my fighting style crude and honestly disappointing.
That was to be expected. I believe I have established earlier that I was no expert in fighting much less fighting with a sword.
The closest I had gotten to a fight was having a slight verbal scuffle with my friends back when I was in middle school.
I was not the brawl type so to speak. Nor did I have any sort of extraordinary move I could just whisk out from my pocket when necessary.
What I have derived from the ongoing encounter is that I had the upper hand.
As the voice said, physical build does not decide the outcome of a fight.
The Orc has natural strength, stronger than what I can muster in my base form. But in my force-enhanced form, I had the upper hand.
Despite tanking his ferocious attacks one after the other, I did not feel exhausted nor was I getting pushed back. For me, it was relatively easy to do so.
And then there is the Orc! Delivering one heavy blow after the other as well as keeping up with my backward pace was taking a toll on his body.
Contrary to I who had his body reinforced, the Orc was going all natural. It was taking a lot from him, tiring out his body bit by bit.
If I kept it up this way, the Orc would without a doubt be the first to fall. All I need to do is just keep tanking. When I see that he is worn out to a state of stiffness, I will strike.
But wait!
Exactly how should I strike?!
I had my brain process information simultaneously. On one hand, I crudely fended off the Orc's attacks and on the other, I think of ways to strike back.
As I saw the Orc slowly struggling to deliver his usual heavy-based attacks, an idea sprung up in my head.
I worked toward lengthening the gap between us, moving as far away as possible. Once I had established that gap, I wielded my katana with a glistening resolve to survive by doing what was necessary for me.
I had the tip of my katana lead me forward to the Orc, with a running form that certainly looked like I was going in for a sword slash attack type.
As I got to the Orc, his towering height overwhelmed me to the point of ridicule.
I tilted the trajectory of the katana in an upward slope, aiming for his chest.
He had experienced getting cut before. The failed result assured him that this coming attack posed no threat to him. Due to that, he relaxedly held his stance, awaiting the coming katana and at the same time vying for a chance to counterattack. Specifically, after the katana had touched him.
Fine by me. That was my goal either way. I knew the Orc's skin was too hardened for the katana to deal damage to. But could the same be said for other parts of his body?!
'Take, for example, the eyes?!'.
As soon as I had that thought, I rolled my arm that held the katana. Instead of an upward slope, I went for an upward straight slash that marked from his lips to the nose and then went past his forehead before I lost control.
The Orc was flustered. A predictable reaction! It was only normal that he be taken aback when a sudden object flew past his eyes.
For me, this was my window of opportunity.
I put down the katana and ran to the Orc, standing barely an inch from him.
I grabbed his left arm and so easily was I overpowered by the sheer strength of his arm.
The Orc picked me up and I mounted tightly to his arm as I was swept off the ground. He wanted to go for a body slam but I was quick enough to jump off his arm and latch straight on his head.
Mounting desperately to his skinny forehead, I manifested my aspect in the form of a dagger and! CHUCK! Is the sound of me stabbing the dagger directly into his right eyeball.
The Orc squealed out a deafening shout, abrasively parading the grounds to get me off of his body.
Holding on tightly, I dug the dagger into his eyes again! And again! And again! And again! And again!
So I went, the red colorful blood splattering on my face and some even getting on my lips. That did not stop me.
I kept stabbing through for as long as I remained glued to his head. His feeble attempt to shake me off proved vital as the intensifying pain from his badly damaged eyes did not permit him to make precise thoughts.
Luckily for him, while squirming around, his hefty palms had the grace of locating my body. With only one hand, he grabbed me by the head and tossed me to the tree.
The Orc was still in excruciating pain, unable to see or think clearly. His face was covered full with the blood dripping from his eyes. He had his palm covering it, but the blood found its way through.
He still did not have time for me. The Orc spent his time trying to contain the blood while roughly navigating his paths, stumbling into nearby trees.
This was my chance.
"Attempting to take my life! How dare you so!".
Lost in the moment, I spouted out infuriating words to the Orc who had his hands full to pay attention to me.
A new katana formed on my right hand. With it, I rushed to stand behind him and whacked his leg from the back. The Orc reflexively fell on one knee, bringing his height closer to me.
I kicked him from the back and pushed his chest down on the ground. Then, I let go of my katana and began to whack him with my bare fist as hard as I could.
My fist had more power-packed than the katana. Its usefulness lies in helping me reach a distance that my fist wouldn't.
As I punched, I made certain that the damage I dealt was concentrated in one body part. I planned to use the damage accumulation to wear him out.
The more I hit my fist down on that particular spot, the less of a struggle I get from the laid-down Orc.
Perhaps it is working as I had intended and the Orc is losing strength or perhaps it is all a feint and he is just waiting for me to let my guard down.
Whatever it is, I can't be certain.
Hastily, I slid to his upper body and had both hands wrapped around his head.
Holding down both eyes, I stretched his head backwards, aiming to detach it from his body.
To this, there was a definite struggle from the Orc trying to get free.
At first, he tried to stand but couldn't. I had my weight pressing him down though I also had doubts if that was really at work.
His spine must have weakened from the earlier consecutive punch I delivered to it.
When he saw that he had trouble getting off, the Orc stretched his hands and started punching my face. His punches were light and without power.
I could take them.
When he saw that did not work either, the Orc tried to get my arms off of his head.
Resistance from those wide arms of his was weak and considerate.
After trying out all possible means and all turned to nought, the Orc submitted with a tap out.
No! I wasn't going to release him!
I know nothing of his species except what I have been told, nothing of this particular Orc who tried to kill me.
It would be stupid of me to release him merely because of a tap out.
For all I know, I could release him now only to be attacked once again!
I can't take on that risk, not when I had barely been able to subdue him!
I pulled as hard as I could and SNAP! His head rolled off his body, his tapping palm motionless on the ground.
I won!!