Chapter 10 - 10 - The Last Fight  

The man continued. "My name is Samuel Norrington. I have been judged guilty on four accounts of burglary, 25 counts of robbery, 184 counts of ****, and 184 counts of murder."

Suddenly, Samuel charged forward. He had said the bare minimum that the formation required and tried to get Gravis by surprise. He quickly closed the five meters and lifted his sword for a chop.

Gravis didn’t see this attack coming, but he immediately jumped back due to his fighting experience. When Gravis saw the sword slashing down, he took his chance and countered with a side swing. What Gravis didn’t realize, was that his opponent’s chop was only a feint. The sword easily stopped in the middle and quickly stabbed forward. The sword would reach Gravis before his saber reached Samuel.

Gravis jumped back again, aborting his attack. Samuel got the initiative and slashed again. Gravis only managed a weak block and got blown back again. Samuel didn’t let up and continued to follow up with even fiercer attacks. Gravis could only continue holding on bitterly by blocking and jumping back. Sadly, mistakes were bound to occur when one only bitterly blocks, and Gravis received a slash to his abdomen, where a large cut opened.

Luckily, Gravis was able to jump back further and finally got some breathing room. All this dodging grated the bones in his broken shoulder, and the pain he felt was immense. The open cut in his abdomen was even worse! It was continually leaking blood, and small parts of his innards could be seen from outside.

Seeing that Gravis was outside his attacking range, Samuel stopped his onslaught. The surprise attack had worked and gave him a clear advantage in the fight. "You know, when I first saw you, I thought this would be a bitter fight." Samuel smiled arrogantly. "Luckily, I wasn’t completely deceived by your bloody appearance. Say, did you roll in blood to intimidate me?"

Gravis furrowed his brows and said nothing. He tried to think of a way to win against his opponent. He only had to get one clean hit, and it would be over. Not in the mood for talking, Gravis jumped forward and took the initiative to attack with a slash from the side. Samuel lifted his free arm to block this strike and stabbed Gravis again.

Gravis gritted his teeth. He had tempered organs and blood. A stab through the abdomen was not lethal for him, and he was ready to exchange this injury for a severed arm of his opponent. Gravis’ saber cut his opponent’s arm, but surprisingly, it didn’t sever the arm. His saber only cut to the bone.

"Idiot!" Samuel grinned and stabbed through Gravis’ abdomen. Gravis’ body seized up, and with sheer willpower, he kicked his opponent away. The sword left his gut, and Samuel flew back for a couple of meters. Samuel casually landed, laughed loudly. "Trying to trade injuries with someone who has tempered their skin. Truly, only an idiot would think of that. Did you honestly think that you, with your weak power, could sever my arm?"

Gravis didn’t say anything. So, that was the reason. His opponent had already tempered his skin. No wonder he felt such a massive resistance when his saber met Samuel’s skin. This was a problem. How could he kill someone like that? Gravis could die here. Even when he fought the tortoise, he didn’t receive any injury. Things were not looking good.

Samuel just calmly stood there. "You wanna know something? Do you realize why my counts of **** and murder are the same even though they are in the hundreds?"

Gravis didn’t answer, but Samuel didn’t mind. Gravis felt a faint sense of unease. Nothing good could come from that. "That’s because killing someone is the domination of the body." Samuel tapped his chest with the side of his sword. "When you kill someone, you have won over their body and stepped over their physical dignity, but that is only the body."

Samuel lifted his free hand and tapped the side of his head, smiling. "What about the soul?" Samuel waited for an answer, but none came. He released a short chuckle. "When you want to dominate someone completely, you should do it thoroughly!" He lifted his sword and pointed it between Gravis’ legs. "By fucking them, you dominate their soul too. I pride myself on the fact that I have completely dominated everyone I killed. I want to keep that streak up, so I hope you don’t mind." Samuel licked his lips.

By now, all hair on Gravis’ neck stood up. He felt a mix of disgust, fear, and disbelief, but Samuel didn’t let up. His whole demeanor changed. He violently clenched his fist in front of him and shouted with a mix of passion and fury, "Hate! Despair! Fear! Humiliation! Pain! Suffering! Who cares about the feelings of the weak? If I were weak, I could only blame myself."

Gravis was more than disgusted by this vile fiend, by now. What domination? Gravis had only killed to protect himself up until now. He never even had the thought to prolong the suffering of his opponents. Killing was a tool to resolve conflict securely, not to dominate. Gravis got used to the idea that he might die in his venture for power, but he could not accept dying to someone like Samuel. ’This guy is seriously messed up!’

Samuel wanted to unnerve Gravis but surprisingly accomplished the opposite. The last of Gravis’ hesitation vanished. Killing a human and a beast was different. With his hesitation gone, Gravis finally found a plan that could work. ’I don’t want to do this, but I can’t see anything else succeeding.’ He shook his head and looked at Samuel with determination.

Samuel calmed down again, and his smile resurfaced. "Oh? You wanna go? What makes you think that this will end differently?" He raised his sword and pointed it at Gravis. "Well, what are you waiting for? Come on!" The sword tip drew a circle in the air, taunting Gravis.

Gravis gritted his teeth again. He charged and slashed at Samuel. Samuel blocked with another part of his injured arm and stabbed his sword forward. This time, Gravis jumped back instead of clashing with his opponent. Samuel gained the initiative again and followed up with a slash towards Gravis’ injured shoulder.

’This is it!’ Gravis shouted in his mind. He curled up his left arm. His shoulder was broken, but his elbow wasn’t. At the same time, he used all his strength to slash his opponent’s neck. Samuel didn’t see that coming. He was sure that Gravis would jump back. What was it with this suicidal exchange? He had tempered skin, but he didn’t have the guts to let someone just hack at his throat. Samuel jumped back.

Gravis was sure that Samuel would go through with his attack and was prepared to sacrifice his arm for a chance at victory. Sadly, it didn’t go as planned. Instead, Gravis opted to imitate Samuel and pressed his advantage. Attack after attack hammered onto Samuel’s sword or got deflected by his arm. Samuel felt difficulty moving his arm as more injuries accumulated.

Gravis continued attacking like he was possessed. ’Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster!’ he screamed internally. His muscles and lungs were burning, but he continued. Samuel stabbed with his sword again, but Gravis didn’t seem to notice or care. Gravis’ attack continued.

’This guy’s insane!’ Samuel shouted internally in panic. ’Does he not care for his life? Will he not rest until both of us are dead?’ Samuel didn’t have the guts to exchange his life and jumped to the side again. The make-shift jump wasn’t enough to completely protect him. Gravis’ saber cut off a massive chunk of flesh from Samuel’s arm. Samuel screamed, but Gravis continued without rest.

While Samuel was still recovering from the pain, a saber cut into his torso like an axe cutting a tree. Samuel fell to the side, and his sword flew away. Gravis didn’t stop. Samuel continued to scream and block with his arms while lying on the floor, while Gravis chopped like a madman. He chopped, and chopped, and chopped, and chopped, and didn’t stop until Samuel was definitely dead.

Gravis breathed heavily and looked at the different sized pieces of Samuel in front of him. Some muscles in his body tore, but his organs were already repairing them. He felt like shit, but not everything was bad. He was prepared to sacrifice his arm, but the weak will of his opponent made that unnecessary. Ironically, by not risking his life, he lost his life.

Gravis calmed down, but before he could process the fact that he killed his first human, he got swallowed by purple light and vanished.