Clash of rivals

The poison was starting to take its toll. I thought if I had rested a few days before seeking out Talon, my brother on the verge of suicide, it should’ve settled down. But that couldn't be further from the truth. 

My body randomly went numb. Sharp pains happened sporadically. Sometimes it looked like I had turrets with how much I would jerk either my arm or my leg from the pain. Asen, my boss, informed me that there was no known antidote. Still, I couldn't let that stop me. Asen gave me the syringe, holding the rest of the dreaded serum. It was a poisonous solution that gave immense strength for a brief period. It suppresses the part of the brain that's supposed to restrict your muscles. The burst of energy it gives is enough to bring someone back from the dead. He trusted me only to use it for emergencies. I took the offer, not even trusting myself. I trudged my way through the darkly lit and nearly abandoned city. The only real light source was from the full moon, straight above me.

Midnight came faster than anticipated. I was off pace. By a lot. And that wasn't my most troubling issue yet to come. There was a quarter mile left. The numbing stopped, replaced with muscle soreness and constant aching.

I walked in the middle of the road. Two lines of buildings on either side. Light posts spaced out across the block. Most broken, some cracked. I neared the end of the road. In Front of me was a giant square-shaped building that reached fairly tall. At the top lies a dark silhouette. The tall, slim figure standing there looking down at me was far too familiar. I rolled up my sleeves in preparation for a fight. He leaped from his spot. Soaring through the air. As he approached closer, the surrounding light slowly illuminated the silhouette. I shouldn't have been surprised. Keith was back for round two.

“Long time no see, Code.”

“Oh god I have to socially interact with you now, don’t I? I’m kinda in the middle of something. If you don’t mind. Can we save the awkward small talk for later?”

He slammed into the ground directly in front of me. Smashing it to pieces. Giving me no time to react while my vision began to blur. I was launched back and started to roll and flip across the ground. Gaining an immense amount of scrapes and bruises. Eventually, my speed came to a stopping point, and I was left on one knee, already out of breath.

“Don’t worry, I don't like awkward small talk either.”

“In our last fight, you said something about there being rumors about me? You want to elaborate on that?”

He pauses.

“You worked in the underground fight club for a while. One of the longest besides Willow.”

“Yeah, I did. I hardly saw you. Is that where the rumors spread?”

“They weren’t just rumors. We were warned about you. Hanish even feared your capabilities.”

“Hanish, was scared of me?”

“Terrified of you.”

He charged at me. My only goal for this fight was to live. The look in his eyes told me one thing. He wasn’t going to hesitate for even a second if there was a chance to kill me. 

With my vision nearly non-existent, I didn’t see him get behind me. The wind from his punch struck me from behind as my head whipped around. I went to block with my forearms. But he was gone. Already behind me for a second time. Nailing me in the back with two fists. It took every bit of strength I had, but I kept my balance and retaliated back with a hook shot to the face with my right arm. He snapped his head back. Causing me to hit nothing except air. He took his right leg and went for a low sweep. Right As I went to jump over it, my leg received a sharp pain. His attack hit, and he wasted no time following up with punch after punch. Making sure that I remained airborne for every single one. He equipped an ax from his back pocket with the downtime in between each hit.

“I haven’t used this in a while,” he said, holding it out in front of him and analyzing it. “Couldn't hurt to give it a try.”

His coordination stayed perfect. Alternating between a punch to my side with his left hand, and a quick stab with his ax to my right side. I pushed off the ground to create some distance. He pulled back the ax, not getting greedy.

 He threw the ax in the air. The blade spun end over end. Catching the occasional light from the moon. It sat suspended at its peak height. He pulled out his metallic long-blade sword from his back pocket and pointed it at me. Was he going to dual-wield them? I thought.

He leaped in the air and grabbed the handle of the ax with one hand and swung it to his side. The veins in his arms began to pop out. Time froze as he lingered in the air. I, on the other hand, stayed still, immobilized in place, anxiously waiting for his next move.

He came down with the sword aimed right at my head with the ax behind his body. I rolled to my right mere seconds before his attack met its mark. His sword impaled into the pavement. I took the opportunity to position myself above him and prepare to finally take control of this fight.

Right before my punch connected, the same sharp pain in my arm came back. He failed to regain possession of the sword. And instead zipped back around with the ax to try and slash me across my whole body. With no time to think, I reached out my arm and managed to clench my whole hand around the blade and sharp edges. Impaling it in the process. It was either that or death. 

He pulled back the ax. Leaving blood to pour out of my hand. With both of his arms in awkward positions, he raised his legs to his chest and kicked me away. With probably the only breathing room I would ever get in this fight, I resorted to the dreaded serum. I hoped that the adrenaline would cancel out the sharp pains that were holding me back. This time, I made sure to only inject ten percent of it. The twenty percent I used against Asen was nearly impossible to control.

My heart rate surged and showed no sign of stopping. All of my injuries and stab wounds regenerated in an instant. Keith tried to end me early. Charging at me with the bloody ax. I held up my right arm. The ax pierced into my arm. I felt no pain. As he struggled to pull it out, I lunged forward, grabbed his right arm with my left, and pushed up. Trying to flip him over on his back. Still with the ax in my arm. With the split second he had to think, he ditched the ax and jabbed me in the side as we fell to the ground. Sending me off course and narrowly avoiding the takedown that would’ve resulted in certain death. 

Keith capitalized on my vulnerable position and went in for an uppercut to my chin. I pulled the ax out of my arm and held the blade with each hand. He didn’t retreat. He came at me from an angle. Not wanting anything to do with the ax. I went to intercept his punch and missed. Instead stabbing him directly in the neck. I blitzed over to the sword and snagged it before he could get it. Taking away his last option at salvaging this fight. 

He fell back a few steps. Appearing seconds away from death. He was motionless. His arms and legs were frozen in place. I held up my hand and motioned the universal bring it motion. We used it in the underground as a silent way to ask if they wanted the fight to continue. But even with such an injury, he still had the confidence to fire me a grin. Why was he so confident? He shouldn’t be alive this long with a knife stabbed through his neck. He reached into his other pocket and pulled out a bottle of serum identical to mine. I quickly regretted my taunting. He stabbed himself in the neck. Injecting ninety percent of the serum. His injuries were cleansed exactly like mine. The bottle disintegrated as a cylindrical purple beam of light parted the clouds and struck him. A purple aura engulfed his body and formed a spiral around him stretching across the entire city. The concrete shattered beneath us with powerful vibrations in a familiar cadence. But It stopped. I stood perplexed. Then it continued. No doubt about it. It was his heartbeat. His veins popped out and turned a deep purple. He fell to the ground and let out a blood curdling scream as he gripped his arm and bowed his head. Small bolts of lightning discharged from his limbs. Unbeknownst to him, a cross symbol glowed faulty on the palms of his hand and forehead. 

The purple beam ceased. His lower body remained vertical as his upper body levitated back to a neutral position. He raised his arms and curled his fingers. Showing no emotion in his facial expressions. In a flight or fight response, I injected the other seventy percent into my arm. My bottle disintegrated as well. The same cross-figure formed on my palms.

(Eighty percent vs ninety percent.)

His neck injury healed instantly. He pulled out both the ax and needle from his neck and bolted around me in a circle. Leaving about twenty feet of separation. I tracked his moves, eventually trying to cut him off and stab him with the sword. 

It was like trying to swat a fly out of the air with a stick. Every time I thought I had him, he was gone in an instant. I stopped trying to track his moves. I stood in place and waited for him to run into me. Our weapons collided at equal strength. The blade of my sword stabbed in between the blade of the ax. He pulled back the ax and swung, trying to decapitate me. I pulled back my head. He raised the ax above his head and swung downward with full force. I backed off again. The ax shattered the concrete below us and let off some of the purple aura. He pulled it back and swung with full force in rapid succession. Each one forced me to keep backing off and blocking with the sword. He pushed off his right foot, shattering the concrete again, and leaped forward while spinning relentlessly with the ax still in hand, creating a whirlwind of purple aura with lighting bolts still discharging from his body. I rolled forward. Avoiding the onslaught. He landed back on the ground and charged at me again. This time going for a low sweep with the ax. I jumped up and landed on his back. I pushed off and landed upright while he fell to the ground. From a kneeling position, he pushed off the ground and continued with his swings. I couldn’t keep playing evasive. I swung my sword and hit his ax. Knocked him back an inch. He made me lose my balance. I fell backward, planted my foot on the ground, and turned back around to intercept a straight-on stab attempt while holding the knife from the blade and the tip. Neither one of us budged. I redirected his ax to my left and bolted forward. Leaving us in a neutral position.

I leaped at him with my sword in one hand above my head. Instead of blocking, he caught it in his right hand and swung the ax with his left. He landed the hit right at my hip and grinned. The purple aura enveloped the wound as pain radiated through me. He pulled back the knife and swung again in an uppercut motion. I swung down. We clashed. I carried with the momentum and spun in a circle. I raised my left leg and landed a kick to the side of his face. He fell back a step but retaliated instantly with a downward strike with the ax. I avoided it with a side step. I hopped a few feet off the ground and landed back-to-back kicks to his face. The serum was in full effect and he was propelled backwards. I chased him down and swung with full force. He held up the ax and blocked my swing. We lost grip and the two weapons went soaring in opposite directions. I stopped in place. He built up even more momentum and slid across the ground.

“I didn’t know you had so much experience with anything aside from hand to hand combat.”

“I don’t. I’m just good at everything.”

“Still an arrogant asshole.”

We darted towards each other at the speed of light. Colliding punches in the center. Sending shockwaves throughout the city.

There was a slight pause. I went again for a punch with my left hand. He dodged it. Rotating his entire body to the right. I swung the elbow of my back arm around to try and land a clean hit to his face. Only to be met by him making a cross formation with his arms. Blocking my attack but still allowing himself to be blown back. 

We stared at each other. Waiting for the other to move. Playing it cautiously. The first person to make a mistake was going to lose. I smashed the ground in front of me with both fists. Debris and smoke covered the area. Keith backed off. Scanning the area for me. Awaiting my exit. I leaped out of the smoke. Still in the air. I fired a punch with my right arm. He fired a punch with his left. We miss each other. I could have traded blows with him. It may have even worked in my favor. But I didn’t take the risk. Instead, I deflected his punch to the side and pushed off the ground to make distance. 

With my serum running low, I couldn’t prolong the fight any longer. I charged at him. A light purple haze began to leak out from my arms and legs and my eyesight grew weak. The purple in his eyes was fading. Which meant mine were too.

He stood there, eyeing me down as I closed the distance. I took my left arm and swung with full force. The vibrations from the punch might have killed me. He had his hands ready and caught my punch in the middle of his palms. Neither of us wanted to give in as we stood there struggling. The muscles in my arm began to tear and the bones started to break. But my fist was inching forward and moved his hands back. However, his legs were firmly planted in the ground, giving him solid leverage. Before I could fully shed through his arduous attempt at blocking my attack, all of the strength wore off. The energy drained from my body. Fully depleting. The muscle soreness and sporadic pain came crawling back. He still had a little bit of kick to him. Not too much, but enough to retaliate. He grabbed my neck and compressed me immensely.

He had won this fight. I, had lost.

“What do you want with me? I have something important I have to-”

“You have to rescue Talon, don’t you?”

“H-h-how did you-”

“My spies in the fight club told me.”

I was shocked at that answer, but they’re was too much at stake for me to ask questions and waste time. There was no telling if Talon was still alive.

“So just let me go. You already won.”

His grasp was only increasing tighter. I push down on his hands with mine. Trying to loosen his grip. But he wasn’t letting up in the slightest.

“Asen really trusted you with that serum?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, you didn’t have to beg him for it?”

“No, I just asked him twice and he reconsidered.”

“...Haish was right about you. I’ve never been pushed to ninety percent before. You know my goal was originally to kill you, but I think I have a better idea.”

“Does it involve me helping you?” I barely made out with him still keeping a grip on my neck.

“Alex is still alive. I was teamed up with him. But he sabotaged me. Now I’m on my own. Long story short, I’ll help you catch him.”

“You mean the guy that Talon talked about? That one criminal who was involved with the prison breakout?”

“Sure, that guy.”

“Good luck with that. My brother is way too stubborn to accept anyone's help, let alone people he doesn’t know.”

“That's not my main issue-”

“Why not just kill Alex? You overpowered me with that serum, I'm sure you could do the same to him.”

“I couldn’t fight him with the serum’s side effects. I only wanted a rematch with you. I’m not even fully healed from my fight with Willow and Talon. I probably shouldn’t have used the serum here but I’ve barely healed enough.”

“You fought Talon and Willow with that serum?”

“A few months back. Before he left. I'll let you live. Partially because Talon needs to stay alive and you’re the only one he’ll listen to.”

“Why does he need to stay alive?”

“If Talon dies, it would be almost impossible for you to catch Alex, even with my help. And, Asen would get fired for making him suicidal,” he said as he finally dropped me on the ground.