The headbutting continued. Shallow cuts flew open across my face and his, blood mixing where our foreheads t. He shoved my hand aside at so point and grabbed my face, trying to throw off with his weight.
The mont I saw his strength winning, I did the only logical thing.
I opened my mouth and sank my teeth into the at of his lower palm, right above the wrist, biting down hard.
He yanked his hand away, screaming.
"You crazy bastard!!"
’Takes one to know one.’
Using the montum of his shock, I shoved away from his body. As I rolled across the ground, my hand found cold steel — his sword. I snatched it up and scrambled back, holding his own blade at him.
Worth it.
He slowly stood, one of my daggers in his grip. The other was still with . Kai leaned heavily on one knee, breathing hard, examining his wrist with its neat ring of teeth marks and reddened, bleeding skin.
Then he gave an irritated glare.
"What are you, a dog?"
I raised my chin, grinning like a maniac.
"Honey badger, you moron!"
I ran forward, the sword awkward in one hand. The weight distribution was all wrong, slowing down despite Emperor’s Presence consistently bolstering my strength — hell, the ability’s proficiency had even increased from all this.
’Fat lot of good that’s doing right now.’
Kai t with my own dagger, catching it at the hilt of his sword and trying to wrench the blade from my grip. But I swung the other dagger at his face. He weaved. I yanked his sword backward, angling it behind and swinging it forward in what I hoped was the fast, simple arc I’d watched Kassie execute repeatedly.
But all of it was wrong.
The position. The applied force. The angle. The sword was going to break my wrist before it delivered any aningful slash to Kai.
Luckily for , he intercepted and yanked the sword from my hand, bringing it down on with both hands.
But between yanking the sword from my grip and bringing it down...
Of course, he was slow.
I slamd my foot into his belly again, sending him staggering back. He hit the wall hard, lost his balance, lost his grip on the sword.
Perfect.
I ca at him imdiately, twisting my dagger as I drove it straight into his chest.
"Arrgghhhh!!!"
A guttural scream tore from his throat as I pushed the blade deeper. His hand scrambled desperately across the ground and found sothing — a random chunk of stone. He grabbed it and smashed it against the side of my head.
My world tilted. Went blank.
He shoved off and snatched up his sword, bringing it down hard. Like a desperate rat, I tried to shift away.
It was too late.
He stood over and drove the sword straight through my right shoulder.
"Fuckkkk!!"
The pain hit harder than I’d expected. White-hot. Blinding.
’This is fine. Everything’s fine.’
With pure anger and frustration, I raised my leg and slamd it into his groin. He squealed — actually squealed — and I shifted out from underneath him, delivering a final kick that sent him stumbling back. He fell, clutching his dick hard enough to probably do more damage than I had.
Small victories.
I slowly lifted myself. My vision swam, blurry and unfocused. Pain assaulted every part of my body, a throbbing, searing ache that made everything feel raw and wrong. I could literally feel my lifespan reaching the end of its cycle.
’Bit dramatic, but probably accurate.’
Moving beca so impossible that I just stood there for a second, swaying.
Kai, by the way, was also embedded in the wall. Small chunks of stone had fallen on him where he’d crashed — right where Ironhold had been slamd into before. The summon was long gone now, though. Only the crater-shaped mark remained.
I wanted to move. To finish this.
But I couldn’t.
My body had other ideas. Specifically, the idea that standing upright was ambitious enough for now.
Suddenly, golden specks flew around Kai, swirling like embers before beginning to coalesce.
At the sa ti, the cave trembled. Hard.
’Oh, great. What now?’
Sothing was definitely coming.
Kai’s summon — Emperor Rex — materialized between us, golden light solidifying into armored form. The Heroic Spirit extended one gauntleted hand and summoned his signature weapon: a massive golden greatsword that practically radiated "compensating for sothing."
At the sa ti, Kassie was walking toward .
She stopped beside , and sohow — sohow — her featureless helt was emanating viciousness and malice in their darkest, most undiluted form. Like she was personally offended by the concept of rcy.
’That’s my girl.’
The cave shook again. In that mont, standing beca impossible. My legs buckled and I started to fall—
But Kassie caught by my collar and lifted into her arms, cradling like an oversized baby.
’My dignity... fuck dignity. Yes, mommy.’
She retreated slowly, almost contemplatively. Then she twirled — because of course she did — before dashing away into the cave tunnel. The ground shook yet again beneath us, tremors growing stronger.
Behind us, Kai’s summon stood motionless, unresponsive. Like a statue. A very intimidating, golden statue.
It seed that imdiately after summoning his Heroic Spirit, Kai had passed out cold, leaving Emperor Rex standing guard. Since there was still a flow of essence between them, the Heroic Spirit would remain manifested — at least until the spirit essence was depleted or severed by the summoner’s death.
In that situation, they returned to wherever Heroic Spirits ca from.
’Probably sowhere with better lighting and fewer collapsing caves.’
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