“Come get some you undead bastards!” I swung my axe, cutting down zombies left and right.
“Commander, there are to many, we need to retreat!” One of the men pleaded.
“Not until we find the captain, he should be near the command tent. Hold strong lads, I will see you through this!” I commanded and the band of misfits endured.
I needed to keep morale so pulled out all the stops. I wanted to keep this in reserve but decided it was a necessity. Withdrawing a vial from a hidden pouch, I downed the bitter liquid, all in one gulp.
Heat rose from my chest, a fire was stoked and rage built to a breaking point. The vial contained an alchemical cocktail used by my ancestors, it tapped into the unstoppable rage and power hidden in our blood.
I felt my eyes burn as the world went red. Most of my kin would be lost in the madness, but I had trained myself in control and despite the desire to destroy everything around me, I focused this rage on my enemies.
I felt boundless, I felt like a god, ready to destroy worlds. My two axes at the ready I weighed onto the line of undead, mowing them down like wheat in the field. Slicing, cutting and tearing them apart, blood and viscera flew in every direction. I barely felt any exhaustion as I made my way through the wall of undead.
I could vaguely sense my men following behind me, I acted as a whirlwind of death. “Charge men!” I heard them shout, their morale soaring.
I grinned as the wall of undead fell to my axes. Eventually, I had to drop the dulled weapons and replace them with a war axe, drawn from my back. The two-handed weapon cut through enemies like they were parchment.
Once we broke through them, I found the command tent. It was guarded by a familiar vampire. The loyal dog of Lord Drelem, the vampire Titus.
He stood with arms crossed, casually inspecting me as I approached, covered in blood. My heart was beating a league a minute, so loud it almost drowned out everything. I focused my mind keeping my rabid thoughts in check.
“Titus!” I bellowed cheerfully. “I was hopping it would be you, I’ve always wanted to fight you.”
The strict and stoic vampire grunted before cracking his neck. “I will admit, I had a similar interest. But I should warn you, I won’t hold back.” He spoke and it was music to my ears.
“I wouldn’t expect anything less.” And with that, the fight began. “Men! Go and find the others, I will handle this.” They agreed and gave us a wide birth.
I had a weapon in hand and he had nothing but his fists. Anyone who saw this fight would believe I had the advantage, but that would be foolish. I knew Titus very well, I had observed his sparing and his fights. He was a clear pit fighter.
I had some experience fighting in the pits, so I knew how ferocious they could be. But then again, barbarians like me made our names with ferocity.
Encircling each other, neither made a move. Instead, we gauged each other. Neither were we giving any ground nor showing any weakness. The stalemate lasted for mere moments before Titus made the first move.
He sped forward, flashing across my vision with all the speed a vampire could muster. For most mortals, they would be dead before they even noticed the man’s fist in their chest. But I was no mere mortal, at least not currently.
I could see the attack coming, my reflexes were enhanced by the draft and I blocked the attack with my axe. The blow was not very powerful and so was likely a probing attack.
He returned to his position, his fist was cracked and bleeding from taking the axe head-on. The wound healed in moments and the vampire took an appraising look at me.
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“Not bad, that was far stronger then I expected of a human.” Titus appraised with an uncharacteristic smile.
“I’ll take that praise, it is rumoured my people were descended from Orcs.” It was only a legend, but the power we could bring forth under the berserker rage was inhuman.
“Orcs, I have heard of such beings. They dwell on Norelon, how did your people get here?” He asked, crossing his arms.
“No clue, something about shamans and some old, dead God. Besides do you really want to have a chat mid fight?”
Titus nodded, raising those deadly weapons he called his fists. I smiled, loving the shift from talking to killing each other. I decided to take the initiative, charging forward, my axe needing this man's blood. He dodged the downward swipe, I quickly turned the blade and clipped him in the side.
“Impressive.” He complimented and I pressed my attack.
Several consecutive swipes of my axe only met air, he dodged every one of them. It was getting annoying how agile he was, easily ducking, weaving and sidestepping every one of my attacks.
“Are you going to be dodging this entire fight?” I complained and he frowned.
“You want me to attack?” He asked and I was puzzled.
“Well yeah! It’s no fun if you just dodge everything.”
Tilting his head, he clenched his fists and cracked his neck. I could feel a change in the air, it was time for the real fight. My axe in hand, I forced my senses to focus on him, excluding all else. He was right before me and I was ready to sink my weapon into flesh.
He gestured, blurred and vanished from my vision. Flustered at the inhuman speed, I kept my guard up. He arrived before my vision and I attacked on instinct. My powerful swing again met air, followed by the sounds of several impacts.
They happened so fast that I only registered the blows a moment later. The impact was devastating, my chest felt like someone had crushed my ribcage with a Warhammer. I fell to my knees, coughing blood and spit. The pain threatened to take me out of this fight, but I endured.
Rising to my feet, I tried to keep my legs from collapsing. A burning rage warred against the pain and kept me upright. “Do you want to surrender?” The vampire questioned.
“I do not surrender!” I shouted, using the rage like fuel.
Summoning up all my strength, I leapt back into battle, slicing down with the war axe. He dodged easily and I switched my axe to my left hand, withdrawing a throwing axe from my belt. I flung it, anticipating his destination. It flew through the air at great speed, only to be caught in the vampire's fist.
Titus snorted at me, shaking the throwing axe in my face. “Do you want this back?” He joked, twiddling the weapon between his fingers.
“You can keep it.” I spat, trying not to let this get personal.
This was a fight, a battle between two monsters of the arena. He may be a vampire, but he was a pitfighter, just like me. So it was time to fight dirty, as we of the arena like to do. I downed another vial and reached my limit.
“Come on!” I roared and he answered.
Barreling towards me, I made ready for his next attack. He blurred again before raining down punch after punch. I blocked each strike by only a hair's breadth. The moment his final blow was blocked, I counter-attacked, slicing across his exposed chest. Finally, my axe met flesh, blood spewed from the wound as he fled.
Returning to a guarded position I watched him carefully. The wound quickly closed and all my effort was for not. “Fighting vampires is so annoying.” I grumbled angrily.
“It is quite unfair.” Titus commented. “But I think it is time to stop messing around.” He declared, gesturing to the throwing axe.
I was confused only for a moment and was on guard the next. Instead of blurring with inhuman speed, he nonchalantly approached me with a steady pace, undeterred by my hostility. Given he was an immortal and a supremely skilled fighter, he could maintain that attitude.
It was the right of the strong, the arrogance to face any enemies and know you would emerge victorious. I steeled my resolve and for a moment, I wondered if I would survive this.
I swung my axe, ready to cleave him in half. Using all my strength and speed, a blow would subdivide anyone in my path. Instead, my weapon was caught in my enemy's grip, before being torn from my own.
Now weaponless, I tried to back away, only for a flurry of jabs to make precise and damaging blows to every part of my body. I stood for only a moment, before falling to my knees in pain. I was at his mercy, he could make the final blow and end me.
“You fought well, but you were outmatched to begin with. Still, I thank you for the fight, it gave me fond memories of the good old days.” The vampire sighed, his gaze locked to somewhere in the distance. “Unfortunately, my master wants you dead, I am truly sorry.” He spoke, sincerely, I could tell that.
Coughing blood, I glared back at him, without an ounce of hate. “Tell Erik, that I went down fighting.” Those were my final words and he nodded, accepting.
Raising his fist to make the final blow, his gaze went elsewhere. I followed it and found the tent of his master, smoking before bursting into flames.
I looked back and found Titus had vanished. He left me, bleeding in the dirt and without a glorious death. “Guess he had a pressing issue.” I croaked, wondering if I could stand.