Not giving Nick a chance to prepare, Roland grabbed the metal folding chair next to him and hurled it at Nick with enough force that it might as well have been shot from a cannon. Nick did his best to dodge, but the chair grazed his shoulder, nearly knocking him off balance, before slamming into a table behind Nick in a violent clatter.
Taking advantage of Nick’s momentary distraction, Roland charged forward, arm raised, but Nick stepped back in time, caught the brute’s heavy swing with his arms, and then threw Roland behind him like he was delivering a judo tutorial. Roland hit the ground with enough force that it sent a shockwave out, knocking over several unoccupied chairs and toppling some nearby low-level event staff.
“Give them a bit of space, everyone! I shall channel an energy shield to contain the young gentlemen!” someone called out behind Nick, likely one of his grandfather’s many powerful friends. Nick shook away the pain from intercepting that blow with his arms, and squared up against Roland, who was not only on his feet again, but was now smiling ear-to-ear at Nick, his wicked grin making him look like a rabid wolf staring down at his dinner.
“Good heavens! Shouldn’t someone stop them?!” some lady exclaimed as Nick backed up a few more inches and noticed a faintly purple energy barrier encircling him and Roland, enclosing them in a fifty-by-fifty arena at the edge of the venue.
“No, they need to fight it out. This is exactly what the boys’ grandfather would have wanted,” a new voice said, filled with enough aura and magic that Nick knew for certain the speaker was one of the old elite that had been taken out before the Endless Night in his last life.
“It’s the way of the Gallows indeed,” Roland said as he stomped the ground, causing a wave-like ripple in the earth that knocked half the gathered crowd off their feet—even outside the magical barrier—and caused a thick wall of displaced earth and asphalt to shoot up between him and Nick. Roland’s fist shattered the barrier a second later, the explosive punch sending a thousand jagged rocks at his opponent. As Nick braced for the impact of the earthen debris, Roland was on him once more, fist raised and ready to smash into Nick.
Nick, preparing to throw Roland again, was caught off guard as his cousin’s right hook turned into a feint, the behemoth’s body twisting as he changed from throwing a heavy punch to delivering a spinning kick that Nick was barely able to block in time with his forearm.
Pain shot through Nick’s arm as the impact sent him skidding to the side. Roland planted the kicking foot onto the ground right near Nick, before launching himself into another spin and, in one fluid motion, summoning Gaia’s Maul, the weapon tearing through the air straight at Nick.
Not having time to summon his own weapon, Nick ducked down and threw a punch, aiming low and channeling his aura into the blow. His fist came up a few feet short, but the burst of energy from his aura hit Roland’s forward foot, knocking the leg carrying most of his weight out from under him. Roland’s momentum sent him crashing, briefly leaving his whole abdomen exposed. Nick rushed in with a second, third, and fourth aura punch right to his cousin’s gut, the heavy blows sending his cousin hurtling backward, airborne.
Nick pushing off the ground and leaped straight after Roland, planning to strike while the brute was in a second of helpless free fall, but Roland thrust a fist up in the air and used a burst of his own aura like a short, controlled jet thruster, quickly pushing himself back to the ground before he threw two more aura punches upward as Nick passed over him.
Nick curled up defensively, blocking the strikes as best he could with his shins and forearms as the aura from Roland struck him, knocking him farther in the air. His battered limbs hurt like he’d been hit with Elizabeth’s medicine ball full force and close range, and he knew he’d take more hits like those if he didn’t get his feet on the ground immediately. Before the next blow landed, he copied his cousin and used his aura to push himself to the ground and out of the way of a third, fourth, and fifth attack.
As he landed with a thud, Roland was already on top of him, the heavy head of his maul held high, ready to slam down on Nick and crush him like a watermelon. Nick, reacting as quickly as he could, raised his hands and summoned the Weight of Dedication to parry the barbaric attack, but as he lifted the spear up, angling it to divert the downward strike of Roland’s maul, Roland unsummoned his weapon, leaving his hands free as one grabbed and yanked on Nick’s weapon, pulling the surprised defender straight into a headbutt that completely stunned Nick and knocked him back several paces, blood spewing from his shattered nose.
Roland would have sent Nick flying and completely disarmed him with the sudden blow, but at the moment Roland had grabbed his weapon, Nick had channeled as much weight into the spear as he could and held on for all he was worth, a reflex born of numerous harpies trying to disarm him or carry him airborne by his spear. Thanks to those monsters, Nick remained armed.
He took advantage of that fact quickly, jamming the back end of the spear into Roland’s ribs before he returned headbutt for headbutt, smashing his forehead crashing into his cousin’s hefty skull, misting the air with Roland’s blood.
“Ha!” Roland let out a forceful burst of laughter as the two broke their brief hold. “You think that will be enough, cousin? I’ll show you how much stronger I’ve become. “While you've been wasting time with your little guild, I've been pushing my limits.”
Nick spat out a glob of blood and saliva as he unsummoned his weapon. He wiped the blood from his broken nose off his face as his mouth hung open to take in air. “You’ve had a lifetime as a brute, and you can still barely keep up with me, yet you think I’ve been wasting my time?”
Roland winced. Incensed by Nick’s rebuke as he pushed forward again, throwing a heavy but careless right hook. Nick saw the tell and ducked under the punch. Then, using Charge to get into Roland’s guard, he unleashed a lightning-fast combo that Mr. Walters had shown him. A swift kidney punch followed up by a sharp jab to the solar plexus that left Roland gasping for breath. He didn’t relent either, adding a snapping kick to Roland’s knee that knocked him off balance.
A flicker of doubt crossed Roland's eyes as Nick drove his fist into Roland’s throat. Roland staggered back, genuine shock replacing the rage on his face as he struggled to get air.
“This . . . isn’t . . . how it should be! I’ve been . . . training! I’ve been . . . pushing myself to my limits! I . . . I AM YOUR BETTER!” His flickering rage reignited, Roland activated his coup de grace skill: Titan’s Fury. He instantly began to grow larger, turning into a colossal giant as everything but some specially engineered spandex under his suit was torn to shreds by his bulking body. He fixed his eyes on Nick. “I AM SUPERIOR!!”
“You think that, but here we are, going blow for blow with each other,” Nick replied with a chuckle, enjoying his cousin’s anger. He lifted up a hand to wipe his face again, simultaneously using a little sleight of hand to sneakily down the contents of a thimble-sized green vial, managing to drink it without so much as even tilting his head back as he hid his actions from his cousin.
He knew he couldn’t match his cousin in power, but with Potion Master and the elixir, he’d at least outdo him in speed.
“Forget a few broken bones; I’m going to grind you to dust and add a second corpse to the funeral!” Roland yelled as he stomped toward Nick, his heavy steps digging into the ground. As soon as he was in striking range, Roland snapped a bullet-fast kick at Nick’s center of mass.
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Thanks to the speed elixir, Nick was able to roll to the side and throw a punch at the giant’s left calf. Roland took the blow like nothing happened, however, pivoting and throwing a punch downward at Nick, who rolled out of the way again and throwing one more aura punch at Roland’s left calf, hitting the exact same spot as he did before.
Roland, still ignoring Nick’s attacks, pulled out his other favorite weapon, Ursine Rage, and smashed its bear-shaped stone head into the ground, Nick barely dodging. Even though Nick had avoided being hit yet again, Roland didn’t give him a chance to counterattack this time. The moment the maul head hit the ground, Roland had already activated his Earthshaker ability, channeling his energy into the strike as he sent a powerful shockwave outward, ripping up the ground around him, tossing tables, chairs, and even Nick outward with the strike.
Nick skidded across the ground but recovered and launched another aura punch to Roland’s left calf, the blast of aura off of his fist striking his target despite the distance. But the shockwave had hurt, and Roland showed no signs of stopping as he leapt through the air toward Nick.
Nick dodged and jumped up as high as he could. Roland’s maul head struck the ground, and another shockwave rippled outward. Every bit of debris still on the ground around them was sent shooting out like projectiles into the energy shield around them.
Nick threw a fourth and fifth aura fist from the air at Roland’s calf, struggling to aim them as he did his best to land the blows on the exact same spot.
“You cannot defeat me!” Roland yelled.
Nick touched off the ground, throwing another aura fist right into Roland’s left calf before the brute could attack again. The giant, who had been ignoring the attacks for a while, suddenly started to buckle. His leg collapsed, and his knee struck the ground.
“Yeah, it’s hard to defeat someone who is already beaten!” Nick taunted as he rushed at his downed cousin.
Roland, struggling and failing to stand up like an MMA fighter that’d just been hit by calf kicks for an entire fight, could only watch in horror as Nick finally did what he’d wanted to do: connecting his aura-filled fist, flesh to flesh, against Roland’s face. He sent the giant skidding backward with a single blow. The hit had been so hard it cancelled Titan’s Fury, leaving Roland half the man he was a moment ago as Nick lept on top of him, reigning punches down across the man’s abdomen and face.
When the fight began, Nick hadn’t realized how much he needed this. It felt good to hit Roland, dig his knuckles into the guy’s flesh. With everyone he ever sparred with, he had to hold himself back from moments like these. But not with his cousin. Not with Roland.
Roland tried to speak as Nick’s fist dug into his ribs, blood spewing across the air in front of him. “St—”
Nick continued pummeling his downed opponent.
“Yiel—”
Nick kept punching.
“Surren—!!”
As the third word was halted by Nick’s blows, the shield dropped, and the old man who had been casting it moved across the space in a flash, his hand reaching out and stopping Nick before Nick could land another blow.
“Son,” the old man said. “Son, he’s given up. It’s over.”
Nick, who had been so engrossed in the fight with Roland himself, looked up at the old man. He could tell again, by the oppressive power of the man’s aura, how strong the man was, and what was only bloodlust from the battle quickly transformed into a futile rage. He wanted to hit the man too. “You’re powerful.”
“I have honed my skills a bit,” the old man replied matter-of-factly, acknowledging Nick’s words.
“Then where were you when my grandfather died, and the city was burning?” Nick demanded, staring at the man above him. As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew he should have retracted them. Words like that wouldn’t win allies; they weren’t what would entice people to help in the next round of humanity’s fight for survival. But he hadn’t been able to think clearly because of the fight with Roland. He knew his rage at the old man’s inaction was justified, but there was only loss to be had in pointing it out.
“Your grandfather’s loss was indeed tragic and lamentable,” the old man replied, not even bothering to defend his own actions. Nick sighed, taking in a deep breath and standing up.
He looked down at Roland’s battered face and body and then back to the old man who hadn’t even shown his face once during the rift break, even when he could have tipped the scales and saved so many lives. Nick shook his head. I’ve been hitting the wrong people, he thought. Roland had, after all, been there when hell broke loose, and the day after the rift opened, he’d used his brute strength to help the clean-up and rescue effort. He’d even shared his beloved ice cream with some of the neighborhood kids. He was not the enemy.
Realizing that he’d let his anger over Roland challenging the will get the better of him and cause him to egg the proud, ambitious man into a brawl, Nick extended his hand to his cousin. “Come on, Roland . . . the fight’s over.”
Roland took his hand, letting himself be pulled up as Nick put another hand on the man’s back and used a bit of his Healing Hands technique to stabilize Roland’s internal wounds.
“Thanks,” Roland muttered. “But how . . . How did you get so strong? You grow too fast. I should have won. If we had fought a few months ago . . . I would have won!”
Nick shrugged, not knowing what to say. “I’m a trainer, Roland.”
“But I had the best trainers too! The best money could buy! They promised me results!” Roland fumed as he pulled out a red potion and downed it, seemingly oblivious to the wrecked funeral setup around them or the damage the two had caused.
Nick sighed, recognizing the bitter disappointment in Roland's voice. "Sometimes, Roland, it's not about who's training you, but how you approach the training itself."
Roland's shoulders slumped, the fight draining out of him. “An 8.5% boost,” he muttered with a pained voice. “They gave me an 8.5% boost . . . and you still left me in the dust.”
As Nick watched his cousin grapple with this harsh reality, he felt a mix of pity and frustration.
Roland's eyes narrowed, a calculating look replacing the defeated expression. “Nick,” he said, his voice low and intense, “I’ll keep my word and drop the contesting rights to grandfather's will. I’ll uphold my side of the deal.”
Nick raised an eyebrow, suspicion creeping in. “Just like that?”
“A liar can never lead men, only sycophants,” Roland replied. “So what’s the wish? What do you want out of me beyond the will?”
Nick hesitated for a moment, knowing that, at this moment, with the way Roland was, he could fleece the man of anything he needed. But he also knew Roland didn’t deserve that. As egotistical and arrogant as Roland was, he was a lot better than any of the old bastards around them. Instead, Nick asked for something he knew wouldn’t hurt either of them: “I want you to come train with me and defend the other side of the portal. I want you to live up to what it means to be a noble and kill dragons with me, like Grandfather Gallows did before us.”
Roland blinked in confusion. He was clearly ready to offer a lot more but was stunned by Nick’s much humbler request. “That’s all?” Roland asked.
“That’s all.”
“Then consider it done, and if you give me a spot on your own Training!! roster, I’ll make it so your expedition will want for nothing in supplies,” Roland boasted, trying to salvage his pride a little.
“I’ll look forward to it,” Nick told him, happy to see that he was right about his cousin.
“Wear the crown proudly,” Roland said, putting his bloody hand on Nick’s shoulder. “You’ve earned it. You probably think you’ve tricked me, but I’ve seen the merits of your worth. You’re a man worth following as you carve a new age. You’ll have my loyalty. I won’t challenge you again.”
Nick didn’t know how to take the sudden confession from Roland. He could only nod his head and say, “Thanks,” as he picked up a powerful supporter and solidified his foundation as the true heir of the Gallows.
“Now, how about some ice cream?” Roland quickly added as he summoned a suit out of his inventory. “It’ll help numb the pain from the blows. I know I’ll need something cold for those last few hits you landed on me.” He laughed goodnaturedly as if Nick hadn’t been pummeling him while he tried to surrender.
Nick just chuckled at the odd man and nodded before looking around and seeing the camera that had been televising the entire interaction. “Yeah, some ice cream sounds good. But you’ll have to get it without me this time. I still need to go catch a bite with my family.”