As Zeke flew backwards, he regretted many of his life decisions. Before he could get too far into the many mistakes in his life, he hit a solid wall that surprisingly did not crumble. It did rattle his bones, though – a testament to how hard he’d been hit. As he fell to the ground with a crash, and a moment later, his hand crept to the wound on his side. A huge chunk of his torso was missing, and if he’d possessed any organs, they would have already been ruptured.

That was where the knight had hit him.

A single blow, and it had very nearly cut him in two. If he hadn’t been launched backward, Zeke felt certain that it would have done just that. By reflex, he tried to channel [Hand of Divinity], but as had been the case since he’d entered the Pit, it remained out of reach. He couldn’t afford to get hit again.

Pointedly, he never considered the notion of not fighting. The knight had scarcely moved from his position in front of the giant gate. Just enough to aim a wickedly quick strike at Zeke’s side.

Zeke pushed himself to his feet, and thankfully, his high vitality had already begun the process of healing him. Even without [Hand of Divinity], he had a constitution that could rival that of a troll.

Stretching slightly, he studied the knight. The creature wasn’t human, but that wasn’t surprising. It reeked of corruption, but it wasn’t a demon, either. It was something else. Something more. Considering that Zeke felt certain that no demon in Hell could match him, that made a lot of sense.

But instead of feeling fear, he experienced a twinge of excitement. Finally, he’d found a challenge, and he wasn’t going to let it pass him by. So, after the wound in his side had mended – at least enough that it wouldn’t affect his fighting style – he once again strode forward.

He hadn’t lost his grip on his hammer, so he was still armed for battle.

“Nice shot,” he said when he drew closer. “Who are you?”

“I am the Guardian of the First Circle, and I will die before you pass.”

Zeke shrugged. “That sounds like an acceptable arrangement,” he answered.

With that, he hefted his hammer and launched himself at the creature. This time, though, he paid attention to the subtle cues that would herald another attack. And his focus was rewarded with a subtle twitch that announced a lunge that would have skewered Zeke. As it was, even with that warning – tiny though it was – Zeke only barely managed to avoid that fate. The giant sword scraped his chest, doing no damage. It didn’t even slow him down.

So, Zeke was entirely unimpeded when he rammed into the knight with shoulder. The creature staggered backward, scrambling to regain its footing. Zeke wouldn’t allow that, and he slammed his fist into the monster’s skull, cracking a few of its teeth.

Then, Zeke suddenly found himself skipping backward across the floor. He’d not even seen it before it happened, but the knight had managed a vicious front kick for which Zeke had no defense.

And the monster hadn’t moved from its spot.

Zeke did see it spit out a tooth, though. That was enough to give him a little extra encouragement. So, he once again picked himself up, rolled his shoulders, and headed back into the fray. This time, he approached with a little more caution, measuring his steps and watching his foe.

Aside from shifting a bit when Zeke had rammed into it, the knight hadn’t moved from in front of the gate. And he sensed it was more than symbolic. If he could get the knight out of the way, he’d be free to proceed.

So, Zeke shuffled sideways, then came at the knight from the side. As expected, the creature responded with perfect fluidity, offering a controlled defense. Unfortunately for the monster, Zeke had decided to stop holding back.

It wasn’t that long ago that Zeke had learned to harness the very concept of strength, but his control over it had become intuitive. So, when the knight blocked his first attack, the creature’s sword was snapped in half by the sheer force of Zeke’s blow.

The knight was driven into the ground, which cratered beneath its feet. However, the creature itself didn’t buckle.

That was fine by Zeke, and he followed that attack up with a kick of his own. Even as his metallic foot connected, he could sense that he’d overstepped. Sure, he’d shattered the creature’s jaw, but he’d overbalanced himself to do so. It snapped out an attack, burying the jagged remnants of its sword into the side of Zeke’s knee.

He howled in pain as agony arced through his entire body. It wasn’t just physical, either. It felt like the knight had set his soul afire.

He staggered backward, stumbling on his injured leg until he was out of range.

The knight didn’t pursue. Instead, it only climbed out of the crater, set its feet, and leveled what was left of its blade in Zeke’s direction. “You are strong, but I will not be moved.”

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“Oh, I’ll move you,” Zeke spat. But he didn’t attack. He wanted to let his knee recover before he continued the fight.

“Do you know what you pursue? Only madness awaits beyond this gate. The seven circles will break you,” the knight stated. “You will spend the rest of eternity suffering. You do not need to follow that path. I can deliver you to the afterlife. You will feel no more pain. No more desire. You will be free from all the trappings of mortality.”

“Are you offering to mercy kill me?” Zeke asked, incredulous.

“It is the only way. If you proceed, you will suffer for all eternity. You will not be permitted to stay here. You must die,” the knight stated as if he was offering the most reasonable thing in the world.

“I will descend,” Zeke stated. “And I will find the next –”

“You will fail. They always do.”

“I’m different,” Zeke insisted.

“They all think that, but they are not. No one is special. No one is unique. Millions have attempted it, and they are all down there, wandering the circles and enduring an eternity of suffering. I merely wish to spare you that fate. Will you not listen? Or do you continue to insist on charging to your own demise?”

“The second one, for sure,” Zeke said, trying to sound confident. But what if the knight’s words were accurate? What if it was telling the truth? Was that what awaited Zeke? Had he already consigned himself to an eternity of suffering?

No.

He would make it. Others had, even if the knight didn’t want to admit it.

“Are you going to stand aside? Or will you make me kill you?” Zeke asked. Truthfully, he hoped for the latter. A good fight always made things easier. But there was a part of him – a small one, but still there nonetheless – that hoped the creature would let him pass. It might have been acting according to its nature, but it seemed to truly care about sparing him the horrors beyond the gate.

“I will not.”

“I didn’t think so.”

With that, their brief reprieve ceased. However, it gave Zeke a few hints as to how to win the fight. The knight was a better fighter than him. Not by much, but Zeke was honest enough with himself to admit when he was outmatched. However, his high attributes made up for that, putting them on mostly even footing.

Still, Zeke had an advantage that the knight probably hadn’t even considered.

So, without further hesitation, he once again charged his foe. The knight reacted, shifting its feet and readying itself for the clash. Zeke didn’t slow down. He didn’t approach with caution. Instead, he threw himself at the creature, barely caring for his own well-being.

And he was rewarded with a few solid hits, both of which dented the creature’s armor, before the knight buried its blade in his shoulder. Zeke wrenched himself free, then backed away. Predictably, the knight didn’t follow.

Pain that rivaled anything Zeke had ever felt coursed through his body, but by that point, he was an old hand at enduring whatever agonies the world threw at him. He took it with equanimity, ignoring it as he sank to his haunches. Slowly, the wound healed. Not completely, but that was fine. So long as it remained functional, Zeke would take it.

And once it was, he charged again, and to similar results. His attacks found their way to the monster’s skull, chipping a few of its teeth and cracking its cheekbone. Then, after Zeke had once again felt the bite of the knight’s jagged blade, he backed away.

Again, he settled down to slowly heal.

Meanwhile, the knight stared at him in fury. “You are a coward.”

Zeke shrugged, plucking a shard of metal from his neck. It came out with a spurt of silvery blood. “Maybe so. But I will win.”

And he did.

It took hundreds of attacks. Thousands of wounds ripped his body to shreds. But over time, the injuries he inflicted upon the knight slowly piled up. If it had been willing to move away from its position and press the attack, it could have easily beaten him. It either could not or would not do that, though.

And Zeke was more than willing to exploit that fact.

By the end, the knight’s skull was a mass of cracks. Zeke knew that it would only take one solid hit to shattered it entirely. Still, he hesitated. The monster was his enemy, and he had no intention of granting it mercy. But even so, he could acknowledge that it was good opponent.

“What happens to you after I kill you?” Zeke asked, leaning on his hammer. He was just out of reach, so he knew he was safe.

The knight’s jaw didn’t work, but its voice was unaffected. “You will not kill me. I will prevail.”

“Sure,” Zeke said. “But hypothetically, let’s say you lose. What happens to you then? You’ve been beaten before.”

“I will return to health the moment you pass through the gate.”

“Oh. Good. I’d hate to think that I killed you.”

He dashed forward, aiming a sledgehammer swing at the monster’s head. It tried to react, but its beneath its armor, its body had been so thoroughly battered that it couldn’t hope to match Zeke’s speed. As expected, Zeke shattered the creature’s head only a moment later. It collapsed, its armor clanking to the ground. Before Zeke could take stock of the situation, the body dissolved.

It was an ignominious end, but one that Zeke couldn’t say surprised him.

More importantly, a cacophonous sound echoed through the area, bouncing off the walls and reaching Zeke’s ears. He looked up to see that the gate had begun to vibrate. A white light shone around its edges, illuminating everything. And what Zeke saw was enough to make his breath catch in his chest.

He was surrounded.

Hundreds. Thousands. Millions. All floating just above him. Souls, detached and disembodied, loomed over him. And all at once, they said, “You think you have won? You have only earned suffering. Go, cambion. Go and find that you are not as strong as you believe yourself to be.”

When he didn’t move, they all turned their eyes upon him, and Zeke was nearly unmade by their attention. It was more than he could ever hope to endure.

“Go!”

He fell to his knees, incapable of remaining upright under such scrutiny. Before he knew what was happening, he was obeying their command. Crawling forward, he struggled to move an inch an hour, and all the while, those souls stared at him. He could feel his own soul unraveling, but he refused to allow it.

With every ounce of willpower spurring him along, Zeke dragged himself forward. When he reached the gate, he saw that it was slightly ajar. A gap only a couple of feet wide beckoned him forward. He accepted its invitation without once questioning it. He merely wanted to flee the souls’ attention.

And he did, pulling himself inside and, at last, escaping the agony he’d experienced.

The gate clanged shut behind him, leaving him entirely disoriented and in darkness. But at least he was no longer in pain.

Zeke couldn’t help but wonder if he’d simply leapt out of the frying pan and into the fire.