Alexander smiled through his pain as the 2nd lump entered his Strength Meridian as he felt the empowering effect wash over him. And without hesitation, he rammed his fist forward to meet the wild swings of Dane.

A decision he regretted damn near instantly. "Fuck."

He again felt a huge amount of pain as he took 3 steps back. The reeling force causing him to vomit blood, once fucking more.

Without wasting a moment, Alexander started backing off. Though his condition was not at all optimistic, he saw the silver lining.

This time, rather than getting flung back, he was just 3 steps back. Well, this time he did face it with more confidence and actually tried to stand his ground. But the important thing was he was getting there.

Now all he needed to do was guide the last lump to the Strength Meridian. And then, then...

Fuck, this was more than a bit hard and frustrating as he had to move the lump and himself at the same time. He dodged another stick as he kept trying, which really started to drive him crazy. He kept moving the lump into the wrong path again and fucking again.

Alexander was just getting frustrated; he could not do it anymore. He greeted his teeth, stopped running, and relaxed as the rod connected and sent him flying.

...........

Dane swung his rod like any other time. He could feel it, his arms were getting tired. But he, he could not stop. He was burning inside, burning with not just unquenchable anger and uncontrollable rage, no, he was burning with guilt. The guilt was eating him alive.

How, how did everything just go to shit all at once? All they needed to do was this one thing for Mr. Ban and they would have been set for life. Every hassle, every shuffle, all would have been done. They, no he, would have found a path in his life.

Well, that was it, wasn’t it? It was all about him. It was not Roy’s choice to be involved in this, he did not chose to be here. No it was him, He practically dragged him into this, for which now Roy was dead. He did it; he killed his friend. It was his fault. It was all his fault.

No, not all of it; all of it was not his fault. Most of it, no, not even that, most of it was this fucker’s fault, Dane thought as his swings became wider and also more dangerous.

And it seems the little shit finally understood the grandeur of its mistake. As the bastard just stopped and let him hit right at his side, sending him flying. And this time far.

Though he was a bit skeptical at first, now he saw how far seeing the taker kid was. Though he too was a bastard, he was right about one thing: this one had no right to live. And he was not going to tolerate any more of this fucker’s breath in existence.

Dane ran forward to the dust cloud that the bastard created after he fell into it. And swung with a massive arc to clear the scam and the dust in one strike.

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Bam

With a audible bang, the strike landed, dispersing the dust just as he planned, but what he did not plan was that the strike would be blocked. And yes, it was blocked, by Alexander. As his arm bled where the rod crashed into, but this time he did not move.

Looking up, he smiled right at Dane. His white teeth now crimson with his own blood.

..............

Alexander just could not seem to be able to push that one final time for the 3rd lump. Every time, he guided the lump through the wrong path, it seemed that he had spent all his focus guiding the 2nd one. And now it was proving borderline impossible to guide the 3rd one and dodge Dane’s blow. And the most frustrating thing was he was so close as well.

So Alexander did the only thing he could do, he stood there, still. Dane’s blow connected like a bee stung and sent him flying to the side. Though Alexander did everything in his power to make sure that the blow would land as softly as possible, he failed miserably as he felt pain to his soul. But he did manage to be flung to the cement bag pile, softening his blow a bit.

It kicked up a dust explosion making it hard to breathe, but that did not bother him much. Holding his breath, he calmly focused on pushing the last lump through the paths to his Meridian.

It did not take long. Just as it entered, Alexander felt Dane closing in on him, mostly from all of his yelling. He put his hand forward, meeting the strike head-on, as a wave of strength washed over him. The collision force parted the surrounding dust instantly. Finally Alexander had a fighting chance.

Alexander’s mouth started to twitch. Now, Alexander tried, he really did. He wanted to stand there like a hero, taking the big bed swing like it was nothing. But there was one tiny, little problem. It was not, and I mean absolutely not, nothing.

Alexander’s mouth twisted as he could not hold it in anymore. Stepping back, he cursed out loud. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.”

Sure, he could stop Dane’s blow. Well, okay, somewhat stop. But that did not mean he did not feel the pain. Even Dane seemed confused for a moment. And so did Dillon, who was watching from afar. But that did not last very long, as madness overtook Dane’s eyes again as he swung.

Alexander dodged, his hands still flaring about as if he wanted to shake off the pain from his hands. There was pain, and Alexander continually tried to dodge Dane’s attacks, which gained more raw power somehow, but lost accuracy equally. But that did not mean he was not running his brain.

There were two takeaways from here. First, he was still not able to completely match Dane’s power level. Dane was stronger, but by so little that it did not matter. And the second thing, he surely had gotten stronger. Whereas Dane’s previous strikes used to send him flying, he could take them on now.

Emphasis on the word could. He could take his hits, but that did not mean he should. First of all, stopping them did not mean you would not feel pain. And second, why should he when he could just as easily, if not more so, dodge it?

And also one other thing he did not feel previously but started to feel: exhausted. Alexander dodged one more horizontal swing as he ducked the follow-up. But instead of backing down, he lunged forward at Dane. A move Dane clearly did not anticipate as his fist landed square on his chest.

Thud

There was a thud, and after a second of Alexander’s fist sinking into his ribcage, he was the one sent flying back two or three steps. There was shock in Dane’s eyes, but before he could process it, he saw Alexander’s enlarging fist.

The first punch Dane dodged was aimed at his throat, but Alexander missed as Dane moved at the last second, mostly from his reaction. But that did not mean Alexander was going to let up. Contrary to his expectation, Dane was pushed back two or three steps, a gap Alexander rapidly shortened as he followed up with a wide swing at Dane’s side.

And as soon as it connected, he followed it up with a terrific uppercut. And then followed that up with a mean right hook.

Alexander knew this was his chance and he needed to press it while he could or even downright finish the fight before Dane could regain all his bearing from the direct hit to his head.

Dane saw the back of Alexander’s shoes as Alexander continued with a roundhouse kick, and then another one, and another one. He followed that up with two or a dozen flying kicks right at his chest.

And for the first time in this mess of a fight—no, fuck that attempted murder—Dane coughed up blood as he fell and was sent sliding backward until he hit the wall of what should be a box for an elevator. The knockout force from that made him cough up blood.

As Dane was in the midst of coughing up blood again, Alexander rushed forward intending to finish the job. He reached him in a moment and picked up a hand-sized boulder from the side to smash Dane’s skull in before something happened.

Bam

But just before he could bring it down, a thick wooden board smashed into him from the side, sending him tumbling two to three feet.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

For a moment, Alexander’s ears buzzed as the wooden board smacked him right in the head from the left side. After two or three shakes, Alexander’s vision became normal. Even though the blow was not as powerful as the previous one, one also had to remember Alexander was already more than pretty beaten up.

As he looked up, his suspicion—well, rather guess—was confirmed. It seems Dillon could not stay still any longer,