The sunlight streamed in through the cracks in the wall, and Jonathan quickly vaulted outwards. His fighting style was more suited to the open air anyway. Well, that wasn't strictly true, but with the supernatural agility and strength that he could bring to bear, his fighting style was quite far from any normal pugilist. He could move across a dozen feet in less than a second, punch hard enough to warp steel, and even jump far higher than a man was tall. As Ralnax broke through the rubble with a swipe of his ax, Jonathan was already upon the man, both fists glowing brightly with mana. One fist landed in the man’s face, and another planted itself in his chest, rocketing him backwards. Ralnax grunted, and came to a halt, digging his ax into the ground.
“You are far stronger than you should be for your level. What in the name of Granath are you?” The man asked, wiping the dust off his armor.
“Would you believe me if I told you that I haven’t even allocated all of my stat points yet?” Jonathan said, smiling wickedly. The other man shook his head, and dashed forward, hefting his ax as he did so. The ethereal weapon hissed through the air towards Jonathan, and he weaved to the side, slapping away the weapon with his gauntlet.
Ralnax growled in annoyance and reversed his strike, using his prodigious strength to completely overcome the inertia of his strike. The weapon slammed into Jonathan’s torso, thankfully only with the blunt bit, but it still hurt.
He rolled backwards to mitigate the damage, and came to his feet just in time to tank a blast of red hot fire from Ralnax’s hand. The man seemed like he was some sort of elite among sapients, and he was certainly stronger than he would have been if he only had possessed a basic class. He probably had something more along the lines of Jonathan’s own class, but not as powerful.
People were starting to gather around the epicenter of their battle, and Jonathan could hear whispers coming from the rapidly growing crowd. He could almost pick them up too, showing off his newly enhanced senses from his racial upgrade. They were saying something about how it was him that would cleanse the city of the demonic scourge.
Jonathan smiled at this, and took a solid stance, trying to hype himself up for the true battle to come. Neither fighter was even winded, and the real fight was just beginning.
Jonathan slammed his gauntlets together, a ritual that he had begun to adopt when he was about to fight. He widened his stance, and built up power in his legs, before exploding forwards like a streak of silvery lightning. Jonathan slammed his fist into Ralnax’s hastily upraised arm, pushing the man backwards. They were pretty evenly matched in strength, but Ralnax still had a bit of an edge over Jonathan. Still, the momentum behind Jonathan’s attack was sufficient to overwhelm the other man, and as Ralnax staggered backwards, Jonathan punched with his other hand, rocking the other man backwards. The ax hissed out once more, but Jonathan was already gone, having flitted backwards a few feet. He was quite a bit faster than Ralnax, especially with the man’s heavy armor, but he was also a bit less durable. In any case, Jonathan was doing quite well, all things considered.
He quickly imbued his fists with mana, and sent a barrage of punches Ralnax’s way. To him, it seemed like a normal attack, but most of the audience members could barely see it, and it merely looked like a flurry of blue strikes to them. Jonathan had transcended their level of strength when he broke through his thresholds, and was now on an entirely new level.
Ralnax was slowly pushed back, his ax doing him little good when he lacked the space to use it properly. Jonathan refused to give up his advantage, pressing his strength within a small space to his benefit. The ax that Ralnax was wielding, while powerful, was too long to be used as a close quarters weapon. Jonathan, on the other hand, was a close quarters master.
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He bobbed and weaved around hasty strikes from the other man's ax hilt and gauntlets, sending devastating body blows crashing into Ralnax. Ralnax’s armor slowly started to come apart before the barrage, melting with the superheated mana sent surging through it.
Jonathan’s fist connected moments after the mana, damaging the armor beneath. Soon, Ralnax had had enough. He roared in rage, and slammed his ax down on the ground, sending out a shockwave of reddish light. Jonathan crossed his hands, but was still tossed backwards nonetheless.
Ralnax quickly recovered, and began to pump power into his ax, causing it to grow in size. The ax quickly became longer than Jonathan was tall, and Ralnax swung it with all of his might, creating a wave of red energy that streaked towards Jonathan’s position. The attack hit before he could dodge, and it passed straight through his chainmail, instead affecting his body on a spiritual level. Fiery agony burned within him, almost incapacitating him. The attack itself did no damage, but the pain was just as deadly in a battle like this. However, Jonathan was well versed in the ways of pain, and he quickly worked past the agony, just in time to roll away from Ralnax’s titanic ax.
The weapon crashed into the ground like a meteor, digging out a large crater as it landed. If that thing hit Jonathan, it would do more than break bones. Jonathan would have to make sure that he did not get hit by that attack then. The only positive side was that the ax was far slower than before, in exchange for its immense power and large area of effect. He could get out of this, if he played his cards right.
Ralnax grunted as he lifted his ax, and Jonathan dashed underneath the rising blade, planting both mana imbued fists into a weak spot on Ralnax’s armor. The man roared as Jonathan broke through the armor, landing a direct hit on the man’s skin. Ralnax grunted as Jonathan broke open his gray tinged skin, sending a welter of blood spurting out onto the ground. Jonathan smiled, but then doubled over as he felt a similar attack slam into his own abdomen. Ralnax laughed uproariously, using the opportunity to punch Jonathan in the face.
“You fool. My armor is enchanted to reflect a portion of damage dealt to my bare skin back on the one who inflicted it. Seeing as you seem to be specced out for strength, you will die first. And that is if I do not kill you myself.”
Jonathan spat out blood and looked down at his stomach, seeing that the wound was even larger than the one that he had given Ralnax. However, he had a counter to this. Quickly spending 20 of his stat points in batches of 2, he added another thirty points to Resilience. His rounding technique ensured that he got the maximum benefit out of the stat point allocation. He could feel his skin getting tighter and more durable as he did this, and the wound on his stomach began to close over. Clenching his fist, he dove in again. Ralnax did not try to stop him, instead laughing even more. However, this time, when Jonathan tore into the man’s flesh, only a small amount of blood left his own. He grinned at the stunned Ralnax, who stumbled backwards, in shock.
“You should have listened to me when I said that I had stat points to allocate, asshole.” With that, Jonathan beset the other man from all sides, not allowing him to use his weapon again. Soon the dark armor was crumbling in all places, and Jonathan finally broke it completely, revealing a stocky gray skinned demon.
Ralnax tried to clear some room for his ax, but Jonathan quickly began to pummel him with his fists, leaving great rents in his skin. Having broken his armor, the enchantment was gone too, and he no longer damaged himself in the process. Soon Ralnax was nothing more than a bloody pile of meat, only kept standing by his monstrous power. The ax faded away into nothing, and Jonathan cocked back his fist one last time.
‘“I’m coming for your master, you bastard, and all of the Infinite Hells. I am the Hellbreaker!” Punching forwards, Jonathan caved in the other man’s skull, turning it into a splatter of gore and bone fragments.