He looked around, confirming the fireball in the air that he wasn’t second-guessing it. Waiting for Arzlan to charge, Norbert leapt out of the way at the last second, bursting to the side as Arzlan skidded. With enough distance, Norbert looked for a way out, the soldiers still blocking the path leading up, knowing that to navigate them with Arzlan chasing him, he would get caught.
Looking further down the ravine with tens of meters drop back to the bottom, losing all the progress he had made coming up did wound his pride, but better a wounded pride and alive than being turned into food for the giant.
Seeing the edge in front of him, Norbert sprinted forward, wanting to cover as much distance as possible. Thumping the ground with the effort, he raised his foot forward, Arzlan too far away for him to catch him, smiling at his brilliant victory, pulling the rug out from under the giant once more.
When his foot left the ground, darkness covered Norbert’s vision, his body slapping into it as he smashed into the barrier without knowing. Bouncing off, Norbert on the ground, quickly rolling to the side as Arzlan slashed up, catching Norbert as he was flung into the air, only to hit another barrier as he fell to the ground.
Landing on his feet, Norbert jumped backwards, away from another swipe, somehow his sword still in hand. Whipping his head around, Norbert found himself and Arzlan in a dome of darkness, unable to see out; the fireball that was once in the sky was now masked, and the soldiers waiting disappeared. The only thing with Norbert was a raging Arzlan and the crate of apples, discarded and rolling across the floor.
Knowing he needed to escape, somehow now set in a trap, Norbert remembered it from the darkness he saw previously, as it wrapped around his body, likely slowing him down enough so Arzlan could get in position for this confrontation.
Cursing to himself at getting caught, Norbert pumped himself full of energy, knowing that the sooner he got out, and the better. Charging himself with energy, Norbert dashed past Arzlan, sword held out before him, ready to pierce through the backlash.
The tip meeting the barrier, Norbert felt and saw it start to go in like a balloon being forced out; it manipulated itself around the sword, allowing it to get all the way in before Norbert’s body smashed into the barrier as well, all its pliability from earlier gone feeling like a solid brick wall.
His shoulder crunching with force, Norbert kicked against the barrier, shooting himself to the other side, sword out to the side, slashing at Arzlan as he charged at him. Norbert saw no other way out than try and take on Arzlan and see what the next thing was thrown his way.
Feeling the blade bight into flesh, Norbert continued forward, happy that he had made some mark on him. As Norbert stood again, feeling light-headed, he looked down at himself, shocked to see what the last strike did to him. His clothes were not torn rags at the front, where his stomach was wet with blood.
The skin was red from being repaired, and Norbert saw the veins around it bright purple; as he wavered slightly, Norbert was knocked to the side, unable to avoid the blow as he staggered into solid rock, feeling it press against his skin, his hair now feeling wet and slick.
Pulling himself off the wall about to move as his head was smashed into it again, Norbert felt the rock of the ravine shake behind him from the force; Norbert now embedded within the rock.
Arzlan pulled out for another punch; Norbert extracted his legs from the wall as he kicked Arzlan away, the giant flying across the platform and impacting the darkness barrier on the other side.
Norbert jerked his arms, freeing them from the rock. He fell forward, swinging his hand down and smashing into Arzlan’s helmet, the metal denting with a thud as he was blown up again by another punch from the giant.
Norbert flies once more into the barrier above. Hand clawed outwards, gripping the barrier as much as possible, feeling his fingers dig in and allowing him to hang there. Arzlan was on the ground, watching him as Norbert felt his fingers slowly losing grip. Quickly scanning around, Norbert was looking for his sword, knowing he dropped it somewhere but not sure exactly where.
Seeing the flash as Norbert looked around, unable to find it. Cursing himself for losing track, Norbert felt the barrier win the battle, his grip slipping. Norbert stabbed a dagger into the waiting Arzlan, feeling it slide off the helmet and sticking into the shoulder near the neck.
Arzlan roared again in pain, grabbing Norbert’s legs as he straddled the giant. Gripping onto Norbert, Arzlan forced his head into the ground, smashing Norbert into it as well. Roiling from the recoil as he tried to grab the dagger sticking out of Arzlan’s neck, knowing it was the only thing to get him out of this mess.
Arzlan stood again as Norbert scrambled, trying to get the knife out but unable to, the shaft slippery from the blood pooling between them, Norbert unable to get a proper grip. As he was slammed once more into the ground, Norbert loosened his grip; as Arzlan stood straight again, he threw Norbert behind himself, Norbert untangling, kicking the knife out of the giant in the process.
As Norbert skidded across the rock, the dagger skidding next to him, Norbert picked it up, the other dagger no longer in Arzlan’s stomach where he last left it.
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Norbert jumped backwards, just out of reach from a wild swipe, as his back hit the barrier again; Norbert was confused, expecting it to be the rock wall near where he was embedded, not hitting the wall of darkness. Jumping to the side, Norbert confirmed it was smaller than before, and the more he watched as he leapt around, the smaller it went.
Norbert cursed his luck that there was even a time limit for how long it would take; possibly even defeating Arzlan would change nothing for him. As he blasted off to the other side, avoiding Arzlan flailing around in the centre, Norbert wouldn’t be able to concentrate properly on the task ahead if he needed to constantly dodge the giant in the middle.
Seeing that all he was doing was a mindless rage, Norbert believed he could be avoided. Swapping the dagger to his right, Norbert pushed off again, flying past Arzlan, just sticking the tip out to graze them, causing him to spin out of control, smashing into the wall.
A shadow appeared above him; Norbert rolled to the side and sliced the blade as Arzlan’s leg appeared; getting caught in the armour, the blade slipped inside; Arzlan fell to a knee and clutched the wound.
Norbert left the dagger as he went to the other side; not risking pushing the opponent, for all it took was one swing for Norbert to be mincemeat. Looking down, Norbert grabbed the knife out of the belt from Cossan, the village now feeling like a lifetime ago.
Taking it out, knowing he couldn’t hold anything back, Norbert went once more, charging forward, ducking to the side and allowing the blade to graze Arzlan, hoping with enough, the giant would faint, allowing Norbert to escape quickly.
As he was going in for his fifth strike as he just passed, landing a deeper gouge than before, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Before he could move, Norbert felt a vice grip land on his calf, locking out where it met the foot.
His momentum stopped as Norbert started sailing through the air, at an apex, before slamming into the ground. Pain shot up his back; his head rolled around; as Norbert started to move, he was flying through the air again; seeing the ground appear, Norbert’s face smashed into the earth.
Light flashed before his eyes, and as he lay there feeling blood dropping into his eye that he tried to blink away, he was once more flung through the air, now realising Arzlan was smashing him around like a hammer, holding onto his foot and smashing him into the rock.
As he again impacted the ground, darkness creeping in around him, Norbert started smashing into the hand holding him, hoping to get out of the grip. As he continued to kick, slowly the darkness consuming him, Norbert fumbled for the compass; if he were going to get captured, he wouldn’t point them to his friends trying to escape from this city.
Surprised the compass was still working, Norbert held it in front of him, his chin smashing into it as it cut him, hearing the glass shatter; as he careered the other way, Norbert caught a glimpse of it smashed into the ground, now just a hunk of metal, the hand in pieces.
Happy for that little victory as he impacted the ground once more, darkness finally consuming him. A thought came to Norbert; now he just had to survive the beating he was having.
***
Hyeon stared at the two beasts fighting it out within her sphere. Happy that the show was ending, but starting to feel exhausted from needing to protect herself from all the abuse going to the barrier received. Taking her last magic potion, she downed the blue liquid, a headache from overuse coming about.
She watched as the masked man, whom Arzlan called Norbert, took something out of a pocket before smashing it with his face. Moving her view from inside, she saw it was a compass, or believed it to be. Hard to determine with the device being completely shattered.
As Arzlan repeatedly smashed the man into the ground, Hyeon sighed in happiness, the bag of meat finally losing consciousness, his body limp. Arzlan smashed him again into the ground until, finally, he stopped. From her vantage point above, she stood up, taking her empty bottles and placing them back in their sack, surprised she needed to have as much as needed.
As she was about to walk off and apprehend, she stopped, seeing the masked man’s hand twitch. With speed, he leapt to his feet, scrambling on the ground as he leapt at Arzlan, clawing at their face.
Shocked that he was still alive after the beating, she waited, seeing what would happen. Arzlan punched out again, hitting the masked man in the face as he flew backwards, the mask shattering into pieces.
Hyeon gasped in shock as the pieces came away. What she thought would be a regular face was a twisted mess of blood, purple shining everywhere, all the veins visible in them; she had never seen it be this bright before, almost needing to squint from the amount of light it produced.
Norbert held the beast-man’s face as he flew backwards, taking them together as Arzlan slammed into the ground. The force made the earth shake even from up where she stood. Looking around, scared that a rockslide might happen, their heart beating in her chest as she saw that it was stopping, no sounds of stones falling on her.
The dust cleared from within the area, the two panting, seeing the wounds on Norbert heal themselves, gushing light as it faded slightly—the two punches each other, one at a time. Smash, smash, smash. The two went on; no longer seeing what was ahead, just punching each other in the face.
With each smash, the other would sway to the side before righting again and returning a punch. Hyeon looked amazed that they could push each other so far; as the punching match extended, she realised this fight would soon end. The light within Norbert was fading quickly. Arzlan’s punches slower and slower to respond each time, now not even able to hit the face, just going into the shoulder.
As Norbert was hit again, the light suddenly burst, blinding her and Arzlan as he fell, bleeding from multiple wounds as his body slowly transformed to regular. The two of them were lying on the ground in a line; Hyeon watched as Norbert’s body looked completely fine; any sign of the damage caused now faded away.
Holding her breath, she waited; several tense moments later, she released her breath, realising that neither of the two was making a move. Stopping the barrier, the soldiers on the ramp backed off when the dome appeared, not wanting to get in the way of whatever.
Hearing the murmurs and exclamations of the damage caused to the rock wall and ground, looking like two kids fighting in the sand, not through the stone itself. Leaping down, stepping on shadows as she fell softly onto the destroyed ground.
Making her way to Norbert, she bent over, fearing for the worse that he died. Leaning forward, she checked his pulse, feeling the beat firm within, moving her head to confirm he was still breathing as the man snored.
Hyeon jumped back in alarm, thinking she would get attacked, but no. Norbert lay perfectly still in tattered clothes, rolling over to the side. Not believing what she saw, she laughed and heard it bounce off the cliff. After fighting against Arzlan, the man before she slept as soundly as a baby, shaking her head, she walked towards Arzlan, confirming the beast-man was still alive.
was still alive.