"Seems this place wasn't completely destroyed after all." Azrail mused as he glanced down the fairly unharmed staircase into the cellar.

While he spoke, he calmly stepped to the side to avoid the sword that was crashing down towards him.

The hollow king was in full fury. Even though it was Abraham who had disturbed him by touching his sword, he didn't seem to care. Azrail was fair game for his attacks as well.

Unlike before, he seemed to have much more control over his weapon. He wasn't just flinging it with himself into the air and crashing down onto the ground. He seemed able to not only hold the blade, but he could also swing it down with his own might and not just gravity.

"It also seems you aren't quite as sedentary as you led me to believe, huh?" Azrail added with a smile as he looked at the snarl on the hollow king's spectral half of a face.

"I'm just grateful he doesn't blather on as much as you do." Abraham scoffed as he jumped up behind the hollow king and wrapped his arm around his scrawny neck.

The hollow king seemed completely indifferent to the pressure on his frail looking windpipe. He was far too focused on continuing his assault. Though, with Abraham now stuck behind him, his attacks focused completely on Azrail.

The fighting continued, although it was mostly one-sided as the hollow king continued to attack Azrail, who merely avoided each of his strikes. But then, a misstep. Azrail barely had time to look down as the ground under his foot gave way.

Azrail was replaced by a plume of smoke as the hollow king's sword rose in the air. There was no hesitation. He shifted his foot back as he turned his body sideways and lowered his sword in one smooth movement All while Abraham continued to try and crush his neck.

In a flash, the hollow king had thrust his sword directly into the fust cloud. The eyes on his right arm started to water and blink as the dust irritated them.

CLANG!

His sword had bounced off of the stone floor in the cellar. The shock of his sword stopping so abruptly, knocked the hollow king off balance, and he stumbled backwards until he fell onto his butt.

His sword clamored to the floor as the vibrating piece of steel seemed to be too much for him to keep a grip of. With his sword out of his hand, the hollow king seemed to calm down. Despite his neck currently being strangled, his spectral form dissipated and the eyes on his arm closed one by one.

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"I can't believe I overlooked this," Azrail said as he looked around them. "This is just like when I stumbled on that secret chamber in my room the good Raja had lent to me. Sure, it was being used by an assassin, but that was more of a minor inconvenience."

Azrail let out a small chuckle, "Funny story actually. I'd actually met the assassin before. She was essentially a mercenary, and we'd had a couple jobs where she was hired on to assist me. We both had quite the laugh before I had to split her skull in two. You see, at that time, we both had this sort of..."

"Can you not?" Abraham interrupted as he released the emaciated neck in frustration. "Seriously, is it so hard not to ramble on forever about some asinine topic absolutely no one cares about?"

"These topics all carry with them an important lesson that you would do well to pay attention to." Azrail scolded as he spun around and took in the room around them.

Overall, it was dark. So dark that it was impossible to truly see into, but each direction gave off the impression that it went on for quite a long way. Except for one direction. A trail of dimly glowing lanterns led off into the distance.

"If you had listened," Azrail continued as he squinted his eyes in the direction the lanterns led. "Perhaps you would have realized earlier how futile your attempt to strangle that poor man were."

Azrail stepped to the side as Abraham threw a punch at his back.

"Haven't we been through this little dance before?" Azrail asked with a raised eyebrow.

Abraham grinned as he turned around and threw another punch. "Now who has trouble listening. Didn't I say I'd keep going until you made a fatal mistake?"

Azrail sighed as he avoided the punch, but then opened his eyes in surprise. Abraham had swept his foot around Azrail's, and in a quick move, reached up and wrapped his arms around his thighs. Abraham grinned mischievously as he held Azrail's legs together.

Azrail turned his head around and saw that the sword had moved, and the hollow king had started to stir again.

"Well, well. It seems you can learn." Azrail said with a smile as he looked down at Abraham.

"Only one of us can recover no matter the damage done to them." Abraham said with a grin.

"Are you sure about that?" Azrail asked as he lifted his hand above Abraham's skull.

With a quick thrust down, Azrail's palm slammed into his grappler's forehead, and there was a sound like a coconut splitting in two. For a moment, Abraham's eyes went empty, and his head lolled back. However, his hands seemed to have been broken in such a way that they kept their grip on Azrail's legs, despite the brief interruption of brain activity.

The hollow king glared at the two people in front of him. He let out a short hiss as he started to raise the sword above his head. But he had to stop as the sword bumped against the roof. He raised his head and let out a growl as he looked at the ceiling with disdain.

"This plan is far cleverer than I thought you were capable of." Azrail said with a smile as he looked down at Abraham.

Abraham still seemed a little out of it but managed to smile. His teeth were still shattered, but had put themselves most of the way back together.

The hollow king let his sword drop behind him and dragged it forward. He lifted his right arm and focused his eye on Azrail.

As soon as the eye fell upon him, Azrail let out a sharp breath. He closed his eyes and his breathed in and out slowly.

The hollow king twisted his body and slashed with his sword horizontally.

With his eyes closed, Azrail held out two of his fingers, like a child pretending their hand was a gun. He poked the bridge of Abraham's nose, and then arced his hand out to the side. His fingers came into contact with the edge of the sword.

A powerful shockwave flew out from the impact that caused the hollow king to stumble backwards. A small burn mark was on the tops of Azrail's two fingers, but other than that he appeared completely unfazed.

"You both underestimate me," he said coldly as he reached down and grabbed Abraham's shoulder. "And you won't be able to hold on without arms and legs, will you?"

And as a wet tearing sound filled the cellar, Abraham seemed to come to his senses. Just in time to feel exactly what Azrail was doing to him.