“Ha! Should’ve done that from the start! Hahaha!” Simon began to laugh with a grin that was still mixed with a bit of fear. “A worm without any Gates didn’t stand a chance against me.”
The sea serpent landed on the ice, unable to break through it. The creature wiggled on the ice as it couldn’t breathe on the surface. “Let me help you. After all, you were the one who landed a finishing blow.” Simon got closer to the sea serpent and touched the ice with his hand, making it crack and melt. The sea creature fell down into the water, and Simon watched it swim away. The water turned black as Godan’s blood came out of the serpent’s mouth until it got mixed with red blood. Some of the bubbles reached the surface and popped.
As he tried to take a closer look at what was happening under the water, a hand grabbed his ankle and tightened its grip. With a snap, his ankle got sprained, and Godan came out from the hole in the ice, a small knife between his teeth. As Simon screamed in pain, he made a mistake and used the wrong side of his weapon, and hit Godan in the face with the glaive’s handle. A single tooth went flying, but his grin didn’t disappear.
“We’re not done… Let’s enjoy the fight till the last layer of flesh, till the last bone is broken… Till the last breath is taken!” Godan lifted himself up from the hole with the stump left by a bitten-off hand. On the other hand, he grabbed his knife and stuck it inside Simon’s thigh.
Simon tried to use his gate to move away, but he used it while he was falling to the ground, pushed by Godan, who was climbing up his body. Instead of flying away, he hit the ice below and slid away from the madman, leaving a trail of red blood.
He coughed as he tried to grasp for the air, as all of it was pushed out of his lungs when he hit the ice with his back. As he tried to stand back, he was reminded of his injuries by a sudden surge of pain. His left ankle sprained, and a knife left in his thigh. He had to use his glaive to support himself and not fall. He took out the knife with a short scream as he did so and tossed it aside. Meanwhile, Godan recovered his longsword, holding it in his left hand, the only hand he had.
Putting a hand over his wounded thigh, Simon used his gate to seal the wound with ice and use it to ease the pain of his ankle. Next, he sealed the wound on his shoulder, which was more painful than he initially thought. “How… How am I losing to a Gateless fool?! Fuck the pain! I’ll finish him with my own hands!” Using his Acceleration gate, he dashed forward, and in the blink of an eye, he was right in front of Godan, who was prepared for it. Their blades collided as they moved with inhumane speed. Godan with his technique that he perfected, and Simon using the Acceleration Gate to make his attacks faster. Their hands and weapons blinked in and out as they swung them.
Each time the glaive moved with an unbelievable speed, it made a high-pitched whistle that ended with a loud clunk as their blades met. Simon was getting impatient as he swung his weapon many times, but it didn’t reach his target yet. “I need more! More!” Right from his back, three ghost piranhas emerged, flying toward Godan to chop off more of his flesh.
Each time Godan slayed the piranha, a new one appeared in its place. Even that wasn’t enough to slow him down. Becoming blind with anger and sorely focusing on killing Godan, Simon split his focus and began creating icicles that flew right at his opponent.
“Yes! That’s the spirit!” Godan, at the same time, managed to block Simon’s glaive, kill the passing piranhas, and avoid the flying icicles. Practically dancing as he defended against the constant barrage of attacks from each side. He laughed even louder as more and more attacks came his way. Slowly, he got overwhelmed, one piranha bit off part of his calf, an icicle pierced his right forearm, and Simon was finally able to scratch Godan with his own weapon. Yet that wasn’t enough to plant even a tiny drop of fear inside him.
“You’re strong… But not strong enough!” Through a small gap, Godan was able to swing his longsword. Using all the Gates at once and fighting himself up close, Simon lost a bit of focus, making a small mistake that Godan was quick to notice. Flesh bitten off the back was a small price for a whole forearm of the enemy. At first, the cut was clean, but as it broke the first bone, it lost its momentum and force, making the slice through the second bone much more painful.
Compared to Godan, Simon didn’t have any muscles. He could only hold his weapon with both hands; when one was missing, he could barely swing it around. He fell to his knees and grabbed the remaining part of his right arm. A pool of crimson blood quickly widened as more and more blood poured from the wound.
“And now we’re even.” With a swing to the side, Godan cleaned his longsword of the blood, splattering it on the ground. “It was a fun fight, but it’s time for me to prove my worth…” Godan raised his sword one last time and swung it down with all his might to cut his opponent in half.
His longsword bounced off the ice ground as he dropped it to the ground. The man who was kneeling in front of him was halfway standing, and his fist was pressed against his arm. That surprised Godan as it was the first time someone didn’t accept defeat and kept fighting.
Both of them were heavily injured, but both were willing to continue the fight. Godan was going to fight out of joy, while Simon was doing it out of desperation. “I am not going to die to a commoner like you!” Simon swung his injured arm and hit Godan straight in the face, leaving a bloody mark from where the rest of his arm used to be. Godan returned the gesture with the same punch, using his arm with a bitten-off hand, also leaving a mark but with dark blood.
Godan had the advantage since he was much more muscular and had only one missing hand, while Simon lost half of his arm, but that didn’t stop him from using both arms to fight. Simon mainly used his whole arm with the Acceleration gate, but as he got hit more, he stopped caring about pain; it was either that or die. Each time he used his right injured arm, he let out a painful groan.
Both of their faces were becoming a bloody mess. The color of crimson red and dark blood mixing on both of their bodies and the ground under them. Godan threw an uppercut aimed at Simon’s stomach, lifting him a few inches off the ground. The man vomited everything he had eaten before the fight, adding more liquids to the pool of blood.
He was quick to retaliate as his next punch with the good hand was aimed at Godan’s chest. He used the full might of his Acceleration gate, Godan’s chest cracked and caved in as he was pushed a few feet away, making him fall to his knees.
Simon’s arm shook violently as he was in lots of pain, his fingers broken by the impact with Godan’s ribcage. “It’s worth it… That should kill him… I won-” Simon had to choke on his own words as Godan wiggled back up to both of his feet and raised his fists. The grin didn’t disappear from his face, now painted red and black with blood.
While Godan dashed forward, Simon took a fearful step back. Seeing the fist coming his way, he raised his guard, but one hit was enough to make the pain surge to his brain, his hands instantly falling down. Unable to endure the strain.
Godan threw a right hook to Simon’s face, then a left hook. Next was an uppercut that lifted Simon off the ground even higher than earlier. This was followed by a quick slam from above, smashing Simon against the cold ice ground. Without wasting any seconds, Godan kicked him in the ribs, making the man roll through the ground until he stopped on his back. With barely any strength, he tried to stand back up, his whole body trembling as he did his best to even lift himself an inch higher. Godan didn’t let him do that as he grabbed his head and pushed it to the ice, having him pinned down to the place, he relentlessly punched Simon in the face until all that was left was a mush of flesh and bones.
He stopped once he felt no resistance against his punches against the man’s skull. He huffed heavily, taking a lot of air with each breath. “I am WORTHY! I AM THE STRONGEST! YOU HEARD THAT?! ALL OF YOU, BOTH THE VOICE AND THE GODS! I AM THE STRONGEST!” Godan shouted on top of his lungs as he looked into the sky above. His words were directed toward every human, every monster, every god, every being of this world.