Garden Of The Abyss

Taking the first strike for himself, Avdima launched forward, throwing a punch directly towards his opponent's nose.

Got you! Fai thought.

Turning and ducking around the fist, Fai smiled as he used the unrefined momentum behind the punch to manipulate the Argonaut--holding the man's arm and throwing him over his shoulder and onto the ground with a thunderous impact, sending a web of cracks through the boundless soil.

Before the golden-eyed otherworlder could take advantage of his foe's vulnerable position and take full-mount, Avdima jumped up with a kick of his legs, spinning himself as his limbs acted like bludgeoning weapons.

Misjudging the reach of Avdima's legs, he found his left arm on the receiving end of one of these swiftly spinning kicks--feeling his bone be compromised by just a simple contact.

Jumping back to escape the flurry of defensive kicks, Fai caressed his forearm as it swelled up quickly--having little time to do so as once more he found himself evading a sudden flurry of attacks from Avdima.

I can't defend against any of these blows; dodging is my only option--his strikes are far too sharp as they are now, he thought.

Keeping his focused gaze on each of the man's fists, he weaved his head to and from as each strike just barely missed his cranium.

Even if I'm inferior physically, I can close that gap for small moments--perfect moments...like this! He thought.

Evading a straight jab that came towards his chin, Fai brought himself close enough to exchange breaths with the Argonaut before sweeping the man's leg--causing him to lose his footing and become vulnerable to the next move.

Using his spear hand as sharp as a blade, Fai aimed its devastation directly at the man's chest--piercing through his sternum as he aimed for Avdima's heart, only being stopped midway through this momentary action as an unorthodox kick came his way, hitting him in the back of his head.

Catching himself on his hands before he could completely fall, the black-haired Argonaut pushed himself back while huffing, leaking a dangerous amount of blood from the wound inflicted on his flesh.

"...That's the third time you've almost killed me."

"Well, it's been more times than I'd care to count the other way around."

Fai responded with a heavy-breathed smile, caressing his throbbing head as the kick felt like a pillar of steel being flung at his skull.

Letting out a genuine laugh from his gut, Avdima's joyful attitude was still something uncanny for his foe--who found himself worried by this frivolity in the face of death.

"I believe for the second time in my life, I'm backed against a corner, Fai Meng. How should I respond?"

Looking up towards the sky inhabited only by darkness of his own creation, Avdima smiled with his lips covered in crimson and sable fluid.

Illya, this might be it for me--I'm giving it my all, though. I found him...someone who could reignite my passion for life at last. How ironic is it that it comes only when my life may very well be at its end?

...Did I fulfill my promise to you? Is it already if I finally rest? I don't know. I doubt...we'll see each other in the afterlife.

You were a good person--someone who deserved everything in life, a sister any brother would be lucky to have. I'm not like that; I know I'm evil, I've done things that can't be forgiven or atoned for--all while using your name as my excuse.

If I should die here and burn in the flames of hell for eternity, I accept it, Avdima thought.

Distracted by these fleeting thoughts, he found knuckles pressed against his chin that were backed by desperate strength--a burning heat burrowed through that fist and straight through his chin as he felt his brain bounce around the interior of his ivory walls a few times.

You're so strong, Fai. I can feel it in your fists; you're fighting to protect something living. That's the difference between the two of us, Avdima thought.

As Avdima regained his focus after having his vision grow briefly blurry from the strike to his chin, he responded with a hammer fist towards Fai's skull--being countered by a strike of the callused fighter's palm that once more hit his bruised chin.

By all means, I'm stronger than you--yet here we are. Where I hesitated, you struck. All I fight for is a memory, while you strive to protect that continuation of those memories dear to you. That fiery inclination to not perish...if only I could find it as well, he thought.

Once more, his brain bounced like a pinball around his skull as his eyes spun around--finding himself completely stunned by the precise, devastating attacks.

That's right...I am stronger than you! Even if I should fall--it'll be a battle you'll remember for the rest of your life; a memory you'll protect just like this! Avdima thought.

Before the next strike could come for his jugular, the bloodied and bruised Argonaut caught Fai by his forearm, clenching it tightly with a monstrous grip that condensed the man's flesh--reeling in a gasp of agony from the Outlander.

Bringing his elbow up as if preparing a swing of a hammer, he brought his pale, cut-up limb down as his elbow crashed against the held arm--completely breaking Fai's arm with a repulsive crack and snap.

Following up with the moment awarded by Fai's grimace to this limb breakage, Avdima slammed his crimson-soaked forehead against the bridge of the man's nose, breaking it all the same and further cementing it with two, quick repeats of the same forehead assault.

This is it; the pinnacle of being human! This excitement--the reason why life is so beautiful--because death exists, so close to us! Which of us will fall, Fai Meng?! Avdima smiled.

With blood inhabiting and obscuring his eyes, Fai felt any hesitation burn away in the wind, the acute pain falling numb under sense heart-racing adrenaline; with his limp arm at his side, he swiped his leg beneath the Argonaut's own, causing the man to trip over.

I only just noticed it--Wukong's essence disappeared...I guess I couldn't hold on long enough. I guess it's just me, myself, and I left! Fai thought.

Gaining full mount of the dropped Outlander, Fai sat on top of him--looming over him with a face drenched in blood, fueled by endless adrenaline pumping through his visible veins, exposed on his swollen, sweat-coated muscles.

Bringing his fist down against the man's nose, it wasn't a hit with any refinement or technique--simply an attack thrown with the intent to destroy.

Even with just a single usable fist at his disposal, each strike came down quickly and just as fearsome as the last--hitting Avdima's nose, cheeks, and chin over and over again.

A normal person would be put down by a broken arm and nose, let alone still fighting at full capacity, Fai! I couldn't ask for a better rival! Avdima thought.

Suddenly lifting his torso, Avdima's forehead met with the next strike--though it seemed to have little effect on the man as his sable eyes didn't waver in the least.

Huh--? He mitigated the damage of the strike by meeting it half way to stop its momentum? Was it on purpose or just a fluke?! Fai reacted.

"My turn…!"

With a voice that seeped out throughout his bloodied maw, Avdima grabbed hold of the man's fist-clenching it tightly with his overwhelming grip strength.

Relying completely on his instincts as a fighter, Fai threw his forehead against Avdima's as the grip on his hand loosened--jumping off from the man and onto his feet.

I'm feeling it return to me; it's been coming back slowly but surely throughout this fight, he thought.

Spitting out a swab of blood from his mouth, the brown-haired man wiped the mixture of blood and sweat from his chin as he watched the Argonaut rise to his feet as well.

That forbidden art you drilled into me as a kid, Old Man...I thought I'd forgotten them--but ever since my mana became more and more sparse, I've had no choice but to rely on them: the art of the "Perpetual Death", Fai thought, being brought so close to death, having little options afforded to me--it's bringing my focus to two-hundred percent--right now, I'm in my peak condition.

It was those eyes as keen and sharp as an apex predator's that Avdima recognized; a change in Fai, though subtle, was blatant to the Argonaut who wasn't unknown to murder as well.

You didn't want me to be like you, but you taught me it anyway for my own protection. I guess now is about the time I'll thank you for that, Old man, Fai thought.

Manipulating the qi he had, unbeknownst to his foe, Fai managed to focus it on his compromised arm--mending the shattered bone the best he could as he raised his arm, swinging it a few times much to the surprise of Avdima.

"Another trick--I see."

"Sorry, but I'm full of them."

Even if it's functioning again, it's as brittle as a twig if Avdima gets ahold of it again, he thought.

Bringing himself back into the dance of death without any more time wasted, Fai approached the bruised Argonaut, inhaling before spitting a swab of blood into the eyes of his foe.

"Huh…?!"

Perplexed by this unorthodox move, Avdima reached up to wipe the crimson liquid from his eyes--finding the malicious, ever-sharp spear hand belonging to the grey-eyed Outlander launched against his pulsating jugular.

Unable to move out of the way in time, the Argonaut instead opted to defend against this vicious strike with a burst of destructive mana, unleashing it from his pores as he successfully repelled the attack before it could become fatal.

Though it was halted, the tips of spear-turned fingers still managed to graze his neck, turning it to a bright red as Avdima ran his own fingertips across the affected area with a smile.

"That style of yours--you were holding out on me, weren't you?"

"Not intentionally."

Those eyes of his foretold his lack of patience; immediately going in once more for another assault as the residual darkness still lathered the decayed battlefield.

Art of Perpetual Death: Dragon's Maw, Fai chose.