What can a man do? (part 1)

Within the few seconds of the fight, the painfully obvious became excruciatingly obvious. This assassin countered him perfectly and Chiron was completely out of his league! He is too fast to catch and even if caught, his base form isn't strong enough to keep the assassin captive. In a battle of strength against an agility class, he had lost. Simply put, he stood no chance! *Think, Chiron, how do you do this? How do you win? No, Not win, how do I survive this?*

The cut on his right shoulder would be debilitating, if he wasn't ambidextrous in the first place, but he still wielded the sword with both hands and slowly began condensing himself. As he did so, his injury seemed to be forced shut and the bleeding on both arms stopped. The assassin laughed as he watched what Chiron was doing "Desperate, are we? You're hoping for reinforcement? Haha! What a great plan! How about I help you out? Good news, I killed the 2 recruits, that were on this route. A few recruits won't change the outcome of our battle anyway. No matter the situation, you will still die! Time to finish the job!"

Having had his fill of mocking him, the assassin's laugh suddenly cut out and, without stalling anymore, the assassin rushed Chiron and went directly for his heart. Within a second, the sound of metal hitting metal was heard. The assassin stared in amazement at what Chiron had done.

He had done nothing! He couldn't even see, that the assassin was coming at him. But all the proof of his attack was the barely visible scar on Chiron's chest, that was left by the dagger. He had condensed his 7 feet tall body into 6 and was finally at the level of the copper his ability mentioned.

Attaining his promised invincibility, Chiron smirked and swung at the assassin, who's face went from neutral to a demonic expression.

The attacks from Chiron were easily getting dodged. Even if it wasn't, it would have bounced off harmlessly and done nothing to the assassin.

The demonic expression on the assassin's face didn't change one bit. His smile was as broad as the Joker's. He stared directly at Chiron, as if he was a child, that was given a self regenerating lollipop and he could infinitely enjoy the experience. Chiron shuddered when he heard that thing mutter "Interesting".

*Aaaaaahh!*

And so the onslaught began. The assassin seemed to have become twice as fast. Before, if he didn't stand a chance, now he was certain of his death. His daggers cut deeper and faster. The cuts went up to 10 within 3 seconds. Then a hundred, two hundred. And after 5 minutes of cutting, the assassin made a deep enough wound to draw blood.

The crazed smile on his face couldn't even be hidden by the cloth he wore. He danced around Chiron and kept cutting him and cutting him and cutting him, all over his body, seemingly enjoying the training exercise in cutting precision and seeing how many times and how fast he could cut within a second.

*F"ck! An awakened is wailing on me, I can't move my body and I'm 90% sure he isn't even going all out! What is this freak?! What am I supposed to do? Am I really going to die in this shitty nightmare? Me? The guy, who refused to die with 5 bullet holes in his skull. he guy, who survived the outskirts? No, I won't die!*

His body once again shrunk, now at 5'10" and his durability once again increased, along with his cuts being forcefully closed.

Now the cuts the assassin made were almost twice as shallow, but his crazed smile only got wider, as the cuts once again widened and he began using more of his strength.

*F"ck! Endurance isn't working! My only thing right now is endurance! What f"cking else do I have?! What else can I do? I can feel my body and it is most definitely not able to hold up! I can barely move due to how stiff condensing so much made me! I can attract attention! YES! I can try and get someone to get help! I can last long, maybe not forever, but most definitely a while. I can scream to get help! This slum isn't like my old home, they can go get the army and help me!*

"CA-"

Before he could even get a single word out, he felt a dagger collide with his teeth and he knew why. *Luck! Nothing but sheer, dumb luck! He was aiming to shove the dagger down my throat and cut up my insides, but me not being used to this body caused my speech to skew, throwing off his aim! HE PLANNED THIS AND WAITED FOR ME TO FALL FOR IT! The only reason I am alive is because this body is clumsy!*

And Chiron was completely right. Had he not stopped and shut his mouth, he would have most definitely died right then and there! His eyes were shut to the point where he could barely see anything, his lips were sealed completely. The only reason his ears were intact is because the assassin cared little for his sense of hearing. He would rather keep the opportunity to verbally demoralize Chiron.

The sheer desperation of his situation was something no one would be able to understand. What can a man do against an opponent stronger, faster, smarter, better equipped and skilled than him? There is only one outcome in such a situation...

*What can I do? Hoarder isn't helping and my other attributes are useless pitfalls! What can impa-*

But there is one thing any man can do in any situation with 100% certainty! And, as if a lightning bolt just struck him, Chiron's mind came to that conclusion. His eyes didn't open, but he stared at the runes of his attributes, as he re-read the descriptions again.

He had closed his eyes entirely to avoid being blinded by the assassin while doing so, but he seemed to not care about blinding him and kept only cutting his body, not even neck or his head, only his back, tendons and the cut on his chest. *Keep calm. Concentrate! And BUNKER DOWN!*