Burning Determination

Apollyon was heading straight for me with his sword at the ready, but for some reason everything seemed a little slower. I had no weapon to face him, I needed something, anything to be able to stop his sword. For some reason I grabbed the medallion hanging on my chest with both hands, it immediately split and the halves adhered to my palms. From the half I held in my right hand emerged a golden double-edged sword almost a meter long, the hilt fitting perfectly in my hand and making it easy to handle. I was amazed, but I had no time to admire the sword, I had to concentrate.

When Apollyon's sword was about to touch me I threw a slash downwards at a speed that surprised me, then I hit him again with my free hand but to my surprise it was so strong that it threw Apollyon a few meters backwards. The reaction of the giants was not long in coming and they attacked me at that instant, at least this time I had something to defend myself with.

I ran in the direction of the giants with my sword ready, but I had never been in a real fight with swords, I had to rely on the skills that Mr. Takeshi had taught me and also on luck. When I was close to the first giant I didn't think twice about attacking him, I threw a slash at one of his legs and the sword went through him like cutting butter. The giant fell for lack of one of his legs, which gave me time to climb up his body to cut off his head and throw myself towards another giant, to which I stuck my sword at the neck, but by gravity I was sliding down his body without removing the sword, when I fell to the ground the giant was cut in half and was crumbling as if it were earth.

I started to think for a second about the way he was fighting, it was really incredible, but above all brutal, but it was about killing monsters, so fighting that way was right, wasn't it?

In that second something strange happened, I felt as if the air was cut by something small right behind me, I remembered that hairy beast had attacked me before without realizing it, it should be her again. In an instant another sword emerged from my left hand at the same time I threw a slash into the air, to my surprise I had cut in half a spike twice the size of a pen and right in front of me, about 30 meters away, was that thing looking at me in surprise.

-How... How could you possibly do that? That was just luck! – he shouted angrily.

At that instant it started shooting more spikes like crazy. If what I had done before was just luck... I was completely lost. But it was obvious that I wasn't going to stand around waiting for the spikes to hit me, so I ran as fast as I could looking for cover. I must admit that in that instant I didn't look very heroic.

When I got to a tree I felt safe, until a giant broke it more than halfway, then I kept running looking for another place to hide. To my bad luck all the giants had surrounded me, closing any possible exit and to make matters worse Apollyon was already recovering, not to mention that crazy spike throwing beast.

If running away didn't work in this situation there was only something left to do....

I threw one of my swords towards the beast, distracting it for the few seconds it needed. I took advantage of the opportunity and threw myself against two giants that were together, causing them to be surprised.

Finishing them off was easy, with one jump I reached the stomach of one and with another jump I reached the head of the other to slit his throat, then I jumped to the first giant and did the same. I only had to roll when I hit the ground to avoid hurting myself because it would be stupid if that happened.

I kept running from one side to the other because I knew that thing would try to hit me with its spikes, the only thing I could do was to get close to some giant to cover myself and then kill it. It wasn't an elegant strategy but at least it worked. Although at some point I would run out of giants to cover myself with and I had to make a plan for that moment.

-Hey you, stop moving all over the place, fight like a real man! – shouted Apollyon trying to chase me.

-You don't even have the courage to fight face to face, you need the help of these things! – I responded angrily at his words.

I could barely speak as I ran, but it was a good point to see if Apollyon would get upset and do something about it. When I saw his face I saw that he was upset, although it remained to be seen what he would do.

-You, stop throwing your spikes! It's clear that if we keep this up he'll find a way to kill you! – commanded Apollyon as he turned to look at the monster.

-It's okay, I was getting tired of it anyway. Besides, it's very difficult to be making spikes every second – he answered, stopping shooting.

Well, he had already solved one problem, but there were still many more to go and it seemed that they would be much more difficult.

-Okay, we'll do this your way. But don't think I'll be so considerate this time, now I know your strength and I won't worry about killing you in one hit – said Apollyon as he signaled the giants to stop attacking.

-Well earlier it looked like I was actually beating you up don't you think the result might be the same? – I asked as I tried to catch my breath.

-Don't think too much of yourself just because you've just awakened your power. I've been using it for centuries, there's no way a novice like you can beat me at this – he said in a serious tone.

What he said was true, but there was something in him that told me that he hardly had any strength, it was like a feeling that he had lost a lot of strength for some reason, it was weird, but that's how I felt. I had to take advantage of that and fast because I didn't know how long my strength would last, maybe not long.

-We won't know that until we try. But to make it more interesting, let's not use weapons, let's fight fist to fist, body to body. Then we'll see which of us is the stronger – I said, trying to challenge him.

I stuck my sword in the ground, hoping he would accept my challenge. If he did at least I would have that in my favor.

-No matter how we do it, I'm still going to kill you – he said as he thrust his sword into the ground, but something strange happened to him. This time an aura of dark truth began to surround him, it gave the impression that he was trying hard, this must be his real strength, maybe challenging him like that was a bad idea. But there was no turning back, I had to use all my skills and tricks I knew, it was good luck to have Mr. Takeshi as a teacher.

I stood there, waiting for him to attack first. I had to see what I was up against first and for that I had to defend myself first, which meant taking his blows. It was risky, but it was indispensable. But, oddly enough, I was excited to fight him, maybe this is what Mr. Takeshi meant when he said that there would be opponents that, no matter how strong they were, I was going to want to take them on with everything I had.

-With them not even daring to attack, that just makes things easier for me – he said in a forced manner.

He launched himself straight at me at a surprising speed, I barely had time to block him with my arms, the blow was so hard that I moved several centimeters backwards. Apollyon continued attacking me mercilessly, I could barely block or deflect his blows, several of his blows hit me and they were very powerful. I was really in trouble if I didn't do anything about it.

With one blow Apollyon made me fall to the ground, the blows had affected me a lot but at least now I knew what to do. I jumped to my feet thinking that would surprise Apollyon, but instead he just smiled.

-That's better, it would be very boring if I finish you like that – he said with a smile on his face.

-I hope you won't regret it later. The real fight is about to begin – I said smiling as he did.

I knew that my blows were no match for Apollyon's, but I still had an ace up my sleeve. When he threw the first punch I did the same, only at the last second my fist glowed blue again. The blow was so strong that Apollyon recoiled.

-What? – he said in surprise.

I hit him just as hard before he reacted, for the moment it was me who had the advantage because of my speed, but again I had that feeling of something cutting the air, so I jumped back several times, without realizing I had dodged several spikes. That gave Apollyon time to react and he attacked me again, he gave me a direct hit to my face that lifted me a little off the ground and almost made me lose consciousness.

-I don't want to lose here, I don't want to lose now, I want to keep fighting! – I thought before I hit the ground.

My left foot hit the ground and I turned my body with all the strength I had, kicking him straight in the face, making him back up. A little blood came out of his mouth, he was surprised, but I was sure he would keep fighting.

Again we went on the attack, but I felt something strange, as if my body was heating up, a gigantic emotion for this fight arose inside me. I had never felt something like this, I knew that this fight was difficult, not to say impossible, but that was exactly why I wanted to give everything I had, as if my spirit was burning with emotion.

This time I was fighting on par with Apollyon, although my blows were not as strong as his, they were faster, it seemed that for every blow he gave me I gave him two. Again I had the feeling that the barbs of that thing were heading towards me, so I used Apollyon's body to jump away. The barbs were headed towards me again, but somehow I managed to deflect them until I grabbed one with my hand and threw it back at him, stabbing him in the shoulder.

Apollyon caught up with me and we kept fighting, but that fight didn't last long, we both jumped back and charged head on at each other, ready to hit each other with everything. Our fists collided with much more force than the previous time.

Despite all the effort I had made I didn't feel tired, in fact, I felt my body burning with excitement to continue the fight. I hadn't realized it before, but a layer of air covered my body, the air was visible as if it were steam and my fists had an intense blue glow.

-How is it possible that you reached this level, you're just a stupid mortal! It doesn't matter if you have the blood of that god, it's not possible that you reached this level so fast! I have to kill you before something else happens! – he shouted with bloodshot eyes.

Apollyon looked tired and furious. Without realizing where we had ended up, he grabbed his sword from the ground and ordered the monsters to attack me, while he and that hairy beast ran off somewhere. I remembered in which direction they were running, right towards my house, I couldn't let them get there, but there was a wall of monsters in my way and I had left my swords somewhere.

There was no time to lose, so I threw myself against the monsters. In the state I was in it was not very difficult to defeat each monster, but being a large number it would take too long. At the first chance I had I climbed up to the head of a giant and without thinking twice I jumped into the trees to reach Apollyon, although the landing was very complicated.

When I finally reached the ground I ran as fast as I could to catch him, my surprise was that I reached him very fast, much faster than I had imagined, I even passed him for going too fast.

-Where do you think you are going! Our fight is not over! – I said as I cut him off.

-Then I'll make it end right now! – he shouted furious when he saw me.

Apollyon had his sword and a very dangerous monster to help him, I was completely unarmed but I didn't care, I had to fight and stop him from advancing further. In a second my right hand went to the level of my neck and I grabbed something round, like a necklace, there was a golden glow and then I had one of the swords in my hand. Now I was ready for whatever the two of them were planning.

Apparently that beast decided to stay still while fighting Apollyon and I could understand why. He was very good with a sword, if it wasn't for the fact that at that moment he was faster than normal he would have killed me easily. Our swords clashed at a surprising speed and force, we were not fighting in the same place for a long time because Apollyon ran in some direction and I could not let him escape. Even running we were still fighting somehow, no matter how strong he was he wouldn't let me beat him so easily.

We reached a clearing at the end of the road and continued fighting there for a while, then his sword turned completely black, I knew something bad was going to happen. In a second the missing sword appeared in my other hand and I attacked Apollyon at the same time he launched a slash with his sword covered in black flames. The instant our swords clashed I felt something push me back as if it was an explosion, it was so strong that we both flew away from the force. Somehow I was able to stick my swords into the ground to avoid falling, but the force of the explosion was so strong that my swords slid along the ground, leaving small grooves in the earth until they hit a large piece of cement.

After the dust dissipated I could see Apollyon getting up completely furious, maybe he was not as lucky as me, because his sword seemed to be cracked while mine seemed intact.

-What happened here, son, what happened to you?! – said a voice behind me, it was my father.

I hadn't realized that Apollyon had brought me right to the last place I wanted to fight, now I was really in trouble. I stood up pulling my two swords out of the ground, but that last blow had been really strong, it took a few seconds for me to catch my breath and answer.

Surely I had several bruises and cuts on my body, plus blood was coming out of my mouth and nose, I must have looked really bad. But in spite of that I felt no pain, it was as if the blows didn't matter to me.

-Don't worry dad, I'll finish this before he can lay a finger on them – I said as I looked at Apollyon, this time I was furious.