Blood & Sweat

Reyes unsheathed his second katana and tossed his pack toward his brother who laid sprawled onto his back…

Shifting his weapons to a reverse grip, he readied himself and gave his enemy the undivided attention that it deserved.

The golem came charging at him through the forest at full speed, flattening bushes and insects under it's thundering footsteps. It's speed closed the distance between the two so quickly, he barely had any time to react.

Multiple haymakers came at him in bunches, but he managed to block or dodge each one, barely. Whilst blocking it's relentless attacks, he searched for any openings or weak points.

Just as his arms and legs began to feel as if they were about to give out on him, something glinted in the moonlight at the base of the golem's neck.

'Aha!'

Dropping his body low, Reyes slid between the golems legs, another haymaker barely grazing the side of his body as he did so.

Throwing his left katana into the dirt, he ended the slide in a backflip using the katana he threw as a springboard to gain some height. Spinning through the air, he aimed at the golems exposed neck from behind and swung his katana as hard as he could.

Klang!

Sparks and stone flew, leaving behind a gash that revealed a round shaped blue crystal embedded deep within it's neck.

Before he could follow up with another strike, the golem grabbed hold of his leg and slammed him into a giant tree stump that was nearby, then onto the ground before abruptly tossing him upward into the night sky.

Argh!

The familiar tangy bitter taste of blood flooded his mouth. Although the damage sustained was reduced because of his clothing and aura, for a brief moment his consciousness faded into darkness.

The pain that surged through his body jerked him back to reality, just in time for him to witness something that sent chills down his spine.

Below him, a decent sized energy sphere began to form above the golem as it looked up at him. Plants started turning from a bright green to brown and black at an alarming rate all around the immediate area.

Their energy was being leeched, turned into small white orbs and sucked into the sphere making the golem appear to be surrounded by thousands of tiny fireflies in the night. Anyone viewing this scene would have felt that it was beautiful in it's own way, but the only thing it looked like to Reyes was certain death.

Wrenching control over his body back from the pain it endured, he forced himself back to work. Using a bit of aura, a platform materialized under his feet which enabled him throw himself to the side.

Whooosh!

The energy ball cut through the darkness of the night sky past Reyes, scattering the clouds as it continued further on into the heavens and exploded.

The shockwave sent him soaring back to the forest floor.

Laying among some bushes, he noticed that the golem had completely vanished from his vision after he regained his bearings.

With the amount of damage he received earlier, he knew it was critical for him to track it's location down asap. His focus narrowed as he scanned the area with mana sense.

'Damn it'

The only thing he could sense was the residual energy that had been pulled from the plants and was now scattered all around him.

'Looks like I'm sticking to the old fashioned way'

His knuckles cracked softly as he tightened the grip on katanas further while shifting his gaze around the forest in search of the slightest sign of movement. The sudden sound of a twig snapping behind him cut through the tension in the air like a knife.

Klang!

He brought his guard up in time to block another attack that pushed his back into the ground. The golems huge stone fists rained blow after blow down upon blades of his katanas, pushing him deeper and deeper into the dirt.

'I've had enough of this shit!'

Twisting his body, Reyes kicked the side of the golems fist as it was being thrown. Entirety off balance, the golem flew off of him and soared through the stump he'd gotten slammed against earlier.

Using the opportunity he just bought for himself, he shot a small ki orb into the ground behind him and used the explosion to catapult himself through the air. In a few seconds, Reyes closed the distance between him and his enemy as it came to a screeching halt against massive boulder.

'Gotcha now!'

He poured the remainder of his ki into his katanas, and threw them as hard as he could at the exposed crystal in the base of the golem's neck. Blinding light exploded from it as the katanas pierced deep into the crystal.

Boom!

A massive explosion of mana swept through the forest, flattening trees around it in a wide circle. His katanas were sent flying back at him and embedded themselves deep within his abdomen.

Blood erupted from his mouth as he flew back toward the area where his brother lay, landing hard against his back and bouncing softly along the forest floor until he skid to a halt a few feet from Leezy.

Looking up at the starry night sky, he could only groan softly at the irony of getting skewered by his own blades. Blood from his wounds seeped into the soil as he slowly rolled himself to the side and drug himself to his pack.

To his relief, the contents inside were still fully intact and undisturbed despite the hellish battle that took place. The removal of Saphira's potion felt like it took him an eternity, but within seconds he had the cork removed and began greedily slurping it's contents.

Warmth pulsed through his veins as the pain in his body faded and his wounds slowly began sealing, forcing the blades out of his flesh. The sound of movement nearby made him stop drinking abruptly.

"Fuuuuuuck, my head!"

Leezy, now awake, sat up and rubbed the side of his face.

Dried blood clung to his hand and face as he looked around him. Noticing there was no longer any threat, he looked eyes with Reyes who stared back at him with a look of disappointment.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Looks like you got your ass handed to you too mister finesse. That son of a bitch caught me off guard completely."

"I wasn't going to say anything at all, but since you're complaining how the hell did it catch you off guard?"

"Mana sense didn't work and with all that dust you decided to kick up after obliterating the tree like a dumbass, I couldn't see jack shit! Thank you very much for doing that by the way, led me face first into an ass whopping."

"Wait what? So you mean mana sense didn't work at all on that damn thing? I thought it was because I wasn't experienced enough with the technique."

"Yeah, mana sense didn't work! That's what I just said didn't I? Your judgment is already fucked, don't tell me your hearing is too now. Can't believe your ass….you should have just let me catch the damn tree! Think I got a splinter in my damn neck and it's all your fault."

Saying that, Leezy pointed directly at Reyes and shook his head.

Reyes answered back by flipping him off while slapping the cork back into the potion.

"Fuck…you…too."

Between sips of his potion, Leezy's gurgled voice fell upon deaf ears.

Reyes wasn't listening, his attention was focused entirely on the crater that explosion had left behind. Pulsing blue light creeped from beyond the edge of it, silently calling out to him to investigate…