Chapter 20: Gauntlets Of The Titan

"You're…annoying!" Klade scoffed.

Gunjo replied, "Says the annoying guy!"

"How am I annoying? You're just a stalker!"

"So?!"

"Fucking weird!"

"Fight me!"

[Quest activated: Defeat Gunjo. Time limit: 3 minutes. Reward: 20 point increase to all stats]

'Easy. Probably not. Let's see how this goes.'

Outside Grentlock, the ground trembled under the clash of titans: Klade and Gunjo. The sky brooded with dark clouds as if sensing the imminent storm of violence between these two formidable warriors. They blasted out of the village, skidding near each other on the open field.

Klade thought, 'He's using his fists and martial arts…this might be a good time to test out my own as well!'

Klade charged, fists clenched, his Gauntlets of the Titan gleaming with a lethal promise. He swung a heavy right hook towards Gunjo, who deftly sidestepped the movement fluid, his body enveloping in a dangerous red aura as his skin transformed into steel. Klade's fist smashed into the earth, sending a spray of dirt and rock into the air.

'A good time to test out the armor Seven crafted for me as well.'

[Gauntlets of the Titan]

- Type: Gauntlets

- Rank: Mythic

- Material: Meteoric Iron, Crystalized Echo

- Defense: 350 per gauntlet

- Magic Resistance: 71%

- Special Abilities:

  - Titan's Grasp: Multiples the wearer's strength, allowing them to manipulate geological formations.

- Description: These gauntlets are a marvel, heavy and intricate, designed to give its bearer the power to reshape mountains with their bare hands.

Gunjo retaliated, his leg sweeping in a low arc aimed at Klade's knees, intending to destabilize. Klade jumped, flipping back elegantly, his boots skidding against the loose gravel as he landed, maintaining his balance. Using his momentum, Gunjo spun, unleashing a series of rapid, martial arts strikes. Klade blocked each blow, the sound of steel meeting the meteoric iron of his gauntlets ringing through the air with a clangor. Energized, Klade responded with Titan's Grasp, his enhanced strength allowing him to grip a sizeable boulder, ripping it from the ground. He hurled it at Gunjo who punched it mid-air, his fist shattering the rock, debris scattering like shrapnel.

"It's gonna take more than that, Klade the Dragonhound Blacksmith!"

Pieces of rock pelted them both, drawing first blood as sharp edges cut into their skin. Unperturbed, Klade dashed forward, his movements a blur as he aimed a brutal uppercut at Gunjo's jaw, connecting with a resonating impact that sent Gunjo reeling back. 

Gunjo laughed, "That felt amazing!"

Recovering swiftly, Gunjo's aura flared menacingly as he closed the distance, his fist encased in red-hued, steel-hard skin. He landed a heavy blow to Klade's midsection, the force pushing Klade back several feet. Winded but undeterred, Klade narrowed his eyes, focusing his energy. He swept his leg in a low, broad arc, aiming to knock Gunjo off his feet. Gunjo jumped, flipping backward, his hair whipping through the air as he avoided the attack.

Mid-air, Gunjo launched himself forward like a missile, aiming a driving knee towards Klade's chest. Klade raised his gauntlets in defense, absorbing the blow but feeling the air rush out of his lungs.

'Shit!'

Grounding himself, Klade leveraged his grip on the earth, his gauntlets glowing. He manipulated the terrain, causing a sudden jut of rock to erupt from beneath, aiming to unbalance Gunjo. Gunjo twisted away from the emerging spike, his movements a blend of grace and lethal intent. He counter-attacked with an elbow strike towards Klade's temple, a hit that Klade narrowly managed to block with his arm.

With reflexes honed through battle, Klade grabbed Gunjo's arm mid-strike, using Titan's Grasp to enhance his hold. He twisted, aiming to dislocate, but Gunjo's steel skin made it a near-impossible task. Gunjo used his trapped position to his advantage, pulling Klade closer and headbutting him squarely on the nose. Blood spurted from Klade's nostrils, red droplets painting his armor.

Staggered by the sudden pain, Klade reflexively released his hold, backing away. Blood ran down his face, blurring his vision momentarily. Wiping it roughly with his forearm, he reset his stance, ready for the next charge.

'Yeah, he's physically faster than me, but not stronger. If I wanna pull out my weapons, that'll make me look like a bitch. I have to wait for him to get carried away and lower his guard, then I gotta absorb the hits then dish them out at the same time. He's been waiting forever for this moment. Stalker.'

Seeing the temporary weakness, Gunjo surged forward, fists pounding in a barrage of strikes that Klade found difficult to deflect now that his vision was compromised

"This was too easy! I thought you would put up a better fight!"

Klade, pushed to his limits, channeled all his might into a crushing blow, his gauntlet-enhanced fist connecting with Gunjo's torso. The impact resonated, echoing across the desolate field, sending Gunjo tumbling backward through the air before crashing into the ground, leaving a cloud of dust and debris.

Gunjo exclaimed, "AGH! You bastard…"

'This brat hits harder than I do, I'm just a little faster…he was waiting for me to lower my guard?!'

Gunjo stood up slowly, chuckling, "Haha! As expected of you. I knew you'd get serious eventually."

"How did you survive the castle?"

"I left. Duh. Everyone started getting slaughtered left to right."

"And you didn't think once that this was real?"

"Nope."

"What about taking a piss?"

"Game so immersive I felt like I was really pissing behind a tree."

"Food?"

"Games so immersive I can eat here and get full."

"You're so delusional. How did you end up here?"

"My system kept giving me quests to take down monsters and shit and I ended up here, and now I'm forced to stay here for bonus XP so I can level up. Who would've known I was gonna be forced to team with you."

"How exactly did you leave the castle?"

"…Did your group open a set of doors with runes?"

"Yeah…"

"We left the exact same way. While everyone was fighting that royal, me and a few others bolted. Solving the puzzle again, but backwards."

"Why the hell didn't I think of that.."

"Won't matter. You'll end up here anyway. Now then, let's continue fighting. Don't think we're getting all buddy buddy because we talked for a few seconds."

"By all means."

Klade, breathing heavily, pushed himself up from the dirt, his forearms and face streaked with blood. Gunjo was slow to rise, his aura flickering unsteadily. Klade staggered over, driven by fury and the heat of battle, grabbing Gunjo by his fire-red hair, pulling him close.

On the side, Seven and some children watched, and Seven jumped out, saying, "Klade.."

At that moment, Kanemi stopped her, putting his arm out in front of her.

Seven asked with aggression, "What are you doing?"

"Your boyfriend is fine. Him and one of our team members are just punching it out. Geez, go have some water. And those are some nice clothes."

Seven was wearing a full long sleeve bear fur coat, and pants and shoes, but it was dyed red.

Seven said, "I hate it. I was forced into it. Your village women dishonored me with this."

"That's just how they show affection. They seem to think you're beautiful to them, so they show their hospitality to make you feel welcome."

"And if I was ugly to them?"

"Then you're outta luck."

"Bastards. Who is that boy Klade is fighting?"

"His name is Gunjo. He's annoying too. Everyone annoys me."

"I see."

"But the elders see him as an asset alongside Klade, so they'll be going out to assassinate some ugly offspring of the demigod."

"What did you just say?"

Kanemi thought, 'I was sure I was loud enough..'

"I said—."

"I heard what you said."

"Then why did you ask.."

"Shh. Klade is not going anywhere without me. I have my reasons for staying here too, but at the same time, I will be with Klade at all times."

"I can't say anything, but you gotta take that up with the higher ups. Those old people."

"Point me out to them."

"Okay.."

"Wait."

"What?"

"Not yet. I have to watch Klade."

"You're overprotective of him aren't you?"

"So what? I owe him. He risked his life for me, and was going to die for me. That's never really..happened to me before. And we just met. He's insane. He's a fool. But there's something about him, for some reason I can't leave him."

"Yeah he's horrible,"

"He's not horrible."

"Oops."

Kanemi yawned, and he turned around, seeing Claw's son watching him from a distance, and then running.

Kanemi wanted to call out to him, but stopped.

'How can I talk to him? He's afraid of me. I just want to stay alive. I'm bad at this.'

Back to the fight, With a powerhouse grip, Klade drew back his fist, coated in meteoric iron from his gauntlets, and smashed it into Gunjo's face. The force of the blow echoed eerily, Gunjo's head snapping back under the impact.  Not letting up, Klade pulled Gunjo's head down, kneeing him viciously in the face. Blood sprayed as Gunjo's nose broke with a sickening crunch, his screams muffled by the chaotic sound of their raging fight.

Klade remembered when he got beat up in school, and remembered he was strong as hell now. 

Klade let out a grin, saying, "I'm gonna enjoy pummeling you, bitch."

Which is exactly what his own bullies said to him.

Gunjo exclaimed, "I won't lose to you! I waited too long for this!"

Klade hauled Gunjo up by his hair, spinning him around and slamming him back-first into a large, rough boulder with a thud that splintered the stone surface. Gunjo's groan was guttural, filled with both anger and agony. Gunjo clearly tried to raise his fist, his skin still gleaming steel under the red aura, but Klade caught his wrist, twisting it painfully. With his other hand, Klade landed another pulverizing punch on Gunjo's jaw, hearing the grind of bone under his fist. Still gripping Gunjo's wrist, Klade threw a succession of brutal body shots, each thud resonating through Gunjo's frame. The red aura flickered erratically, a testament to Gunjo's waning energy.

Gunjo sank to his knees, but Klade wasn't finished. He threw Gunjo's limp body to the ground, pinning him down with a knee on his chest, and rained down a flurry of relentless strikes, each one drawing more blood and cries of pain. Finally, with one last explosive uppercut, Klade sent Gunjo sprawling, his body skidding a few feet away in the dirt. Klade stood, breathing heavy, blood dripping from his split knuckles. "I won," he declared through panting breaths.

Klade walked away, and said, "Now to deliver the badass walk away motion like they do in the movies."

As Klade turned to walk away, wiping blood from his gauntlet onto his pants, a sudden rush of air alerted him. Gunjo, beaten yet not defeated, lunged at Klade from behind in a desperate sneak attack.

'Too many people watching over there…I'm not going down like this!'

Before the attack could land, a spectral figure slipped from Klade's shadow—Seven, using astral projection. Her form, transparent and shimmering, moved with an eerie grace. Just as Gunjo's fist neared Klade, Seven's spectral hand intercepted, engulfed in a blaze of spectral flame. And at the last moment, her fist materialized into a real body part of her fist.

Her fist collided with Gunjo's face, the spectral flames licking his skin, burning with an intensity that was both seen and felt on a different plane of existence. Gunjo's body was hurled backward, flying across the landscape before crashing down, creating a long trench as he skidded to a halt.

'An NPC attacked me?!'

Hovering slightly above the ground, Seven's voice echoed around the suddenly quiet battlefield. "Klade won." Her form flickered, blending back into Klade's shadow as she resumed her protective watch in silence, the eerie calm settling over the scarred land. Klade, though battered, allowed himself a small nod of satisfaction, the duel ended by his skill and an unexpected guardian's intervention.

Klade held his chest, "Seven?! That scared the hell out of me…"

Seven walked towards Klade, fast and aggressive.

Klade got nervous, "Wait,  wait…are you mad?"

Seven kept pacing aggressively towards him.

Klade fell back, and Seven grabbed Klade by the side of his face, and forced Klade to drink a healing potion out of a flash.

Klade gurgled, Seven was pouring too much.

Klade exclaimed, "MMMMF!"

Seven said, "You're bleeding. I don't like that."

"SEVENNEMEMDFF!"

"Can't hear you. Drink all of it."

Klade thought, 'She's helping me again..? Why am I surprised? I can't let her outdo me by helping me so much. I gotta compete back.'

Seven finished, and her face glistened in the sunlight, and she said, "Do I need to go get more?"

Klade couldn't help but stare at her beauty, and Seven thought, 'The hell is this feeling? I hate it. If I get too close to someone…and if I lose them, then I'll have nightmares of them too like I do mother. Having connections is wrong, I always told myself. Bonding 

with someone always leads to disappointment in a world like this. If Klade dies…everything will be divided within me. I don't want division. Which is why I want to reunite my family, but my dreams tell me to kill my father. Maybe I'm doing whatever it takes to keep those I care about around me, but I'm scared that I'll lose them and end up in a horrible state. So I'm confused on what to do. But I can't help myself from being like this. Allowing myself to care about someone so much, I don't want it to be a waste. Fuck.'

Gunjo sat up, wiping blood from his face, saying, "What…? Immersive NPC's? HELPING Klade?! Come help me! Fine. Fine. I lost this time."