Muscle mass

Clad slowly wiped the trickle of blood from his face.

His face stung with a sharp pain.

He could feel his blood begin to boil.

Clad lived for this feeling, nothing but two foes, no restraints, no rules, no annoying partners nagging him all the time.

Just fist on fist, hellfire on hellfire, the truest form of demon kind.

"Again" Clad roared, "but don't stand and take it this time, let's make this a real fight"

Torque gave a small nod dashing at his opponent again, eye's ablaze with a mad fervour.

Before Clad could make it withing punching distance, Torque landed a devastating open palm slap to his gut, extending his arm as far as it would go.

Clad was about to soar through the air like a majestic bird, but he suddenly felt a vice like grip around his foot.

Clad felt as though his leg was on the verge of dislocation due to the sudden change in momentum, but he still looked down at Torque with a mad grin.

Torques eye's flared into a raging inferno for a split second, before he began to swing clad like a rag doll.

Unwilling to simply be tossed around like a sac of potatoes, Clad brought his foot down hard on the back of Torque's head, causing a visible dent.

Torque barley even reacted, slamming his adversary into the earth so forcefully that the ground shattered and splintered beneath them.

Just before impact, Clad moved his arms so the took the brunt of the impact.

There was a small cracking noise from Clad's arms, but nothing that could stop him for good.

Torque held tightly onto Clad's leg, evidently intending to perform the same action again.

Before Torque could react, Clad sprung up like a jack in the box, using his momentum to spin in the air.

Torque let go a little too late, being launched in high into the air with very little reaction.

Clad righted himself, before launching himself up to meet Torque in the air.

Clad grabbed Torque from behind him, and grappling him in a tight bear hug, restraining his arms.

With a mighty yell, Clad flipped clad over mid air, and held on tightly as the two plummeted back to the ground.

Due to Torques arched back, he couldn't headbutt Clad, but he could sure as hell kick him.

Torque repeatedly drove his steel clad feet into Clad's leg, aiming for his knee as much as possible, but missing for the most part.

As the two where mere inches from the ground, Torque found his mark, and rammed his foot into Clad's knee.

Like a match under a boot, Clad's leg snapped with a sickening crunch, fully inverting his knee.

Clad barley even winced, a manic grin still plastered to his face as the two finally connected with the ground.

A massive cloud of dust and debris rose into the air as the two behemoths collided with hell's surface, a massive crater forming beneath them.

When the dust cleared, Torque stood without even a wobble, a rather large dent in his head, the mangled body of Clad beneath him.

Torque's body suddenly began to glow a bright orange as a raging inferno formed behind Torque's grate.

One by one, all the small dents in Torque's body began to repair themselves, each one letting out a satisfying pop after completion.

Just as Torque turned to return to Lily, Clad gave a forced laugh through the pain, causing Torque to turn.

Clad was in a terrible condition, his leg was hanging on by a thread, and both of his arms had gained a new joint.

"Damn kid" Clad coughed out, "ya got me good, haven't had a fight like this in a while"

Torque gave a small shrug, before turning once more to leave.

"Y'know, I don't like to use my hellfire, feels a bit like cheating"

Torque paused once more, as he heard a sickening crunch.

"But damn kid, this fight is just one high I ain't gonna quit any time soon"

Torque turned just in time to see Clad's arms snap back into place with a crunch.

Clad stood resolutely, any trace of the previous clashes completely erased.

He had removed his hat, revealing a crown of ten horns, or spewing a blood red smoke. Twenty similar horns had sprouted along his back, tearing his shirt to shreds, each spewing the same red smoke as the ones on his head.

"Round two kid"

Torque threw a quick jab, Before Clad had a chance to retaliate, but he was too late.

Torques fist connected with Clad's jaw, causing his head to spin like a top, but Clad had already raised his fist, ready to strike.

Before Torque could put up any sign of resistance, Clad's head swivelled back into place, and his fist flew into Torque's face.

Torque skidded backwards, his grating becoming slightly dented.

Clad walked casually towards Torque, cracking his neck as he went.

"Let me give you some advice, Kid..."

Before Clad could finish, Torque went for another open had slap to the gut.

Clad calmly caught the slap.

Clad's arm folded like a spring, before shooting back into place.

"As I was saying"

Torque tried again with the other hand, much to the same effect.

"And I thought I was dumb" Clad chuckled, "ya should have clocked it by now, ya have to end it in one go if ya want t' win, or ya could try t' outlast me, though I don't think ya will be"

Torque gave no response, instead, he griped both of Clad's hands in a vice grip, crushing both of his hands, and began to push him down.

The earth beneath Clad began to buckle and give way under the extreme amount of force applied on him.

"Still got some fight in ya, ay"

Clad began to push back against Torque, slowly bringing the two to as level a position possible with the size difference.

"This is what I live for" Clad yelled, a mad glint in his eye, "just two warriors, no idiotic powers with fifty activation conditions, no thinking fifty steps ahead in a some bs mental battle, just sheer power and toughness deciding the outcome, don't you agree?"

Torque looked at Clad dead in the eyes for a minute, before letting out a small sigh, an odd process of a small puff of black smoke rolling out of Torque's grating in a lazy drift, and shaking his head.

"What?" Clad said in suprise, a hint of anger to his tone, "why the fu-"

Clad never finished his sentence, as at that moment, Torque let out a jet of flames from his grate, completely engulfing all but Clad's hands in the raging flames.

The terrible heat of the flames caused the very earth to melt, liquidating into a red hot pool of molten lava.

The jet of flame carved a long groove into the surface of hell, stretching out for miles.

Torque let go of Clad's hands at some point during the maintained blast of flames, and just let Clad struggle desperately to get out of the terrible inferno as his legs charred to ash and gave way beneath him.

After a good minute, Torque let the flames die out, gazing at the charred remains of what was once Clad.

"Kid" Clad chocked out the words after the jet of flames dissipated, with a voice that came out more an odd collection of stutters and coughs than an actual language, "let's keep it civil"

Clad threw out a punch the moment the smoke cleared, his arm beginning to crack and crumble like charcoal, before rapidly reforming just before impact.

"Fists are all a true man needs"

Torque managed to catch the fist before impact, softening the blow.

When Torque looked back at Clad, he was surprised, to find that Clad's cloths had also seemingly regenerated.

"Neat trick right?" Clad gave a small chuckle, a wide grin splitting his face, "face it kid, it's your loss, I got plenty left in the tank, and your a stone throws away from running on fumes"

Torque gave Clad an icy glare, Clad had thrown around some intimidating words to try and get the kid to back down, but he wasn't so sure in his words, after all, Torque was mostly metal, and didn't really breath, so it was hard to tell what state he was in.

But one thing that wasn't a lie was Clad was far from reaching his limit.

Clad readied himself, but Torque didn't.

Clad watched in suprise for a minute, as it looked like the twelve foot steel clad giant he was currently facing down as an equal, was doing basic addition.

Much like a child, Torque began to count out some unknown calculation on his fingers, much like a new born demon would when asked what two plus two was.

After a short bout of mental math, Clad swore he saw smoke coming from Torques head, Torque seemed to have come to some kind of conclusion, nodding contently to himself.

Clad watched silently as the corners of Torque's grating began to curve up slightly, and his eyes flared.

For the first time, Clad heard Torques voice, that unnerving rasp was enough to send chills down his spine, though what he said through Clad for a loop.

"Rev the hellish engine" Torque rasped, "tenfold"

At these words, the ten exhaust pipes on Torques head began to rattle and shake, ejecting small puffs of smoke, before belching out brilliant tongues of flame.

"So is that code for something or..." Clad began, before Torque sprung at him faster than he could blink.

Clad raised his guard up quickly, some long forgotten instinct was yelling at him to get out of the way, but it was too late.

Clad's arms crumpled like paper, splattering into pieces, the impact of the punch continuing through and slamming into his chest, nearly splitting him in two.

Clad was sent skidding across the surface of hell, his body torn to shreds against the uneven surface.

As he skimmed like a stone, Clad dug his arm into the ground as hard as he could, bringing himself to a screeching halt at the cost of his newly regenerated arm.

Clad watched as Torque began to approach in a calm deliberate manner, as if he had all the time in the world.

While his arm regenerated quickly, Clad knew it was slower than earlier, he was reaching the end of his rope.

With a heavy sigh, Clad readied himself once more, and charged down his foe.

From that point on, all form of skill, tactic or ability had been abandoned, and the two behemoths began to lay into each other.

Over and over again, strike after strike, they threw all they had with reckless abandon. No rhyme or reason, the two simply hit with all they had.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger perfectly described Clad, everything from his attitude to his power.

Clad was from a race of demons born from mankind's flagrant disregard for life, more specifically, the needless sacrifice of life in conflict.

His hellfire was a reflection of this, not only did it rapidly restore his body after every hit, it strengthened it. Disregard risk and plunge forth into battle, the essence of Clad's hellfire.

With this ability, Clad had managed to keep up with the steel behemoth that was Torque, surpassing him at some point. But after those exhaust pipes began to burn brighter than any bonfire that could be burned, Clad didn't stand a chance.

Every blow tore chunks out of him, every time their fists clashed, his would crumple with little resistance, and every second, he would lose a little more ground.

But every second, Clad would grow ever so slightly, his spikes would become more pronounced, his muscles would bulge a little more, and his smile never faded.

Then, the breaking point came, Clad drew back his fist, letting out an ear shattering below, putting it all into this final strike.

He slipped past a sloppy haymaker thrown by Torque, and rammed his fist right into the big bastards grating, letting out a resounding crash, like some poorly made bell had just been struck by the wrath of god.

However, despite making a clear indent into his face, Torque was unphased, unlike Clad.

Clad's fist had been reduced to a bloody stump, his shattered arm now hanging loosely by his side, and what would have taken the blink of an eye now took over ten seconds, his hellfire had nearly run out.

Torque watched as Clad's arm slowly formed back into it's former glory, giving Clad a look somewhere between gratitude and relief.

"Just end it" Clad said resolutely. 

Torque replied with compliance, putting his all into one final strike.

Clad took the strike right to the chest, his ribs were crushed into splinters, his lungs were ripped into shreds before flattening like a pancake, almost all of his other organs became pincushions for the bone fragments.

A ripple went through Clad's body, as he was lifted of his feet, the ground around Clad crumpled like a wrapper in the wind, as Clad was sent flying across hell like a ragdoll.

As Clad flew through the air, a satisfied smile broke his face.