The Fight (Part 1)

The footsteps were getting closer. Angele was gripping the sword tighter and tighter, and he was trying to hide his body out of the opponent’s sight. Angele jumped up after the footsteps stopped, and he raised his sword above his head to block. A black shadow appeared on top of him, and the sound of metals clashing with each other resounded in the air.

DANG!

Angele blocked the chain with his blade, and then he jumped back right away. His face turned red, and he looked at the man in front of him calmly. The man stopped his attack and pulled his metal chain back.

“Angele Rio, I heard you were a dumb playboy with absolutely zero talent. I did not expect you to be able to handle my attacks. It seems that rumors are not always accurate…” The man in black took his mask off. He looked like an average middle-aged man, and there was a big scar on his face. It looked like his face had been bitten off by some beasts.

“Who are you? Are you from the Dark Emblem?” Angele did not lower his guard.

“You know about the Dark Emblem? Ha.” The man laughed, “My name is Dice.” He held his chains on his left hand.

“Well, it is just my codename. I can’t tell you my real name for sure. I thought it was just a coincidence that your arrow got me last time. Based on your performance, it was probably not just a simple coincidence.” Dice said.

“Yea?” Angele started to survey the surroundings while listening to Dice. They were at a natural groove, and the mud there was wet and soft. The smell was not good at all.

“Are you trying to run?” Dice laughed. “Sadly, you can’t run away from me this time.”

He leapt towards Angele after finishing the conversation.

DANG!

Angele slashed Dice’s hands, but the black metal gloves on Dice’s hands protected him.

‘Support function enabled. Jump towards the back and slash right after.’ Zero said in Angele’s mind.

Angele jumped back a little bit, and he slashed at the front right away.

“Damn!” Dice was surprised; he had to dodge the attack. He was almost struck in the chest, and he started to sweat. Dice unsheathed his sword after dodging the attack.

“Little punk, you are making me an…” Dice didn’t have the chance to finish his words.

Angele tried to do a downward slash and followed it with an upward slash. However, his attacks were all blocked by Dice, but still, he was able to prevent Dice from attacking him.

Top-right, and then switch position; top-left, and then switch again. Angele was moving flawlessly. Once his attack was blocked, he just switched positions. He was trying to strike Dice’s weak point. With the chip’s assistance, Angele could perform his skills rapidly and precisely. His combos were flawless, and he looked like a dancer in the woods.

He was using his advantages well. Even though his strength was still lower than Dice, he could force Dice to defend for awhile. Dice could only try and keep up with Angele’s pace. Angele’s combos were improving faster and faster that he did not need the chip’s assistance anymore. Even if he got blocked, he would find a way to attack Dice’s other weak points.

DANGDANGDANGDANG!

The sound of swords clashing with each other became louder and louder. Angele was attacking from different angles, and he was borrowing the force exerted by Dice to counterattack. Dice’s face finally turned red as well, as he did not expect Angele to have the advantage. He was way too slow to strike back; though he was an experienced killer, he could not react to Angele’s speed.

A melee fight was not in Dice’s favor. He had no time to talk at all because he saw that Angele’s blade had a weird blue tint to it. He did not want to touch it at all.

“Damn it!” Dice was becoming completely enraged. He suddenly jumped far back away and took out five silver-colored knives from his pouch at the back. He threw all of them towards Angele; two were aimed towards the chest, and the rest were aimed towards the head.

Angele became surprised by the knives’ appearance, and he had no time to dodge. He had to roll to the left and block the front with his sword. Two of those knives were blocked by the sword, but two other ones grazed his shoulders. His shoulders started to bleed, and the last one hit his left arm.

The last knife embedded into Angele’s left arm, and he was bleeding badly. It was very painful. Angele’s face got pale, and he took the knife out of his arm. Then, he rolled towards the left to dodge the chain, and he started to run towards the forest.

“Where are you going?!” Dice yelled, and he started chasing.

Dice could not keep with Angele’s speed, and Angele dodged several chain hits with the help of the chip. Dice slowed himself down while trying to attack.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Dice screamed in anger, and he ceased chasing.

He could not see Angele in his sight anymore, and he was breathing heavily. He did not have enough stamina to pursue him.

“I should’ve poisoned my knives.” Dice felt regret. He was not a fan of applying poison to his weapons. He had no idea why Angele could predict his attacks, and why Angele was much faster than him. He felt infuriated about it. However, he had found Angele’s weakness.

“Well, if you could read my attacks, I will not give you time to do it…” Dice smiled, and he wiped the sweat off his face. He started to walk back.

Suddenly, the sound of the wind came from Dice’s back. He stopped right away and threw his chain towards the back. However, it was a bit too late. The shiny blue blade struck his right shoulder. He turned back and saw Angele who had a pale face. Angele somehow made it back within such a short duration. Dice totally thought he had run away already, and the stench of blood covered the fragrance of the tracking chemical.

Dice wore leather armor, but his shoulder got injured as the blade cut through his skin. Dice became anxious as he knew that he got poisoned.

“You are done…” Angele smiled, and he said.

BAM!

Dice punched Angele right in the chest. Angele was not able to dodge it, and he flew towards the bush on the side. There was blood everywhere. Some was on the tree, the grass, the black mud, and on Dice himself.

Dice took out a small paper bag quickly, and he swallowed all the powder in it, but he could still feel something going on in his body. The poison Angele used took effect quickly.

“I have to go.” Dice said as he felt danger.

Angele stood up, and he was severely hurt after taking the punch. He could barely see things clearly.

‘Check my body condition.’ Angele ordered.

‘Several broken ribs and gastrorrhagia. You are losing about 5% of your total blood.’ Zero reported.

‘Not a very big deal.’ Angele was relieved. He stood up using his sword and looked at Dice. The assassin from the Dark Emblem was not having a good time, and his face looked completely blue. Angele mixed the snake venom with an assortment of other random poison to make his special blade enchantment, and there was definitely no cure for it.

He tried the poison on a chicken, and it died with three minutes. He was not sure about how it would affect humans though, but it looked quite effective on Dice at least. Dice felt like he was getting paralyzed, and he decided to retreat after glaring Angele for a while. He wanted to get healed first since he wasn’t sure what was going on in his body.

His shadow steps and ranged attacks were not effective at all. His powerful melee attacks were useless due to Angele’s high speed and precise sword skills. Dice also ended up being poisoned, and his best medicine could not really help him. He was very upset about the result because he really had no way to deal with Angele.

“Are you trying to run away?” Angele noticed Dice’s plan, and he spoke.

“I have one question before I leave, how did you find out where I was?” Dice asked with a deep voice.

“I just knew it. Ha.” Angele laughed, and he leapt towards Dice.

DANG!

The two swords clashed against each other once again. Dice couldn’t handle Angele’s force, and he stepped back for the first time.

“AH!” Dice screamed and tried slashing Angele with all his remaining power. He did not even try to block the sword coming towards his face; he was just trying to trade his life with Angele’s.

The two swords struck each other at the same time, and blood started to come out of them. Angele and Dice held each others’ shoulders to keep themselves standing. The blood was dripping down their clothes quickly.