The thundering noise of two objects colliding into a hard surface filled the air. Beelzebub and Alan had been blown into opposite directions after the explosion caused by the clash of their ultimate attacks, and each had crashed into the bedrock with enough force to form craters.
Blood spilled from Beelzebub’s body, he struggled to move, and he’d used up most of his mana. Yet, despite the sorry state he was in, he laughed.
I was actually a little worried, he thought. He’d wondered if he’d overtrained. With effort on top of his exploitative talent, perhaps even the Champion would’ve been unable to stand up to him. It was not so. Alan had fought back magnificently and even pushed Beelzebub to his limits. Of course, it was clear that Alan was the one struggling the most. When their ultimate attacks collided, and in their earlier exchange, he’d received significantly more damage.
“Not yet!” the Champion yelled as he rose to his feet once more. Though his body was battered and bloodied and his mana of light, his last ray of hope, was running on empty, Alan pressed on as if any such concerns were beneath him. He picked up his sword and leapt directly at Beelzebub.
“Yes, not yet! Let us continue!” Beelzebub wouldn’t relent. The fight he’d so impatiently waited for was finally before him! He stood up, gripped his sword, and moved to intercept Alan.
The two fighters met in a dramatic midair fight once more. Groans of pain escaped their mouths as both their blades drew blood. They’d spent most of their mana earlier. Hanging in the air and charging their swords and bodies was about all they could do. There was no more room for cheap tricks. They each fought while relying only on their trained bodies, polished swordsmanship, and determination to take down their opponent.
“Haaaaaaaaaaah!”
“Whoaaaaaaaaa!”
They swung their swords with all their strength, until finally, they both broke. The ensuing shock wave knocked them both back, and with no more mana left to keep them in the air, they raised two massive columns of water as they fell into a river.
“Haah, haah...”
“Whew, whew... Ha ha...”
They got up, water now mixing with the blood that ran down their bodies. The fight wasn’t over yet. With no more mana to use and their swords broken, a fistfight was the only way left to settle this. They each cried out as they punched, kicked, elbowed, and kneed each other. The sound of flesh meeting flesh echoed across the mountain.
“I’m stronger in here too!” Beelzebub shouted as he threw a pair of punches.
“Grah!” Alan bent backward as he took direct hits in both his face and abdomen.
“Ha! Your age is finally catching up with you, Champion!” Beelzebub’s merciless unarmed attacks sent Alan’s old body flying back and into the river.
Thanks to covering himself with the little mana of light he had left in his body, Alan could still injure Beelzebub, but the difference in vigor was plain as day. Now that they were fighting with nothing but their bare bodies—the rawest combat possible—the discrepancy between an ageless demon and a human who’d grown weaker after a twenty-five-year gap was prominent.
“Not. Yet!” Alan mustered all of his fighting spirit to get himself back up and made a beeline for Beelzebub. He roared as he unleashed a ferocious rush of attacks.
“Gwah!” Beelzebub was shaken. Although he’s clad in a thin layer of mana of light, his attacks should still be only as strong as his dilapidated body can deliver.
Nevertheless, some incomprehensible force dwelled in each of Alan’s attacks that jolted Beelzebub to his core, causing the damage to reverberate throughout his body.
“Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Good, this is it! That’s the spirit!”
Beelzebub countered Alan’s attack in kind. He quickly forced Alan back and threw punch after punch at the Champion. The body he’d thoroughly trained for twenty-five years in order to defeat his old enemy still moved with force even under such adverse conditions. He was cornering Alan thanks to all his hard work. The feeling of those grueling days of training bearing fruit exhilarated Beelzebub. A sense of joy and fulfillment he couldn’t have tasted after a billion years of dull days as the undisputed strongest coursed through him.
“My blood boils for more! This is what it means to be alive!” Beelzebub shouted.
Alan grunted in pain as Beelzebub’s kick struck him, leaving him wide open, and Beelzebub wasn’t one to let such a perfect opportunity go.
“Haaaaaaaaah!!!”
This was Beelzebub’s time to deliver the finishing blow. He put his whole body and mind behind a right cross, then a left elbow strike, a right high kick, and a left flying knee. He could clearly feel Alan’s bones, flesh, and organs creak and snap with the hits. He finished off his attack with a right roundhouse kick.
Alan was blown away like a shell fired from a cannon. He flew across the air with tremendous momentum and crashed into the bedrock tens of meters away, forming a gigantic crater. The hole he’d formed after his crash-landing during their exchange of ultimate moves was nothing in comparison. The subsequent impact made the bedrock crumble and endless sand and boulders rained down on him. Before long, the rubble had buried him.
Despite being the attacker, Beelzebub was out of breath and almost collapsed. I put my entire being behind those five consecutive attacks. Is it over now?
“Not! Yet!”
Alan was still able to jump out of the rubble and charge at Beelzebub. It didn’t matter that practically every bone and muscle in his body had been shattered or torn by Beelzebub’s previous attack. He was coming apart at the seams; it was a complete mystery how he was alive. Somehow, resolutely, he advanced toward his enemy.
Magnificent. Beelzebub watched with sheer delight. “You are truly one of a kind, Alan Granger!”
He also broke into a sprint and met Alan head-on. They both probably had only one strike left in them. Alan gathered the remainder of his mana of light into his fist and threw a punch. Beelzebub summoned the last of his stamina and threw a punch of his own. Their fists passed by each other and headed directly for their opponent. In the end...
“Gagh!” Alan coughed blood. He’d missed.
“This was a battle for the ages, Champion.”
Beelzebub’s fist had pierced through Alan’s heart. As the heart was the source of both mana and life itself, its destruction meant the end of this fight and Alan’s life. Blood poured out of his body in a torrent as if a dam had just been broken. The fight was decided. His eyes gradually lost color.