no surrender, no escape [fangor vs curtus] day 4

[kap]

"Who's in the shadows?
Who's ready to play?
Are we the hunters?
Or are we the prey?"

♛

Prismarine died yesterday, and I let her killer get away unscathed. I regret that now. I should've buried my axe in his skull when I had the chance. Now, I wasn't sure if I'd have the chance to avenge Pris or not- someone else might get to him before I did. I knew, however, that if I saw him again, I wouldn't let it remain to be a peaceful encounter.

---

I traveled through the night with my lantern in hand after just a short amount of rest. I went through an area that seemed to be a riverbank, but didn't dwell there for long. Eventually, I arrived at what appeared to be an old mill. My axe never left my side as I ventured through the arena, always ready to fight, should the opportunity end up presenting itself.

As night turned to day and day into night again, my lantern guided my way around once more. It made me think of back home in District Nine, in a way, travelling through the night. I had often moved about the District by myself in the middle of the night, pure darkness surrounding me. I didn't have a lantern, however, like I did now. Instead, I was guided by the streetlights that lined the sidewalks I walked down.

Another big difference between here and District Nine was that the arena was much more dangerous, and it was kill or be killed.

---

When I saw him through the darkness of the night, it was almost like a small miracle. Prismarine's killer was here, and I wasn't letting him get away this time. I was ready to strike him down to the ground, not letting him just walk away again. I didn't know his name, but that didn't matter yet. Perhaps I'd learn it later, or perhaps I wouldn't. My main concern right now just had to be ending his life without letting him end mine.

Quickly, yet quietly, I started to make my way closer to the boy, my weapon ready to rip into his skin and take him apart. I picked up pace as I got closer, and then prepared to strike.

"Hello again," I said in a harsh whisper as I swung my axe at him. He wasn't going to get away. No, not this time. Not if I could help it. I was the hunter, and he was my prey.

word count: 395
lyrics: "Game of Survival" by Ruelle

Fangor attacks Curtus with axe
PZt05KL8IKaxe
[11108 -- Shallow Cut on Right Hip -- 3.5 damage]

axe

[Kire]

Curtus Dolor
Deep in the shadows I'm fighting a battle
The creature wants me, screaming, screaming

The sound of the cannon had stunned him for a moment. His saw had bitten into the flesh of the banshee girl's leg, cutting enough to send her crashing to the ground. She spoke a little and moved less. Finally she ceased moving entirely. With the boom that echoed through the trees, he realized that it hadn't been a trick by the gamemakers. He had tricked himself.

Even with the knowledge that he had killed another tribute, he didn't feel remorse. He knew he had acted as he would have anyway, and he knew that any other person would have done the same. They all were going to kill or die in this arena and the death of a little girl meant he might breathe a little longer.

Fangor stares at him, horrified and angry. "If we meet again, you'll have to watch your back." The boy swallows as if struggling to speak. "My name's Fangor, and her name was Prismarine. Make a point to remember that." Then Fangor looked at a little bouncing pumpkin creature that Curt hadn't noticed before, speaking to it as though it understood human speech.

Curt's mouth tightens on one side, not quite a grimace but not a pleasant expression either. He muttered to himself, turning away as Fangor left with the pumpkin in tow. "You said that already. I hadn't forgotten." He plucked the weapon from the girl's hand and then left to walk in his own direction.

--- --- ---

The night was a solemn one, but not necessarily a somber one. He did his best to ignore the memory of the girl - Pris-something - laying dead on the grass, suddenly human to him. In life he had been sure she was a muttation but the firing of the cannon had shown him that he had been mistaken. Even so, he felt no regret.

His sleep was short and fitful, filled with the memory of her wailing and the sound of wind in dark trees. Finally waking and unable to return to sleep, he began to walk. He walked until he heard the sound of a river and saw the shimmer of its surface reflect the light of his lantern. As the sky lightened he continued to walk until the shape of a building rose up to greet him. Mindlessly, he set his feet to guide him there.

Seemingly empty and quiet, the old mill sat beckoning. Worse for wear and time, the structure looked bleak and uninviting - the best and worst place to hide. The door creaked like an old tree, a sound that sent him spinning to search for another one of those tree muttations. Finding none, he continued into the shadowed structure. The interior had seen no trace of life in some time, and the thought of that brought him some comfort. Climbing up the steps before him, he settled himself to wait until nightfall.

--- --- ---

He must have dozed off, for the creak of the door woke him. Groggy but feeling a sense of fear bolt through him, he quickly shook himself awake. Gripping his latest acquisition - the long-handled blade used by the girl he had killed - he readied himself to fight. He moved down the stairs, trying not to make any noise and failing. The intruder looked up, a gleam in his eye and in the light of the lanterns they both held Curt recognized Fangor's angry face.

"Hello again," the tone was almost jovial, as though he was actually glad to see him. Curt had the feeling this wasn't due to anything other than a wish for revenge. Sure enough, the boy's axe sliced forward to kiss his hip with a steel edge. A thin line of pain indicated that he would find blood there later, and that he would have to be ready to fight or die.

He had no plans on dying today, just as he had had no plans of dying to a tree or a banshee girl. He would not let Fangor get the best of him, he couldn't give the boy the satisfaction. Raising his own weapon, he turned the blade of this boy's seeming friend against him. "Don't worry, Fangor, I remember you."

Too bad for you I don't fear you.

^{lyrics from Creature by Asking Alexandria}

[Attacks Fangor with Sling Blade (glaive)]
vjWLOG79CPglaive
Stabbed in Back -- 9.0 damage + 1 rivalry

glaive

[kap]

"Who's in the shadows?
Who's ready to play?
Are we the hunters?
Or are we the prey?"

♛

"Don't worry, Fangor, I remember you," were the words of the boy.

The boy remembered my name. Good. He may as well know who it is that's going to kill him tonight.

When he had finished speaking to me, he raised his weapon, stabbing it into my back before I could react quickly enough to evade the blow. I felt the sharp, searing pain that it brought with it- it was the first time that another tribute had inflicted a wound upon my flesh. Before, it had only been the child-like mutt creatures that I fought with Eight and Ten's female tributes, both of whom were dead now.

I now felt an even bigger rush of adrenaline flowing through me than I had felt when I first approached this boy. My blood was pumping through my veins, and I briefly glanced to the orange pumpkin creature that I'd taken as a follower- Punk, Pris had called it.

"Go hide until I'm done, little one," I said to it.

Then I spoke to the boy in front of me, my axe still raised and ready to draw more blood. My first blow on him had been only a shallow cut into his hip, which wasn't quite satisfying enough for me. I wanted him dead.

There was another thing I wanted, too, though. I wanted his name. I wanted to know who it was that I was fighting right now.

When I killed him, I should at least know his name, surely? I supposed I could only get his name by asking him for it, though, meaning that that's exactly what I was going to do.

"Good," I say to him in response to his remembrance of me. "How about you share your name with me, then?" I asked. "Or would you just prefer to remain a nameless body when you fall to my weapon?"

I raised my blade to pierce his flesh once again.

word count: 314
lyrics: "Game of Survival" by Ruelle

Fangor attacks Curtus with axe
rAOsseheuzaxe
[11089 -- Shallow Cut on Left Thigh -- 3.5 damage]

axe

[Kire]

Curtus Dolor
I think I'm losing, tired of choosing, I'm slipping down
I can't stop screaming, screaming

The feeling of the blade sinking into flesh shuddered up the length of the weapon and through his arm. He had managed to get behind Fangor and slice deep into the muscle of the boy's back. He let out a satisfied grunt, backing off before the boy could counter attack. He watched as Fangor dipped his head toward the little pumpkin creature. Seemed the little thing had continued to follow him through the night. He sent it off with a few words, like he was trying to protect it from the fighting.

Then the boy looked up at him, cocksure and ready for a fight. He was going to get one, certainly. They both knew that they couldn't let the other live, especially not now, and this would be a bloody battle until the end. One of their cannons would sound, perhaps soon or perhaps after a long scuffle. The certainty was that only one of them would live to see the end of the day.

"Good, how about you share your name with me, then?" Fangor looked at him with a clear challenge in his face. There was also a spark of curiosity, an itching that he couldn't hide. "Or would you just prefer to remain a nameless body when you fall to my weapon?" He couldn't help but scoff at the boy's bold assumptions. The intense need to know his name - and Curt having the advantage of knowing the other boy's name - was throwing Fangor off. He could use this, this insecurity. Whatever Fangor's obsession for collecting names, it would serve to hurt him.

As though trying to make a statement, Fangor lunged forward and took another swipe at him. He wasn't fast enough to completely dodge the blow, but he avoided anything beyond another small wound. If this was Fangor's best attempt to kill him, he would have to wait a long time to die.

"Who's to say you won't be the dead one." He shrugged, still watching the boy's movements. He was ready to move when he saw a moment. Any sort of inattention or opening would be used as well as he was able. Blindly swinging would only get him as far as luck would allow. Fighting was a matter of skill. "Besides, everyone watching knows my name."

He shook his head slightly, getting ready to move. The need to know a name made so little sense in a place where even friends had to die. Knowing names and getting attached was an effort that meant nothing, except maybe wasted energy and increased moral conflict. He had learned long before now that he was so much better on his own, separated from everyone. Trying to care about people just cost more in the end. Trying to learn about them led to heartache and anger. Why bother.

As he had done with the tree, and as he had done with the banshee girl, he gave no thought to who they were or why they were here. He simply followed the law of the land and his own instincts. Kill or die.

And so he would kill, or die.

^{lyrics from Creature by Asking Alexandria}

[Attacks Fangor with Sling Blade (glaive)]
sGRcGcZy|6glaive
Deep Gash on Right Calf -- 8.0 damage + 1 rivalry

glaive

[kap]

"Who's in the shadows?
Who's ready to play?
Are we the hunters?
Or are we the prey?"

♛

My next attack wasn't nearly enough to kill the boy, and the next swipe he made at me caused my calf to be cut open rather deeply.

"Who's to say you won't be the dead one."

To be entirely and reluctantly honest, the boy was right. There was nothing saying that I wouldn't die in this fight, but it didn't mean I was going to lose my confidence. I ignored his words, though. At least, I ignored those ones. That wasn't the only thing he said to me, though.

He also refused to give me his name, instead stating that everyone watching already knew it.

Whatever. I didn't need his name. If I made it out of this arena alive, I'd figure out his name at a later time, after he was dead and I was victorious.

He just needed to be careful about what he said and who he said it to.

"Alright," I said to him in response. "I don't need your name. I just need more of your blood on my blade. How's that sound?"

I was asking for this fight. Not only had I started this all off by attacking the boy, I'd also volunteered to be in this very arena. I wanted change in my life, and I got it. It was a thrill I couldn't have achieved in any other way, and I didn't regret my choice, even in the slightest. If I was going to die in here, I was going to try the best that I could to bring this boy down before me.

If there was an afterlife, surely my dad would be watching all that was happening right now, cheering me on and hoping that I would survive. Pris would be cheering me on, too, shouting for me to rip her killer apart. Although, she'd want to know his name, too, in order to, as she had said to Eight, 'stomp on the letters'.

I couldn't focus on finding out his name right now, though. If I were distracted, this would end badly for me instead of him. Distractions would be my downfall, so I had to shake them from my mind, and cut them from my focus. My axe needed more of this boy's blood on it, and I needed to use it to reap his soul from his body. He needed to fall to the ground at the end of my blade, his life ending and mine continuing.

word count: 401
lyrics: "Game of Survival" by Ruelle

Fangor attacks Curtus with axe
CPWWKhe08Xaxe
[11194 -- Shallow Cut on Back -- 4.0 damage]

axe

[Kire]

Curtus Dolor
I'm living a lie, there's a creature hiding inside of me
Black as the night with a cold dead heart and a lust to sin

Once again the blade of his newly acquired weapon sliced with great strength into Fangor's flesh. The long dark red line that was left behind traced its way up the boy's calf. The two wounds on his own flesh, shorter and shallower by half than the one he had just laid open on Fangor, could almost be ignored whereas wounds like these - should the boy be the one to live, of the two of them - would need particular care.

Fangor rears up a bit, like an offended animal, or perhaps like an animal ready to strike. The confidence wavers in his eyes for a moment before settling in like stone. "Alright, I don't need your name. I just need more of your blood on my blade. How's that sound?" Curt looked at their two weapons, each with the others' blood on it. His was surely the redder of the two, the blood splashed over more of the blade where Fangor's merely had some red at the edge. If they boy was going to kill him then yes, he did need to bloody his blade some more. The only issue with that was, he didn't feel like dying to this guy.

He watched the arc of the axe, found where it was going, and stepped back. Not far enough - again not enough to evade completely - for the boy was still a little faster than what he was reckoning, but still enough to avoid having the axe head plunge deep into his chest. The swipe left his chest sliced once again and a little more blood added to his already stained shirt - a bright blotch of crimson in a sea of burgundy.

Moving away once again, out of reach this time, he gave Fangor a flat look. "Words are great and all, but living up to them is a different matter." The lesson was another than he had learned repeatedly in his life. His father and mother had sworn to love each other, his stepfather had sworn to break him, and he had sworn to get out of his mother's house for good. Only one of them had actually managed to follow through, and he was standing here with a weapon in his hand trying to kill a second person.

The vigor and precision that Fangor had demonstrated yesterday against the girl from Eight wasn't here, at least not yet. The blows that he had made were too obvious - even if they had still left marks on him - and almost seemed as though they were slightly reluctant. Maybe Fangor hadn't killed before, perhaps the fear of taking a life - even a subconscious worry - was enough to slow his attacks. He would have to hope that this fear would stay settled, or that he would be strong enough and fast enough to avoid the blows he knew this boy was capable of.

He had already killed one person - though he hadn't thought of her has a person at the time - and so the worry and fear didn't seem to be present in himself. Things could change, though, and he couldn't allow himself to be as over-confident as Fangor. He had to simply keep attacking, keep fighting, and keep doing his best to stay alive.

He swung his long-handled weapon for a third time.

^{lyrics from Creature by Asking Alexandria}

[Attacks Fangor with Sling Blade (glaive)]
QuctUNGZZnglaive
Miss -- 0.0 damage

[Accuracy Day 4]
glaive
Shallow Cut on Cheek -- 3.5 damage

glaive·glaive

[kap]

"Who's in the shadows?
Who's ready to play?
Are we the hunters?
Or are we the prey?"

♛

His words were ones that I chose to ignore this time. If he was going to continue to snap at me with his little comeback remarks, I wasn't going to feed into it any further. I felt his blade cut me again, not quite as deep this time. He'd sliced into my cheek after I had cut into his back. I gritted my teeth, ignoring the pain in the same way that I was choosing to ignore the boy's words this time.

All of this was just a reminder of why I was here. I'd volunteered because I wanted some change in my life. I wanted to experience something different from just living on the streets of Nine every day of my life. I wanted my fight for survival to be a bit more exciting. Rather than my fight being only to find food and water every day, and a place to sleep every night, it would be that, along with physically fighting with other people and creatures that were trying to kill me as I tried to kill them.

This was the change I had asked for. I'd never go back to the way I had been living before. If I died in this arena, I wouldn't be living on the streets anymore because I wouldn't be living anymore. If I survived this arena, I wouldn't be living on the streets anymore, either, because I would be living in the Victor's Village instead. Regardless, there would be a change, and that's what I wanted.

As the adrenaline continued to pulse through my veins, my grip tightened on my axe, the boy's blood staining the edge of the blade. I wanted more of his blood on it. I wanted the entire thing to be coated in the redness that came from his wounds. I wanted it. I needed it. I felt the lust for blood taking me over. It was turning me into an animal- into a monster- but I didn't care. It was change, and change had been what I had wanted.

word count: 340
lyrics: "Game of Survival" by Ruelle

Fangor attacks Curtus with axe
T6fAH3KhwOaxe
[11038 -- Miss -- 0.0 damage]

accuracy
axe
[11079 -- Shallow Cut on Cheek -- 3.5 damage]

axe·axe

[Kire]

Curtus Dolor
So I shut it out, I bottle up, I hide it from the world
If I let it out I don't know what I'll do
There's a creature inside of you too

This time Fangor picked up on his motion. The boy moved out of the way and only a clever turn of his wrist sent the blade against flesh. The wound he made on Fangor's face was shallow, and it only oozed blood while the other wounds bled more freely. Even so, a wound was a wound and the bright eye above the new red weal held a moment of pain before forced confidence rose again.

For once the boy didn't say anything, instead moving in silence. Curt felt the corner of his mouth lift in a small smirk. He was learning, which was bad for him and good for Fangor. If he kept letting this guy learn his attacks and his tricks then he would be in for some trouble. Still, if this was some ploy to try and throw him off with quiet it wouldn't work. He was far too used to being alone with his own mind, even whilst fighting and dodging attacks.

As the axe came toward his head, bent on severing his neck, he pulled back. For the briefest moment he thought he would be clear of the attack but Fangor's reach seemed to extend at the last moment. In some sort of irony, he felt a matching injury form on his own cheek. Matched in face wounds, and perhaps matched in skill and determination, he got the sense that this may be a closer fight than he initially thought. He had told himself not to get smug earlier but seemingly he had. Now he had to face the consequences.

Silence didn't scare him, so Fangor's lack of talking didn't either, but it seemed now that the boy was concentrating more on what his hands were doing than his mouth he might actually be a more dangerous opponent. That could go both ways, though, and Curt also refrained from speech. He had killed a tree in near silence and then a girl as well. Words were unnecessary and distracting.

As he had said to Fangor earlier, living up to words meant more than the words themselves. Actions, as they said, speak louder.

^{lyrics from Creature by Asking Alexandria}

[Attacks Fangor with Sling Blade (glaive)]
pbxBskmurcglaive
Severed Left Forearm at Elbow -- 9.5 damage + 1 rivalry

glaive

[kap]

"Who's in the shadows?
Who's ready to play?
Are we the hunters?
Or are we the prey?"

♛

This wasn't going anywhere good for me. My axe made no more than a small slice into the boy's cheek like he'd done to me, and the silence between us was causing more tension to build. Before I could react further, however, the worst pain I'd ever felt pulsed through my arm. He'd cut my left arm in half at the elbow, and I yelled out in response.

"Fuck!" I exclaimed in pain. That was when I decided that I needed to try something different. Switching out my lightly bloodied axe for a clean, fireplace poker that'd never graced someone's skin in an attack before, I prepared to keep fighting. I couldn't give up now. I needed a different tactic, though. I needed to see how well I could do using this thing as a spear.

My elbow where my forearm had once been connected was bleeding profusely and the pain didn't die down much at all since the initial blow, but I couldn't stop.

I started this fight, but it was now that I realized I may not be the one to end it. Rather, it may end me. My overconfidence had gotten the best of me. My cockiness was my downfall.

That didn't mean that I was going to stop, though. This makeshift spear would be attempt in trying to survive no matter how hopeless it seemed now. Hopelessness didn't mean giving up. Living on the streets of Nine seemed like a hopeless attempt at surviving when I was young, but as the years passed, it got easier, and I was glad I didn't give up.

I didn't have years to finish this fight, though. I had moments.

Each moment that passed was yet another risk I was taking. It was my fault that this fight had begun. It was my fault if I died here. If this boy managed to fight me off, it was the end for me- but I wasn't ready for the end yet.

word count: 324
lyrics: "Game of Survival" by Ruelle

Fangor attacks Curtus with fireplace poker (spear)
tv7K_UymX8spear
[3020 -- Shallow Cut on Chest -- 4.0 damage]

spear

[Kire]

Curtus Dolor
I can't just turn to the menace I've clung to
The creature wants me screaming, screaming

The silence didn't last long. It broke with a sharp cry as his weapon bit deep and then deeper into Fangor's arm until the limb fell to the ground. "Fuck!" They both stood frozen for a moment, a similar pause as the one he had stumbled in on yesterday after the girl from Eight had severed the hand from the banshee girl - the whole reason he had thought of her as such in the first place. The wailing that had emerged from her mouth had set him on edge and nothing could bring him down from there until her cannon had fired.

Now he faced the boy who had so insisted that she was human, had tried so hard to defend her. Even to this moment he was fighting to avenge her. Or perhaps this fight had turned from one of vengeance to a desperate struggle to survive. The limp hand in the dirt at their feet certainly seemed to suggest the latter. However, whether or not the reason for fighting had changed, the fighting would not stop. They were both too far in now, much too far to call it quits and turn away. One of them would see the other die.

As if the shift in the fight called for a shift in other things, Fangor stuck his axe away and pulled out a fire place poker. Curt had one of those as well, but it stayed in his little cornucopia. This weapon was serving him best of all of the ones he had used and so he felt no need to change it now. If the boy was hoping the switch would offer him better luck he was mistaken because his swing was no stronger than any of the ones before.

The bite of the cold metal against the skin of his chest kept him aware that he was far from out of danger, even if his opponent was now missing part of an arm. It would take more than that to end Fangor, and he should give the boy credit for his force of will that made him continue to be a threat even after being wounded so severely.

All of the force of will in the world wouldn't help him once the bloodloss began to set in, though. If this became a matter of simply tiring the boy out until he collapsed and died then he would do so. There could be no mercy in this arena, and there was certainly no place for mercy in this fight.

Not here, not back there. Mercy had never really been a thing in his life and so it was finally time that he didn't try to cling to it any longer.

It's you or me.

^{lyrics from Creature by Asking Alexandria}

[Attacks Fangor with Sling Blade (glaive)]
8BVSdglJhOglaive
Miss -- 0.0 damage

glaive

[kap]

"Who's in the shadows?
Who's ready to play?
Are we the hunters?
Or are we the prey?"

♛

My second choice in weapon wasn't doing any better than my first, simply grazing the chest of the boy. I wanted him dead, and this wasn't doing the job, but I'd keep trying. I realized now that this had turned from a want for vengeance for Pris, to both that and a need to survive. I was fighting for both of us now. I wasn't going to give in easily, either. I'd already decided that long before this fight even started.

The boy launched another attack at me, but this time, it didn't quite hit me. There was a temporary sense of relief as this happened, but I knew it wouldn't last long. He'd be back for more in just a moment or two. That meant that I had to hit him with everything I had. My spear in hand, I lunged toward him again.

I was ready to kill. I'd been ready to kill since I started this fight, but now, it was even more prominent of a thought in my mind. Kill, kill, kill. That's all I needed to do right now. Kill, and perhaps I could survive. Killing was the only way to live in this arena. I knew that when I came in here, so it wasn't a surprise for me. I was ready for it, at least mentally, but I suppose I may not have been physically capable yet, judging by how this fight was going so far. I'd killed a mutt in this arena already, sure, and it was pretty human-like, but it wasn't a human being.

This boy was my target, and he was a human being. That meant that ending this fight would be taking the life of another person, and I was surprisingly ready for that. I wanted it to happen, actually. I wanted to end this boy's life.

What was wrong with me?

word count: 309
lyrics: "Game of Survival" by Ruelle

Fangor attacks Curtus with fireplace poker (spear)
zELEG|5Yfaspear
[3172 -- Miss -- 0.0 damage]

spear

[Kire]

Curtus Dolor
I can't determine, I'm sure that it's hell bent on breaking out and
Hearing you screaming, screaming

His attack missed, passing close but not close enough to cause any sort of wound. As much as he had chided himself before about growing cocky he had gone and done so, at the cost of giving Fangor an opening that could end him. The determination was clear in the boy's face, supported by a sense of desperation that drove people to move beyond their physical capabilities and survive the insurmountable.

Thankfully, the need to dodge his attack and left his opponent slightly off balance and the swing that came for him was somewhat off center. He moved out of range, hearing the whistle of the poker whipping through the air. That blow might have done some real damage had it landed and he was glad he had been able to get out of the way. There was no time to mess around with this, he couldn't afford to keep giving Fangor opportunities.

Fierce desperation and determination were a terrifying force, but he had to hold onto his training and his instincts. They had gotten him this far, not blind swinging. The long-handled weapon he clutched was formidable but useless if he wasn't going to use it properly. Taking a deep breath he tried to settle into a better stance. He had to focus, and he had to keep watching for the kind of opening that had let him sever the boy's arm.

The silence that had once again descended after Fangor's short outburst gave him the chance to think. The key was to analyze and recognize without over thinking. He would have to react the instant that the opening was revealed, and strike as hard as he could. The longer he waited, and the more time he took, the more chance that Fangor might gain the upper hand and kill him. He couldn't mess around anymore, he had to act.

Actions speak louder than words.

^{lyrics from Creature by Asking Alexandria}

[Attacks Fangor with Sling Blade (glaive)]
WyZ9_MGW5bglaive
Block -- 0.0 damage

glaive

[kap]

"Who's in the shadows?
Who's ready to play?
Are we the hunters?
Or are we the prey?"

♛

Blocking his blade as it swung toward me made me think that perhaps he was slipping up. Although, I'd completely missed him with my fireplace poker turned spear, so perhaps I was doing the same as he was. I had to figure out how to get out of this alive, but it was turning more and more hopeless as the fight went on. I gritted my teeth in frustration at my own failure, as well as in a way of fighting the pain that still made itself noticed in my body. Where my arm had been cut in half, I felt pain like nothing else before, and it still wasn't dying down.

Realizing that neither of my weapons were working well one-handed, I didn't know what to do at this point. I was starting to lose hope. Perhaps I should just switch back to my axe and keep fighting, I thought to myself. I threw the spear on the ground in frustration and picked my axe back up. It wasn't likely that which weapon I was using was actually the problem, but I could always try to convince myself that it was, right?

I thought of what the people back home were seeing. Were they seeing a fight that looked hopeless for the boy from Nine, or one that looked like the boy from Nine still had a fighting chance at winning? My guess was that they saw the former, rather than the latter. I was starting to see that now, too, but I couldn't let the other boy see my drop in confidence. Now wasn't a time for giving up. There was never a time for giving up. Especially not now.

I now let out a yell as I charged at the boy, axe in hand, ready to do whatever I possibly could to take him down.

word count: 305
lyrics: "Game of Survival" by Ruelle

Fangor attacks Curtus with axe
L3hgPL2493axe
[11006 -- Shallow Cut on Neck -- 4.0 damage]

axe

[Kire]

Curtus Dolor
I can't hold back
I can't hold back
I can't hold back

Another miss, another opportunity wasted for himself and one gained for Fangor. He couldn't help but clench his jaw and grind his teeth in frustration at himself. He knew how to fight, he had shown that time and time again. First he had fought his step father, then the trainers in the training center, then a living tree, then a banshee girl. How was he unable to fight properly against a boy with only one arm.

His mouth twisted up into a wry grimace. Listing his achievements in his head gave him the horrible sense that he was declining in prowess and not growing. He had fought a little girl and now he was fighting a cripple. How brave was that, how strong and masterful he was to beat them. Of course, that was fine enough to think when the boy with one arm wasn't swinging around a poker aimed to stab him through the heart.

The wound on his neck throbbed anew as it was opened once again, this time by a rusted poker instead of a tree's branch. Thankfully the blow was much shallower than the one the tree had landed two days ago - had it really been two days already since then? If he continued on this path Fangor would bleed him dry through a thousand small wounds. He should end it now for both of their sakes.

He raised the pole weapon for what he hoped would be the last time this day, swinging it in a hard arc. Surely he would be able to finish this now, one more solid hit should send him crumbling to the floor.

Maybe he had room for mercy after all.

^{lyrics from Creature by Asking Alexandria}

[Attacks Fangor with Sling Blade (glaive)]
GwR2FC0JX4glaive
Miss -- 0.0 damage

glaive

[kap]

"Who's in the shadows?
Who's ready to play?
Are we the hunters?
Or are we the prey?"

♛

I was still ever so determined to win this fight. My axe left a shallow cut on the boy's neck, and I caught myself wishing it had gone all the way through instead, just lopping his head off of his shoulders. That didn't happen, though, and he swung at me again, his attack missing just barely.

"I won't go down that easily," I said to him with a slight laugh through the pain I was feeling, ignoring how much it hurt the best that I could.

I was going from confident to a bit psychotic, now. I felt the rush of it all. I felt even more blood lust than I had before. I wanted him dead. I wanted it more than anything I'd ever wanted before in my living memory. My axe, held now in my one remaining hand, wasn't quite bloody enough for me yet. I wanted his life on the end of the blade. It was looking less and less likely now, as he had far less wounds upon his flesh than I did, and far more of my blood on his weapon than I had of his on mine.

It was all I wanted now- survival for me and death for him.

I had come in here wanting a change in my life, and I'd be leaving as a bloodthirsty predator, whether that was dead or alive. That was certainly a change in my life. I'd always been a quiet, peaceful loner. I had never felt the want to kill someone until I came into this arena. Now, in this moment, it seemed to be all that I felt. I wasn't just trying to kill him for Pris, now, either. It was for me, too.

My axe was ready to connect with his body again. I was ready to hear the crack of bone like when I'd cut off Eight's foot. I was ready to hear a body drop to the ground like when I killed that mutt in front of Eight and Ten. I was ready to feel strong again.

Although, for some reason, I was starting to doubt that it would actually happen.

word count: 353
lyrics: "Game of Survival" by Ruelle

Fangor attacks Curtus with axe
llJ1CdUHfwaxe
[11180 -- Miss -- 0.0 damage]

axe