Six Warriors

Hardest Stone - (Arthur)

"Are you kidding me? That was nothing!" Said Arthur, having just dodged the attack, having part of his leg being hit in the process.

"So let's continue" replied Glabro.

Arthur moved forward, he didn't want to let on, but his leg really hurt. " Folly" he thought, "this to me is really nothing! When did I get so soft?" Screaming to give himself strength, the boy went to fight without any fear. Glabro and Arthur began a violent and powerful exchange of punches. Neither of them even dared to try to defend themselves, they both wanted to see who else would resist each other's fists, each punch was like an avalanche of stone. "This guy's punches... are the strongest I've received so far," Arthur thought, but not daring to think about giving up, "if I hadn't gained the resistance of the crystal's powers, by this time I should have been going to the ER."

The two stopped for a few seconds, facing each other, with satisfied smiles on their bruised faces and panting with exhaustion.

"You're not that bad, shorty" Glabro spoke with satisfaction at facing an opponent who would at least make him sweat.

"Your punches are a bit strong, but if that's all you have, I'm sorry to inform you that you're going to lose" Arthur replied, but was visibly more wounded than his opponent, who in turn smiled at the boy's boldness.

They smiled for some time before starting again to exchange powerful punches. Arthur was punched in the stomach and that made his legs go weak and a taste of blood started to rise in his throat. He returned the attack with a punch to the opponent's spleen, but it wasn't that intense and Glabro seemed to notice. The Guardian threw one more punch, this time in the face of the chosen one, causing blood to spurt from his mouth and splash on that dry ground. Arthur felt that blow a lot, his ears were ringing, his vision became blurred and his head dizzy, his knees were getting weaker. Arkoúda soon threw another punch on the opposite face of the chosen one and more blood splashed on the floor. The chosen one felt that he was not going to be able to stand up in this one. He seemed to lose consciousness for a few milliseconds...

"No!" He thought of a last flaming impulse that burned in his body and made him wake up suddenly, "if I fall now I won't wake up anymore... and I have to keep fighting!" Arthur set his feet firmly on the ground and took advantage of his falling to get more momentum in his next punch, which hit Glabro full in the face, who wasn't expecting this move, as Arthur was about to fall. The blow cut the big guy's eyebrow, who seemed to feel a lot, especially because of the surprise. Arthur then spun in an attack on the opposite side of the opponent's face, who couldn't react and was just hit hard, also cutting the other eyebrow. The chosen one did not stop throwing punches, one after the other, one face side at a time, Arkoúda just took the blows, so Arthur just concentrated his rock power in his right hand and unleashed the hardest punch he could, right in the stomach. Glabro was dragged back by the force of the blow, kicking up dust in the air, he brought his big hands to his stomach with a grimace of pain, his knees seemed to shake and he finally vomited some blood.

Arthur would finally unleash one last attack to try to end the fight right there, but the string of blows he'd received earlier seemed to take its toll and he stopped for a few seconds from the intense pain. Glabro widened his eyes, realizing that he could no longer underestimate that boy, and advanced against him, holding his body and lifting him in the air, only to throw him away at the next moment. Arthur's body rolled almost inert like a rag doll and stopped far from Glabro. The Guardian chuckled sore and tired.

"I admit, Arthur, that if you had hit me at that time I might would be finished...but now...now you're just the right distance to receive a direct hit from my technique and in the conditions you find yourself in, you won't manage to dodge in time. It's over!" Glabro stepped on the ground and screamed with all the strength he still had, "STALAGMITE SEQUENCE!!!" and the trail of sharp rocks rushed against Arthur swiftly and menacingly. In fact, he wouldn't have time to dodge, but what if...

"STONE PUNCH!!" Arthur roared and just pounded Glabbro's trail of stalagmites with his rocky hand, who couldn't help but be impressed by his opponent's madness. Pieces of the magical mineral shattered into hundreds of fragments and scattered through the air. The noise echoed for miles in that stone desert on a cold night, of heat intensely battle... the Stalagmite Sequence was broken as well as the stone crust that permeated Arthur's hand. Arthur prevented his body from taking a direct hit from that amazing technique, but his hand was not unharmed, some blood welled up from his wounded limb and some fingers were sure to be broken. Glabro looked surprised.

"Well done, but and now?" Asked the Guardian, preparing for another attack. Arthur didn't answer, he was still on the ground, partially down and trying to save his breath. If he tried to escape from there, he would only be more pathetic, because the most he would get would be to crawl and that he did not want, he would rather lose with honor. The previous feat of breaking the Stalagmite Sequence would not be repeated, his hand was too injured for that.

"Very well then, do your best" Arthur thought, smiling red with his bloodstained teeth. Glabro seemed to understand the message, from warrior to warrior and frowned, preparing to once more conjure his magic.

"STALAGMITE SEQUENCE!!" Shouted Arkoúda Glabro, stepping on the ground that shook with the force of a brave and powerful fighter and then emerged on sharp, menacing stones.

Arthur just felt a wave of searing pain go through his entire body as the magical attack hit him. His body was pierced at several points, but at least it wasn't impaled, he was thrown hard upward by the impact of the magic and fell to the ground inert like a broken puppet. He saw nothing but stars, not those in the sky, but those created by a confused mind of beatings. An incessant buzzing kept ringing in his ears and around his fallen body began to form a small puddle of his own blood. The crystal orb began to roll away from his hands, dropped from his pocket...

"So... this is what death is like..." Arthur thought to himself. He noticed that Arkoúda had walked over there and picked up the crystal orb from the ground.

"So that's it?" A voice asked him through all the ringing in his ears. It wasn't Arkoúda, it was them... the stones... fed by the magic of the crystal orb.

"What did you mean?" Arthur replied in thought.

"Are you going to let this guy take the crystal and lie there sleeping on the floor? What a disappointment..."

"What do you want me to do? I did everything I could...I fought with all my force."

"No... not yet. You're still awake, aren't you? You still have the strength to think nonsense, surely you still have the strength to fight. So what if your body is destroyed? That doesn't mean anything! The fight isn't over yet until your spirit is in tatters!"

"No, what can I do? This guy is too much for me..."

"Then you are really defeated."

"Wait...no you're right, whoever the voice of the stone is...I can still fight even though my body is in pieces, my spirit is still intact and wanting to fight!" Then, with great difficulty, his body extremely heavy, his limbs very weak, his wounds bleeding, Arthur began to rise. "This guy can't shake my spirit!"

Glabro seemed to widen his eyes when he saw the crystal begin to glow brightly, but he was even more frightened when he saw Arthur begin to rise again, like a dead man rising from the grave.

"W-what? That can't be possible, it's a lie!" Babbled the big man, "you can't be getting up again!" Soon Arthur was on his feet again and glanced at his opponent with difficulty, but paradoxically, the more he moved his body to get into combat position, the more he seemed to be stronger. The crystal glowed more and more intensely. Glabro looked at Arthur and then at the crystal. "I see. I will use my last remnant of magical power to destroy your body once and for all, Arthur, I have never faced an enemy as worthy as you. Die with honor!" Glabro stomped the ground and he shivered once more at the Guardian's magical technique, "STALAGMITE SEQUENCE!!" And its manifested power rushed against Arthur, at that moment the light from the crystal reached the epitome of brilliance.

"Yes..." thought Arthur, still not raising his head fully "a new way to manifest the power, yes, I thought of one..." The boy took a not-too-high jump and then tensed his arm, concentrating all his remaining power on that new technique that would come out of a ray of inspiration... "EARTHQUAKE PUNCH!!!" a tremor even more haunting than Glabro's had begun from Arthur's magic, the stone hills and the arena structures seemed to stagger and the Stalagmite Sequence shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces.

Glabro lost his balance, which gave Arthur a chance to unleash his last but lethal "Stone Punch", which hit the Guardian in the face with a thump and painful impact sound, knocking him away and instantly making him lose consciousness, dropping the crystal orb.

Exhausted beyond measure, Arthur only hobbled to the crystal sphere and fell to the ground before catching it, but with his hand around the object that had given him those fantastic experiences, fainting with the tranquility of one who had won without fearing his own death.