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Anton flew, and it turned out his guess had been correct. Al-Kadir appeared, just within Anton’s trajectory. Whether it was because he was slowed by the repeated lightning strikes, or just hadn’t expected the attack, al-Kadir didn’t get his sword up in time.

It was only a shallow slice on his shoulder, but Anton hadn’t hoped for more. Al-Kadir’s trait turned a lethal wound into a light one, making him very difficult to kill. Anton didn’t let disappointment slow him down.

Quick Attack. Quick Attack. Quick Attack. Quick Attack. Quick Attack.

Two of them got through, a cut on the forearm and a light gash along his torso. Al-Kadir’s parries weren’t coming as fast as they had before. Something was holding him back.

Anton grinned savagely. Al-Kadir wasn’t used to pain.

He must have been, once. When he was rising through the ranks, every fight was a gamble. But he had spent too long at the top. Too many duels where he executed a man paralysed by fear. Too many duels that ended the moment they began.

The crowd started up again as the blood began to fly. Kelsey called out the hits from above. This time, he paid attention to her.

“Those wounds aren’t closing, folks! It looks like while the Lovesick Loser heals quickly, he doesn’t regenerate!”

Anton grinned as he rained down blows on al-Kadir. Inside the dungeon, Kelsey’s senses were precise and comprehensive. Once al-Kadir was injured, she could measure his exact healing rate and tell Anton the plan was working. The fact that she hadn’t mentioned poison meant the Cursed Undead toxin was doing its work.

Anton’s assault couldn’t last forever, though. Al-Kadir was faster than him, and it wasn’t long before his parries regained their form. Shortly after, al-Kadir Blinked away to catch his breath.

Anton had no intention of letting him do that. From a holster hidden in the small of his back, Anton whipped out the weapon Kelsey had given him.

The Equaliser: Pistol, Automatic, Tier 3: Reinforced Barrel, Tungsten Bullets.

Firearms weren’t his weapon of choice, but he’d practised enough to be accurate, even with his off-hand. This wasn’t the kind of gun that Kelsey was handing out to the army. It wasn’t even one of Aris’s revolvers. This was the kind of weapon Kelsey used. She was pulling out all the stops.

The three sharp cracks as he fired drowned out the crowd for a moment, but the roar returned in full force. Al-Kadir wasn’t shocked by the move—he’d faced Kelsey wielding a similar weapon before.

Back then, he’d blocked her shots with his forearms, accepting a minor wound to protect his head. This time, he had a sword, and a parry that moved with lightning speed.

The clash of bullet with blade happened so fast that the crack of the first two bullets was almost indistinguishable from the sound of the shots themselves. The third one, though, sounded… different.

Al-Kadir stared at his blade in disbelief.

“Oh, dear!” Kelsey taunted. “It seems even an enchanted blade isn’t enough to stand against repeated gunshots!”

Anton couldn’t see what was wrong with the sword from this distance, but he knew his cue when he heard it. He fired three more shots in quick succession.

Al-Kadir could have blocked them with his sword. He could have used his forearms, as he had before. But Anton knew that al-Kadir had felt the weight of those bullets. He must have worried that the bullets would do more damage to his arms than he could easily absorb. That was why Kelsey had provided the bullets and a reinforced pistol that could fire them.

Unwilling to block, al-Kadir chose to use Uncanny Evasion instead. However, lightning covered too wide an area to be evaded.

Anton wasn’t sure if the bullets hit or not. It turned out that being struck with lightning while your body was contorted beyond its limits caused violent, spasmodic movements. Al-Kadir writhed like a puppet being thrown in the air and crashed down, his limbs still jerking uncontrollably.

It was the first time he hadn’t Blinked out of the lightning’s effect halfway through.

Anton knew an opportunity when he saw one. He took a few steps forward and fired his last three shots more carefully. He aimed for the legs, to reduce the courl’s mobility. Even shooting to wound, he felt the slightest twitch of the gun at the last moment, as al-Kadir’s Trait kept him alive.

At least for the moment. Anton threw the empty gun away. Kelsey had told him not to bother with reloading. She’d collect the gun after the fight.

“It looks bad for the Lone Lothario!” Kelsey announced. “But even damaged, that sword is vampiric! Al-Kadir can still turn this fight around!”

A timely warning. Their best guess for what vampiric meant was that any blood shed by the sword got absorbed and went towards healing the wielder. One of the reasons that breaking it was a high priority.

Anton considered and rejected using Leaping Attack to close the distance. Too predictable. He closed in cautiously, giving al-Kadir time to stand up. Not ideal, but Anton couldn’t afford to be hit by that sword again.

Al-Kadir looked groggy from the injuries and the lightning, but Anton didn’t trust it for a moment. He let the instincts from his new Trait guide him, using his skills instead of his attacking Trait. He could see the damage on al-Kadir’s blade now, cracks that could be superficial, but could also be something much worse.

Anton feinted, baiting a parry, but al-Kadir took a step back instead. That had possibilities, but Anton chose to just strike at Viper’s Edge directly. That didn’t work; al-Kadir had a Trait for a smooth disengage that left Anton out of position. A perfect target for al-Kadir’s Unerring Strike.

But that was what Anton had been waiting for. Ironically, Unerring Strike was easier to parry than most attacks, if you knew it was coming. It slid in—unerringly—through whatever gap you left in your defences. That made it predictable, and worse, controllable.

The gap was real, of course. Stormfang was out of position, going the wrong way. Even counterattacking with a Quick Attack would be too slow to hit al-Kadir before Anton was skewered by Viper’s Edge.

Quick Attack didn’t require a human target, though, and Viper’s Edge was much closer.

Quick Attack.

Stormfang reversed course in a vicious backswing. It smashed into Viper’s Edge, and Anton could feel the Uncanny Strike keeping the blade on target with all its might.

That extra resistance might have been the final straw. Anton couldn’t tell; he just knew that his sword smashed through the damaged Tier 3 blade, sending fragments flying everywhere.

“And the Harem King proves his weapon is the stronger one!” Kelsey screamed. The innuendo was probably deliberate. “Harder! Longer! Thicker!”

Definitely deliberate.

Al-Kadir staggered backwards and Blinked behind Anton, but at the furthest distance possible. Anton whirled around and decided that, this time, he would close the gap with Leaping Attack.

Al-Kadir Blinked again, and Anton only hit sand. He whirled around and sent lightning after the courl, who only Blinked away again.

“Ah, the Cowardly Courl has started running!” Kelsey declared. “How long has it been since the Champion of Cowardice has feared his opponent this much?”

This time, al-Kadir was staggering as he came out of the teleport. Anton jumped towards him, wanting to save his lightning. The courl met his charge with a snarl of defiance and two daggers. Poisoned, but Anton had already taken his general antidote.

Al-Kadir was barely slowed by his wounds, but Anton had the reach now. Unerring Strike left the courl overextended as his blade shot towards Anton. All Anton had to do was fade back and punish the duellist for the mistake.

Quick Attack. Quick Attack.

Two more cuts, two more doses of Cursed Undead. Assuming any was left on his blade by now. Although Kelsey had not been exaggerating when she said the poison was slow. Anton wasn’t seeing any effects yet.

But with Vampiric out of the picture, Anton could take more risks and just bleed his enemy out with small wounds. Anton kept the pressure up, varying his attacks just to keep al-Kadir off balance. Active Instincts was an all-purpose combat guide, letting Anton predict al-Kadir’s attacks and helping him find gaps in al-Kadir’s defence.

Anton started testing the limits of that damned flesh wound defence. Just how severe a wound would it allow? Again, and again, he felt the resistance that moved his blade just a little out of true. Push too hard, and it would flip, sending his strike further off course in the other direction.

Anton didn’t notice when the end came. Al-Kadir’s endurance was so ridiculously high that he kept fighting at full strength until… he couldn’t. And the sands soaked up the blood, making it difficult to tell how much he had lost.

Al-Kadir slumped to the ground, and Anton thought it was a ploy. He jumped, not using Leaping Attack, but putting his full strength into it. He landed ten feet away and whirled to face his enemy.

Al-Kadir remained face down in the bloody sand.

“Is that it?” Kelsey shouted. “Is this the end of the Elitran Champion?”

She started to descend, but Anton waved her off. The fight wasn’t over.

“Seriously, dude, his heart stopped. Fight’s over.”

“I never got any experience,” Anton grated. His side was starting to hurt as his body remembered he was injured. He kept his sword up and pointed at al-Kadir’s fallen form.

A red light started to gather around it.

“Looks like the Rejected Romeo has one more trick left!” Kelsey announced. “Just how hard can it be to kill one man?”

Anton could see it. Al-Kadir’s wounds were healing. The red light enveloped him, lifting him and holding him upright, a foot off the ground.

“This is incredible, folks!” Kelsey yelled. “Al-Kadir’s heart has started again! Could this courl possess a Trait that lets him come back from death itself?”

Despite Kelsey’s words, the crowd didn’t seem to know what to make of this event. There were a few scattered cheers from the Elitran side, but for the most part they watched the miracle in silence.

As did Anton. Part of him wanted to interfere, but something held him back, some knowledge that this Trait wouldn’t be stopped by a few more wounds. Even Kelsey watched in silence, eyes fixed on the regenerating courl.

Not that she used her eyes to see, in here.

Al-Kadir opened his eyes. The red light flickered away, and he dropped to the sands.

“Pretty impressive,” Kelsey said, “But I don’t imagine you can do that twice.”

Al-Kadir looked up at her and let his voice ring throughout the arena. “It probably takes some time to recharge,” he admitted. “This is the first time I’ve had to use it.”

“You had me worried for a moment,” Kelsey confessed.

“You should still be,” al-Kadir told her, projecting his voice again. “Your pawn is wounded and tired. I may not have my sword, but I’m healed and ready to fight anew.”

“Yeah, see, it may have healed you, but it wasn’t holy. It didn’t clear out the poison.”

“What poison?” al-Kadir laughed. “I don’t feel any poison!”

“Cursed Undead,” Kelsey clarified. “It’s subtle. You never feel a thing from it.”

“You’re bluffing,” al-Kadir sneered, looking up at her.

“Yeah?” Kelsey said. Anton could hear the glee in her voice. “Why don’t you start fighting again, then.”

“I will.” Al-Kadir returned his attention to Anton, watching closely as he bent down to pick up his daggers. He stood up.

The daggers remained on the ground.

“What?” al-Kadir exclaimed. He looked at his hands, then bent down again. His hands pawed at the sands, unable to close. “What is this?”

“Takes a big dose, takes a long time to work at all—it’s a terrible poison, really. What it does, is, it turns your nerves into more Cursed Undead.”

Al-Kadir snarled wordlessly, staring at his hands, trying to move them. Kelsey continued relentlessly.

“It’s a magical transformation, not a toxin. That’s why the standard antidotes don’t work.”

She started to descend.

“If you want to surrender, I’m sure Anton will make me give you the antidote. Fixing the damage is harder, but nothing a rich guy like you can’t handle.”

“No,” al-Kadir growled, shaking his head. “No surrender. A courl always has his fangs.”

“Wait!” Anton said, but al-Kadir was already charging. Arms outstretched as if to claw at him, but Anton already knew they were no threat. The bared fangs might have been, but there was no way they could reach.

All Anton had to do was put up his sword. Al-Kadir ran right into it.

“Congratulations… on your victory… boy.”

His weight dragged Anton’s sword down, letting him slide off it.

You have reached Level 14.