"Take this!"
The moment he threw the ax at Ulrik, Grenald didn't bother to check whether it hit its aim or not.
Rather, he couldn't afford to, because Kurt was once again upon him.
He threw the ax and immediately made a complete turn, and what his eyes met was the lethal sharpened tip of Kurt's spear thundering towards his face.
With a thought, the armor attached to his abdomen moved to his right arm to form a shield-
*KANG!*
-that allowed him to narrowly escape certain death. But the momentum behind the attack saw Grenald blown a distance away before stopping.
Blood dripped from his right wrist. The metal hadn't hardened fast enough and allowed the spearhead to penetrate it and leave a large cut.
The culprit responsible for this chose not to follow up with another attack and began speaking instead.
"Wow, you stopped that? I have to say, I'm impressed"
Kurt flashed a cocky grin as he said those words, his body glowing brighter by the minute.
"It seems I'll be able to test my new limits in this bout. I do hope that you don't disappoint me"
Amidst all these words, Grenald's attention was on his bleeding wrist as he recalled the scene of the spear cutting him over and over again before coming to a conclusion.
'I have to use all my strength if I want to kill him'
At the same time, Kurt finished his short speech-
"I'm coming!"
-and burst forth, becoming a blur in the process.
With newfound vigor, Grenald did the same, but with a little less speed.
Regardless, two blurs ran towards each other, and the moment they collided…
*BANG!*
The earth shook and a small web of cracks formed below their feet from the resounding recoil of two weapons, an ax and a spear, hitting each other.
But that was just the beginning.
*Clang!*Clang!*Clang!*Bang!*
Sparks flew all over the place with every consecutive strike thereafter, the earth growing more and more cracked as the two men battled at speeds too fast for anyone below Master-rank to follow.
Cuts and bruises grew on the bodies of the two men at speeds visible to the naked eye and blood began dripping off their bodies like a dripping faucet.
At a point, Grenald's weapon was broken from the handle, rendering it useless.
But he didn't fret. Rather, that was when the reason for his moniker, Iron Shifter, showed itself.
From Grenald's space ring, a seemingly endless amount of liquid metal was drawn out and used in different ways to achieve different attacks.
Sometimes, it would take the form of long needles and move in erratic and random patterns to cause multiple, even if smaller, wounds.
Other times, it would take the form of a shield to attack with sharp edges or spiked fronts, or to defend against attacks too fast for Grenald's body to follow.
But Kurt was no small fry either.
Using his sound techniques and newfound strength, he was able to pinpoint the location of over fifty needles that were moving around randomly and showcase his spearmanship mastery by deflecting them all.
After more than like a hundred blows, both men gave each other some distance and respite from the intense battle.
With a look at each other, the one who was at an advantage was clear.
Grenald was bleeding all over after being grazed multiple times and hosted a gaping hole in his thigh.
Kurt had many small holes all over his body and multiple cuts along his arms like a butcher cutting a fish, only much smaller.
Kurt's wounds were healing at a snail's pace as Grenald never forgot to leave a little bit of metal within each wound.
That aside, Grenald analyzed the problem clearly.
'None of those wounds are fatal'
Whether it was the many needle made holes or the cuts made by daggers, they were all in areas where they wouldn't do much to his overall battle power.
'He must have moved non vital parts of his body to take the attacks he couldn't dodge'
That was most likely the case considering the superior agility.
Whereas he now sported a gaping hole in his thigh, further reducing his already slow movements.
And because he kept leaving metal in Kurt's injuries, the volume he had remaining to continue fighting was diminishing fast.
There was no doubt that, if the fight progressed this way, he would be the one to die.
Grenald couldn't let that happen.
'I have to end this as fast as possible while remaining as strong as possible'
He was ready to pull out all his trump cards to ensure his survival, when-
*ZIIIN!*CRACRACRACK!*
-a loud slashing sound followed by the cracking of the ground interrupted their fight. With a look, both men realized it was the result of the other two Masters battling.
The enormous amount of dust that erupted thereafter prevented them from viewing and understanding the situation.
Their eyes coincided an instant later and showed that both of them were thinking the same thing.
'Who won?'
And an instant later-
*AHH!*
-a scream of pain gave them an answer as Kurt easily recognised the sound to be that of his colleague and his expression darkened.
With a clear answer, he sprung forward without warning, his killing intent greater than ever.
Grenald couldn't be sure, but he didn't think Cavarl would squeal like that.
His thoughts abruptly halted the moment Kurt burst forth like a spring.
With no time to think, Grenald decided to do what Kurt did.
The moment Kurt approached, Grenald ran forward as well and the two struck each other.
*Chuk!*
The end result was Kurt's spear being embedded in the gaping hole on Grenald's thigh it had made before, and multiple thin needles being stabbed through Kurt's abdominal area and into the ground behind it.
'This…!'
The situation alarmed Kurt.
Wasn't this the same tactic he was using to avoid fatal attacks?
Grenald didn't miss any of it as he spoke…
"It must be surprising to see someone using your trick against you"
Right before the impact, Grenald had raised his leg and placed the gaping hole right in front of the spear.
Because of Kurt's momentum, he couldn't immediately stop, and embedded himself into Grenald's needles.
"Well, I guess this is the end. Good bye"
Grenald unleashed his biggest trump card, intent on ending Kurt right then and there, when things suddenly took a turn.
Kurt grabbed the needles piercing through his chests and, with a roar of defiance, broke them off.
He held the other end and broke them off as well.
Before Grenald could catch heads or tails of the situation, he was flung backwards with a punch too fast for him to avoid.
After stumbling and turning for an entire minute, Grenald's momentum screeched to a halt.
*BLERGH!*
The first thing he did was to puke out blood like a leaking bottle, before grimacing heavily as he looked at his arms.
On impulse, he had put his two arms together in an 'x' shape to defend against Kurt's punch.
And while it helped protect his internal organs from being outright destroyed, his hands paid the price with his bones barely surviving dislocation.
Even with that, his organs were a mess from the recoil alone, which completely disoriented him.
His mind was fuzzy and dizzy. He felt like sleeping to stop the excruciating pain he was feeling, but he chose not to.
Worse still, Kurt didn't let up like he had done before, but was closing in for the kill at that very moment.
Grenald's eyes flickered.
'Is this the end for me?'
