Return of the Woodcutter

Aito and the Khan\'s difference in speed weren\'t glaring but still present.

A few more injuries and slashing marks progressively appeared on his body and armor. 

He had no time to think. Every four or five strikes, the Khan would land a hit on him. At first, he thought it was by pure luck. But it happened time and time again. 

\'Was it playing with me since the beginning?\' Aito thought, slightly pissed.

Thanks to the gods playing their own games in the shadow, he has developed an aversion to being controlled or anything related to control over him.

He felt like the Khan was a cat toying with a mouse. A big tasty mouse in his case. But it was time for the mouse to use his anti-cat weapon. 

Suddenly, amidst the flurry of blows, Aito switched to his ainium hammer. 

Looking at it in slow motion, his blunt weapon impacted the Khan\'s ax edge that was coated with two different energies.

Upon impact, it should have destroyed the orc\'s mighty ax, and yet, contrary to Aito\'s expectations, his hammer simply repelled the enemy\'s weapon so violently it flew high above the arena, landing twenty meters away. 

Edge stuck in the scorching sand. The large ax remained intact, pristine even.

Seizing this opportunity, Aito spun rapidly, putting his back into it, instantly coating his weapon with his three skills. Like a woodcutter cutting down a tree, his ax viciously bit into the Khan\'s armored flank, lacerating her defenses, but was forced to stop at her ribcage. 

Blood poured out the deathly wound, spraying Aito\'s ax with a black that looked grey no matter how he looked at it.

He tried to pull his weapon out. The Khan\'s abdominal muscles contracted so tightly it blocked her blood vessels, stopping the loss of her vital liquid, trapping Aito\'s ax blade inside her. 

The Khan stretched her long powerful arm. Her bulging muscles contracted to the limits as she gripped Aito\'s hand and shaft to prevent him from moving. 

Try as he may, he was stuck. Not that he planned on backing down right now.

With her available hand, the orc grabbed a dagger then thrust, aiming for the puny human\'s throat with all her strength. 

Aito caught the dagger with his armored hand, preventing a deadly blow. He clenched his fist, trying to crush her steel blade. 

Blood ran down the Khan\'s mouth. Forced to exert all his strength, Aito\'s entire body hurt badly. Multiple wounds were compelled to open. 

"I\'m pleased with your fighting prowess, human warrior, but I sense you\'re weakening," The Khan said, her dagger slowly moving towards Aito\'s throat. "Pity. Such a pity." 

The dagger reached halfway to Aito\'s throat.

"Worry not. Since you\'ve fought so honorably…" 

A quarter way.

"I will give your companions a quick, painless death." 

The weapon\'s tip reached Aito\'s throat, progressively digging into his weavedmail. It was only a matter of time before it pierced through. 

Killing his teammates? 

Fought honorably? 

Pleased with his fighting prowess? 

What kind of bullshit was that? 

"Yeah… fuck that," he replied, slowly pushing her dagger back. 

—Gift: Fury—

Angry, his strength increased by an entire level, allowing him to push her back. Confused, the Khan watched her dagger progressively moving away from Aito\'s throat. At the same time, he forced his ax deeper into her abdomen. 

"Fuck you, your sacred event, and the gods." 

Despite her best effort, the Khan couldn\'t prevent Aito\'s ax from moving deeper inside her abdomen. Slowly, but surely, it was heading for her guts. 

The female orc\'s muscles bulged because of the excess effort. The possibility of losing seemed to take form inside her mind as her face turned black-greyish because of the blood pumping rapidly into her brain. 

As Aito\'s victory approached, the two suns overlapped perfectly over the arena in the fake sky. Everything seemed to freeze for a moment. 

His ax and the Khan\'s dagger halted their course. The crowd stopped breathing.

Inside the wooden fortification, Sheyla and George lifted their heads up while a dreadful feeling overwhelmed them, then turned towards Aito\'s location. 

Ogoro, who was tending to Lucius\'s injury, stopped sewing. Elizabeth\'s gaze went from her husband\'s body to a location close to the square-shaped fortification\'s entrance. 

Sam frowned when the sounds of struggle coming from outside the wooden walls turned deathly silent. No grunts, shouts, or weapons colliding. 

Not even the wind could be heard. 

Every challenger present in the arena, and still alive, felt it. Their gazes were glued to the same location. 

They couldn\'t see exactly what was happening outside because of the wooden walls obstructing their vision, but they could sense it. Something was coming. 

Something dreadful. 

Suddenly, a loud bang broke the silence, reverberating throughout the entire arena. The sound of a fast-approaching projectile was heard by challengers. 

From the location everyone was staring at, Aito\'s body flew through the wooden wall on one side, crashed on the sandy ground, rolling, and rammed into the wooden wall on the other side. 

He finished his course embedded in wood. 

Worried, Sheyla rushed to his side. Ogoro abandoned Lucius\'s treatment, prioritizing the safety of his comrade. Arriving by his side, they helped him out of the wood. 

Ogoro didn\'t even have to use his enhanced sense of touch to see that Aito was in a bloody state. 

Multiple minor injuries. Slashes all over the body. Worst of all, his breastplate was badly curved inward, blocking his breathing. 

Sheyla immediately removed Aito\'s armor, cutting the leather straps with her dagger, revealing his weavedmail. Underneath it, Ogoro saw bruises of all kinds, but one stood out from the rest.

An abnormally large fist mark, twice that of George\'s fist girth. 

"How\'s the boss?" George asked. 

"I don\'t know for sure yet. My best guess is that he may have broken ribs, maybe one of them is perforating his lungs. His forearm is crushed beyond repair, at least with my capabilities. I seriously doubt recovery beads will do the trick, but we can still use some to stop any possible internal bleeding," Ogoro replied, breaking four recovery beads on Aito\'s body. "I\'ll be able to tell you more in a bit with my gift." 

"Then what are you waiting for? Do it now!" Sheyla said, panicked. 

Ogoro wondered what was happening to her. He had never seen her lose her cool like that before. Of course, he was also worried, but not completely panicked. To him, Sheyla looked just like… 

Aito jolted awake, then groaned when the pain of his broken ribs reminded him of his injured state. 

"What are you… doing?" Aito said, wheezing. He was hardly able to breathe. "It\'s… coming." 

Standing on the side, Sam watched him, horrified. Because he knew the black challenger was a monster and it\'d take hundreds, possibly a thousand, challengers to kill him. 

"We have… no time… to prepare." 

Sam\'s gaze shifted to the hole Aito had flown through a moment ago. The clouds of sand and dust had dispersed. Further, in the distance, he could see a tall figure slowly approaching, Aito\'s weapon lodged in its flank. 

It grabbed empty air to the side. Its ax that had been embedded in the ground a few minutes ago vibrated, levitated, then flew into the grey figure\'s hand. 

"Ogoro… Sheyla… George," Aito said, stumbling to his feet.. "Run."