Fragments

Ch.10 - I Will Persevere

From the moment the white gas gave birth to the knight, it stayed docile, viewing the other Reapers as mere animals. It resisted its urges not out of fear or intimidation, but out of the desire to learn and advance. It quickly figured out its weaknesses and decided to conquer the blind dragon, all for the purpose of growing stronger. For as long as the knight rode on its steed and demolished those attacking it, it felt calm, proud of its achievements, and awaited its moment under the spotlight.
But now… With flames painfully licking its chest, rid of its steed and face-to-face with an opponent it greatly underestimated, the knight, for the first time since birth…
Felt dread.
It was a paralysing, alien emotion. With its back against a wall, it used one of its previously mighty swords to pathetically shield its burning body. From among the blue flames, its eyes watched Min-jun in both fear and surprise.
"Those swords are your biggest strength, but also your biggest weakness." Min-jun thought as he carefully observed the knight's motions and armored himself with small barriers. Every loud step of Min's boots got him closer, which the knight responded to by trying to back away… It was a strange sight. "You rode on that Reaper to offset your center of gravity, so you could make your swords longer. That said… I shouldn't get cocky. This Reaper's nearly 3 meters tall. He's got an overwhelming advantage in reach. I'll constantly need to get close to do anything… Well, let's go."
Min-jun charged forward, forcing the injured knight to act and not just retreat. It stabbed its shield into the concrete to form a barrier of its own, and Min launched a left straight punch to it in response. The shield reverberated from Min's enhanced strike and cracked around his fist, shattering into millions of small pieces.
His desire to protect others and avenge them gave Min-jun overwhelming strength. Possessing this much power was new to him, but it felt natural.
Seeing its defenses get busted down so quickly shocked the knight into immobility. Min was pretty surprised as well, but continued attacking. He jumped up and wound back his right arm, forming more barriers over it. With an all-out swing, Min hit the knight's head, producing a loud boom. The Reaper stumbled backwards, about to lose its balance and fall.

"This…" Feeling the force of Min-jun's attack, the knight could only think of one thing.
It was its turn to take Min by surprise.
Similarly to before, it partially gave in to the attack and strengthened its following strike. The Reaper loudly stomped down to regain balance and thrust forward its whole upper body, the arm its shattered shield was attached to stabbing Min mid-air. "This is the best…" If the knight could smile, it would. Since its ability was to manipulate the swords protruding from its wrists, it could regenerate and reshape them at will. The moment Min broke the shield, the knight had already reformed its remnants into a shortsword.
However, Min-jun managed to react quickly enough to block the blow. He guarded his chest with his shielded arms, but the barrier couldn't withstand the force and shattered. The shortsword pierced through Min's arm, forcing blood to gush out.
The Reaper then swung its arm to the side and threw Min off of its sword, sending him flying.
Min rolled as he hit the ground, getting up as soon as possible. His arm felt like it was on fire, small streams of blood ran down his hand, and he attempted to hide his pained look.

"I was too aggressive and got hit…" Min cursed himself. "I didn't think he could move so quickly." Almost immediately, the Reaper followed up by compressing its sword and shooting it towards Min.
He managed to react and deflected the blade, letting it stab through the ground. An opening was made as the knight's follow-up was ineffective, and Min once again ran forward, more cautiously this time.
The knight swung its other blade down on Min-jun as he closed in, but he circled around it and kicked the knight's legs out to make it lose its balance again. "Your height makes those downward swings too slow." As it fell, Min jumped into the air and hit the knight's face with a spinning left kick, which painfully sped up its fall. However, instead of continuing his assault, he jumped away. "He would've hit me again…" They were both on relatively equal footing in terms of damage. "My arm hurts… Shit, I didn't expect to take damage so early on." But Min was smaller, getting hit meant more to him.
The knight cautiously stood up and shortened its swords into small daggers for faster movement.