Who's the Real Killer Here?

Chapter 5

     Kal watches as Kazan holds the tip of his katana at about waist height, clearly wanting to keep his versatility up. He didn't know Kal's fighting style, and as such, the samurai needed to be prepared.

     Kal is unsure how to proceed. He knows for a fact that the samurai is stronger than him, and has had much more experience in fighting with a sword. However, the one thing that the Survivor had on his opponent was speed and a smaller stature. 

     Kazan lunges at Kal, swiping his katana at the smaller man's midsection. Reacting quickly, Kal ducks low and rolls under the swipe. Flipping himself to the kneeling position, Kal jabs about two inches of his weapon into Kazan's calf, quickly ripping the blade out and jumping backward.

     Surprised momentarily by the man's speed, Kazan lets out a growl as he feels himself be stabbed. Although he felt his blood flowing down his leg, the former samurai also feels a surge of thrill. It had been so long since he had been in battle, and he had missed the feeling of combat.

     Raising his katana, Kazan slashes down in a diagonal swipe, though he is quite surprised when the Survivor manages to dodge the attack. He feels another twinge of pain as the man cuts into his right arm, just below his elbow in an unarmored spot.

     The samurai watches as Kal starts to move back, wanting to put some distance between him and his opponent. Kazan, seeing the opportunity, quickly rushes forward and begins a mad assault, slicing at the smaller man furiously with wide, powerful slashes. Kal, surprised by the aggression, quickly begins to evade, trying his hardest to not get hit.

     Despite his efforts, Kal feels a long cut slice into his upper chest, and another one rip into his lower leg, right above his knee. Unable to react, Kal feels the wind get knocked out of him as the former samurai kicks him squarely in the chest, sending the male flying backward, landing a few feet away from a pallet that hadn't yet been pulled down.

     Kal scrambles to his feet, gasping for breath. From the pain in his chest, the man is quite sure that at least one of his ribs is broken. However, from what he can tell, his internal organs are still intact.

     Kal places a hand on his chest and feels around a bit, trying to make sure that he can still fight effectively. It hurts, but not too bad. If he finishes this quickly, he should be able to win. He can't afford to take any more hits, though.

     Meanwhile, Kazan had been hanging back, allowing his opponent a few seconds of breathing room. He takes this time to get a fix on where they were. Their battle had moved from the large street in the middle of the Trial to a thin alleyway made from sandy buildings. It had a pallet near the end, and Kal had walked backward past it, having strengthened his grip on his sword and dug his feet into the sandy ground they stood on.

     Kazan rushed him, swinging his sword in an overhead slash. As the sword goes down, Kal manages to slide to the right and dash past him. As Kazan turns to attack again, he's quickly pushed back by the sheer aggression that Kal was displaying. It was all the former samurai could do to keep blocking the strikes.

     Following one of his attacks, Kal slams shoulder-first into Kazan's chest. As the larger man lurches backward, Kal finally pulls his trump card. He lunges forward, but instead of attacking with his sword, he grabs the pallet that Kazan had backed up right beside. The former samurai notices his mistake and barely manages to grab the pallet right before it strikes him in the head. 

     However, his sword was in his right hand, and said hand was occupied with keeping the pallet in place.

     Seeing his opportunity, Kal rushes forward with his weapon, and aims a single stab at his opponent's throat. Kazan freezes in place as he feels the blade pierce his neck through the small opening between his mask and the rope he wears around his neck. He feels Kal rip the blade from his throat, and he's smart enough to know that this is a wound that he can't recover from. he might have been able to fight back if it was in the open, but the pallet is taking up too much of his energy. It's all he can to drop his sword and force the pallet back into position while he feels his blood run down his chest and his lungs burn from a lack of air.

     Kal watches as his opponent takes a few stumbling steps, before collapsing to his knees. There are about 15 seconds of waiting as the Survivor tries to catch his breath, before the Killer collapses onto his stomach, not moving.

     Kal falls to a seated position, utterly exhausted and in tremendous pain. He feels his chest a couple of times and immediately winces. All of those attacks and dodging must have made his broken ribs worse. However, the Entity doesn't end the Trial yet. It feels like an eternity to Kal, though he has an idea of why it's taking so long. The Entity probably wanted to wait until Kazan was completely dead. Almost on cue, another group of those spider-like legs slowly comes down from above and grips the body of Kal's opponent, his body disappearing and turning back to that translucent outline. 

     As the legs disappear, Kal watches as the sword in his hands starts to break apart and shatter. Kazan's sword appears to be doing the exact same thing, and Kal watches as black smoke begins to pool around his feet, though he can't keep himself in a sitting position any longer. He falls on his back and watches as the smoke completely covers him, causing his vision to fade