The Ark

This is All I Have

Only a handful of meters stood between Shen and the thug. Shen would have to thank Ya for the constant flow of cold air, it is making the heat emitting from his hands much more bearable.

'I need to end this quickly.' Shen thought as he grabbed the damaged shield once again. 'This likely only take a few hits before it shatters.' He rushed towards the thug in a similar manner as he did with the others, a straight shot toward him.

The thug didn't seem bothered as he stepped forward lowering his stance, the fire on his hand radiating its orange light. Just as Shen was about to make contact with the thug launched his fist at the shield. A loud shattering sound could be heard as Shen was sent sliding back to the point where he was just standing at, he then looked down at the shield.

'Damn.' The thought that passed through his mind as the damaged shield that helped him so much today looked something akin to a spider web, with cracks so deep he could feel the indent of them in some spots.

"Like I said, even with the cold from your teammate helping you, winning is going to be hard for you." The thug said as he bent his legs slightly, having both his hands close to his face.

Shen throws the shield on the ground causing it to shatter into shards of ice, many of them reflecting the light coming off the few reminding bulbs. Shen decided to go back to old methods back in the slums and outlast the other person. Shen bent his knees and moved his body so that his shoulder blades were facing the thug. He took a deep breath and took off running towards him covering the small distance quickly.

As soon as Shen got close enough the thug took a half step forward and thrust his right fist out toward Shen's face. Shen in response ducked lower under the fist leaning towards the left as countered attacked with a punch towards the thug's face.

The thug turned his head slightly to the left so that the punch wouldn't hit him head-on, rather it allowed him access to the left side of his vision where he saw Shen's figure at the edge of it. The thug grabbed the back of Shen's shirt with his right hand so Shen couldn't move as he used his open fist and thrust it into his gut, making perfect contact.

Shen could sense the very air that gave him life rushing out of his body as the familiar smell of burning flesh entered his nose. His mind was in a frenzy, nothing in his mind was processing as the burning scar in his gut was taking a lot of his attention. Before he truly thought about what to do next his body was already throwing another punch.

The thug responded with another punch of his own, however, this one was colder than the others as the fuel for his arts was whining. His hands could no longer tank the pain of his hand burning, so he called off the fire around his hands leaving very scared hands with smoke flowing off them.

The thug kept throwing punches most of them connected to Shen. However unknown to the thug, the sheer adrenaline being pumped into Shen's body along with him being used to getting beaten down since he was a child allowed each and every hit he endured not to matter.

As the fight continued Shen kept overextending his attacks leaving him open for another round of attacks from the thug, he could hear his body cry out in pain but still kept pushing himself as he kept remembering why he was there. The slums he was raised in started appearing in his mind as the people who took care of him despite their status kept him moving.

As each of the thugs' attacks connected on Shen, another memory flashed in his mind till eventually, a truly precision memory appeared swiftly in his mind. It was just him when he was a child and a young man whose infection was clear on his arms. As the snow fell to the ground both of them were eating somewhat cold noodles.

Before Shen recalled more of the memory another hit connected, this time Shen was sent back into a table causing it to topple over. His vision was fading in and out as he could hear the ice shards being crushed as he assumed the thug moved forward. Shen used the table to stand back up, he could feel warm streams of liquid move down his face and legs. He didn't need to check to know it was blood.