The Untouchable

Chapter 57: Unending Resolve

    Grimm grabs his throat after Adam slices it, the blood pouring from both his neck and the missing chunks of his hand. Laughing, he turns around, dodging Adam's strike for his chest. With a swift kick, he pops his scythe into his hand and swings for Adam's upper body.

    Adam's rapier grazes Grimm's blade as he slips underneath, slashing through Grimm's abdomen and delivering a second cut to his thigh before dodging another strike from Grimm. He deals small and swift cuts as he circles him, eventually having his feet kicked out from under him.

    When Adam hits the ground, Grimm swiftly moves to slam his scythe down into him. Adam dodges with a swift roll, jumping to his feet rather quickly, but being met with Grimm's mangled hand slamming into his face as soon as he rises.

    Rolling back, Adam gets to his feet again, watching Grimm's fingers and throat return to normal, but his other wounds remain unchanged. Letting out a deep breath, he rushes back in quickly, his speed continuing to increase.

    After he retracts the blade on his scythe, Grimm swings the now-staff at Adam, slamming it into his shoulder before spinning it around and poking it forward, smashing into Adam's shoulder. 

    Adam charges forward with an unshaken resolve despite the damage. This time, when the staff swings for him, it aims for his head. Swiftly ducking low, Adam reels back his right arm and delivers a powerful punch to Grimm's knee, sending him to the ground momentarily. 

     Grimm attempts to rise, but Adam swings his left hand up, slamming his rapier right into Grimm's foot and locking him in place before delivering two resounding punches to Grimm's face. With a laugh, Grimm swings his right arm to grab Adam, but he's once again dodged.

    Ripping the sword out of Grimm's foot, Adam thrusts forward and slams it into Grimm's chest. He stabs twice more, leaving three holes in his opponent's body before Grimm's damaged foot rises and plants itself into Adam's stomach, sending him reeling back.

    Grimm rushes forward, swinging to grab Adam's face as he recovers from the hit. His hand is dodged, and Grimm feels his forearm slashed by Adam's rapier before pulling it back and backhanding Adam across the face, an explosive slap sending him back into his stumble.

    Scraping along the floor, Adam goes to lunge forward as soon as he gets his footing but stops suddenly. Dodging back, Adam avoids the purple blade slashing up and avoiding it before it can cut through his body. He watches the scythe as it grazes past him, watching as it leaves Grimm's hand and into the sky. Snapping out of his focus on the weapon, Adam ducks Grimm's approaching grab, slashing his stomach and jumping back to dodge the knee that follows.

    Grimm catches his scythe, swinging it downward and slashing across Adam's chest, blood mixing with the rain as Adam's shirt rips open. Grimm's purple eyes glow almost a little brighter as he laughs, charging at Adam. 

    The shallow cut already starts healing as Adam re-engages with Grimm, dodging and trying to deal with as many cuts to Grimm as he can. Adam continues to speed around Grimm, eventually getting hit in the stomach with the staff before Grimm's palm slams into his face.

    The larger wounds on Grimm's body heal first again, the holes in his upper body closing as he grins. Much of Adam's progress is reverted from the one mistake, but many of the shallow cuts remain.

    Adam watches as Grimm slowly moves his weapon to his back, putting it away entirely as he enters a boxing stance. The purple in his eyes shimmers through the passing raindrops, blood pooling at his feet as he grins at Adam.

    Grimm is the first to make a move, stepping forward and swinging at Adam. Even when he dodges it, he can feel the power behind Grimm's punch. As he dodges the next few, he can feel the increase in Grimm's speed. 

    Adam continues to get small cuts, ones which hardly matter given Grimm's lack of pain. As he dodges and strikes, he finds it harder to get large openings and even gets less time to attack. Grimm's stance is more refined, more focused, and more precise.

    The two continue to swing at each other, Adam healing all the damage he takes, and Grimm ignoring all the damage he takes. The two perfectly counter each other in terms of skillset. The ultimate stalemate.

    Grimm swings, a left hook for Adam's head. A simple dodge leads Adam to a counter-attack by cutting Grimm's body again. Sneakily, with his hand over his shoulder from the missed swing, Grimm grabs his staff off his back. It extends as he brings his arm back over, and Adam jumps back to dodge what he interprets as a backhand slap. Instead, Adam is surprised as the staff slams into his ankle, sending him to the ground.

    Wincing as he crashes, Adam quickly adjusts to react to his next attack. Seeing the purple scythe sliding across the ground to get to him, he quickly rolls back to his feet, unfortunately being chased and feeling Grimm's palm slammed into his jaw. He stumbles, getting punched again as Grimm lodges his scythe into the ground. Trying to counterattack, Adam swings for Grimm's face but gets punched again before he can reach him. 

    Practically toying with him, Grimm continues to overpower him as he laughs. He only uses his power for the first punch, punching Adam normally every time after. He grabs Adam's shirt, but Adam's rapier swiftly cuts the cloth to escape, creating some distance between them.

    Bleeding in the face, Adam stares his opponent down. He raises his sword again, huffing a bit and gritting his teeth as he listens to the distorted and cruel cackles over the rain. His footsteps splash as he approaches his opponent once more, the bruising and damage to his face repairing itself.

    Engaging again, their speeds would be almost identical. The two of them swing back and forth as Adam tries his hardest to find the decisive cuts he needs to gain the upper hand. Grimm, on the other hand, continues to disregard the damage he takes as he looks to deal powerful crushing blows.

    Slowly but surely, Adam begins to lose the upper hand and get pushed back, struggling to keep up with Grimm's raw power. His cuts fail to do anything more than just shed blood, and each touch Grimm gets leads him slowly closer to victory.

    Quickly moving around Grimm, Adam quickly jumps back to dodge an attack from Grimm's scythe. As he dodges, Adam slashes Grimm's knee and thigh quickly, creating some space to reconsider his options. 

    Suddenly, Grimm's leg slips from the damage and the rain, and there's a slight splash as his stance falters.

    In that split second, Adam sees his opening. The decisive blow he was looking for presents itself, and he reacts with a move he's practiced a thousand times; fencing's iconic thrust. He aims straight for Grimm's heart planning to end the fight with this final stab.

    A bright glow comes from Grimm's eyes as he grins. Ready to take this fight to the end, he grips his scythe tightly, challenging Adam as he swings his blade upward to combat him. They both let out what could only be described as a war cry as they bring the fight to its conclusion.

    Silence follows. Broken only by a splash. A splash of flesh landing into a large puddle and turning it crimson red with the blood that leaks from the severed arm, covered by a torn green sleeve. A silver rapier lands next to the arm, clanking to a standstill.

    Grimm raises his scythe with a grin, holding it in both hands over his head as his eyes glow brighter than ever. He listens to the choked-up and pained noises Adam lets out as his arm leaks red, before slamming his scythe down, puncturing through Adam's chest. 

    There's a gasp as Adam's knees buckle and bend, his hand shakily reaching up to Grimm's arm. His fingernails sink into Grimm's arm, scratching and cutting him. Adam protests, even in this moment of pain, trying to deal whatever damage he can.

    The scythe is ripped from his chest, a splash of blood and disgusting noises of resistance from Adam's flesh and bone as he stumbles back. He struggles to stand with the hole in his chest, taking one step back before hitting the ground with a splash of crimson water surrounding him.

    Four more splashes follow, splashes approaching from behind Adam before stopping short. Blue shoes stay planted on the flooded concrete, blue fingers twitching and curling in disbelief as Pen stares into the ever-growing pool of blood mirroring the dread in the depths of his stomach.

    "Adam?"