Steve was still on the ground, clutching his ribs and spiting dust. He wasn't getting up anytime soon.
Sly was worse off. The fire rings Minny started hauling against him had shrunk to a tight cage around his ankles. Sweat ran down the side of his face. Every time he tried to jump, the flames jumped with him. Minny had him. He was one misstep from a burn he wouldn't walk off for weeks.
Jack looked over, breathing hard. "You good?" he asked.
Minny didn't look at him. Her eyes were locked on sly, her palms glowing orange. "I've got him. Deal with the general's son before he..."
she didn't finish, and she never got the time to because Stanter was already moving.
he hadn't run when Steve went down. he hadn't flinched when sly almost got burnt. he just watched like wasn't even seeing his comrades get beaten. But now he took one slow step forward, then another, until he stood between Jack and his friends.
"In this world we live in only the strong shall prevail, so if that's all you've got." Stanter said, voice flat, "then you got to try harder. because am not going easy on you."
Jack wiped blood from his lip. " I wasn't planning to."
They circled.
Stanter struck first. Clean. Military. A jab to Jack's stomach that doubled him over, then a backhand that sent him skidding. Jack hit the floor and tasted copper.
Stanter didn't let up. Shoulder to the chest. Knee to the thigh. Elbow to the back when Jack tried to rise. It was like fighting a textbook that hit back.
Sranter went in with a punch to his head trying to knock him out but this time Jack was ready for him, Jack got one good swing into Stanter's gut. The punch was heavy and packed with fire power which sent Stanter a few inches back. Jack tired to go in for an attack again but it was like all his movements had been predicted Stanter moved fast and caught his wrist, twisted, gave him a kick to his ribs and dropped him again.
"Haha, that punch of yours packed quite the firepower, so get up let me break you" Stanter said. Not taunting. Just bored.
Jack did. Shaking. Vision blurry. His ribs felt like Steve's ribs must have felt minutes ago.
"Hm you will always be weak like you are because you are a low-life who knows nothing about strength, your mother shouldn't have bothered giving birth to another weakling like you." Stanter teased with a nonchalant expression.
"...what did y... you say?, I may look weak to you but never mention my mother's effort". Jack said as her struggled to stand up.
Something in him snapped. Not pain. Anger. Hot and stupid and loud.
Unbeknownst to him the necklace he always keeps around his neck started to flicker everytime he spoke as if it was reacting to his emotions, then suddenly...
~Boom!
Dark energy burst out of his body and pushed everything back ever so slightly, the pressure was so strong even Stanter took a step back. Jack stood there the energy running wild within him.
His hand flew to his chest without thinking. The old cord around his neck. The necklace his mother gave him. He didn't know what it did. He never had.
It pulsed. Just once. A fraction. Like a heartbeat under his skin.
Heat flooded his arms. Not fire like Minny's. Deeper. Older. It didn't make him stronger. It made him faster. Clearer.
"Wo! I feel alot lighter like I could move faster now"
He moved before Stanter did.
For three seconds, Jack was ahead. He slipped Stanter's guard, caught him with a right to the jaw that actually moved him. Stanter's eyes widened. Just a little.
'How is this possible, just some few minutes earlier he was taking the beating and suddenly..., what was that energy surge from him I thought he was supposed to be a Knight not a mage' Stanter thought hard.
"Haha! This is great." Jack exclaimed.
But just as he went in for another punch.
~swirllll
Then it faded. The light under Jack's shirt dimmed. The power slipped away like water through a fist.
Stanter recovered, grinned for the first time, and drove Jack to his knees.
Jack was done. He knew it. Arms wouldn't lift. Lungs wouldn't fill.
"Shit! Minny," he rasped.
She was already there.
She didn't shout. She didn't aim at Jack. She aimed at the ground under Stanter's feet.
"_Ashbind_."
Black chains of ember and stone shot up, wrapping Stanter's calves and yanking his balance out from under him. He went down to one knee, furious, snarling.
Jack had one shot. One breath.
He took it. Drove his shoulder into Stanter's chest and put him flat on the stones. Not knocked out. Not dead. Just pinned, pinned hard enough that he couldn't move without pain.
Silence again.
Jack rolled off, chest heaving. The necklace was cold now. Dead.
Minny released the chains. Sly's fire died. Steve groaned.
Nobody was killed. Nobody was crippled. Just bruised. Humiliated. Unable to walk straight for a while.
Stanter lay there, staring at the sky, breathing through his teeth.
"You got lucky," he muttered.
Jack stared and touched the pendant on his chest. "Maybe," he said. "Or maybe not enough."