Come." Abel said, beckoning on Astrid.
Astrid smirked before moving towards Abel with swift steps.
Abel responding by moving in as well.
They entered into each other's range, exhausting all their mean, trading blows in close combat.
Astrid was coming out on top, but Abel was relentless. He was beaten over and over again, but it didn't seem to matter to him. He got back up immediately and jumped into the fight.
But that only spurred on Astrid's sadistic side. "I want to see how much beating you can take before you give up." He said before delivering a knee right to Abel's face, further disfiguring his already broken nose.
Abel received the blow and used the momentum to step back.
He was truly well beaten, sustaining injuries in several parts of his body.
Thankfully, he protected himself well, avoiding any broken bones.
Still, his whole body looked like a mess. The only part of his body that looked different were his eyes.
Instead of the despair and fear that would have been expected, his eyes shone with radiant brilliance and a calculating glint. Red flickers sparked in his eyes as he looked at Astrid's confident smirk.
A confident smirk of his own appeared on his face.
And he rushed back into the fight.
They instantly entered close combat once again, but this time, Astrid found that things had become different.
At first, he noticed that he wasn't hitting Abel as frequently as before but he shrugged it off. But into the fight things became worse as he struggled more and more.
He couldn't understand. Wasn't he just beating up this person a few moments ago. What changed!?
The two goons looked at each other in confusion and anxiety.
Abel had somehow grown from being beating black and blue to now holding his own against Astrid... But as they watched it became even worse. Astrid... was starting to lose ground.
As their gazes met, a single thought that hadn't even crossed their mind before finally gained entrance.
"Would Astrid actually lose?"
***
On Astrid's end, it was even worse. He couldn't wrap his head around what was going on and this whole matter felt like one big joke to him.
When he failed to hit Abel a few times he didn't think much about it, attributing it to his luck.
But then it got worse and worse till they got on even ground, but even that, though surprising, didn't sweep him off his heels. It was what he was seeing now and the underlying meaning of it that shook Astrid to his very core.
Somehow, it seemed that Abel had comprehended his fighting style and mastered how to counter it in just a few moments, but how could he believe such a thing.
But it didn't matter whether he believed it or not, he was facing the reality right now. All of his moves were been countered swiftly and efficiently. Abel struck him with a timing and placement that he couldn't defend against.
Abel was continually discovering weakpoints in his fighting style that he didn't even know existed and was beating him with them.
He was much more stronger and faster than Abel, it didn't seem to matter, he was like a caged animal, all his efforts seemed futile.
Before he knew it, he was the one taking the beating.
Abel fought like a savage, punching him in the face again and again. His nose was broken, his eyes were swollen, his lips were torn asunder.
He was beaten so bad he doubted he would even recognise himself.
As his face was continually pummeled, in his heart, a root of fear that initially didn't exist began to form and rapidly spread to take over his mind.
He tried to escape, run away from this savage madman, but how could Abel allow that?
They were clearly on a spacious rooftop but to Astrid it might have well have being an impregnable prison. Every turn he took, he was met by Abel's fists. There was nowhere to run to.
The fear that cloud his mind had long turned into a strong survival instinct screaming at Astrid but there was nothing he could do.
Just as he was finally about to beg Abel, he took a punch to his chin once more, sweeping his head to his side. He instantly caught sight of two people standing and watching a few meters away with their jaws on the floor.
'Who?' Astrid first thought to himself, but his memory, fogged by fear and the desire to survive was jogged up. He instantly recalled that he didn't come here alone.
He had goons!
"What are you guys doing just standing there?!" He screamed, his words muffled because of the beating, "come take this bastard off me!"
"Oh, Okay." The two goons reacted, coming off the stupor and shock of what they were witnessing.
They charged towards Abel causing him to disengage from Astrid, moving away from his torso.
The two guys went to Astrid, helping him stand up from the ground.
Astrid held his broken nose with his hands as he looked at Abel with crazed eyes filled with rage and humiliation.
"Go! Beat him to a pulp. Don't worry about me!" Astrid screamed to his goons, his initial fear now fueling his rage even more.
The two goons looked at each other, hesitation clear in their eyes.
Astrid, understanding their thoughts shouted.
"Why are you scared!? Even if he's a monster, he's already severely injured and his stamina must be rock bottom now. Both of you rush him now!"
Abel would have loved to deny Astrid's claims but it was the truth.
In the first place he had long deserted physical training so his stamina was subpar. Going against Astrid in a prolonged battle, he was doomed to lose. He had since been exhausted, only pushing through with sheer will. But now, he was already past his limit.
Abel looked towards Astrid crazily and went towards him with a mad dash, scaring Astrid out of his wits and causing his goons to move to protect him.
But he suddenly pivoted, dashing towards the rooftop's door.
"What...?" Astrid and his goons were shocked, understanding instantly downing on them.
"Get him!" Astrid screamed to his goons.
They reacted instantly, chasing after Abel.
Unfortunately, trying to dash at full speed while staggering and gasping from exhaustion was a recipe for disaster — especially when your assailants were more athletic and rested than you were.
Before he could reach the door, he was tackled from behind. His head landed on the railing before his back hit the floor.
"Ugh..." He muttered feeling faint.
Astrid approached him from behind his two goons, only coming to face him after confirming that he was down.
Astrid came face to face with him, looked him in the eye and started hitting his face.
How dare you...?" Astrid said feebly at first, but his voice raised as he continued speaking and punching.
"How dare you!? You useless fool! How dare you do that to me!? Who do you think you are!? You useless trash that'll soon be forgotten by his equally worthless princess. You think you can act how you want in front of me!? A soon to be awakened spirit master!? I'll beat you to death!" Astrid forgot himself in his rage as he punched. Again and again...
He couldn't believe he truly was made a fool of. He could only think of this way to wash away the shame.
"Uhh... Astrid, he's already unconscious. You'll kill him at this rate," One of his goons muttered, but he didn't seem to hear, as he continued punching.
"Astrid!" The goon screamed as they both held his hand, trying to restrain him.
"If he dies we wouldn't be able to bear the consequences. Bullying is fine, but if we kill him, we'll be tortured to death as well!" The other goon screamed into Astrid's ears forcing him to calm down. They were right... He couldn't kill him.
At least not now. But when he became a real spirit master...
"Let's go," he said to his goons.
They left the rooftop, leaving the bloodied and unconscious Abel to fend for himself.