Abraxes was neither trained, nor was he experienced. Except for a few scuffles that had led to blood being drawn whilst growing up in the Purlieus, his fighting capabilites were far from being equal to Gaius'.
But, under the influence of Keres' Impetus Talent, his own murder focused mind and the fire in his chest growing stronger, he was beginning to slowly learn and match the Signifier.
Gaius took a quick step back after their initial clash, his bronze blade glinting through the air as he pushed forward not a moment later and tried to drive it into Abraxes stomach.
He followed the man's exact movements, his experience growing and his mind reshaping itself to begin understanding how to fight better, how to keep up with him.
Abraxes fell back a step, and with both of his hands on the pommel of the blade, swung it from his side, crashing the centre of its bronze metal against the tip of Gaius'.
The bones in his arms shook, almost vibrating from the impact, but he didn't let the sensation deter him. Gaius' sword missed him by mere inches, and he stepped into the Signifiers guard within that same moment.
His eyes widened as Abraxes raised his blade above their heads and smashed the metallic end of the pommel directly into his shoulder. The scaled leather armour dented slightly but managed to protect him from the worst of the damage.
Though Abraxes could tell that it had still hurt.
The man reached for him with the same arm, trying to grab him, but Abraxes was already moving, taking several lightning-fast steps back and parrying another strike that threatened to skewer him.
The most it had done to him, was manage to shake the bones within his arms again.
They fell back into circling one another again.
Though Abraxes was definitely feeling his physical limitations at this moment, with his breathing slightly irregular and his muscles burning from both exertion and the bruises he had gained earlier.
Gaius had been the one to come out of the exchange with an actual injury, wincing every so often as his shoulder sent a spike of pain through his arm whenever he moved it.
It was unfortunate that the injury would heal quickly.
"You are well trained." Gaius complimented, spinning the blade in his hands and taking the moment to speak to him as if they were having some friendly spar.
It made the fire in his chest begin to boil, the shimmering rage he was already struggling with containing, threatening to entirely explode.
'Keep thinking of me as if I am some bug to squash, I will show you the error of your ways soon enough.' Abraxes lunged forward wordlessly, his teeth almost cracking from how hard he had grit them.
Thrusting his sword at his opponent's chest, he cursed in the silence of his mind as he realized he had overextended, his inexperience rearing its ugly head once more.
Gaius expertly avoided the attack with another quick step, before pivoting from where he stood and thrusting his own blade forward, aiming directly at his head.
Abraxes scowled and banished the surge of panic within him as quickly as it had appeared. Using the blood-stained mud beneath their feet, he fell to the ground, moving with the slippery surface.
His right cheek flared with pain as he fell, and he could already begin to feel the blood welling up from the thin cut just below his right eye.
Grunting from the impact, his lungs burned as the air within was forcefully pushed out. Having no time to linger on the pain, he rolled through the mud only a second later, avoiding another thrust aimed at ending his life.
Hurriedly pushing himself to his feet, his teeth clenched together, forcefully stopping the cry of pain from escaping him, and instead releasing a pained hiss as another razor-sharp cut was made against his lower back.
Pivoting on his feet—as Gaius had graciously showed him not a minute before—he turned with his entire body and thrust forward with all the strength his momentum had given him.
It felt as if the world had slowed to a crawl.
Faster than the Signifiers blade could rise, Abraxes watched as his blade pierced through the armour, through the bones and flesh and muscle, and cut directly through the man's left arm.
An almost deafening silence descended upon them, only momentarily broken by the limb falling and slapping uselessly against the mud.
Gaius looked at him with shock on his face, the color slowly draining from him as he froze. Looking down at his bleeding limb and the missing arm now laying on the ground.
"Well, well, so it seems the jackal does have some fangs on him!" Nero's cheery voice broke through the grim quiet.
Gaius shakily looked away from his arm and at the Archon, his mouth slowly opening, whether to scream or plead, nobody would ever know.
Because not a moment sooner, through the shocked quiet, Abraxes drove his blade directly through the man's stomach, and made him choke on his own blood.
Abraxes may have been inexperienced in the art of combat, but he had survived in the Purlieus for seventeen long years and had learned many valuable lessons. One of those lessons was never to hesitate, to never waste an opportunity that would benefit you when it was presented.
Gaius looked almost startled, as if he had never expected such an underhanded attack from someone. His entire body was tense and shaking, as the blade within his own hand slipped free from his fingers.
Grabbing the man by his exposed neck, he felt his Eidos pulse with a subtle confirmation, before he roughly pushed him back and ripped his blade out within the same moment.
The Signifier stumbled as he was pushed, his legs shaking as the strength within them slowly began to leave him. Blood flowed freely from his wounds and lips, and he began to sway, a spark of fear shinning within his hazelnut eyes.
It drove Abraxes into a wild frenzy, imagining how Keres must have looked in her final moments. No, he silently decided, he wasn't done with this bastard just yet.
Because he had told this man, this Signifier, even before their battle began, that he would be losing his limbs, and he had meant it.
Guided by the anger in his chest and fuelled by his loss, Abraxes moved faster than even his own eyes could track.
He chopped through his left arm, and didn't even let it hit the floor, before slicing through his right thigh, severing the leg before moving swiftly to cut the left leg below the knee.
Gaius didn't exactly crumble to the floor, nor did he simply fall. He collapsed, no longer supported by either limb or spirit. Blood stained the mud beneath them once again, but it was no longer that of a Mercuries, but of a Copper.
The man stared up at him silently, his body and mind having likely gone into shock. His eyes were frozen, that same fear burning brightly within his eyes.
Gallons of blood spurted from his wounds, and standing above his broken body, Abraxes could only sneer down at him as the heavy scent of iron invaded his nose.
Raising his bloodied blade above the man's head, he allowed the blood staining its copper body to flow and drip freely onto the man's face.
When he spoke, his words were a whisper, almost a hiss full of scorn and the cold acceptance that his vengeance was fulfilled.
"In your last moments, before you fall into the hungry bowels of Tartarus…I want you to think of the blood staining your hands, of the woman you killed, of the light in my eyes that you rid from this world."
Abraxes glared down at the man, watching as the light within his eyes began to dim.
"I want you to remember the life leaving her eyes as you murdered her, and I want you to know, that it wasn't Keres death, but your actions, that led to your miserable end, wretch."
Abraxes didn't bother saying anymore. Even as Gaius gave a choked cough, and blood leaked profusely down his chin, Abraxes drove the blade in his hands directly into the Signifiers temple, shattering the bone and destroying the brain.
He took a deep, almost ragged breath as he leaned over the dismembered corpse beneath him. His Eidos pulsed within him, a subtle warmth spreading through his entire body.
[You have slain a Human Signifier, Iron Tusk. Your Axion Core grows stronger]
[You have Assimilated a Bloodline, Affinity, and Talent. Your Eidos grows stronger]
The sound of slow, loud clapping made him turn his weary body around, to meet the delighted eyes of Nero. The man had a bright grin on his face, as if he had just witnessed some brilliant play, and not the mutilation and murder of a man.
"My friends, above and below, may we all congratulate the jackal on his first victory as an Enlightened!"
Abraxes ignored the scattered applause with a barely concealed sneer, his eyes moving from the Archon to search for Keres' body. He found her instantly, exactly where she had been left before all of this.
Stepping forward, his hand slowly rose to hold his lower back, where Gaius had left a deep cut. His tunic felt damp from the blood leaking from the wound, and his hand was covered in a liquid red as he inspected it.
With the adrenaline slowly leaving his body, he began to feel not just the cuts, but also the various bruises he had gained before and during the battle, each of them flaring in pain as the cold winter winds threatened to freeze.
He pushed through it; his mind focused solely on reaching Keres and her pale body.
Abraxes passed the Enforcer whose blade he had taken, stopping for a moment, before taking the blade in his hands and driving it into the mud at his feet. He looked up without saying a word, and met the man's eyes, memorizing their teal coloring, before finally turning away and continuing.
It took him only a few more steps before he reached the fallen body of Keres. Gently falling to his knees beside her, he wiped his right hand against his tunic, uselessly trying to rid it of any blood or dirt that had clung on.
The applause around him had died down by now, and he used those final moments of peace and quiet to look down at his lover. Her face was a pale, bruised and bloodied mess that hid her true beauty from the vile world.
But at that moment, in his eyes, she looked as radiant as the sun.
He traced her face, carefully brushing any stray black hair away to silently memorize its shape, to remember her red lips, her high cheeks, her gorgeous grey eyes.
Abraxes thought of their last night together, he thought of the way her eyes had shined in the morning, how she looked at him as if her entire world revolved around him.
He thought of the quiet, whispered confession of love she had told him, of the feel of her lips against his cheek before she left.
He etched her face into his memory; of her unique and beautiful details he had seen countless times yet wished to see once more. His hand moved slowly, avoiding the bruise on her cheek, before closing her once shining grey eyes, forever.
Slowly forcing his legs to push himself up, he looked away from the woman he loved and raised his head.
He didn't dare meet the expectant gaze of Nero, instead focusing on the man's polished shoes, before stiffly bowing.
"My apologies for the mess, my lord."
A tense silence passed for a moment, before Nero released a jubilant laugh and jumped off his constructed ice platform.
"Oh, my friend, you have nothing to apologize for in the slightest." He said calmly, creating an ice path over the blood and mud beneath him. "I have not witnessed such entertainment in years!"
The Archon came to stand before him, the ice at his feet radiating a cold that the winter season would be either proud or jealous of.
Abraxes kept his head down, stuck in the bow as his expression slowly became blank of any visible emotions, the anger within him moving to hide behind a mask of nothing.
"You had a right to vengeance, Abraxes Basilus. So, raise your head, for your strength has been proven, your spirit has been tested, and your fire has remained unquenched."
Nero spoke with neither mocking, nor glee.
For once, he was serious, his expression the image of a true nobleman.
Abraxes followed the command issued to him, and rose his head, meeting the sharp blue eyes of the Archon with his own burning emerald. Then, he spoke, his voice hard and unyielding.
"I am yours to command, my lord."
Nero wordlessly smirked at him, clapping a gloved hand onto his shoulder, before turning and beginning to bark orders to those around them.
Abraxes watched his back silently, feeling his Eidos pulse within him once again as his true thoughts and feelings remained hidden.
'I am yours to command, until you are no longer of any worth to me. Until I am strong enough to shatter your eyes and pearly teeth with only my fist, until I can destroy all that makes you, Nero Ti Gelid.'
Gaius may have been the one to kill Keres, but it was Nero who been in command, who had issued the order and took joy in their misery and deaths and Abraxes…he did not forget that, nor would he forgive it.
Gaius may be dead, but he was a tool, a stepping stone compared to the ones who truly ruled this society, this vile world, which allowed for such atrocities to take place.
Even if it took him years, even if it took countless decades, Abraxes swore that he would get his revenge, that he would topple this corrupt and unjust system from the ground up.