Roy ran to the side, feeling his heart thumping as the golem charged him once again. He abruptly changed angles, running left this time and circling the golem to find a weak spot. He was sure there would be one. After all, whoever had designed these trials must have known that no one challenging them would have any proper techniques.
The golem turned in place, keeping its glowing red eyes on him the entire time. Finally, seeing that his tactic of running back and forth was only exhausting him and not the golem, Roy changed plans. Abruptly changing direction once more, Roy flooded his body with the Essence in his core.
He exploded forward, covering the distance between him and the construct in less time than it took to blink. Roy didn’t have any time to cycle any Essence outward, so he just slammed a closed fist into the golem’s shoulder. The stone cracked under the force of the attack, sending a fine web across the construct’s shoulder and upper right arm. That hadn’t been the only thing that cracked, however.
Roy screamed in pain as he clutched at his ruined and bleeding right hand. He’d made a huge mistake and had attempted to try and use a Full-body technique without first knowing the proper way to use any at all. As a result, he’d learned why it was important to know all three Body techniques before attempting something like this. Without an Armorer technique, he would be damaging himself just as badly as his opponent. He’d just made the mistake of punching a piece of solid stone, hard enough to crack it, without one. It was a valuable lesson, just one that Roy wished he could have learned when his life wasn’t on the line.
He staggered back, gritting his teeth so hard that they creaked from the strain to prevent himself from losing focus. His hand resembled nothing more than a bloody, pulpy mess, but despite that, he still had bigger problems.
The distraction caused by his injury had allowed the golem to recover, and now it swung its massive ax at him once again. Electricity sparked off the forged blade as it swished through the air, and Roy wasn’t fast enough to get out of the way. The blade sliced clean through his robes, cutting a bloody furrow across his chest. That wasn’t all it did, as the electricity dancing across the blade flooded his body as well.
With his core nearly dry from using the failed Full-body technique, Roy had nothing left to fight the foreign Essence. He went to the ground, spasming and twitching as the lightning coursed through him. He tried desperately to stop or at least to think of something he could do. He knew that the golem still wasn’t done with him, and he was as helpless as he had been just a few days ago.
A loud swish sounded from above him, and Roy had just enough Essence left in his core to send a pulse out through his right leg. There was a loud boom and he was sent flying forward a good seven feet. A second later, he heard the crunch of splintering stone as the ax slammed into it.
Roy forced himself onto his feet as the numbness faded from his body. His limbs still twitched uncontrollably every few seconds, but so long as he could stand, he could stay alive. But just because he was alive, didn’t mean his situation looked good, by any means. He was down one hand, was bleeding badly from the cut in his chest, and he was completely out of Essence.
The golem, in contrast, only had some minor damage on its chest and some more severe cracks around its shoulder. The golem yanked the ax free of the ground, and Roy’s eyes widened when he noticed that the cracks on its shoulder spread just a bit more. An idea began forming in his mind then. It was the type of crazy idea that one would only try if they had no other choice left to them.
He was beginning to feel lightheaded as blood continued streaming down his chest, and the pain from his shattered hand clouded his mind. Even through all of it, he was still cognizant enough to carry out the plan. Or so he hoped.
Instead of doing the rational thing, which would have been to turn and run, Roy charged straight at the towering golem. The construct of stone and Essence lumbered towards him as well, swinging the massive ax overhead and charging it up once more. Skidding to a halt right before it, Roy spread his arms out to the sides as though mocking it. He wasn’t sure if golems could be insulted, but even if they couldn’t, this would present way too good of an opportunity.
The ax came down in a blur, and Roy threw himself to the side. His shoulder hit the gravel hard, tearing up his outer rope and badly scraping the skin beneath. That pain was nothing, compared to the other injuries he’d accrued over the course of this challenge, and he was back on his feet in an instant, charging right at the golem as it attempted to pull the ax free.
He leaped into the air as he drew near and slammed his knee into the golem’s shoulder. Pain flared in his leg as it made contact with the stone, but, finally, the weakened stone gave way. With a loud cracking sound, the golem’s entire arm crashed to the ground where it lay twitching. Roy landed badly, twisting his ankle, but he turned his body in time to avoid breaking it.
His breathing was ragged, and everything hurt, yet Roy forced himself to focus, even as the golem staggered away from the ax. As he’d suspected, the ax was forged of Power essence and was not connected directly to the golem. His right hand was ruined, but his left still worked fine.
Wrapping his fingers around the massive haft, Roy heaved with all his might. He was lucky that the golem had already worked it mostly free. Otherwise, there would have been no way, short of a Full-body enhancement, for him to pull it out. Still, he stumbled back as the oversized weapon came free of the ground with a crunch.
Surprisingly enough, the haft of the ax felt much the same as the White-Belt tied around Roy’s waist. It was slightly slippery, with a bit of give to it, proving that it was not made of worldly materials, but rather, from solid Essence. It was light, as well; lighter than any weapon that size should be.
It was unwieldy, but with no Essence left in his core and his vision growing cloudier by the second, Roy had little choice. Turning to face the golem once again, he ran at it, dragging the ax behind him in his off hand. Though admittedly, it was more of a shuffle than a run.
The golem, now standing quite lopsided due to its missing arm, roared its challenge at him, golden fire exploding from its joints and the fire composing its head flaring to almost twice its original size.
Roy was too battered and bruised to be intimidated. He’d come this far, survived so much. He wouldn’t fail now. Not because of a sentient pile of rocks!
Speeding up to a run, Roy charged the golem, growling low in his throat. The pain from his twisted ankle and quickly swelling knee worsened with each step, but he ignored them, pouring on yet more speed.
Finally, when the monstrous tower of living stone was almost upon him, Roy kicked up the back of his foot, catching the haft of the ax dragging behind him with his heel. The ax launched into the air in an arc, and Roy used the momentum of his charge to increase the power of his swing. His left hand didn’t do much more than guide it, but that was enough. The golem plowed headfirst into the glowing ax blade.
The blade cleaved straight through the construct’s head, splitting it neatly in two. In fact, the weapon continued its trajectory, only coming to a halt once it rested near the center of its chest.
Roy, himself, didn’t come away unscathed from this. His attack had done nothing to stop the momentum of the golem’s charge, and he was subsequently buried under a pile of stone weighing nearly two tons. He felt his ribs crack under the pressure and his left arm snap in several places. More than one internal organ ruptured, and his body was riddled with stone shrapnel.
He lay on the ground, staring up at the swirling clouds above and feeling the life fading from his body. Despite that, he smiled. Even though he would die in the end, he would still die as a Martial Artist. Not as a freak.