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Once X got close enough from his charge he gave a barrage of attacks to occupy Norman's attention. To his surprise all of them made contact. Norman however was still unphased by his attacks.

"Now that you see how little your hits matter, I hope you learn your place." Norman swung his club down directly at X.

Little did he know that while all of this was happening, Darius was moving into a flanking position.

<Skill Message> user: Darius \\ "Hit him now!"

Darius let out a very solid hit on Norman's back, causing him to topple forward. This made his swing at X miss completely.

<Skill Marching order>

<Temporary +9 Str>

Darius suddenly felt more powerful than he did earlier. There was energy coursing through him much like it did whenever they received a new Stat Point.

X smacked Norman in his leg causing him to fall the rest of the way to the ground. Immediately after the attack connected he sent out another message.

<Skill Message> user: Darius \\ "You're buffed. Hit him again, and this time put some oomph in it!"

Darius didn't hesitate to bring his staff down right on Norman's midsection. On contact, a solid thud was heard causing Norman to gasp for breath. The wind was definitely knocked out of him

X pulled up his menu screen and noticed that he only lost 10 points of health. Norman's tankiness prevented him from taking a massive amount of damage.

<Skill Marching order>

<Temporary +9 Str>

'So marching order grants them my int score to their governing stat. Good to know. I am sure this will be helpful during this fight.' X started thinking about how to deal with how tanky Norman was as he watched him stand back up after their combined attack.

"Not a bad hit Darius," Norman said once he was standing back up. "Can you take it as well as you dish it?" Norman lets out an aggressive yell as he swings his club around in a circle and smashes it into Darius' side, knocking Darius over.

*System Alert*

Skill Unlocked

Battlecry

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Battlecry: This ability puts a fighting class into a frenzy. Reduces pain, negative effects, and fatigue. Increases all physical stats except Str by their Str stat for 30 seconds.

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"Would you look at that! I unlocked a skill. I guess this must be my lucky day." Norman dashed forward and swung his club at X.

Before the swing could land, Darius managed to get up and block it before it made contact.

"Don't get ahead of yourself. You aren't the only one with a skill. When you hit me earlier, you got my adrenalin pumping!" Darius braced himself behind his training weapon.

With their weapons locked both Darius and Norman were applying their full strength attempting to overcome each other. They were evenly matched. The power of the fighter's buffs proved to be impressive. Both <Battle Cry> and <Adrenalin Rush> were formidable skills when fighting an enemy with more physical ability than you.

Seeing that their weapons were locked in an intense clash X took this opportunity to help change the tide of the fight. He activated the Message skill and moved into position behind Darius.

<Skill Message> user: Darius \\ "Release your guard, move to the side, then attack him again.

Darius nodded to acknowledge he received the message. With a quick pivot, he released the clash with Norman causing him to stumble forward into X's prepared baton.

The attack came before Norman was able to respond due to his having to regain his balance. X swung with all his might hitting Norman right in his face, however, Norman didn't move a single inch past regaining his posture.

"I already told you, kid, you can't hurt me," Norman said releasing another cocky laugh.

"I know I can't, but he can," X said as Darius lashed out at Norman with a flurry of attacks.

Each attack finding its mark. Suddenly Darius's weapon had a red glow on its tip. He lunged forward with a solid thrust. The blunt weapon hit Norman in his kidney causing him to double over in pain. Above Norman's health bar was a red 2x indicating he just received a critical attack. He was currently sitting at 25% health and didn't seem like he would be able to easily get back up again.

"Do you surrender?" Darius asked with his guard still at the ready.

"To trash? Hell no, I was just catching my breath." He used his club to stand back up.

"Does this guy not have a limit?" X scanned over Norman. His eyes looked heavy, and his movements were slower. Glancing at the information floating above his head X realized that the buff from Battle Cry was no longer active. He glanced back over to Darius to see if his buff from Marching Order was still there. When he saw it he realized the advantage they had over Norman.

<Skill Message> user: Darius \\ "His buff is gone! If we both attack him now, we can end this. Rush him!"

Darius led the charge. With X following closely behind. One hit at a time they whittled away at what was left of Norman's health. When he was down to the last 10 health they stopped attacking him.

Norman was still standing tall, holding a powerful figure. After another second he fell and landed flat on his face. He was unconscious.

"That was intense," Elana said from the sideline. "That fight may have lasted a minute, but I swear I held my breath the whole time."

"Did you think we would overdo it or something?" Darius asked.

"No, I thought y'all were gonna get your asses handed to you. He was throwing you all around the field." She walked over to check out the damage done.

"Oh, ye of little faith. We totally had it in the bag. Besides, his skill only lasts for 30 seconds. Once that went down he was at a disadvantage fighting both of us." Darius plopped down on the ground expressing his exhaustion.

"I am worried about our strength," X said as he took a seat next to Darius. "If it wasn't for the fact that the buffs stacked from your Adrenalin Rush and Marching Order, I don't believe we would have won that fight."

"See! So what can we do about that?" Elana asked.

"Keep practicing assholes," Norman said standing up and walking past them towards the main camp.

"Even when you get your butt kicked you still find a way to be rude," X yelled standing up.

"Listen, just because you are the leader doesn't mean I have to like you. You won this time, but you are still weak trash. Until you prove otherwise that's all you are." He continued walking and bumped X's shoulder. 

Stay Worthy Readers!