With his sword back, Orin slices swiftly and wildly towards his enemy. Ajax, still being wary of the long blade in his hand, backs off. Finally getting a reprieve, Orin allows himself to react to and process the pain in his shoulder and right knee, using the sensation as a reminder that he shouldn't underestimate his opponent.
He scrutinizes the current sensations of his body to see if there are any issues that would prove to be his downfall. As a mage with healing spells at his disposal, he knows basic medical knowledge and is able to feel internal bleeding within his body no matter how little.
Alright… I’m not too far gone yet…
Orin applies a quick, chantless pain dampening spell on his shoulder and knee. The blood flowing from his scalp mixes into his hair and he uses a simple flesh repair spell to halt the bleeding. His scalp wound is still visibly open but the bleeding has ceased noticeably.
The darkening blood in his blonde hair makes Ajax smile. His enemy is strong, there is no doubt. However, he's still a human, just like him. He's not facing a monster or a god, he's only facing a human.
Orin doesn’t have time to repair the small break in his knee cap but that injury isn't going to affect his mobility with the pain gone, at least right now. With his enemy in front of him, he wouldn’t be able to apply the tier two healing incantations to do that. He takes a single deep breath.
He exhales slowly while not taking his eyes off his opponent.
Don't take it slow. Don't enjoy yourself. Kill him. Now.
Ajax stands away from Orin with his left hand raised towards the flames ahead of him in an attempt to prevent his opponent's flames from getting too wild. His expression changes as he remembers what he has left over. He digs into his half-empty coin pouch to pull out some more "bullets". However, Orin doesn't leave Ajax the time to do any more pitching.
He decides to bait Ajax one more time. He leaves a bale of white fire in his wake as he runs towards the stairwell behind him. Ajax extinguishes the flames in his path while running and easily follows after Orin, maintaining a short distance.
Ajax has let his opponent control the pace of the battle again and he's getting angrier. The burning man incinerates the stairwell door and continues dashing upstairs.
You're not getting away, you fucking bastard…
Ajax is hot on his trail but Orin is still a better runner, not due to his speed but because of his superior running form. Ajax isn't someone who can move as gracefully as Orin. He's still just barely out of high school and only ever participated in physical education classes because they were mandatory until his tenth grade.
His running form has always been underwhelming as a result.
Orin enters the fifth floor hallway with his sword in hand while Ajax tries to keep up. He runs a few meters into the hallway before abruptly turning and lunging towards Ajax. Ajax is startled as his momentum keeps him moving towards Orin. Ajax is able to back away, reacting faster to Orin's tricks this time. Yet, Orin doesn't back off. He keeps advancing towards Ajax while slicing the air with his sword in an attempt to do real damage to Ajax's body.
For a few moments, Ajax is relegated to dodging over and over again. Three times he gets shallowly cut, but he doesn't dare to allow himself to feel the pain. His healing factor lets him to disregard all pain, but if he reacts to it by losing focus, he leaves himself open. The very last thing he wants is for the sword to slice through something vital, especially his head.
If it were to slice through his spine, he might lose the ability to walk and move his arms even briefly. If he allowed himself to freeze for even a moment, his death could come for him.
Of course, he doesn't find any moment where he can reach out his hand to graze Orin's skin in order to freeze even a part of him to solid ice. All he can do is barely dodge strike after strike. Unfortunately, even with all of his consideration towards his opponent and the fatal battle he finds himself in, he is truly just a human.
Within a minute, he makes a real mistake.
He misjudges the range of Orin's blade as the burning man tries to cut him in half horizontally. Orin fails to make the cut he wanted to, but he is able to slice through Ajax's belly, carving up his liver, stomach and lower left ribs in a slightly curved slash.
Blood splatters onto the ground of the hallway as Ajax tries to handle the intense pain in his midsection. The pain is so great that it forces him to retreat backwards quickly while Orin tries to follow. He can see the burning man's deranged and satisfied expression at having landed such a strike. Luckily, the pain lasts for only a couple seconds and his midsection heals back to normal in ten.
By the time Orin reaches him again, Ajax is able to properly continue dodging.
However, he can tell that Ajax is anything but calm and collected. He tries to push his advantage by continuing to slash and cut as much as he can. Ajax tries to find a solution to how he could possibly fight back against his enemy right now without a major influx of energy.
Feeling the pain he has felt so far is taxing his mind. He is starting to truly fear his death. His opponent isn't getting weak enough to defeat. He's only getting more belligerent.
Ajax knows that he's going to continue to make mistakes no matter how much he continues to heal. He wants his mind to move faster, but he's already been trying to force his reflexes to keep up with this battle's pace. His body is already moving more fluidly and swiftly than it was minutes ago.
Yet, Orin is able to see through Ajax's evasion pattern with less and less mistakes as time passes. Even if he is able to move faster, his burning opponent simply moves his sword to where it needs to be in order to do the most damage to Ajax. His fighting and evasion style is getting more and more predictable for the battle mage.
