The man turned around and saw the figure. He had similar armor to his own, except it was pitch black. And he wore a half-helmet with horns like a buffalo. Complete with his otherworldly grin, he truly looked like a beast, which only desired one thing. Slaughter.

  'I was wondering when you would show up,' his voice almost scratching the warrior's ears. 'Or if you would show up at all. After all, you are just a weak-spirited piece of shit who can be scared by a falling leaf'.

  The man gritted his teeth in response. He drew out his sword. How dare this parasite call him a coward? On what basis does he rest this idea? His foe saw his reaction, and he looked satisfied with the results of his taunt. He waited for the warrior to strike.

  But he did not attack, not yet. He wanted to try another thing. If Anger could be used to his advantage, if it could be a tool to achieve his goals, who is to say that this... Beast could not?

  'Are you here to just stand around like a fucking idiot, or are you here to fight?' The Beast asked, with irritation in his voice.

  'Neither,' the man finally answered. 'I am here to talk. To make a deal'.

  Before he could continue, Beast interrupted him.

  'A deal? A DEAL? WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK I AM? Let me guess, this "deal" would be that I get to destroy freely, but only certain targets, which are chosen by you. In other words, you would have me as a fucking pet! A dog, which is let loose on your enemies! No, I am not interested in "deals"; I am not interested in a "compromise." I am only interested in getting out of here to finally do as I please! And for that, all I have to do is to KILL YOU!'

  The monster charged at him with his pitch-black sword, ready to cut the warrior in half. He readied his own weapon, and the two forces met, sending shockwaves into the nothingness around them. The warrior held his ground and pushed back, forcing his foe to jump back a few meters. Quickly the man used the opening and spoke a spell.

  'Star light, star bright, show me your strike!' He stretched his arm before him and let out a stream of light from his hand aimed at his opponent. Beast was swift to respond in kind.

  'Let all light die before the midnight's cry!' He let out a shriek so strong that it made the stream of light break before him, rendering the spell useless. The man made a quick stride at him and struck with his sword, crying another incantation.

  'Anathema!' His sword burst out with flames of will, cutting at the torso of the monster.

  Beast would parry with his own blade, clashing the two weapons together.

  'Really? A big flame stick? Please,' said the all-black armored warrior, before kicking the swordsman in the chest, making him fly back and crash into...

  A wall? He asked himself. He had no time to think about it, for his foe attacked him again.

  'My hatred has no bounds; it reaches whoever I can find, so let them fly, like the daggers in the night!' His armor shifted, and tendrils with the ends of spearheads rose from it all, aiming at the warrior with the flaming sword. With a twitch of his hand, they struck at him, aiming to tear him apart. But he had a few tricks himself.

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  'Here's the storm, which no mortal can pass, sealed away in the wind god's bag!' He made a cut in the air with his weapon, creating a huge current of wind, pushing back the tendrils of hatred and pushing their caster back as well, as he struggled to stay on his feet against the divine winds.

  It was then, when the warrior realized that throwing spells at each other was pointless. They were relatively equal in strength in that regard, so it would just go on forever this way. The only way to win was to do this face-to-face.

  'Thundercloak!' Lightning came down and struck at the man, only for it to surround him. The spell gave him greater strength and incredible speed, but at a great cost. It was difficult for him to maintain it. Hence, he acted quickly.

  He crashed into his foe, like a cannonball to a fortress's wall. Beast held his ground but was sliding backwards.

  'Really? This old fucking trick?' He said mockingly. With a turn, he broke the bind of their sword. 'Two can play that. Sorrowbur'n! Suddenly the monster burst out in black and white flames. He should have been burnt to a crisp, and yet, the flames were harmless to him.

  Seeing this, the swordsman struck again with his own flaming sword, only to meet with a parry. He tried to strike the other side of his opponent with lightning speed, but now Beast was just as fast as he was, parrying him again. Their battle was so ferocious, so fast, no mortal eye could even hope to keep up with it. Every strike held the disgust for their foe; every parry was turned into a powerful counterattack. Should someone else have seen their struggle, they would have thought that they were demigods of equal strength. And yet, the monstrous warrior proved to be stronger. While the man struggled with every cut to keep up his magic through an effort of will, he realized that his foe had no problem in doing so. In fact it seemed that as they went on, he only got stronger, even letting some small cuts reach him on purpose. This made him realize just who this Beast was. His adversary managed to push away the swordsman's sword, opening him to a kick to his chest with such force that the man flew back a few meters, arriving with his face down. All his spells were broken, as his concentration was disrupted.

  He struggled to get on all fours, coughing up blood in the process. No doubt, some of his ribs were broken from the attack.

  'I must say, as interesting as this fight is, I am disappointed. Although that's not surprising, given that it's you we are talking about, right, bitch?' He laughed, letting his flames disappear. 'You don't even realize who you are fighting against, do you?'

  'Oh, I know,' replied the man. 'You are my anger. My hatred. Against everything and everyone who wronged me,' he thought for a moment and added. 'Mostly against my father, I would say, for all the things that he wronged me with. All the things I did not get from him. It was boiling up in me, but I faced it before.' He looked up to Beast with a look of confidence. 'And I will do so again!'

  The black-armored hatred laughed. So loud, as if the man told him the joke of his life.

  'Who the fuck said anything about your old man?' He started to walk towards the warrior. 'No. I am your terror. I am your mistakes. I am your weakness. I am your inability to act. I am your feelings of being lost and alone. Every time you fail to save someone, to do what must be done, or to decide what to do next, I am the voice condemning you for it. I AM THE TRUE OBJECT OF YOUR RAGE. I AM THE ONE WHO TELLS YOU THE TRUTH OF JUST HOW WEAK AND PATHETIC YOU ARE. THE PROOF THAT YOU WILL NEVER BE GOOD ENOUGH! I AM YOUR EVERY SHORTCOMING, EVERY BAD HABIT, EVERY LIE YOU TELL ABOUT YOURSELF! In other word's? He let half of his helmet retract, revealing his face. That was when the realization struck the man. Paxfort was not the first place where they had met. He was in his ears every time a decision turned out to be the wrong choice. He was speaking to him every time someone had wronged him, urging him to strike back. To continue the spiral of hatred. Every time he had doubts or was just in a bad place, he was the voice that said to just give up. No one will care about him being dead anyway.

  This face was none other than his own.

  'I AM THE ONE YOU HATE!'