King of Nothing Part 6

When I trudged through the underbelly of Krimo's lower levels to form The Cons, hell even when I was still a sap, I learned to do one thing and do it well. Turn every weakness into strength because the world will only see the former. That quote remained true to this day for both my opponent and me. Unlike her, the problem is that I saw the former and the latter.

Big bruisers like her are impatient and reckless. Being Damage's right hand probably makes her desperate to win as well. She probably took that last hint of resistance as nothing more than dumb luck, with this being some kind of big bluff; one look at that rope and my tired body made what happened next pretty obvious. A hungry Taurus unleashed her iron grip in a snap judgment, using the tied cape to reel me in for a straight knockout blow. Which is exactly what I was hoping for.

Adopting Ricochet's carpe diem lifestyle, I went limp like a ragdoll, sailing across the air before snapping back at the last second. Because now that her dominant hand got tied up, it means she would be naturally inclined to swing from her non-dominant one, and as said before: she's not dynamic. Before she could wind up her fist, I jumped up and kneed her in the face. In vain, the amazon tried to counterattack with an overhand punch.

However, if she could use our new bindings, so can I. Using her clumsiness and larger frame against her, I pulled ever so slightly, throwing off her aim just enough for me to safely throw out a crushing elbow to the face. From there, my earlier barrage was even more vicious than the last one, leaving my blows as ever-changing as the water while her attacks remained stagnant and stale.

A quick desperate glance let her know that I was the one in control, not her. Then, realizing she was now properly tenderized like the cow she was, I proceeded to the final step of my grand performance.

Without a sense of hesitation, I backed up just enough to deliver a powerful roundhouse kick to Taurus' right temple. Between all that, the headshots were finally starting to take effect. Taurus tried again to seize my cape with her blurred vision, but it was already gone.

Before she could get her vision realigned, I shrouded my cape over her. An instinctive backhand knocked my makeshift projectile away, but by that time, it was already too late. Using a split-second push kick to the hoove, I managed to grab hold of her horns and get close enough to that brutish face to feel her musty, hot breath.

"You know that I'm seeing you up and close and personal; I think maybe the problem isn't the testosterone supplements or the just plain fugly face, maybe you just need a good man to take you by the horns, but you're not going to find one here."

From there, we engaged in the most dangerous part of our little game. From this close up the CQC effectively belonged to me as I disrupted her flow even more with a variety of slow sweeps and low kicks.

Taurus tried punching my sides, but they weren't doing as much as she wanted for me to let go even with the prior damage. Still, the blows made my eyes water and my teeth grind. Most of the power from a punch comes from the legs. With Taurus' build, most of the power of a punch came from her wind-ups and motion as well.

In comparison, the average human leg strikes three times harder than a fist, so I did more damage and maintained the horns as proper balance. Unfortunately, that meant there was one more avenue left: grappling. And if she got the upper hand on me, this battle would be over. Every ticking second, I could feel the pain starting to jump out like a broken dam.

And yet, I kept going, struggling like a mad dog until I saw the opening right in front of me. When Taurus pulled at her hardest, I once again rag-dolled myself. Letting my body be the vessel for her power, but before she could fully unleash it on me, I added to her spin, giving me enough speed to throw her ass to the ground.

A small crater embedded itself into the small ring, but I didn't stop for anything, instantly getting on top and wailing on her with a merciless, relentless onslaught of punches. My knuckles quickly started to bleed, but I kept up the pressure, adding one last quote to add insult to literal injury. I swear I could hear my inner demon whisper happily in my ear, begging me to not only win but utterly destroy.

"You sure you don't want to change your name to cowgirl because you own this position. Have you and your oh-so-precious baby boy king swap spit before? Is that how you got to serve as his right hand and bottom bitch booty call?" I said as I enjoyed every second of her hellish beating.

But my sadism was promptly punished as my earlier quote flashed in my mind upon my caught fist.

"Turn every weakness to a strength because the world is only ever going to see the former."

I've been pushing my limits farther than ever before; I didn't even think that this could go the other way around. Taurus' rage had finally reached a violent peak, to the point where she went from unstable to rock solid in seconds. This means, long story short, she was so mad that she had now focused all her efforts on my utter destruction.

In one intense hook, one of my ribs cracked again as I get thrown off her. Then, using her newfound strength, Taurus sprang back up, losing all form of humanity as she used her opening and used her horns to carve into my side through a blitzkrieg that left me utterly defenseless. At that point, my act completely fell apart as with shocked eyes l gazed upon a wound that burned hotter than any fire.

From the depth of my core, I let out a shriek that pierced and etched into the very complex itself. My strength vanished once again as I was left whimpering on the floor like a scared child grinding my teeth to the point I thought they were going to break. In tandem, the crowd erupted into utter elation, finally seeing someone in more pain than them. Blood gushed out onto the ring, sapping my endurance and shaking up my heart rate.

Taurus walked away from my seemingly defeated frame in her new primal state, flaring her nostrils so hard steam burst out. But almost instinctively, as soon as she gave up her humanity, so did I. More of my inner demon started to take over like a pandemic, letting my hatred revive me once more into the fray.

Like a desperate animal, I crawled towards my enemy, grabbing the only weapon I've ever needed in this life: my cape. Before the whelp even knew better, her life was already mine. In one fell swoop, I tied my cape around her disgustedly beefy throat, turning it into my self-made noose. For a second, Taurus' whole body contorted in a sickening combination of puzzlement and abject terror.

Like a mad cow, she tried to escape, to struggle, fight back, but when I got thrown down to the ground. Still holding on even tighter when she saw my visage filled with a zealous hatred this world has never known, every cell in her body finally understood the true depths of my ability.

The thing about us humans is that we get instinctively ruled by fear. Fear of danger, fear of death, fear of pain, it's all the same. So our very lives get dedicated to saving us from the inevitable. But the beauty of regeneration is that it negates all that. With it, you can see any desired path through, so long as you're willing to bear the cost it brings.

If you're able to do that, you'll be able to become something beyond human understanding. Because to have regeneration is to effectively defy what we believe is common sense, negate limitations, and obtain what we know as madness. Unfortunately, I ran out of sense a long time ago.

I climbed Taurus's massive body from the ground up, inching up closer and closer till we remained face to face. And the minute she saw my face, free of all limitation and self-preservation, fatigue and fear took a deathly hold.

Seconds later, I was the one on top, standing over her soon-to-be corpse as I tied my cape even tighter. All that arrogance, rage, and confusion drained away from her bloodied and teary-eyed face, leaving behind pure hopeless, powerless panic. Yet, I couldn't help but smile at her desperately gasping vessel. Because all it did was give me a warm nostalgia.

"Go ahead, keep struggling to the bitter end, take a long hard look at my every waking moment," I said in pure, unobstructed evil.

Like a faulty lightbulb, I felt Taurus' life start to fade away, but before I could savor her last pathetic breath, a blast of red lightning to my side pushed me away. Upon contact, my arm itched with the annoyance of a thousand fire ants, yet I didn't even bother to flinch; I was far too angry to care.

Under the spell of the phantom pain, the decrees of the unhappy, unimpressive, unworthy king came with the image of a tempest of red lightning, making Damage look more titancial than he ever will be.

"Now, now Eternus, I'm all for disciplining subordinates but killing her would also be a waste. So you might want to stop before you do something that we all regret," he said again in fake politeness.

However, unlike before, I could almost taste it; the rage, the fear, and built-up temptation underneath that snakeskin. Yet, at that moment, I couldn't help but give a devilish smile knowing now that I made my impact and presence known. So I decided to dig into my heels and keep moving forward madly.

"The only thing I regret is not killing you the first time I laid eyes on you! Damage, the only thing I regret is not tracking you down to your little hellhole and rubbing your stolen creds right in your face! You want to bring me hell, but I've already been through it. So hit me with your best shot YOU PITFULLY, POOR, PATHETIC, PEASANT OF A KING!"

At that point, all acts got dropped as Damage's face shaped itself into one of pure rage as he threw his cane aside. I swear even his eyes started to glow red as the lights soon started to flicker off, leaving his scarlet form as the one trustworthy light source in the room. The crowd seemingly backed up and put themselves on guard, petrified at the thought of what was coming.

Burgundy thunder trailed up from the floor to the ceiling above, all to collect in his hands like they were mini rain catchers. Once the powerfully collected, Damage might as well have had two stars in his hands from how weighty and bright they felt.

Each awkward step he took shook the ring as the energy around his hands started to merge once he put his hands together in a clapping motion. His now veiny neck and gritted teeth revealed the strain of what was to come as I braced for it nonetheless while the now crazed king gave one last remark.

"FINE THEN, IF YOU'VE BEEN THROUGH HELL, THEN I WILL SIMPLY HAVE TO BRING YOU AN AGONY BEYOND IT! So BRACE YOURSELF, ETERNUS, ACCEPT MY BURDEN AND EXPERIENCE TRUE PAIN!!!!!!"

With that, he put his clasped hands together and fired a quickly concentrated beam that connected. Unholy power spasmed across my body, twitching every nerve so hard I thought they would snap in half. Instead, an itching hellfire erupted deep from my core, forcing my body into an unheard scream as black soon overtook the bright red.