Blow after blow, Soren’s body continued to break further. The excruciating pain he was in would have made any normal person give up. He could feel the cracks in his ribs. The two bullet wounds he received had hurt a lot, sure… but the deep gash left on his back was all but deadly.

  So yes, he had enough. More than enough really, in this moment there was nothing more he wanted than to lay down and let the peace keeper finish him… But even so, some part of him refused to just lay there and give up.

  There was something nagging at him from the back of his mind. Something he often tried to ignore… Guilt.

  ‘Get up… Get up! Not like this. I won’t let it end like this, not to someone like him.’

  His muscles screamed in agony as he forced his body to pull itself up. His arms caved in for a moment nearly sending him back down into the cold stone.

  The looming figure of this radiant man hung over Soren, the light of his armor chasing away some of the darkness littering the quiet street.

  “Just give up, resisting will only cause you more suffering.”

  Suddenly a cold metal hand gripped the hood of Soren’s cloak, lifting hip up. The hand was quickly followed by another one, this time it grabbed the cotton mask, firmly yanking it off.

  Dangling from the man’s iron grip, was a young boy. Soren looked to be in his mid teens, he had messy brown hair, and jade green eyes. His skin was slightly tan.

  Even though he couldn’t see the man's face, Soren could tell there was genuine shock in him. He briefly froze.

  “A boy… You’re just a boy…”

  Taking advantage of the keeper’s brief moment of weakness, he reached into his satchel grabbing onto whatever he could find. After being thrown through that door Soren had lost track of where his revolver had landed. Grabbing hold of a small trinket he swiftly jammed it into the gap between the neck and breastplate of the keeper's lustrous armor.

  Suddenly a massive cloud of dark smoke erupted from the trinket. The ridged grip on his hood loosened, allowing Soren to slip from his grasp.

  Falling to the dark stone road he dashed as far as he could.

  “Choke on it you tin bastard!!”

  Swiftly he fired the hook into another building, soon he was pulled upwards.

  Once at an adequate height released the sleek blade, immediately firing it into another adjacent building. Occasionally landing atop a roof, as to not waste what little soul remained in the grappling hook.

  Stopping for a moment held his hands to his thigh and shoulder. In the next moment what seemed to be threads of white light flowed from the palm of his hands. Soon they formed a simple string of runes.

  Once they had completed themselves the wounds that had been delivered by the keeper’s revolvers seemed to close on their own. Flesh seemingly knitted itself back together.

  ‘That’s better… Not perfect, but better.’

  Once he had adequately mended the two bullet wounds he reached a hand over his shoulder to the large wound on his back. Just as before threads of light wove themselves into a simple sequence, and with them the large gash on his back had begun to heal.

  Glancing back he had hoped the distraction with the smoke would have allowed him to lose the armored monster, but luck did not seem to lend its favor to him.

  Not too far behind, perhaps a dozen buildings or so, a bright light could be seen leaping from roof to roof.

  The armored keeper was moving with tremendous speed. Even now the light of his armor showed no signs of dimming.

  ‘Shit! What the hell is powering those runes?’

  Whatever did supply his armor was most definitely greater than what Soren had scrapped together. The lining of his harness only contained simple physical enhancement sequences.

  While still incredibly useful they lacked the ability to enhance his senses. That left him having to dull the enhancement, otherwise his body would move faster than his mind could keep up with.

  Leaping to another building he let the grappling device do most of the work. However, looking back he saw the light of the man's armor draw closer and closer. He was moving faster than Soren could run away. In a matter of minutes he would be on him again.

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  ‘So, I guess running isn’t an option anymore…’

  He needed some way to deal with his persistent adversary. Perhaps some way to trap him.

  Suddenly a sly grin appeared on Soren’s face, with it a devilish idea.

  Without warning he changed course, instead heading back to where the confrontation first began.

  …

  Landing on the tiled roof of another building he stared up at the grandiose structure before him. The clock tower was perfect for what he had in mind, all he needed to do was to bait the lieutenant inside.

  Sinking the metal blade in the side of the tower, Soren began his ascent.

  Once more he was granted a beautiful view of the city. Zelona had always been beautiful, but for some odd reason its beauty felt somehow off-putting. It felt like he was performing in front of an audience. It was uncomfortable.

  Reaching into his satchel he retrieved two more trinkets. Gripping them tightly as he ascended, Soren’s eyes darted around, searching for any sign of the lieutenant.

  “Where did you go? What got tired and gave up…”

  There was only silence. He had lost track of the armored man, even the bright light his armor gave off could not be seen. Needless to say it was unnerving.

  Nearing the top, he grabbed on to the iron railing, throwing his legs over. As he landed he found himself facing the massive clock, but before he could enact any devious scheme a loud voice boomed from behind him.

  “Did you really think your tricks would work on someone like me!?”

  A sudden sharp pain radiated throughout his back, as the cold steel foot of the lieutenant rotted itself in his back.

  Soren was sent forwards through the large glass face of the clock tower. Landing in a dark room, he rolled a bit, stumbling as he pulled himself to his feet.

  Pieces of glass littered the floor, the large brass hand of the clock had been bent out of shape. Stepping through the shattered frame of the clock, a radiant man stood tall.

  His tiredness in his voice had been seemingly lost, instead it was replaced with bitter anger, and seething fury.

  “I gave you plenty of chances, boy! Yet each time you chose to resist… I had intended on giving you a swift death, but now… now I think I’ll take my time.”

  The man stepped forward still brandishing his short blade. His grip on it was tight, exuding barely controlled anger.

  Gritting his teeth, Soren fired the hook at the lieutenant. However, the man simply swung his blade knocking the hook away.

  “Really? After all your fancy tricks, that was the best you could…”

  Suddenly the blade shot back, its shape edge dragging along the pristine silver armor. As it drew back it left a small almost minuscule scratch along the ornate pattern carved into the armor.

  The light of the armor suddenly dimmed into nothing, leaving the once radiant armor cold and lifeless.

  Shouting a heinous curse the once proud keeper turned his helmet towards Soren.

  “How dare you?! You little shit, I will skin you alive for that!”

  The man lost any composure he had left, no longer sounding like a cold calculated killer, instead like a child whose favorite toy just got broken.

  “What? Scared to take on a child now that you’ve lost your fancy armor? Honestly I expected more from a lieutenant… But that’s what you get when you let daddy handle everything for you.”

  Soren’s words were malicious, filled with mockery.

  The once terrifying lieutenant charged at him, abandoning all sense of reason. Raising his short sword above his head, he screamed with utter rage.

  "Die!" Die! "Die!"

  Just as he hoped, the keeper fell right into his hands.

  Tossing two small trinkets at the man's feet, a sea of orange flames erupted, washing over the entire room. sending the both of them flying in opposite directions.

  ‘Ah!’

  Slamming into a wooden beam Soren found himself opposite of the armored man. A massive hole in the floor separating the two. The hole seemingly was a straight drop down, it was too dark in the base of the tower to see, but falling down there would certainly spell doom for him… or a crazed keeper.

  Pushing himself up he pulled out another small bomb, then shot a glance over to the man.

  “Well… I’m waiting! Come and get me, or are you all talk?”

  The man slowly stood up, his footsteps echoing throughout the creaking tower. His helmet seemed to have warped, possibly from the impact, or maybe without the runes it didn’t have the strength to resist the explosion.

  Gripping the warped helmet, he cast it off, revealing long greasy black hair. The helmet dropped down into the dark pit. The man’s face was now clear to Soren. His dark blue eyes were full of hatred. His face was relatively young, he looked to be in his mid twenties.

  The man did not respond. He was breathing heavily, not from exhaustion, but from sheer frustration.

  A grin formed on Soren’s lips.

  “Not in the mood to talk?”

  Letting out a frenzied scream he charged towards Soren, Quickly moving around the hole in the floor.

  Gripping the bomb tightly, he attempted to back away as much as he could. Eventually he found himself backed against another clock face. Leaving him nowhere to go.

  He had already deactivated the enhancement given by the harness, preserving what little soul remained in its reserves. Cursing under his breath he duck low, avoiding the initial strike.

  Moving as quickly as he could, he created some distance. Now, this game of cat and mouse truly began.