It seems that Shāng accepted Ash’s invitation and headed to the meeting point. A deserted place where no one would go for any sensible reason. Ash demanded from the Zhong guo people and from Agnar that none of them intervene in any way or they would die. From both sides, when they demanded explanations, he only replied:

  —It’s a surprise I’m saving for the end. If you want to live, don’t set foot within a five-kilometer radius.

  According to him, that is the radius of the arena the two of them will need without causing collateral damage. Obviously, this only left everyone with doubts.

  And it was even more surprising when, in the middle of the command room, with the whole team present, he undressed and orderly handed all the belongings he carried on him to Agnar, and then said:

  —Alright, take care of this for me. And now give me one of your suits, the ones your soldiers use.

  Agnar, already lacking the ability to be surprised, simply said to him:

  —I know you’re crazy, but even you must know what a will is.

  —You have very little faith in me —Ash replied to him ironically.

  After dressing and getting ready, I, Agnar, my friends and other companions were going to celebrat… watch how Ash left. But before flying away, he warned us:

  —Don’t use my weapons, don’t inject the liquid from the syringes, and don’t open what looks like a pocket watch or you will die.

  After saying that, Agnar put all the apparently dangerous and unknown things into a safe, and Ash left.

  At noon, in a rocky, flat and very cold terrain, in the middle of it Shāng is sitting on the ground eating sweet-and-sour chicken with rice while looking at the landscape. Not long before finishing his meal, a few meters behind him Ash falls from the sky. The impact was quite strong, as he had to bend down to absorb it.

  Shāng turns in his direction and fixes his gaze on Ash.

  Seeing him eating, Ash only laughs subtly and says to him:

  —You took that thing about me killing you very seriously. I’ll wait for you to finish your “last supper”.

  Shāng, still chewing, points his chopsticks at Ash and says while eating:

  —Whad do you dhink you can do againsd me?

  —What? —Ash, not having understood well what he said.

  Shāng, swallowing the last bite, repeats to him:

  —What do you think you can do against me?

  —Oh, you’ll find out. I’ve wanted to try something for a long time, but I’ll leave it for the end. I want to loosen up a bit, and you’re the perfect punching bag —Ash said while doing some simple stretches.

  Shāng observes him for a moment and, altering the height of his sight by bending his legs and shifting them from side to side, asks:

  —You haven’t changed much in these eighty years. You haven’t aged even a little. And I see you no longer use that coat-type armor. Don’t tell me someone managed to break it? They said it was one of the best in the world… but I suppose in the end it was only a matter of time.

  —Hahaha —finding it very funny, he began to answer after stopping his laughter— No, nothing like that. It’s a bit humiliating, but like you, I was sealed. And above all… I was the first.

  —Hahahaha… Hahahaha —Shāng laughs brutally. Knowing how things turned out can only make him laugh— They captured you first and you think you can defeat me?

  —Believe me, it’s very possible. Especially when you underestimate me so much.

  —On the contrary, you underestimate me. Remember that I was the cornerstone of our victories while Dimitri was in charge.

  —He never trusted you. Some time before he died, he told me that you were a very troublesome man. Without respect for your own life, you would have none for that of your companions. And they gave the position to me because my survival instinct is much greater than that of the rest.

  —Pff… if that were true, why would a coward be more reliable?

  Ash smiles mockingly and says —Because I need living companions to cover my back, or in an extreme case buy me time to escape if things get ugly.

  Shāng changes his face to a more serious one, throws his empty bowl to one side and, without any further delay, launches himself in a jump as fleeting as a flash. He lands a blow on Ash that pushes him several meters, and during the trajectory Ash rolls, hits and bounces along the ground as if he were a rock thrown onto a lake.

  Lying on the ground, he lifts his head and murmurs to himself:

  —Damn, I’m uncomfortable. I still haven’t gotten used to the suit, it squeezes my balls.

  Feeling that something is coming toward him, he rolls to the side and avoids Shāng’s fall, who upon impact raises a dusty wall of dirt and stones. Taking the situation as an opportunity, Ash brings his hands together, extends his arms and launches a bright and powerful blue beam at Shāng. Upon receiving the attack, he becomes immobilized and begins to burn completely. Ash, still maintaining the magic, observes Shāng’s condition and then ceases the attack to approach and give the roasted body a kick, which tears the head off. Next he puts his hand through the hole in the body and pulls out the entire spine. He throws it aside and then opens the body’s stomach, beginning to rip out and throw away all the organs that come out.

  After butchering the whole body, Ash goes to the head, which has begun to regenerate. But before it can complete the torso, he puts his hand through the remaining hole and generates a fire explosion that scatters Shāng’s incomplete organs and parts across the ground. Once again, being only a mutilated head, Shāng looks at Ash, who walks around him.

  —I thought you would be something more difficult, but I think I’ll have to entertain myself a little until you decide to do this seriously —then Ash takes out his cellphone and sits on the ground. Then the music from Tetris is heard.

  Shāng’s head begins to regenerate slowly, but before it can continue, Ash frees one of his hands and fires a fireball at it. This repeats several times, until the head stops regenerating. Ash, watching it with one eye, puts the device aside and, with childish curiosity, stands up to approach and see up close what is happening to it.

  After observing it for a moment, he straightens up and, like a fox looking in all directions with his ears keenly attentive, searches for something around the area. In a moment of carelessness, Ash is struck by an invisible force and thrown at great speed several dozen meters from where he was. He quickly stands up and looks toward the origin of the attack. There it was: Shāng, pointing with a completely healthy arm, whose skin advanced like bacteria toward his flayed body.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  He immediately began launching more attacks. Ash, receiving the first impact on his shoulder and losing some skin along with the part of the suit that covered it, reacts quickly and begins running in curves around Shāng.

  Jumping, rolling, and spinning, he dodges every strike Shāng produces. These, failing to hit their target, simply produce no consequences. Shāng looks like a child using his hand to fire an imaginary pistol. Finally, he gives up on distance combat and runs toward Ash. Seeing him seek close combat, Ash accepts the challenge, and with a burst of his fire, he takes speed toward him.

  At the instant before colliding, Shāng sees that Ash jumps to deliver a kick and tries one last time to fire a surprise attack. But Ash, with a small impulse from his hand through a burst of fire, turns his body sideways and manages to land a well-placed knee on Shāng’s chin. The impact is so strong that it completely crushes his jaw: teeth, bones, and pieces of tongue fly out from the sides of his head.

  Shāng instinctively steps back and touches the damaged area out of pure reflex. A bloody and cracked mass is what he feels when touching himself with his hand. Regaining his composure, he looks at Ash with anger and then swings his fist in the air. Ash receives a powerful blow to the head.

  He withstands the impact from the front, planting his feet firmly on the ground and balancing with his arms. With a large bruise on his face, he adjusts his body and, directing his hand and palm toward Shāng, expels from it a wave of fire so hot that the small rocks on the ground, even those not touched by the flames, turn red from the heat.

  When the flames dissipate, a charred body is revealed looking to the side, but Ash sharpens his sight and sees that only half of it is burned. Using his intact half, Shāng again uses his magic and points at Ash with his closed fist. Ash receives a force that surrounds his body and compresses his abdomen, but at the last moment he resists the attack by generating muscular force from within.

  Shāng, furious, shouts at him:

  —How are you so hard to kill?!

  Ash, mocking him, answers:

  —Do you realize it now? You’ve never paid attention to anyone, I’ve always been a very tough guy, you know?

  Shāng, almost completely regenerated and overflowing with fury, charges toward his enemy and engages in hand-to-hand combat. Ash responds the same way, but coating his arms with powers of flames and lightning. Shāng uses strikes from his kung fu and Ash from sanbo. In a small opening, Ash places his hand on Shāng’s shoulder and, at the moment of executing his move, Shāng grabs the hand with the opposite one and, with his corresponding arm, twists it together with the other arm with the intention of breaking it.

  Quickly, Ash jumps and spins in the air in the direction of the spiral, managing to hook his legs around Shāng’s neck. Both fall to the ground. Taking advantage of his position, Ash begins to strangle his prey, but Shāng manages to kick Ash’s face by stretching his whole body, and Ash asks while receiving the multiple blows to his face:

  —How are you so flexible?

  —Years of training.

  Shāng manages to strike him in the throat, causing Ash to lose control of the hold. He quickly rolls to one side and manages to get on his knees to attack at a distance, while Ash, still coughing, reacts and also fires his magic. Both receive the other’s attack at the same time.

  Shāng stands up with a hole in his stomach, its edges electrically burned, and Ash rises with a large red stain on his shoulder, showing exposed flesh.

  Shāng, now without patience, says:

  —I can fight all day, can you?

  Ash smiles and, bouncing like a boxer, replies:

  —Niah, I can go a whole month.

  While the scene unfolds, very high above, a reconnaissance drone flies over the dangerous individuals. The robot’s camera focuses its attention on the fight occurring on the ground. The video is also being watched on a large screen by a group of people stationed in a desolate area, with guards around and heavy vehicles, each prepared with a weapon for any situation that might arise. The group, composed of several soldiers and officers, stands out for having Agnar and Peng at the center.

  Both, very attentive to the screen, begin to speak.

  —I hope your man resolves this without causing us more problems.

  Agnar, looking at him seriously, replies:

  —I hope so too.

  —Why do I feel like you have less faith in him than I do?

  —Because I have less faith in him than you do.

  Peng opens his eyes wider, surprised, and looks at Agnar. Then he accepts the situation and returns to focusing on the screen, where the madmen continue fighting.

  Ash and Shāng now find themselves in an exchange of punches. Like boxing robots, they strike each other with no sign of stopping. Shāng, with his face bloodied and gaunt, begins to lose sight of Ash due to the swelling that obstructs his vision. Meanwhile, Ash, with only a little blood in his mouth but with some purple bruises on his face, increases the power of his attacks.

  Shāng loses the rhythm and Ash takes an overwhelming advantage. Advancing step by step, he does not stop bombarding his enemy with flaming and crackling fists. Shāng manages to lower his head before the next blow lands, and stepping toward Ash, he places his hand on his chest. Immediately afterward, Ash is crushed against the ground by an overwhelming force.

  Ash shows pain from the effect of the spell, and Shāng wastes no time: he crushes Ash’s chest with his foot in a heavy impact. The earth around them trembles and cracks. However, upon receiving the blow, Ash grabs Shāng’s foot with his hands and, with abnormal strength, breaks his oppressor’s tibia in two.

  Shāng loses his balance and leans forward. At that moment, Ash rolls to the side, stands up, and with the part of Shāng’s leg he still holds in his hand, gives him a “kick” to the face, using his own foot lodged in his mouth.

  Shāng, trying to pull his own foot out of his mouth, is smashed by Ash’s lethal attacks. While striking him, he asks:

  —What’s wrong? Did I make you eat the dust?

  Blows of lightning, flames and a few bites strike Shāng consecutively, giving him no time to heal, defend himself or attack. Lying on the ground, reduced to rotten and battered flesh, Ash takes the opportunity to catch his breath.

  From the observation post where Agnar and the others are, watching the screen, suddenly their faces shift from attention to surprise and slight horror. A blinding white light takes shape, creating archipelagos of different colors and tones. It begins forming a blurred human silhouette.

  Blinking repeatedly, Shāng begins to heal his eyes. And as soon as they recover, the blurry scene he saw a moment ago clears, and he can only open his mouth in astonishment at the sight of Ash eating one of his arms as if it were a piece of meat served at a banquet.

  Almost completely healed, Shāng begins to stand up and, at that moment, says to his predator:

  —What the hell are you doing?

  Ash, giving not the slightest impression of shame or guilt, while eating, swallows the bite and simply replies:

  —Well, I was hungry… and I didn’t have much to choose from. I’m not immortal like you, I need to stay well nourished, you know?

  Shāng looks confused. His expression gradually changes to one of anger.

  —You’re crazy! —he shouts forcefully— Did the war mess up your head or something? How can you cannibalize me? Monster! —he reproaches him with hatred.

  Unmoved by Shāng’s words, showing routine calm, Ash says to him:

  —Pff, the war? There was no better supplier than that… oh, what nostalgia. When I started with Dimitri, he let me eat whatever I wanted as payment. Later I started seeing the advantages of money and, well, I didn’t do it so often after that. But since you were always so busy looking at yourself in the mirror, you never noticed my good taste in food. Though I must say your meat doesn’t come close to being better than a hamburger.

  Shāng, with eyes full of uncertainty and disgust, wipes all that from his face and, like a dog baring its teeth and filled with fury, says to him:

  —I’m going to kill you.

  And Ash answers:

  —Good luck with that, it’s not something you can do.

  Inviting him to come by waving his hand, Shāng attacks Ash with all his strength and the brutal battle resumes.

  At the observation post, Agnar, now looking more worried than before, asks Peng:

  —You wouldn’t happen to have a “plan B,” would you?

  Peng slowly turns his head toward Agnar and, displeased, says:

  —Shouldn’t I be the one asking that question?

  Agnar, somewhat frightened, only replies:

  —Relax, it was only hypothetical.

  And the two return to watching the screen. Then Pul murmurs to himself:

  —I think this is going to take quite a while… I’d better go prepare something to eat.

  And after that, he leaves the section.

  

  

  

  chocolate is sacred.