Chapter 39 - Chapter 39- A Warrior’s End

As Bow followed the Dark Paladin down the shadowed corridor, he could tell he was being led away from the main chamber. The hall opened into a wide side room, empty, stripped of storage, lit only by a few trembling candles. Bare stone walls. Open space. A good place for a duel. Bow rolled his shoulders. Perfect. The Paladin finally spoke, voice deep behind the helm. "Your name, warrior." Bow rested his hand on his hip, relaxed but alert. "Bow. Bow Strongblossom. Just a guy with… silly dreams," he said with a half-smile. The Paladin's tone was steady. "I am a warrior as well. One who fights only for coin… and for himself." They separated to opposite ends of the room, giving each other space. Bow nodded slowly in respect. "Well then…" he said, voice low. "From one warrior to another, I should ask, will this battle end in humiliation… or in the honor of a warrior's death?" The Dark Paladin lowered into his stance, armor creaking as he settled. "The conclusion," he said, "will be the honor of dying in battle." "I see." Bow bowed deeply. The Paladin returned the gesture with equal respect. Then they both raised their guards. Two warriors. Two breathing statues. Silence swallowed the room. Their eyes locked. No hesitation. No wasted motion. Then, they charged. Not running, launching, crossing the space in a heartbeat, the distance between them collapsing like it never existed. The moment their fists collided, mana erupted, sparks bursting outward like stray bolts of lightning. Streams of raw energy cracked through the air as they clashed again, and again, until the room shook with the rapid rhythm of fist meeting fist. Bow grinned. He slipped into the barrage, weaving between every punch the Dark Paladin threw, each movement smoother, tighter, more deliberate. And when he found his opening. THMP! Bow drove his fist into the Paladin's gut with everything he had. The impact exploded through the armor, shattering the breastplate inward as the Paladin stumbled back, wheezing. Bow tapped his own chin with a lazy flick of his knuckles, eyes fixed on the Paladin with a look that said everything without a word. The Paladin understood. He lunged. CRACK! An uppercut full of mana slammed into Bow's jaw so hard it snapped his head back violently, his whole body lifting half an inch off the ground from the force of it. Silence. Bow froze. Then, a low chuckle. Then another. Until Bow lowered his head again, blood trailing down his chin, and grinned like a man who had just been handed the greatest gift of his life. "Nice one…" he said, voice rough with excitement. He smiled wider, eyes sharp and eager. "But it wasn't good enough." The Paladin tensed. Bow stepped forward. And the real fight began. The Paladin barely had time to brace. Bow stepped in, not fast, just decisive, and slammed his fist into the Paladin's ribs with a strike that sounded like a tree trunk splitting. CRRRK! The Paladin didn't budge. Instead, he answered with a hammerblow to Bow's temple. THUD! The entire storage room trembled. Bow's vision spat white for a second. The Paladin grabbed him by the throat, slammed him into the wall, and drove a knee into Bow's stomach with enough force to crater the stone behind him. Bow coughed blood, shoulders pressed into the rock. The Paladin didn't relent. He launched a barrage, heavy, disciplined, merciless, each punch exploding against Bow's body like a battering ram. THMP! THMP! THMP! A rib cracked. Another bent. Bow's body dented the wall deeper and deeper until stone dust poured around him. A lesser man would've collapsed. Bow just grinned through blood-coated teeth. The Paladin lifted his fist for a finishing blow. Bow whispered: "…my turn." He exploded forward. Their foreheads collided with a sickening crunch, the Paladin stumbled back, dazed. Bow didn't waste a heartbeat. He grabbed the Paladin by the jaw and dragged him across the room, slamming him into the opposite wall so hard the stone spider-webbed from the impact. Bow inhaled sharply. And suddenly… everything slowed. The ringing in his ears faded. The world narrowed to the steady thud of his heart, the stretch of muscle fibers under his skin, the tiny twitch in the Paladin's fingers. This wasn't adrenaline alone. Sure, adrenaline flooded from deep within the adrenal glands, hitting his bloodstream like lightning. His breathing sharpened. His vessels widened. His skin tightened across bone. His face went still, jaw loose, mouth parting slightly as his body entered survival mode. But Bow pushed past even that. Past the human limit. Into something deeper. Into what is called, The Zone. A state where instinct overtook thought. Where clarity burned brighter than fear. Where time didn't matter, only intention. The world shrank into razor focus. Every move the Paladin made mapped itself in Bow's mind before it even happened. His limbs felt lighter, his reactions pre-written, his power pouring out in perfect rhythm. His body no longer hesitated. It simply acted. The Paladin threw a punch. Bow watched the knuckles approach as if moving through water. He stepped aside. He didn't dodge with fear, he flowed away from it with grace no one Bow-sized should possess. Bow countered with a hook. Not wild. Surgical. His fist buried itself into the Paladin's side. BOOM. The Paladin folded over it, breath blasted out of him. Bow didn't let him recover. He grabbed the Paladin's head with both hands and kneed him in the face. CRACK! Helm dented. Blood sprayed. The Paladin staggered but threw a spinning elbow, a lethal, trained strike. Bow leaned just enough to avoid it, the air brushing his cheek as it passed. A thin smile curled at the corner of his mouth. "The Zone…" he breathed. His fist tightened. And for one impossible heartbeat, his focus collapsed into a single point, his breathing, his heartbeat, his mana, his intent, all aligned perfectly. A violent ripple tore through the air around his knuckles. Not mana. Not muscle. Pure, absolute precision. Bow's voice dropped to a low whisper, almost reverent: "Perfect Impact." He vanished forward. The space between them imploded with a concussive CRACK, a sound so sharp it seemed to snap the world back into motion. The shockwave rippled down the hall, warping stone, distorting torchlight, and slamming into the Paladin's armor like a meteor. The Dark Paladin didn't even have time to register it. Perfect timing. Perfect angle. Perfect power. A strike that only exists when Bow is truly, fully… in, The Zone. The Paladin felt the moment the punch connected, not as pain, but as total system failure. His chestplate, already fractured from Bow's earlier strike, didn't just dent further, it collapsed inward completely. The weakened metal folded like soft clay, snapping inward with a sickening crunch that resonated through the entire hall. The already-compromised armor offered no resistance. It shattered from the inside out, exploding into jagged fragments that tore at the Paladin's tunic and skin beneath. The shockwave bypassed armor entirely and attacked the body directly. Three ribs broke clean. Two more snapped at the center. A final one cracked near the spine from the force transferring through bone. His lungs seized. His vision went black at the edges. His heart missed a beat… then another. There was no time to scream. The Perfect Impact didn't send him flying immediately, not at first. There was a single horrifying instant where the Paladin hung there, suspended in the aftershock, chest concave, breath stolen… And then the air caught up. WHOOM. His body was instantly ejected backward. Boots scraping across stone. Armor ringing like an empty bell. Blood flecking the air behind him. He slammed into the far wall, the stone bending before breaking, cracking outward like a crater forming around his body. Debris rained down as the impact left him half-embedded in the fractured surface. His legs trembled wildly as he fell forward onto his knees. He tried to stand. A warrior's instinct. A promise to meet death with dignity. But his ribs ground together. His lungs wheezed wetly. His mana channels sparked out of rhythm, flickering like dying embers. Still… he lifted his head. And through the pain, through the collapsing body, the Paladin smiled. A proud, exhausted, warrior's smile. "…A flawless strike…" he rasped, voice thin but steady. "…You honor me… Strongblossom…" His arms trembled, buckled, and he fell forward with a heavy thud, his helm resting against the floor in an unconscious bow. Not submission. Not fear. Recognition. Respect. A warrior's end. Bow stood above him, chest heaving, fists trembling with the fading burn of the Zone. He lowered his head once, not in sorrow, but in acknowledgement. "You fought well," he murmured. Dust drifted through the air. For a moment, Bow believed it was over. But then, movement. The Paladin's fingers twitched. Slowly, painfully, the man planted his gauntleted hand on the shattered stone and forced himself upright. His armor hung in tatters, dented inward where Bow's strikes had landed. Blood seeped beneath his helm, sliding down in dark, steady lines. He got one knee under himself. Then the other. Until he rose, shaking, swaying, but standing. Bow's eyes softened. "…you're stubborn," he whispered. The Paladin couldn't speak. Could barely breathe. But he lifted his fists anyway, not in anger, not in desperation, but in respect. A fighter's final salute. A silent message: I die on my feet. Bow exhaled slowly and stepped forward. No rage. No hatred. Only respect. He raised his own fists. The Paladin charged first. Not fast. Not strong. But brave. Brave in a way only warriors understand. Bow didn't dodge. He intercepted the punch gently, almost guiding it aside, honoring the effort rather than denying it. The Paladin swung again, a weak, wavering hook. Bow caught that too. Their eyes met through cracked visor and bloodied lashes. Bow whispered: "Rest well… warrior." He placed one hand over the Paladin's heart. Mana surged, not wild, not cruel, but clean, focused, merciful. Bow struck once with the heel of his palm. A warrior's mercy. CRRRK. The chestplate collapsed inward. The Paladin gasped, exhaled, and folded into Bow's arms. Not violently. Almost peacefully. Bow lowered him to the floor with care, laying him flat and closing his eyes with two gentle fingertips. Then Bow knelt. He bowed deeply, forehead touching the stone. No boasting. No victory cry. Only a fighter honoring the only thing worth honoring: a worthy opponent who stood until his last breath. Bow rose slowly, wiped blood from his lip, and whispered one final blessing before turning toward Helios and Halo's battles: "…may your next life be peaceful." He walked forward, not triumphant, not gloating, but carrying the quiet dignity of a warrior who honored another to the very end.