Chapter 10: Brawl
Staring directly at each other eyes, Siegfried and Claude butted their heads against each other. Eris simply sighed as the two men sorted out their differences.
"Are you picking a fight with me, good sir?" Siegfried asked politely.
"No, I'm just here to tell you to never fuck around with me. Got that?" He then pushed Siegfried away as he approached Eris.
"Hey, you're pretty hot. Waddya say you go with me instead of this bozo here?" Eris simply rolled her eyes at him and continued to read her notes. Sensing that she won't comply he quickly grabbed Eris's arm. "HOW DARE YOU TOUCH ME!"
"C'mon, I'll treat ya. One night with me will wash all your worries away." He said as he grinned wickedly and dragged Eris away. Eris desperately tries to break her arm free but finds that Claude kept a firm grip on her arm. She was about to take out her hunting knife but stopped herself when she remembered that the killing of other hunters is forbidden and is punishable by death or banishment from the Guild. To make matters worse, a large crowd was watching. Murder in a place like this won't go unnoticed. Her only option was to use her strength to try to break free of his grip.
"LET GO OF ME!"
Claude was just too strong. There was a clear strength difference between them. Try as she might, she was overpowered by his raw strength. The crowd watches as this big, burly man forcefully drags the Ice Queen away. Suddenly Claude felt someone grip his arm. He turns around and finds Siegfried standing between them, one hand on Claude's arm and the other gripped firmly on Eris' shoulder.
"What do you think you're doing? She is with me Claude, so keep your hands off her. Now unless you want all the bones on your arm broken, I'd suggest you leave us alone. DID I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?" He said menacingly. The crowd gasped when Siegfried raised his voice.
"Threatening me eh? He promptly let's go of Eris.
"Y-you…" Eris said as she held her arm. She never expected someone to help her, and certainly, she never expected him to help her.
"Stay back Eris. I'll deal with this asshole here."
"Siegfried, I'm not some damsel in distress. I can- "
Siegfried placed both hands on her shoulder. "No. Let me handle this. I can't stand seeing assholes like him do whatever they want especially when it deals with the likes of a woman. Besides, he owes me a drink. Please, just stand back and watch. This fight is between me and him."
He was about to turn around and face Claude when he suddenly felt Eris grip his wrist.
"Huh?"
She didn't look at him as she spoke, her gaze kept firmly on the ground. "If that's the case then…By all means, break all the bones in his body."
Siegfried grinned. "Will do."
The large crowd of spectators formed a large circle around the two fighters. Some cheered for Claude, others for Siegfried. Even the Guild Girls were spectating as they cheered on for Siegfried.
"Claude! If you want to back down, now's your chance."
"Pfft, as if. I can't wait to beat the shit out of that stupid face of yours."
"Try me."
The two men just stood there, neither of them willing to make the first move. They paced back and forth, eyeing one another. Suddenly, Siegfried makes the first move, rushing towards Claude. He swings his right fist, a right hook aimed at Claude's head. He easily dodges to the right, avoiding the hit. Claude counters by landing a swift chop onto Siegfried's back. The blow briefly staggered him.
"Heh, for a big guy, you sure know your moves," Siegfried remarked.
Claude smirked. "What can I say? If you've been involved in hundreds of drunken brawls, one can learn a thing or two from those he fought." Not giving Siegfried any more time to react, Claude attacks, swinging his right fist in a jab like motion. Siegfried jerks to the left, dodging the blow when suddenly Claude swings his left fist in an upwards motion. Caught off guard, Siegfried doesn't dodge in time and was met with a powerful uppercut to his gut. The crowd gasps as the fiery hunter stood there clutching his stomach.
"ACK!"
Given no time to recover, Claude delivers a powerful right jab directly at Siegfried's face. He follows that up with a left hook to Siegfried's side. Blow after blow, he delivers a brutal pounding onto Siegfried's body. The crowd goes wild as Claude lands a right hook directly at Siegfried's face, sending the hunter tumbling down onto the floor.
"HAHAHA! You guys see that?"
Claude raised his arms into the air in victory. He then smiled wickedly at Eris.
"Now to claim my- "
"What a fool…"
"Huh?!"
Claude turned around to find that Siegfried standing behind him, a grin forming on his bruised face.
"H-how are you still getting up?"
"You honestly think a couple of punches here and there would stop me? Tsk, Tsk."
"Tch…It doesn't matter anyway. You'll give up sooner or later. It's only a matter of time."
"If that's how it is then why not come over and finish me off?" Siegfried taunted.
"Arghh, I'll beat the crap out of that cocky face of yours if it's the last thing I do!" With that, Claude attacks, rushing towards Siegfried with a right hook. As Claude predicted, Siegfried jerks to the right, avoiding the hit. 'Haha, I got you now.' Claude follows up the right hook with left hook, confident that he won't be able to dodge it in time. But to his surprise, Siegfried rapidly jerks to the left, successfully dodging the second hit. "What?!" Before Claude could react further, he was greeted with a powerful punch to the gut. As he reels back in pain, Siegfried headbutts him hard, directly at his face. Claude stumbles onto the ground, clutching his bleeding face.
"OOOH!"
"Urghh…"
"Well, are you going to attack me?"
Claude grits his teeth at Siegfried. "You bastard…AHHHH!" He rams Siegfried with his shoulder, knocking him down to the ground. He then pins him to the ground, holding him by the throat and throwing repeated punches to his face. Claude briefly stops punching him when he notices that Siegfried was laughing in between punches.
"Haha…haha is that all you got?" Siegfried said coughing. His face was badly battered, nose bleeding and the like. "I'm just getting started here…"
"SHUT THAT MOUTH!" He raised both fists into the air and brought it down onto Siegfried's face, effectively smashing the hunter's face. An audible crack could be heard.
"That's what you get you bastard," Claude said as he wiped the blood off his fists.
"Hehehe, I'm not done just yet," Siegfried said as he slowly got back on his two feet.
Claude stared at him, mouth wide open. "H-how? How are you still getting up?"
"You want to know my secret? Well, it's simply because I- "Before Siegfried could finish, he was interrupted by a right jab flying towards his face. He simply jerks his head to left, smirking. "You interrupted me. I- "
A left uppercut. He misses.
"Now that's just rude. I was just-"
Another right jab that missed its target.
"Stop- "
Left hook.
"Hey- "
Right Uppercut.
"This is really- "
Right hook.
"Annoying…"
Claude stood there, exhausted from throwing his punches. He was shocked as to how Siegfried managed to dodge all those hits without batting an eye.
Siegfried sighed in exasperation. "Ya done yet?"
"Stop moving and let me hit you!"
"You want me to stop dodging? Fine by me." Siegfried stood there, awaiting the hit that is yet to come. Claude took this as an insult to his strength. 'Is he mocking me?' he thought as he watches Siegfried intently. 'Yeah, he is mocking me.'
"FUCKING BASTARD!" Claude launches a powerful right jab aimed directly at Siegfried's face. The crowd watches in suspense as the Fire King stood there, not doing anything to avoid the hit.
"DIEEE!"
"…"
"Huh?!"
The crowd gasped. There stood Claude, who successfully landed a powerful right jab. Or so they thought. For there stood Claude, whose right fist was blocked by Siegfried's palm.
"You…you…"
Siegfried simply smiled at him.
"Checkmate."
He reared back and delivered an uppercut, directly into Claude's chin. The force of the hit sends the massive hunter tumbling onto the ground. He then walked over to him, leaned down and gripped Claude by the throat. "Allow me to explain how I managed to best you in this fight." He punches him, with the first punch causing Claude's nose to bleed.
"You see, I have to thank you for beating the crap out of me during the first phase of our fight. Without it, I wouldn't have been able to beat you."
The second punch causes Claude's forehead to bleed.
"The truth is, the more beat up I get, the stronger I become. I don't know how or why, but I get more fired up the more injured I get."
Claude's left eye was no longer of any use when the third punch connects.
"I guess it's just my nature. I'm the Fire King after all."
The fourth punch breaks several of Claude's teeth.
"No use telling you this, after all…" He raises his right fist. "You won't be able to remember anything when I'm done with you." And with that, Siegfried lands a powerful hit, aimed at Claude's head.
TWACK!
Claude laid there, motionless as Siegfried calmly stood up and rubbed his knuckles. The crowd was silent. Nonchalantly, Siegfried took out a vial of healing potion and gulped down its contents. In an instant, all of his injuries disappeared and looked exactly like how he was before the fight. "Well? Is anyone going to pick up his body?" he asked the crowd. A few hunters, who he assumed to be Claude's minions stepped out of the crowd and walked over to Claude's body and dragged him away. The crowd then looked at Siegfried, terrified looks evident on their faces. Noticing this, Siegfried chuckled.
"Don't worry. I didn't kill him. I'm not a murderer. Although, I might have gone a bit overboard and managed to damage his brain. Have no fear. He is still very much alive…without any memory of who he is and what happened." He said in a reassuring tone.
Some of the spectators breathed a sigh of relief while others shuddered at the malice hidden in the tone of his voice, but deep down everyone knew one thing was for sure, and that is to never get between the Fire King and his drink.