Chapter 8: The Strongest Man, The Half-Fiend and the Strongest Leg Forward Part 3

Foreword: Not much to say here except Boss Fight time! If there is ever a time for why do I hear boss fight memes or simply putting on some epic music while you read, I would say this chapter is fairly appropriate, anyone onto Adlet's brutal death!

Story Start: Adlet stepped into the large cavern that was the home of his prey. The cavern was littered with stone pillars yet he could see in the middle of it the beast of legend. The fiend of the earth, the fiend of fire, the dragon fiend, Chishiki.

Chishiki was not the normal image one had of a dragon from a fairy tale, he was not a large lizard with giant wings, he was serpent-like and somehow floated above the ground as if defying the laws of gravity. The beast was large Adlet couldn't tell how long his body was but it was easily many feet long. Even in the dark Adlet could make out his red scales that would be his greatest weakness. In his master's encounter with Chishiki he was unable to damage the beast, he had managed to chip off a scale but Chishiki fled before he could use the opening.

Adlet looked carefully for Chishiki but didn't see that fatal weakness.

Chishiki laughed as he flew to the sides, disappearing in and out of sight behind the many stone pillars in the cavern, Adlet listened to his mockery as he tracked the beast with his eyes, "what is it hunter? Looking for my weakness, the scratch your master gave me? What did you think it would be so easy? No, only a fool would not focus on healing such a grave weakness, this is no fairy tale! You won't kill me by hitting my weak body because you will never pierce my invincible scales! You will die and then I will do you a favor, I will find that half-fiend of yours and eat her arms, hahaha, that way she can suffer even greater! All of it shall be your fault! If you had not chosen to try and be a hero, if you had not chosen death! But you won't give up at this point, it is truly sad, so I will end your miserable existence!"

Adlet says to himself, "I hoped you wouldn't be so smart but ya can't have it easy every time. I won't lose because I am the strongest man in the world!"

As Adlet declared this a line of fire shot towards him, Adlet managed to dodge it, taking cover behind a stone pillar which was scarred by the fire and began to turn black.

Adlet didn't rest however as he jumped to the side only a few seconds before Chishiki burst through the pillar he was just behind shattering it to thousands of pieces, Adlet quickly recovered and threw two bombs at the fiend.

The fiend spun quickly, the force of his movement so quick that the bombs were flung back and exploded in the air, Adlet doged again to avoid the beasts claws which dangled off its serpentine body, while they weren't huge they were incredibly sharp.

Adlet cursed and thought to himself as he evaded the beast, throwing beasts and gas bombs to buy time, "how the hell do I kill this thing, I can't use half of my normal tools, the scale breaking bombs were to easy for it to avoid, he needed to hit him with them somehow or he would never have a chance."

Adlet racked his brain for a plan as he kept getting dangerously close to the creature each time, sometimes so close that he could touch him, it was after one of those close brushes with death that Adlet came up with an idea…

-Meanwhile.-

Fremy and Manuela had returned to the mountain to fetch some clothes that Fremy had left at the mountain, these clothes were of her own making and she had need of them so she could compare some of her older work with her newer work.

Manuela entered the compound pushing Fremy's wheeled-chair, the sound of banging in another room echoed in the compound. Manuela said, "I can hear banging. I guess those two are working already, let's go say hi real quick then leave!"

Fremy nodded and they went to the room where Adlet and Atro normally worked on their projects. This time however they only found Atro working on another set of mechanical legs.

Upon noticing the two enter the room Atro stopped.

Manuela said, "we just dropped by to pick up some clothes Fremy left here! Just saying hi before we go back, how is the work going if I might ask, also where is Adlet?

Atro sighed he knew this was going to happen yet he didn't want to take it there. "The legs should be completed soon, I have pretty much perfected the process at this point. Adlet is out."

Manuela said, "hmm, the legs are looking good, where did Adlet go it is weird he isn't helping, also did you not get the help of the Saint of Mined Metal, how did that go, was she mean, did she have a bad fashion sense?"

Atro mentally cursed Manuela in his head for her talkativeness, he now understood another part of Fremy's charm, she didn't talk half as much as this woman! Atro sighed once again and said, "Adlet is working to kill a fiend in exchange for the saint's assistance, she is mean and she does have a terrible sense of fashion." Atro didn't want them to worry about Adlet, he was doing that enough himself, the boy was more than a little talented and had trained hard to make up for any talent he didn't have, this was the art he had perfected and passed down yet it still may not be enough, perhaps if he had waited and tooken it on with the other four braves that could still fight, perhaps than it would have been an easy battle, but as it stood Atro doubted his chances.

Fremy noticed Atro's worry and asked, "Atro, what fiend is he fighting?"

Atro couldn't tell her for he knew she would know exactly who it was if she told her, being raised by fiends likely gave her a fairly decent knowledge of their kind and its various members. Atro began to hammer away ignoring her question.

Manuela watched as Fremy rolled up to him by herself, she rolled close to him and he had to stop hammering incase he made a mistake and hit her. Fremy repeated her question, her voice harsh, "Atro! What fiend is Adlet fighting?"

Atro looked away from Fremy and at his work and said, "Chishiki."

Fremy's face grew white and she wheeled backwards just muttering, "no not that one, any fiend but that one."

Manuela noticed and asked, worried, "what is wrong Fremy, who is Chishiki, what is the problem, Adlet is trained for this kind of thing, he should be fine right?"

Fremy shook her head, "Chishiki is said to be the strongest of the fiends that didn't spend most of their time in the Land of Wailing Demons. It is said that every saint or fiend hunter that came after him had all been felled by claws or flames. Even the man before us was said to be greatly injured after fighting him."

Manuela held a hand over her mouth in shock then after a moment asked, "Adlet is Atro's number one apprentice though, shouldn't he be able to succeed where his master failed, no offense?"

Atro stopped his hammering and said, "He held back."

Manuela tilted her head and repeated his words, "he held back?"

Atro said quietly, no small amount of anger in his voice, "the fiend held back when fighting me, I was able to throw explosives at the beast and even get close enough to rip one of his scales off with just my blades, even though they broke doing so, I could tell if he wanted to he could have zipped past me or moved so quickly that not only could I never get close, he could likely even deflect my projectiles with the wind his movement would create alone. I was humiliated, I spent years creating items that could help defeat that monster but if he gave it his all then I wouldn't stand a chance."

Fremy holding back tears choked out one word, "why?"

Manuela on the edge of tears from worry said all Fremy couldn't, "yes, please tell us why, if you couldn't beat this thing at its best then why did you send Adlet, are you expecting him to hold back against Adlet too?"

Atro said, "no, he most likely won't hold back. I lived because the creature believed that he could learn a new level of suffering if my life continued. I highly doubt he shall take the same stance with Adlet." Atro turned to Fremy and bowed his head, "I am sorry, I knew that it would likely be a fatal encounter for Adlet yet I didn't try to stop him. The magic of the saint is the only way forward with this project and she isn't the kind of person to take concessions, if she didn't get what she wanted she would be of no help. I knew he would pursue this course no matter what I did so I simply equipped him the best I could and sent him on his way. Hate me as you wish, if I killed the man you loved then you have all right to shoot me if that will appease, I won't resist."

Fremy's sadness turned into indignation and she said, "he won't die!"

Manuela and Atro both looked at Fremy shocked at her words.

Fremy continued, "Adlet will succeed, it doesn't matter if it is against me, every single one of the braves, or every dangerous being in the Land of Wailing Demons, Adlet always prevails. Adlet is the strongest man in the world, no matter what happens I will always bet on him to win! Adlet trusts me when I can't even trust myself, he believes in me when I can't believe in myself, he cares for me when I can't care for myself, the very least I can do for him is believe in him when no one else will!"

Atro smiled, "I hope being the strongest man in the world is enough."

Fremy stated, "it is."

Fremy and Manuela retrieved the things they came to the compound for and made the return trip to the village. Manuela was visibly stressed, worried for Adlet after hearing of the horrible beast he had to face. Fremy looked calm, in her heart fear and doubt would rise up but she squashed it each time with her belief in Adlet, she couldn't do anything for him, she couldn't help him or protect him, so she couldn't fail at believing in him, she would hate herself too much if she failed.

It rained that day, it was a heavy rainfall that caused the pair to be glad they had a covering for the wagon. The rain only served to deepen the depressing mood that was in the air.

-meanwhile-

Adlet was hiding behind a stone pillar catching his breath while he could, Chishiki took this chance to taunt him, "what a hero, running, dodging, hiding, it really isn't very impressive, I thought you were going to kill me, yet you haven't done anything."

Adlet could tell he was coming closer, but he wasn't sprinting at him, he was slowly coming towards him, like a cat who had cornered a rat, enjoying the sense of certain victory.

Adlet surprised Chishiki, he expected Adlet to hide behind the pillar until he sensed danger and try to dodge out of Chishiki's attack, but Adlet didn't, instead Adlet stepped out from behind the pillar and stood straight in front of him. Chishiki, laughed, "hahahhaha, amusing, so you have chosen to stand still and die, what a lame choice."

Adlet responded, "when you're low on options, you choose the strongest!"

Adlet charged at Chishiki, Chishiki didn't move and instead opened his large mouth as a wave of fire shot out from his mouth. Instead of dodging Adlet ran straight through, his flame resistant clothing protecting him from most of the fire, while he was burned minorly in some places he was primarily okay.

Chishiki angrily said, "you are mad!" as he went into a charge to meet Adlet's charge.

Adlet didn't reply as they met each other, Adlet managed to move out of the way at the last second, his shoulder was torn open by one of Chishiki's claws, the wound was not deep but it was painful however when Adlet dodge out of the way he threw something from his left hand. A large explosion rang out, Adlet being too close to it, had his body flung into a stone pillar. Chishiki roared in pain as the scale breaking bomb decimated the left side of his upper body.

Adlet stood up, his left shoulder was bleeding, his left arm was numb and barely functioning but other than that and soreness everywhere he could still fight.

Adlet threw dozens of needles at the cloud of smoke where Chishiki was, unfortunately Chishiki burst out of the cloud of dust, his left side was a mess and several of his scaled had been blown apart and were currently burning on the floor as they caught fire for some reason. The problem was that Chishiki had recovered to quickly and now broke out to his left with his right side facing Adlet so while Chishiki has become vulnerable, he was currently shielding his vulnerable side and thus Adlet couldn't finish him off.

From here a waiting dangerous game played out as Adlet was continuously circled by Chishiki, neither was willing to go for the kill, Chishiki didn't face Adlet to spew fire or bite him in half because if he broke to his left than he would most certainly be killed and Adlet didn't charge at Chishiki because if he didn't break to his left side he most certainly would die.

Chishiki said, "I am impressed, no one has damaged me this much, sadly it won't be enough, you won't be able to kill me, and I will end your pathetic existence then I will kill many many people to begin my regeneration process, it will take me quite some time and a lot of food to repair this damage Adlet, you should be proud, many more people will have to die because of your struggle."

Adlet shouted in anger, "shut up!"

Chishiki's amusement resurfaced, "what is it Adlet? Have you finally realised how doomed you are? Have you finally comprehended the fool wait of your idotic challenge against me? If you surrender now, I may find it in my heart to let you live so you can live knowing you failed and that so many people will die because of your actions, so stories can be told of the great battle in which you continued the failure started by your master. How does that sound?" Both knew the fiend was lying and had no intention of letting Adlet live at this point yet to Chishiki's surprise Adlet dropped his sword and said, "I can't win." Adlet's arm dropped to his side bags as he gave up.

Chishiki took this moment as his chance, and without word charged straight at Adlet. Though Adlet began to dodge he only moved to the side a little, he was too slow, Chishiki's charge connected and he bit straight into Adlet's left forearm, instantly crushing it and taking most of his left arm.

At that exact moment Adlet's right arm shot up, a half dozen poison needles in hand stabbed into Chishik's weakened left side. Chishiki screamed, "Impossible, I am knowledgeable, I am invincible, timeless, all knowing, you..you...raaaahhhhhhh!" Chishiki roared as his body crashed limply into a stone pillar and as if to release the flames he wielded one last time his body burst into flames creating a large fire in the cavern.

Adlet smirked, "ha, if you were so knowledgeable, then you should have learned to understand when someone put on an act."

Adlet slumped against the shattered pile of what once was a stone pillar. Adlet muttered to himself, "took me about twenty maybe twenty five minutes to get here, I am losing blood fast, with the medical technology involved even if I got to the entrance no doctor could save me at this point and sadly the Saint of Fresh Blood won't be around to save the day, I know that for sure. It is not the best way to go out, dying of blood loss in a cavern, but there are certainly worse ways to die."

At that moment Adlet thought of Fremy, her smile, her crying, her anger, all the time they had spent together and with that his eyes began to close.

To Be Continued: Chapter 8: The Strongest Man, The Half-Fiend and the Strongest Leg Forward Part 4

Afterword: Why did Atro tell Fremy and Manuela about Chishiki? Simple, it didn't matter if he told them or not, if he stayed silent and said nothing then they would have been worried and if he told them they would be worried so he chose honesty since he respected Fremy enough to give her the truth. He could have lied but that wasn't in his character unless it was related to the destruction of fiends but telling them the truth or not wouldn't affect anything, it was a day journey to that mine, Adlet would be finished or dead before they even entered the town.

Why do you keep removing the limbs of the main characters? I wanted Adlet to have a cost for his actions, he chose the risky option because it was the only one he saw that could work and it cost him for his victory.

Did you just make Adlet Beowulf? Maybe? Beowulf did die killing a dragon but he also was an insane character of legend whose feats of strength and endurance blast out any of Adlet's feats by miles.

Why do you have to end off the chapter with the protagonist bleeding to death? Because I am a terrible person.

How many chapters are left till the story ends? One. I don't know how many people read these Afterwords among my readers so for those that don't they will get a surprise when the to be continued doesn't have another chapter but the story is almost complete in my eyes, in a way, to be expanded on that next chapter.

Till Next Time!