Neither of them wasted time on formalities once the terms were set.
Grim Lock!
Logan sealed it onto Dawn Reaper before the first blow ever landed. Run, teleport, vanish behind cover- none of it would matter now. Reaper’s Stride would put him right back on top of the man the instant he wanted it to.
Dawn Reaper moved first, scythe already swinging in a low arc meant to take Logan’s legs out from under him before the fight even properly started.
Logan hopped the strike rather than blocking it, landing already moving into a counter of his own.
Grimlord’s Blade!
The strike came down in a clean diagonal, and Dawn Reaper twisted the scythe’s haft up to catch it, sparks screaming off both weapons where they met.
Dawn reversed the momentum of the parry into a sweep of his own scythe, and this one caught Logan across the ribs before he could fully clear the arc, a shallow line of red blooming through his armor almost immediately.
’He has some kind of armor penetration, as well.’
Logan’s jaw tightened. This wasn’t Uorop’s raw strength or RohaoKing’s careful hesitation. This was someone who’d fought and killed seven times already and clearly learned something real from every one of them.
Dawn Reaper pressed the opening immediately.
Reaper’s Harvest!
The scythe swept in a wide arc trailing black mist behind its edge, and Logan barely got his own blade up in time to catch it, the force of the block alone driving him back a full step across the stone floor.
Reaper’s Stride!
He turned the forced retreat into a blink instead, closing the distance from an angle Dawn Reaper hadn’t expected, blade already swinging by the time he reappeared.
It should have opened his shoulder clean. Dawn Reaper twisted at the last possible instant, and the blade caught nothing but air and a few strands of hair instead.
In terms of speed, Dawn Reaper had a bit of an advantage. He had a Mythic gear set as well, but he was a Level 40 player, with more stat points to work with, clearly leaning more into Speed than Attack the way Logan had leaned the opposite way himself.
’But I’ll get faster.’
They traded four more exchanges in quick succession after that, neither one giving the other a clean opening, both of them picking up fresh cuts with almost every pass. Every swing Logan landed left him a fraction faster than the one before it, because Reaper’s Stride gave him a speed boost stack per hit, his speed quietly climbing until his own movements had started to blur in his own eyes.
Soul Drain!
Logan suddenly felt weakened, and the scythe caught him across the forearm, shallow but enough, and Dawn Reaper’s own wounds visibly knit themselves shut a fraction as whatever the cut had taken flowed back into him.
’He’s healing off every hit that lands, and that short but terrible debuff.’ Logan’s eyes narrowed. ’Can’t just trade with him. Need to actually end this.’
Dawn Reaper came in again, scythe raised for a strike aimed square at Logan’s collarbone, clearly done testing and ready to commit.
Blade Veil Counter!
An arcane veil snapped into place a heartbeat before the scythe would have landed, and the blow shattered against it instead of finding flesh.
Grimlord’s Blade!
The counter’s buff still carrying two hundred percent behind it, Logan’s answering cut opened Dawn Reaper’s side deep enough that the man actually staggered, breath hissing out through gritted teeth.
Dawn Reaper didn’t go down. If anything, something in his expression sharpened.
"Not bad." He wiped blood from his own mouth. "Guess I’ll stop holding back too."
Harvest of Souls!
Dark motes gathered around his scythe, pulled from somewhere Logan couldn’t identify, and the weapon’s edge lengthened visibly, humming with something that hadn’t been there a moment earlier.
He closed the distance in a burst of speed that hadn’t been there before either, scythe already swinging in a strike aimed to take Logan’s head off in one motion.
Logan felt it a half second too late to fully clear, throwing himself backward at the last possible instant, and the edge passed close enough to open a shallow line across his throat instead of ending things outright.
Heat spread down his collar, and for one long second the whole world narrowed down to how close that had actually been.
Then something colder took over instead. Logan planted his feet and answered with everything he had left.
Overgrim Slash!
The dark arc tore free of his blade and caught Dawn Reaper square in the chest before he’d finished his own follow-through, whatever defense his gear provided meaning nothing at all against it.
Grim Siphoning Edge!
Whatever dark power still clung to the scythe’s edge came apart under the cut, and half of it rushed back into Logan instead, his own MP climbing while Dawn Reaper’s weapon dimmed considerably.
Dawn Reaper staggered, one knee buckling, blood running freely from the fresh line across his chest now that his scythe’s edge had lost whatever had been feeding it.
He didn’t surrender. Not yet. He came in one more time, scythe raised in a last desperate arc aimed at Logan’s exposed side.
Logan read it coming from three steps out.
Axiom Severance!
His own cut met the scythe’s arc head-on instead of dodging it, the blade’s Omni-Penetration carrying straight through the weapon’s edge like it wasn’t even there, and the follow-through didn’t stop until it had opened Dawn Reaper’s guard completely.
```
[ Dawn Reaper’s HP: 21% ]
```
Grim Harvest!
Logan had upgraded Grim Harvest to Level 3 by now, letting him execute anything below 13% HP outright, and track anything below 23% HP transparently within a three-kilometer radius.
The resonance settled into place immediately, that same invisible blade finding its grip at the center of Dawn Reaper’s life. Logan felt the man’s whole existence go taut under the pressure of it, like a held breath about to break.
Dawn Reaper didn’t back down. He came in one final time, scythe raised in a last desperate arc, throwing everything he had left into a single strike aimed straight at Logan’s throat.
This was do or die. Logan had no intention of it being the second one.
Grimlord’s Blade!
Both blades closed the same stretch of air in the same instant, scythe and sword racing toward their targets on a line neither one could walk back from. But Logan moved faster, resolve burning cold and absolute behind every inch of the swing, and some deep, battle-forged instinct in Dawn Reaper recognized the difference a half second before either edge actually arrived.
His own strike was going to land too late. Logan’s wasn’t.
Seven kills had taught him exactly what the last minuscule second of a losing fight felt like from the inside. This was that feeling, screaming through every nerve he had left.
’SURRENDER!’
The word tore out of him a fraction of a second before the blade would have connected, and the world pulled him out of the match right as the edge passed clean through the space where his neck had been.
Logan stood there a moment, blade still extended into empty air, breathing hard.
```
[ You have eliminated Player Dawn Reaper. +55 Tower Points. ]
```
He looked down at the cut still bleeding thin across his own throat, close enough that he could still feel exactly how close it had actually come.
Adrenaline was still rushing through his whole body, but his head stayed calm despite how hard his heart was still slamming against his ribs.
He looked down at the hand still holding his blade. It was shaking.
’I was this fucking close to death.’
He’d had to stay in motion, stay focused, the entire way through. If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have made it out the other side of that.
"Boss, are you alright? Your hand is shaking, and you’re smiling. It’s scary." Billy carefully poked at Logan’s armor with one blade.
Logan blinked, realizing it too.
"I’m fine. Let’s continue. Get the loot onboard. We’ll head deeper for the Relics."
He grinned.
Whatever he’d just gone through, he’d enjoyed every second of it enough that he was already craving another one.
’I want to fight more.’ Logan’s grip tightened, his eyes gleaming with a blazing thirst. ’The more I fight, the stronger I’ll get.’
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