Chapter 90: A Madman’s Last Breath
Dexter tore the rapier free from his shoulder with a wet rip. Blood streamed down his arm, soaking his chest, but instead of faltering, he laughed.
"GYAAHAHAHA! YES! THAT’S IT, GRAY!! CUT ME! STAB ME! MORE, MORE, MORE!!"
His laughter rang like broken glass, manic and echoing through the silent stands. He lunged again, his axes whirling, the sheer force of his strikes leaving craters in the arena stone.
Gray didn’t meet him head-on. He didn’t have to.
He tilted his head, just a fraction, watching the axe’s deadly arc skim past his cheek, close enough to shear off a strand of hair.
His lips pulled into that cruel smile again.
"Predictable."
Dexter’s eyes flared wide, pupils dilated with madness, yet his grin only widened. He swung again, faster, harder, fists and steel raining down like a storm.
However, Gray looked like he was toying with Dexter.
His body moved like liquid shadow, weaving through Dexter’s frenzy with terrifying ease.
Every axe sweep seemed to miss him by a hair’s breadth, every punch slicing through nothing but air, every kick passing close enough to stir the ends of his coat yet never connect.
"Too slow," Gray teased.
But then...
WHOOSH!
One axe curved unnaturally mid-throw, Dexter’s "Stillness" bending it through the air like a predator circling back.
The blade screamed toward Gray’s neck, unavoidable in the confined space.
BAM!
Immediately, Gray stomped his foot, scattering the broken stones he’d spread across the arena earlier.
With a snap of his fingers, his body blurred.
"[✧Swap✧]"
The axe carved cleanly through a fragment of stone where his head had been. Gray reappeared behind Dexter, rapier’s edge kissing his spine.
Dexter froze.
Then, he laughed again, louder, blood bubbling from his lips.
"YESSS!! USE IT! USE YOUR TRICKS! MAKE ME BLEED, MAKE ME BREAK! HAHAHAHA!!"
He whirled, spittle flying, fists hammering even without his axes.
Gray let him come, sliding just out of reach each time. When Dexter’s knuckles grazed his cheek, he swapped with a pebble three feet away.
When an axe screamed toward his ribs, he vanished, leaving it to split stone instead.
It was maddening... beautifully maddening.
"MORE! GRAY, DON’T HOLD BACK! DON’T YOU DARE HOLD BACK!" Dexter roared, slamming his heel into the stone floor.
The arena shook violently, jagged shards bursting upward in a spray of dust and rubble.
He spun, axes carving arcs of screaming air.
Gray lowered his stance, rapier glinting. His crimson eyes didn’t blink.
CLANG!
The first axe strike he parried, redirecting it just enough to let it carve harmlessly past his hip.
The second he didn’t block at all, he swapped with a rock beneath Dexter’s heel, reappearing behind him once more.
The rapier flashed.
Swing!
A line of crimson bloomed across Dexter’s back.
"AAHHAHAHAHAAAA!" Dexter’s head snapped back, a strangled sound of ecstasy. He spun with a backhand swing, blood flying off his axe.
Gray leaned back, the blade skimming an inch from his throat, and whispered:
"Pathetic."
Dexter’s pupils shrank.
His grin cracked even wider as his madness only seemed to deepen.
He slammed both axes into the ground, veins bulging in his arms, and with a guttural roar:
CRRRRRAAACKKK!
The floor split.
Stone slabs shattered outward like cannon fire, chunks of the arena spinning in every direction.
Gray’s coat fluttered, threads of dust and rubble cutting across his skin. For the first time, his lips twitched, not in surprise, but in satisfaction.
Dexter ripped the axes free, blood still running down his body, dripping onto the cracked arena.
He was panting, his chest heaving, but the fire in his eyes was terrifying.
"You think you’re above me, don’t you...? You think you’re untouchable... untouchable!" Dexter’s voice cracked into a scream, spittle flying from his mouth.
Fwosh!
He lunged again, faster than before, desperation mixing with strength.
But Gray’s rapier caught one axe mid-swing, steel shrieking against steel, the force rattling through the air.
Dexter pushed forward, their faces inches apart, his bloodshot eyes boring into Gray’s calm ones.
"COME ON! BREAK ME!!"
Gray remained silent, raising his rapier.
He leaned forward, his voice a whisper only Dexter could hear:
"...I don’t need to break you."
With that, he twisted his wrist. Threads unraveled, wrapping around Dexter’s arm, shoulder, and even his throat in the blink of an eye.
The madman’s breath hitched.
For the first time, his grin faltered, just slightly.
Gray pulled the threads taut.
Rip...
The sound of skin tearing filled the arena.
Dexter screamed, not in pain... but in joy.
"YYYYESSSSSSS!!"
Blood poured from the new cuts, his body jerking under the pressure, yet he swung again, tearing through the threads with brute force, axes screaming through the air.
Gray’s eyes narrowed as he dodged his swings and then stabbed his rapier into his stomach.
"KURGHH!"
Dexter spilled a whole mouthful of blood, but just as quickly...
"HAAAAAAAAAGH!"
RIP!
Dexter ripped the rapier deeper into his own stomach, blood spilling hot down his body. He grinned like a demon, grabbing one axe and slamming it against Gray’s shoulder.
CRACK!
SPLURT!
The blade of the axe stuck, burying into flesh.
And immediately, Dexter’s laugh exploded out of him, broken and high, echoing across the empty arena.
"HAHAHA—YES! I GOT YOU! I MADE YOU BLEED!"
He staggered back, wide eyes glowing with victory, spitting blood as he screamed.
But strangely... Gray didn’t move.
He didn’t even scream after Dexter buried his axe in his shoulder.
And than’s when Dexter noticed...
"H-haa... AHH..."
The hypnotic rings in his eyes were gone. What stared back at Dexter now were pits of black eyes like dead stars, swallowing everything.
The madness in Dexter’s grin faltered. His laughter trailed into silence. His throat worked, but no sound came out.
Then... Gray’s lips slowly parted.
And his voice... was empty, an emotionless tone.
"Now."
Just that word made Dexter’s knees shake. His body didn’t feel like his own anymore. His chest tightened.
His breath caught, and he couldn’t stop trembling.
"You’re fucking dead."
The arena floor cracked under his words.
The silence was so heavy it pressed down on Dexter’s lungs.
He tried to raise an axe, but his arms felt like lead.
"Hagh, huff... aha...!" His breath was short and panicked, coming out in sharp gasps.
Sweat ran down his temple.
The madness that had carried him this far was gone, choked out by something colder than death.
Gray moved slowly.
Calmly.
He pulled the rapier out of Dexter’s stomach, blood running freely. Then, with his other hand, he grabbed the shaft of the axe buried on his shoulder and simply pulled it out.
Splat!
But he didn’t flinch as he did that... he didn’t even blink.
Step...
Slowly, he stepped forward like a shadow that would never stop following.
Thump, thump!
Dexter’s heart hammered against his ribs, fast and loud.
He stumbled back, shaking his head.
"N-No... no, this isn’t—"
Gray was already there.
The rapier pierced between Dexter’s ribs with one clean push.
SHHHK!
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Dexter’s scream ripped out of him, high and broken, echoing across the stone. His body twisted, but Gray held the blade steady.
Dexter looked up, desperate for some kind of reaction, pain, anger, anything. But Gray’s face was empty, and his voice was colder than ice.
"No more games."
The words sank deeper than the steel.
Dexter’s arms dropped.
Clink!
His axes clattered against the stone. His laughter was gone, replaced by choking gasps. He trembled, eyes wide, as if staring at something far worse than death.
Gray leaned closer, his breath brushing Dexter’s ear, his voice a whisper that froze his blood.
"You should have given up on this fight."
Dexter’s body collapsed forward, falling to his knees, blood pouring out of his mouth.
"Hah... ha..."
His last sound was a weak, broken laugh that cracked into silence.
And Gray just stood there, watching him fall, those black eyes never leaving him, like a void that promised nothing but the end.
At the scene, the referee’s eyes were wide, staring at Gray.
His chest rose and fell fast.
"Gulp!"
He swallowed, once, twice, each gulp sounding unnaturally loud.
Magic amplified even the smallest sound, and the entire arena heard it, making them also swallow hard.
The audience held its breath.
The students, the spectators, everyone froze, waiting for him to speak.
Finally, the referee’s lips parted.
His voice was steady, though it shook under the surface, forced through the amplification by the arena’s magic.
"Gray... is the winner."
The words rolled across the stands, echoing into every corner.
And then, slowly, the crowd began to murmur, whispering in awe and fear, unable to look away from the man who had just stared death in the face... and won.
The referee’s eyes didn’t leave Gray as he stepped back, nodding.
Every movement of Gray’s, every drop of blood and shadow, had stamped itself into the minds of everyone present.
He swallowed hard again, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
And then, in the dead silence that followed, the referee spoke again, quieter, almost a hiss to himself:
"God... he’s not... human."