9 Eyes God [on-going]

FOURTEEN

Chapter 14 // Handicap
[DANIEL]

"A fight for Life and Death ensues. Who will the Crown for Victory land onto?"

"I almost forgot about the handicap." He said as he brought the blade of his scythe closer to his shoulder.

Daniel's eyes widen, fear striking him as he watch the man bring the blade down, forming a clean cut over the part his arm meets his shoulder. He wanted to put the deal off, to let it be a fair fight where he wouldn't be underestimated so easily.

Looking down on people, especially to people like Daniel is an offense to him. His thoughts were malicious as they insulted Azazel who was still smiling, despite having his arm decapitated.

"In a world like this, Daniel... We are immortals." Azazel explained, hooking the scythe under his only arm. "Limbs will grow back, so don't worry about death. The rules are simple too. You only have to avoid me for a minute, and I'll help you of this place."

Daniel being forced to comply could only accept his words without a say. After all, his job was to avoid the scythe, Right?

The boy got into his stance, bent his knees and aligned his shoulders in order to gain balance over the weapon he had long avoided. It felt strange to be holding the sword, the leather wrapped flesh of its handle felt warm from his grip. He had to use both his hands to hide the jittering of his nerves, if Azazel could see it, there's a possibility he would exploit such weakness.

"You are shaking."

Crap, there goes the plan. He thought as he re-adjusted his grip. From his standpoint, he would probably try to knock away Daniel's hold on his weapon. The length of the sword proved enough for a mid-ranged battle, but the sheer size of the scythe could be used for a long-ranged battle.

Azazel would definitely use the distance to his advantage and fight in a way where the enemy can find it difficult to reach. And Daniel was right as Azazel launched his scythe to him, the clear intent of wanting to slice him in half making itself clear as the blackened blade situated itself infront of his face.

The boy hissed, jumping to the side to let the blade pierce itself to the cracking ground. He heaved a sigh of relief, smirking up to Azazel to tell him he just avoided him. But something whizzed past him, catching him by surprise.

The boy choked a mouthful of blood as he faced down to see his body, completely detached from the torso. Pain registered itself in him as he cursed the Scythe blade situated plainly by his front.

"stupid fool." Cursed Azazel, "just because my blade flies in one direction doesn't mean the magic I imbedded wouldn't make it slice diagonally!"

The distraction had made the magic on Daniel's lips disappear. He only discovered this when he spoke something about the grim reaper. "stupid short bastard and his oversized knife!"

It felt good to curse, to watch the rise of Azazel's eyes as it twitched with fury. "What did you say?"

Without waiting for Daniel's response, Azazel proceeds to point a finger to his scythe, the familiar bronze dust wrapping the weapon. He watched with glee as Daniel screamed in pain as his limbs were cut away into pieces.

"You will heal, don't worry about that." He reassured the boy. True to his words, Daniel's limbs began to outstretch themselves into red tendrils of flesh, the tip of it touched the detached parts and gradually connecting them.

"Are you out of your mind?" Daniel screamed once most of his body reattached themselves. The boy stomped the floor with fury. His breathing had come close to ragged at this point. The need to return the favor fueling him. There was no time to play games now, he had to be serious.

But the staggering of his footsteps made things quite difficult to go with the third plan. With an aggravated sigh, he unlatched one of his hands to cup it against his ear. Just by that sense alone, he was able to listen to the waves of motion of Azazel. The dripping of blood from his wound, the sound of his stable breathing as his weapon clunked against something on the bands of his pants, and the sharp click of Azazel's tongue as he finally understood what Daniel was doing.

"You have a great sense of hearing Daniel, but that will not work on me." He spoke, reaching for his scythe using his bronze magic. "I can already predict what you will do next."

Azazel watched as the blonde boy charged to him, a loud cry as he brought the sword down. The sound of metal clanking filled the air, the sharp breeze that came with the act as the two men kept deflecting each other. Dust began to rise at the fast pace of their feet as they engage themselves in a deadly dance, puffs of air escaping them as they question whose head will be on the ground next.

Azazel notes of Daniel's bravery, how he was able to digress the weakness of a long-ranged weapon of his and quickly exploiting such flaw. Distance is the answer. Long range weapons are only effective in offense and keeping enemies at a far distance. Once the enemy gets into close vicinity of the weapon wielder, it loses the effectiveness making it difficult to swing the weapons and hit an accurate mark.

There was a pressing smile on Daniel's face as his strategy to defeat Azazel was almost successful. Meanwhile Azazel, he wanted to wipe that smile away. With the movements of Daniel already imprinted in his mind like a tattoo, he quickly adapted his movements into defense while adding power to his one handed swings.

As a response, the boy gritted his teeth as the speed of the scythe began to overpower him, he moved on his toes to quickly avoid one swing aimed directly towards his neck.

He had to strike Azazel somehow. To make him bleed more. His strikes were well calculated. The direction of him bringing his sword down were meant to make the joints on Azazel's wounds re-open itself, and from the pool forming under their feet, it must be working. But he had to show his struggle somehow, to make it seem like he was unaware as he continued to lash out with his white sword.

Sparks flew as their blades reconnected. The strength of Azazel's one hand was enough to rival his sister's grip strength of two hands. Daniel watched in despair as his sword was brought down close, the sharp hilt glinting infront of him.

"Not yet!" Daniel shouted as he pushed the blade away with all his might. With a few seconds to spare, he forced his legs to jump, the muscles on his calves ripping as it took the high distance jump. He needed to be close, he though as he felt gravity began to pull him down.

There must be a way to defeat him. Being close just does not seem to cut it, because Azazel was simply too strong with one hand. The boy landed behind Azazel from the jump, a new method revealing itself in his mind. He had to decapitate this man's hand. Except, he was not aware of the black abyss nearing his head.

So when he did looked to see what it was, his head had already toppled to the ground.

Azazel was beyond annoyed at this point. "that was 30 seconds. The king could survive more than that and it was his first try."

"don't compare me to a dead man." He spat out, ordering his hands to crawl to where his head had landed. It was a far distance. It felt odd to instruct his body to reattach themselves like that, but still they obeyed his demands and let the red flesh of his to touch his decapitated neck. "If you were so intent on fighting the king—"

"don't speak of him so lowly, fool." Azazel bowed down, hiding the way his features burnt red with anger. "And by the way, you only have one chance left. Make use of it or I'll turn you into a hound dog."

Once Daniel's neck had been healed, he turned to his side. Lips wobbling as he tried to hide his glee. Daniel cursed himself internally. How could he not realize? The answer had been in front of him long time ago.

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Author's 2 cents :
Damn our boy Daniel died 3 times now.

For those who watched Jujutsu Kaisen, yes this is a teensy bit inspired by Itadori dying repeatedly while fighting Sukuna.