A heartbeat.
A breath.
Then, war resumed.
Their shattered weapons lay forgotten amidst the rubble. Now only fists, flesh, and fury remained.
---
Tae-hyun surged forward, blood-soaked and snarling, delivering a sharp jab to Jinhwan's throat. The blow collapsed Jinhwan's airway for a heartbeat. He coughed violently, spitting blood, but retaliated with a brutal hook to Tae-hyun's ribs. Bone cracked beneath the strike—Tae-hyun's side caved in slightly, his lungs wheezing.
But Tae-hyun didn't slow. He spun low and hammered a rising uppercut into Jinhwan's gut. The impact lifted the other boy off the ground, forcing bile and blood from his mouth. Yet Jinhwan twisted in midair, using momentum to slam his elbow into the back of Tae-hyun's neck as he landed.
Tae-hyun staggered, his vision blurring. But he grit his teeth, let the pain sharpen his focus, and countered with a knee straight into Jinhwan's solar plexus. A sickening crunch. Jinhwan's breath fled his body.
---
Jinhwan dropped to one knee—but only to explode forward with a savage tackle. He slammed Tae-hyun through a stone column. Debris rained down around them as they crashed into the wreckage.
Tae-hyun's face was smeared with dust, bruises already blooming across his jaw and cheek. He rolled out from the debris and lunged. His knuckles found Jinhwan's temple. A spray of blood, and Jinhwan stumbled, blinking stars from his vision.
Jinhwan answered with a brutal palm strike to Tae-hyun's sternum. The crack echoed. Tae-hyun staggered, blood leaking from his mouth. His chest bone had splintered—another inch, and his heart would've been pierced.
Still, neither yielded.
Tae-hyun's forearm caught Jinhwan's next strike. But the force still snapped the ulna in his arm. He grunted, eyes wild, and retaliated with a left punch to Jinhwan's jaw that dislocated it with a wet crunch.
---
They mirrored each other's damage like twisted reflections. One's bruises were matched by another's cuts, one's broken limb by another's shattered joint. Every injury was a badge of stubbornness, a denial of weakness.
Jinhwan's left shoulder hung dislocated, blood pouring from a torn ear. Tae-hyun's right eye was swollen shut, his side caved in like crushed bark. Still, their movements were sharp—qi reinforced muscle and tendon beyond normal limits.
Their fists moved like weapons of war, shattering stone and gouging flesh. Every dodge was by a hair's breadth, every block cost them something—skin, stability, breath.
---
Tae-hyun struck with a straight jab—Jinhwan caught it—but Tae-hyun followed up by driving his knee into Jinhwan's ribs. Another rib snapped. Jinhwan used the pain to grab Tae-hyun's collar and twist, throwing him over his shoulder.
Tae-hyun landed hard—head cracking against broken stone—but rolled instantly, spitting blood and aiming a low kick that caught Jinhwan's knee with a sickening pop. Jinhwan dropped—but only to rise again, dragging his leg, face painted in crimson.
---
They stood again, separated by a few feet, chests heaving, flesh torn, blood dripping. Not one part of them was unscathed.
Tae-hyun grinned, teeth bloodstained. "You… still standing?"
Jinhwan smirked, his jaw half-set, eyes blazing. "So are you."
They lunged again—fists like falling hammers, elbows like spearheads.
Each strike screamed finality. But there would be no end.
Not yet.
—-
Blood painted the stone floor in cruel, abstract strokes. Fists thudded like war drums. Neither warrior moved with elegance now—there was no technique, no refinement, only survival and spite.
Tae-hyun's body screamed. His ribs were cracked, his breath shallow and sharp. One of his arms hung looser than it should, likely dislocated at the shoulder. His left eye was swelling shut, but his gaze through the right burned with undying defiance.
Jinhwan looked no better. Blood soaked his robes, his knuckles shredded down to flesh and bone. A deep gash split across his jaw, and his breathing was ragged, each inhale trembling with pain. And yet—he smiled.
Not a grin of joy or satisfaction.
A snarl. The kind animals made before the kill.
Their broken bodies circled, twitching, uncoiled springs of desperation and fury.
Then—they lunged.
There was no battle cry. Only the sound of flesh meeting flesh. Their fists became hammers, their knees battering rams. Elbows cracked against jaws. Shins clashed like ironwood.
Tae-hyun ducked under a wild hook and slammed his forehead into Jinhwan's face. Bone crunched. Blood sprayed. Jinhwan reeled back, only to drive his knee into Tae-hyun's sternum, folding him like paper.
Neither backed down.
They clawed forward, tearing into each other with the raw instinct of men who no longer cared for winning—only for breaking.
Jinhwan grabbed Tae-hyun by the hair and slammed his head into the ground once—twice—before Tae-hyun twisted, biting his opponent's forearm with animalistic force. Jinhwan hissed and retaliated with an elbow that split Tae-hyun's brow open.
Still, they rose. Like demons from hell.
No qi flowed. No stances held. No thoughts guided them. Only hate. Only survival.
They abandoned every lesson, every ounce of restraint beaten into them by masters and memory.
Now, they were beasts.
Tae-hyun's scream tore through the field, half-pain, half-war cry, as he slammed his fists repeatedly into Jinhwan's ribs until he felt something give. Jinhwan, instead of retreating, grabbed Tae-hyun by the throat and tackled him into the shattered rubble of stone, raining down punches until his own hands split open.
The sky darkened above them. The wind grew still.
As if the world itself was holding its breath.
Both men stood, stumbling, bodies twitching with pain and madness. Faces unrecognizable. Muscles trembling. Bones fractured. But eyes—eyes still burning.
No words passed between them now.
Words had died.
Only brutality remained.
And neither of them would stop until one of them was left unmoving.
---