XXXI: More Than You Can Chew

“Of all the things you could have called me…” Emil mumbled through gritted teeth. His blue eyes stared holes through me, and the look on his face told me all I needed to know.

“What’s with you? Don’t tell me that of all things hurt your feelings,” I teased. “With the way you treat women, I’m sure you get called ‘little pig’ all the time.”

“Shut your filthy mouth!” he yelled. He dropped the barrier and flung his hand in my direction, sending a gust of spell produced wind that sent me flying and landing painfully on my back.

“Guh!” I cried when I hit the ground.

Emil began to slowly approach me. “I’m going to teach you a painful lesson.”

Yeah, we’ll see about that.

I rolled over and back up to my feet. Trying to fight out in the open wasn’t going to work, so I dashed into the forest behind me.

“Get back here!” the prince shouted as he gave me chase.

The moment I was out of Emil’s sight, I dove behind a tree and took cover.

“Who’s the coward now?!” He entered the forest and slowed his pace once he realized he’d lost sight of me.

I hid patiently until he was within spitting distance. Once he was close enough, I leapt from my hiding spot and launched at him with a punch.

“Huh?!”

At the last possible moment, Emil noticed my attack and repelled me yet again with another barrier.

Damn it!

I was able to break my fall with a combat roll in time to avoid another ugly landing and prevent myself from losing any momentum. Counting myself lucky, I took off running again and snatched a few broken tree branches along the way.

“Stop running from me!” Emil shouted, continuing to pursue me.

I ran until I was far enough away from him again, then hurriedly scaled a tree and positioned myself securely. I broke up the branches I had into jagged, makeshift blades. And when Emil’s hunt for me brought him close, I flung the sticks at him, hoping to strike him in a blind spot or two. But they bounced off him again.

“There you are!”

He grinned a smile rife with malevolent intent and placed his palm upon the tree I was in. His hand erupted into flames, igniting the tree beneath me instantly.

Crap!

Without a chance to think, I jumped from one tree to another, catching myself on a branch, but it snapped, sending me falling to the ground hard.

I didn’t have the opportunity to get my bearings before I was yanked up and punched in the face multiple times.

“Don’t you ever call me that again, do you hear me you filthy, worthless pile of waste!? I will end you right here and now!”

He screamed like a wild beast while pummeling me furiously. He didn’t let up until I slipped from his grasp, and I collapsed to the ground.

My body lay in the dirt, limp as I felt my consciousness fading to black.

Come on, I can’t pass out now…! Move, damn it!

I heard footsteps crunching against twigs and leaves near my head. Emil was standing above me.

“Do you understand now?” he hissed. “You are nothing but the trash beneath my boot. The fact that you would ever hurl those gods damned words at me is a joke! I am Prince Emil LeClair, the future king of Gliyrhiel, Steylia, and this entire world!”

My fingers twitched, and I felt myself regain balance in the battle against my tipping consciousness.

“Think about your position right now, you piece of worthless scum. This is what separates the weak from the strong, and—”

In the middle of his inane rant, I grabbed his ankles and yanked him downward. He tried to scramble upward again, but I had beaten him to it, and with my favorable position, I kicked him to the ground hard.

“Shut the hell up already!” I yelled.

I wasted no time mounting the blonde and began to throw elbows at him. One of those elbow strikes cut right over his forehead, drawing a curtain of blood near instantly. His barrier returned seconds later, and I was blown away again. This time, however, I had landed much closer. It seemed that he was unable to erect a barrier of equal power to his previous ones in his moment of desperation.

He sat up and winced. He ran his fingertips above his eyes and began to shake when his hands came back down dripping crimson. “What…is this?”

I was beginning to feel the effects of the fight, but I pushed it to the back of my mind. Through pants, I taunted him. “What’s wrong? You’re only bleeding like a stuck little pig~”

“Shut up!” he shrieked at me. He rushed up to his feet and charged me.

Yes!

I forced myself up and the moment he tried to strike me, I countered his sloppy assault with a combo of vicious punches to his mid-section, ending with an uppercut that put him down on his back, eyes shut tight.

Just one more punch and he’s out!

I ran up to his downed form and mounted him. I threw a hard strike, but his eyes shot open just before my fist could connect. I hit another barrier and was blown sky high, coming down with an explosive splash into a pond I didn’t even realize was there.

Damn it, I was too slow!

Emil erupted into laughter. He used a tree to pull himself up and dusted the leaves and dirt off his brown and red stained white shirt. “I see it now, you know. That was real good!” He started clapping as I crawled out of the pond, coughing violently and pushing my drenched hair out of my face. “I gave myself away, reacting like that to your crummy insult. I bet you felt really smart getting me to drop my defenses and get angry like that. I commend you for creativity, but I won’t be falling for that anymore.”

He’s figured it out.

“I’m sorry to inform you that you were just lucky,” he laughed. “But your luck has run out. Your time is up, too.”

That’s fine. I’ll just twist the knife even harder.

The crowd broke into a cheer for Emil, drawing both of our attention.

“Listen to that,” he gloated. “Have you ever had this many people chanting your name before? I have~”

“Of course you have,” I replied.

He ran another shaky hand over his forehead to stop the blood from entering his eyes again. The blood still seemed to bother him, but his demeanor remained calm regardless. “Sorry, that was a dumb question. Of course you wouldn’t know what that’s like.”

“Do I look like I care?”

“You look like a homeless serial killer. But that’s neither here nor there,” he chuckled. “You most definitely care that this many people are about to watch me stomp you into the dirt. And they’ll cheer me for it.”

I rolled my eyes and said, “unfortunately, I’ve been getting used to being in the spotlight at inopportune times. This is just more on the pile at this point.”

“Well, I’ll be happy to send you back to obscurity where you should have stayed. And then I’ll make up for lost time with Cynthia. Preferably in that big bed of hers~”

I felt a surge of rage pass through me, but I didn’t take the bait.

“No response to that? Are you finally ready to give up?”

“Nope. Actually, I was just thinking. You mentioned the number of people cheering you on right now. I hadn’t thought about it before, but it’s insane to think the whole world is watching us right now. Not just these people in the audience, but everyone at home, too.”

“What’s your point?” he asked.

“My point is even with all these people watching, I bet there’s only one that matters to you, right?”

“Do you mean my darling, Cynthia?”

“I mean your dear mother.”