Hugo was locked in the thick of combat, forced back step by step as the man before him swung a massive sledgehammer with a brutal, crushing force. Each swing tore through the air with a heavy, bone-rattling whoosh, striking the ground hard enough to crack the wooden floor and send vibrations up his legs.
Barehanded, he had no way to properly counter, relying instead on sharp movements to evade his blows. If he got hit even once he felt that his bones would break. The mighty weapon was that daunting.
His breathing grew heavier as he circled, arms lowered as he analyzed the relentless assault. Every near miss brushed past him with dangerous force, the blows powerful enough to shake the air as it passed.
This awakened was strong but at the same time, he noticed an obvious pattern.
"This guy is an amateur with that weapon. Every few swings he pauses for a moment to rest before continuing, he can't even control his swings."
He was an Awakened, so he needed to wield an appropriately weighted weapon to fight other Awakened. Sure he could swing a mundane sledgehammer with no problem, but against an awakened it would simply break against them.
This was a common problem with welding heavy weapons like that, although it could do alot of effective damage at once, landing blows with it was tough.
'The second he stops to rest again, I'll disarm him quick and take him out. And then I'll...'
It was only for a second, but he caught a glimpse of the fight that had concluded ahead.
He bore witness to Roswell, his hands clamped tightly around Azdins throat, lifting him as blood poured down in a crimson river. The image struck him hard enough to make him freeze, his body locking in place as disbelief and shock cut through the rhythm of his fight.
'No!'
That single moment was all that it took. The sledgehammer came swinging in, and by the time Hugo could fully comprehend it, all he could do was lift an arm to block it.
The heavy head naturally broke it, as it tore across his face in a brutal glancing blow, lifting him from the ground and snapping his head to the side. Pain exploded through him like a burst of lightning, sharp and blinding as it tore across his senses.
Crashing to the floor, Hugo struggled to stay conscious, the world around him spinning and dimming. With what little strength he had left, he reached out a trembling hand towards the two.
"S-stop.."
For one desperate instant, he held that gesture towards Roswell before the darkness swallowed his consciousness whole.
Raising his sledgehammer, the Awakened prepared to bring it down on Hugo once more. This time with the intent of finishing him off for good.
And just right when he was about to swing, something large and heavy slammed into his back, knocking the air from his lungs and sending him toppling forward. He hit the ground hard, the weapon slipping from his grasp as the impact rattled through him.
Dazed, he pushed himself up just enough to look back, vision unsteady as it struggled to focus. Through the blur, he made out the figure that had collided into him.
It was his other comrade, welding his spear that had been broken in two, now groaning on the floor.
And just a bit further past him.. stood the barbaric woman who caused it all. Her dark hair moved like a storm, it's long strands twisting and lifting in the restless wind.
Her eyes though, were still. Icy blue and sharp, almost colorless in their intensity. They gazed down on him with contempt, as though she had already measured him and found him lacking.
Looking down on Hugo's unconscious body, she snickered.
"Pathetic."
Then glaring back at the two, she picked up the sledgehammer that the Awakened had dropped earlier, and tossed it back in his direction.
"Your fight is with me now."
A cold certainty crept through him, tightening his chest as if the air itself has turned against him. It was the impending sense of doom.
"Both of you.. after all you've don't you better not bore me."