The Gazelle retreated several steps, leaving behind a trail of blood dripping from his wrist and his empty right eye socket. He wasn't crying in pain; he was laughing a hysterical, fragmented laugh, like the sound of glass shards colliding. Despite the disfigurement of his face, his terrifying aura remained unchanged: a pale, light green, like a glow emanating from a stagnant swamp. However, it had doubled in density, coiling around his body with greater force, compressing the surrounding air and causing dry trees to snap on their own.
"You insect... you lucky insect!" the Gazelle shrieked, his voice shifting from a cackle to a bestial snarl. "You scratched me... you dared to scratch a Saint!"
On the other side, Kealen was struggling just to stay upright. His body was shaking violently not from fear, but from the adrenaline coursing through his torn veins and the agonizing pain striking every nerve. But the greatest problem wasn't the pain; it was his vision. The heavy blood flowing from his forehead and shattered face was pouring over his eyes, staining everything in deep crimson. He could no longer see the Gazelle; he only saw a blurry mass moving amidst a sea of red, with a bright, pale green point centered in that crimson ruin.
Kealen wiped his left eye with the back of his bloody hand in a desperate attempt to clear his vision, but he only smeared it with more blood. "Damn it..." he whispered in a choked voice. He now relied entirely on his other senses: the rustle of leaves, and the increasing sensation of the Gazelle's green aura, which stung his skin like static electricity.
Suddenly, the Gazelle's laughter cut off. Kealen felt a massive pressure coming from the right. Without seeing a thing, he threw his body to the left, rolling over the hard ground. At that exact moment, the pale green mass tore through the spot where he had been standing, striking a massive oak tree with a thunderous crash, uprooting it as if it were a mere matchstick.
Kealen rose with difficulty, and the Gazelle had already turned. His movements were now faster, more primal, stripped of all previous theatricality. The Gazelle pounced again, using his green aura to augment his speed, transforming into a green phantom flickering in and out of Kealen's blurry red vision.
"Where are you, coward? Fire! Fire!" the Gazelle screamed as he moved with lightning speed around Kealen, trying to disorient and distract him.
Kealen, seeing the world as an abstract painting of red and green, tightened his grip on the twin pistols Farouk had given him. He felt their weight, the coldness of the metal, and the warmth of the blood covering them. He breathed deeply, ignoring the pain in his lungs, and focused entirely on the moving green blotch. He wasn't firing at the physical Gazelle, but at the center of that pale green aura.
Kealen fired the first shot from the right pistol. The bullet didn't hit the Gazelle, but it passed so close to his head that it forced him to flinch slightly, revealing the trajectory of his movement. With lightning speed, Kealen followed it with two shots from the left pistol, targeting the spot where he predicted the Gazelle would be a moment later.
One of the bullets struck the Gazelle's healthy leg. He stumbled slightly, letting out a roar of rage. He didn't stop; instead, he intensified the brutality of his attack. He lunged at Kealen, striking with a hand charged with pale green aura, crashing into Kealen's defenseless shoulder.
The sound of shattering bones echoed once more, and Kealen felt the coldness of the green aura piercing his flesh like a lethal poison. Kealen fell onto his back, and the Gazelle immediately straddled him, pressing a knee into his wounded chest, forcing more blood from his mouth.
"I will tear this face of yours apart piece by piece!" the Gazelle screamed, waving his bloody hand, while his left eye flashed with absolute darkness amidst the pale green aura surrounding his body.
In that moment, with the pressure of the knee on his chest, Kealen felt the hazy image of his parents returning. His mother's voice, her final cry: "Do not die, Kealen.. you must live!"
This time, the vision wasn't just a memory; it was fuel. Through the red vision covering his eyes, Kealen felt a hidden power exploding from within a power born from the will to survive. With a sudden, unexpected movement, he raised the left pistol and aimed the muzzle directly at the Gazelle's face, which was poised to strike.
Kealen didn't fire immediately. Instead, he used the pistol as a shield, letting it collide with the Gazelle's descending fist with a ringing metallic sound. For a brief moment, the two locked in a struggle of strength: the Gazelle trying to crush Kealen, and Kealen fighting with every ounce of breath he had left.
"You... still... resist?" the Gazelle said with difficulty, blood dripping from his mouth and mixing with the blood flowing down Kealen's face.
"Because... I am... not... weak!" Kealen roared, and with all his remaining strength, he kicked the Gazelle away using his feet, sending him tumbling onto his back with a groan.
Kealen stood up, the pain nearly causing him to black out. The red vision was denser now; he saw nothing but the green blotch that represented the Gazelle trying to rise with difficulty. Kealen did not hesitate. He lunged at the fallen Gazelle, transcending his agony, and threw himself on top of him.
Kealen pinned the Gazelle with his trembling hands, while the Gazelle tried to reactivate his pale green aura to push him off. Kealen gave him no chance. He gripped the right pistol with both hands and, with a brutal motion, jammed the cold muzzle deep into the Gazelle's open mouth, reaching his throat.
The Gazelle froze completely. His laughter stopped, and his pale green aura gradually faded, leaving his body exposed and trembling. His remaining left eye, now filled with pure terror, met Kealen's eyes, which were drowned in a sea of red. There was no longer room for escape, no room for words, and no room for rituals.
Kealen spoke in a quiet, cold voice, dripping with hatred mixed with the bitterness of victory: "Go to your Ruler... and tell him the Earth doesn't belong to his mother."
Kealen pulled the trigger.
The explosion roared, muffled inside the Gazelle's mouth, but its effect was horrific. Shards of skull, tissue, and blood scattered in every direction, staining the ground, the trees, and Kealen's entire body in deep crimson. The Gazelle's body fell still, lifeless, and without that manic smile turning into a mere corpse amidst the ruin.
Kealen backed away, panting, the pistol still in his hand, completely covered in the Gazelle's blood. He fell to his knees and looked at his hands, stained with blood through the red vision that had begun to gradually fade, leaving behind a clear but somber sight. There was no feeling of joy only a sense of extreme exhaustion and a crushing loneliness in the middle of this cursed forest. But, in a small corner of his heart, he knew one thing: he had survived.