The path to victory suddenly clicked in Leo's mind, like the last puzzle piece fitting to complete a full picture.
He could already see the openings in Denver's attacks before, however, with his reduced speed he could not understand how to take advantage of them, until he thought of an ingenious solution.
'He's coming at me relentlessly…. His rage has made him incapable of critical thinking and I can use this to my advantage….. from here on out, if I slow down my fighting ever so slightly every passing second, he would still attack relentlessly trying to harm me, however, he won't be wary against my counter, thinking I'm too slow to pull it off, when I'm not…' Leo thought, as his solution to the problem he was in was to pretend to be slower than he really was and bait Denver into making mistakes.
It was a dangerous strategy, one that could easily see him lose a limb or two if executed it wrong, however, Leo somehow had the confidence to pull it off.
The mischievous glint in his eyes only heightened when he decided to go through with it, as deliberately slowing his response, he allowed Denver to graze him as he staggered back, slowly approaching the cold palace wall.
"This ends now…. I've had enough of your madness!" Denver said angrily, as he pressed on like a mindless beast.
His sword whistled through the air, coming down towards Leo with the clear purpose of cleaving him in half, as Leo's eyes closely tracked the movement, his body twisting just enough to avoid the strike, as he let the blade slam into the wall behind with a deafening clang.
Staggering back, Leo allowed himself to lean onto the wall, appearing unbalanced, as his posture faltered.
Denver, with his rage blinding him, pressed the attack without hesitation, his strikes growing more ferocious and more erratic.
"You're finished!" Denver bellowed, his broadsword aiming for Leo's neck as he aimed to decapitate Leo with one final blow.
With no room to limp back, Leo's only other option to dodge the incoming attack was to duck, and hence, he ducked causing the sword to whistle past his hair, cutting out a few strands.
*Kick*
As if having anticipated the dodge, Denver brutally kicked the ducking Leo on the chin, sending him flying back to his feet, as he re-attempted the decapitating blow.
Once again, Leo ducked, this time even slower than before as the edge of Denver's sword chipped the top of his skin, drawing a fresh stream of blood from his temple.
-1,200.
The blade barely scraped above his bone, cutting his skin and leaving a bald spot, as just a centimetre lower would have exposed his brain.
The trap had been laid out perfectly, as Leo could not possibly hope to dodge any slower, and Denver started to believe that he had the fight in the bag.
"Stand up, you rat!" Denver shouted, kicking Leo back up once again as he pinned him down against the wall with one foot and held his sword with fury with both hands.
"This is for Vivienne–" he said, plunging the sword straight towards Leo's heart, as with his body hanging lifelessly against the wall, it seemed like Leo could not hope to dodge the move at all.
In Denver's mind, the fight was over, and in his rush to end it. He failed to notice how Leo was still clutching onto both the daggers in his arms tightly, as although his body appeared lifeless, as the very last second, his left arm suddenly moved, as his left dagger deflected the incoming thrust, moving it away from his heart, towards his right shoulder, while his right hand dagger moved for Denver's neck.
*SPLAT*
*SPLAT*
In a double damage move, Denver somehow managed to pierce his great sword through Leo's shoulder into the wall behind him, pinning the assassin onto the palace wall, however, in return Leo managed to plant his dagger into the side of Denver's neck, blood oozing from the wound as Leo punctured the master assassins critical veins.
-970,000 CRITICAL HIT!
"H—"
Denver tried to say how? However, only blood poured out of his mouth as no other sound came except a silent H.
His grip over his sword loosened as he slowly slid towards the floor, eyes staring towards Leo with hatred as he never saw his own demise coming.
Assured of victory, Denver believed he had already won the fight when he made the final thrust, however, in a display of unbelievable speed, his opponent outwitted him.
While his legs limped, his upper body was still functioning at full speed and hence when he tried to take his opponent out while he hung against the wall, the legs never came into the picture.
It was a mistake he would not make if he were cautious, however, with rage blinding him, Denver never saw it coming.
'Scum….' He thought, as his mind darkened, as he could not believe that in the end he lost his life to such an unorthodox fighter.
On one hand, he could appreciate the beauty of his boldness, however on the other, the simplicity of the strategy left him angry and speechless.
However, in the end, none of it mattered, as he was never going to get a second chance to rectify his mistakes now that he was dead.
"Wooo— that was close" Leo said, pulling the sword out of his shoulders, as blood splattered out of his body like a fountain.
Stumbling, he fell on his feet, and observed the slew of system notifications waiting for him, which he had once ignored during the battle.
[System Notification :- You have entered a state of profuse bleeding, you will lose 250 HP every second until the wound is closed]
[System Notification :- Congratulations to the player 'TheBoss' for killing the North Duke, Denver Willow (Level 820).
You have gained +10 levels
+120,000,000 infamy points across Unity Empire]
[ System Notification :- Congratulations to the player 'TheBoss'.....]
With a total of 120 pending notifications to read, Leo dismissed all of them after reading a couple, as he reached into his inventory and pulled out a healing potion.
He had less than 10% of his HP left and he did not wish to bleed to death, making healing his first priority.