Adam held up a hand as he bent at the waist. The cut to his hip was preventing him from standing upright. Rexus stopped and then gestured for Adam to get on with it. Like a bipedal turtle carrying too heavy of a shell, Adam waddled over to the corpse of Abrego.

Rexus frowned, unsure of what Adam was doing while he tried to lift the body. Unfortunately, Adam didn't have the control to get it up, instead falling onto his knees and landing on the corpse. Pulling out a knife, Adam cut the neck of the body and began sucking the blood.

Looking away, Rexus almost retched. Adam couldn't fault him either. If he didn't need the healing so badly, Adam would never have done this.

"Boy, you are absolutely disgusting. Yet one more reason this world will be better without you."

Adam ignored Rexus while his stomach and insides regenerated. Once he was physically better, Adam stood and stretched a little, to Rexus's surprise.

"Regeneration from blood?" asked Rexus, his eyes wary of Adam. "Is that why the vampire lady wanted you so badly?"

"No," dismissed Adam. "This is a Tier 4 ability that blood berserkers can get. Gregor will have it if he manages to evolve his class once more."

"Seriously?! That bastard gets more and more, just lucking into such a class! He's always been too good at everything."

"That hardly matters at the moment."

"True enough, kid. I can see that it healed your wounds, but there is something that still feels off."

Adam nodded, not bothering to hide it. "It'll be a while before I recover from fighting the mind witch, so I'm not in top shape. But when has that mattered? We do what we must."

"Yes, we do what we must. Otherwise, we die," said Rexus with a glint of excitement. "It would be wise for you let me walk, but there is too much ignorance in youth. Let's see what makes you so feared among the invaders."

Adam stepped forward. He was far enough away from Gregor now that his soul had settled down, allowing him to release the barrier he had erected around it with [Body and Soul Shaping]. With the barrier unneeded to hold his river in place, Adam's power increased, and his movements steadied a bit more.

Rexus was clearly tough, but Adam hadn't seen him fight and wasn't sure what made him so tough. He had a tanking class, but Adam had faced quite a few of those without issue. Durability didn't matter if you could just out damage them with strength or get around their defenses with agility.

Adam's hands began to glow with [Kinetic Impact]. He pulled back his arm to punch. Rexus smiled at him and crossed his arms, demonstrating to Adam how unconcerned the man was. With a lurch forward, Adam used [Gladiator's Approach] to appear in front of him. An energy enhanced fist connected perfectly with the smugly grinning commander's face.

A new pain flooded Adam's jaw, and he stumbled backwards in surprise. It felt like he had been the one struck. Rexus hadn't moved. His arms were still crossed and the smile was still on his face. Though after a moment he did wince and reach up to rub his jaw where Adam had hit him.

"That punch was stronger than I expected," Rexus grudgingly admitted, though he smiled again as Adam held his own jaw. "I never would have let Gregor get such as easy blow on me, but I guess your strength is a smidgin above his."

Adam stared at Rexus blankly while shaking off the pain. Rexus hadn't moved. There was confusion in Adam as to how the damage had hit him and why the commander was barely hurt by it.

Once more he cast [Kinetic Impact] on his fists and stepped forward. The smile left Rexus's face as he got serious. Pulling back his fist, Adam lunged forward, faster than Rexus could respond. The punch landed in Rexus's stomach with enough force to pop him off the ground. Yet even as Rexus left the ground and folded forward, Adam felt a deep pain impact his own midsection and he couldn't help but bend forward while staggering backwards as well.

The commander grunted from the punch but was the first to stand up straight after landing on the ground. Adam was still recovering from the gut pain, his legs wobbling as he stared down Rexus.

"Berserkers sure aren't known for their brains, huh?" teased Rexus. His smile held amusement, but his eyes betrayed the viciousness inside him. "Since you'll do more damage to yourself trying to figure it out, I might as well tell you. Berserkers benefit from overwhelming stats from their rage state, but my tank class was built to be the antithesis.

"I'm the ultimate survivor and this class goes along with that. I've min-maxed vitality, but that isn't all. My skills combined give me resistance to damage. 80% to physical and 60% to magical. Adding to that, I reflect 40% of pre-mitigated damage. That means the stronger you hit me, the more damage you suffer, while I resist more of it. I don't even need to attack back to win a fight, just to stand here and regen from other skills while my opponent does themselves in.

"You've got no chance, kid. Like I said, this was specifically to counter you. All fighting me will do is hurt yourself. And listen, I respect what you're doing here. I appreciate your efforts to save people, but I just can't get on board with it. That doesn't mean I intend to harm more people, so long as they don't get in my way. I chose the path to allow me and my allies to survive this crazy new world. Just let us walk. It would be better for the people you protect not to lose you."

Adam felt weird about the man's words. He could tell Rexus wasn't a kindhearted man. He was a predator, stalking whatever prey he chose. It seemed weird that he was talking so much, and not in his usual villainous monologue. Adam looked back to the wall where other fights were happening, then back to Rexus. Standing tall, Adam once more readied his fists.

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"If you are so clearly going to beat me, then why do you keep trying to convince me to let you go?" asked Adam, waiting for an answer before continuing.

A conflicted look formed on Rexus's face. He seemed to mull over his words before answering.

"I had a plan. That plan did rely on the vampire, though I didn't put all my eggs in her basket. With her defeat, I'm going to need a different plan. In the military you learn that today's enemies can become tomorrow's allies. It's better not to build grudges and burn bridges. I didn't hurt any of your people. I didn't help the vampire capture you. Ultimately, all we did was try to gain control of your base, mostly when you weren't here. If you hadn't gotten the invader lady to tell you about me, then you wouldn't have blamed me for anything except a bad attitude."

Hearing Rexus talk, Adam started to chuckle, then he laughed. Rexus frowned at him, but didn't rise to any provocation.

"I get it," whispered Adam. "We're still your backup plan. You still want a safe point to retreat to if you can't make it in a conquered world alone. Not only are you too cowardly to protect this world, wanting to conquer a weaker one, but you don't even have the confidence that you can succeed long enough on Earth to find another world."

As Adam spoke, Rexus's expression changed. It went from confused to angry, and then to stormy. By the time Adam finished with his interpretation, Rexus was fuming.

"You know what, kid? You clearly don't truly understand war! One person, one unit, can't take out a whole army, let alone a whole world of armies. You think what you've done is so great, but the vampire made things easy on you. She wanted to capture you, so she let you and your people stay safe. Now that she isn't here to protect you, it won't just be those lizards coming after you. It'll be all the invaders!

"But if you are too stubborn and stupid to realize it, then I'm done with the kiddie gloves. I'll show you the difference between us right now!"

With that Rexus clenched his own fists and dove at Adam. His left hand came at Adam's face, so he put his arm up to block. When the fist contacted his arm, Adam didn't feel enough strength or speed from it to feel threatened. Out of instinct and anger, from the multitude of fights that Adam had experienced, he countered with an uppercut at Rexus. As the movement began, Rexus spread his arms and threw his jaw into Adam's punch to increase the force.

The collision caused both men to stagger backwards. Adam felt a bit shell shocked as he grabbed his jaw. The damage reflection made him feel like his head wasn't solidly attached to his neck. Rexus, on the other hand, wasn't as stunned even though he was the one hit.

With a flurry of movement, Rexus took advantage of Adam's attempt to recover. Punch after punch was thrown. Adam would block, dodge, or try to grab the commander. Every attack felt slower and weaker to Adam than even fighting Lucas. Yet a good number of punches landed on him.

The blows weren't enough to really harm Adam, but they made him angry. The river was rushing through him as the heat built. The voice inside screamed for him to conquer. Adam's mind focused completely on his hate for the human betrayer. Fury at being shown up even though he had more strength and speed took over. An inherent need to show his superior grew from the corruption inside. His thoughts dimmed as the fight became instinctual.

Then, in the numerous blows sent his way, Adam saw an opening and went for it without thinking. His own punch swung into a gap and landed on Rexus's ribs with bone crushing force. Unfortunately, right before there was an impact, Rexus flashed with a skill and said, "[Pain Tolerance]."

The blow didn't phase Rexus, who pressed to attack as Adam's own ribs lit up in pain and his side clenched, pulling his arm in to protect it. With one of Adm's arms no longer committed to defending, Rexus landed a slew of punches.

Once more the punches were more frustrating than damaging, like a small dog nipping at your heels. The pain and anger were taking over Adam and he was having to fight against the river as well as Rexus. But Rexus didn't give him any time to get control over his mind or emotions.

Adam continued to block and dodge, but as the fight went on, his breathing grew ragged alongside his frustration. Without meaning to, Adam activated [Explosive Strike] on his forehead and then head butted Rexus as he got close.

A burst of energy exploded between their two heads, and both men were sent sprawling. Rexus rolled to his feet, but Adam fell backwards as his vision went white from the sharp pain and damage he felt in his brain. He grabbed his head, the pains in the rest of his body forgotten as that last hit had rung Adam's bell.

Laying on the ground, Adam tried to catch his breath and clear his sight. The reflected damage had stunned him enough that Adam's river wavered inside. The emotions fueling it were halted as all Adam could think about was recovering, his opponent practically forgotten.

That didn't stop Rexus from approaching. He jumped onto Adam's chest and began raining punches on Adam's face. Adam's arms were already up, grabbing his aching head, so he was able to use them to ward off some of the blows, though quite a few landed on his face. Every now and then, Rexus would strike his ribs, causing one of Adam's arms to dip, exposing his head to more punches.

Adam lost even more control over his breathing. He tried to roll Rexus off him, but the man had his legs holding Adam's sides and shoulders in a way that prevented it. Adam tried lashing out, but as soon as an arm moved away from his head, more strikes would fall in the opening.

With his breath heaving in bursts, Adam began to growl. Then he remembered one of his newer abilities and used [Arc Shockwave].

Pressure burst from him, throwing Rexes twenty feet away, but the impact of it on the man was also reflected, making Adam feel like he had been kicked by a mule whose hooves were the size of his torso. Even with the pain and pressure from the shockwave, Adam forced himself to roll onto his side and then pushed himself up.

He stood on wobbly legs as he looked at where Rexus had landed. The man was by no means unharmed, but he looked like it was all superficial, and Adam did notice that some areas he had bruised or reddened before looked like they had already healed.

"Gotta tell you, kid. Your fighting is garbage," taunted Rexus. "Even when Gregor gets worked into his berserker state, his lifetime of training and experience gives him better technique. You're faster and stronger than me, though you can't even use it because of how sloppy your attacks are. Not that it matters. Just look at how hurt you get from punching me. Your rage addled mind can't even consider how to use your abilities properly."

Adam stood there gasping for air as he heard Rexus speak. He couldn't even argue with the commander's words. This fight was going worse than he had expected. First his soul was damaged, weaking him. Then his rage's influence really was a problem against the damage reflection. But Adam would keep going. He wouldn't give in to an invader collaborator.

"I really wanted you to survive this. To see how far you could go," said Rexus mournfully, "but seeing how you don't even know how to fight, I just can't trust you as a backup plan. Your limits have been reached. I've decided to end you now."

Reaching behind his back, Rexus pulled a knife from his belt and held it in front of him expertly. It was the one that Sgolkr had left in his hands. It was one of the strongest weapons Adam had encountered. A knife that could cut through Adam with ease.

While Adam looked at the knife with a frown, Rexus leveled it at him. Then he charged.

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