Mub's eyes narrowed dangerously at Tatehan's words, his transformed face twisting into a snarl that revealed rows of sharp fangs.

"Bold words from someone bleeding inside their armor," Mub growled, his voice deeper and more guttural in his beast form. "Let me finish what I started."

Tatehan gripped his weapons tightly. He willed the sound system back off and now he stood still, bracing himself. This was it. This was the moment that decided whether he lived or died.

Mub charged forward, even faster than before, his clawed feet tearing up the ground with each powerful stride.

\He's coming straight at you, overhead strike with both axes! Move left!\ Riven's voice came through urgently.

But Tatehan didn't move left. His instinct screamed at him to dodge, but something else, his growing understanding of his abilities, made him do something different.

He had some energy stored in his armor from the earlier hit by Mub... why not store more? He decided he would let Mub hit him, but he wouldn't be in a position that would let him take the full impact. A partial hit should do it. But then, even something partial from this man-monster would hurt considerably.

And so Tatehan planted his feet firmly and raised his arms in a defensive cross-guard position.

Mub's axes came crashing down with devastating force, both blades striking Tatehan's armored forearms simultaneously.

The impact was tremendous but not exactly causing too much damage, since there was a certain way Tatehan had positioned himself to receive the attack.

He felt (as usual) thirty percent of the force penetrate through the armor, sending sharp pain shooting through his arms and rattling his bones. But seventy percent of that massive kinetic energy was absorbed directly into the armor itself, which began to glow faintly with stored power along the gauntlets and chest plate.

The crowd gasped at the direct hit.

"Finally! He's done for!" someone shouted.

But Tatehan remained standing, his boots planted firmly in the ground despite the force that should have driven him to his knees.

Mub's eyes widened slightly in surprise. That strike should have shattered bones, even through armor.

"What—" Mub began.

\Why didn't you move?! Are you trying to die?!\ Riven's panicked voice came through the earbud.

Tatehan didn't respond. He couldn't without giving away information about his kinetic absorption.

Instead, he acted.

He activated his gravity manipulation, focusing entirely on Mub's body. This time, with his improved understanding and higher level, the effect was far more pronounced. Mub suddenly felt like he weighed four times his normal mass—a crushing, oppressive weight that made his transformed muscles strain and his legs buckle slightly.

"What is this?!" Mub roared, trying to move but finding his movements sluggish and labored.

At the same moment, Tatehan reduced his own gravitational pull, making himself significantly lighter and faster. The difference was immediately noticeable, he felt like he could move with twice his normal speed.

\He's going to try to swing his right axe horizontally, duck under it!\

Tatehan ducked smoothly under the predictably slow swing, Mub's increased weight making his attack far less effective than it should have been.

Now directly in front of the transformed beast, Tatehan clenched his right fist. The armor was still glowing faintly with the stored kinetic energy from Mub's devastating axe strike.

He didn't know exactly how this would work, he'd never consciously tried to release stored energy before, but his enhanced understanding told him it was possible. The armor had absorbed the impact. Logic dictated it had to go somewhere.

He focused his will on the gauntlet, imagining the energy flowing from the armor into his fist, concentrating there, ready to be released.

The glow intensified around his right hand.

Then Tatehan drove his fist forward with every ounce of strength he possessed, aiming directly at Mub's jaw.

The punch connected solidly.

The stored kinetic energy exploded outward on impact.

BOOM!

The effect was catastrophic. The released energy, combined with Tatehan's strike and Mub's inability to properly brace himself due to the increased gravity, created a devastating blow that far exceeded what Tatehan's normal strength could achieve.

Mub's head snapped back violently. There was an audible crack, whether it was his jaw or his neck, Tatehan couldn't tell. The massive transformed warrior was lifted completely off his feet and sent flying backwards through the air like he'd been struck by a cannon.

The spectators had to move back as Mub crashed into the ground hard, his body tumbling and rolling across the dirt before finally coming to a complete stop nearly fifteen meters away. Both axes flew from his grip, clattering uselessly across the ground.

The crowd fell into stunned, absolute silence.

Tatehan stood in the center of the circle, his fist still extended, his armor no longer glowing. He was breathing hard inside the helmet, his ribs aching terribly, but he remained standing.

Mub didn't move.

\Did... did you just kill him?\ Riven's shocked voice came through the earbud. \What was that punch? I've never seen you hit like that before.\

Tatehan still couldn't respond verbally. He watched Mub's prone form carefully, waiting.

Seconds passed.

Mub's beast transformation began to fade, his body slowly reverting to its normal human form. But still, he didn't move. His chest wasn't rising and falling. His eyes stared blankly at the sky.

Blood began to pool beneath his head.

"No..." someone in the crowd whispered.

"Mub?" another voice called uncertainly.

The commander rose from her hovering chair, her expression shifting from stern observation to something resembling shock. She gestured to two guards, who immediately rushed to Mub's side.

They knelt beside him, checking for signs of life.

After a moment, one of them looked back at the commander and shook his head slowly.

The crowd erupted in gasps, shouts, and exclamations of disbelief.

Mub, the champion of the Red Crest Clan, their number one fighter, the man who had never lost, was dead.

Killed by a single punch from the Mauler Slayer.

'Well, that was anticlimactic...'

Tatehan himself was surprised that the single punch had done the job. That fatal punch was all it took to defeat the almighty man-monster beast.

Well, technically that wasn't the only thing. His gravity manipulation ability and partial regeneration had helped. But the kinetic absorption had done the real work.

Absorbing two of Mub's attacks had done it. The energy had combined into a single fatal punch that ended the man.

Just a single punch!

Now how had this been made possible? The almighty Mub, who was incredibly strong and could break the skulls of his enemies, had been killed by a single punch.

This was because Tatehan had used willpower (a damn lot of it) to transfer all the absorbed energy into his fist, coupled with how heavy he'd made Mub become due to his gravity manipulation ability. The combination made the impact of that single punch devastating.

Tatehan unsummoned his helmet, finally showing his face. But before he did so, he willed the earbud device into his inventory so no one saw it.

Riven must have done the same, he thought.

Now he was sweating, exhausted, and clearly in pain, but his expression was carefully neutral. He couldn't show regret, that would be seen as weakness. But he couldn't show satisfaction either, that would be seen as cruelty.

This was a death duel. Everyone knew the terms. Mub himself had declared he would "slay the Mauler Slayer."

The commander stared at Tatehan for a long moment, her face unreadable. The compound had gone eerily quiet again, everyone waiting to see how she would react.

Finally, she spoke, her voice carrying across the space with absolute authority.

"The duel is concluded. Tatehan, the Mauler Slayer, has defeated Mub in single combat to the death."

She paused, letting the words sink in.

"By the laws of the Red Crest Clan, Mub issued the challenge. Tatehan accepted. Both fought with honor. The outcome, while tragic, is binding and legitimate."

She looked directly at Tatehan, her stern face showing something that might have been respect.

"You have not only defended your honor but proven your strength beyond any question. Killing Mub is an unbelievable feat. You are hereby granted full safe passage from our clan, and you are welcome to return should you ever need our aid. Technically, you are now one of us."

Tatehan nodded once, respectfully. "I didn't want this outcome," he said, his voice carrying clearly without the helmet's amplification. "But he gave me no choice. It was his life or mine."

"We understand," the commander said. "That is the nature of a death duel. Mub knew the risks. He chose to challenge you despite my warnings."

She turned to address the crowd.

"Let it be known, Tatehan is under the protection of the Red Crest Clan. Any of Mub's supporters or friends who might want to harm him because of this obligatory deed will answer to me personally."

Several guards moved forward, not threateningly, but to escort Mub's body away respectfully. The crowd began to disperse slowly, many still talking in hushed, shocked tones about what they'd just witnessed.

The commander approached Tatehan now, guiding her hovering chair downward in his direction.

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