Should Have Let Me Die

A huge cleaving blade at least three meters long flew into the giant's hand. He had twisted horns that jutted up from his pauldrons, and I could see red eyes glowing and staring at me. The thing had a massive upper body and gigantic arms, but the legs were a lot shorter.

I rubbed my hands together, the guy was strong, but now I could fight one on one with him. I jogged up at the glaring giant down at me, and I waved to him. He gave me a strange tilting of his head and then swung the single-edged tree cleaver at me, but I was ready.

I glued myself down and then blasted the sword out to the Iron Giant's hand with a blast of power, sending it flying far away from where it stabbed into the ground. I looked back at the Iron Giant again with a big smile, and I was sure that I saw the little glowing eyes squint at me.

"What? I don't have a sword, or don't you think you can beat a little shrimp like me? Does the big rusty man need a sword to fight little old me?"

This time it was a left hook, but I used the force gluing me down to blast me up in the air. I only flew up enough so that I could drop down on the left fist as it passed under me. I glued myself down again and walked up the arm with my hands in my pocket.

Next, the giant tried to hit me with his right fist, but that's what I was weighting for. I roundhouse kicked the fist into the head, knocking the helmet off, but then I jumped away fast. I knew what was coming next, the big guy was just to see if I was worthy of the fight, now I would face an Iron Enchanted Plate Demon.

The suit shattered into pieces and I heard the other cheer from the back, but I put a hand up in the air. I waved one finger to say that this wasn't over yet. Now was the time to get serious.

I used the power of the Gates and directed it to flow through my body, augmenting my strength and speed. It was crazy to think I had never known I could do this. I always just relied on forcing the power out, but I was trying to drain a river through a garden hose. 

Now, I understood that the Gate was an enhancer for my own natural abilities, but at the same time, it was a weapon without me. My Bitch Slap Of God was the closest I had ever gotten to using the power correctly, but now I truly understood how to leave a mark. 

The Demon Armor was slowly building itself back together, and I started to run at it, crossing the distance in a heartbeat. I tried to drive my fist into the midnight black chest plate, but I was blocked and then back armed across the plateau. 

I had braced myself and was able to use the power to force my feet back to the ground, but the Demon Armor was on me. I dodged a kick that would have decapitated me, but I drove my hand pooling the power in it as I did, releasing on contact.

The Demon Armor was knocked back and into the air, but I had left a line of power attached to him. I forced the power to return to me as I did to right myself, and the Demon Armor was ripped back to me. 

The Demon Armor wasn't going to let me finish it that easy and met my fist with its own. The connection released a visible shockwave, but I was still planted, so the Demon Armor was knocked back again, my line of power snapping. I rushed forward, but the armor was already back up and in a fighting stance with one foot forward and the other back, but I didn't care. It was time to bring out the big guns.

I stopped, but the Demon Armor held its stance, so I started to circulate the power through my body. Faster and faster the power started to move running up and down every line inside me until I started to glow blue. So, this is what real power feels like; it was like I had just opened the tenth Gate, but all the power was inside of me, touching every part of me at once.

I stamped my foot down, and then I moved ten meters in a flash, drove my knee into the Demon Armor's chest, and then hammered it into the ground with both fists. The impact cratered the ground and I spun in the air, dropping down to drive my fist into the helmet of the Demon armor. 

The impact sent shockwaves outwards and the armor was limp now, the blood seal destroyed or whatever was controlling it. I let the power slow down and the glow slowly left my body. This power, and speed...and only two Gates were open, it was a hard pill to swallow, but now the challenge was over.

As I stood up, the armor below me turned to dust, and then there was a light behind me. I turned to see something lit up in the middle of the plateau, so I jogged over to it. I gave a quick glance over and my friends were all waving at me, and that made me smile. I was interested to hear what they thought of the new power, but first I wanted to see what was making all the light.

There was a small pedestal glowing in the center, but I was having a hard time seeing what was on it. When I got closer I could see that it was just a small purple gem. The moment I touched the gem the light disappeared and the gem flew from the pedestal. 

It slammed into my left forearm and buried itself halfway in. Then everything went black.