"Have you ever wondered how two people with the same power would fight?"

Zeger de Witt launched a question at Bruin without expecting an answer. He was just trying to distract the man while his hand was making a slight waving motion in front of him. Right after that, six blood spikes appeared in front of the politician, each of which looked as sharp as a spearhead.

"I've never thought about such a bothersome thing," replied Bruin casually, and then he threw his enemy a question of his own, "Since you didn't even chant, that blood spikes must be your previous rank's ability, is that right?"

Bruin waved his right hand in front of him and began chanting.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Geometry and Alteration, alter the state of the blood spikes in front of me!"

The blood spikes, which were about to shoot at Bruin, suddenly liquified as if they had been melted by something very hot. The liquid blood then flowed down to the ground and gathered in one spot to form a small puddle.

"You really are worthy of your title as a member of Kleurs. Why don't you work for me instead? We'll pay you much more than your meager Police salary," seduced Zeger, although his tone was more like someone patronizing instead of persuading; the man's voice was devoid of any shred of sincerity.

"No, thank you," replied Bruin shortly. He was paying close attention to what the devious man was planning next.

If there was a fight between two Contractbounds of the same Deity, there would be many factors that could decide who the victor would be. Whether or not the individual had evolved their abilities through pleasing the Deity would be one, and judging from what they had shown, neither Bruin nor Zeger de Witt had done so.

Another factor would be their proficiency with their own abilities. The more they used their abilities, the more familiar they became with them. There would often be instances where the users found another use for their abilities through practice or experiment as well. Although Bruin was lazy by nature, he never skimped on practicing with his ability, so he wasn't losing out against Zeger in that aspect. He always tried to find out creative ways to use his abilities to make his life easier, in order for him to be able to laze around more.

The other factor that would be directly influencing the abilities themselves was the previous Deities the person was in a contract with. Zeger de Witt had been in a contract with the Deity of Wit and Blood, judging from the way he could manipulate blood easily. His Alterator abilities must have granted him even more freedom in manipulating blood. That was where Bruin had a disadvantage. He didn't have anything readily available that he could alter without using too much stamina.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Geometry and Alteration, alter the state of the pool of blood on the ground!"

Zeger de Witt finished chanting before the blood rapidly evaporated into tiny droplets that filled the air, painting it red. The droplets of blood were floating in the area like pollens from trees waiting to enter someone's respiratory system.

Bruin sensed the danger that was about to come so he retreated back as far away as he could while covering his mouth and nose with his hand. He held his breath while retreating. However, it was too late as several tiny droplets of blood had entered his nose and lodged in his lungs.

Zeger de Witt showed a grin and then shouted a word.

"Explode!"

Burst!

The blood droplets exploded one by one in a chain reaction. Although they could only cause non-lethal explosions because of their size, anyone caught in the middle of it would still be injured nonetheless. However, the real target of the explosion was not someone's outer skin, but their organs after they unknowingly inhaled the tiny blood vapors.

The enemy's blood that had entered Bruin also exploded, and the man should have been gravely injured because of the attack. Bruin, however, turned into a complicated pattern made out of countless different shapes before 'breaking' into shards and disappearing. He reappeared far behind his original spot completely unscathed.

"Illusion Substitute? So that's how you managed to avoid my traps," said Zeger de Witt, looking straight at Bruin who had created some distance between them, "So, are you waiting for a chance to use your Mass Illusion now?" he asked in mockery.

Bruin ignored the man's words and kept focusing on his enemy. He had put his gun back inside the holster because it was not very effective against Zeger and took out his cold weapon instead. It was a thin double-edged sword with a cruciform hilt. The blade was sharply pointed at the tip and the length of the blade was about 100 cm. Judging from the looks of it, the sword was made more for stabbing rather than slashing. There was a complicated pattern on the hilt inlaid with three gemstones of different colors.

"Enhanced equipment? Now that looks dangerous," his enemy said, pretending to be scared, but his calmness was as cold as the winter.

"You're talking too much you start to sound like a bad Sunday morning cartoon villain," retorted Bruin.

The narrow corridor made it easy to launch a direct attack at the enemy and predict where they would dodge. Bruin rushed forward with his sharp blade pointed at Zeger and quietly chanted.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Geometry and Alteration, alter my speed!"

Woosh!

His body suddenly felt very light and he felt like there was something pushing him forward. Bruin reached Zeger's position in less than two seconds from that distance and the sword was ready to stab the politician in the heart.

Zeger was surprised by Bruin's sudden increase in speed and quickly dodged to the side.

Slash!

Bruin made a quick slashing motion and managed to his Zeger who was still in the middle of his dodge. His blade hit the man's right shoulder and cut it open, sending blood flowing.

Swoosh!

Zeger de Witt waved his right hand and the blood coming out of his wound became tiny sharp spikes that shot at Bruin from a close distance.

Crack!

Some of the spikes hit him, causing light wounds on his right shoulder and waist. However, his body quickly turned into a collection of shapes before 'breaking' and disappearing. The blood spikes that had hit 'him' had all fallen to the floor while Bruin reappeared several centimeters near his original location without any signs of injury. It wasn't time for him to relax, though, because the blood spikes still posed danger despite having failed to injure him initially.

Before the enemy had a chance to utter his next word, Bruin already launched another attack with his sword.

Dodge!

Zeger de Witt managed to avoid the attack by moving backward. He was about to command the blood spikes scattered on the floor under Bruin to explode when suddenly,

"I, in the name of the Deity of Geometry and Alteration, alter the length of my blade!"

Stab!

The sword suddenly became lengthened, reaching all the way to Zeger's position. Strangely, the sword didn't get any thinner nor weaker; it stabbed him on the right side of his stomach with the same sharpness as before. Blood flowed out of the deep wound and again, Zeger waved his right hand, and the blood quickly formed into tiny blood spikes in front of him, with a greater number than before.

Fwoosh!

All the spikes were shooting straight at Bruin, who turned into numerous shapes again before disappearing. However, this time, the spikes didn't stop there. It kept darting around the narrow corridor in search of the target. The spikes hit Bruin who had just reappeared and it caused him to disappear again, consuming another one of his Illusion Substitute.

Explode!

Kaboom!

The numerous spikes and bloodstains from before all exploded, causing Bruin to keep 'breaking' and disappearing. He reappeared again in the distance, completely unwounded, but Zeger's attack had taken a lot of his Illusion Substitute.

"Why are my wounds not healing?!" said Zeger in anger.

Blood was still flowing out of his open wounds that showed no signs of closing unlike usual. His breathing also became heavier as time passed.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Geometry and Alteration, alter the state of the blood on my wounds!"

As Zeger said that, the blood that was still coming out of his wound magically solidified and closed his wounds from the outside. At least for now, Zeger didn't have to worry about losing too much blood. But he now had to be extra careful because Bruin's sword was more dangerous than he thought.

"You don't actually expect me to answer that for you, do you?" retorted the man nonchalantly from a distance. He had returned the blade of his sword to its normal length at one point.

There was only a sinister smile on the politician's face in response to Bruin's reply.

Zeger de Witt's whole body suddenly melted and turned into a puddle of blood on the ground, which squirmed about as if it was alive. The terrifying pool of blood then split into two: one began crawling on the ceiling while the other turned into small blood pellets.

Noticing the danger, Bruin tried to get away from his position, but it was too late. The blood that was crawling on the ceiling had turned into iron stakes that stabbed him down from above, causing his body to break again. The blood stakes kept moving around, stabbing down all the possible spots where Bruin might reappear. The blood pellets had also begun shooting around, bouncing off the walls like rubber balls, except they were much stronger and left small craters on the surface they touched,

Crash!

Crack!

The barrage of attacks didn't leave Bruin any windows for recovering. His Illusion Substitute was being consumed at a fast rate. He tried to reappear a distance away from his spot, but the whole corridor was full of blood pellets that were hitting everything in their wake, while from the ceiling, the blood stakes didn't leave any safe room at all.

Finally, Bruin's Illusion Substitute had all been used up, and his real body reappeared at the farthest distance he could. The blood pellets now could hit him and injure him, but at least the blood stakes crawling on the ceiling would still take some time to reach his position.

Bruin couldn't alter the blood to turn into solid because it was the enemy's own body; his abilities didn't allow him to alter living beings. Slashing the blood with his sword also didn't seem to work that well, as they would just liquify again to avoid the damage. If he could, he would alter the temperature or even the whole atmosphere in the room, but he couldn't, so he had to find another way to deal with the enemy.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Geometry and Alteration, alter the hardness of my coat!"

Clank! Clank!

The blood pellets hitting his coat bounced off as if they had hit metal. At least for now, he only needed to worry about the attacks aimed at his face.

Bruin bore with the blood pellets hitting him and placed his hands on the wall. After that, he quickly chanted.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Geometry and Alteration, alter the shape of this corridor!!"

Boom!!

A part of the corridor suddenly caved in like it was a piece of paper folded in two by invisible hands. Zeger de Witt was caught in the attack and was probably buried under the ceiling that was now on the ground.

Bruin was breathing heavily as he had used a lot of stamina for that one attack. His right hand reached into the inside pocket of his coat and took out a pouch containing a stamina powder, which he inhaled without hesitation. It didn't restore as much stamina as before because of repeated use, but at least it helped a little.

"How dare you!!" said a voice coming from the other end of the corridor that was still intact. It was the enemy, who was still in the process of turning from blood into a human again. His voice sounded angry and the pain he felt was apparent in it; the attack just now had injured the man!

Bruin wouldn't let the man fully recover. He readied his sword and, with what stamina he had left, dashed towards the injured enemy.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Geometry and Alteration, alter my speed!"

He thrust his sword in front of him at a frightening speed, aiming for the man's head that had completely formed. Zeger, who was still half made of blood, couldn't move as easily, but he was still fast enough to prevent his forehead from being stabbed by the sword. His left cheek was penetrated instead by the sharp tip of the metal sword, injuring him deeply.

Using the opportunity that had presented itself, Zeger used his blood 'hands' to coil around Bruin's right arm and grip it tighter and tighter, sending a surge of pain to the man. Bruin felt like the bones in his arm were being crushed by a giant snake that was about to eat him. He couldn't let go because his sword was still lodged in the enemy's face.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Geometry and Alteration, alter the width of my sword!"

The thin sword that was stuck in Zeger de Witt's right cheek became wider and cut through the man's nose and the right side of his face. Using the remaining strength on his right arm, he slashed to the right, cutting even more part of the man's face before his arm was completely crushed.

"Aarghh!!!"

Bruin screamed in pain. His right arm and hand had been macerated like mincemeat as blood flowed out of the wounds. His bones had been reduced to smithereens and he had lost control over the limb. Bruin had lost his right arm!

Meanwhile, Zeger de Witt's face was cut open and blood flowed freely through the gaping wound. The sword was still stuck there, preventing even more blood to come out, but the man was not dead yet.

Stab!

Bruin used his left hand to drive his sword even deeper into Zeger's head. A twisted expression surfaced on the politician's face as his eyes turned bloodshot. Using his last strength, he coiled his blood 'body' around his attacker in an attempt to crush it.

Crack...

Bruin couldn't shake off the blood around his body that kept getting tighter and tighter. The hardened coat that he was wearing broke apart little by little. It was difficult for him to breathe, and him being squished like that sent even more blood to flow out of the wounds in his right arm. He got weaker and weaker by the second, but he kept pushing his sword forward, cutting open the enemy's head wider.

Burst!

Before Zeger could kill his enemy, he had died first. As life was snuffed out of his eyes, his whole body burst into flames, burning everything he had on him. Bruin's body, who was still coiled around by Zeger at the moment of his death, was badly burned, leaving behind charred, bubbly flesh.

Bruin collapsed to the floor because he had no strength left, and at that moment, sounds of footsteps and worried screaming approached him.