Time seemed to slow down.

I was at the end of my ropes.

It seemed I had overestimated my abilities, and now suffered the consequences of my arrogance.

In the end I was just a normal man.

This guy was beyond normal, he was a phenom, the peak of humanity.

In the middle of my despairing thoughts, and just as I was being raised up for a fourth slam Kemoros words came to my head.

“It's not over until it's over.”

One of the cardinal principles of his dos and don'ts.

How could I forget his teachings so fast?

Out of Kemoros words, sudden inspiration hit me.

I still wasn’t done.

I would make him regret not finishing me off.

As he raised me into the peak of the air, and proceeded to slam me down into the ground a fourth time; I employed one of the more advanced grappling techniques Kemoro had taught me.

“Python Beast Reversal”, like a python I used the full length of my body and all the muscle strength I had left to latch on to his body and wrap around his outer thigh and over his knee.

I also gripped onto one of his throwing arms with my remaining hand as hard as I could.

I did my best to perform the maneuver as quickly and fluidly as I could, despite Teloro having a strong grip on my upper body he had neglected to seal all my limbs.

He was confident that the damage he had caused me had beat all the resistance out of me.

Soon I would teach him why Kemoro’s fundamental “Dos and Don'ts” were truth, in the Art of Fighting.

Once his throwing motion reached a halfway point, my reversal activated as intended.

My grappling move and the speed in which he swung down threw him off balance, and launched us both into the ground.

It was my moment at last, I had no time to spare.

It was do or die.

I had no way to seal his movements as I had done to Fittino, and even if I did, this guy's massive strength would probably outpower me, and allow him to escape and proceed to beat the crap out of me.

No I had to go for the finish.

Immediately I scrambled to his head ignoring the pain I felt when I fell to the ground. The amount of adrenaline I felt at the moment was off the charts.

I was in full on survival mode.

After reaching his cranium region, I wrapped his head with one of my legs and positioned my other leg right under his esophagus.

Simultaneously anticipating what his reaction would be, I started digging into the ground furiously with my one arm, and latched onto the makeshift hole as hard as I could.

This was it, this was my last stand, it was all or nothing.

I started to put all the pressure that I could muster into his neck.

I started to realize why Teloros’ defense and resistance was so preposterous.

I His skin felt like sandpaper and the toughest leather one could imagine.

Even though the spot in the neck I had chosen was one of the weakest parts of the human anatomy, so much so that Kemoro said that applying only minimal pressure on this area was enough to knock someone out, I found myself feeling like I needed to apply all the pressure that I could muster or risk failure.

Luckily despite being a skilled Martial Artist Teloro knew nothing of ground defense, and had allowed me to apply one of the deadliest submission moves of the Groundbeast Fighting Art, “Blunt Sword Leg File Choke”.

With the edge of my leg shin I applied the submission hold with the intent to finish him off.

Soon the arrogant Teloro who was angry of having fallen down to the ground, but who had not bothered to react quickly enough, felt the squeeze of my death hold blocking the breath of life.

It was obvious he wanted to scream and insult me but his restricted airway prevented him from doing so.

Soon I saw his eyes bulge out and start to redden exaggeratedly.

This is when he realized he was in mortal danger.

He grabbed onto my body and tried to stand up, but I used my weight and leverage as well as my grip on the ground to anchor him to the ground and foil his intent.

I knew he wanted to stand up and slam me to the ground, but I wasn’t going to let him.

I couldn’t completely seal his movements, but I would bleed out my remaining arm in making sure the fight stayed on the ground.

I saw him get more desperate, despite his strength he failed to stand himself back up, his head imprisoned to the floor by my actions.

He kept on trying to leverage himself off the ground with all his might, yet again and again he failed to do so.

Scarily though with each one of his attempts I saw the hole I anchored my hand in start to crack and the soil loosen.

I knew as soon as my hand was loosened off of the ground my endeavor would end in failure.

I had no choice but to hope I could end it before that happened.

The mounting pressure and compromised situation made Teloro start to panic, with fury, killing intent, and fear present in his eyes he started to wail on me with his fists.

Each strike felt like a massive hammer was hitting my body, but still I didn’t let go.

I held on for dear life.

With each passing second his strike got faster and more frantic, but they also lessened in power, slightly reducing the suffering I was experiencing.

Soon I saw blood come out of Teloros nose and mouth, now I knew the time was near.

With increased motivation I applied more pressure to accelerate the process, and maneuvered both our positions in a sideways manner making it harder for him to strike me cleanly.

Teloro was so debilitated I now had control of his body placement.

I heard his final growls and gasps of resistance as he tried to free himself by pulling my leg away from his neck.

Despite his weakened state I still had to furiously resist his massive strength.

Had he attempted that from the start he might’ve been successful and my gamble would’ve been in vain.

But in the end arrogance and lack of knowledge were Teloros' downfall.

I felt the last of his breath thereafter, I felt his body loosen and the resistance end.

Immediately I released my hold.

I was definitely afraid of regretting my decision.

My merciful action turning out to be a deadly mistake, but despite his cruelty I knew better than to kill the guy.

Had I done it, that would only end in a storm of trouble and my almost guaranteed death.

I scrambled away from Teloros body gasping for breath, and managed to sit myself up waiting for any possible Teloro retaliation.

But to my joy Teloro didn't get up there he lay strewn on the ground as if he was lifeless.

Everyone watched in amazement, disgust, confusion, and bewilderment at what just happened; the Callous way Disciples ran up to their senior in anger and worry to make sure he’s ok.

Looking at him in that position actually made me worried I might have overdone it.

During his struggles I had no choice but to apply as much pressure as I could.

The man in front of me was truly a Monster, despite me having a hold of one of the most compromising areas in the human body he still had me on the edge of defeat.

In the end Kemoro’s “Combined Fighting Method'' had pulled through and saved my life, and I learned a number of valuable lessons as a result.

After my struggle and the adrenaline dying down I felt the pain and injuries overtake my body.

I had the urge to pass out, but I didn't want to do so in front of so many of the City’s people.

It was obvious most of them were my enemies.

I was in hostile ground.

I saw their faces as they watched the scene in front of them in amazement, confusion, bewilderment, disbelief and most notably disgust.

Seeing the smugness in their faces disappear brought satisfaction to my soul.

If nothing else I had honored Kemoro’s legacy and these people could do nothing about it.

They could kill me in my weakened state but I didn't care.

I was at peace.

And news of their deeds would leak out further damaging this pathetic excuse for a City's reputation.

Who would want to go to a place where they bullied promising young Experts instead of cultivating them.

Those were the satisfying thoughts I would take with me if my end truly arrived.

The Callous Way Disciples who were with Teloro were in panic and worry.

But soon they found that he was still alive.

Relief was apparent in everyone’s face after the disciples confirmed it, “at least they didn’t lose a promising talent to a despicable trash'', was probably what they thought.

After securing their friends' safety the Callous Way Disciples attention turned towards me.

“ You're going to die for what you did to Teloro!”

All of them charged at me in a frenzy fashion, like a pack of Fear-Wolves ready to rip a wounded Fair-Lamb to shreds.

These people were scum, despite being Martial Artists there was nothing honorable about them.

Right after I had accepted my approaching death a gust of wind passed right by me and I was suddenly enveloped in a shadow.

An old man that looked like a bum stood guard right in front of me.