(Charles's POV)
Charles never really wanted to beat Leo down so bad.
With every punch he landed on the boy's battered frame, a small grimace twisted his expression, fleeting and buried beneath the cold mask he wore.
Deep down, he kept hoping that the next blow would be enough, that it would finally push Leo within an inch of death where the line between quitting and clinging would begin to blur.
But Leo was a stubborn bastard.
Too damn stubborn for someone who was just a Grandmaster, as it actually took Charles far longer than expected to systematically dismantle his body, to peel apart the fight layer by layer until it began to flicker.
"I will kill you kid," he muttered beneath his breath, as his fist arced down again, slamming against Leo's ribs with a sickening crunch. "If you don't fight for your life, if you don't protect yourself against my attacks, you…. will….die!"
