A second hung in the air as the two combatants stared at each other in the moonlight. The madness, hatred and killing intent of the streetwalker ran like a wildfire in its eyes. Leo's mind was racing, just barely keeping up with the pain and adrenaline that was pumping throughout his body.
His muscles ached, his leg was in agony, but he stood tall. The pure desire to live fueled Leo's body, nothing more, nothing less. Leo breathed in, the sharp cold air of the night burning inside his lungs as his muscles were screaming in pain.
Then the street darkened as a cloud moved passed the moon. The night was already dark and cold, barely enough to make out shapes, but under the cover of a cloud, it was as if Leo was in the dark building once again. All he could make out was the outline of the streetwalker in front of him.
Another second passed and the streetwalker burst forth in pure madness and violence, sending both of its claws forward to rend the flesh the young man standing before it.
Leo jumped to the left, narrowly avoiding the claws and landed a couple of feet away. His left leg screamed in pain as his feet found ground, threatening to buckle once more.
Until the moonlight returned, Leo wasn't able to see well enough to land any meaningful blows. All he could do for now was to dodge. If only he could tap into the strange power over blood that the mask seemed to be hiding...
Not even a moment after he landed, the streetwalker adjusted, sending the back of its left hand towards Leo. Noticing the movement a fraction of a second too late, all Leo could do was brace his arms to mitigate the incoming damage.
As the streetwalker's hand made contact with Leo's left arm, Leo could feel his bones crack under the force of the blow, and he was sent flying backwards. Struggling to maintain his balance and stay standing, the creature gave Leo no rest before continuing the chase.
Leo cursed and dodged under the streetwalker's mangled right hand as best he could. His felt that his left arm was barely usable as numbness and pain reverberated throughout the arm. If not for the pure mask strengthening his body, Leo was certain that any of the attacks the streetwalker had landed would have killed him on the spot.
Glancing to his left, Leo noticed that they were close to the wall that sectioned off the dump away from the street. A thought of jumping the wall to escape briefly crossed Leo's mind, but with his left leg being in such a bad state, he doubted that it was possible to jump it.
He was going to have to kill this thing if he wanted to survive. Straining his mind Leo tried to think of anything that might help in this situation. Cursing that he was in this situation, Leo jumped backwards dodging another attack of the streetwalker.
"Is that all you got? I've fought gangsters that you look like a joke!" Leo yelled to the streetwalker.
Leo wasn't sure if the streetwalker could even comprehend language, but talking trash was simply part of how fights were done here in the slums. Anything you could say to gain an edge was fair game. Unfortunately, the beast seemed to care little for whatever words fell from Leo's mouth.
After dodging the mangled right hand of the streetwalker once more, Leo realized he was getting too close to the wall. Recognizing that he was going to die if caught on the wall, Leo ran forward towards the streetwalker, hoping that its left arm wasn't about to impale him.
Leo met no resistance in his mad dash and realizing that this was another opportunity to damage the creature, he tried to punch the streetwalker once more. Unfortunately, judging how close to the streetwalker was difficult in the low light though and the punch he threw missed. Leo wasn't sure by how much he missed by, but he quickly abandoned the punch and continued to rush past the streetwalker.
The streetwalker roared in anger behind its mask as Leo slipped past it. Wasting no time, the streetwalker turned around to chase its prey. Leo gave up on trying to fight the monster for the moment, at least until the moon was no longer behind the cover of clouds.
Running as fast as he could, Leo's left leg was on fire, screaming for relief. Leo could feel the sticky blood drench his pants, and it refused to stop. Feeling slightly lightheaded, Leo panicked and turned his head to see the streetwalker hot on his trail.
Only two strides later and it would be upon him once more. Thinking quickly Leo jumped into the alley way to his left, hoping that the streetwalker would not be able to turn very quickly due to its clumsily long limbs.
His intuition proved correct as it crashed into the wall. That wall happened to be part of one of the more impressive shelters in this section of the slums. The streetwalker almost bounced off the reinforced wall and caused it to flail wildly as it tried to resume the chase.
Choosing not to turn around, Leo relied on his hearing as he continued to run. He could hear the ear-piercing scratching against the ground as the streetwalker tried to regain its footing. A second later and Leo could hear the monster begin running towards him once more.
Leo had put a couple of yards between him and the streetwalker in the short time it took it to get back up. The alley way opened up as he continued to run as he neared the Finch Courtyard. This area was supposed to be a place of leisure and peace but now was about to be filled with nothing but violence and murder.
Wasting no time, Leo located the statue that had fallen long ago at the center of the courtyard and made a slight turn towards it. Having seen it many times, Leo wasn't quite sure what the old statue was made of, but he knew it was solid.
Seeing that the clouds had finally begun to part, moonlight began filled the courtyard. Turning around Leo saw the unnatural monster rushing towards him once more. The moon was not completely out from the clouds, but it gave Leo just enough light to see the streetwalker's full form instead of the vague shape from earlier.
Leo watched as the streetwalker's left arm stretched towards him, giving him plenty of time to dodge to the side. The streetwalker had been going full speed and was unable to stop, crashing hard into the remains of the once proud statue. Almost immediately, Leo heard it bellow in pain as it slammed into the ground.
He wasn't sure how much damage running into the stone and walls had been doing to the streetwalker, but it wasn't nothing. Leo could see the creature struggling to stand up after it had crashed into the statue, he began chasing down the streetwalker actively for the first time since their fight to the death had started.
Winding up as much force as he could muster, Leo kicked the streetwalker in the head with his right leg. It felt like kicking a large heavy rock, but the streetwalker seemed stunned from the force of the kick. Hearing a loud crack, Leo wasn't quite sure what the noise was, but he realized this was chance to deal more damage to the streetwalker. Leo went to kick once more and sent the streetwalker reeling.
The monster screamed in pain and flailed its arms towards Leo. The clumsy movement posed almost no danger though and Leo simply backed away and out of harm's way. Leo could make out that the streetwalker was beginning to get up once more, and rushed forwards to kick it again before it could do so.
Leo's leg met with the streetwalker's already mangled right arm, and he could feel it crumple uselessly to the side. Backing away once more before the creature could retaliate, Leo saw the creature finishing standing up. Leo then felt the temperature of the courtyard drop a couple degrees, as a chill pierced Leo through his clothes.
The streetwalker didn't immediately rush Leo down which confused Leo. He wasn't sure what caused this shift, but as the streetwalker turned to face him properly, the moon escaped the cover of the clouds.
No longer hidden behind the clouds the moonlight practically flooded the courtyard, allowing Leo to see the streetwalker in full for the first time. The clothing it wore was too bloodied, ripped and frayed to discern the origin. Its skin was pale white, as if it hadn't seen the sun in years.
The nails that had ripped Leo's leg apart were jet black and looking at them for too long made Leo's head spin. Looking upon the streetwalker's face Leo couldn't help but notice that a chunk of the black mask was no more. Under the mask was the tortured face of a former human.
The madness in its eyes had somehow calmed, and a more primal hatred emerged in its place. The entire upper right corner of the mask had collapsed, with cracks threatening to break off the remainder of the mask should it take any more abuse.
Leo backed away once more, recognizing that the nature of the fight had changed. This change alarmed Leo, as while this was the first time he had been this close to a streetwalker, let alone fighting one, the fight before had been against an almost mindless beast. The streetwalker stepped towards Leo, but the clumsy motions that had defined its movements earlier was no longer there.
Now, there was a purpose to its movements, there seemed to be intelligence in its eyes, and worst of all, the streetwalker appeared to recognize Leo as its enemy.