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Lord Noah's POV

The fight was finally beginning to tip in my favor. At the beginning, when he removed his heavy gear, I was definitely scared and worried as to who the true victor would be.

Eventually, my experience in battle seemed to have proved important. Under the end, experience prevailed over strength.

The major reason why he surpassed me on a strength basis was probably because of my old age. If I had been fighting him with 10 years ago's worth of strength, it would have been a different story.

Perhaps 10 years ago would have meant a 10-year loss of experience. Which would mean that even though my strength would match or even surpass his, I would not have the experience I currently have now.

I pushed and pushed myself to the limit until I finally cornered Raphael and had him on the ground.

"All that big talk about how you had murdered several alphas, and here you are, sitting down pathetic in defeat. Do you have any last words before I put you to rest?" I said, staring down at Raphael with confidence brimming in me.

"Do you really think I have lost this fight? So in your opinion, you hold my life within your palms? Unfortunately, I am not done yet," Raphael said, staring up at me with eyes that showed he had a plan.

"What are you scheming over there? You do realize that I have the power to end your life at this moment, don't you?" I said as I began to grow cautious of Raphael.

"Well, if you have my life in your hand, then how about you take it right now? I don't see anything holding you back. Or perhaps you have begun to grow weary because you know that under no circumstance should I be underestimated. I have murdered alphas, and many times it was because they let their guard down."

"Maybe you're right. Maybe I haven't attempted to end you yet because I may let my guard down. The fact that you're at a disadvantage is clear. Submit now, and I will give you a painless death," I said as I stared down at him.

"You see, the fact that I am at a disadvantage is the exact reason why I should change the tide of battle," Raphael said.

"What do you mean by that? The tide of battle doesn't simply change when one is being defeated. You have lost. Admit it now and receive a painless death. There's nothing you can do about it, and if you continue with this, I will make sure I make you scream as long and as loud as possible until you die," I said threateningly.

"What do you mean there's nothing I can do? There is always something to be done," Raphael said.

These words were followed by him throwing pebbles at my face. Before I knew it, my face was completely crowded in dust, and a few of the shards made it to my eyes. For a short moment, I lost part of my vision and couldn't sense where Raphael was.

Suddenly, I heard a loud banging sound, and debris flew everywhere. After dusting and wiping away the dust from my face, I could see again, and I saw Artemis energetically maneuvering his way toward me.

I stared at him, and I saw what I believed to be fear in his eyes.

I wondered what he was looking at, and then when I looked forward, I saw what it was, and fear gripped me.

Standing side by side, the both of them were clearly beat up, but at the same time, they were brimming with confidence.

There was no way I thought Artemis and I could take them on when they were together. They did not have their heavy gear binding them anymore, and with the heavy gear gone and their teamwork and perfect coordination returned to them, we had no chance.

"You see just how quickly the tide of battle can change? As soon as you underestimate your opponent at any point, you have immediately given them the chance to defeat you," Raphael said, looking me right in the eye.

"Well, Artemis, it seems we've run out of luck. To think that just when we were lucky enough to get them separated, they managed to merge back together. We really screwed up, didn't we?" I said as I smiled weakly to Artemis.

"To be honest, I think you screwed up first. To think you were actually going to face these two all on your own. If I hadn't arrived, as soon as they both took their heavy gear off, you would have died instantly. Well, I guess with the two of us against the two of them, things should be about equal," Artemis said, shaking his head.

"You know, Artemis, I never really admitted this to you at any point in time before, but let me tell you now. Although I haven't told you this, I always considered you my number one rival and strove to surpass you. I always believed that we were both of equal strength and that if we were to fight, it would end in a draw. I wanted to gain more strength than you, but before I knew it, old age caught up with me, and I couldn't make any further progress. If we both walk out of this alive, I would like for us to have a sparring match," I said, looking at Artemis.

"Well, it seems like I will eventually get to surpass you after all. I almost viewed you as my rival as well, but I didn't think old age could ever stop me. I wanted to train as much as my body could let me each and every day, and I had the feeling I would get to surpass you. If you have already given up because you think old age is a limiting factor, then you have already lost to me. If we both walk out of this alive, I will grant you that very match, and I will win," Artemis said and began to crack his bones.

"Well then, how about we kill these two sons of bitches and get this over with?" I said and began to get flared up.

"Actually, Noah, you are wrong. They aren't sons of bitches; they are the sons of one bitch," Artemis said, correcting me.

"Oh, sorry, forgive me. I didn't know such high levels of patheticness could ever come from one person. To think they are this ridiculous, and they were made by one human being," I said, laughing and patting Artemis on the back.

"I know, right? They should give their mother an award for bringing something into the world that smelled worse than shit and didn't come from her asshole," Artemis said, laughing as well.

"Maybe they didn't come from the asshole because that's exactly what they are," I said, laughing even louder.

Artemis did not hold back his laughter, and soon enough, he was holding his sides. "Maybe she should have vomited one and shit the other. Either way, the end result would be crap," Artemis continued, laughing even harder.

At this point, Raphael and Muriel had had more than enough, and before we could even continue making jokes at them, they had lost their minds and attacked us violently.

Immediately after their attack was launched at us, our expressions changed, and we took them on with the expertise of the elders we were. Before my joke, our full sides were told aside, and in a few seconds, the both of us had landed solid hits.

"Something tells me you can't be considered elders if you actually speak such vulgar words. You should both be ashamed of yourselves," Muriel said.

"Don't start getting pissed, Muriel. We are both old men, but don't think we are still a little bit around. The both of you are far too strong together. We have to at least tweak you in whatever way we can so that we can survive. Don't think that because we are old men, we don't have anything to live for. After all, I have to kick this geezer's ass before I go," Artemis said.

"Look who's talking," I said, staring at Artemis with an upset face.

"You have a problem with what I said? Or are you not a geezer?" Artemis retorted.

"I may be a geezer, but so are you. You shouldn't be calling me that when you are one too," I said angrily.

Artemis proceeded to try to punch me, and I did the same.

But quickly after, we both flipped large pieces of stone and kicked them at Raphael and Muriel, respectively. This sudden attack definitely caught them off guard. Before they could even realize what was going on, Artemis and I jumped at them and threw out violent punches.

The punches landed cleanly and blew them away. Surprised by the attack, Raphael and Muriel stared at us with shock in their eyes.

"How can a few geezers still be so shameless? With one cheap shot after another, the two of you are fighting even more dirty than street fighters," Raphael said angrily.

We didn't give them enough room to speak. We both attacked and visually bombarded the two of them before they could arrange their thoughts and land a coordinated attack. We tried as hard as we could to synchronize our attacks, occasionally switching between opponents.

Eventually, when we ran out of energy, we had actually done quite a bit of damage to the both of them and stepped back to catch our breath.

"Muriel, I think we have had enough of this. At this moment, what I want is to have a nice drink and have enough women around me. It's about time we ended this," Raphael said directly to Muriel.

"I have had enough of their crap as well. Let's put an end to this, brother," Muriel responded.

Right after, they attacked us with synchronized attacks. In a matter of seconds, we were both overwhelmed, and before I knew it, I heard claws penetrating skin. I sharply turned to look at where the sound was coming from and realized Artemis was bleeding.