Trading Fears

"I don't know what you are talking about, Clifford." He replied, the blood lust that was seen in his eyes a moment earlier was now gone entirely. He began walking towards the exit, "Coming or not?" That Clifford thought he knew what he was up to amused Vincent, and what amused him even more was that he thought he'd have a chance in combat against Vincent. A man who was trained in killing high priority targets as well as finding weak spots in armors such as Clifford's.

In his head Vincent already had planned out three different ways of killing and disposing Clifford's body, beside the killing in the training grounds. Plan A; two quick jabs at his neck would do enough damage to kill him. Plan B; Snapping his neck and lastly Plan C; Drown him.

But he'd have to wait until they had left the College, too many eyes that could see him.

“Aren’t you being a Little too eager to shed blood and abandon you post “Vincent”?” Clifford responded with severity on his words watching Vincent’s blood lust placing his hand on the handle of his sword waiting for any reaction “You might be quite skillfull at deceiving but Justice can see eve trough the best facades…proves are just a question of time” he said making his exit of the academy although waiting outside the building hidden from sight.
He suspected Vincent from the first time he had seen him but he never had anything to back up such suspicions he hoped that this time with some bluffing he would be able to make him commit a mistake and caught him red-handed.

Clifford continued to follow Vincent trying to not get noticed his lack of armor and the fact that he spend a lot of time in missions where steal was as important as strength in the grand barrier helped.
It was until they were on open solitary grounds that he showed himself he quietly and tranquilly replied “Not a coward just…pragmatic when the situation calls for it…seeing that one of us shall die today mind if I ask your name? I sincerely doubt that that name that you have used until now is the true one.”
His suspicions where almost confirmed by Vincent actions…almost just a little push…or maybe he would react like a mad dog…he was prepared for that to…at least mentally he lacked his armor but the lightness of foot should compensate for that.

“Do you always talk so much while fighting?” Said Clifford pointing his finger as the man “Is unsightly and unpractical if your opponent has even a little bit of intelligence.” Immediately after saying those words mana started to condense around Vincent before he moved his hand fast signaling a small explosion smaller than usual but difficult to dodge.

Clifford saw Vincent charging in and as fast as he could he adopted a Vom Tag over the Head guard, the arms lifted over the head, elbows apart for visibility, and pommel just above the upper sightline. The sword held at a 45 degree angle back as preparation for striking from above like a guillotine if Vincent got to close.

The sword descended with great speed and strength a strike practiced thousand and hundreds of thousands of times with almost a fanatic devotion.
As fast as the weight of the sword permitted it wasn0t enough for him to cut through his opponent’s flesh without suffering injury.
The low weight of the dagger Vincent natural speed and his lack of armor permitted him invade Clifford’s and stab him deeply in the side of his chest before the sword descended upon him.
But in exchange of that Clifford was able to cut him with a diagonal cut from the shoulder to the chest.
Instant death but at a high price for the other contender.
As Vincent’s lifeless body dropped to the ground Clifford staggered to stay on his feet Vincent own weight and his lifeless hand not letting go remover the dagger from the wound letting blood flow freely from his body.
His sight became blur his head was dizzy he was losing to much blood…just like the good old time in the great barrier.
He leaned against a nearby tree painting it red with his blood as her sit down tearing
up his clothes with his remaining strength to make sure they weren’t it the way.
He looked at the wound it was serious and life threatening even with first aid if he didn’t receive proper attention he would die soon surely he this was a highly trained assassin.
He clenched his teeth trying to gather his courage finding that in the end he feared death just as much as any other.
“sigh I wonder what will they think of this after they find the two bodies” he said to himself in loud voice.
He put his hand on the wound and started to create a low heat fire then increasing its temperature until it was bright red burning the wound in the process and stopping the bleeding.
The pain was incredible it almost made Clifford fain a couple of times even while he hasn’t ended burning the wound…but it was finally over he could rest, he thought falling sleep besides the tree if no one found him it was a certain death for him.

He felt a burning and painful sensation in his body, and the high fever made him think that he had an infection, however the early treatment saved his life and he managed to recover his consciousness, unfortunately, he felt a bit blurred a few times because of the pain.
Slowly but surely he managed to retrieve himself from the darkness he was falling into, His breath was heavy and quite weak... But he had to keep on focusing to carry on.
He felt like his eyes had suddenly been cast in lead; Not matter how hard he tried it seemed impossible to open them, then after hours of struggle he managed to part his eyelids first getting hurt by the light…the world was clouded as if a mist had been cast all over it, then he comprehended it, it was himself he was so weak that he couldn’t even focus his sight then he saw a figure moving “Hey…where Am I?” he said with a weak voice feeling a horrid pain on the side of his thorax where the knife had penetrated.