'Do something, damn it... fucking move!'
Ethan shouted to his own body in his mind, using what little consciousness he had left to think of anything that could save him from that situation.
Suddenly, when he was only seconds away from passing out, an old memory surfaced.
A teaching from his father, from before he discovered he was a cripple. From a time when the man he hated so much still spoke to him in a warm, loving voice.
[Listen well, son. A warrior's sword is nothing more than a tool on which he can focus his mana without risking the physical integrity of his own body.
A great warrior must be capable of not only transforming a sharp blade into something even sharper.
A great warrior must also be able to turn his fingers and fists into cutting blades].
With a desperate grunt, Ethan sent all the mana in his body into his fingertips.
He pointed them towards the scrawny warrior's neck and used the mana cut.
"What you- grhhhghh!"
The skinny man choked as he felt the blood rise in his throat.
He let go of Ethan immediately, put his hands to his neck and took several steps backwards as he struggled to stop the bleeding.
Ethan regained consciousness the moment he fell to the ground.
He quickly knelt down and grabbed the hilt of his sword before swinging it towards the skinny man.
"Die!"
Ethan roared as he felt the blade rip completely through the man's neck, slicing through muscle, skin, flesh and bone in a single stroke that completely decapitated him.
For a brief second, silence reigned in the air.
The brute stopped his advance towards Ethan, his eyes wide with terror. His trembling hands let the weapons fall to the ground.
The skinny man's body shuddered before convulsing and collapsing. The heavy thud of his fall woke the brute from his shock.
"You..."
The brute stammered, his eyes filling with fury as he screamed.
His confused and disorganized words emanated a deep hatred.
"YOU KILLED BROTHER MINE!"
"I KILL YOU!"
The brute roared once more.
He didn't even bother to pick up his sword before running towards Ethan. The ground cracked under his feet with every step.
"Powerful... but not very smart!"
Ethan swung his sword to clean off the skinny man's blood before lunging forward.
He aimed at the unprotected chest of the brute who was advancing madly towards him.
Then they made contact.
Ethan's body sank to the ground once more as his sword tore through the brute's ribcage and out his back.
"YOUR TOOTHPICK WON'T HURT ME!"
The thug shouted and grabbed Ethan's face.
He lifted him up without any difficulty and threw him against the tree line.
"Argh!"
Ethan groaned painfully. His sword slipped out of his hands as he hit a tree once again.
His spine almost split in half and his body shuddered as intense pain shot through his back.
"Son of a bitch - Argh!"
Ethan cursed as he struggled to get up, but was interrupted.
A powerful punch hit his face, smashing his head against the tree trunk.
The wood finally gave way under the sheer force of the bald brute, falling on Ethan's head.
"I AVENGE BROTHER! I KILL YOU! HAHAHA!"
The brute laughed scornfully after quickly walking away.
He saw the tree fall on Ethan's head, without realizing that, despite the impact, the boy seemed intact.
Not even a drop of blood of his own could be seen around his body.
'System... do you have any idea how to get out of this?'
Ethan asked the system, still trapped under the tree.
He held his breath, praying that that ignorant pile of muscle wouldn't notice him.
[System: That man has a lineage entirely focused on endurance and brute strength. His lineage's basic strength enhancements are inferior to yours, but he seems to have some kind of ability that sacrifices his intellect in exchange for even more strength].
'All right... how do I use that against him?'
Ethan asked once again, his mind too overloaded to come up with a strategy.
[Resist until he takes his focus off you. With his intellect and cognitive abilities affected, his ability to perceive his surroundings is extremely limited].
With this strategy in mind, Ethan held his breath for long seconds that seemed to last for hours.
Finally he heard the heavy footsteps of the brute walking towards the skinny man's body.
"Brother... I avenge you... Morgan have your soul..."
The brute knelt over his brother's body.
His face took on a deep melancholy, his eyes watering as he held the severed head.
"I-"
The brute tried to say something, but was interrupted by a bang followed by an intense pain in his temple.
His mind became foggy and his colossal body collapsed on top of his brother's.
"Let's see if this enormous strength will help you with that."
Ethan gritted his teeth as he tightened his grip on the stone in his hands. He knelt over the man's body before lifting the stone over his head and dropping it on his skull.
His clothes were dyed red. His hands tore and the stone he was holding shattered into pieces.
But he didn't stop hitting until he had reduced the bald man's head to nothing but a mass of broken flesh and bones.
Standing up, he was barely able to take two steps back before he fell to the ground.