Enraging a beast

Zihan is unrelenting his frenzied bloodlust taking over what measured reaction he was capable of as he fought like a wild beast. No longer aiming his strikes he was just swinging his heavy axe round trying to hit me anywhere he could, unfortunately for me he was still an over seven foot tall orc so even with an inaccurate strike he had enough power for it to be certain ****. I maintain my taunts keeping him enraged and off balance, the crowd still favoured Zihan but the cheers had died and now it was just murmurs after each swing.

I am beginning to flag, my muscles ache as I dodge **** again and again. Eventually he makes a slip up, an overextension as he tries to take my head, I place my hand on the hilt of my sword when out the corner of my eye I see Quinara shake her head. Her message clear "not yet" trusting her combat expertise I step back and take my hand off my hilt instead of drawing my blade and surging forward. A move that proves to be the correct one as barely a second later Zihan swivels his axe and strikes again, had I moved in for the kill I would have taken the blow directly to the chest. I mentally curse myself for almost making such a critical error, my combat inexperience proving it would be my undoing... Well that or my tired body, I was slowing down with exhaustion far faster than Zihan was. If I didn't find this opening soon I would simply lose enough energy for him to catch me.

I needed to make him slip up, I needed to ramp up the embarrassment for him and thankfully Quinara had given me the arrows in my quiver to do so. As his next swing sails over my head I begin, "I really thought you'd be better than this I mean such a big scary orc.... well I mean not that big from what I've heard" I sneer. There's a couple of stifled laughs but not many, however that's enough to provoke Zihan into defending his manhood, "you lie because you know you're a small man everywhere" he growls. More orcs laugh at his joke than mine and it dawns on me that this line of attack wouldn't work, why would an orc take my baseless claim over Zihans? That question is answered for me by Quinara "oh he's definitely not a small man... You are though" she announces to the crowd, drawing some "oohs", Zihans skin deepens in colour as blood rushes to his face in rage. The best part about this was Quinara was his wife, if anyone could make that claim it was her, and this was exactly what I needed if I was to win this fight.

Zihan sees red and he screams at Quinara, "just you wait after I kill your little fucktoy, I'm gonna show you what happens when you disrespect me you CHEATING CUNT!!!" My body may have been fatigued but hearing Zihans threat fill me with enough rage to give me a second wind. However I'm not the only person who observed his outburst and while many of the orc jeered in support at him 'disciplining his wife' many of them got quiet, began hushed whispers. Even if Zihan killed me it would seem I had permanently damaged his reputation, he would still be respected and those in power certainly knew his nature but this was eye opening insight to some of the orcs and I couldn't be more smug about it.

Zihan grunts and roars as he begins to swing at me anew, no longer having any restraint putting all the **** his hulking body could muster. He gasps after each swing the physical exertion taking a toll on him, I wanted to cheer but until he was dead I couldn't celebrate too much was on the line.

"GRAHHHHH!!!!!" Zihan swings an overhead smash with all the might he can muster, I dodge it and watch as his axe slams into the soft soil. He swung so hard I almost expected the ground itself to be split in two as his axe sinks into the earth. As he goes to yank his axe free Zihan finds it stuck firmly in the ground, he leans forward to get a better grip on the blade and I knew this was the opportunity I was waiting for. I draw my sword and after a quick step forward swing aiming upwards at his neck.