Malachi ended up on top, his hands wrapping around Gustavo's throat with vise-like pressure. "I'm going to squeeze the very life from your worthless carcass," he hissed, his face a mask of blood and fury.
Gustavo's vision began to darken, his lungs burning for air. Panic clawed at the edges of his mind, but he forced it down. He wasn't done yet. With the last of his strength, he reached up, his thumb finding Malachi's eye socket.
"Eat shit and expire, Vex!" Gustavo snarled, and pushed.
Malachi's scream of agony echoed through the hall as Gustavo's thumb sank into his eye. The sensation was nauseating, the soft orb giving way with sickening ease. He released his grip, stumbling back and clutching at his ruined face.
Mordred, having regained his feet, seized the moment. He grabbed a jagged piece of broken marble from the floor, hefting it like a primitive club. With a roar of effort, he swung it in a vicious arc, connecting with the side of Malachi's head. The impact was thunderous, sending Malachi sprawling to the ground in a heap.
"Arghhhh!!" Malachi blurted, falling off Gustavo.
"You like that? You pretentious git?" Mordred spat, tossing the bloodied marble aside. His chest heaved with exertion, every breath a struggle against broken ribs and internal injuries.
'If it's not for the item charm in my pocket now, I'd be a dead man!' he thought gasping for air.
Malachi lay on the ground, dazed and bleeding. But the ring on his finger pulsed once more, its eldritch glow lighting the carnage surrounding them. Slowly, impossibly, he began to stir.
Gustavo and Mordred exchanged a look of disbelief. "What in the nine hells does it take to keep this bastard down?" Gustavo growled, his voice raw from Malachi's stranglehold.
"The ring," Mordred panted, his eyes fixed on the glowing band. "We have to get that shit away from him. Cut off his finger if we have to but we must separate him from it!"
They advanced on Malachi, who was struggling to his feet. His face was a ruin, covered in blood and contorted in fury, one eye swollen shut and the other a mangled mess. "You think this changes anything?" he snarled, his cultured tones slurred by pain and rage. "I'll dispatch you both with my bare hands if necessary!"
Malachi lunged at Gustavo, his movements still preternaturally fast despite his grievous injuries. But Gustavo was ready. He ducked under Malachi's wild swing, grabbed his arm, and used the man's own momentum to flip him onto his back.
"Haaaa!!"
The impact drove the air from Malachi's lungs in an explosive whoosh, but he recovered quickly. He rolled to avoid Mordred's stomping boot, the heavy footfall missing his head by mere inches. Malachi lashed out with a kick of his own, catching Mordred in the knee. The joint bent sideways with a sickening pop, ligaments tearing like overstretchedrubber bands.
Mordred went down, howling in agony. "Bloody hell! My blasted knee!"
Malachi was on him in an instant, his hands wrapping around Mordred's throat with cruel precision. "Time to shuffle off this mortal coil, you insignificant insect!"
But Gustavo wasn't about to let his partner go down. He grabbed a handful of debris from the floor - broken glass, splintered wood, crushed stone - and flung it into Malachi's face with desperate accuracy.
Malachi reeled back, cursing as shards sliced his skin and dust stung his remaining eye. "You fight with all the finesse of a gutter-dwelling reprobate!"
"Whatever proves effective," Gustavo growled, pressing his advantage. He drove his knee into Malachi's stomach, feeling organs shift beneath the impact. He followed up with a vicious elbow to the back of the head as Malachi doubled over, the crack of bone on bone echoing through the ruined hall.
Mordred, gasping for air, dragged himself to his feet. His leg was a useless, throbbing mass of agony, but he forced himself to stand through sheer willpower. "Gustavo!" he rasped. "The ring! We must take it!"
Gustavo nodded, understanding instantly. He grabbed Malachi's arm, trying to wrench the ring from his finger. But Malachi wasn't going down without a fight.
With a roar of defiance, Malachi headbutted Gustavo, sending him staggering back. He whirled to face Mordred, his fist cocking back for a devastating blow.
But Mordred was ready. He ducked under Malachi's swing, coming up inside his guard. With a move born of desperation and street-fighting instinct, he clamped his teeth onto Malachi's ear and bit down hard.
"Arghhhhhhhh!!!"
Malachi's scream was inhuman as Mordred tore away, spitting out a chunk of flesh. Blood poured down the side of Malachi's head, staining his once-immaculate collar a deep crimson. Even Gustavo had to pause for a moment in shock to look at his partner.
"You absolute barbarian!" Malachi howled, clutching at his mangled ear. "I'll see you both drawn and quartered for this indignity!"
But his moment of distraction was all Gustavo needed. He lunged forward, grabbing Malachi's hand. With a move that was more butchery than precision, he brought his other hand down like a cleaver, aiming for the base of Malachi's ring finger.
"Arghhhh!!!"
The crack of bone was lost beneath Malachi's agonized scream as his finger, ring and all, separated from his hand. Blood spurted from the wound in pulsing jets, painting the floor in abstract red streaks.
Malachi staggered back, staring in disbelief at his mutilated hand. The loss of the ring caused a rapid change. He could feel its power leaving him reeling. 'No,' he thought, panic rising like a tide. 'No, this can't be happening!'
Gustavo held up the severed finger, the ring still glinting innocently in the blood-smeared gold band. "I believe you're searching for this trinket, you widow fucker?"
Malachi's face contorted with rage and pain, his cultured facade crumbling entirely. "You'll rue this day!" he snarled, spittle flying from his lips. "I'll pursue you to the very ends of the earth! I'll—"
His words were cut off as Mordred's fist connected with his jaw, sending him sprawling to the floor. Teeth clattered across the marble like macabre dice. Mordred stood over him, a grim satisfaction etched on his battered features. "Do shut your infernal trap, Vex!"
Gustavo joined his partner, both men looming over their fallen foe. The fight had taken its toll - they were battered, bleeding, barely standing. But they had won.
"Matilda," Gustavo panted, reminding them both of their true goal. His voice was raw, every word an effort. "We need to locate her."
Mordred nodded, his gaze never leaving Malachi's prone form. "Indeed. Let's conclude this sordid affair and claim our hard-earned bounty."
As they turned to leave, Malachi's broken laughter echoed behind them. "Fools," he wheezed, blood bubbling from his lips. "You have no idea what forces you've set in motion. Even if you claim Matilda, how would you leave this city? Tell me, as long as I'm alive, the enforcers and all of Drakoria are in my palms and I'll send them right after you two!!!" He said coughing up blood.
With the ring gone, the magical enchantment and all the buffs he had initially were now gone meaning all the injuries he should have sustained, he was now feeling the effects of it.
Gustavo and Mordred exchanged a wary glance, unease prickling at the back of their necks. They knew Vex was right. He controlled Drakoria even as people hated to admit it. He did all the dirty jobs of nobles and cleaned up nicely right after. It was how he rose to power to begin with. He was one of the most ruthless gang bosses the city had way before it even began to industrialize.
It would seem impossible given how he looked to be in his late thirtys or there about. But this was all due to him dabbling with different types of magic that in turn sustained his youth. But of course, he didn't just get access to these rare and important magic by being a crime boss and a womanizing politician. No, he did it by mostly sticking his hands in places no one else would.
After reasoning this, without a word, both Mordred and Gustavo knew that leaving him just like that was completely out of the equation.
Deleting him however...