Ragna VS Guts | DEATH BATTLE!

    Raiden: Alright, the combatants are set. Let's end this debate once and for all!

    Makoto: Time for these two to throw down!

    Raiden ... Isn't that different?

    Makoto: "Can't give in to mainstream, hun'."

    Raiden: ... Wow, do I sound like that? I'm really no fun.

    Makoto: Yeah.

    --- --- --- --- ---

    Guts was not someone who got bored often. Honestly, he didn't have the right to. During his childhood? Abuse, training, and killing your adoptive father didn't warrant much boredom. Having been part of a now dead mercenary group? Having to constantly take jobs and risk his life on the battlefield in combination with being rather high ranking in that group gave him plenty of work and ways to satisfy his boredom. What happened to the group? ... Not something anyone liked talking about, but it sure as fuck wasn't boring. His life now? He had a goal: revenge. He was a mercenary, so there was usually a job for him. He fought demons coming to kill him on a daily basis. He was so un-bored that he hardly got any sleep. To ever see him bored would be a damn miracle.

    But right now? Guts, the Black Swordsman, the Hundred-Man Slayer, killer of over a thousand demons, was bored.

    Hell, the world around him seemed bored. He was in some kind of abandoned village. You know the one's; buildings of worn-out materials, lined up next to each other in an unnaturally orderly fashion, all with creaking doors, probably having nothing of value within them, save for a couple-year-old skeleton or two, complete with sandy winds and a few tumbleweeds. Guts wasn't even walking through the town. He was just sitting on a convenient bench that the years hadn't been kind to. Had it been anyone else, they may have been creeped out by the scenery. But for someone like Guts? Boring. Couldn't there be some kind of apostle for him to fight? At least that gave him something to hit.

    But nope. For as much as the universe hated him, it didn't have the decency to give one little-

    Guts suddenly snapped into awareness, jumping up from his seat and grabbing his sword handle.


    In his moment of self pondering, he heard a sound. What was it? Could it even be called a roar? Felt more like the shout of Death herself. It gave Guts a chill. It gave Guts of a people a chill! That should by all means be impossible, but that... whatever it was did it somehow. Guts looked around, trying to find the source of that whatever-it-was.

    Looking up, Guts saw a gathering of black clouds. Lightning crashed down from them, casting a shadow upon... something. It looked like an eight-headed serpent, scanning the earth below him with blood-red eyes for a victim to snap up with jaws of immeasurable amounts of teeth. It seemed to shake it's heads, as if struggling with something. It let loose a roar to the sky that gave Guts another chill, and seemed to shrink down to the ground. The chaos in that area seemed to stop, the clouds moving away, the darkness leaving, the lightning calming down, and the serpent creature gone.

    ...

    Guts ran towards the source of the disturbance, fully intent on finding that whatever-it-was and putting it down.

    'Well,' Guts thought with a grin, 'guess I'm not bored anymore.'

    --- --- --- --- ---

    The location was a dead forest. It may be weird describing a forest as 'dead,' but that's pretty much how it was. The trees? Rotted bark and dead leaves fallen from the now menacing branches. The ground beneath? Soil gone dry and bad, leaving the plants to die out. The air? Tainted, making the very art of breathing taste bad. And it it wasn't dead, it certainly smelt like death.

    Not the best place for Ragna to wake up.

    The crimson-clad reaper suddenly sat up in a panic. taking heavy breaths and looking around to find out where he was. "What... where am I?" Ragna felt a headache coming on, his memories in a scrambled mess. He was beginning to panic, having no idea of the last thing he did. Getting up, he put both hands to his head and tried to sort himself out. Taking deep breaths, he started to remember some things. "Let's see... Okay, so I sent Celica back... Wait, no, I sent her- with my stuff I sent her back... with her sister, right, and uh, the cat - Mitsuyoshi - he stayed with me, but he left and... and I had to..."

    Ragna looked around again. Finally noticing just how lifeless his surroundings were, he began to suspect the cause and panic. "Is this... what if the world is like this? Is that what the Beast can do? What... I can do!?"

    *slash*

    Ragna's train of thought was interrupted somewhat by the sound of wood cracking. He looked behind him to see a dead tree tipping towards him. At the last second he jumped out of the way to avoid being flattened, causing the tree to crash and kick up dust. Skidding to a halt, Ragna coughed and focused his vision to see through the dust cloud. There was a man there, that much was clear. He seemed about his height and held a massive sword, but that was about all he could make out. Had it been anyone else, they would have remained curious, but Ragna felt something... A surge of killing intent overwhelmed him, and caused him to instinctively grab his sword hilt.

    As the dust settled, Guts could make out a figure nearly as tall as him clad in a red and black trench coat and held a large single-edged sword on his back. He had white spiky hair and possessed heterochromia - one eye red and one green. Complete with black baggy pants and you had a rather intimidating figure to the average man.

    Not to Guts.

    Still, he felt some kind of aura coming off of the man... He was some kind of demon for sure. His hand on the sword handle told the Black Swordsman that he was ready for a fight. Guts had to be cautious about this one, but needed to be sure he had a correct target. "Hey," he shouted, "What's your deal? You seen any demons around here?"

    Ragna blinked. Demons? The hell was he on about? Standing up a bit straighter, he sarcastically replied "My deal is that I'm in the middle of nowhere and some guy brandishing a sword asked me what my deal was. So help me out here: You seen a complete ditz of a lady too stupid for her age running around with no idea what the hell she's doing?"

    Guts widened his eye, gritted his teeth, and applied a tighter grip to his sword, immediately thinking of Casca. Shaking the thought from his head, he began to further sense the dark aura off of him. He could practically hear the monster within him. The eight-headed, serpentine, destructive...

    Guts raised his sword and got in a battle stance, Dragonslayer's glory gleaming even in the dark-lit area. "I'm not fond of liars, demon. I'd recommend running. Least you wouldn't look like an idiot when you die."

    Ragna sighed. He didn't want it come to this, but here he went again. Drawing his sword and holding it in an impossible reverse grip, he declared "I'm gonna make you regret this."


    Both warriors locked eyes, showing the weariness of battle beneath. One thing was certain. Today...

    Someone was gonna die.


    Neither hesitating, they charged towards each other and clashed, a massive clang echoing across the forest. Gritting their teeth, both warriors continued to swing at each other, battling for supremacy. Tipping his sword at just the right angle, Ragna parried Guts' stab to the side, throwing a jab at the rib cage. Blocking the punch, Guts headbutted Ragna in the nose and kicked him several feet back, making him tumble to the ground. Not letting up, he ran towards his downed opponent.

    Ragna had to squint the pain away to see in front of him. Looking up he saw Guts running towards him with his sword up. He smirked. Perfect.

    Guts jumped, intent on cleaving Ragna right then and there, but with a shout of "INFERNO DIVIDER" Ragna rose up and caught Guts in a skyward slash, following with an uppercut and finishing with an ax-kick covered in darkness, sending Guts rocketing downward. Not one to let up, Ragna shouted "BELIAL EDGE" and dived down towards him, sword tip first.

    Guts flipped in midair and landed on his feet, jumping back to avoid Ragna's attack. Guts took a swing which Ragna ducked under, allowing him to sweep the Black Swordsman. Guts jumped over the attack and delivered a kick to Ragna, which the Bloodedge side stepped and used the opportunity to grab Guts' leg and throw him over his head. As he was about to land however, Guts lodged his sword into the ground, spun on the handle and kicked Ragna in the face, gaining some distance.

    Guts had time to mull over his opponent. Something was up with his attacks. Guts felt something... missing from himself. Whatever it was, he couldn't let those attacks hit him again. Reaching into his pouch, he pulled out a cherry-sized sphere covered in barbs and ran towards the Grim Reaper.

    Lifting himself back up, Ragna saw his opponent rushing him and responded in kind. When both were near each other, Ragna slid the edge of his sword along the ground and swung up with a shout of "DEAD SPIKE!" As the maw of a beast seemingly appeared from out on nowhere, Guts jumped over the attack and threw the sphere at Ragna, having it explode in midair. With Ragna blinded, Guts tackled him and sent both warriors tumbling across the ground. Landing on top of Ragna, Guts raised his sword overhead and stabbed downward,, forcing Ragna to shield himself with the flat of his blade and deliver an uppercut to Guts' jaw. With his opponent disoriented, Ragna flipped Guts off of him, landed on his feet, turned around and shouted "DEAD SPIKE," the attack forcing Guts to slide back and lodge his sword into the ground to right himself.

    Guts charged once more. Reaching towards his chest strap his chest, he threw a small knife at Ragna, who instinctively held up his sword to shield himself. While he blocked the knife, he felt something kick off of his blade. Seeing a shadow cast over him, he looked up and saw the Black Swordsman with his sword raised. With no time to react, the Grim Reaper took the hit and tumbled very far back. It didn't feel so much like a blade slashing at him as it did a slab of metal punching his entire body.

    Ragna was able to stop his awkward tumble by cartwheeling back to his feet. Instinctively he rose his blade to block an overhead slash from Guts. Seeing an opening, Guts grabbed the knife from his belt and slashed at Ragna's stomach, making the Bloodedge grimace in pain.

    Needing an opportunity to heal, Ragna kicked Guts away, jumped in the air and shouted "GAUNTLET HADES," delivering a downward punch to Guts' head and sending him into the air with a roundhouse. As Guts came down, Ragna pointed his sword upward and impaled a falling Guts. Grinding his body across the ground, Ragna shouted "DEAD SPIKE" and sent the Black Swordsman painfully sliding through the dirt with a beast-head on his tail.

    Catching himself mid-tumble, Guts slashed at the head of darkness, causing it to fade into nothingness. Through the mass of darkness he didn't notice Ragna continuing his assault.

    "CARNAGE..."

    Guts found himself slashed once more by Ragna's blade...

    "SCISSORS!"

    ...and was sent flying back by a blade of darkness being slashed from the opposite direction.

    Before Ragna could rush him again, Guts landed on his feet and skidded to a halt, throwing a knife at Ragna. It hit him in the shoulder, but Ragna was barely fazed and pulled it out, throwing it to the ground.

    Both warriors look at each other, suddenly realizing that they weren't dealing with anything like they had faced before. They were facing their near-if-not-exact equal. While others had nearly brought them to their knees, no one before had forced them to fight for their lives as hard as they were now. Treating them like anyone else they'd ever fought would be a mistake. It was then that they both had the same thought:

    'Time to kick it up a notch!'

    As Ragna charged once more, he wasn't prepared for the Black Swordsman's left arm to open a compartment that suddenly fired multiple arrows, and received some shots to the chest and arm. Guts once again jumped in and attempt to cleave the Grim Reaper, But Ragna caught him off guard by bringing up a barrier from out of nowhere. With a fierce declaration of "GOING INTO OVERDRIVE" he activated Blood Kain IDEA, feeling stronger already.

    Thinking he caught the Bloodedge off-guard, Guts slashed at him again, only for his attack to be sidestepped. With a window of opportunity present, Ragna cried "HELL'S FANG" and punched Guts in the stomach, dazing him before hitting him with a wave of seithr, sliding him back.

    Ragna swung again, but Guts allowed Bloodedge's blade to slide off his own as he placed a hand on his crimson jacket and kicked him away. Stumbling back, Ragna was left vulnerable and couldn't avoid the throwing knife received in his chest.

    Right where Guts had place a bomb.

    The explosion along with the knife wound had left Ragna with no chance to recover, sliding head first across the ground. If that wasn't bad enough, his overdrive had decided to take that moment to wear off. Shaking his head free of the daze, he saw Guts once again rushing him. Giving a frustrated grunt he created a wall of seithr to separate the two. What he didn't expect was for the Black Swordsman to jump straight through it with little care and still come charging towards him! This forced Ragna to keep ducking and weaving past the Dragonslayer, and he was starting to get pissed. Blocking the next swing with Blood-Scythe, he forced both blades to become lodged into the ground before delivering a seithr infused fist to Guts' jaw.

    Guts stumbled back, caught himself and pulled his dagger from his belt. Just as easily avoiding a few slashes, Ragna threw another punch, but Guts was able to catch it this time. When Guts slashed Ragna across the chest, the Grim Reaper grabbed his arm and squeeze hard enough, forcing him to drop the knife. With little options, both fighters threw a headbutt at each other, the impact forcing a little blood to come between their vision. Guts' left arm fired an arrow, grazing Ragna's right and catching him off guard, which allowed Guts to deliver a hook to Ragna with his mechanical fist. Shaking the haze out of his eyes, Ragna looked back to Guts to see a fist pointed at him.

    *stop music*

    In the most bizarre fashion, the hand fell and revealed a hole beneath. Grabbing the string with his teeth, Guts pulled.

    "BARRIER OVERLOAD!"



    The sudden force made Guts pull back, causing the cannon to completely misfire and for him to lose his balance, giving Ragna enough time to retrieve his weapon. Guts rolled out of the way before Ragna could smash him with his sword. After Guts retrieved Dragonslayer, both warriors spun around, their blades meeting once again, sending another resounding clang throughout the forest.

    Just as it seemed like they would eternally clash once more, Ragna jumped over Guts' horizontal slash, and with a shout of "BLOOD-SCYTHE" his blade unfolded into its awakened state and nailed Guts in the back, sending him skidding across the dirt face first. As he attempted to recover, Ragna picked him up by the collar and punched him, making him stumble long enough to receive several cuts from Blood-Scythe, followed by being grabbed once more. Slamming the Black Swordsman into the ground and throwing him further like a rag doll, Ragna shouted "DEAD SPIKE" and sent Guts further into the air. Pursuing further, Ragna declared "IDEA ENGINE LINKED" and prepared to end the fight.

    "Let the darkness..."

    His hand transforming into a massive claw, Ragna caught Guts as he was falling.

    "CONSUME YOU!"

    A circle of darkness appeared beneath the two, sending waves of seithr to tear a helpless Guts to shreds. Ragna felt the attack drain away at Guts' soul and heal his own wounds. With a squeeze of his claw, he seemingly crushed the last of Guts' life force away and sent him crashing to the earth.

    *stop music*

    Turning around and spinning his blade before putting on his back, Ragna declared "I'm not gonna waste any more time on you, asshole" before walking away.

    Guts lay on the ground, motionless but not thoughtless. He had come to a rather horrific realization: this person was stronger than him. Not like other opponents he had fought. No, this person was someone that not even his dumb luck could get him through. Few had truly had to make him fight so hard, and a sudden realization hit him: he'd have to go all out. He didn't want to use it. He never did.

    But as he lay there, thinking of his life, thinking of all he had to protect, thinking of his quest...

    He wasn't done yet. He couldn't be.

    A black metal began to creep over his skin, as his eyes glowed a blood red.

    --- --- --- --- ---

    Eyes widening, Ragna instantly stopped dead in his tracks. The killing intent he felt could terrify an army, and it even gave him a headache. Turning around, he could tell that it was coming from where he last left his opponent. But that was impossible, wasn't it? He was down. No normal person should get up from that! Not willing to risk the possibility of it being a farce, he gripped to he hilt of his sword, and waited.

    As silence filled the air...

    Sighing, Ragna lowered his defense. "Guess I'm just-"



    A black blur shot forward, slamming into Ragna's unprepared body and knocking the wind out of him. With another blow to the face hitting with the force of a cannonball, the Grim Reaper was sent crashing threw several trees, sliding head first across the dirt, and slamming into a wall of wood as he stopped.

    Getting up slowly, Ragna rubbed his head and blinked the haze out of his eyes. He looked around to see that he was in an abandoned village. You know the ones. But that wasn't what mattered at the moment. "Ugh... what truck hit me?" Looking up, he got his answer.

    And it was absolutely terrifying.

    The only remaining piece of his former opponent was the giant sword that lay rested over his shoulder. The difference was that it was now being held by a hand that covered itself in black armor, as did the rest of the body. Though this armor didn't shine in the moonlight. It seemed... tainted. It was like it existed to take light rather than reflect it. The helmet looked liked the head of a beast. Not just for its shape, but it had glowing red eyes!

    Ragna was pretty sure that armor wasn't supposed to have its own eyes. No, this wasn't a man wearing armor.

    This was a man wearing the skin of a demon.

    Ragna slowly got up, raising his sword once more. Panting rather heavily, he refused to lower his defensive stance and got ready for the fight of his life.

    Guts did not think, did not look, and did not care. He simply rushed at his opponent, closing the distance in hardly a second.

    Swords clashing, the shockwave was enough to send doors flying off of their hinges! Shocked by the sudden intensity, Ragna was forced to take a defensive stand, blocking every attack but never finding an opening to counter. Seeing no other option, he shouted "BARRIER OVERLOAD" and forced Guts back. With an opening present, Ragna delivered three devastating slashes to the chest...

    ...which didn't even make Guts flinch as he raised his sword above his head.

    "What!?" Ragna's shock barely gave him enough time to jump back and avoid a strike devastating enough to crater the ground. Looking back towards the Black Swordsman, he walked from the dust cloud to reveal an arm not in a position that it should be in. Ragna smirked.

    That expression wouldn't be kept for long as he witnessed the disgusting sight of the arm twisting itself back into place. He could feel the ripping and breaking of flesh and bone as blood spilled from the broken limb. Ragna's horrified feeling would only seek to burden him as Guts rushed him once more. With no time to defend the Grim Reaper received multiple slashes across the torso before being impaled in the stomach!

    A shocked Ragna coughed up blood, but received no mercy. By the sword, Guts picked up Ragna and slammed him into the ground multiple times. Grabbing the Bloodedge's face, the black-clad beast slammed him into the side of a house, running to grind him along the splintering walls of the aligned buildings. Throwing him into the air, Guts grabbed him by the leg and slammed him into the ground once more. Sending him flying into the air one more time, Guts waited before delivering a final blow: a devastating swing of his sword, hitting him with the flat of Dragonslayer like a baseball bat. The impact was so strong that it sent Ragna flying into a house that was sent crashing atop him.

    Thinking that he had won the fight then and there, a bit of Guts' inner demon slipped out as he released a chilling roar to the dark sky above.

    Boy was he in for a shock of the century.

    Looking back, he saw the wood from the house move aside. After moving it all away, there stood the one he thought he defeated;

    Ragna the Bloodedge.

    *stop music*



    Panting heavily, Ragna raised his right arm to level with his face. The red sphere on his gloves seemed to open, revealing a white light beneath, flowing out and endless stream of darkness. It was then he began to chant.

    "Restriction 666 Released... Dimensional Interference Field Disengaged..."

    An aura of darkness began to swirl around Ragna, stirring up winds in its power.

    "IDEA Engine Linked..."

    A white light formed from Ragna's glove, spreading itself around the abandoned town. Guts might feel the force pushing against him if he could feel anything.

    "BlazBlue..."

    The dark aura swirled around Guts like a tornado, tearing away at the building still intact. And with one final shout...

    "ACTIVATE!"

    ...Ragna's emblem appeared from behind him as the dark aura spread out and sent shards of wood flying everywhere.

    Standing before an unimpressed Guts was still Ragna, though darkness seemed to flow from him. Black feathers, like that of a sick crow, fell from his body, and his sword would shine black and red flashes. What Guts saw was still the same man.

    Anyone else would have seen a beast.

    Ragna once again rose his sword  in a reverse grip. "Hope your ready, you masked freak," he shouted, and then charged Guts, "CAUSE I'M NOT HOLDING BACK ANYMORE!" Guts responded in kind, roaring at his opponent and charging.

    What followed could only be described as two monsters wailing on each other, in a contest of whoever could hit the hardest. As they hit each other the very ground shook, houses were torn to pieces, craters were formed around them, and shockwaves made the very air tremble. In the center of it all stood only a black mass of two figures tearing away at each other's essence. One felt no pain, the other didn't give a damn.

    Despite the battle raging on being downright monstrous, Ragna felt himself gaining an edge. He could easily counter most of Guts attacks and was getting more hits in. Even if Guts kept going, Ragna could feel him slowing down, getting weaker. Ragna continued to ram him into the ground, forcing him on the defensive. He felt himself overpowering him. He could do it! He was winning!

    Guts would have none of it.

    To Ragna's shock, Guts' helmet seemed to form a mouth. His head now looked like that of a mad dog, Ready to tear its prey apart. Guts took an offensive position, pounding away at Ragna's defenses though never breaking through. He had no thought other than to destroy what was in front of him.

    Ragna suddenly knew what he was dealing with. This man had come to take his life, but in the process lost his own sanity. As of now, he wasn't the Black Swordsman the Ragna faced earlier. He was a mad beast that needed to be put down.

    Ragna felt nothing but pity.


    "BLACK ONSLAUGHT!!!"

    Gripping his sword, Ragna suddenly shot it up, hitting Guts in the chin with the but of its hilt. While Guts easily recovered from this, he looked back to see Ragna's weapon shift into its scythe form. Knowing he didn't have many shots left, Guts prepared to attack.

    "BLACK SABBATH!"

    Both warriors began to hack away at each other, neither flinching or caring for one another's attacks. Ragna delivered several swift slashes and tares at Guts, and he responded in kind. They continued to cut each other and pull back their weapons...

    But Guts went the extra mile, and decided to impale Ragna. Pulling the attack off successfully...

    ...it did nothing.

    "NIGHTMARE RAGE!!!"

    As a wing sprouted from Ragna's back, Guts felt his very life being drained from him, while the Grim Reaper could feel power being gained. They both knew the fight was over.

    As Ragna sought to impale his opponent, Guts decided to die as himself... and removed his armor.

    Eyes widening, Ragna barely had time to angle his blade so that it only grazed Guts and hit the ground. The missed attack sent a massive wave of darkness behind Guts and destroying everything in its path. The shockwave from the initial point of impact was enough to annihilate the town, but the fighters didn't even flinch.

    Shock, confusion and disbelief etched all over his face during his last moments of consciousness, Guts collapsed. In the crater that was once a town, Ragna stood over him, the clear victor.

    The Bloodedge sighed, needing to find some form of closure with his opponent. "Listen... I doubt you can here me, but you were ready to die just there. That takes some serious nuts. But you were ready to die as yourself, not as some monster. It was then that I realized something... you still have something to fight for. We both do. You're gonna die one day. Don't get me wrong; we all will, but at the rate you're going, someone's gonna kill the shit out of you eventually."

    With little left to say, Ragna turned from his down opponent. As a final gesture, he flicked his arm back, summoning a black wing of seithr behind him.

    "But it was never meant to be me."

     --- --- --- --- ---

KO!

    Makoto: Yeah! Go Ragna!

    Raiden: ...You were picking a side?

    Makoto: It's not that! It's just that he's important to me.

    Raiden: ...What?

    Makoto: *blush* Us! I mean... Important to us. Y'know... where I come from.

    Raiden: ... *ahem* Anyway, In brutal honesty, this victory was rather straightforward. While Guts may be a tactical genius, but from the beginning, Ragna was much stronger, faster and tougher than him.

    Makoto: If feats like 'stronger than punching the moon into pieces,' 'surviving lasers that could level mountains' and 'faster than sky to ground lightning bolts' aren't enough to clue you in, we'll just say that Guts is physically outpowered.

    Raiden: And while both combatants possess incredible feats of durability through sheer force of willpower, the barrier gave Ragna far greater defensive ability and the soul stealing properties of the Blood-Scythe and especially the Azure Grimoire would both slow Guts down and keep Ragna sustained throughout the fight even better than the Berserker Armor.

    Makoto: Speaking of, while that armor may be able to keep up with Ragna at first, but it would eventually burden his body, serving to hurt more than help.

    Raiden: Lastly, while Guts had more versatile weaponry, it wouldn't help much. Ragna has fought with the likes of Rachel and Noel, who specialize in ranged combat, knife fighters like Hazama, and Nu-13, who can attack him from all sides. Plus he has fought battalions of soldiers with much more deadly weaponry and has even dodged lasers. Ragna would know how to counter anything that Guts threw at him. And were not even getting into other variables such as Unlimited Form or the Black Beast

    Makoto: In the end, Guts had the heart and the soul... but just didn't have the guts.

    Raiden: The winner is Ragna the Bloodedge.



    WINNER: RAGNA
    +Stronger, faster and tougher at base.
    +Matched if not surpassed the Berserker Armor's power.
    +Greater defenses.
    +Experience trumped Guts' arsenal.
    +Azure Grimoire and Blood-Scythe kept him sustained throughout the fight.
    +Unlimited Form and Black Beast could guarantee victory.
    =Equally strong willpower.

    LOSER: GUTS
    +Tactical genius.
    +More experience.
    +More versatile weaponry.
    =Berserker Armor could match Ragna at first.
    =Equally strong willpower.
    -Physically outmatched.
    -Arsenal would do little to help.
    -Berserker Armor would hurt as much as help.
    -Unlimited Ragna > Berserker Armor.
    -Wouldn't stand a chance against the Black Beast.

    Epilogue:

    Guts still lay in the exact same spot. He did hear Ragna. Somehow. And he admitted that he was right. But Ragna's words only inspired to keep him going. But not now. Now he lay on the ground, wounded, and very, very tired. But he opted to keep it that way.

    He really needed the rest.