Our swords came together in a clatter of sparks, and I gripped the handle of mine as I pushed his aside. I needed to be careful not to let even a sliver of the blade touch my skin. After all, his was electrified.
We had been fighting for minutes now. My arms were sore, and I was sure his were exhausted; his blade shook in his fingers, and his right arm was in bad shape. I knocked its tip easily out of the way, and kicked him to the ground.
I stared at the vanquished foe, panting. It had been a long fight, with several points where I had to dodge, lest I be electrocuted. I had heard rumors of it; a hundred thousand volts, coursing through the steel. My boots were scuffed and dirt-covered; the biggest casualty I’d sustained in this fight, truly, was my cloak, a long tear through the corner where I’d had to fling myself out of the way.
“You’ll never defeat me,” the man said, holding his electrified blade in front of him, a trembling defense held in his only good arm. It wouldn’t even hold up if I bothered to strike it once with my own. Lightning arced up and down its metallic blade, shining silver with the light of its electricity, faintly buzzing. “A single touch with this and you’re dead.”
“Ah,” I said. “but consider- you haven’t landed a hit, not even once. Does it really do as much damage as you claim? Or is this just some foolish bluff?”
His eyes widened, nearly comically. “I- No, I- I would never bluff. I-”
He was lying. I knew he was. Now that I could see his blade stilled, the lightning was not so impressive; not even comparable to a plasma ball. Easily, I plucked the sword from his fingers; he tried briefly to grasp it, but he was exhausted, bleeding sluggishly from the wound I’d slashed through his shoulder earlier in the fight. Ignoring him, I pulled the blade free; it gave a final spark of electricity, then stilled, completely inert.
I pried the dead battery free from its metallic shell. Its copper gleamed in the light; a ruse? No, it was real; it had a gentle sort of weight in my fingers, smooth and cylindrical, the simple stamped letters along its outside declaring it to be of Duracell brand. Store-bought. Cheap. Disposable.
“A single triple-A battery,” I said. “You tried to defeat me, the Crimson Assassin, with a single triple-A battery?
The man on the ground grimaced. “You were falling for it.”
“Hmph.” I tossed the sword in its parts to the ground- it fell with a clatter around his head- and pocketed the battery. “A mistake I won’t make twice.”
I wheeled on my heel, torn cloak following unevenly, and left him there. He wasn’t worth the effort of killing properly.