Carrick's strikes slowly became harder to deflect and evade for the slave, and not only because the other man was fighting with increased force and speed. This dance of swords was intense and held without a second of pause, so after a while the slave's energy and strength started to fade.
The incoming attacks were fiercer, and the cuts he received deeper; If the slave would have looked at himself in the mirror this moment, he would have been startled by how bruised and wounded he was.
Soon he was gasping for air and drenched in sweat, and the pain from his master's attacks were gradually starting to surface, as fatigue creeped up on him.
Still he kept going, pushing himself brutally, determined to end this fight when his master told him to do so or until he passed out.