Evenly Matched

Jessica felt her instincts take over her full swing, as she poured everything she could into dodging.

The monkey did not hold back its punches. It threw a palm upwards toward her head, grazing by her face as she tilted it to the side. Though not even a second later, it threw another one low, towards her gut.

Jessica was able to bring her sword in front, which slammed into the monkey's palms once more and cut open another wound.

However, despite suffering from its own attacks, the monkey's expression did not change, nor did its pace slow. Jessica soon found herself needing to commit everything to either dodging or blocking with the sword.

She could not even find a window to counterattack. This wasn't the worst situation to be in, as she was at least hurting the monkey every time it willingly went into her blade. However, she was starting to lose her footing.

The monkey was simply too ferocious, not giving her even a tiny break. With each step she took backward to dodge, she could feel herself losing balance. Although she was barely keeping up, it wasn't going to last that long. If it was to be considered a race, she definitely would be on the losing end between her falling over or the monkey bleeding out at this rate.

Mia watched on with concern, anxiously biting one of her nails.

"S-She will be fine, right?"

She wasn't talking to anyone in particular, or if anything it was mostly herself. Emma, who was also looking, let out a soft hum with a cheery tone. Although there was a rather close battle going on, her initial interest seemed to dwindle quite a bit.

"They are matched fairly evenly. Regardless of who wins, it will be quite close. However, regardless of the winner, it is very unlikely that either side would be able to finish the fight without injury. That is unless one of them makes a serious mistake."

She fell silent after that, continuing to watch on, but overall not very interested.

On the other hand, Jack was still very excited. Although Emma's fight was definitely far more of a spectacle, it seemed that much didn't matter. His standards weren't raised by a significant margin.

He kept letting out sounds of amazement, still in Emma's princess carry, kicking his legs excitedly. And while he was, he held out both hands, pretending he was either swinging a sword or hitting someone with his palm, making sound effects with his mouth as he did so. He didn't see it as a serious situation, thinking that they were just having fun.

"Go, go!"

As for Jessica, she similarly didn't think much of it. Because she gradually found her thoughts lulling away like they were never there in the first place. Instead, all of her focus went into the fight.

For another five minutes, they clashed without any significant results.

Considering that she was constantly on the verge of tipping over, Jessica performed quite well maintaining herself the entire time. On the other hand, the monkey was also performing to surprising standards, moving seamlessly despite the fact the injuries on his palms were slowly getting worse.

It was almost as though the monkey couldn't feel the pain, or see the blood pouring from his hands, or the fact that loose skin had already been partially peeled off. Through it all, there was only a stone-cold expression on its face.

However, Jessica wasn't too different, almost like they were copying each other.

The monkey swept his leg, which Jessica dodged by doing a light jump. Immediately after, a straight palm went for her chest. Her sword wasn't in a good position to block. And although it was theoretically possible to dodge, it would come at a great stability cost.

With her footing already so unstable, she could not afford to.

At best, she would fall down to one knee, but the monkey would easily use that opportunity to land several devastating blows. If it reached that point, it was as good as over.

And so, Jessica simply tensed up her abdomen and received the blow.

A booming thump resounded in the air.

It was quickly followed up by Jessica's violent cough. While she kept her footing, that hit was enough to send her several meters away, dragging her feet through the dirt. Her eyes widened from the pain, but they were still as clear as ever.

The monkey quickly closed the distance, intending on pressing the advantage. Jessica finally directly attacked after all this time it came close, though the monkey hesitated little to parry the blade with its bare hands, adding to its countless injuries, before going for a high hit.

Jessica dodged as always, but her initial attack made it hard to keep the proper posture. As such, she found herself in another similar situation, where it would be too hard to block effectively, but if she dodged, she would end up falling to a knee at best.

With that in mind, she took the full force attack once more.

An even more devastating and deep slam resounded.

Jess was blown away, but held onto her consciousness enough to remain standing. Though it was at this point her eyes became unfocused. She didn't seem to be looking anywhere in particular, with a dead look in her eye while her mouth hung open slightly.

But more importantly, other than standing, she was just staying still, as though in a daze.

Mia noticed this, standing up in horror, before turning to the man in a suit.

"We have to cancel this battle! She forfeits!"

However, the man in a suit only laughed.

"There is no surrendering. If you willingly get into the battle, then it only ends when one of you dies. You were already given the option to surrender before you released them."

Mia was crestfallen, thinking that it was over.

The monkey took a deep breath before rushing over once more, putting its all into that one attack, throwing out its palm.

And Jessica didn't react. Just like before, she wasn't moving at all.

Mia couldn't help but yell out seeing this.

"MOVE, JESSICA!"

Though despite her best efforts, it fell on deaf ears. Other than swaying to the side a little bit, she did nothing to actually dodge or block the attack.

Finally, a deafening bang reverberated through the air.

For the third time, a palm slammed into Jessica's side, twisting her body rather violently in a grotesque fashion. Even if she could somehow stay conscious after a hit like that, it wouldn't matter too much.

While pretty much everyone thought it was over, a flash of light gleamed for a split second.

Then, along with a cracking sound, a line of blood shot into the air.

It sparked some confusion, as it didn't make sense for a line of blood to be coming out from a palm strike. For a little while there was silence. The man in a suit clicked his tongue.

"...And here I was thinking that I would win. The battle is over."

As though on que, the monkey's head slowly slid off, falling to the ground, with blood spraying out from its neck. The body collapsed to the ground with a thump, showing who the winner was.

Emma let out a small hum before softly giggling.

"It seems that I underestimated her potential... I must say well done."

Jessica herself was still stationary, as though she hadn't moved. However, the katana she now held up to the side and fresh coat of blood over it told a different story. Other than her heavy breaths, she just remained there.

Mia was speechless for a second, processing what exactly happened before running over to her.

"J-Jessica!"

She nearly tripped over herself several times, but just barely kept up and made it next to her. While Mia did feel relief that Jessica indeed won, it was quickly replaced by worry. Mia saw that she was trembling slightly among her heavy breaths.

"Are you ok?..."

Mia gently touched her. Upon doing so, Jessica slowly turned to her before falling on top of her.

"I'm... tired."

In a slight panic, Mia caught her and pulled her into a hug.

"...It must've been hard. Just take a break now."

Jessica fell asleep then and there. Mia gently brought her down and gave a lap pillow. Soon, light snoring sounds filled the air. When Mia looked closer, she noticed that the arm that had been holding onto the katana was trembling.

She furrowed her brows wondering why.

Emma walked over, noticing her confusion and answered the question despite not being asked.

"She overexerted her arm to deliver that final strike. If it was just to kill the monkey, then the strength she used was at least double the amount required. Not to mention, she even used the recoil from the monkey's strike to amplify her own attack, making it even stronger."

The man in a suit let out a sigh, waving his hands.

"Whatever, let's get going already. Since you're the last person, you're drawing next. If you want to bring along your friend, just carry them."