Amber held her daggers tightly, ready to strike at any moment. Gwen was clad in her mana armor, which was covering her body in a protective shell.
But Justin was unfazed. He moved quickly, his daggers slicing through the air with frightening speed.
The three of them clashed, with Amber and Gwen working together, coordinating their attacks, and trying to catch Justin off guard to gain an advantage, possibly killing him.
But the thug had many neural links compared to them, and his stats allowed him to see what they were trying to do with ease; however, it wasn't as easy to fight against both of the two young women as they were skilled Red Palace students and knew how to move during a fight.
Gwen rushed forward, her mana armor crackling as Justin swung his daggers at her.
She parried his blows by bringing her armored arms in front of her, but each hit pushed her back a little further and threatened her armor's integrity. The girl gritted her teeth, determined not to let the thug gain any advantage he didn't already have.
Suddenly, Amber appeared behind Justin, daggers poised to strike. But he was too quick, dodging to the side and turning with a spin to face her.
The red-haired girl cursed under her breath but kept lunging forward, though Justin was already on the move, slicing his daggers through the air. Amber narrowly deflected the first strike using her sturdy daggers, but the second attack caught her arm, drawing some blood.
However, as the girl made her move, her friend, Gwen, saw an opening and charged forward, her fist high in a stance, aiming for Justin's head. But that wasn't enough to damage the thug since, at the last second, he sidestepped and swung his leg in a vicious arc, catching Gwen in the chest.
Gwen gritted her teeth against the pain, knowing she couldn't let it distract her. With a hand on it, she backed away, circling Justin warily as he turned to face her.
Meanwhile, Amber was still trying to find an opening, but now she had trouble exerting her strength due to the wound. She darted in and out, jabbing with her daggers, but Justin was always one step ahead; he was facing both the girls contemporaneously and toyed with them like a psycho. He countered Amber's attacks effortlessly, leaving her frustrated and off-balance.
Amber's friend saw that Caiden's daughter was having trouble finding an opening, and she knew that she needed to act fast before the thug could land another hit on her.
She feinted left, then right, then lunged forward again, her arms raised in a fighting pose and aiming at Justin's head again.
But once again, he was too quick. He spun around, delivered a devastating kick to her side, and sent her flying with his powerful attack.
"Gwen!" Amber shouted. She was aware that she just saved her life since the thug was going to attack her while she was in a vulnerable state.
"Don't worry about me; be careful!"
Gwen recovered just in time to alert Amber as Justin launched himself against her friend. She deeply realized how messed up the situation was and understood they couldn't keep this up forever; Justin would kill both of them sooner or later.
Amber turned just in time to see the thug move; she instinctively moved her daggers in front of her neck and managed to block Justin's lightning-fast attack at the last moment.
She gritted her teeth and prepared to back down, but the man was relentless, and for a brief moment, he attacked repeatedly Amber, who barely managed to parry the attacks. The young woman was forced to flee from the man, but he gave chase.
Gwen cried out in alarm, but she was having trouble reaching them. Justin was chasing the fleeing girl, continuously attacking him, each blow harder than the last. She blocked as best she could but was starting to feel the strain, and the wound on her arm didn't help her.
Amber, meanwhile, was running away from Justin by backstepping, looking for a way to escape his assault. She feinted left, then right, trying to throw him off balance and stop his assault. But he was too experienced for that, and he kept his guard up, waiting for her to make a mistake.
Despite the urgency of the situation, and the sheer focus she had to put on defending herself from the man's attacks, Caiden's daughter had the intuition to run back to Gwen, and it was there that the fierce woman engaged the man again. At that point, Gwen started receiving the brunt of Justin's attacks. Her mana armor was holding up, but barely.
Every time Justin struck, she felt the force of the blow reverberates through her body. She gritted her teeth, determined to hold on. Amber saw Gwen struggling and knew she had to help. She leaped forward, her daggers flashing in the light.
Justin parried her attack easily, but Amber persisted, hoping to distract him long enough for Gwen to recover.
The red-haired woman darted in and out with her daggers, trying to find an opening to strike. On the other hand, Gwen focused on defending herself with her mana armor, which took the brunt of Justin's attacks now that he started targeting her since she defended Amber.
Despite their best efforts, Justin seemed to be one step ahead of them. He easily countered their attacks and delivered powerful blows that left Gwen struggling to remain standing.
Amber tried to distract Justin once again by throwing objects at him, but he deftly dodged them and used the opportunity to strike Gwen again.
The woman felt the strain of the fight, her mana armor flickering and almost giving out under Justin's relentless assault.
Taken by sheer desperation, Amber threw another item, this time aiming for Justin's face.
He managed to block it with his mana daggers, but it allowed Gwen to strike him from behind since she threw it at a very delicate moment. She struck him with a heavy punch, sending him stumbling forward and falling to the ground. She was weaker than her opponent, but that didn't mean she wasn't strong.
Amber saw her chance and leaped forward with her remaining dagger, aiming for Justin's heart as he was on the ground. But he turned at the last moment and blocked the strike with his mana daggers from the ground.
"Fuck!" Gwen shouted; even she lost her composure as the situation was dire. They needed to find a way to defeat Justin before he wore them down completely.
The fight continued, with Amber and Gwen fighting with all their might against the powerful thug. They exchanged blows, evading, and counterattacking, but they were still struggling to gain the upper hand.
However, at that moment, another swarm of flesh-eating bugs descended upon Justin, attacking him from all sides. He swatted at them with his daggers, but they kept coming, biting and gnawing at his flesh.
"Get the hell off me!" the thug shouted as the bugs chewed at his flesh.
Despite the distraction, Justin managed to land a glancing blow on Amber, but before he could follow up, Martha's thorned vines snaked out of the ground, wrapping around his legs and holding him in place.
He briefly struggled against them, but they held fast enough to give Amber time to back away to safety behind Gwen. The woman took advantage of the distraction to lunge forward, her armored fists aimed at Justin's exposed side.
But despite the others' intervention, Gwen was too slow, and the thug twisted out of the way, his daggers flashing in the club's light. Nevertheless, a slime projectile coming out of nowhere landed on his right arm and started corroding his flesh.
The man had to quickly circulate his mana to protect himself from the slime's effects, and he quickly tried to get rid of that substance.
That made Gwen and Amber gain precious moments, and the two charged at Justin as he struggled to rid his arm of Aaron's corrosive slime.
Justin quickly turned around, his mana daggers at the ready, but the girls were already on him. With her twin daggers, Amber launched an attack aimed at his jugular while Gwen, encased in her mana armor, aimed at his heart.
Their strikes were quick and precise, but Justin was no easy target. He managed to deflect Amber's attack with his daggers, but Gwen's attack found its mark and landed on his chest, giving him trouble breathing for a couple of seconds and making him feel a very high chest pain located under his heart.
"You fuckin' bitches! I will kill you!" the man shouted as soon as he got his breath again. Justin lunged at the girls fiercely, forcing them to back away quickly.
As they retreated, Mikey's swarm of flesh-eating bugs suddenly descended upon Justin, biting and tearing at his flesh and preventing him from advancing further, but that was futile.
Since that didn't work, Martha's quick thinking made her conjure a thorny vine, which snaked out and wrapped around Justin's arm, immobilizing him. This time, it worked.
Amber charged again, taking advantage of the opening, hoping to land a critical blow. However, Justin quickly recovered and deflected her attack, sending her tumbling to the ground again despite being partially immobilized.
Gwen, seeing her friend in danger, lunged forward to defend her as the thug freed himself and charged at her with a maddened look. With a powerful blow, she managed to hit Justin's chest again, exactly over the heart she previously attacked, and made him stagger backward due to the pain.
"You are done, bitches! You are done for!"
All of that wasn't enough to make Justin out of combat, and he quickly regained his composure to continue the fight, which continued this way with the group working together to keep Justin off balance and prevent him from gaining the upper hand.
The bugs and vines continued to harass him, giving Gwen and Amber just enough time to land a few blows before he could recover and retaliate. Despite their best efforts, however, Justin was still a formidable opponent, and the fight dragged on, with each of them taking their share of hits and bruises.
However, Martha and the others could not keep that up forever, as they were also helping the others not get killed.
They managed to be that useful only because Mikey's mother's flesh-eating bugs were also helping the overall battlefield and because there were people as strong as her and Anderson's father in the figures of the Zamora, Silverbend, and Montgomery clan members.
Though that wasn't enough to prevent deaths, two parents quickly lost their lives during that confrontation, leaving their children in tears.
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶