When Jake started to wake up, he felt his whole body sore. He immediately recalled what had happened, so it seemed that he didn't die… that was surprising in more ways than one. He got even more surprised when he opened his eyes and noticed that he wasn't on that planet anymore…
"What the hell…" Jake frowned when he saw himself in a weird place that made him recall a planetarium.
Jake could see many stars around, and they looked weirdly close to him. When he looked around, he noticed that he also could see stars below him… he wasn't in space since he could breathe, but it looked like he was insanely a cage of glass floating in space. The surprises didn't end there… that guy was on the other side of the room… the original body of the shadow titan.
"Where are the others? Why are we the only ones here?" Jake wondered.
Jake's sword was gone, and he didn't have any equipment with him. His magic box disappeared and probably was destroyed during the fight, so he couldn't get one of those in his stock. Things only got more complicated when he noticed that he couldn't use the system either… so there was no dungeon shop.
"Shit, I guess I will make it with my hands," Jake tried to dash toward the enemy, but his body was quite heavy…
His wounds were terrible, but he had fought in the worst situation… to think that he couldn't even use his parameters properly… or was that because his strength had disappeared alongside the system? Regardless, Jake had to finish his job, but then the enemy woke up as well.
"Shit… whatever," Jake said.
Jake approached to kick the enemy, and he reacted in time to point his right hand at him, but he showed an expression of surprise when his magic didn't come out. Jake didn't stop, so the enemy used his arms to block the knee.
"Bastard… what did you do with my powers?" The enemy asked.
"I stuck them up your ass!" Jake said and then took a step back to punch the enemy's face with his arm.
Jake almost lost his balance since he lost his right arm, or rather, he sacrificed it to defeat the enemy, but he still managed to land a hit on the enemy's face. Come to think of it. The enemy was smaller than Jake recalled. He is thinner as well… maybe he returned to his normal appearance after losing his shadow juice. In any case, the enemy rolled on the ground after the punch, but he quickly got up.
"I thought his species was weak physically since it had esper powers, but I guess I was wrong…" Jake thought. "He sure can take a punch."
Jake approached again to kick the enemy, kick were usually three times stronger, after all. Still, the enemy rolled to the side and then knocked Jake down with a sweep kick. Before Jake could recover, he approached and then kicked his balls.
"Son of… have you no shame?" Jake asked while gasping for air. "This isn't a bar fight, have some class."
"You tried to kick my head as soon as I woke up. Shut up," The enemy said and then attempted to do the same, but Jake kicked the side of his leg and made him lose his balance.
Jake got some time to get up, but he still was feeling that kick. He felt like his lungs were a balloon without air, so he needed some time to recover. However, the enemy didn't give him that. He approached to take full advantage of the situation and then headed to his right side… he wanted to use the weakness that was the fact that Jake didn't have his right arm.
"If you are that afraid, you just have to say, and I won't use one leg as well," Jake said while smirking.
"I have the information that you like to taunt your enemies. Such stupid and weakling tactics won't work on me," The enemy said.
"Really? I guess you won't mind knowing that I didn't kick your balls because I thought that I would miss it since they were hard to see," Jake said.
The enemy bit his lips in anger and then charged at Jake. It seemed that kind of thing was a touchy subject for them as well… regardless, Jake waited until the last minute, and then he lowered his posture before grabbing the enemy's right arm aimed at his face. He quickly kicked his legs, making use of his balance. In the next moment, he threw the enemy on the ground and smashed his back against it.
While the enemy was trembling, Jake tried to smash his head with his knee, but he rolled to the side and dodged it. While clicking his tongue, Jake pursued the enemy, but at the last moment, he got up and then kicked Jake's knee and almost broke it. While he felt his bone throbbing, the enemy got up and then headbutted him. Jake was hit in the chin, and then he got dizzy and fell on his butt. During that short window of time, the enemy approached and kicked his face.
"Urgh… fucking asshole, he knows how to brawl," Jake said when he felt the taste of blood in his mouth.
When the enemy tried to kick his head again, Jake grabbed his right leg with his left hand, it hurt like hell, but Jake stopped the attack, and the strength of his grip prevented the enemy from moving completely. While the enemy was trying to free himself, Jake raised his leg and made him lose his balance, and when the enemy was about to fall, Jake kicked his back with all his might.
The enemy groaned in pain while he was falling, and Jake continued his attack by kicking his left side and breaking some of the enemy's ribs. Unfortunately, before Jake could continue, the enemy used both of his legs to lock one of Jake's and then made him fall. He fell in a bad way, and his head hit the ground, making him pass out for a moment. When he recovered, Jake's mouth was hit by a knee… several of his teeth broke, and blood filled the interior of his mouth.
When the enemy tried again, Jake punched his side and made him gasp for air when he hit the broken ribs. Jake used that chance to move away from the enemy, and then he spat some blood while looking at the enemy.
"I stand corrected," Jake said while showing a literal bloody smile. "This is really a bar fight. I will end this quickly."
The pain sucked, and adding all that to the wounds that Jake already had in his body didn't make things pleasant for him. Still, Jake liked the idea of trading punches with that piece of shit. Only their lives were on the line… one vs one… Mano a Mano… no one to get in their way and no bullshit magic. It was purely a battle of wills.
As much as Jake would like to fight without thinking too much, he just recalled that he needed some answers to some events that were beyond his grasp, and he would only get them if he defeated the enemy. So, he fixed his stance and raised his left arm to guard his left side. Without his right arm, it looked quite stupid for him to do that, but he did it anyway.
The enemy frowned when he realized that Jake had decided to focus on defense. He was wounded, but not that much. He won't die with two or three more hits… Still, the enemy didn't have to think too much about that. What he had to do was obvious… he began to approach Jake while moving toward his right side…
All of a sudden, the enemy charged and tried to kick Jake's right side… but Jake jumped away and then kicked the enemy's right side as well. The enemy was caught off guard since he didn't expect that kind of counter… the powerful kick hit the broken ribs and made the enemy sweat cold. That hurt more than a little bit, but the enemy recovered faster than expected and tightened his guard… he didn't want to get hit there as well.
"So, you were aiming at that…" The enemy said.
Jake knew that the enemy was trying to keep his cool in order to show that he didn't suffer much damage, but his acting skills were poor. He began to move again, but taking slow steps didn't help his cause either. Moreover, he changed his stance, turning his whole body to the left side. He was trying to hide the wounded ribs…
"I guess he has some experience fighting like this because people tried to assassinate him due to his previous position…" Jake thought. "Considering that…"
Jake was the one to charge this time, and the enemy opened his eyes widely due to the surprise. Suddenly assuming a defensive stance and then suddenly going to the offensive like that… his actions were hard to read, just like his thoughts.
When he got it in range, Jake put all his weight behind his punch aiming at the enemy's chin, and then he blocked the attack with a cross-arm block. What the enemy didn't expect was the fact that Jake would keep pushing him with all his might, even when his whole punch had been blocked. The enemy fixed his stance in order not to fall, but then Jake stopped pushing him and aimed at his legs with a sweep kick. That got caught the enemy off guard as well… even though the kick didn't knock him down, it bent his body down a little bit. Before the enemy could fix that, Jake got up and headbutted the enemy's chin, knocking him down.
Jake used the same thing that the enemy used against him. Thanks to that, the enemy was defenseless for a few moments, and when he recovered, he only did so to feel a terrible pain on his left side. While bubbles were leaving the enemy's mouth due to the massive pain of having his own ribs piercing his internal organs, Jake made him pass out after kicking his balls.
"Now we are even," Jake said.
When Jake relaxed, the world also turned upside down, and he fell to the ground. He had lost too much blood. It was almost a miracle that he managed to fight in that state… Under normal circumstances, Jake would get stronger after defeating that enemy, and then his wounds would improve a little, but he wasn't so sure if he wanted to kill him anymore. He might survive if he kills him, but what would happen to him if he gains another envy trait that is even Powerful enough to shallow stars and all the traits that the enemy had obtained over the years? Jake achieved his goal of winning by himself, and he could survive, even if he didn't have any reason to continue living… for him to become even worse than his enemy would be pointless to keep struggling to live.
While Jake was thinking about that, a sword suddenly appeared on his left side. The Metallic sound made him frown.
"Show yourself, I won't do your bidding any longer," Jake said.
"... Even though you owe your current life to me?"
"That is exactly why I won't do your bidding…" Jake said while frowning.
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