The clanging of blades continued as the duo fought with intensity.

If you were a spectator who only had a fraction less reaction time than these two on the battlefield, your gaze would be instantly glued to the scene as your body would freeze in place, not allowing you to jump into the action as the speed of the battle would make you question your ability to keep up.

--Jolene and Kaza were on a whole other tier of fighting, and the former was now becoming even more and more unsettled that the latter was able to keep up.

Although her emotions and her feelings from encountering the Magical Beast in the black fog had limited some aspects of her physical abilities, she was now pretty much able to revert back to her full strength now that she had overcome that hurdle. Yet.

I haven't been able to land a single clean hit on her!!

Jolene cursed under her breath after her flurry of attacks had been parried and then a forceful downwards slash straight to Kaza's head with all of her might had been held back with her own blade that collided with it as sparks flew.

She grunted and held her breath as her arms began to tremble while exerting all of her force onto her weapon, but in the end, her entire weight and power that had been used in that strike had been averted, and her opponent could not help but make a sly remark.

"So this is the woman that caused our neighbors trouble? How interesting."

"GRRRR!!"

Jolene dashed backwards, creating space between the two of them, and as if in sync, they began to circle each other.

"Are you somewhat surprised by my fighting ability?" Kaza continued. "I haven't really fought yet, though… you know, I'm kinda nervous, because you haven't allowed me to make a single counter against you. All I can do is continue to parry until you've lost your strength, but even that does not seem to fade from you. You're strong….I like that."

"God fucking damn, can you ever keep your fuckass mouth shut!?"

"Oops, looks like someone is mad."

In a flash, Jolene struck with an even faster and unusual striking pattern, and caught Kaza off guard with a sudden upwards swing that caused her to back away just in time. However, with her doing exactly what Jolene wanted, the latter switched to her bow instantly and sent a flying arrow just beyond her.

"Missed," Kaza muttered coolly, but Jolene snapped her left finger just before a small shockwave was blasted behind her opponent's body, hurling her towards Jolene who readied a punch.

Explosive arrows never fail-

"Not bad."

With her left foot touching the ground just before her body collided with her punch, Kaza redirected herself with a sidestep, dashing to her exposed side.

With her trained reaction time, Jolene whipped out one of her small knives and quickly hurled it at her, grazing her shoulder as the sudden pain disrupted Kaza's focus, and then the former used all of her might to do a teep kick at her, finally landing a split-second clean hit to send her pummeling into a nearby wall.

Both of Kaza's two guards had been watching the fight the entire time, and as their leader finally found herself in some trouble, one of them took a step forward, but the other held him back, shaking his head in disagreement as the memory of their leader telling them not to interfere remained in his mind.

Meanwhile, Jolene let out a slight chuckle as she finally was able to cause damage to her opponent. Of course, she could not help but create a few jabs at her as well.

"This is the so-called leader of the Killcounts? Don't make me fucking laugh. You're not even worth the dirt on my shoes as an opponent."

Kaza, who had stumbled against the wall, coughed as the fresh entry of pain surged throughout her back due to the hard collision, but she merely laughed it off as she heard that statement.

"Bwahahah!!! You really are a funny woman, you know that? This really is starting to get fun, isn't it Jolene?"

"Huh? Fun?" the younger woman asked with a disgusted tone. "Is getting beat the fuck up fun for you? You really are just a talkative weirdo."

Glancing over at her sword right next to her that had been knocked out of her hand, she pondered for a couple of seconds before leaving it alone and stretching her body, paying no mind that Jolene could attack at any time, but her opponent remained cautious, watching her every move as she was now the one who anticipated an attack.

"You ask if getting beat up is fun? Of course it isn't," Kaza responded with a mischievous smirk. "Still, I'm the one who hates short fights, you know. I wanna be able to see the incredible things that my adversaries can do before killing them. It isn't fun when you know that you're going to win and proceed to do just that a few seconds later."

"What….what the fuck are you even talking abou-"

"I'm talking about the art of bloodshed, dear," she interrupted as she took a step forward,placing both of her hands in her pockets as she began to stroll forward very slowly, and Jolene began to back up to maintain the gap between them. "There is no need to end a fight quickly just because you can. That's why, even though I know how this fight will end, I will enjoy myself by drawing out your strength in whatever way I can."

"H…uh?" Jolene's voice creaked out, unable to understand her words, or the blur that just flash stepped towards her in an instant.

It was as if she was hit by a speeding train, or several bullets at one time, or with a sledgehammer.

She felt her organs being hit as a supernatural punch to the abdomen caused her to throw up everything that was ingested, before she flew back, tumbled and rolled continuously onto the ground until her motionless body stopped several feet away from the glaring Kaza as she continued:

"That's an example of rushing enjoyment. So, let's have some fun at least.... before you die a slow and agonizing death, Jolene Aurora."

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