“A test? Hmmph! More like a light warm up! Now, I want some real exercise. Don’t you dare disappoint me!” said Wukong, who had recovered enough to indulge in scoffing at his opponent.

Taking lightly balanced steps forward, Wukong held his quarterstaff horizontally beside him. Both his hands were gripping it loosely, ready to move it in any direction, to attack or defend.

The Black Wind Demon shouted fiercely and charged forwards, one short spear pointed towards Wukong, while the other was raised over his shoulder, ready to strike.

When they got into range, the Black Wind Demon struck first, stabbing a spear directly at Wukong’s face. Wukong snapped one end of his quarterstaff upwards to block it, but it was just a feint from the Black Wind Demon. The first spear withdrew before he could even block it, while the other spear was already stabbing towards his side!

Calmly, Wukong snapped the other end of his quarterstaff upwards to block the real attack, made with the full force of the Black Wind Demon’s considerable strength. Despite the power of the attack, Wukong deflected it with a seemingly light flick of his quarterstaff.

Undaunted, the Black Wind Demon followed with a storm of feints, thrusts, slashes and sneaky stabs from the side. All of them were blocked by Wukong, by either deflecting the spear or by hitting the Black Wind Demon’s arms and shoulders. Wukong’s movements were short and direct, alternating between being light or forceful. Through it all, he utilised great economy of movement, never expending more energy than absolutely necessary.

It seemed that Wukong was putting up the perfect defense, but it was actually taking every ounce of focus he had to do so. He had been trying to find opportunities to retaliate, but the Black Wind Demon’s attacks were too fast, too furious. Meanwhile, the wounds from the imps on the backs of his legs were slowing him down. It was already taxing his capabilities to their maximum extent, just to keep up! Based on the power behind those spear thrusts, he knew that they could split even his tough hide. If that happened, he would weaken even more. Then how was he supposed to get some righteous vengeance for his Mistress? He needed to change the way the fight was going!

For now, the fight was locked in a stalemate. The Black Wind Demon attacked while he defended, neither able to inflict anything beyond the mildest of bruises or scratches on each other.

Soon, Wukong began to slow down. His quarterstaff blocked a hair too late, allowing the Black Wind Demon to stab through his left arm. Wukong’s eyes widened in shock as he staggered backwards, staring at the thick blood slowly dripping from the gaping wound.

Wukong’s left arm, now too weak to even grip the quarterstaff, was folded behind his back. With his right, he gripped his quarterstaff in the middle, continuing to do his best to defend. But it wasn’t enough. With just one hand, he was no longer able to withstand the Black Wind Demon’s attacks.

Seeing the opportunity, the Black Wind Demon began slashing and thrusting his spears with everything he had, knocking Wukong’s pitiful quarterstaff here and there. One particularly powerful slash smashed the quarterstaff completely to one side, fully exposing Wukong. With a gleeful gloating grin, the Black Wind Demon thrust at Wukong’s heart!

Wukong tried to dodge, but as he was still unbalanced from his failed defense, he was only partially successful. Instead of piercing his heart, the spear pierced his left lung. As though by reflex, Wukong’s left hand whipped out from behind his back to tightly grip the spear running through him. Eyes wide, as though in disbelief, Wukong coughed weakly. Flecks of blood stained his lips, as he wheezed while trying to pull the spear out.

Sneering, the Black Wind Demon dropped his other spear, using both hands to slowly twist the spear in Wukong’s chest.

“Are you disappointed? Was it-”

Shunk! Shunk!

Two metallic bees stabbed their stingers in his hands.

“Huh?” The Black Wind Demon took one hand off the spear, trying to shake one of the bees off. Irritated, all his attention was on the things that had interrupted his moment of triumph.

Which was when, out of nowhere, another two bees buried their metal stingers in both his eyes. It was an explosion of pain, right in his face!

His bellows echoed through the cave, as he let go of the spear and reflexively reached upwards to pull out the bees.

Moving fluidly, as though he had practised it countless times before, Wukong pulled out the spear in his chest. Throwing the bloody spear to one side, he gripped his quarterstaff firmly in both hands, then shot it forward like a lance, point first.

The end of his quarterstaff smashed into the Black Wind Demon’s throat, crushing his neck and spine. The pained bellowing was cut short. The Black WInd Demon dropped limp to the ground.

Wukong dropped to the floor as well, gasping for air. He was so exhausted, he couldn’t even move a finger.

After a while, he crawled to the Black Wind Demon, extracting his Mistress’ gun from the dead bear hybrid’s pouch. Using his quarterstaff as a crutch, Wukong got to his feet. Slowly, he hobbled towards the cave entrance. As he did so, faint golden sparkles appeared in his wounds. Though still open, they were barely bleeding.

By the time he exited the cave, the evening sun had cast a orange glow over the mountains. He looked at the skies and whistled for his cloud steed, but the flying white disc did not make an appearance.

He sighed. Looks like he had no choice but to make his way back to the monastery on foot.

-- Chapter 22, End --