Mercy zoomed into the air, using her mana to bounce off the air towards Macy in several different directions.

1… 2… 3… 4... 5… Jon had never seen Mercy do more than 3 at once. Could she always do it this?”

Macy tried to brace herself, her eyes tracking Macy's large movement across the sky. Mercy finally pushed herself in Macy's direction.

Jon never saw the hit, he just knew it landed as Macy was hit in the stomach and knocked back several feet.

She still landed on her feet, and Mercy was back on the ground, already racing towards her.

Macy began shooting even more fireballs, at twice the speed.

There was no more weaving from Mercy. She managed to race in between the fireballs impossibly with no need to avoid them.

Finally, Mercy got within distance. Jon thought that Macy would punch her again, but instead, she drew back her foot.

She blocked Mercy’s outstretched hand with her elbow, then swung her foot out.

Mercy spun away from the kick before leaping into a spin.

Macy raised her hand high thinking she was going to block an aerial kick.

Instead, Mercy landed on the floor and struck out with her palm into Macy’s stomach.

She was knocked back again, this time rolling across the floor to a stop.

That looked painful… Jon thought. He looked at Mercy, whose palm was still outstretched.

That looks like… the hundred hand clan women. Jon thought about the fight in the port Mercy had with the other clanswoman, Janna. Did Mercy copy her move, or did Mercy already know how to do that?”

“I thought we weren’t supposed to be using mana!” Tallow yelled to Mercy.

“It’s not mana!” Mercy yelled. “It’s technique!”

“Shitty technique!” Macy said. She pushed herself back up with her fists.

“How do you know?” Mercy asked.

“Cause I’m still standing!” Macy yelled. “No more fancy-schmancy shit.”

“No more…” Mercy put her fists out in front of her face and began walking forward.

Macy did the same. They began to walk clockwise as they closed in towards each other.

“That was the sizing each other up?” Tallow asked. “She’s crazy! She won’t be able to fight tomorrow!”

“...Mercy’s mana levels are fine…” Mallory muttered. “I’ve been keeping track. Even with that first attack, Mercy actually did a good job fortifying her body against it. The only reason her face hurt is because she distributed everything else throughout the rest of her body.

Jon thought about when he slammed into the tree. Would that be something that would have stopped him from being in a wheelchair?

“She’s a Ninja, right?” Tallow asked. “I thought she was supposed to be controlled.”

“She’s a Highlander too,” Mallory said. “Highlanders are… reckless… They lash out everywhere, and more often than not, they’re more likely to put themselves in dangerous situations in order to get a better-”

The trading of blows started. It began slowly. Mercy and Macy took turns deflecting and giving each other punches and kicks to look for.

Suddenly, there was a quick flurry of hits towards the midriff range from both parties.

Macy suddenly poked Mercy hard in the shoulder with two fingers.

She dodged two more of Mercy’s hits before also jabbing Mercy twice in the arm.

Mercy finally kicked her away, but Jon could see that her arm was limp.

“Oh, pressure points.” Mallory groaned. “Oh boy.

Macy jumped up straight and kicked down towards Mercy’s head.

Mercy curved around the kick, having trouble keeping her balance without her arm.

Still, after dodging, she flipped backward using her single working hand.

After standing she quickly formed two fingers and jabbed herself hard in the shoulder.

“Ah!” Mallory grabbed his shoulder. “She can't do that too many more times!”

Jon had felt it too. Something in him shook.

She fixed her pressure points… but it wasn’t proper. It was like Mercy had forced something into place where it shouldn't have been.

Still, Mercy’s arm sprung back to life immediately, just in time to dodge the next few attacks.

They continued. Macy had started making large movements. Jon noticed that Mercy had drawn back to dodging. He wondered what disadvantage Mercy had that she couldn’t block anymore.

Macy’s large movements suddenly stopped, and she became more intimate with her strikes, moving forwards and forcing Mercy into the space in front of her.

Finally, Mercy grabbed both of Macy’s arms and kicked her in the stomach.

“Oooh…” Mallory held his stomach.

Macy swung her head back into Mercy, headbutting her hard.

Mercy headbutted her back immediately.

Both women had to hold their heads as they stepped back.

“If you were so good at pressure points,” Macy yelled, “then why’s Jon still in his damn chair?”

Mercy immediately ran back to Macy, but Macy clapped, and an explosion of fire blew up in Mercy’s face.

It distracted her just enough for Macy to kick her hard in the abdomen.

Mercy flew up into the air in an arched body on fire.

She landed on top of one of the tables outside of the ring, breaking it in half.

“Your boyfriend taught me that!” Macy yelled.

Jon grimaced.

Mercy jumped back up. “Well, I taught him that!”

Macy was already running back towards her. Macy stopped using kicks, making hard punches towards Mercy’s upper body. Jon could see the flashes of fire with every punch.

They found their way towards another table. Mercy needed room. So, she flipped back onto the top of the table.

Macy grabbed Mercy’s leg and pulled them out from under her, causing her to land on her back on the edge.

“Oh…” Jon got bad memories.

Mercy, not relenting, gave Macy a hard punch to the face.

She tried to get up but Macy grabbed her by the side of the head and began continually slamming Mercy's head onto the wooden table.

“Do tables count as weapons?” Tallow asked.

“Occupational hazards,” Malloy commented, not being able to take his eyes off. “And besides, it’s probably less harmful than any of them can do-”

Mercy finally reached up, grabbing Macy’s collar and bring it down hard on the table next to her.

Mercy then dragged her head across the table, headbutting Macy.

If that weren’t enough, Mercy grabbed Macy from behind in her daze, leaned back, and lifted Macy over her head, slamming into the table and breaking it in half.

There it is! Jon got momentary excitement from seeing the type of move he had learned from Mercy.

He then realized that he probably shouldn't have been excited, since this was a serious fight.

Mercy didn’t get to bask in her advantage for long. Macy suddenly tackled, Mercy lifting her up on her shoulder and running until they were back in the ring.

Macy slammed Mercy onto her back and mounted her before trying to punch her.

Some of her hits got through, though Mercy was still pushing back.

Macy suddenly stood up and punched Mercy hard in the ribs while she was still on the floor.

Jon thought he heard a crack.

“We can fix that!” Mallory said, panicking. “We can-”

The doors from the castle entrance of the barracks swung open loud enough for Jon to hear it past the crowd.

“What the hell!” Jon saw Hector run from behind the crowd of onlookers. “Why are there so many people here?”

Jon wanted to answer, but he heard another hit and turned around. Mercy had kicked Macy in the ankle.

Mercy then grabbed Macy’s arm with her feet, tossing her to the floor.

Mercy kept her advantage, wrapping her arm around Macy's neck and kneeling on her back.

Her other arm kept Macy’s hand out of reach.

Macy tried to lean back, but Mercy used her arm to slam Macy’s face into the ground.

“Uh, guys,” Mallory said. “I think that’s enough!”

“You give up?” Mercy asked.

“In hell, dirtbag,” Macy said.

There was another crack, even though Jon didn’t think this one was his head.

Macy screamed hard, and then it turned to laughter.

“Mercy!” Hector yelled. He tried to draw his sword, but Mallory stopped him.

“People are watching, Hector,’ Mallory said. “You gotta let the match play out.

“But-”

“Macy asked for this…” Mallory said with a sad expression.

“That’s one arm,” Mercy yelled to her struggling opponent. “You still got another one.”

“Go on,” Macy said. “I can beat you without any arms!”

Jon got his gun ready. He never saw Mercy invested in giving so much pain to someone. IT was almost like she was a different person, and yet Jon knew that it wasn’t so.

That was when he noticed Mallory walking up to both of them.

“Macy, it’s done,” Mallory said. “Your arm’s done.”

“I can still hurt her,” Macy said, running out of breath.

“Why? You already did. Multiple times.” Mallory crouched in front of both of them. “You hurt her. You won.”

“I can’t forfeit!” Macy yelled.

“Mallory, leave!” Mercy yelled.

Mallory sighed. “Macy....”

Macy’s growl eventually became a yell. “I forfeit!”

Mercy finally let go of her and fell onto her back.

Both of the girls yelled, catching their breath.

Jon looked up at the crowd. They were all silently watching.

Jon rolled up his chair to both of the women.

“Friends?” he asked.

“...Why… would I want that?” Mercy asked.

“So you can fight again,” Mallory said. “And I won’t be able to stop you.”

“Deal…” Mercy said.

“You bitch…” Macy said. “Why would you… I beat you…”

“My whole family beats me…” Mercy responded.

“Okay, shut up, both of you,” Mallory said. He was feeling Macy's arm.

“...Oh. It’s not even through the whole arm.” He muttered.

“You punk bitch!” Macy yelled.

“Aw, shut up!” Mercy said. “I could have snapped your neck.”

“I bet you never snapped a neck in your life!” Macy responded.

Jon waited for Mercy to answer, but she didn’t.

Hector had finally approached the group on the floor.

“...Why must you do this?” Hector asked. “Both of you.”

“Cause Daddy wants me too…” Macy said as Mallory kept checking over her body.

“Since when have you cared about what he wants?” Hector asked.

“You care too…” she responded. “Even if you pretend. You think he’s right most of the time.”

Hector made a small growl under his breath.

“...I care more about you than him,” he finally told his sister.

Mallory held up Macy so that Hector could cradle her as he went to check up on Mercy.

“You don’t care about me,” Macy said. “None of you do.”

“We all care,” Hector said. “Even Mallory. You just scare us all half to death.”

“Yeah… well…” Macy turned away from Hector. “You used to be my favorite, you know.”

“...What happened?” Hector asked.

“I don’t know.”

They stayed this way while Mallory had stood over Macy’s hurt body.

She and Jon had shared gazes for a while. Jon didn’t quite know what he wanted to say to her.

“I’m a monster, aren’t I?” she finally asked.

Jon grimaced.

“I know… I…” She suddenly pushed herself up.

“Where are you going!” Mallory asked. “Stop that!”

“I’ll be back…” She walked up to the door. “I gotta… see….”

They watched her walk away.

“...Are you gonna stop her?” Mallory asked.

Jon shook his head. She seemed to know where she had to be.

“Alright. I’ll take your word for it.” Mallory went back to Macy and Hector.

He knelt down and began feeling her face.

“Mallory, you beautiful man…” Macy said.

“Please, Macy… just shut…” He put her forehead on her hand and glowed it. She suddenly fell asleep.

“...You should find Mercy,” Mallory said. “You know, to make sure she doesn’t drop dead in the hallway. And take Jon.”

Jon and Hector shared gazes.

“Alright,” Hector said. “Take care of my sister.”

“She’s my sister too, you know,” Mallory said.

Tallow snorted, drawing attention to herself for the first time in a while.

“Keep telling yourself that,” she said.

Mallory frowned but didn’t respond.

Hector grabbed Jon’s chair and began pushing him to the castle entrance.

They walked around the crowd, which had partially dispersed.

“Hector…” Cecilia spoke, stepping away from the others and towards Hector.

“Shows over!" Hector said, only momentarily stopping. “If that happened to Macy, what do you think’s gonna happen to you?”

“Mongrels stick together, sister,” Cecil said. Jon hadn’t noticed him before. “Don’t bother with him."

Hector let go of Jon’s chair and walked up to Cecil. Everyone else backed away in fear.

“Call my sister a mongrel again, and I’ll make sure your family finds whatever pieces of you are left outside of the room they're staying in.”

“Guys… Lysenthia said. “You…”

“Now Hector-” Lysenthia’s brother stepped in between them. “This isn’t the time. We’re bigger men than name-calling and threatening each other.

“Not according to this guy, Gerald,” Hector responded. “I’m just a mongrel.”

Cecil turned away from Hector’s encroaching face.

“Whatever, this isn’t worth my time.” Hector turned back and went to Jon’s chair. “I need to find my fiance.”

Hector opened the door and left through it.

They were in the castle hallways when Jon heard footsteps behind them.

“Hector!”

“Not now, Cecilia!” Hector turned to see the blond girl approaching. “I-”

He was stopped as she had run up and hugged him.

“...No!” He pushed her away. “I can’t!”

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“I can’t accept anything from you right now…” he turned and grabbed Jon’s chair. “I’ll see you at the tournament.”

“We can still be friends, Hector!” she called. “Like before!”

Hector stopped.

“None of you are my friends,” Hector said. “I have friends. They don’t talk about me behind my back and try to stop me from achieving my plans.”

“...It’s more than that…” Cecilia said. “It’s not that simple…”

“Then why do it?” Hector turned around. “Why fight? Why do anything?”

“Fine,” Cecilia crossed her arms. “Tell me you don’t love me, and I’ll walk away.”

“I don’t love you,” Hector said quickly. “Go away.”

She frowned. “Okay.”

Despite Hector saying it quickly, Jon felt the shake in his voice.

“...So don’t fight tomorrow,” Hector added.

“I have to fight, tomorrow,” Cecilia responded. “Both for my parents… and for my love for you…”

“Cecilia, but I said-”

“I told you to say it,” she said, crying. “I, am my own person, aren’t I?”

He and Jon watched her walk away.

“She’s gonna hurt you!” Hector yelled! “Doesn't that mean anything? Aren’t you scared?”

Cecilia stopped and turned around.

“...That never stopped you,” she said.”

Hector lost his breath. She went through the double doors before he could say anymore.

“Shit!” Jon heard Hector kick the wall.

Jon decided just to let Hector catch his breath.

“...I”m ready, Jon.” He grabbed the chair and kept going forward.