"Blaahhk!" Blow to my ribs made me spit blood before I could flow cursed energy fast enough to protect against the punch.

However, there was no chance to sweat it or slow down as our bodies moved super fast. I switched my body quickly and faced her with my left side, relatively unharmed side, and pushed my body with all my strength to hit her.

My quick switch worked and it managed to push her a few steps back despite her resistance.

"Heeh... Mmm... Heeh!" I slowly heaved from exhaustion, grogginess and pain in that short respite as I watched her do the same.

We had been going at it for less than a minute, but our fight felt like it was lasting eternity, having moved beyond the sacred grounds. We had severely injured each other, the fresh scars on every part of each of our bodies being a testament to that truth.

I used the back of my hand to wipe the blood dripping from my eyebrows, and took another slowed breath. I had promised myself not to lose to Diana once again. An adrenaline rush coursed through my body as that thought crossed my mind.

I stiffened my trembling muscles and forced myself to hold a boxing position, remembering that promise.

She too was hellbent on either plunging the dagger into my body, or binding me with her Lasso. But even she could tell that I wasn't the same guy she had fought before. This time, I had unwavering cursed energy on my side. Something about this environment made it hard to run out of cursed energy.

But even without that, I had gotten better at ignoring my emotions while using jujutsu.

I didn't wait for her to throw her Lasso at me once more. I charged with speed to her right, then used agility to switch to her left side quickly. She read the movement, but that wasn't how I intended to attack her. Immediately I reached near her, I used agility to switch the direction of my movement one more time and grabbed her left hand before she could throw the Lasso.

"Snap!" That was the sound lingering in my mind as I pivoted her hand on my shoulder, about to break it.

But adrenaline, and fear of losing an arm while in a fight pushed her to flip backwards in harmony with my movement. She not only managed to to save her right hand, but also used my attack to her advantage.

She grabbed my shoulder with both her hands and pushed me to the ground as she descended from her flip. I retaliated by using my free hand to hold myself down as if in a one-hand push-up position. My hand felt as if it could break from the much weight keeping me down.

Seeing her attempt to stab me, I managed to roll and cartwheel and escaping with only a graze on my skin, once again. I came to a kneeling position and faced her as I remarked at how much we had moved around while fighting.

Tsk!

Thinking quick, I summoned the remaining Divine dog, knowing that this would be a strategic advantage for me. The last time I had summoned them, they had let their guards down, and she killed the black dog. But this time, the white dog was aware of the threat, and it had vengeance in it's system.

The dog came out and immediately started to the right side of Diana while I stood up and dashed to the left side.

Diana reacted by quickly tying the dagger to the Lasso and swinging it in a circular motion before throwing it towards the dog.

The dog saw it coming and intellectually calculated it's jump to evade the incoming dagger. It rolled in the air, making the dagger miss with only a taste of its fur, and landed on its four. It paced up and widened its jaw to show it's fierce teeth and intention to tear Diana into pieces.

In the meantime, I had gotten a chance to distract Diana from entirely focusing on me, and had gotten an opportunity to get close to her undeterred.

My mind raced as the time slowed down. My sorcerer's instinct went wild with thoughts as I pondered on the consequences of my intended action.

Her hands were focused on gripping the Lasso and defending against the dog, leaving an opening for the rest of her body, but mostly, her neck. All this fighting was getting to me, giving birth to a new side of me that wasn't exactly dormant.

Just enough pressure on her neck and a series of cursed punches on her head would be enough to put her down, for good. I could feel it while imagining the shape of her skull and the sound it would produce while breaking apart.

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When that would happen, I would have committed murder. Would I be okay with that? Would I have done the right thing? Was there another way?

All these questions flooded my mind, but I didn't have an answer to any of them. At most, this was a do or die. Most of the Amazons had been wiped out by a curse, and the few that remained would never stop until they killed me. Something that wasn't unusual to them.

Would I be robing the world of a hero if I went through with this? A hero?

She couldn't be! She tried to murder me!

Even when faced with such a strong debate, time could only slow long enough, and I found myself accepting my fate. Diplomacy would never be an option, and if killing was what I would settle for, then...

The Divine dog narrowly missed Diana's stretched hand as she managed to pull it back really quick. The Lasso of Truth came hurtling back while still with the dagger on its end. It was still aimed for the dog, but the dog sensed the danger and used its hind legs to somersault back.

Its attack disrupted, Diana shifted and paid her full attention back to me as my punch closed in on her neck. Just a few inches further and she would be paralyzed from the much force that was in my cursed energy punch, leaving her completely defenseless.

Suddenly, a white flash blinked in my mind as a memory of my past, simpler life, came to light. The memories flashed quickly, telling my story from childhood to adulthood, faster than I could imagine.

What was this?

Was my life flashing before my eyes?

I was so sure that I had the upper hand here. She couldn't put up a defense, neither be able to switch her attack to target me, faster than I could hit her. Then why was my mind filled with fear? Why did my heart beat so fast when victory was mine for the taking?

From the corner of my eye, I caught sight of the dog in the air with a worried look in it's eyes. It had jumped towards me, but was still so far away and couldn't protect me from whatever that was getting me so worked up.

What was making my sweat pores so hyperactive in less than a second?

Instinct kicked in like spider sense as my body alerted me to an unknown danger to my left kidney. It couldn't be a punch since Diana's right hand was still holding to the Lasso, and her left raising to defend.

My body took control and I found myself naturally letting go of all the cursed energy concentrated in my fist. It moved faster than I had ever made it flow, and almost instantly, all the cursed energy around me concentrated in that very spot I was conscious about. It manifested to the weak spot, instead of flowing.

My punch landed on her neck, but without cursed energy. So, it was just like a child patting her, and it did nothing to her.

Things however got critical for me as a powerful, sharp and concentrated force hit me and pushed me to the side. It felt like being by an electric train at full speed as the sharp pain from my lower back penetrated into my body.

Every part of my body felt as if it was experiencing the pain simultaneously, sending a massive shockwave through my nervous system as I crashed past a tree into a rock projection.

Whatever had hit me didn't feel like stopping as it continued to push me deeper and made my body feel as though it was exploding into particles. Blood came out of my mouth involuntarily as I gulped, the experience nearly choking me to death as I came to a painful crash on the ground, unable to move a muscle.

My fingers flicked in shock while my eyes only saw white spots in the dark. Every part of me felt destroyed, but all I could feel was the fear of letting myself down. I had to stand up and keep fighting with the little strength I might have remained with.

My vision cleared a bit as I observed the white dog flying a distance away from Diana, following a punch. But it looked different. It looked as though it was in the middle of a transformation, and it didn't crash. It instead landed on two feet with an elongated form that resembled a human-ish beast with dark and white fur.

My mind jerked as I tried to get my swollen body up. Tears of fear and disappointed welled in my eyes, even as my hand managed to lift up. Rage overflowed in my system and overrode the tears. I couldn't lose another shikigami. I wasn't going to let that happen.

This was my time to win.

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