Picking up on the fight, Amelia continued to get pressured by Aiden and Trixie. With every putrid egg thrown, the horrid scent filling Amelia's nostrils became increasingly potent.

Why is she even covering her mouth and nose? Aiden internally questioned. There was no scent plaguing his nostrils, unlike his opponent. She's only making it easier for me to get hits in. Whatever, Imma do my stuff.

Aiden inflicted successive jabs and strikes on Amelia, hindered by the rotting odor.

Having enough, Amelia threw out several smaller slashes, which inflicted more wounds on Aiden's face. His face was starting to look pitiful due to the amount of cuts inflicted on it.

1...2...3... Amelia internally counted as she glanced at Trixie.

While Aiden flinched from the slashes, Amelia delivered a spin kick. This eased up the pressure on her as Aiden was knocked backward. Simultaneously, a jack-in-a-box appeared beside Amelia's face.

It seemed that she anticipated it, as with a look of alertness, Amelia sliced it apart with several slashes.

Aiden ran towards Amelia again, but she followed up with another set of slashes lengthier in size than before. With a look of surprise, Aiden slid to the side to avoid them, only to get his side grazed by one.

This left a relatively deep wound on Aiden's side.

"Tch!" Aiden uttered. The slashes got stronger again!? They aren't affected by air resistance, unfortunately.

"Are you okay!?" Trixie asked with a slight look of worry.

"I'm fine. It's not too deep." Aiden assured.

With one arm covering her nose and mouth, Amelia continued her counter. She launched numerous slashes, which forced Aiden on the defensive. At the same time, any jack in a box that appears near her, Amelia would instantly slice them to pieces before they attack.

I'm starting to get the hang of this. The jack-in-a-box and rotten eggs appearing is her fault. They spawn whenever four cards emerge from her card pack, around every three seconds. Amelia analyzed. If I concentrate and watch out for that, I can destroy her moves, but the putrid scent makes it harder and harder to focus. I need to prioritize killing her and quickly.

She's adapting to my tricks. Trixie thought. Now would be the perfect time to add to my performance!

Trixie received an ace and three numbered cards as if her blessing heard her desires.

"Perfect!" Trixie uttered, which garnered Amelia's confusion.

What's with that smile...?

Another jack in a box materialized next to Amelia's torso, but like before, she disposed of it with multiple slashes. Simultaneously, the increasingly injured Aiden followed up with attacks, but Amelia managed to weave and block most of them despite only using one hand.

1...2...

Before Amelia counted to three, a jack-in-a-box spawned behind her back and surprised her with a punch.

"AAHHH!!!" Amelia yelled while being thrust into a follow-up punch to the face by Aiden.

That wasn't three seconds! Amelia thought as she spat out blood. Why did the cooldown time change!?

Just like that, the adaption Amelia once had was lost. More Jack in a Box appeared faster than Amelia's mental timer, which messed up her rhythm. Covering her nose was starting to prove less helpful for Amelia as the smell became more potent with the additional rotten eggs thrown.

All these slip-ups meant she was open for strikes, which Aiden never passed up on. He delivered a powerful straight. Understanding that her covering her air canals was becoming ineffective, Amelia blocked Aiden's strike with both arms.

BOOM!

Upon impact, Aiden's straight punch emitted a small explosion, which launched Amelia several meters away and rolled across the ground violently.

"You should give up," Aiden advised.

"Yup, my tricks won't stop coming!" Trixie added.

At this point, Amelia was fully inhaling the horrid fumes of the rotten eggs.

"SHUT IT!" Amelia retorted as she sent slashes towards Aiden. They possessed a higher velocity compared to the others.

"Wha--"

Not expecting the speed, a slash unfortunately inflicted a deep cut in Aiden's right eye. Blood was seen seeping from the wound.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"AAHHHHH!!!!" Aiden yelled as he quickly clutched his eye. Amelia, on the other hand, used that moment of distraction to run towards Trixie at full speed.

A jack in a box spawned but unfortunately missed the moving target.

The other one only has strength and evasive skills! Killing him won't be a problem! Amelia analyzed as she lunged at the surprised Trixie with her right arm outstretched. I just need to kill her...which I'll do here and now!

Right before making contact with Trixie, Aiden skated on the ground and came in the way between them, surprising Amelia. Using the same arm that got slashed on the upper part, Aiden put it in the way, causing Amelia to grab it accidentally.

SPLUURRT!!

There was blood splatter as Amelia cut his arm from the direct contact. While this happened, Trixie received four cards - three threes and an ace. A peculiar-looking firearm materialized in Trixie's hands from a blast of confetti.

"Hu--" Before Amelia could even fathom what to expect, a red boxing glove was launched from Trixie's weapon and struck her right in the chin. The glove was attached to a spring, like the jack in a box, but it had around twice the range.

With blood spewing from her mouth, Amelia was once again sent across the passageway.

"Aiden, are you alright!?" Trixie questioned. Looking at his wounds, Trixie saw three visible cut wounds on his arm that Aiden blocked Amelia with. The cuts were so deep that his bone was visible.

"A-Ah, I...I'm good," Aiden struggled to respond. Aiden got bandages from his combat suit and quickly wrapped them around his arm to stop the bleeding. "Don't...worry about...me. Besides, what is that weapon you have?"

"It's my KO Cannonade!" Trixie responded. Her 'KO Cannonade' seemed like a larger, longer barreled hand cannon with a boxing glove peeking out the barrel's end. "Normally, it would have been hard to get this, but getting an ace doubled my chances!"

The second ace once again doubles my chances for a jackpot, too! Trixie thought.

"...I don't understand, but I guess you're taking this seriously," Aiden said.

"Of course, I may be a jokester, but I take my missions seriously, ya know," Trixie replied with a shy blush. "A good prankster puts effort so their performance lands."

Amid their conversation, the frustrated Amelia stood to her feet after being hit by Trixie.

"DO YOU THINK THIS IS A DAMN GAME!?" Amelia yelled at Trixie.

Yes! That's the reaction I wanted to see from you! Trixie thought. That's what makes my tricks worthwhile!

"WIPE THAT SMIRK OFF YOUR FA--" Amelia continued before gasping for air mid-sentence, much to Aiden's confusion.

M-My throat!? Amelia thought as she felt a burning sensation in her mouth, nose, and throat.

"Breathed in too much of the gas, huh?" Trixie assumed. "Come on, Aiden! Let's finish this!"

"Right!" Aiden agreed as they both rushed towards her. Before she could attack, a jack-in-a-box materialized, which shifted her focus.

Damn it!

When they got in range, Trixie used her KO Cannonade. The boxing glove struck her many times as it quickly extended and retracted without ceasing. Numerous sonic booms were emitted with each extension, suggesting that the boxing glove was being thrust above the speed of sound.

Amelia had no choice but to guard against the volley of boxing glove strikes, which gave Aiden an opening to palm strike (with his uninjured arm) her in the abdomen. This created another explosion, and the force caused blood to spew from Amelia's mouth as she was launched into the passage wall.

Amelia couldn't even hope for a break as more jack-in-a-box spawned, which she avoided by rolling her body across the wall. Simultaneously, Trixie continued to attack her with the KO Cannonade, but Amelia barely avoided the boxing glove as she continued to roll. Instead, the glove punched the walls with enough force that significant cracks were seen.

As Aiden rushed in, blood started to leak from Amelia's eyes, nose, and mouth. This surprised Aiden, but he didn't let up and delivered a spin kick while Trixie struck her in the gut with the KO Cannonade.

The putrid scent you're smelling isn't the only part of the trick, Amelia! Eventually, it'll burn so badly that you'll bleed when you breathe in the gas too much!

It was clear to the duo that their enemy wouldn't be able to fight any longer, so they rushed in for the finishing blow.

When it seemed like victory was assured, the orange sparks of flames bubbled up around Amelia's hands.

WHOOOOOSH!!!

Suddenly, the entire area along with the duo was engulfed in bright, orange flames. It was so radiant that it cast a shadow on the non-affected portion of the immediate area. The source was from Amelia's arms as she outstretched them on both sides. Amid the inferno, Aiden was suddenly tossed out of the range.

With fire engulfing parts of his body, he rolled and squirmed around to extinguish the flames.

It burns! S-She tossed me out!? Aiden thought.

After several seconds of roasting the area, Amelia finally stopped the flames. With blood seeping from her mouth and nose, she stared at the scene with a smile. The fire quickly dispersed.

Haha, you guys...must know a lot about my blessing, but you must have forgotten about my mixing skill! I turned the gas in the air into an easy funnel for my flames! Amelia thought. It's not often I get to air fry!

The flames dispersed to reveal both Aiden and Trixie lying on the ground with severe burns on their bodies.

"Ah...I can't...get...up!" Aiden muttered as he could barely move with his skin-charred burns.

Trixie fell to her knees. She had sustained extensive burns like Aiden, with the fabric of her jester outfit mostly torched. The KO Cannonade she used was reduced to molten metal in her hands, burning it even more.

"Haha, maybe I should...have let you roast for longer," Amelia stated with a hoarse voice. "But it doesn't matter. I'll kill you with slashes--"

From Trixie's card pack (which was perfectly fine despite the fire), four jacks emerged. Immediately after, Trixie's pupils turned to golden stars before she sprung back up despite her burns.

"Huh?" Amelia uttered with confusion as a purple body-length robe manifested around Trixie. It had golden sparkles on the material and a white-furred collar. Amelia's confusion quickly turned to anger as she noticed the burns of Trixie's body rapidly receding before disappearing completely.

The melted KO Cannonade also disappeared in confetti, and Trixie's hands rapidly healed.

"No...way!"

"I've been waiting for this!" Trixie said with an ecstatic smile. "I'm feeling completely refreshed! Time to show you a grand performance!"