While Trixie fought Jack, the Enlightenment Program's students were still at the campus, or what remained of it. They searched for Aiden, who Jack injured grievously.
"Ugh, where did Aiden go!?" Ivory questioned with a frustrated expression. "I can't find him anywhere."
"Neither have we," Sariel responded as she was with Ariel.
"Damn it! Where the hell are you, Aiden?" Baran questioned. "You better not freaking die!"
* * *
Jack and Trixie continued their fight. Trixie moved around and began firing confetti at Jack. The cluster of explosions quickly lay waste to the city blocks they fought around in. With his insanely fast movement and precognition given to him by his murder blessing, Jack evaded the confetti and the explosion radius.
Trixie's opponent also dodged every trick spawned by her card combinations.
Seeing an opening after avoiding a burst of confetti, Jack immediately rushed towards Trixie. He performed several slashes, and although Trixie could react and weave a few, she couldn't keep up with his combat speed. Not only did she receive multiple slash wounds on her body from not evading fully, but Jack sliced through her shoulder, cutting Trixie's left arm off completely.
"Ugh...Owie!" Trixie uttered as she jumped away to regain distance.
Instead of charging at her while she recovered her arm, Jack ran off, which surprised Trixie. Trixie, who recovered her arm, chased Jack as he ran. She fired more confetti, but they all missed the moving target.
Where is he going? Trixie wondered. Is he trying to escape my performance?
Trixie found the answer to her question as she noticed the two rapidly approaching military forces. Due to being regular humans, the soldiers had no idea and could not register the imminent threat approaching them.
Heh, I knew he'd try something with the soldiers. Trixie thought.
Jack, with a sadistic grin, sliced through the air multiple times and sent numerous slashes of air at the unsuspecting soldiers.
"What the hell is going on with all the destruction that's occurring--"
Before the soldier could finish his sentence, an air slash flew past his neck and decapitated him in an instant. The rest met that unlucky fate as their comrades; they were hit by air slashes.
As blood splattered everywhere and dismembered body parts dispersed around, Jack's maniacal laughter was audible as he witnessed his atrocious deed.
"Haha! Are you seeing this!? The deaths of so many buggers!?" Jack yelled in his ecstasy. "In no time, all your efforts to exhaust my regeneration have been rendered useless! It's all futile!"
Normally, witnessing the deaths of so many of your comrades and hearing the psychological attack Jack would have at least shaken one's resolve, but Trixie's expression seemed perfectly fine. She was even smiling more than before.
"Haha! What's it going to take to break you!?" Jack questioned as he charged at her. She fired confetti at him, but he moved out of the way again.
In one quick motion, he plunged one of his dura-neg into Trixie's stomach and dragged it several inches upwards. Trixie completely ignored this and fired the Confetti Cannonade at Jack, who was at point-blank range.
Shit--
BOOM!
The confetti triggered such a cluster explosion so strong that it leveled the entire city block they were in. Both Jack and Trixie were violently propelled at opposite sides of the blast.
Jack sustained significant injuries as his right arm, chest, and a large portion of his head were destroyed. He also sustained third-degree burns and was on fire.
"Urgh..." Jack groaned as he stood up. His body was rapidly regenerating the critical injuries he had. What the hell...? Was her attack even stronger than before?
Due to losing his right arm, he lost his dura-neg, so Jack picked it up after finding it.
Trixie, who didn't sustain damage from her attack, approached Jack. The stab that she received from Jack had fully healed. Her body also radiated pure white energy, which sparked curiosity in Jack.
She's glowing now. How much stuff does this jester woman even have? Jack thought. She really is a bag of tricks.
As she walked, they both gazed at each other with smiles. Without exchanging any words, the two continued fighting.
My base skill for my blessing of tricks was magical energy, which I used from a young age. With it, I was capable of reinforcing and strengthening my body. I never cared much about my blessing, though, as the main things I enjoyed in life were tricks and games. Trixie pondered as she fought Jack. From board games to magic tricks, I loved and became a pro at them all, but there was nothing more fulfilling than playing pranks on people; seeing others rage or react at how badly they got finessed by my pranks gave me satisfaction like none other.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Trixie's confetti bursts were so powerful that Jack was alarmed by its strength. It was getting to the point where Jack could not fully avoid them and take serious damage. Still, this was not a problem, as Jack could heal all injuries.
It's starting to get hard for even me to avoid them. The range of the explosions is rather large. Jack thought. But If I don't stop moving, then I'll keep accelerating, then I'll murder her.
It was fun pranking others, but normal pranks got rather boring. I'm so glad I came up with this crazy idea of imbuing these playing cards with my magical energy. Instead of becoming a new tool to prank my family, these cards became an extension of my blessing, and the rest was history. Trixie continued to internally monologue. With these cards, I had infinite possibilities for tricks and pranks, and I ensured to explore its mechanics in detail. Even when I became a blessed soldier and was recommended by Queen Isabella to be an instructor, I still played pranks. That's always been the source of my enjoyment. But now, I have an opportunity like none other! To make the greatest prank I've ever done!
"I'm so glad I received this blessing," Trixie stated. "And I'm so glad you're about to see something amazing, Jack!"
* * *
Meanwhile, the developer was spectating the fight between Jack and Trixie while sitting on a skyscraper very far away.
"The person that Jack is fighting has a powerful but complicated blessing," The developer said. "Reinforcing her body with magical energy, creating tricks, and receiving bonus abilities...she may have been blessed by one of the top gods, Hermes, maybe?"
The developer then placed his hand on his chin.
"A blessing like that requires quite a lot of luck. It's an infinitesimally low chance to get a four of a kind, and it should be even lower for her, who has four jesters in her pack instead of the standard two...yet still, she's gotten it twice," The developer monologued to himself. "She's not only lucky, but it's as if her confident mentality also influences her luck."
You've picked the right person to bless, Hermes, but it's too bad she will not see her true potential. The developer thought. Jack, who is just as perfect, if not more, will end her life.
* * *
Jack was constantly zipping around, and streaks became visible around the area. Jack's body roused up powerful wind pressure as he moved past. His clothing was even catching on fire as he moved.
Meanwhile, Trixie's entire being radiated heavily with snow-white energy. The colors of her clothing were being drowned out by the sheer brightness of her radiance. Jack not only noticed that, but he also saw her expression.
With heavy breathing and visible arteries on her face and neck, it seemed that Trixie was becoming exhausted.
Is she reaching her limit? Jack wondered.
Huff, huff, I can't track his movements anymore, but that doesn't matter. I've charged up enough energy. Trixie thought. But...do I have the ability to get it off?
If she's getting tired, then that's my chance! Jack thought as he charged at her in a super quick streak. She may have regeneration like me, but I wonder if she'll return from decapitation!
With her back turned Jack quickly approached Trixie. She had no time to react, and Jack prepared to slash her neck. In a stroke of luck, however, Jack had slipped before reaching her.
WHAT!? Jack thought with bewilderment as he lost his footing. Jack failed to finish her and instead slid on the ground past her. Due to the speed he went, Jack slid so hard that he left a long trail in the ground.
How did I slip!? Jack wondered as he was still baffled by the occurrence. He answered his question as he looked up and noticed the injured Aiden nearby.
While still covered in his blood, visibly weakened from Jack's attacks and still coughing up blood, Aiden had placed his hand on the ground. Of course, Jack's surprise was significantly magnified upon seeing him.
H-He's alive!? How the hell is that bugger alive!? Jack wondered. I mainly wanted to take him out of the battle. Killing him was secondary, but how could that weakling survive all those attacks I dealt him!?
"T-That's pay...back...for saving me..." Aiden weakly said. "Hit...him...hard..."
As the exhaustion of his injuries finally overcame the adrenaline he had, Aiden fell to the ground unconscious.
Trixie turned her gaze to where Jack was looking and noticed Aiden. She never let this distract her, though, as she immediately charged at Jack. She mustered her strength and delivered a solid kick to Jack's side, which sent him very high in the air and created devastating winds.
She followed up by aiming her Confetti Cannonade at Jack while he spun around. Like shooting a bird in the sky, Trixie got a direct hit on Jack with a confetti burst.
As he dropped to the floor, Jack's body was heavily brutalized and burnt, even missing limbs and chunks of his body like before.
"Urrrgghhh..." Jack groaned as he slowly stood up. Of course, his body was quickly regenerating. Damn it! That goddamned, bloody bugger screwed with me until the very end! He thought with a visibly annoyed expression. But...it should be over now...
"You're...finally at...you're limit, right?" Jack questioned.
"Hehe, you're it!" Trixie stated, much to Jack's confusion. Right after saying this, Trixie's glow completely dissipated, and she fell to her knees, breathing heavily with a smile.
"What--" Before Jack could gather his thoughts, his body started to glow. It was the same glow Trixie had a few moments before and was rapidly becoming brighter.
"What the...why am I glowing--" Jack asked but was cut off by a sudden surge of pain. He immediately clenched his chest with both hands. Ugh! There's an aching feeling! It's like I'm being burned from the inside!!!
"HAHAHA!! I did it! I got a bit of help, but I tagged you!" Trixie said. "All the energy I've charged up in my already large magic pool of this form has been transferred to you!"
Hearing this, Jack's expression became shocked.
"Damn it...You got me," Jack responded with slight frustration in his tone. There's no way out of this. I'm going to die.
"Yes! That's what I wanted to see!" Trixie excitedly responded. "I know you're not as emotional as most people, but I can tell you're angry from this prank! I pranked Jack the Ripper, of all people...I'm so happy right now!"
Trixie was so excited that she ignored her exhaustion and began performing a victory dance, much to Jack's shock.
Is she really...emoting on me right now? Jack wondered. How unfortunate. I won't be able to murder that brat at this rate.
"Oh, yeah! Before I forget!" Trixie said as she pointed toward Aiden's unconscious body. Suddenly, a white transparent barrier materialized around Aiden.
She then stared at Jack with a sincere smile.
"You helped me create this grand performance, Jack," Trixie stated. "Thank you for that."
Jack stared at her as his radiance expanded and covered the area, and Trixie continued to breakdance. Jack, Trixie, Aiden, and all the destroyed property were covered in the light, which became silhouetted.
BOOOM!!!
The light which emanated from Jack's body expanded into a massive explosion, instantly vaporizing him. Everything was annihilated in the explosion's path, and Trixie and Aiden were blown away by it. As the city was reduced to nothing, the explosion formed a large mushroom cloud, which emanated fireworks around it.
The fireworks all resembled the faces of a jester. That was the ultimate work of a trickster like Trixie.