The atmosphere became unbearably tense. I did not dare breathe too hard, my arms and legs were stiff, and things got even worse when I realized I was standing right between the two of them.
The wind whistled hard through the dark night, dragging with it the chill of rain that was about to come. On the ground, a small pebble rolled slowly, dropped into a puddle, and sent out tiny ripples. And that alone was enough to break the silence of the night.
And JJ was the one who struck first.
She leapt straight upward, absurdly high, her bare foot touching the second level of the cement wall outside the parking lot. Then she kicked hard against the wall to gain momentum, launching herself forward like an arrow, heading straight toward that man.
It was an unbelievable chain of movements, as if she had discarded all gravity around her and was flying through the air. Her motions were so fast and practiced that it was frightening, and I could do nothing except stand there in shock and watch.
While diving down, I saw JJ trying to throw out a horizontal takedown to knock the man to the ground, but he reacted in time, drawing his arms in front of his chest to avoid full contact. And in that situation, the assassin was slightly faster, at the same time jumping backward to avoid JJ's strike.
Shff.
Unable to recover herself in midair, JJ landed on both hands and both feet in a puddle, sending water splashing everywhere. In the darkness, I could clearly hear her grinding her teeth, her whole body rising like a hunting beast. And honestly, it sent a chill through me.
Then, suddenly, she flicked her hand upward and splashed water straight at his face, followed by a sudden charge into his stomach that knocked him down onto the ground. That whole sequence was unbelievably fast. Every complicated motion was executed as smoothly as a machine, and only by doing that could she seize the initiative against him.
As for the opponent, after losing balance and falling, he still managed to curl in, bringing both arms up to guard his face and chest against the rain of hammering punches from JJ. In terms of size, JJ's hands and arms looked completely outclassed by the assassin's, but the way she struck was viciously precise, and her power was strong enough that even someone standing outside like me could hear the popping sounds of bone and flesh colliding.
But she could not hold that initiative for long. With just one slip of his body to the left and a lift of his hips, the assassin made JJ lose her balance and forced her to brace both hands on the ground. Seizing the moment, he twisted his body and in an instant threw a hip toss so sudden that she had no time to react. And in less than a second, the whole tide of the fight changed. The one in control was now the assassin. Meanwhile, JJ had her eyes squeezed shut—perhaps that throw had caught her off guard and slammed her head into the ground, leaving her slightly dazed.
Yet the man did not attack immediately. He raised his face and looked toward me with an icy expression, utterly unchanged. As if he had already known the outcome of this fight before it even began.
Then, with one hand, he clamped both of JJ's arms together and pinned them to the rain-soaked pavement. With the other hand, he reached into his coat pocket and drew out the handgun.
Oh, come on…
"Hey, man, this room's close combat only. Put the gun away, please." Seeing that things were starting to look bad for our side, I was about to step in and help JJ.
But… that seemed to be the wrong move, because the muzzle did not point at JJ. It pointed straight at my head. And at a distance of less than five steps, there was no way a shot could miss.
Cold sweat instantly broke out down my back. I nearly froze in place, because any step forward or backward could lead to a bang and a small bullet hole in my head.
"Instead of standing there, if you'd helped her from the start, maybe this would've been more interesting." He curled his lips into a smirk.
He had no intention of shooting yet. Perhaps he was too confident in his own victory. So after glancing down slightly at JJ beneath him, I decided to step forward, one step into the puddle before me, and stare straight into his face.
"I don't understand what you're talking about. But tell me—do you really think me meeting this girl was just a coincidence?"
"Huh?"
"Come on, it looks like you've underestimated us. Do you think your Organization is the only one searching for this girl? No. Not at all."
Bang.
The gunshot at close range made my ears ring. If it had not been for the suppressor, I probably would have dropped to my knees from the deafening sound. But now there was no path left to retreat. If I lost my nerve at this point, he would absolutely kill me.
"What kind of bullshit are you spouting?"
Under the hazy light, raindrops streamed down his face, running over the wide-open eyes that were filled with fury.
"After all this, do you really think she could have escaped on her own? That's a brilliant script, isn't it, JJ?"
I said it, then looked downward at once. Immediately, that man panicked and lowered his head to look as well. And he had taken the bait I threw out.
That was all I needed. I instantly swung my leg up and copied JJ's earlier trick, kicking water straight into his face. He flinched and let go.
Thud.
Without wasting even a split second, JJ's bright red eyes snapped open wide, and she drove a brutal strike straight into the man's stomach, sending him flying backward. His back slammed hard into a metal lamp post, making the light beneath it flicker.
A strike thrown upward from below was obviously a difficult angle to generate power from, but somehow she could do it easily and land a killing blow even from a disadvantaged position.
"Nice one. You seem smarter than you look." JJ sprang to her feet and wiped the grime from her face.
"Thanks. But please fight properly. I'm putting my life on the line with you here." I replied.
In the end, I still had no idea who this girl really was. But in the current situation, we had no choice except to cooperate, because at the very least, she did not want to kill me right now.
Not long after taking that heavy blow, the man moved again. He slammed a hand down onto a garbage bag, tearing a large hole through it and spilling paper boxes and plastic bags across the ground.
"Disgusting…" JJ frowned slightly, but she still raised her hands into guard in time, ready for another round.
"Perhaps I underestimated you, JJ. You haven't become slow or weak at all since the last time we met." The assassin rose calmly to his feet and brushed the dirt from his sleeves. "There's no other choice, is there? I'll have to use it, JJ."
Immediately, JJ's face changed. She lunged forward at once, driving a heavy punch straight toward the middle of his chest, her eyes blazing with killing intent.
But then, beneath the weak streetlight, I saw the man's lips move and form two words:
"Eightfold."
Boom.
JJ's punch was monstrously powerful. Its force was so terrifying that the cars in the adjacent building trembled lightly from the aftershock. That attack tore through everything in its path like a high-speed train. The garbage bags around them burst apart, turning the scene into a filthy chaotic mess. More than that, her fist was strong enough to punch through the thick steel side of a metal dumpster, leaving behind an enormous dent.
But that also meant her attack had gone off target. The opponent had avoided it easily with nothing more than a slight shift of the body.
"You've got power, sure." He smirked. "But your speed still isn't enough!"
And his answer was a merciless rising knee. The speed of the strike was instantaneous, completely overwhelming JJ and launching her into the air before smashing her back into the old concrete wall hard enough to crack off a huge section of it.
"Let's keep going."不给 his opponent even a moment to recover, he surged forward again at shocking speed and drove a spiraling strike straight into JJ's stomach.
"Hah… kh—"
There was not a hint of mercy in it. Those two deadly attacks made JJ cough up blood, her whole body going rigid in midair. Her eyes flew wide open in shock.
I was hiding behind a pillar, my body trembling nonstop as I stared at the chaotic fight ahead. This was no longer just a simple fight to settle a conflict. The two of them were clearly trying to kill each other.
It had seemed like the fight was already decided after JJ took a blow that heavy, but she did not disappoint the readers. After one violent shudder, JJ glared back, grabbed the opponent by the shoulder, and smiled mischievously.
"Die!" She suddenly clenched her hand tight.
Even from a distance, I could clearly see every muscle in JJ's right arm tightening. That was not just an ordinary grip. She was pouring all of her strength into it.
The assassin realized that too. He kicked off the ground and jerked himself backward as fast as possible, barely escaping from JJ's grasp. But her hand had still managed to rip a long tear down his sleeve, deep enough to slice into the skin beneath it, and blood began to seep out.
"Khah khah. Fast, huh." She laughed out loud and used her hand to wipe the blood from her mouth. "But still not strong enough."
"Tch." He clicked his tongue, and his face had grown more tense. "Monster."
Then he picked up the gun that had fallen to the ground, but instead of using it, he threw it far away. That surprised me more than anything—watching him throw away his own advantage.
"Those little toys probably mean nothing to you, right, JJ?" The assassin smiled and raised both hands high, preparing a grappling stance.
JJ did not answer. She only clenched her fists and watched the opponent cautiously.
Perhaps the two of them wanted a fair fight.
But I did not.
My eyes started darting around, looking for the gun from earlier. If I could get hold of it, things would become much easier to resolve.
But… if I stuck my head out now, I would get killed instantly. I was not stupid enough to let "when bulls fight, the flies die."
The two of them continued facing each other, their feet circling in arcs to maintain the best possible distance. One had the advantage of overwhelming speed and polished combat technique, while the other possessed the physical strength of a monster and terrifying close-quarters fighting power. So in the end, although the advantage tilted slightly toward the assassin, the outcome of the fight still could not be predicted.
The cold from the rainwater made me shiver. My feet kept wriggling inside socks that were soaked through. There was nothing worse than wet socks. Sometimes I stopped watching the battle ahead and glanced down at my feet, even though I knew there was nothing there. My eyes were already burning from a sleepless night. My whole body was drained, without even a trace of strength left. But if I stopped paying attention—even for one second. One second. I could pay for it with my life.
The narrow alley was terribly quiet now. The two monsters glared at one another. Neither side wanted to move first. Both were studying the other's slightest motion. Every so often a car would pass by, and its headlights would flash across the mouth of the alley, throwing long shadows onto the wall.
And then came the shrill siren of an ambulance rushing past. Mixed into that sound, the two figures moved.
Their feet splashed through the rainwater, sending it scattering in all directions.
Then came the clash.
I could not tell who moved first. Their motions had already gone beyond what normal eyes could follow. But it seemed the assassin landed the first punch—a hook straight into JJ's face. The swing was too fast for JJ to avoid, but she answered at once with a right uppercut aimed at his jaw.
JJ's speed had improved considerably, but it was still not enough to keep up with him. Once again, he slipped left to avoid the punch and swung his right leg around into the middle of her ribs.
One. Two.
Crack.
Two consecutive kicks from both sides, followed by the unmistakable sound of bone breaking that could be heard from far away.
It was horrifying.
Broken. Her ribs were definitely fractured. I would swear it on more than five years of anatomy experience.
And yet JJ did not collapse. She stamped hard into the ground to brace herself and threw a left hook into the blind spot at his temple. The strike was decisive, but it was still neutralized easily by the assassin with nothing more than a flick of his hand upward. That reaction was unbelievable, faster than any Guinness record ever set. It felt as if he needed less than 0.01 seconds to register the information and only another 0.05 to process it.
Somehow, the man seemed to have read all of JJ's movements and fired back with lightning-fast counters, targeting the weak points in her upper body. His limbs moved with absurd flexibility—pressing in, then retreating, slipping left, then slipping right—and little by little forcing her into a mandatory defensive posture. His style was fast and brutal, a constant stream of thrusts, hooks, and hammering blows that both created safe distance and wore his opponent down.
And the result was that in under five minutes, JJ's body was already covered in injuries on her arms, shoulder, and face. One cheek had swollen dark with bruising, blood was seeping from her hand and the corner of her mouth, and all those attacks had begun to slow her down.
Until finally, JJ was driven back against the wall. Her back rested against it, sweat pouring from her, her breathing broken, her body full of wounds. Yet her eyes were still burning with spirit. They clearly had no intention of giving up. Those red eyes were wide open, staring directly at the assassin.
"You're tough." JJ drew in a deep breath and spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground. "Just stand still and let me hit you once, would you?"
"Just surrender. You can't beat me, JJ." He raised his guard and stepped forward.
"Yeah, I admit it. You're really fast." She suddenly showed a crooked smile. "But not strong at all!"
Boom.
The instant she finished speaking, a heaven-splitting punch came crashing straight down onto JJ's head. It was a merciless punch, slamming her head violently into the puddle beneath her. The impact was loud, like a bowling ball smashing into a wall.
I froze when I saw that scene.
The assassin held that posture for several seconds, while JJ lay motionless in the water.
A knockout victory for the assassin.
And now, he would deal with me.