The cool nighttime air pressed into Jay's cheeks as he plummeted instantly, accelerating into battle.

Electricity seeped into his every cell and then the crevices between them; the very fibre of his being thrummed with anticipation. Adrenaline raced through Jay's mind, only pausing as he activated Eye of the storm and assessed the situation below him.

In order to effectively transport lumber from the island, Hisoka's main road split up into three arteries once it reached Navaras, each leading to a different port. Spot four lay on an offshoot of the largest artery, around halfway between the twins' house and the Crossed Oars. Jay hadn't fallen in love with the spot when he'd first seen it, but considering that he now fought against two gladiators instead of one, he was glad Kestrel had taken the time to both find and prepare it.

Caldus the Quick was a hard fighter to counter, but only inside the coliseum. For Jay's current situation, two walls in close proximity were enough to swing the balance in his favour. There were lots of other side streets in Navaras—many of them narrower and much closer to alleyways than this one—but spot four had one key advantage over almost all of them.

Its walls were made of stone.

The island of Hisoka was built on the back of its lumber yards, and finding two neighbouring stone buildings wasn't an easy task. While the stone walls didn't help Jay against Caldus much, it made Marko's fight against Tara Cinderborn a hell of a lot easier.

Marko's opponent walked to Yandiel's left. If she'd been paying attention, she might have noticed that every single piece of scrap wood had been cleared from spot four.

But whether or not she'd been paying attention wasn't Jay's concern. Tara was Marko's opponent, not his. Jay's teammate clenched his jaw as he speared through the air. Jay hadn't forgotten about the queasiness Marko experienced after larger teleports, but Marko had assured Jay that he'd be fine before they hit the ground.

He'd find out in about two seconds.

Neither Yandiel nor his Directorate guards had an inkling about Jay, Marko, or the oncoming ambush. None of them even looked up. Yandiel's smug, pig-like face snorted as he crunched on a skewer of meat, snapping the wood in half as he swallowed his bite whole.

Jay dismissed them and honed his perception in on Caldus.

The gladiator stood by Yandiel's right and held his famous whip in a loose coil in his palm. A grey, stone building adorned with two wooden doors and four glass windows within fighting range ran along his side of the street. Jay internalised his arena, mapping it within his mind and locking the information in place.

The instant Jay's foot hit the ground, the world shot up to speed.

He did too.

He slammed his feet into the pavement, sprinting towards Caldus the Quick and blitzing past Yandiel's guards, ignoring them as they stared slack-jawed, too stunned to even react.

Jay's opponent, however, had earned his name. Jay only managed four strides before Caldus began to turn around. After another, he'd already raised his arms in defence.

Not that that mattered much.

Jay looped a left hook around Caldus' meagre guard. Liquid metal streamed down Jay's forearm, wrapping around his knuckles just as they cracked the gladiator's ear. The snapping blow wrenched Caldus' attention upwards and Jay capitalised with a leg kick that struck at his opponent's base.

And back up top…

Jay feinted a straight right before opening his fist and blocking his opponent's view. His left snuck forward, a disguised uppercut that swarmed towards Caldus' liver.

Caldus swung his whip upwards, but lacked the space or leverage to do any damage with it. Jay caught it with his rising left arm, adjusting his strategy and stifling his opponents counter attack before it even began. Jay's right switched from distraction to control, catching a fistful of his opponent's rubbery moko and yanking him closer. Jay shifted his right foot's position before raising his left knee and driving it into Caldus' sternum.

Body shots were good, but they couldn't end the fight. Jay had to go further. He brought his left leg down and prepared for a second strike.

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But Jay wasn't up against a punching bag.

Searing pain lashed at Jay's fingertips, slicing through the skin on his left hand. He tried to hold on, to will the liquid metal to protect his fists, but the pain just kept coming. The cuts burrowed deeper and deeper, like crawling razor blades carving through his palm.

Jay snatched his hand back, sparing a moment to look at his hand.

His entire palm wept ruby red.

Ssssssss!

Caldus' whip slithered across the ground as the gladiator flicked his right arm upwards. The trailing whip lashed forwards, slicing clean through Jay's rubbery moko. It ran along Jay's body, his Orivian silk undershirt liquefied to avoid being sliced in two.

But if the whip couldn't slice through Jay's body, it had to go somewhere.

Caldus raised his arm further. The whip followed.

It leapt off Jay's torso and coiled around his right arm.

Jay released his opponent and snatched his hand free from the whip. The move brought him safety but it also gave his opponent time. Caldus dove backwards, gaining a few precious metres of separation as Jay was forced to play it safe.

Five seconds down…

Jay re-assessed the battlefield, flaring Eye of the storm as he ran towards Caldus. Across the street, three Markos hounded Tara Cinderborn, striking at her from all angles. Jay knew that only one was real but even he couldn't tell which one. Marko's opponent was performing well in the absence of any fuel for her flames. She flung a handful of red sand at her opponent as he tried to strike at her neck.

The sand ignited into an infernal fireball, but passed straight through the illusory Marko before singeing the stones behind him black.

Yandiel squealed at his four guards, each simply gawking at both pairs of gladiators fighting, too shocked to even respond.

Jay couldn't spare any more time on them.

Caldus fired an instinctive lash at Jay, flinging his whip off to the side. Jay grinned. He kept running.

The whip snaked through the side street, each millisecond sliding further away from its master as it aimed for Jay.

But eventually space ran out.

The leather whip scraped along the weathered stones that penned Jay and his opponent in, snagging on the wall and gifting Jay an opening.

He took it.

Jay speared forward, burying his shoulder into Caldus' torso. He debated ploughing him into the ground before remembering his opponent's razor-like whip. Jay couldn't take refuge within ultra close range anymore. Instead, he needed control.

Jay slid his grip down to Caldus' knee, twisting the gladiator's left leg before jerking him sideways and hurling him aside.

Caldus bit down as he flew back, bracing for impact.

But he hadn't prepared this battlefield–Jay had.

Caldus slammed not into the stone wall, but one of the wooden doors beside it. His weight bore into the wood, straining it almost to its breaking point.

Almost.

Hisoka's lumber was tougher than that.

Caldus rebounded towards Jay, momentum completely reversed by the bounce. Jay raised his right fist. Electricity streamed down it as he prepared to attack. He didn't need power here; he only needed to land.

Jay flailed his right forward, unleashing a punch as Caldus lurched towards him. As he clenched his fist, liquid metal streamed down Jay's forearm, charging in step with its ally electricity. It rolled further down, beginning to solidify as Jay's fist neared its target.

And then it stopped.

The electricity pulsing within Jay's body kept his fist from tightening, his fingers remained loose as he hurled a fist of liquid metal at his opponent's temple.

Liquid metal with a blaze of brilliant white electricity writhing within it.

Beneath the incandescent radiance, Jay watched his swinging metal fist glow white hot. The punch had almost no technique behind it, yet that didn't seem to matter.

Caldus tried to dodge.

He didn't even come close.

BANG!

Windows shattered. Wood splintered. Everyone but the four gladiators fell to their knees.

Jay's fist flung back. His shoulder tugged against its socket, almost wrenched out from the punch's recoil.

Caldus keeled over as his spine slammed into the stone wall behind him. If Jay had landed that punch onto Yandiel, their mission would be over already.

But he hadn't, and the fight wasn't done yet.

Still ten seconds left…

Jay stepped closer, rushing to finish the fight. His hands, tingling with the restrained hum of electricity, wrapped around his opponent's neck.

Caldus looked up. Half of his face had swollen already and burst arteries dyed his temple purple. Streaks of scarred white burst out from the point of impact, fracturing like lightning bolts as they wrapped around Caldus' face.

Jay willed electricity forth as he choked his opponent.

Caldus met Jay's eyes and grinned.

"SNAP."

The electricity within Jay quietened, cowed into silence. Jay still had his hands wrapped around his opponent's neck, but he could already feel Caldus' strength returning.

Jay tried to push off, but Caldus pulled him closer, refusing to abandon the grapple.

Cold, tight leather snared Jay's ankle, coiling upwards. It snaked up his leg, constricting his muscles while simultaneously slicing into them.

The whip reached Jay's torso, and darted towards his neck.

PING!

Jay's shield descended from the sky, slamming Caldus' wrist into the stone wall behind him and forcing him to release the whip. The pressure eased and the whip fell from Jay's body.

Jay knew that Ping wanted him to back away, but he simply didn't have the time.

He dug an uppercut into Caldus' liver. His opponent might have stopped his electricity, but Jay's fists wouldn't give up that easily.

Caldus winced as Jay landed another hook on his bruised temple. His head lolled sideways, and Jay snuck in an elbow to the jaw.

Jay maintained his relentless assault, hammering Caldus with stinging strikes. He couldn't afford power punches now—they might give his opponent a chance to escape.

Punch after punch after punch landed cleanly on Caldus' jaw.

Almost enough to ease Jay's doubts.

Jay knew he had the upper hand.

He knew he was winning.

But he also knew that none of that would matter in five seconds.

Because he wasn't winning fast enough.

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