Chapter 892: Get back up...

At the exact same time as Kamakiller getting knocked into the air...

’How is this ape not down yet? I must’ve delivered a dozen or so body blows by now!’

[To be fair, the Gibbon is doing a remarkable job blocking your punches. Also, not sure if it’s irony, but you’re probably not the first opponent this guy faced who had thoughts like that.]

’Great...’

...

"At this point, I can’t tell if I’m more impressed by the Gibbon or by Xiao Hai..."

"Because the matter has been able to dodge every attack his way so far, while the former has somehow managed to tank every hit so far."

"Precisely, that."

"I get that."

"Please stop saying nice things about the monkey that might murder my son in a single blow."

"Sorry..."*2.

For who knows how long at this point, Zhen Hai and the Long Armed Mist Gibbon had been stuck in a rather exhausting loop.

The Gibbon would punch at Zhen Hai, Zhen Hai would dodge then counter, only for the Gibbon to throw up his arms in time to knock away the blows.

Initially, Zhen Hai managed to sneak in some body blows until the Long Armed Mist Gibbon wised up to the damage being inflicted and switched to blocking. But, when the monkey realized that it’s arms were getting stressed out from doing so, due to Zhen Liu’s sonar boxing gloves of doom, they opted to knock away the blows as opposed to straight forward blocking.

Either way, this one little change in the battle’s rhythm turned what was originally an uphill climb to inevitable victory into a war of attrition.

Zhen Hai knew that the moment he tripped up, he’d get blown away by a single punch.

The Long Armed Mist Gibbon knew that if he didn’t keep deflecting, he would just suffer blows that would feel heavier and heavier by the second.

While this wasn’t exactly sudden death, this entire fight’s outcome was entirely on a single knife’s edge.

It wouldn’t even take a light breeze to change the direction of this bout, just a single push.

Zhen Hai knew this.

The Long Armed Mist Gibbon knew this.

And a certain sagely looking ape watching this bout go on knew this too.

So much so that...well...let’s just say that animals understand that in this world, the winner wasn’t always the one who had the most honor...

...

’Hmmm...’

The sage ape watched with a sour look on his face as his disciple continued to dance with the impetuous human who dared to steal their sacred stone talisman.

When the human showed up and challenged his disciple to this because this gambling game, he figured it would make for an interesting sideshow.

A perfect showcase of the superiority of his methods of training to his fellow primates, and as a means for everyone to have a good laugh as they atch someone clearly out of their league attempt to punch upwards, only to fail miserably.

Which is why, seeing this hairless little thing somehow not only survive but thrive in this battle against his disciple, was... frustrating.

So frustrating in fact, that the sage ape figured that while it was still an inevitable outcome for his disciple to win, he thought it would be better for him to just...speed things along.

As everyone kept their eyes on the boxing man and primate, the sage ape began to subtly condense their aether into his palms and gather a small ball of air, no bigger than a glass marble.

...

"OOK, OOK!"

[INCOMING!]

’I SEE IT, I SEE IT!’

Whether it was due to frustration or desperation, Zhen Hai didn’t know, but the Long Armed Mist Gibbon decided it had enough of this song and dance and opted to bring the pain in the form of a rain of fists.

Up until this moment, the Long Armed Mist Gibbon opted to use simple, straightforward punches that were predictable, but powerful.

It was easier to focus his speed and power on a single punch than it was to focus on multiple punches at once, after all.

But having all of his blows getting evaded like this, forced the Long Armed Mist Gibbon to change its strategy and go for much weaker but significantly more numerous jabs.

Granted, even these light punches were more than enough to seriously injure Zhen Hai if even a single one landed on him.

Luckily for him, the sheer unfocused nature of these attacks made them even easier to dodge than the straightforward haymakers from before.

All Zhen Hai had to do was hop to the side and-

Pop!

’Huh?’

[Uh oh.]

Just when Zhen Hai thought he was in the clear, something strange happened.

He wasn’t entirely sure what had just occurred, but if felt as if a strangely heavy bubble had popped right in the path of his shoulder and stalled his movement for a single moment, a moment that was smaller than even a second.

However, that second was all that was needed.

Pow!

[FUCK!]

’GAH!’

"XIAO HAI!"

Not all of the Long Armed Mist Gibbon’s punched landed on their mark, but the one that did was devastating enough as is.

As a loud and nasty cracking sound filled the atmosphere, Zhen Hai could feel the literal air being knocked out of his body as one of the Gibbon’s wild jabs slammed him in the diaphragm so hard that it sent him flying backwards towards the very edge of the ring, stopping only because he managed to land early and roll off the rest of the momentum to prevent a ring out.

To the people and primates watching this moment, many of them had assumed that this was the point Zhen Hai had lost the fight.

They all heard what they assumed to be Zhen Hai’s ribs cracking from the intense blow, they all saw that he was sent flying from a single punch and they could all see that he wasn’t exactly getting up in a manner that suggested he wasn’t uninjured.

Of course, as multiple artists, writers and people from all over the world could attest, perspective is everything...and a bitch.

...

’Ow, ow, fuck, ow.’

[Are you okay? That punch was crazy strong.]

’Mostly, but I feel like my guts just got rearranged...and not in a fun way. My ribs are still in one piece though, so thanks for the save.’

[Ain’t no thang.]

Moments before impact, Screamira had used her aether to create a coating of bone around Zhen Hai’s diaphragm. While the armor wasn’t enough to prevent all of the damage from the Gibbon’s jab, it was enough to prevent Zhen Hai’s ribs from puncturing his lungs. Granted the bone plating got crushed into dust in the process, but hey, it did its job.

That said, Zhen Hai wasn’t exactly in a hurry to get back up because he wanted to use this opportunity to think over some things.

Namely, figure out why shit went sideways and to figure out how to end this situation decisively.

Thankfully, he had a soundboard in his brain.

’Any idea as to why my dodge suddenly got hitched like that? I swear the [Death Sense] thing went off correctly.’

[From what I could feel through you, I think that was an air bubble made of aether. If I had to guess, one of the watching primates didn’t like that you were dancing around so much and decided that you needed to be knocked down a peg.]

’Cheating bastards.’

[Yup. Also, I’m pretty sure that this is a sign that longer we drag this out, the more likely that another primate is going to try and doing something sneaky and underhanded.]

’In that case...I better get back up and finish this.’

[Agreed.]

’Mind lending me a hand?’

[More than I already have?]

’Hah!’

Zhen Hai was more than ready to get back up and start swinging again, but he figured that if these primates were gonna be cheating with small applications of aether, then he might as well make a statement with a big application.

One that combined his innate Aquarii aether, with the innate death aether of his brain buddy.

’You think this will end it?’

[It fucking better.]

...

The crowd and the Long Armed Mist Gibbon continued to stare at Zhen Hai’s crumbled form on the floor, wondering if he’ll get up or if he was down for the count.

That said, the sage ape was certain that Zhen Hai was done for, given that he was sent flying so hard.

He was just about to signal for his disciple to finish this fight and end this sideshow, the words almost leaving his lips.

"What are you doing? Fini-"

"OYE!"

Only to stop when Zhen Hai made a rather loud interjection, much to the relief of his family.

"I didn’t hear a fucking bell!," Zhen Hai continued to yell as he picked himself up from the ground on shaky legs and took up a fighting pose. "So before you start the ten count, why don’t you make sure I’m actually dead first?!"