楼上的上瘾女士

The Four upperclassmen who were still conscious stood around the beaten Jack and watched the altercation that was about to begin, wondering to themselves should they help or make a run for it.

"We can\'t just leave" said one "What about Waldo?" 

The others sighed. 

"We could try going after the one with the tiles himself" said No.2

"Who? Hal Payne? Have you forgotten he killed Rad?" Asked a shocked No.4

No.3 turned to him, 

"Well, Rad Payne was only at the 5th stage when I last saw him so Hal Payne can\'t be all that strong".

Rad Payne used to keep his strength mostly secret, so not many knew what his true cultivation was. 

"True" said No.4

"So do we do it?" Asked No.2

"We will have to be smart about it. That Lady got into the middle to protect him so we must avoid her and we can not let her interfere." 

And so No.1-No.4 began their plans.

Meanwhile, Waldo was getting ever closer to Marla who took a stance and simply awaited his arrival.

She didn\'t have to wait long, with his speed he was before her within seconds, there were no conflicted feelings as he drew back his fist and drove it towards her face.

Marla ducked and his fist met the air above her head and then she slammed a palm into his midsection...

*Bam*

...and sent him careening backward with his arms around his midsection as he winced in pain.

He managed to look up when he noticed Marla was not waiting for him to get back up as she was the one now dashing towards him, fist raised.

Waldo did not bother to try escaping, the pain he was feeling would not allow him to move recklessly so instead he stood his ground (metaphorically. As he was now down to a knee) and shielded his face with his muscled arms.

Marla arrived before him and went to town with her punches.

*Bam* *Bam* *Bam*...

Each punch seemed heavier than the last and Waldo felt that if this continued, arm fractures were very much in his future.

The only reason he had yet to sustain them was because his body was much stronger than the speaker who had his hand fractured to the wrist.

Sinking his leg into the ground, Waldo ignored his pain and forced himself to stand and repel Marla back but when he tried pushing her back with his arms still raised defensively, he noticed in front of him.

He did not have long to wonder where she was...

*Bam!*

...as she kicked him in the small of his back and sent him face first to the ground.

He turned himself face up just in time to see her leg coming down on his ribs.

He rolled away just in time to avoid the devastating-looking strike...

*Bang!*

*Crack!*

...that somehow created cracks on the grass-covered floor.

Hal watched the battle with a smile. Energy sensing Realm battles were always physical and he liked that.

In the Cosmic Pearl Realm, cultivators gain the ability to use Cosmic attacks and in the Armament Realm they gain Cosmic Armaments, slowly, fist fights become harder and harder to come by.

While the battle was well below him now, it was a lot of fun to watch and, 

\'Damn, She\'s kicking ass" Grimoire commented with a whistle.

\'That\'s my girl\' Hal smiled.

\'You know those Four are coming after you right?\' Grimoire said and Hal chuckled, 

\'Who cares?\' Hal said and continued watching Marla force Waldo into the defensive.

Waldo pushed himself backward but Marla never let up and kept coming after him. He just did not have time to breathe.

Marla\'s palm was right before his face when he ducked so he could avoid the strike and hopefully counter-attack with a strike of his own, hence seizing back the initiative.

Unfortunately for him, the moment he bent his knee, Marla\'s knee made contact with his Jaw...

*Crack!*

...fracturing it while also slamming his back into a tree trunk where he a kid and sat on the ground.

-Puchi-

He spat out blood. Not once, Not twice. 

The quantity always increasing.

His jaw ached and there was no longer any fighting spirit in him.

How did it all come to this?

How could I lose to this bitch?

He thought before he took a deep, painful breath and stood up. Marla watched him stand and nodded,

"Good, it seems you\'ll last a little while longer"

Waldo gritted his teeth at those disparaging words and cracked his knuckles as well as some other aching part of his body. 

He breathed in Cosmic energy to act as a first aid and mend his injuries. Albeit mildly.

It also acted as a driving force that filled his body with adrenaline and freed him from the aching pains. 

His muscles bulged and he seized the offensive again by dashing towards Marla. 

Marla smirked and met him with a fist of her own.

*Bam*

The two met in the middle but neither gave way. 

They separated only to gather more momentum and strike at each other once again, his punch was aimed at her right shoulder. If it hit, he could possibly weaken her dominant arm.

Marla caught the punch with her left palm while she kneed him in the ribs.

Waldo groaned but with his veins being pumped with adrenaline, he ignored the pain and headbutted Marla who had no choice but to retreat from the force.

However, when Waldo looked at her head, he found it clean of any bruise or injury.

"What a frightening physique" He mumbled.

Marla heard it and chuckled, 

"You don\'t know the half of it" she said and was back on the attack.

A roundhouse kick to his neck and Waldo had to mean back to avoid it. As soon as her leg was on the ground he wound his around hers and pulled in an attempt to trip her but Marla simply did on her heels and slammed both palms on his chest.

*Crack*

Waldo moved back, his sternum fractured.

Marla knew Waldo must have healing pills on hand or else he would not readily endure this pain. He was most likely saving it for the time he would defeat her and then go after Hal.

However, in her honest opinion, it should have been obvious that this was not worth it and he should just surrender.

Was it pride or was it foolhardiness born from a pipe dream of defeating someone he had not been able to make bleed?

Whatever it was, she was more than ready to continue. This was why she was here after all.

To kick some upper-class butt!.

"Ahhhhhhh" 

Was Waldo\'s battle cry as he leaped at Marla, his punches and occasional kicks were might aggressive. But for every move, he made Marla had a Counter.

All through their next moves, he never hit a solid hit on Marla\'s body which his fractures and aches only continued to heighten.

Soon Waldo was back on the defensive and one solid hit to his head later...

*Twonk!*

...and he was unconscious as well.

Meanwhile, the Four upperclassmen ran past Marla and right towards Hal, where he stood to spectate.

Marla did not bother to try to stop them. 

Was it her problem if they had a death wish?

The four surrounded Hal and he could not help but sneer at their futile attempt to gran these tiles from him.

But he had to commend their ability to mark him as \'weak\'.

After all, what fun is it to just watch and not do anything?

He stood still as all four of them began to deliver barrages of punches and attacks.

They performed Combos, they withdrew rank one runes. They did all they could but Hal remained standing and never moved an inch.

Every move they made he blocked.

He reveled in the feeling of being invincible, even if it was against weaklings such as this.

Eventually, as it was inevitable. It became boring. There was nothing he could learn from the pointless, mismatched battle.

"Be gone!" 

He snarled from irritation as he swung his hand and sent them crashing away from him with a Cosmic attack.

They all fell unconscious instantly and might even be in worst conditions but Hal could not be bothered to check their condition.

At that time, Marla skipped to his side and gave him the Rune tile she had just taken from Waldo.

Hal received it casually as he smiled at her, 

"You had a little too much fun with it" 

He said and by \'it\', he was obviously referring to her altercation with Waldo.

Marla shrugged, 

"I was merely perfecting fighting techniques"

Hal rolled his eyes and Marla grabbed his arm as the two made to leave to seek out other prime targets.

It was at that time that Jack stood from the ground and waddled over to the couple.

"Thank you" he said.

Hal looked him up and down and smiled lightly.

He had known already that Jack had not been unconscious and had watched the proceedings.

"What are you thanking me for? We did not attack to help you" Hal said.

"Well you helped me all the same" Jack limped closer and stretched his hand as though it receive something.

"What?" Marla asked confused.

"My Rune tile" Jack said in a sheepish voice.

"Oh this?" Hal said and raised the tile up before he returned it to his pile.

"You\'re not getting it back"

"Why not?"

"Is that not obvious? It\'s payment for saving you" Marla said with a roll of her eyes.

"But you said you did not attack to save me" Jack was confused.

"Even if it was not our intention, it doesn\'t change the fact that we saved you" Marla told him with a scoff.

"Well said, Darling" 

Hal said and he and Marla left Jack staring open-mouthed at their shamelessness.