The battle continued with little change from the onset, but Serina's position had worsened. She managed to deflect any attacks targetting her body, but her palms now bled and every confrontation ended in her being pushed back. It was obvious that if the fight continued, she would lose, but she remained determined. Nonetheless, her determination appeared insufficient to triumph over the inevitable.
After another swing that broke her guard, the man slammed his foot into Serina's chest. She was blown away like a stone skipping on a river, but the man pursued with a strong killing intent in his eyes.
"Serina!"
"Is this the time for you to look away?"
Fatty grew desperate to help her, but the woman in front of him used the gap in his focus to grab his arm with her flame covered whip. Their strength was about even so the woman couldn't fling him around, but Fatty had a hard time escaping the whip as well. He quickly realized that maintaining this stalemate would only make things worse over time, so instead of drawing back he rushed forward. The woman had seen this coming so once he made his move, she withdrew her whip and then condensed the flames on it to turn the whip bright red before lashing it down on Fatty.
While Fatty resisted the red whip, the man swung his saber at Serina's head for the finishing blow, but she hastily evaded. She was able to keep her life, but it left her with countless openings which the man wasn't about to ignore. He swung his saber up from the ground, and at that moment Serina spotted her chance.
'Now!'
She took advantage of her unstable balance and spun around the saber to get closer to the man while aiming her dagger at his right side. The man quickly used the barrier spell and managed to block the strike of her dagger, but it couldn't stop the burst of wind that exploded from its tip.
"Ku!"
The man fell the ground with a grunt of pain. With the barrier shattered and the hole in his right side, this was the perfect chance to finish him off. However, Serina only stabbed the arm with the saber and placed her dagger at his throat. She knew that it would be better to simply kill him, but her heart simply couldn't reach that resolve so quickly.
"Surrender."
"Hmph, stupid brat!"
The man easily noticed Serina's indecision and used a wind spell to push her off. He then tried to take out the dagger in his arm, but Serina gritted her teeth and took action first.
"Revolving Metals Art!"
Suddenly, the dagger shifted from his arm and flew into the man's eyes, piercing his brain. Fatty wanted to comfort the pale Serina who watched that bloody scene, so he placed all of his attention on the frustrated woman. Her whip was difficult to deal with, but he knew that he could beat her if he stopped watching out for Serina.
"Ha!"
Fatty used the body modification spell to change into his handsome self before charging at her like a bull. He was so fast that she barely escaped his path, but it didn't matter as he predicted where she would go and swung his hammer at her. Her barrier was enough to keep her unharmed so she returned the favour with a storm of lashes. Before Fatty would have chosen to defend, but this time he dived into the storm with his barrier. The translucent shield cracked with every hit from her whip, but she couldn't stop him from reaching her.
The woman clicked her tongue and tried to back off once more, but Fatty threw his hammer at her. She quickly blocked it with her barrier, but in that time Fatty grabbed the deflected hammer from the sky and swung it down from above. The ground was too hard to splinter due to the earth elemental energy, but that didn't change the fact that the woman had to face the full burden of the hammer's weight. She coughed a bit of blood, but she managed to hold it off. Unfortunately for her, that wasn't the end of it.
With his hammer still resting on top of her barrier, Fatty gathered his nature energy and used it to empower his blubber physique. If he was in his normal state then this would increase his defense, but in his muscular state it would increase his strength instead. The woman thought that she had already overcome the worst of it, so when the pressure suddenly increased she was caught unaware and forced to her knees.
"Damn it!"
Her barrier was still up, but Fatty was confident that victory was within reach. He empowered his physique even further and pushed down on her to finish the battle but though her end seemed certain, the woman refused to meekly present him with victory. With her barrier up, the energy in her body became violent to the point that blood escaped from her orifices. Fatty was quick to realize what this meant and immediately backed off.
"Serina, run!"
Serina wasn't as clear but she recognized Fatty's urgency and ran from the scene with him. The energy in the woman's body became more and more violent at a ferocious pace. With their speed he thought that they would be okay, but once he looked at Serina's wounded self Fatty changed his mind. Fatty grabbed Serina's hand and then used all of his strength to throw her away.
"Fatty!"
"Keep going!"
Just as Serina landed, the energy reached its peak and destroyed its host in an explosion as colourful as a rainbow. Serina only felt the the burst of wind and debris, but Fatty was at the edge of the explosion.
"Fatty!"
Fatty ended up being blown close to where she was so Serina could clearly see the burns on his clothes and skin. With a surge of guilt and concern in her heart, she rushed towards him and took out her best healing pill. Fortunately, his injuries weren't life-threatening so once he took the pill he recovered to a stable condition soon enough. Even so, Serina's eyes brimmed with tears as Fatty's eyes remained shut.
"Fatty, please wake up. Please, I have to apologize for letting you suffer because of me."
It was around this time that Shui appeared nearby. He had just finished eliminating all of the nearby groups from the Darino Gang, but he had been monitoring the two's fight with his spiritual sense the entire time so he was up to date. If he had wanted to, Shui was more than fast enough to rescue both of them, but he stayed put once he was sure that neither would die. Although he felt a bit sorry for Serina, these experiences would be essential for her to continue living among cultivators. While he wouldn't insist that she mercilessly kill her enemies, she had to at least realize the consequences of hesitating.
As for Fatty, in terms of fighting ability he still had a way to go, but other than that Shui had no complaints. Serina would likely have complaints for him if she found out about all of this, but he was the only one aware so that would never happen without his permission.