Seeing her open her eyes, Raja asked as he stood up, "How did you figure out that I was invisible? And how did you figure out where I was going to attack from?"
Lina stared at him and said, "I figured out that you were invisible when I was able to block the first attack. I realized that the point of impact was different from where the punch had hit me. In the case of your last attack, it was more of a coincidence."
Upon hearing this, Raja's mouth dropped open, "W-what do you mean coincidence?! You're not going to tell me that you punched in a random direction and ended up hitting me, are you?"
Lina then said, "That's not what I meant. I found out where you were, so I decided to attack, but at first, I had another idea. I planned to take the hit and try to attack you before you could move away, but it turned out not to be necessary."
"You and your clones were close to me before I closed my eyes, and as I closed them, I realized I could hear footsteps, your footsteps in this case. So I decided to keep my eyes closed and wait until I heard them again."
"I figured you were going to do all that routine before you attacked, but in the middle, I got worried because you were taking too long. I almost got to opening my eyes, but on second thought, I decided to wait a little longer, and in the end, my patience paid off."
"Slowly I started to hear your footsteps again, I kept hearing the sound approaching until at one moment it stopped, but at the same moment it stopped I heard the sound of wood creaking, so I thought, 'He must be attacking now.', I bet on that and decided to attack in the direction of the noise, and fortunately for me I was right, you really were there."
"After we exchanged punches, I knew I couldn't waste any time. I stabilized myself as fast as I could. That's when I heard a louder noise as if something heavy had fallen to the ground."
"I figured it was you and stepped forward in the direction of the noise and kicked, and again, I had hit you. I got the kick right, and now we come to the present moment."
"Anyway, now that I've revealed you, you've lost the fight. I'm going to get my drink."
Raja then said, "What do you mean I lost? You only hit me twice, and I've been hitting you since the beginning of the fight. I know you must be at your limit, don't try to fool me. Even without using my essence, I can still beat you!"
Raja then immediately moved towards Lina and punched her in the direction of her chest.
Lina then said, "Limit? I'm nowhere near my limit, but since you insist on continuing, don't complain later.", and then she punched in the direction of Raja's chest.
The two of them hit each other at the same time and retreated a bit, but soon after, they stabilized and attacked again.
This cycle looked like it would continue for a while.
...
"it looks like the fight is over.", Gen said.
"Indeed, there's no way she will lose a fight in which resilience is the determining factor.", answered Balkan as he poured some drinks, passing one of them to Gen.
"Yeah, with her essence and this guy's strength, I think even if she didn't figure anything out, the fight would still end with him exhausted on the floor in an hour or two.", said Gen turning back to the counter and taking a sip of his drink, but right after having a taste, he said, "Pffft! Cof! Cof! Just what the hell is this drink, Balkan?! I ordered the usual!"
"Yes, in your case, the house special.", answered Balkan as he continued to pour the other customers' drinks.
"And since when does the house special come with camel urine!", said Gen, sticking out his tongue, trying to wipe it on his shirt sleeve, "Where's the cactus juice? What's that you served me instead!", said Gen speaking a little strangely, because he still had his tongue out, afraid that if he put it back in his mouth, he would get that awful taste again.
"Oh, the menu has changed, now the house special comes with the cactus smoothie.", said Balkan laughing half-heartedly.
"Why?!", said Gen indignantly.
"Don't worry, I made sure to take out all the thorns.", Balkan replied, giving him a thumbs up.
"That's not the point!" said Gen.
"Ahh, it's just that Anna said we have a lot of cacti left over, and she didn't want to throw them away." " said Balkan, letting out a sigh at the end.
Upon hearing Anna's name, Gen calmed down a bit and asked, "And how long is this going to be like this?"
"For a little while." " said Balkan, handing the drinks to the other customers.
"How long is 'a little while'?", Gen asked with a serious look on his face.
"You know that if I could, I would have already told you.", said Balkan, looking at Gen.
"Then I guess I'll have to stay away for a while.", said Gen turning back toward Lina.
"You better not do that, for my sake and yours.", Balkan said.
"You can't make me eat here.", Gen replied.
"True, but then when do you plan to leave town?", Balkan asked.
"What? What do you mean by that?", Gen asked, confused, turning to Balkan again.
"It's simple, you know how Anna cares about business. So she knows all our frequent customers, and if any of them suddenly stopped coming, she would want to know what happened. And it's not like it's possible to hide from her in this town.", Balkan said with a smile on his face.
Hearing this, Gen opened his mouth to speak, but in between, he ended up saying nothing and accepted the situation.
"Did it have to be on my birthday?" Gen asked as he looked down at his drink with a look of contempt.
"It was Anna's idea.", replied Balkan.
Hearing this, Gen sighed and took the rest of the drink in one gulp, slamming his glass on the table at the end.
A few seconds after that, Gen's whole body was shaking while he squirmed a little. He then decided to lie down on the counter and, after a short while, returned to normal, breathing deeply.
Getting up, Gen was ready to complain to Balkan again when suddenly he heard a voice that made him break out into a cold sweat.
"Hi, Gen. Happy birthday."
The person who spoke this had just come out of the bar kitchen. It was a woman a little taller than Gen; she had long brown hair that was tied up in a ponytail. Her eyes were the same color as Gen's, sand-colored, and the smile she carried on her face would brighten anyone's day.
She was wearing casual clothes, and over them, she wore an apron painted with roses of various colors, but none of this could hide the beautiful body she had, with nothing too big or too small. A beauty that could destroy kingdoms and empires, but everyone who knows her knows that she doesn't need this beauty to accomplish such an act.
'Ah ... the more beautiful the rose, the more dangerous its thorns.'
"A-Ah, thank you, Miss Anna."