Anna is Balkan's wife and Lina's mother, and from what Balkan told me, he met her at a tournament in another town north of the desert.
He said that when he saw her, he found her extremely beautiful, but what won him over was her strength in combat.
He said she was a master of hand-to-hand combat and defeated most of her opponents with just one hand.
She fought calmly, always watching what her opponent would do and adapting quickly. She was so beautiful fighting that it seemed that everything was under her control, but it was in his fight with her that he realized her true nature.
After fighting for a long time without being able to take advantage of each other, she began to change her fighting style. Instead of defending herself from all attacks, she began to only defend against the most lethal attacks, taking the other blows but at the same time returning her own. She looked like a berserker.
After almost an hour of fighting, both he and she were at their limits. It was then that Anna decided to put all her strength into one last attack.
The attack was a blow that she had trained for years, and the speed and strength of it were far superior to all her other blows.
The blow was about to hit when he felt something inside him telling him he couldn't lose this fight. He then used his second essence to stop the blow, but the most it could do was halve its force.
Balkan then received a blow on his chest and fell to the ground on his back. As he fell, he put his hand on his chest, for the pain was too great, and probably, this last blow had broken some of his ribs.
After calming down, he saw Anna approaching and knew that he would probably lose if she gave him another blow like the last one. Even if he defended himself, he would be unable to fight.
She then walked step by step until she arrived in front of Balkan, who was still sitting on the ground because he was in a lot of pain and decided it would be better not to get up.
The moment she arrived in front of him, he began to prepare his defense, but then he heard her say, "I lost this time."
Balkan didn't understand what she meant, but then she said, "You'd better get ready because I won't rest until I defeat you!"
Anna then looked him in the eyes with a defiant look and then fell on top of him, fainting.
That surprised Balkan, and as he held her and looked closely at her face, he once again realized how beautiful she was, but unlike the first time, he felt that his heart was beating very fast and that inside him, there was an enormous desire to protect her.
Upon understanding what was happening, Balkan laid on the ground and began to laugh, even with the pain he felt in his chest, and then said with a peaceful expression while looking up to the sky with one of his hands on his chest and the other on the top of Anna's head, "It seems that I won the fight, but I lost in love."
...
"My love, did something happen? Why did you come here on the counter?" Balkan asked Anna.
"I heard a racket in here and came to check what it was. What's going on?", asked Anna.
"The usual.", said Gen.
"Another person after Lina? This girl is no good. How many hearts does she want to break before she's satisfied? I really don't know who she gets it from." " said Anna, letting out a sigh at the end.
Hearing this, Gen and Balkan looked at each other and let the subject die.
"Anyway, what's taking her so long? Usually, these fights end in two or three blows?" asked Anna.
"The opponent this time is a bit tricky. He has an essence.", replied Balkan.
"Really? What is his essence? And what level is he on?"
"Mirage essence, Material level.", Answered Balkan.
"Ahh, that's it? What's taking so long, then? This essence is focused on disrupting your opponent's perception. All she has to do is wait for him to attack and hold him after receiving the blow.", Anna said.
"True, but Lina couldn't think of that at first. She stayed too long trying to defend herself while he attacked with three clones, one on each side. She could defend two blows, but the real blow always went where she wasn't defending.", Gen said.
"Hmmm, probably none of the clones were the real ones. He must have been invisible.", said Anna.
"Exactly.", said Gen.
"This fight is going to be a good experience for her. Depending on how she does, I might let her have a glass of blue rose cedar that she wanted so badly.", Anna said.
"I'm sure she'll be happy to hear this, but let's pay attention to their fight. Looks like the boy is reaching his limit.", said Balkan.
Hearing this, the three turned toward Lina and Raja.
...
Lina and Raja had already exchanged several blows, and Raja looked tired. Lina didn't look as good as she did at the beginning of the fight, but she still looked good.
Seeing Lina's expression, Raja said, "How come you're not tired yet? You took many more hits than I did."
"I warned you, the moment I found you, you had already lost. Do you think that only you have an essence? I've also been using mine since the beginning of the fight.", said Lina with a serious expression.
"What? Do you also have an essence? What is your essence? Mine, if it's not clear, is the essence of the mirage.", said Raja.
"My essence is that of the Desert Rose.", said Lina.
"Desert rose? I've never heard about this essence, but what is it about it that makes you not get tired?" Raja asked curiously.
"The Desert Rose has three main properties those being Resilience, Beauty, and Lethality. The one I used against you was resilience. Using resilience, I can increase the amount of fatigue my body can take, and at the External level, I can make the air around me defend me, thus reducing the impact of blows.", said Lina.
"That's why I said I had won. No matter how hard you try, your energy will run out before mine does. Now, if possible, I would like to take my drink, or do you still want to continue?" asked Lina with a serious expression.
Raja looked at Lina and thought about his chances of winning. He realized that they were almost impossible, but still, he didn't give up and said, "Unfortunately, I can't give up this drink. After all, it's not every day you find an amber of essences."
"Indeed, you are right, you are unlikely to find another drink like this one, but that doesn't change the fact that it is mine.", said Lina.
"If that's the case, I don't have a choice.", said Raja, and then stepped forward to punch Lina in the face.
Lina also advanced toward him with a ready punch, but before they could hit each other, the two heard a voice.
"Stop, you two. This fight is over.", said Anna.
"M-Mom! What are you doing here?", asked Lina.
Hearing the voice telling them to stop the fight, Raja spoke up, "Who are you?! We are in the-", but he stopped in mid-sentence when he saw the person in front of him.
Raja had only one word to describe her: Goddess. A goddess who had descended from the heavens to present mortals with her appearance.
Upon hearing Raja's half-sentence, Anna replied, "I am the owner of this bar, and the drink you are vying for is mine."
"If you want to take some of it, you will have to beat me in a fight.", Anna said.
Raja heard what she said and said, "Okay, then I will defeat you. There is no way I will give up that drink.", Raja said.
Hearing this, everyone started to step away.
"This guy must be crazy.", said one man, getting up from his table and going to the corner.
"I think Lina hit him over the head too hard.", said another man.
...
"You better use your essence, boy.", said Anna, smiling.
"Okay.", said Raja, generating three clones and repeating the same routine he did with Lina, surrounding Anna.
Raja's clones moved forward, and he went right behind. The clone on her back kicked her with the sole of his foot, the one on the left punched her in the face, and the one on the right kicked her in the knee.
Raja decided to follow the one on the right because it would be harder to catch him through a low kick, and hitting her knee would affect her mobility.
Raja looked at Anna to see where she was defending herself but was surprised. She was standing there messing with her hair.
Upon seeing this, Raja was confused but decided to continue with his plan.
Raja approached her and kicked her knee, but just as his kick was about to hit her, he suddenly felt something hit his stomach, and when he looked down, he saw that she had kicked him.
The kick threw him toward one of the tables, but before he could collide with it, Anna appeared at his side and punched him in the chest, knocking him to the ground.
Anna went to continue with another punch but realized that Raja had fainted and stopped in the middle, "Oops ... I guess I overdid it a bit. I forgot that he had been fighting Lina for a while. Well, at least that settles that matter.", Anna said with a smile on her face.
Everyone in the bar then started to look at each other and thought, 'Even without being tired, he would have fainted.'
"Now you ...", said Anna, looking at Lina.
Lina came toward her mother and said, "I didn't need your help, Mom, I was already going to win-", but before she could finish, her vision changed, and when she realized her back was on the floor.
"We need to talk.", said Anna to Lina, looking down at her with a smile that made Lina get a chill all over her body.