After Jake's swirling darkness attack popped in Heracles' face, an untold amount of damage was delivered to the muscular man. The attack was so strong that it did the unthinkable. It laid Heracles flat on his back while his opponent, the little rabbit Jake, stood over him, seemingly victorious.
The mouths of everyone watching fell open—from the referee to those watching in the auditorium outside the ring, to everyone watching in the viewing room. No one expected this. No one expected to ever see Heracles in such a state, especially not Jake.
The young man stood on wobbly knees, his face bleeding from his previous head injury. He took heavy breaths as he looked down at his opponent. The spiky-haired young man Zack excitedly smirked, asking the question, "Is it over? Did Jake just win?"
The young beastmen, biscuit ears stood straight up at attention as his tail wagged slightly, nervously tried to answer Zack's question. "I… I… think… so, but I can't believe what I'm seeing."
Zack was now fully smiling as he broke out into laughter and cheers. "WAY TO GO, JAKE!" he cheered at Jake. But the young man didn't respond to those joyous cheers. As a jolt of pain ran throughout his body because of it, Jake could no longer stand and fell to his knees. This surprised everyone watching. Zack's smile disappeared as he screamed out to his newly found friend, trying to find out if he was okay. But no matter how loudly he yelled, Jake couldn't hear a thing.
While hunched over, Jake grabbed at his chest as he tried to breathe, but the more he drew in air, the more it burned his throat. "Not… Now," Jake said through gritted teeth. The pain was familiar; it was just like after he beat the Sun and Moon brothers during the second phase. Jake felt his body screaming out in agony. Sweat started to pour from his head, mixing with the blood that was already on his face. His eyes felt hazy. He felt close to passing out, but he refused. "I just have to outlast the ten count," Jake tried to reassure himself. If he could just last a measly ten seconds, then he could win.
Out of the corner of his eyes, Jake saw the referee, T.K, walk forward as he said the words, "One." He took another step forward and said, "Two. Three. Four." As T.K's counting got higher, Jake started to get excited. It was almost over, just a few more seconds. This feeling was shared silently with Zack, whose smile had returned. "Just a few more," Zack thought, "then it's over." Zack's hands began to shake, but he didn't notice it at all. This match had him on edge. Heracles against Jake had him on edge, but it was almost over. He thought Jake could win; he could really win.
Zack was excited, but those feelings he had, the hopes he had for Jake, would soon be torpedoed. Both T.K and Zack saw the same thing, which is what gave them pause. T.K barely got the number five out of his mouth before he stopped counting altogether. Jake, who had been watching him the entire time, was confused as to why he would stop when he was so close. "Why'd you just stop? I had a few more seconds," Jake thought. But he would soon understand why T.K stopped counting.
Because, while still kneeling because of the pain, a large shadow eclipsed the young man. Jake understood clearly now; he knew why T.K froze in the middle of his counting. He knew what this all-encompassing shadow meant. He got back on his feet. Jake knew it; he knew Heracles was towering over him now. He knew it, but he refused to look. All Jake did was look down at the ground, his eyes catching sight of the larger man's feet. He didn't want to look up; he didn't want to see him. But even with knowing what he wanted, Jake couldn't help as his head started to angle up, seemingly against his will. Before he knew it, he was staring up at Heracles, and as he looked up, Heracles looked down.
His eyes— the first thing Jake noticed—were so sharp and focused. Not once did the man blink. A drop of blood came out of the man's nose, a representation of the damage that Jake had done to him. As Jake looked up at the man, his mind was filled with what his mother had told him long ago on that blistering hot day. "Someday, you too might need to make a decision like I did, to either fight or flee, and I hope you choose the one you can live with."
Those words sprung Jake into action. He couldn't fail this exam. He thrust his sheathed blade down hard, using it to push himself up. He was in so much pain; he was scared. But he couldn't do it; he couldn't run away because if he did, he would never forgive himself.
Jake, at first, gritted his teeth, then he let out a battle cry. The young man screamed as he forced himself to move, getting ready to swing his blade. But his attack would never land.
"Because Heracles was faster," the muscular man swung his own blade down fast, landing an angled slash across Jake's chest. "This cut was deeper than the one he got on his stomach," crimson-red blood sprayed out from the wound, much of it hitting Heracles.
A look of worry hit the faces of Biscuit, Zack, and Gabby, but the worry mainly gripped Zack as he watched Jake being cut down. "No, no, this is bad," Zack thought as he watched Jake falling backwards. "Is this how it ends?" Jake pondered.
He could feel his body loosening up. Then he thought of his mother, and he snapped back. Jake regained his footing as he kept telling himself to fight over and over again in his mind. Jake was determined to win. He wouldn't stop. He wouldn't give up.
Jake screamed once more as he rushed forward, but sadly, the determined Jake's momentum would be halted violently as his opponent backhanded him with his massive hand. Heracles' strike made Jake believe that his skull was cracked. It made his ears ring. Heracles smacked the boy as if he were an unruly child.
The attack stunned Jake so much that he wasn't ready when Heracles reached out to grab one of Jake's legs. He held it tightly, preventing any possible escape. Then he lifted Jake up high and slammed him to the ground. Jake's back collided hard with the ground. The air was knocked right out of him. It took Jake a second, then he gasped a desperate breath.
With his opponent's leg still in his hand, Heracles spoke, "I must say I misjudged you. I never expected a person such as yourself to possess such a weapon. Color me impressed." Once again, Heracles' grip tightened around Jake's legs as he lifted him up high in the sky, then forcefully slammed him down. Jake collided with the ground once more, but this time, face-first.
"Tell me something," Heracles spoke up again, "why have you not unsheathed it? Why not use its full power?" Heracles lifted Jake up again, then slammed him again onto his back. "Do you believe I am not worthy enough to experience its true power? Is that why you only gave me a sample?"
Heracles did it again, lifting Jake up high as if he were a rag doll, then slamming him hard on the ground. "Or do you feel worried that it may see me as more worthy than you, that it will choose me over you?" Heracles lifted Jake and slammed him again and again, then again after slamming Jake down once more like a hammer.
Heracles spoke again, but he seemed a bit more frustrated. "If that is your thought process, then my judgment of you was spot on from the very moment I laid eyes on you. You're weak!" he shouted these words at Jake, then flung the boy away. Jake was limp as he lay on the ground.
The auditorium was silent, as if the atmosphere was sucked out of the room. Heracles took a mighty step towards Jake. It was so mighty, in fact, that it cracked the ring beneath his feet. Then he took another step that cracked the ring more. Each step Heracles took was worse than the last.
The more he walked, the closer he got to Jake, the angrier and more agitated he got. As he walked closer to Jake, he saw the boy struggling to get to his feet. Jake used his sword as a cane. He coughed profusely, blood falling out of his mouth like raindrops.
Jake was far past his limit, yet he still managed to get to his feet and face his approaching opponent. Soon, Jake and Heracles stood across from each other, staring one another down. The sight of Jake was pissing Heracles off.
"You still have the will to stand, the will to fight, yet you still will not unsheathe that blade," Heracles's eyes began to fill with anger. He almost started to mirror Nebula "Where I'm from, doing such a thing is taken as a sign of great disrespect."
Heracles's comments made Jake chuckle. This threw off everyone watching, including Heracles. Even in his current predicament, in the shape he was in, Jake could laugh right in his opponent's face. After his small bout of laughter, Jake smiled at Heracles.
"I wish I could, but I can't," these were the words Jake wanted to say, but he couldn't allow them to escape his mouth so easily, so he thought of an alternative. He looked Heracles in the eyes as he said in a soft voice that came out as almost a whisper, "Well, it's like you said, you're not worthy enough for my blade."
After saying those words, Jake smiled at Heracles, his own blood staining his teeth. This truly angered the man. Before he even realized, Heracles thrust his blade forward. The sword had stabbed Jake straight through. It entered through his chest, then exited through his back. In his rage, Heracles skewered the boy.
Gasps were heard throughout the auditorium. Zack screeched out Jake's name as Heracles looked at Jake with his face morphed into a scowl. "Fine then, you can die for all I care, die with that pitiful pride of yours intact."