Ch~Thirty>Eight: The Fight Was Over Before It Even Began.

″Hehehe! I'm really surprised by your abilities. Anyway, let's see if you can catch up to this.″ Jae said looking at the humanoid body of metal. It has a bronze metallic color, it held two swords in both hands. It has holes in the orifices of its head. The humanoid puppet warrior suddenly moved. Its speed was very fast. With few steps, it quickly neared Jae.

″[Doujutsu - Focus Eyes]″ Jae softly muttered as the puppet came near. His chakra churned in his body and he directed it to his eyes, thereby activating his first Doujutsu. His black pupils remain the same but his iris became broader and sharper.

Jae suddenly noticed different things from his surrounding. The movement of the Bronze Puppet Warrior didn't seem slow at all. It was fast for him but what he noticed was that, his mind could react to the movements of the Bronze Puppet Warrior and also adjust to it so that he can have a better fight.

His eyes seem clearer than before and could notice even small movements made by moving things.

*Clank!*

The two swords of the Bronze Puppet Warrior met with Jae's sword and kunai respectively. Pushing forward with great momentum, they both clashed together, exchanging dozens of blows. Sounds of swords striking and swooshing echoed through the area.

″What the..!″ Jae blurted out in shock but he was quick to make a hand seal and exploded into smoke, switching place with a wooden log.

Appearing somewhere else, Jae stared at the needle pierced log in front of the Bronze Puppet Warrior. Never would he have expected the Bronze Puppet Warrior to be able to shoot out needles from its eye like holes.

If it wasn't from the fast reactions of Focus Eyes' ability, he wouldn't have been able to dodge the needles.

″[Fire Style - Great Fireball Jutsu]″ His hands rapidly made the seals and he then molded the chakra in his mouth. He released a huge ball of fire from his mouth, throwing it towards the Bronze Puppet Warrior.

Mina who was resting at the side controlled the Bronze Puppet Warrior to clash with the fireball. Although it was a big ball of fire, Mina didn't think her puppet would lose to it.

*Boom*

The result came out with the Bronze Puppet Warrior flying in smoke. Its shining bronze luster has darken with burnt areas around it. Still, it stood back up on it's feet and started to attack Jae once again.

″Impressive! [Water Style - Spinning Thrust Jutsu]″ Jae made another hand seals and suddenly bloated like a balloon, then he released a great volume of water that started spinning on a straight line towards the Bronze Puppet Warrior.

This time, Mina didn't dare to use the puppet to clash head on with the water technique. She could feel the penetrating power behind it. She controlled it to dodge but the spinning water was very fast. She then controlled the puppet to raise its two swords up and slash down at the water technique, cutting it successfully in the process but the force of the Jutsu still threw it off its feet.

Before the puppet could fall to the ground, Jae used the [Body Flicker Jutsu], making his body flicker illusorily and instantaneously arrived above the Bronze Puppet Warrior, then twisting his body in the air, he performed Leaf Hurricane on the Bronze Puppet Warrior, kicking it to the ground while at the same time, he slammed an explosive tag on the Bronze Puppet Warrior.

*Boom!!!*

The impact of the fall coupled with the explosion of the explosive tag made dust to blow all over. Jae landed on the ground softly and patiently waited for a response.

*Whoosh!*

Whooshing sounds appeared as dozens of needles flew towards Jae. With his eyes widely open, Jae also shot shurikens at the incoming needles.

Clanking sounds echoed as the small sized projectiles canceled each other mid air. But some manage to bypass Jae's shurikens and flew towards him. It was obvious his shurikens and kunai mastery weren't perfected.

Focusing on his doujutsu, eye powers surged out of his eyes and enhanced his sight. Raising his sword up, he perfectly deflected the incoming needles with his sword. After that phase was over, Jae's doujutsu deactivated. He couldn't support the chakra consumption of the doujutsu. At the same time, the dust were already settled down. He looked at Mina who was already beside her puppet.

She waved her hand and a portal appeared above the damaged Bronze Puppet Warrior and sucked it in.

Now, just like Jae, she was also low on Mana. Her mana were almost depleted when she summoned the Bronze Puppet Warrior which was quite impressive as the Bronze Puppet Warrior had the strength of a Level 11 Hunter. A Level 11 Hunter is already automatically a Bronze Rank Hunter.

Jae made a hand seal and used his remaining chakra to create four clones of himself. All of them also held a Kusanagi Sword and a kunai. Mina grimly looked at the clones and tightly gripped her longsword.

Also rushing towards the incoming Jae's, she swung her sword at one of the clone that attacked her first.

*Puff*

Smoke appeared as the clone exploded. Feeling both surprised and shocked, Mina quickly brandished her sword and attack the other Jae's but they all turned into smokes, blurring her sight. She started looking for the real Jae in the smoke but couldn't locate him.

She knew he had a clone technique, he had shown them when he was introducing himself and his powers. But she thought the clones were real, just like his body or maybe she wasn't paying attention back then.

She remember causing four clones to explode into smokes so the last one was still somewhere around and it might be the real one. As she was looking around, she suddenly felt something wrong.

She tried to get away from her position but it was too late. The ground below her burst open and two hands came out of it, holding unto her legs and dragging her into the soil. Mina who couldn't react quickly was submerged into the soil with her head out.

Feeling shocked, she looked around and saw Jae wiping off the dirt on his body. He looked at her and smiled, feeling satisfied.

″Jae! This isn't over.″ Mina said feeling a little bit depressed. She had thought that she would be able to defeat him if she summoned her Bronze Puppet Warrior.

The result- It was damaged. She was defeated.

″Hehehe! Its already over, Mina″ Jar chuckled.

″Hmph! At least, I forced you to a corner. Look at your pale face, that's already a win for me″ Mina said feeling happy but when she looked at Jae, she only saw him looking at her in a weird way.

″Hey, what's with that look?!″ She shouted, feeling uncomfortable. ″Just because you won doesn't mean you were stronger than me. You won through deception″ She said.

Hearing this, Jae laughed even more. Now, Mina was annoyed by his laughter. Jae crouched and looked at her and said ″Oh Mina, lemme tell you something. You never forced me into any corner...″

Hearing Jae's words, Mina didn't want to believe. She wanted to even laugh but seeing the confident look on his face, she kept quiet. Then, she heard him say ″Mina, this battle was over before it even began″