A while later...

"Are we really going to do this?" Chloe asked the others in a voice full of unwillingness.

"You heard what he said. Mom is on the verge of an important breakthrough. For that, she needs sufficient pressure. Something none of us can do alone right now. And Muku would be too much pressure. Even if he holds back, it won't be as natural..." Layla replied calmly.

"I know but... I don't know" Chloe replied uncertainly.

She was barely okay with fighting Audrey at all. And now she had to do it with other people? That was way too much!

"Are you forgetting how he made quick work of Freya despite her being one of our best? In fact, we're wasting time here talking. She might miss the opportunity because of us. So if you don't want to participate, you can sit this one out. We won't hold it against you" Layla addressed Chloe again.

This time her voice was gentler as her "big sister" mode took over for a second.

"Fine. If it's for her sake, I'll do it" Chloe who was extremely averse to fighting someone she saw as her mother finally agreed.

The others really didn't judge her for her unwillingness despite what was at stake. After all, they knew that she had imprinted on Audrey just as much as Hope had imprinted on Muku. She was just way better at controlling herself compared to Hope. So her case wasn't as obvious as Hope's unrestrained one.

So yeah, just as Hope would hate nothing more than to fight against Muku outside of sparring, Chloe didn't want to fight Audrey either...

Muku just looked on from the side without saying anything. It wasn't that he couldn't, but he felt that the girls had it, so he didn't have to say anything. Of which they really had it.

Anyway, since Chloe agreed, the girls immediately got into position. They surrounded Audrey who was standing still with her eyes closed from all sides.

"What didn't you join?" Muku asked the girl standing beside him.

"I'm not so shameless as to join a battle after losing it already... Even if you say the situation is different now. I will not join. This is their battle not mine" Jade who was the one standing next to Muku replied calmly as she looked at the others.

"Hmm. How noble of you... Only if I didn't know that you aren't joining because you're afraid of going out of control and using your Beast Aura..." Muku replied with a slight smirk on his face.

"Tsk. Can't you let the readers' view of me improve by just a bit?" Jade complained about how Muku exposed her.

"Nope", Muku replied simply.

"Whatever" Jade replied and started ignoring him.

Talking to him was both angering and distracting. Neither did she want to experience. Especially when she was about to witness Audrey's new and mysterious prowess...

Muku didn't continue bothering Jade either as he also wanted to focus on the battle.

.....

On the battlefield...

"So you decided to come at me at once huh? Well, honestly that's a smart strategy. For which I am proud of you..." Audrey replied in a calm and almost alien voice.

She sounded so detached despite expressing how proud she was of them.

The girls instantly confirmed that there really was something going on with her.

Sure, they believed in Muku. But the jerk didn't seem to be above bribing Audrey and giving her extra lessons just to make the battle more interesting for himself...

The girls didn't say anything and only gave each other looks full of information.

Since Jade, Emily and Freya weren't participating. There were actually only four of them. Namely Layla, Chloe, Hope and Elsa.

And so, Audrey was surrounded on four sides...

BOOOOOOOM×4

The girls all exploded forth at once after giving each other the signal.

They all used their gathered force from training in their very first move. This was to be expected though, after all. Audrey had done things which warranted that much "care" at the very least.

Audrey who was at the centre still had her eyes closed and hadn't moved at all. However, the moment the girls moved. She smiled slightly and...

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

She surprisingly managed to block all of the girls and push them all back.

But of course, their attacks didn't contain Force so they weren't injured by that weird ability of hers and were just knocked back.

"Good plan but... You weren't in sync" Audrey spoke in her detached voice.

"Yeah. Our speeds are different so it's hard to sync up without prior training. But hurting you wasn't the purpose of the attack. I just wanted to see if you would use that move you used on Freya. We already know how to avoid the Jade one. Now we know that you can't use the Freya one if there are more than multiple opponents coming at you at once" Layla replied to Audrey.

Of course, she didn't say anything that wasn't obvious or would put them at a disadvantage. She wasn't that dumb, even if they were fighting her mother, she wanted to win!

"...." Audrey didn't say anything. Then...

BOOOM! She charged at Layla.

The others immediately jumped in the assist Layla.

And just like that, they managed to ward off Audrey again.

The five kept doing that for close to thirty minutes.

At this point, Layla and her group were all sweating and heaving. And yet Audrey seemed fine.

Sure, she had damage from all that had happened. But other than that, she wasn't sweating, nor heaving at all.

"How does she still have power?!" Hope exclaimed after managing to catch her breath a bit.

"... I don't know" Layla who felt that things weren't going according to plan replied after a little silence.

The four of them had actually decided to tire Audrey out before going in for a kill. However, it seemed like Audrey was a perpetual motion machine.

She literally fought three people before them and yet they got tired before she did.

And they had been hit by her more times than they hit her despite having a significant number advantage.

She couldn't help but look at Muku behind them.

And surprisingly, unlike before, there was no longer a look of glee on his face. There was a trace of worry instead as he looked at Audrey.

This made Layla's heart skip a bit. She then turned to look at Audrey again.

This time she paid closer attention to her.

That's when she noticed something. Audrey's skin had actually turned slightly rosy at some point... Not her face, well, not just her face but her whole body.

And there was no way such a thing could be good.

That's when something clicked in Layla's head.

Audrey was doing something dangerous to her body to allow her to continue fighting.

And from the looks of it, it wasn't something minor since it seemed to be destroying her from the inside out.

She couldn't imagine the pain Audrey was in. Yet her mother hadn't made even the slightest pained sound from the start until that point.

"Everyone. I think we should rush things up. There's something wrong with Mom's body. We can't delay any longer. Let's go all out and not stop until she's defeated. Even if she breaks our bones..." Layla suddenly suggested something crazy.

However, after hearing why she said it and looking and Audrey closely. The others all made up their minds to do as she said...

After all, Hope could heal them all with a single spell... Even if she was also going to fight with them. She can cast her healing spells even when she's close to fainting.

So there was no need to worry as there was no way things would get that dire... Right?

"Let's go!" Chloe was the one who led the charge this time.

The girls all jumped at Audrey at once.

And another heavy-hitting round began. The girls targeted Audrey from all angles. Some attacks missed while some landed.

Of course, some of Audrey's attacks landed on them as well. Layla's left leg was grabbed and twisted by Audrey at one point, but she didn't stop fighting as she kept herself standing with her Force. She continued fighting with her hands.

All the girls had their faces almost punched in with black eyes but they still didn't stop. Chloe's right hand was also broken. Elsa's ribs were in tatters. It was only Hope who somehow managed not to have a single part of her body broken. However, she was still beaten up and was in as much pain as the rest despite that...

The girls were determined to take Audrey down no matter what. Even if they couldn't win, they would at least take her down with them.

This battle was destined to end as a draw!

Even the spectators who were awed by what they were seeing thought the same.

That's when...

Whoosh...

A familiar sight occurred. Audrey who was at the centre of the girls disappeared again.

And before her opponents could figure out what was going on...

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

They were all hit hard at the back of their necks and the next thing that happened was them all falling to the ground.

One thought went through all their minds.

{We lost!... But we succeeded...}

"Thank you all. And I'm sorry" Audrey's gentle, grateful and apologetic at the same time voice was the last thing they heard before everything faded to black.