Bab 42: Chapter 42
I went to the arena relaxed, because…
— Let's welcome our finalist! Meet me! Wolverine! - yes, I still expressed my "fi" to the Grandmaster, so he changed my nickname.
A Valkyrie came out behind me, dressed in her own armor and holding her sword in her hand.
— And many of you already know this warrior, but I will introduce her anyway! Brunhilda, the former Asgardian valkyrie, and now my faithful bodyguard! The ruler of Sakaar's voice was oozing with satisfaction, because it was he who got it.
Now the girl and I were standing opposite each other. We were separated by about ten meters.
— Well, will you show me your skills? I smiled at Brunhilde.
— I'll see how you show yourself and maybe I can not restrain at least half of my strength, " she returned the hairpin to me.
I released my claws, and she drew her sword from its sheath. But none of us was in a hurry to start the fight. She, because she had already managed to see my reaction and movements, and I, because I was looking closely, because it's not for nothing that the girl is the bodyguard of the Grandmaster. This already elevates it to the title "it is better to solve everything in peace than to grab it".
But our psychological rivalry ended in our common defeat, as both began to slowly close the distance between us. When I leaned a little to the side to knock down the girl, I did not expect at all that she would then make a quick dash to me with a sword at the ready.
*Call*
It was our weapons that collided head-on — my reaction still allows me to keep track of her, although she moves quite quickly even with my accelerated perception. After the first exchange of blows, the warrior immediately jumped away from me, only to attack again the next moment, piercing me with her weapon.
And so it went on, I got used to her technique and looked for weaknesses in her movements. No, I could try to push her away by brute force, but it would be unsportsmanlike, as it would make me look like a barbarian who only knows how to push by force. Although sometimes this is the best option when there is no way out. But here and now I am with a warrior who has at least a thousand years of combat experience, and it would be blasphemy not to draw at least a drop of this undoubtedly important thing.
After a while, I managed to find out her tactics. She has already realized that she will not be able to physically crush me, so she adheres to the rule-hit and run. And I must say, it works, I mean, I really can't predict what the girl will do next, and the tactics themselves work a little differently in her performance. The stab wounds on my body are proof of this, although they healed quickly.
Brunhilda's sword was similar to a rapier, but with a slight difference — she could change its shape directly in battle, which is why I couldn't avoid her sudden chopping attack for the first time. Then it was not so easy for her to catch me, and I began to gradually copy her style, adjusted for mine, complementing that one.
At one point, the girl jumped away from me at a decent distance and said:
— I saw that you can withstand most of my attacks, so get ready, now I will fight in full force.
And it really accelerated, increasing the pressure on me even more. Her movements became more plastic and it became much more difficult for me to predict the next attacks. It is not surprising that the wounds on my body began to appear much more than in the past times. I had to leave the defense and start attacking myself.
Since that moment, the battle pattern has changed significantly. Now the valkyrie herself went on the defensive and only sometimes could counterattack in response. And then I noticed that my movements began to resemble hers, from which I fell into a short-term stupor. That's just quickly came out of it, when it almost landed on my claws.
Although I didn't want to harm her somehow, I sometimes still left small scratches on her skin. In general, I directed all my attacks at the girl's armor, but due to the fact that we were constantly on the move, there were small incidents. It's good that she also had a healing factor. Not as powerful as mine, but it was enough to regenerate during the battle.
After some more time, I completely got used to Brunhilda's style and relaxed the pressure on her a little so that she would show something else. And the girl did not let me down, pulling a dagger from behind her back. After that, the girl's movements changed dramatically. That smoothness and softness has disappeared. In their place came sharpness and aggressiveness.
I didn't even realize right away that she had completely changed her tactics, so I had to go on the defensive. It turned out that her dagger has some property of slightly leveling my regeneration, which is why my wounds did not heal immediately. Probably, he should have completely deprived me of this ability, but due to the fact that my healing factor is much superior to those of others, it did not work out, although the regeneration rate really fell by an order of magnitude.
Because of this, I had to become more serious and start using my other ability, absorbing all the energy of the girl's blows and strengthening my body with it. Soon it became difficult for her to even move me from my place, so she threw aside her sword and dagger. Yeah, something brought me, because I wanted to hold a masters fight, but in the end I crushed it by force…
"I give up," the Valkyrie said calmly, " You won.
"No," I said, shaking my head.
— No? - she was surprised and arched an eyebrow, — Isn't it enough for you, or something?
"That's not the point," I hastened to explain, " You see, I can't call it a victory, since I lost in skill.
— What's the big deal?" — she didn't understand, - Well, I couldn't win this, especially since I have much more experience, and you still wouldn't have succeeded.
- Eh — - I sigh — - So you're right, but from the very beginning I wanted to use my own skill.
- Pf — - the girl snorted, rolling her eyes — - I found something to worry about. You'd better be happy that you've become the new champion.
— And yet, — I decided to insist, - Let's have another sparring somehow. For the first time in such a long time, I managed to find someone who surpasses me in something.
"Okay —" she nodded her head, " Since you won this time, we can try again tomorrow. You know, this is the first time I've lost in such a long time, "Brunhilda smiled at the end," And I also want to know how you can ignore an enchanted dagger made of magic metal.
"I hope the Grandmaster doesn't do anything else," I said, supporting her smile.
- In theory, he shouldn't, — she thought, — He is very sensitive about champions, so the maximum that he can do is to arrange another battle of champions, but you will only perform in the final.
After this little dialogue, we parted, and the ruler of Sakaar announced the winner, that is, me. The crowd hooted again and followed us with enthusiastic cheers.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone