บท 10: Worthy
During her time wandering the world in search of a challenge she unintentionally amassed many followers. Some of them were martial artists themselves, others were just enthusiasts that would inform her of any interesting warrior.
So, when she heard of a fighter that was called the 'Invincible Warrior' she was intrigued. However, titles were a fickle thing. She had to see the fighter with her own eyes to be convinced that the person, who claimed such a title was not a random worm who pretended to know combat.
He would have to prove himself worthy of a title which would be best left to describe her if he wanted to survive the living weapon, one of the deadliest martial artists on planet earth, Lady Shiva herself. She hoped that he wouldn't be as disappointing as the other subpar fighters whose highest accomplishments were a fancy name.
[A/N: Lady Shiva]
She had already grown numb to the many that called themselves 'Bonecrushers', 'Hands of God', 'Natural Born Killer', and whatnot. Her own followers had keener eyes than most, but what they would describe as world-class, were usually just decent in her eyes.
She sat in the audience waiting for the match to start, she had already grown bored of the weaklings that came before. Her interest in today's night was the highlight. After the defeated fighter was dragged out of the ring the next fight was promptly announced.
The first fighter walked into the ring, and she almost immediately lost interest. A dime of a dozen, she instantly judged.
Maybe he could claim to be a decent fighter amongst the common fighter, but Lady Shiva was anything but common.
Her eyes moved away looking to the entrance from where the 'Invincible Warrior' would come out of. His name was announced, and a lone person walked out. He was greeted with enthusiastic applause from the audience and not without reason as his stats would presume.
Undefeated with 20-0, all knockouts. The organizer of this fighting club was her informant and had told her that Nathan Lewis was never injured in the ring.
It wasn't for the lack of trying on the opponent's side, but because he was rarely touched and the few times, he did get hit it was insufficient to draw blood.
It had been barely 2 months since he started fighting here and he had already established himself as the greatest in all Portland. A small feat compared to the usual world-renowned fighter but that wasn't something she would rely on for her judgment. Many were claimed to be the best only to be a lot worse to those that didn't seek the glory.
Nathan had already come so often that he became a major attraction point for many people in the audience. Though according to her follower Nathan had proved himself to be too formidable. Many fighters didn't want to battle him since they felt like they stood no chance against him. There were even rumors that he could fly.
She observed his figure intensely. How his muscles shifted as he walked, where his center of gravity was at every moment on his path into the cage. All that was enough for her to already gleam into his capabilities and the longer she observed him the more she was intrigued.
She could tell that if he wasn't a martial artist of the highest caliber then he had to be a natural killing machine. The aura released by him indicated already as much.
In fact, this man… felt nothing like a man. He felt more like controlled wilderness taken human shape. He gave off a feral feeling which was only overtrumped by his apparent boredom.
His muscles seemed to have been carved out of marble, but the aesthetic wasn't something she cared about at all. However, by his walk alone she could tell that his body worked extremely efficiently in tandem within itself.
In fact, she couldn't criticize his body at all, the only thing she could find fault with was the preference in some muscle groups, but every fighter had their own style. All in all, she rarely saw anything alike.
Her interest only increased when she saw his body littered with scars. The trained eye like Shiva's would be able to tell that they weren't caused by man-made weapons. They were caused by animals. Claws and fangs had driven into this body and left a permanent mark.
His attire wasn't too strange for these kinds of cage fights. Many people were trying to attract the audience's attention by colorful outfits, so his skin-tight blueish pants and the green sash-like clothing he wore over his waist weren't unusual for this establishment.
[A/N: Here]
The fight soon started and like she had guessed from the first impression the two had given, the distance between Nathan and his opponent was too great to be bridged by the other.
Lady Shiva saw Nathan dance around his opponent while landing a hit or two before dodging minimally with seemingly no effort.
He could have finished it with the first strike, Lady Shiva noted. This little bout was just a way to entertain the audience.
Even though it was purely to entertain, she had gleaned much of this little mock of a fight. Nathan was primarily used to slaying wild predators. There were traces of kickboxing and experience he had gained from fighting against these second-rate fighters, but overall, he was a rough diamond.
He certainly had the edge in terms of speed, strength, endurance, and reaction time. The only factor - and the most important ability for Lady Shiva – that was left to be seen was his potential skill.
She couldn't figure out if that was up to par with his other attributes. The fight just wasn't pushing Nathan enough. If that was the extent of his capabilities, she would be disappointed. She had already met several extraordinary humans that had surpassed her in everything except for skill.
She had bested them all the same, but even if she hadn't, she only sought out to push herself to the next level of martial arts. Another wild beast even in the form of a human would do only so much for her.
Unsurprisingly he had knocked out his opponent with ease and left the cage shortly after his victory was announced. He didn't give interviews, so she had heard.
Lady Shiva exited the building at the same time. She saw him walk through the city with no apparent goal in mind, but Shiva didn't mind where he was wandering towards. She only wanted to find an opportunity to engage this man.
She followed him from the shadows on the rooftops. He walked into an area with less traffic, and she knew that her opportunity would come soon.
Just as he turned into an alley, she jumped over to the bordering building and was prepared to jump down to engage, however, she came to a quick stop as she saw a hand creep up the edge of the building's roof. With a pull, Nathan flung himself over the edge and landed a few meters before her.
"Are you always aware of anyone that is in your surrounding?" Lady Shiva asked calmly and unsurprised of his sudden appearance. Someone raised in the wild would be sensitive to anything stalking them in their vicinity.
"Not really. You just made it easy." Nathan said as he observed her with the eyes of an apex predator which only reinforced her theory of him growing up in the wild surrounded by animals.
Though she saw something else. It wasn't that he was tamed, but it felt that he lost a lot of savageness. A common occurrence of warriors that have returned to society. He was like a lion whose claws had been dulled by the concrete streets.
"Oh? I am one of the stealthiest individuals on the planet. I doubt that I would be easy to notice."
"Maybe it is because you are… stronger than most." His statement made her nod. A predator recognizing another was easier when he was usually surrounded by harmless sheep.
"You do well to consider me a threat! But I am not here to talk!"
Without saying another word Shiva made her move. Several flying knives exited her sleeve, cutting off any escape routes Nathan would take if he decided to dodge.
Not unexpectedly he hit the knives out of the air with his bare hands while observing her approach. Shiva only needed a single instant of distraction to deliver a fatal blow, so when she saw him dispatch of the knives while waiting for her poised sword that she pulled out from her back, she was pleased to be denied a winning blow this early.
She stabbed towards his center of gravity only for him to dodge it by leaning far backward without falling. As soon as she sailed past him, she heard a whistle. She instantly knew that a knife flew at her back.
Without looking back, she slashed behind her only to find her strength insufficient to hold onto her sword, which sent the sword and knife flying over the edge of the roof. In a single exchange, she had lost her sword, but something like this couldn't rattle her.
"You have lost your weapon." Nathan stated as he waited leisurely.
"I am the weapon." She said as she dropped into her stance as she observed the man she had assailed. He had cocked an eyebrow as if he questioned her statement. She didn't need to explain with words, he would understand when he laid broken at her feet.
With a speed incomparable to before she approached him with a flying kick. Nathan caught the kick with his forearm barely budging before he pushed her off with a single-arm, revealing a lot of his strength.
With a summersault, she landed only a few meters away before she pounced at him again. She could read his body like everyone else's, which gave her the necessary advantage. His reaction speed was just monstrous, but that would only equal the playing field a bit.
The moment the two stayed close to each other, her advantage in skill couldn't be seen more clearly. She started to dismantle the very basic fighting style of her opponent.
His style could only be described as fundamental, but his battle sense was high. He countered by the book. Indeed, everything he did was almost textbook perfect which was why it was easy for her to counter. His timing was more than decent, but that meant nothing as she was several moves ahead of him.
She predicted a roundhouse kick to her midsection and just as he raised his leg in the front, she had already stepped closer sweeping away the back leg.
Instead of kicking, he brought his front leg back to the ground to not fall. It completely messed with his balance, giving her enough time to deliver several blows to his torso and neck.
She dodged a backhand and distanced herself from her opponent. Her hands tingled for a moment before she had calmed them again almost instantly.
She operated at the peak of human performance. Her hands were able to destroy swords in a clash, so she knew how it felt like to strike against tempered steel.
The body of her opponent was anything but fragile. It didn't give way like a normal trained body. His muscles felt like something akin to steel cords running through his body, she doubted that even gunshots would do anything to him other than being annoying. Fortunately for her, she was more deadly than mere bullets.
She closed the distance again and continued to beat him up as if he were a mere punching bag. However, no matter how much she hit his joints, she couldn't generate enough force to break his bones or dislocate them.
Her arm left an afterimage as she swiped her fingertips across his throat. A strike that would have ripped out the throat of a normal person only drew a few drops of blood.
Nathan stepped back and wiped it away. He stared at it in surprise. No doubt unfamiliar to having a person injure him even if it was only to this degree.
Since the battle started, he had been on the defensive and only counterattacked, but now he rushed her and attacked in a fury of punches and kicks. It seems like he hadn't regarded her seriously before even though she had bested him with skill alone.
But she could see why he hadn't taken her seriously until now. Any single attack that he sent her way now could easily fell trees. She couldn't block them directly and just guided the force away from her, but even this was draining her strength.
He trumped her in terms of endurance and resilience, so under normal circumstances, it was only a matter of time until he defeated her.
She dodged another overhand right and kicked his chin as she sidestepped, completely stopping any momentum Nathan had built up.
His head suddenly stopping without forewarning was akin to a car stopping after hitting a wall, just here the driver was his brain, and it wasn't strapped in. No matter how tough his exterior a precise kick like that would rattle any man's brain.
The moment he was momentarily dazed she floated around Nathan to deliver another blow to the upper back, making him stagger forwards while simultaneously making him heave.
Just as she was about to give him the finishing blow, something slithered out of his jacket, coiling around her ankle. It picked her up and slammed her on the ground before sending her flying.
She reduced the impact to the ground by rolling before using her momentum to rotate her body around. She stood there, close to the ground, and just observed him for a second. A tail that he wore like a belt now made its appearance.
Her face remained unmoved. A tail was probably the least interesting thing about this man, but it was a tidbit that would prove itself useful for her.
Nathan closed in again and started to use his tail as another means to attack, but she was unperturbed. It only took her a single exchange to hit him at the root of his tail.
Something she used to paralyze monkeys in the jungle which proved itself effective against her opponent. In fact, according to his reaction, it seemed to be the single most painful strike she had landed as he crumbled to his knees.
"The battle is over." She declared as she turned her back to the man heaving on his knees, no doubt having difficulties breathing and not because he was winded.
Even if she couldn't deliver the final blow early on, she had chipped away his resilience. Every strike had been calculated and executed with utmost precision while borrowing his strength against himself.
His body might have been only comparable to the extraordinary humans she had fought before, but his pressure points were still open for her to abuse.
"That you are still able to kneel is commendable. You are a natural and I am curious how far you will be able to go in the future." He was indeed a natural fighter, she concluded. It wasn't just his monstrous strength but also his skill.
They had fought for half an hour and during this short time, Nathan's martial arts had noticeably improved. Honestly, she had figured that he would crumble sooner. It was a good thing his tail had revealed his most sensitive pressure point, otherwise, she would have to utilize deadlier attacks.
She stepped onto the edge of the roof and was about to leave for the night.
"Wait! Wh-where do you think you are going?!" She heard him growl behind her. One of her eyebrows raised as she turned around to see Nathan slowly rising from his kneeling position with a fire in his eyes.
She felt like she stood in front of an enraged bull. The struck pressure points and cramped muscles were ignored and overpowered by a rising strength that seemed to come out of nowhere.
She knew the look that he gave her. She had hurt the pride of a being at the top of the food chain. A being that had disregarded her existence as something below him. He was about to go all out. She couldn't help but smirk.
"Go and rest. I will be coming back when you are at your best. It will be good for you to remember my name. I am Lady Shiva!" She said before disappearing into the night. Truly a genius worthy of being trained.
She wanted to leave for her temporary abode but coincidentally it didn't take long until she once again had to stop on a rooftop.
She looked down into an alley only to be greeted by a wondrous sight of a one-sided beating. One against five with the lonely person in the middle being the inevitable victor.
Her grin only widened as she observed the beating. It was obvious that the lone person hadn't received any combat training before, and they were still winning.
Lady Shiva knew that she found another interesting person. Two in one night, she rarely had this much luck in finding these rough diamonds.
…
"Eh? Why did she leave? I wanted to thank her, hadn't so much fun for a while!" I shrugged after standing up again. Man, she really fucked me up. I rotated my shoulder to loosen up my stiffened muscles.
She really did a number on me. In the end, my entire upper body was hurting to the point I could barely breathe. It was like all my muscles decided to cramp up. I cracked my neck and stretched a bit to elevate the stiffness.
If my body was that of a human, I would probably have died multiple times over. Fortunately, I was made of tougher stuff. I had to find a way to lower my ki even further, that way I would get even more out of these fights.
I put that thought away and decided to go out on patrol. I went to my car and quickly changed into my normal armor and headed off into the night sky.
[A/N: Same as Book Cover]
I wanted to beat some people up. I had to vent a bit after being a living punching bag for a while. I couldn't help but shake my head at that thought.
Only in DC a random Asian woman stalks you from the rooftop and starts beating you up. Though I thought I knew her name from somewhere. Maybe heard it in a fanfiction or something.
Either way, it was kind of humbling though. She was probably the best fighter I had encountered since coming to earth. Not that I had encountered any other great names that I knew of. In fact, I had only fought some no-name fighters.
Common people that might have made a name in my past life but were just normal underground fighters on this earth. Too bad for them, I guess. Should have been born in a non-superhero world.
Or was it because they were born here that they were somewhat decent and would have otherwise been complete shit? Hmm, food for thought.
I flew across the roofs and occasionally landed to pick up a thief to drop off at the police station. Today the officer Joe M-something and his partner Candice D-something were responsible for receiving the criminals I would drop at their front door.
I already knew the two and was cool with them. The other officers were pleasant to be around as well. I believe they had a system in place to rotate the responsible officer pair around to receive the criminals for the night. Now that I thought about it, it was probably just a normal night shift duty.
I was pleasantly surprised by how eager they were to work with me. Maybe it was because they received the credit for every caught criminal, but they were always happy that I was around to take some workload from them.
Better than to go on patrol and waste time driving around hoping to come across a criminal to catch. I probably boosted their department's catch rate by a lot. Not that I minded, nobody would find me complaining.
I was just happy that I didn't have such a strained relationship with the police like some other heroes. After chatting with Joe and Candice I once again took off. I told them I would only come back once more before calling it a night.
Just as I flew over the city for a few minutes I saw an obese guy jogging away from two young adults. He might have been sprinting for all I know. His pace just wasn't fast.
The other two were taunting him as the fat guy quickly exhausted himself. One of them raised his hand, so before the two could start to beat him up. I landed between the two parties, giving them a shock. I waved the two guys away and they bolted after screaming like girls.
Considering the fact that I dropped down from the sky even with the courage they had gained by being slightly tipsy they decided to leave. Good for them, otherwise they would have to sober up in a cell and possibly get sued.
"St-stop them. Uaaah. Pfff. Th-they were trying to -huff- kill me!" He said completely out of breath before plopping to the ground.
"Take a deep breath, fatty." He looked at me in disbelief as his eyes widened… Well, I thought his eyes widened. I couldn't really tell.
"You know if they wanted to kill you. They probably could have just pushed you… Though your fat might cushion the fall."
"You!" He said as his face got even redder.
"Me? If they pushed me, I wouldn't fall that easily. Even if I did, I could break my fall with a roll… though you could do the same."
"Do you know who I am?!" The guy angrily pointed his sausage finger at me which I slapped away.
"I don't. I know what you are though, morbidly obese. How about you run around the block once in a while and eat a salad instead of burger and fries." Now that I said it, I was getting kind of hungry. I saw how the guy's jaw opened and closed. He was thinking of eating a burger as well!
I ignored him before I stopped by a small diner and got myself and the officers a menu to go. I handed the officers the food, calling it night before I went to an empty warehouse to get something I had ordered. Afterward, I went to my car to drive home.
I usually drove around in the daytime since I didn't really seek the attention that I would get if I flew in broad daylight. I quickly arrived at my home that was a bit further in the suburban. I parked my car and turned on my pc to watch an anime while eating my menu.
The animes were mostly different from what I knew but there was some overlap. There even was a dragon ball like series called the 'Wishful Adventure', which was canceled a few years back, but it did give me that nostalgic feeling as did any other media I had consumed in my time here.
Music, movies, series, or even reality shows were similar enough to get this nostalgic feeling but were different enough to be a completely different show. Too bad most creators didn't exist on this earth. I would have loved to see what they would have produced after living a different life.
With that dragon ball like anime, it kind of hammered home being in a different universe. I didn't know why I hadn't internalized it before, but I presume it was because everything was too different.
On planet Arva, I was able to completely block that thought out because everything was entirely different and new. There I had to survive and was exploring something new every day.
Here, however, I saw a series with familiar characters and plot, while constantly having that thought in the back of my mind that something about it was wrong.
I could only compare it to the time in my past life when I listened to the scratched version of Eminem's song – Lose Yourself. The melody and the hook were similar, but the verses were different. I felt like I should have known the lyrics, like it was on the tip of my tongue, only to find out that I didn't know it at all.
[A/N: Just can find it on YouTube. Search for 'lose yourself scratch version']
I turned off the pc and made my way downstairs into my basement. I turned on the light and pulled out the container for a little bit of erionite. I had never heard of it in my past because minerals weren't an area of interest for me, so I had no clue if it was illegal back then, but it wasn't so easy to get in this world's America.
It was placed in a special container, and I had to wear a hazard suit to take it out. I changed into the one I had bought for this exact situation.
I then enveloped the section where I had to place it with a ki shield and used my telekinesis to handle it. It was quickly injected into the liquid stream of my gravity chamber without leaving a trace.
I shrank the ki shield before pumping it with ki to annihilate anything within before I let the shield vanish. I then turned on the main energy source which automatically turned on the air filter as well as the gravity chamber itself.
I looked around and waited for anything to break down. I had followed the blueprint to the letter and could just hope that nothing went amiss.
After several seconds of it not exploding, I put the hazard suit back into a closet and then walked to the control in the middle and ramped up the gravity to 10x of earth's gravity. It sort of felt nice to have some pressure on my body again. The last few months had been too relaxing.
Without waiting any longer, I inserted the holopen, which contained a butchered version of the AI. Currently, it was only able to listen to my commands like, "Add to the G by 2x." since I only had the gravity chamber without the adaptable environment or the robots or even the scanners for my medical metrics.
Currently, the AI was severely limited in what it could do. Still, I had the foundation now and could add to it whenever I had the necessary materials. Then the AI could optimize my training routine to push myself past my limits while maximizing my gains.
The gravity was now set to 12x which was just below the gravity I was put under by the Preserver's AI.
I sat down cross-legged to get used to the familiar pressure as I started to meditate. It had been a long time since I didn't have to suppress my ki. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling to loosen up a bit.
After relishing in the feeling for a bit I utilized image training, not unlike Baki's version as I imagined the Asian woman from a few hours ago.
She was the greatest fighter until now and there was a lot more for me to unwrap in the short exchange we had. Obviously, I could have killed her instantly if I had wanted to, but I had refused to defeat her with my strength alone for a reason.
I just wouldn't have gained anything from that approach and if I had brute-forced my victory it would have been the same as admitting to being a worse fighter. As a Saiyan, I just couldn't accept the fact to find myself lacking in the skill department.
That was what a Saiyan did, wasn't it? At least that was what a Saiyan should be. A warrior's goal was to push their body, their skill, their mind to the next level.
The little bout we had made it clear that I was severely lacking, so what better way was there than to wash away my defeat by beating her in pure skill the next time I meet her.
I remembered any and every single instance of the fight I had just a few hours ago. The grace she had moved with as she attacked. Her ability to predict and counter everything I threw at her.
For some hours I was immersed entirely in my training. When I finished, the morning had already long arrived. I decided to go sleep for a few hours until it was the afternoon. I didn't have work anyway.
Before my alarm set off though, a loud whooshing sound could be heard above Portland, which startled me awake. It was like a meteor falling from the sky.
I quickly stood up and put my armor back on before heading out to find out what I had sensed. I frowned slightly as I saw the humanoid-shaped meteor falling into the ocean a few dozen kilometers away from the coast.
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