Chapter 9. Wonder Woman

The athletic body and pose. The rage in her eyes when she looked at me. I could glimpse a tiny bit of what was in her mind through the small light that glinted in her pupil. She wasn't going to let me go easy.

She had seen the damage I had done to her sisters and fellow warriors. Whether I was related to the wolf she had killed or not, it didn't matter. I was both guilty and responsible, and she would make me pay for it.

"Very well then." I said, knowing that I had let her close in the gap between us by attempting to surrender. "Fool me twice..."

I folded my fist banking on my attributes. "Twice the strength of a normal Amazon Warrior."

If I had the sorcerer's instinct back then, I would have emphasized on the word normal in that sentence.

"I'll make this quick then." I said as I threw a fake punch towards her pretty face, caressing my ego while underestimate the warrior before me. If I had learnt anything from my previous battle, I needed to improve my combat IQ.

She saw it coming towards her and quickly made a dodge to evade it. But it was fake punch followed by a fast somersault kick that I hoped she wouldn't notice. She stopped in her tracks as my fist quickly retracted and hurtled to the ground to support the rest of my body in motion.

Her keen instincts allowed her to analyze her situation and current disadvantage. She couldn't move fast enough to escape the two kicks coming her way, but that didn't mean she couldn't defend herself.

She crossed her hands together and her bracelets clanked as she strengthened her arms. My kicks landed with a powerful blow, thanks to my superhuman abilities, but they hit right where she had intended.

She was strong. Stronger than I had anticipated. Normally, such power in my kick allowed me to break a limb that dared to defend, but that's not what happened. She survived it without budging an inch.

Her stance was strong, all the way from her slightly bent knees to her strongly crossed arms. She followed my attack with a strong kick on my upside down face. Her kick, unlike mine, was effective, and it sent me smashing into the bark of a tree.

My back ached as I fell down from the impact, and my limbs felt loosened too. I should have never have underestimated her.

My stats lowered for the first time ever since I had recharged. That was presumably due to the lack of cursed energy. With cursed energy I could shield my stats from falling while being attacked, even subconsciously.

But no thanks to my lack of Spiritual knowledge and control over emotions, I had depleted most of it. And the little that remained after releasing the Divine Dog couldn't last me long enough. I was saving it for a special moment if need be.

Ding!

<HP: 197 200>

Speed, agility and strength still remained at max, however. I stood up as she took a stance before me. She could tell that I still had a lot of fight left in me.

But it wasn't a fight worthy of her blade. She felt her fists were more than capable enough to put me down, and she kept it sheathed, but ready.

She opened her fists and glared into my eyes as I stood up to face her. I had no intention of underestimating her again, and I was ready to do the best I could, using anything and everything to my advantage.

Combat wise, she would be smarter than me. That was a given. But I had to be relentless.

I rolled up both my sleeves and brought out what I thought to be the best of me. If the impossible was happening, then all those action movies I had spent a lot of time watching would prove to be beneficial.

I took my stance with a visualization in mind. I saw her smile broaden just a bit as she calmly took in my form.

The transition to my pose looked well choreographed and rehearsed, and she thought that I knew what I was doing. This was something she was hoping to see all along. Something different and unusual, and, unique from what she was used to in training.

For instance, like a martial arts pose that I barely knew anything about. Just something straight out of a random scene that I hoped would send chills down her spine and boost my confidence.

"I know martial arts." I said calmly and dauntingly, hoping to make her second guess her next move.

"Strong and trained." She observed. "I was hoping on that."

That was not the response I was hoping for. But my grave had already been dug a long time ago.

I stretched my hand and waved with my fingers, signaling for her to come at me with all she had got. My mind was running with possibilities.

What would I do first? A Wing Chun move or one from a Shaolin master. Maybe feign my attacks with the Drunken master technique. Or I could try Krav Maga, or Muay Thai. Karate maybe?

[Martial Arts: Images & GIFs]

Before I could pick one, she was already flying in the air with a round kick, and my mind immediately picked a choice.

In the next few seconds, I had never felt calmer as I allowed myself to flow like a river. She was about to land a kick on my head, but that was no reason to panic or resist.

I felt like an experienced martial arts master as I took one step back, creating enough distance between my legs to hold my poise. I bent my waist a bit as the air around me rattled with disturbance.

I could feel and hear the chaos amounting from her violent movement, but my nerves didn't spike as I stretched my right hand gently and calmly to grab her spiralling leg.

I felt her body and estimated the probability before grabbing and snatching her right leg. With that quick movement, I allowed myself to move in the direction of her momentum, without allowing myself to resist.

I took a few steps back and used her strength to pull her with me. With the path of the flow set and the abrupt disturbance channeling towards it, I pulled her leg with all my strength and threw her towards a nearby tree.

She found herself disoriented from my unpredictable move as she rotated towards the tree. But she stretched her hands out towards the ground and pushed herself to a somersault that stabilized her motion.

It didn't however stop her momentum, and she made it close enough to smashing into the tree, but didn't allow herself to. She used her legs to stop herself as the tree absorbed the residue energy in her kicks.

She jumped to the ground just as the tree creaked from the impact and swayed a bit, before giving in falling to her opposite side with a thud.

Boy, Was I glad that that kick didn't land on me!

"Not bad." She said with admiration as she regained her composure.

I was pushing my hands down in a relaxing poise as I took a calm breath, admiring my impromptu reflex. I felt excitement wash over me as I replayed how well I had guessed a Tai Chi move.

I was impressed, as well as curious if I could do more. Or was I just lucky that it worked.

I widened the gap between my legs once again and stretched my arms towards her, beckoning for her to come at me once again. The feeling washing over me was that of adoration at my mastery over the martial arts that I had just discovered a few seconds ago.

It felt as if I had done the impossible, and become an ancient master who could do it all. How misguiding that feeling was!

Filled with confidence, I took a basic Wing Chun boxing form, pretending to know and believe in what I was doing. Maybe I could use it, or maybe I couldn't, but a thought was developing in my mind.

My improved strength, agility and speed allowed me to put my imagination into practice. And what was currently in my mind were flashes of action scenes from all the movies I had watched.

I didn't need to get the right pattern, or the proper movement and formation. All I needed was to implement the idea and use my strength, speed, and agility to make it work. Just like I had done.

So, how about those IP Man punches? Could I do it?

She stomped with her left foot, then her right. Her amazonian boots feeling the weight of her strength. She clanked her bracelets together and stretched her hands on opposite directions, preparing to put her skills to action.

She could see that I was evolving, but still not worthy of her blade. She wanted to see if I could survive her next attack first.

If I would still be standing, then she would use more than just her blade. One step forward felt like an eternity to her, but to me, her form was becoming a bit blurry.

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