"Neither of you are even Berserkers..."
Ishtar held the best vantage point in the sky. From her angle, she could clearly see the two combatants laughing wildly as they fought, their movements wide and unrestrained, with almost no defensive postures.
"They're so strong. If I had to fight them in close combat, I wouldn't win against either of them, would I?"
In terms of melee combat, Ishtar was actually no weakling. In particular, the body she inhabited possessed a set of techniques called Bajiquan. She was confident that if she ever got into close quarters with the King of Heroes, she could even kick the axe out of his hand and then smash his head with a single punch.
Of course, this was only possible because Kingu's presence temporarily prevented the King of Heroes from using the chains of heaven.
Just as Ishtar was momentarily lost in thought, Guinevere's Holy Sword clashed once again with Quetzalcoatl's Macuahuitl. Thanks to Excalibur's sword-cutting properties and the continuous slaughter over the past ten minutes, the tip of Quetzalcoatl's Macuahuitl was finally sheared off for the first time.
Surprise flashed across her face, but the joy and fighting spirit in her eyes were even more intense. After their next clash, Quetzalcoatl threw her greatsword aside, adopting a Lucha Libre wrestling stance she so dearly loved.
"Guinevere, I admit my sword skills are no match for yours. That's one victory for you. How about we switch to close-quarters combat?"
Ten paces away, Big Sister Quetzalcoatl's fighting spirit burned fiercely. Thirty paces away, the dense forest was already littered with severed limbs and broken weapons. The exchange of their greatswords had been like a storm.
"Sure, best two out of three?"
"Yes. You can choose the discipline for the third round!"
As an Aztec god, Quetzalcoatl originally knew nothing of Lucha Libre. This fondness for the sport was a memory from one of her previous summonings, deeply ingrained into her divine being.
She watched Guinevere sheathe her sword and take a stance that seemed to combine elements of boxing, wrestling, but was something far more ancient. Quetzalcoatl couldn't help but ask, "Pankration?"
"Correct."
In the last war Guinevere had participated in, her opponents included Chiron and Achilles. She had learned Pankration, the art of pankration known as the world's first fighting system, through sparring with Mordred after the war, who had faced both of them.
Although she had only learned these techniques indirectly, Guinevere could only be said to have mastered their form without their true essence.
However, this superficial mastery, supported by her attributes as a Servant, was enough to allow her to exchange three blows with Quetzalcoatl and change her style before being defeated.
"Boom!"
Guinevere crossed her arms, blocking Quetzalcoatl's kick to the chest head-on. After being pushed back a short distance, carving a shallow furrow in the ground, she employed the one-inch punch technique of Wing Chun.
As a newly reborn Knight of Camelot, most of Guinevere's strength lay in her swordsmanship. Yet, because she was an Easterner in her previous life, Guinevere was extremely interested in certain wuxia and xianxia elements.
Combining this interest with the intuitive understanding she gained from her mastery of the sword, Guinevere had a superficial knowledge of arts like Pankration, Wing Chun, Jeet Kune Do, and Bajiquan.
But...
"Such complex and varied changes. It's nothing compared to the simplicity of your swordsmanship!"
Fist against fist, it was only because Lucha Libre was merely Quetzalcoatl's hobby, and she was only proficient in it, that Guinevere hadn't been defeated instantly.
"Guinevere, I'll allow you to fight me with a sword... Hmm, never mind, I would definitely lose then!"
A sonic boom erupted from where their fists collided. Quetzalcoatl was slightly less enthusiastic than before, but just as she had said and then taken back, if Guinevere were to take up a sword, she would surely lose.
"Big Sister Quetzalcoatl, you can hold back and let me practice. Don't worry, I'll get the hang of it quickly."
"Alright!"
Quetzalcoatl was indeed a cheerful and battle-hungry god. After deciding Guinevere's proposal was feasible, she immediately agreed and switched to a purely defensive stance, waiting for Guinevere to master the unarmed techniques in her hands.
And Guinevere did not keep her waiting long. In just five minutes, her fists carried the intent of a sword, and the superfluous techniques from various styles vanished, becoming as concise and lethal as her sword skills.
Afterward, without any further words between them, Quetzalcoatl resumed her attack. Her first move was to grab the breastplate of Guinevere's armor and pull her, intending to throw her away.
But at that exact moment, Guinevere directly deactivated the armor's materialization, causing the breastplate Quetzalcoatl was holding to vanish. She then stepped forward, using her head as a sword and delivering a headbutt straight to Quetzalcoatl's forehead.
"Boom!"
Another sonic boom erupted, followed by blood splattering from the physical impact. But a headbutt was truly a technique that killed a thousand enemies while self-inflicting eight hundred damage. Just as the sonic boom subsided for a second, Quetzalcoatl was sent flying by Guinevere's Iron Mountain Lean. Yet, after landing, she rubbed her forehead right along with Guinevere.
Both of them possessed bodies tempered through a thousand trials.
"Unbelievable. With your slender frame, you can actually unleash such savage power."
Compared to the King of Knights, Guinevere was already nearly half a head taller, but Quetzalcoatl was a truly athletic Big Sister, standing over 1.8 meters tall.
For that headbutt, Guinevere had actually jumped slightly from within her embrace.
"That's right, this is how it should be. Whether it's a slaughter or a negotiation, let the clash of bodies do the talking!"
The pain only brought Quetzalcoatl a stronger will to fight. Not to mention, Guinevere's winning half-move was considered a clever trick. She would not make such a mistake again.
However, seeing Guinevere change into a thin pair of hot pants and a midriff-baring top, Quetzalcoatl understood she wouldn't be able to take advantage of her again.
"Unbelievable. After training your muscles to such a degree, your skin is still as dazzlingly fair as jade. But don't you think wheat-toned skin is more beautiful?"
"Big Sister Quetzalcoatl, I can only say each has its own merits. And if I trained my skin to a wheat-toned hue, I wouldn't match my Lia anymore!"
Still in the stance of Pankration, starting with this martial art from the Greek Sun God, Guinevere would at least not have her weaknesses found the moment they clashed.
Without her sword, even though she had adapted for a while, she could still only unleash less than seventy percent of her full strength.
And because she wasn't using a sword, Guinevere's mood was exceptionally strange. For the first time, she craved the feeling of holding her own Holy Sword in her hand.
She finally understood. Although she had always looked down on her own Holy Sword as a replica of Excalibur, she had never once distrusted it.
When wielding her own Sword of Destined Judgment, Guinevere had never doubted the sword would fail to meet her expectations.
Haa...
Taking a deep breath to clear her mind, Guinevere cast aside her concern for victory or defeat and resolved to go all out in this battle.
Thus, the next second, their fists collided once more. Blazing and crimson mana surged like a storm, threatening to ignite the forest and the sky above.