`Chapter 45
***
The guys came to their senses quickly. Those who woke up earlier helped those who were just beginning to stir. They acted without unnecessary shouting, businesslike, albeit cursing through their teeth.
Less than five minutes passed, and the entire small detachment was already on its feet. They lifted Colossus, who had suffered more than the others, propping him up from both sides under the shoulders. Captain Romanova gave a command, the girls I had noticed earlier pulled out either rods or staffs from their cases, harmoniously began to twirl them in some tricky way, and a portal opened, not like the ones Suo used, but nevertheless functional, since on the other side one could see not the local thickets of tropical vegetation, but fir trees, birches, and wheeled vehicles covered with camouflage nets.
Another half minute, and only the grass rolled flat by their backs reminded of the group of Soviet paratroopers.
I thoughtfully ran my hand over my bald head, sighed heavily, and walked back to the stands.
"What did they want?" Suo asked in the same Chinese dialect when I sat down next to her and thoughtfully began to finger the beads of the rosary.
"He wants to meet," I answered in the same language. "After the Battle. On your territory. In the settlement. Asks you for permission to visit."
"Is that so," Suo frowned. "Forbid it?"
"What's the point?" I objected. "If he's decided, he'll find me anyway. I've already agreed to the meeting."
"Be careful," she took my elbow and pressed herself against my shoulder.
"I will be," I answered.
Meanwhile, the Battle was beginning. The stands were filling up with sapient beings, since calling many of them human would be not only incorrect but also impolite.
An elderly "red" came out with a young assistant. The assistant cast some spell, and the elderly man began to speak. His speech was magically amplified and translated into the native language of everyone currently in the valley.
He congratulated all present on their successful arrival, gave a speech that only the best of the best, the strongest of the strong were present here and blah blah blah... Reminded them of the amount of the main prize, about the fact that all "reds" present in the stands accept bets in any means of payment and currency, be it checks, cash, pebbles, metal, receipts, shells...
Then they brought out a huge scoreboard, cast something on it, and announced the start of the battle.
Only then a surprise awaited. Me.
My nickname lit up on the right side of the scoreboard. The elderly "red" announced that the organizers ask the Champion of the past tournament to do them the honor and open the current tournament with his fight.
This request put me in a very difficult position: on the one hand, I don't want to fight and can perfectly well refuse, citing health problems, or without explaining my refusal at all, but in the long run this could promise problems when I least expect them, the treachery of the "lizards" and the length of their arms is well known to me; on the other hand, by "doing the honor" and conducting this damn fight, at a time when I have already declared my non-participation in the Battle, I make them "obligated" to me. It's clear that everything is far from simple with this fight, and it didn't happen without one of the Externals; they can easily "ask" the "reds" for such a small favor. The only question is exactly who, because a whole three of them have gathered here. And both representatives of the weaker sex from this unholy trinity look at me now and then. The representative of the stronger sex, En Sabah Nur, is not interested in my person. At least outwardly, since he hasn't glanced in my direction once. But that is no indicator at all.
Well, let's try to play by their rules. I unhooked Suo's hands from my elbow, reassuringly squeezed her palm, and unhurriedly moved down to the Circle. The stands accompanied my movement with sluggish applause. The "reds" in the Circle greeted me with a respectful bow. And then the name of my opponent sounded. And from this name, I sharply stopped caring about anyone else. The world narrowed to the limits of the Circle, from which the "reds" were already hightailing it at full speed.
"Romulus!" the elderly "red", who turned out to be quite the quick one, managed to shout before his escape. My opponent was descending from the stands—a two-meter-tall brute with a bare torso. Earlier, I somehow didn't pay attention to him, since I didn't know him by face, and there are enough of various weird folks here. But now he definitely won't fall out of my field of attention.
Romulus... A mutant about whom practically nothing is known for certain, except that he is one of the first mutants on Earth, older even than the Externals, was once a Roman Emperor. I think he also has a twin sister. But that's not the most important thing. The main feature is that this sizable uncle of a bestial appearance has a healing factor and an adamantium skeleton with a set of four blades and a full set of claws on each hand. And a thousand years of experience of a by no means peaceful life.
The uncle, meanwhile, was already entering the Circle. I scrutinized him, simultaneously trying to figure out what he needed, why he decided to personally come out against me in the Arena, and at least approximately, roughly estimate what to expect from him specifically as an opponent in a fight.
Tall. Taller than me. Clearly heavier. Moreover, about twice as heavy, this is evident from the clear imprints of his feet on the packed surface of the platform, meaning his bones are already in an adamantium coating. Broad-shouldered. Muscular. Literally a mountain of muscle. Movements are smooth, predatory. Shaggy, gray-haired. The gaze is heavy, pressing, piercing.
Well, perhaps everything is not as bad yet as it could be. Even if he moves softly and economically, he does not have the posture characteristic of true Masters. There is no that relaxed straightness, there is no that "centered pillar", there is no that "frame-hanger for muscles", and the muscles themselves: beautiful, lumpy, massive... superfluous. Masters do not have such muscles. Excess meat gets in the way. As does the excess weight of bones. Due to the adamantium, his strike should be heavier, but at the same time, the inertia should be higher.
However, he must be taken as seriously as possible: the healing factor and the indestructible skeleton are two circumstances capable of canceling out any flaws in his technique and physique. And the blades...
It is enough for him to swing once at my neck, taking off my head, to record "game and set" for himself, leaving hope only that after the fight I will be dumped into a pit in one pile, and not in two different ones.
As for me... I have only one option to stop this killing machine: working with internal energy and Qi techniques. Not kill. I have nothing to kill him with here. Stop him.
Qi... A problematic thing. For me.
Well, there are no options, so it's all or nothing!
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, assumed the starting stance of the twenty-fourth form of Taijiquan, smoothly dropping the rosary onto the sand, then with the same speed flowed into the Qigong position and slowly exhaled with effort, clearing my thoughts, as if sweeping everything unnecessary out of my head, opening all the internal channels and driving through them that something which is called internal energy.
When I opened my eyes, my gaze was again the gaze of a child who saw a rainbow, a light, meek smile of a Zen Buddhist monk played on my lips.
"A pathetic sight," Romulus grimaced. "Herbivore... You! You are a son of the Lupine clan! My clan! Where is the predator in you?! There is no fire in your eyes!" I did not answer. It somehow happened that everything faded into the background.
Everything became so... unimportant. I was filled with such serene calmness and at the same time a joyful lightness. Perhaps for the first time in my life, the external depiction of the enlightenment of a Zen Buddhist monk completely corresponded to my internal state. At the same time, the Circle did not fall out of the field of attention, nor did the mutant opposite. On the contrary, the surrounding world seemed to become even slower, and any movement was perceived more clearly, sharper, more distinctly.
In seventy years in the monastery, I did not manage to achieve such a state, although for the last forty years I portrayed it constantly, all twenty-four hours a day, within the walls of the monastery, communicating with novices, Masters, parishioners, revealing my true bestial nature only in the Arena and in periodic night "escapes" to Suo. And here it came by itself. And when it came, it literally covered me.
"Twenty-time Champion... Ptui!" he spat juicily on the sand. "Apparently, only weaklings have been fighting here for a hundred years, since this herbivorous nothingness won... Disgusting!"
I heard his words, understood them, but they passed me by. They were unable to hook me. Had no power. I felt good. And I smiled.
Romulus grimaced again, looking at me.
"Join me, and I will give you real power!" he clenched his fist in front of him. "I will teach you to be the predator that you are by birth!"
I still stood balanced both internally and externally, experiencing neither anger, nor rage, nor aggression. The body was securely "anchored", relaxed and light as a feather, only the center had weight, closing the chains of joints in such a way that not a gram of effort was required to maintain balance, consequently, to start any movement, there was no need to overcome the resistance of statically loaded muscles, which accelerated the reaction by an order of magnitude. And inside there was joyful peace. Such an unusual state that Morihei's smile involuntarily came to mind. Perhaps at this moment mine was even similar to his.
And Romulus could in no way start the fight. It is physically difficult to attack a person in whom there is no aggression and fear. All the strength, determination, and anger seem to flow around such a person. It is impossible to catch hold. After all, it is not the bullet that kills, but the thought, and here the thought cannot be born. It must be a tormenting state.
Dissatisfied shouts, whistling, hooting were heard from the stands, and Romulus shifted from foot to foot and could not attack. He irritably turned to the stands and roared loudly. The stands quieted down a bit, but the dissatisfaction did not go away—it is uninteresting to watch such a "fight". Uninteresting. And Romulus still didn't start. Only got angry.
And me... I felt good. It's such a strange state...
We had been stuck opposite each other for about five minutes already. Romulus raged, the stands frankly booed us, no longer reacting to any "roars". And I felt good. This state cannot be described in words; you can only feel it yourself.
Romulus broke first. He spat at his feet and left.
Strange. Actually very strange. I had no disappointment, dissatisfaction, or feeling of defeat, even though I was booed no less than him.
I stood a little longer, thinking that you never know, he might decide to return. But he didn't return, didn't decide to. I shrugged, picked up the rosary, and returned to my seat next to my wife.
"What was that just now?" she asked quietly in English.
"Satori, enlightenment," I answered her just as quietly. "I think that's exactly what the monks call it."
"You mean, you finally comprehended Zen?" she clarified.
"No," I shook my head slightly in a negative gesture, maintaining the posture with the "central pillar", that strange lightness was in no hurry to leave me. "Zen is something else. But somewhere close."
"Looked strange," she noted.
"Felt even stranger."
"Do you know him? Who was that?"
"A very dangerous mutant, who will still cause a lot of trouble, if not for me, then for Logan for sure."
"Why?" Xavier listened in on our conversation.
"He is the same as James and me, only much older. He wants to breed, raise, clone a race of people like us and enslave the world. I suspect he simply went crazy over the millennia he lived."
"Older? Millennia?" Xavier was surprised. "Can you be more precise?"
"You just saw the first Roman Emperor, Romulus. Detailed enough?"
"Quite," Howlett chuckled.
"You are unusually eloquent today," Suo giggled.
"Apparently I just can't shake off the enlightenment," I shrugged indifferently. "I've somehow lost interest in this," glancing briefly at the pair that took our place in the circle and were already fighting with all their might, I said, realizing that it really was not interesting.
"Even so?" Suo was amazed.
"You stay, and I'll probably go to the house. I'll meditate..."
"I'm going with you," my wife jumped up from her seat with concern. Apparently, this was really strange behavior for me, as was the state.
We managed to get to the house without incident. There were not many passersby, as everyone was already at the Arena, and those we did meet saw my gaze, my face, the light bright smile... and preferred to sidle around such a strange creature in a wide arc.
Apparently, people are afraid of the strange even more than the scary. Funny.
Concerned about my condition, Suo walked next to me, every now and then looking anxiously into my face, but didn't say anything.
I stopped at the house. Left the rosary on the porch and set about practicing Taiji, as my current mood disposed me to it most of all.
Suo perched on the porch with a mug of some decoction and continued to keep an eye on me with the same concern.
From the direction of the Arena, one could hear pops, the impacts of something heavy on the ground, explosions. Several times the flashes in that direction were so bright that the evening turned into broad daylight for seconds. Once, a head fell from the sky right at Suo's feet. Following it, a steel beam, apparently one of the two that held the scoreboard, whistled past my ear.
About two hours later, the people who were left alive began to pull back from the Arena to the houses and sleeping places. Everyone was excited and animatedly talking to each other.
I, however, continued to perform the slow and smooth forms of Wushu, receiving an incomparable pleasure from it.
Our companions also returned, also animated, excited and... battered. From Raven's face, from how she glanced at her husband, from Erik's face, who was struggling to hold back a smile, it was perfectly obvious that the brother had nevertheless gotten into the Circle and proved that he was certainly "not the smallest frog in this swamp either".
Logan was also battered. And next to Xavier minced a little black girl with hair as white as snow.
Throwing a few strange glances at me, they proceeded into the house.
Another hour later Selene approached. She talked about something with Suo, periodically glancing at me, after which she retired.
***
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