D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

While Kat was rejoicing over the announcer’s volume choices, and everyone else was fairly distracted, Bing watched as Voldar was taken off the arena by medics, and Bodeir walked confidently off the stage… until he made it to the tunnels where he nearly collapsed, leaning heavily against the wall for support. Bing’s eyes shone, as she took in that little detail.

“What a match,” said Kat, unaware of Bing’s thoughts, “Bodeir managed to do really well… I thought it would be closer but honestly this was probably still the most challenging match Bodeir has had to fight so far,”

“You don’t know the half of it,” said Bing with a grin. The rest of the girls turned to look, questions in their eyes… well except Lian. She was still slumped in the chair, and trying to get her qi levels back up. “Bing was much closer to losing then he made it out to be, he nearly collapsed leaving the stadium,”

“Really? How much qi do you think he has left?” asked ‘Lily’

“Hard to say… Bodeir uses techniques that take a pretty heavy toll on his body. Even if he’s using qi to mitigate the damage, it’s not an easy style of martial arts to use. His whole thing is making sure he uses less energy blocking then his attackers use trying to take him down. He could be nearly out of qi… or his muscles could be in agonising pain and his qi could be more than half full. It’s really hard to tell with him… it’s what makes the Mountain Shaker Style so risky, but so good. It’s hard to tell just how much fight they have left in them. Fighting through muscle pain is annoying, and painful, obviously, but very possible. It’s not possible to use more qi once you’re bottomed out though…” explained Bing with a shrug.

“Well… how close do you think that match was?” asked Sue, “To me, it didn’t look close at all, in fact, I think Bodeir had more issues with his first match then he had in this one,”

Bing shrugged, “Well… it really comes down to how much qi he has but I can’t sense that sort of detail from such a long way away. I think… hmm… well I think it came down to a few things. The first is that Voldar is clearly unfamiliar with Bodeir’s style. He seemed to think his gravity incrementing strikes weren’t actually doing anything and Bodeir was just faking things, at least, that’s my assumption regarding why he went to trying to lighten Bodeir later on.

“It was very much the right idea… but Voldar was clearly getting desperate when he tried it. If he’d removed Bodeir from the floor early on he would’ve been able to do so much more damage as Bodeir scrambled to get back to the ground. It’s his connection with the earth that lets him disperse so much damage easily with his qi. If Bodeir was stuck in the air, he’d need to take a big chunk of earth with him, wasting more qi, or burn qi to keep himself stuck to the floor.

.....

“What really clinched it for Bodeir though… was that moment of shock after Voldar tried to whack Bodeir out of the arena. That moment Bodeir collided with the barrier? He was so shocked. I suspect he used all, or almost all, of his qi in one final strike in an attempt to win with a ring out, knowing that it was unlikely he, that is Voldar, could win any other way. He was clearly exhausted, and Bodeir was looking remarkably fine at the time. Another thing pointing to Voldar’s lacking knowledge of a very famous style,

“Of course, another big mistake was thinking Bodeir was unaffected by the gravity increases… but honestly I can’t say how big of a mistake that was. Bodeir wasn’t exactly bluffing, from what I could tell it just didn’t matter all that much to his techniques, and his body is tough enough that the increased gravity wasn’t causing his internal organs any issues. Still, it was likely a big waste of energy trying to decrease the gravity on someone you’d already increased the gravity on, fighting part of your own technique. Voldar was so desperate he likely didn’t even notice that part,”

*Hmm… I suppose I wasn’t really thinking about all of that. In fact, I sure why Voldar switched tactics mid match anyway. I had guesses, but Bing seems much more certain. I suppose it comes from her own experience fighting the style?* “Is the Mountain Shaker Style particularly strong against blunt trauma? Or would it work fine against bladed weapons as well?” asked Kat.

Bing made a ‘so-so’ gesture, “As something consider a top tier cultivation style, it can’t have such an obvious weakness as ‘stick the cultivator with the pointy end’ so… no, in general it isn’t weak against bladed weapons, it even has a number of techniques specifically made to destroy, or dull weapons used to attack it’s practitioners to discourage that very thing… of course… with that being said…

“It cannot be denied that it is exceptional at dealing with blunt force trauma, and damage dealt from qi techniques. The second is more important than the first, normally, but at this level qi techniques are much less of a concern. Most qi techniques at Rank 2 are all about supporting your body, or the most basic of ranged attacks, that standard qi shielding is able to block most of it you have any skill at all,” explained Bing.

510

“I see…” mumbled Sue.

“Well, we’ve ragged on Voldar a bunch for his panicking, and his lack of knowledge… but did he deserve to be there? Did he just get lucky? The announcer implied no… but that might’ve just been hype…” said Kat.

“I’d have lost I think,” chipped in Lian from the side.

“Don’t be too harsh on yourself Lian,” said Bing.

“Ha, don’t even try that. His little trick that let him walk on air up to the stage? That would decimate a whole bunch of my techniques. Add on top of that the fact my metal pillars didn’t provide any arial defence, and that my slowing curse is partially gravity based and he could ignore all of my techniques except my basic shield with a bit of effort… and you should know that while my shield is good… it’s not perfect and Voldar is efficient…” said Lian.

Bing sighed, and said, “I don’t like how harsh you’re being on yourself…”

“But you agree with me right?” shot back Lian.

“Yes fine, I agree with you,” admitting Bing with a pout. “It’s a bad matchup… but I’m not sure I’d be all that much better. Voldar has clearly mastered multiple forms of combat and I’m not sure my sword would be able to hold up against multiple gravity strikes from his hammer. I’d need to dodge everything… and if I messed up just once? Perhaps even just if he clipped my hair or robes? Then I’m out of the game. I’d get slower and slower until I lost. I don’t think I could beat him without a good deal of luck myself…”

“Do you think Feng can beat him? Or well, would’ve beaten him if it was Voldar that one?” asked ‘Lily’.

“Hmmm… probably?” said Bing carefully. “I can’t say for sure… and I think it really depends on how easily Voldar can deal with the cold. Feng and Voldar have somewhat similar fighting styles, Feng likes to slowly apply more and more chilling effects by constantly attacking with duel knives that he likes to use. I suppose it’d be whoever was overcome first.

“I think Feng would win? He has a faster weapon, and two of them. If they were trading blows, Feng should come out on top… but with Voldar’s ability to weigh down his hammer, a more direct clash that wasn’t about stacking effects could see Feng lose. I think it’d be a close match… but I believe in my brother. So… I’d give the win to him in this imaginary bout.

“Naw… a bit of a bro-con are we?” said Sue.

“A… what?” asked Bing confused.

“A bro-con, someone who… really loves their brother,” explained Sue with a grin, letting more of her intent leak into the words.

Bing’s face instantly twisted into one of disgust as the more… ‘mature’… meaning of the word. “Gross. Soooo gross Sue,” grumbled Bing.

Sue just shrugged, “Well, if you’re not interested does that mean he’s free game for me?” asked Sue ‘innocently’.

Bing was about to reply with just how gross that thought as well… but realised she’d be playing right into Sue’s hands, so instead she said, “If you think you can get past my parents and court my brother? Or just fuck him? Well, that’s your business really,”

“You’re learning,” said Sue. “Good, it wouldn’t be any fun otherwise,”