‘Vortex’ Mun-gi is the real deal. He’s fast, strong, and dextrous. None of that was a surprise, but what really caught me off guard is his sense for fighting.

In the first clash we both swung at each other as if we wanted to chop the other in half. Until now, I had believed that there wasn’t a human on the planet that could handle a frontal clash with me. An insect’s proportional strength can’t be underestimated after all. ...And that wasn't even counting my extra power as a mutant beast.

That’s why it shocked me so much when he redirected my scythes like it was nothing. Just as our weapons were about to hit he made this weird motion with his wrists and used his kukris to knock my scythes to the side. Then he used an odd flicking motion and slashed the tips against my chest before leaping away.

Whatever those kukris are made of, they are crazy sharp. My exoskeleton has been better than normal steel for a while now. According to Brokkr; enchanted steel was the best most people could get ahold of. True magic metals were “rare as hen’s teeth” and near impossible to work with. It was pretty convincing when a dwarf said it. It doesn’t matter at the moment though, no matter how rare it is, this Mun-gi fellow obviously has some. I can’t block a direct blow from him. It’s unfortunate but I’m pretty sure only my densest exoskeleton can resist his weapons.

Even then I doubt that it would hold up for too long.

The tips of his kukris didn’t get completely through the exoskeleton on my chest, but I was forced to shape the grooves shut. The sight of the edges of the cuts pinching together made Mun-gi’s eyes flash with some subtle emotion. He started circling around me, his feet moving in some odd but agile dance.

I turned with him, constantly facing him so I was ready for whatever he pulled. The spinning looked odd, and seemed like it would waste stamina, but for a powerhouse that wouldn’t be an issue. The odd way his feet moved mean it was hard to tell whether he was continuing his circling or starting a lunge. He would dip into attacking range, take a swing, and pull back in a single, smooth motion.

I was definitely faster, but the way he moved made it hard to react to him. His arms were long as well, giving him a reach as good as mine. He used them for more than reach as well. The swings he made took advantage of his build perfectly, building up a terrifying momentum with his arms. His fighting style meshed perfectly with his long, silvery green kukris.

Kukris are a kind of recurved sword. They are thick blades that bent forward partway down the length and have a wide belly. It gave them a beautiful edge at a perfect angle for chopping. The design is scarily effective at getting through tough material. They are swords that never forgot their ancestors were axes, and I was learning the hard way how nasty they were.

The way he attacked was so polished and nimble that it was hard to see coming. The start of the swing was difficult to pick out from the normal way his arms moved as he ran circles around me. For now I was keeping up, but only because of my inhuman reaction speeds. The only reason it was enough was because he was still human. As powerful as warriors like him are, even superhumans are still more human than super.

Every slash and chop he made had this strange feeling to it. His attacks felt predatory yet also had an almost surgical feeling of precision. Each attack that I blocked felt like it was going to go straight through my claws. He was aiming for vulnerable spots as well.

The kukris started taking out chunks of my claws. They were tiny pieces, mere chips at most, but it showed I was slowly being overwhelmed. Somehow, he was reading me and adjusting to my fighting style. I didn’t even have time to shapeshift them shut. I needed to change up my attacks if I wanted to survive.

I grew slowly, trying to keep my body’s growth balanced while still keeping him at bay. My body swelled up till I towered over him like some horrible, insectile centaur. It didn’t seem to bother him much. If anything, he got more excited. A twisted, ecstatic smile forced its way onto his face. It didn’t affect his fighting style though, his shark-like eyes kept watching my every move and he kept circling me at high speed. Those glittering kukris kept chipping away at my scythes. All the while we kept spinning around and around.

I get why he’s called ‘Vortex’ now. This is like being stuck in a whirlpool or a tornado. One that was full of knives.

I couldn’t let him keep the offensive anymore. My arms were longer now, so I needed to use that to my advantage. Pushing forward and stabbing at him almost recklessly, I tried to put him on the defensive.

He’s better than me, no doubt about that. When I first tried to attack he nearly cut off one of my claws at the wrist. The way his kukris move makes it feel like I’m fighting a man with snakes for arms. They whip about like the metal is bending. I can see that he’s just twisting his wrists, elbows, and shoulders oddly, but that doesn’t make it any easier to predict...

At this size I have a greater reach than Mun-gi. Thanks to that I should be able to hit his vital spots before he can touch mine. It isn’t that simple though. The way he flicks my attacks off course is one thing, but he kept trying to chop at my joints. My joints are tough, but his blades could even take chunks out of the hard shell of my claws. It wasn’t hard to imagine what would happen if he managed to get a clean hit on one of my weak points.

With me pushing towards him, the spinning movement we had been making became an odd spiral. The odd footwork he used adapted easily to my aggressiveness. I had heard people talk about Muhammad Ali’s ‘float like a butterfly, sting like a bee’ before, but this gave me a picture of what it must have been like. They way Mun-gi dodged made it feel like the breeze from my attacks was pushing him out of danger. The way he attacked back was so sharp and quick that you wouldn’t think he was swinging around heavy metal swords.

I’ve never been so glad to have this abnormal body. If I was a little slower he would have slipped into close range and chopped me to pieces. If I was a little weaker he could smash my attacks aside and decapitate me. If the exoskeleton on my claws was just a tiny bit less tough he would simply slice of bits of my arms till I couldn’t fight back. If I wasn’t as powerful as I am I would have been killed seconds into the fight.

I mean come on… Which of us is the real monster here?

It’s still me of course, I am a giant bug monster after all. The only reason he’s pressuring me so much is because of his martial arts. His movement demonstrated the deadly beauty of martial arts. Each swing of his sword and sway of his body had the grace of a dance or the flowing artistry of calligraphy, but with an inherent lethality and a far greater speed.

No matter how he’s doing it, it doesn’t change the fact that he is winning this fight. He doesn’t dare get too close, since my claws are more dangerous when you're inside my reach, but he’s chopping away at my arms. I can’t divide my focus long enough to repair my exoskeleton.

This isn't working either. I could grow bigger, but I still have the problem of rapidly diminishing returns. I’d definitely be stronger, but I wouldn’t be much faster. To make tings worse, i knew it would make me a bigger target. It sucked, but I could already tell that unless I was a lot faster then getting any bigger wasn’t going to help.

I needed another edge. At the very least a moment to restore my claws would be welcome. Those shiny kukris have left my claws a broken, chipped mess. I had so many advantages, but I couldn’t use them properly.

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It was time to change locations.

The trees were massive. I crouched down and shot up into the canopy. The thick branches could support the weight fo me carrying a heavy load easily, so it was perfect for something like me to fight in. I hung upside down from a bough, looking down on Mun-gi. He watched the chips on my claws disappear as they regained their pristine appearance. My mouthparts twisted into a smug grin.

“Alright buddy, time for round two.”

Mun-gi raised an eyebrow. He spun the kukris in his hands and shifted his stance back a bit. He didn’t let down his guard, but he had relaxed from that crouched leopard posture.

“I didn’t know you could talk…”

He had an odd but not unpleasant accent. His voice was rather deep as well and his diction was perfect. His body language was that of a predator, but his voice was that of a scholar. It was nice that he was willing to talk; I wasn’t certain I could beat him. Any time I could buy was time that the elves and bees could use to whittle down the army.

I shifted my stance into a more casual one, tilting my head at him.

“I can sing too, but don’t ask me to dance. I have two left feet.”

Mun-gi barked out a laugh. His odd eyes made his grin quite scary, but there was honest humor there.

“Ha! I doubt dancing is truly impossible to you; you were moving quite well in our dance of death earlier. I rarely get a fight this good, and this is the most fun I’ve ever had against a magic beast.”

“Aww, you flatter me. I can’t call this boring either. You’ve been humbling me from the beginning. I’d guessed you were going to be trouble when I first saw you but seriously… you put the ‘artist’ in martial artist.”

“Now who’s flattering the other? ...Ah, but I have to ask: were you the thing that the soldiers have been calling the Shriek? You don’t look much like the thing that attacked the army, but I didn’t get a very clear look at it either. Still, I can’t help but have the feeling that you’re connected somehow.

“Man, ‘the Shriek’ was it? That sounds awesome. But yeah, you’ve got some good intuition there.”

I shifted into the aerodynamic blue dart-like shape I had used to decapitate the troops. I pulled close to the branch and stretched out my longer, sharper, claws. Twisting them a bit let the light catch the shiny, razor edges. They had looked really cool, but compared to the glowing shine of the kukris they didn’t look nearly as deadly. Mun-gi looked impressed though.

“This what you saw?”

He whistled as he looked me over.

“Nice trick!”

I grinned again. This guy seemed pretty easy to get along with. If we weren’t trying to murder each other we could probably be friends. I shifted once more, returning to my normal proportions. As a bonus I gave myself a metallic shine and a few curved spikes. I molded the spikes so they would snag Mun-gi’s blades if I could catch them right. I doubted it would work, he was too quick for it to be that easy, but I could hope.

“So, I know I said round two, but is there any way I could convince you to not fight?”

Mun-gi didn’t exactly frown, but his grin twisted to allow a hint of regret through. I already knew the answer before he spoke.

“Sorry, but I’ve already accepted the money. A mercenary is only as good as his word. That goes double for unaffiliated powerhouses.”

His grin returned to full brilliance, this time more bloodthirsty. He leaned forward and his posture had that coiled predator look once again.

“Besides, what kind of idiot would turn down the chance for a fight this good?”

“Fine, I won’t ask again. But if you wanna keep fighting you’re going to have to play in my realm.”

I jerked my head upwards and watched as his smile got even wider. He pulled into a crouch and tensed his muscles. With a single violent jump, he shot up into the trees. Flipping upside down, his feet hooked around the smaller branches and hung from them like a bat.

“Who am I to turn down a challenge like this?”

There was no way he would be as agile up here as he was on the ground. That said, he was acting confident enough that I wasn’t going to get cocky. I leaned forward and slashed at him with quick, sharp motions, trying to cut him anywhere I could.

Mun-gi wobbled and swayed from where he hung from the branch. It looked unstable, but it let him dodge every attack. He tried to get the tips of his kukris in my vulnerable joints once in a while, but for the most part he acted defensively. Almost half of my attacks struck empty air and the rest were shunted aside.

Mun-gi’s new strategy was much different from earlier. He didn’t parry nearly as much. It threw my rhythm off at first, since I was putting a lot of force into my blows. I had been trying to overpower parries that weren’t coming. After a couple close calls I switched to jabbing at him with the tips of my claws, using them as rapiers rather than scythes.

The combination of stabbing and more controlled slashes did much better. I was able to pressure Mun-gi much more than before. I moved forward cautiously, not wanting to overextend myself. For his part, Mun-gi was able to ‘step’ backwards or forwards by pulling up slightly and hooking his feet on different parts of the branches. It was awkward, but he made it work.

I had the advantage now, but he didn’t seem to mind. From the look on his face, it was obvious Mun-gi was having the time of his life. With a sudden swing, he flipped away, bouncing off another branch and using it as a springboard to zip behind me. His kukri scored a thin line on the exoskeleton of my arm. If I’d dodged even a fraction of a second slower I would have lost an arm.

I twisted around as fast as I could so I could be ready before he got his footing. When we clashed again, I pushed as hard as I could. His awkward position was my only advantage. He swayed out of the way and stepped as quickly as he could, but I was able to match him now.

I scored first blood. It was a tiny cut. I’d barely managed to slash the tip of a claw across his ribs. It didn’t matter how small it was, it was the first real damage in this fight. Mun-gi didn’t even flinch though. If anything, his focus got even sharper. He blocked a few more of my attacks before flipping back into the branches.

He used the springiness of the branches to build speed and hooked a foot or an arm around them to whip himself into a sharp turn. It didn’t take him long before he was ricocheting about the canopy like a bouncy ball. Keeping him from getting behind me was getting harder and harder as he built up speed.

The reflections of light of his kukri glittered as he zipped about around me. He wasn’t able to get much faster than he was. The thin branches couldn’t support his weight at that momentum and limiting himself to the thickest branches didn’t give him enough freedom to move.

Whenever I had the chance I tried to smack him out of the air. Mun-gi didn’t have wings, so I figured he wouldn’t be able to dodge. I was wrong. He couldn’t fly, but he took to the air like a fish to water.

Whenever he saw my claw coming towards him he would spin his kukris and move his legs, shifting himself out of the path of my attack. It reminded me of the way pole vaulters could move their center of gravity, or how cats could turn in midair. It was slick and graceful looking. He twisted through the air like a snake.

I was able to nick him once or twice, but I’d need to hit him a thousand more times before wounds that small made a difference. Even now, I could hear his quiet laugh. The man was nearly giggling from how happy he was.

The next thing I tried was intercepting him as he touched down. The tiny moment where he bent a branch or used one to swing around was an opening ...if I could take advantage of it. That didn’t work well either. He actually jammed the tip of one of his kukris in the tree trunk and used that to change direction. The maneuver meant he lost a little momentum, but two more ricochets and he was back at top speed.

“Haha! What next? Come one! If you don’t dig a little deeper I might just take your head!”

The voice sounded weird with how it was moving about, but the sheer, unbridled joy was obvious.

“This is the arena you chose right!? So show me more! Push me further! Let us ascend even higher!”

I swayed, spun, and twisted. It was all I could do some moments to stop him from lopping my head off. Other times he dodged by a hair’s breadth, or managed to turn a lethal attack into an inconsequential scratch with the tiniest of movements. He hadn’t been exaggerating; he was actually getting better as we fought.

The nasty, strange way he swung his kukris combined with the way he flew about the trees meant that many times I didn’t have a hope of blocking it. Whenever he made one of those attacks I just threw myself out of the way. Luckily, those abnormally moving attacks seemed to be easier for him to make when he had both feet on the ground, so most of the attacks didn’t have that inscrutable quality.

That said, his attacks were still really freaking fast.

The both of us were forced into a stalemate. Each of us was one mistake from dying, but for now we weren’t showing any openings. My nerves were stretched to their limits, and my senses were working overtime. If my field of vision wasn’t so wide and my eyes so keen he would have been able to slip into a blind spot and kill me easily.

It was a fight that could end in a fraction of a second, at any second, but it was dragging on and on. I was forced to move about to keep him from setting me up, but even that didn’t keep him from getting some hits in.

They weren’t bad, but the cuts finally made it through my exoskeleton. They were the first proper injuries he’d given me. I couldn’t let my focus waver because of the pain, but I definitely felt the psychological pressure from taking real damage.

I wasn’t able to watch where I was going, not in detail. We were jockeying for an advantage, so we ended up moving about quite a bit. Fighting Mun-gi was like fighting a chessmaster; you didn’t know how many moves ahead he was planning, but you knew he was.

We kept it up for a bit, then somehow without me noticing, we were back by the army. I met Mun-gi’s grinning gaze, and he chuckled again.

“Aren’t you getting bored with this? Let’s switch to a new arena again!”

Mun-gi bounced off a thicker branch and slammed into me. The sheer momentum his kukris carried as they slammed into my scythes knocked me off my feet. Chunks of bark came away as he literally tore me off the branch and knocked us both into the air. We fell from the treetops, right into the middle of the Macedonian troops.

I’ll say this about the guy: he doesn’t think small.