Acheron and Amazoness had exchanged countless blows by now. The once beautiful field and garden had turned into a complete warzone. Trenches and craters adorned the land as if they were being bombarded by artillery. The only thing left untouched was the old cherry tree and its immediate vicinity.
Acheron couldn't help but laugh as he was once again sent reeling back by Amazoness. Ever since his first attack with his halberd on Amazoness, the tide of the battle had completely flipped as Amazoness knocked him around just as he did to her at the beginning.
His weighted bands, the ones he usually had around his body as restraints, were now the only thing keeping him on the ground, as Amazoness powerful blows could have easily sent him flying if he didn't weigh over 1000 pounds.
"Hahaha!" Amazoness laughed mockingly,
"Where is all the arrogance that you had?"
Amazoness once again struck out as she laughed, Acheron blocked the sweeping slash of her spear with his halberd, causing another crack to appear on his weapon.
Acheron's halberd was on the brink of destruction, the once razor-sharp edges of his wheel halberd had mostly broken off and shattered. The shaft had countless cracks running all across it, threatening to shatter like glass at any moment.
Even Acheron himself was no longer unscathed.
Acheron stood there, a smile still on his face, a couple of shallow cuts could be seen here and there on his arms and legs, there was even a small cut on his face. Due to wanting to enjoy the fight to its fullest, Acheron had slowed his regeneration down as much as it could, but no matter how much he slowed it down his body still put itself back to normal. This could be seen by the lack of blood flowing from Acheron's cuts.
Amazoness, on the other hand, wasn't looking so good. Her hair was disheveled and looked like a rat's nest, while some parts were cut shorter than others. Cuts crisscrossed her body just as black and blue bruises covered other parts.
Unlike Acheron, Amazoness's wounds bled, and her biggest problem was the deep gaping wound in her forearm. At some point, she had torn off part of her shirt and tightly wrapped it around the wound to stop the bleeding, but everything was slowing taking a toll on her.
Even her armor had slowly been stripped and turned to scrap metal as pieces flew everywhere during their exchanges.
But even though she was hurting and was slowly feeling tired, the fire in her eyes never diminished, in fact, it only burned brighter.
Deep within Amazoness, past all the lust and perverseness, she felt thankful towards Acheron. She had never been allowed to go all out before, not once in her life. Her master had forbidden it and just as her mother had warned her of the dangers of it when she was a child.
She had always felt like a giant amongst ants, watching her every step just in case she unintentionally squashes an ant due to her carelessness.
Though Amazoness didn't show it, she was incomparably happy. She had found someone that could take her full physical strength and was still able to lash back at her with the same amount of damage. A person that could fully accept her true self.
"Hey girly! Stop daydreaming!"
Amazoness looked up only to be met with the grin she had been staring at this whole battle.
"Why are you still holding back? I told you to give me everything you had!"
Acheron gripped his halberd and raised it.
*CRACK* *SHATTER*
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The halberd could no longer take the abuse, and Acheron's vice-like grip had sent it over the edge as it shattered like glass in his hand.
"Oops… Oh well," Acheron said as he shrugged his shoulders,
"Shield, Spear… Fire!"
Amazoness once again heard the mechanical voice come from behind her. This time she didn't turn around to look, she just patiently waited for Acheron to grab his weapons.
Whooshing sounds rapidly approached their direction before Amazoness watched as the shield flew above her like a Frisbee, followed by a spear that flew like it was a javelin.
Acheron caught the shield like the comic book Superhero Captain America and caught the spear followed by a spin to get rid of the force behind the spear.
Acheron propped the spear on his shoulder, followed by a smile.
"I have to thank you, girl… I never would have thought you will force me to use these. As you can see, I have hardly ever had to use these… Few have been worthy." Acheron said softly, contrary to the ferocious tone he had been using since the start of the battle.
"I guess you can thank the Fates for this encounter. It seems almost poetic to fight you with these…"
Amazoness furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, she didn't understand what he meant.
"What do you mean?" Amazoness asked,
Acheron chuckled,
"Look closer Amazonian, do you not recognize the symbols of your people's greatest rivals?!" Acheron said,
Amazoness narrowed her eyes as she once again scanned the shield and spear held in Acheron's hand. Since they were closer she got a better look until it finally clicked in her mind.
"The Spartans?! But how?!" Amazoness exclaimed incredulously,
She finally realized what that nagging feeling was in the back of her mind when she first saw those weapons.
The Spartans, the eternal rivals of the Amazonians. Their rivalry spans from to the time when the first Amazonian Queen got rejected by the ruling king of Sparta.
At first, it was just some skirmishes here and there, nothing too serious but as the years passed real hatred began to form between these two groups.
It began a war over ideology. The Spartans on one side were soldiers, they practiced their martial arts and battle formations. They treated women as equals in their society, giving the highest amount of freedom than anywhere else in Ancient Greece and disdained the Amazonian's way of courtship, their way of enslaving themselves to strong men. Sometimes there were a few who didn't follow tradition and would rape weak males before killing them.
On the other hand, the Amazonian's looked down on martial arts, even to the point of banning it from their society. No Amazonian that Acheron met had ever learned a martial art of any kind, he always felt it was a complete waste of potential. The Amazonians were gifted warriors, they moved and fought as they pleased with no form whatsoever, that was their way and it continued to be until their near extinction. The closest they got to some sort of order was their signature fighting stance.
Every Amazonian started a fight with the same stance, this was the reason Acheron recognized Amazoness as an Amazonian before even fighting her.
The rivalry got so bad that the Spartans even trained soldiers specifically to counter Amazonians, they had even forged special weapons that were specialized to cut through an Amazonians god-like body.
But even as they waged war against each other, they held a deep respect for each other. When Sparta was destroyed, the Amazonians lost their greatest rivals and most loved spot for seeking potential mates.
It wasn't until decades later that Aeschylus, where the Amazons lived, was also struck with disaster and were forced to flee from their homeland, spreading themselves across the world.
"Do you feel it?" Acheron asked,
"Feel what?" Amazoness asked back,
"Your ancestors' call for battle," Acheron said,
Acheron was right. The moment Amazoness realized what those weapons represented, her heart begun to pump faster from excitement, her body was screaming for her to fight, for her to give everything here even if she were to die.
Amazoness had a flashback of back when she was a child and her mother would read the ancient and secret stories of her people. How they had fought the Spartans, a group of legendary, mortal men as they battled fearlessly with their spear arts and battle formations, how as a group they brought down Amazonian after Amazonian with unmatched teamwork and precision.
She remembers her mother telling her how they were once the most perfect men to have as partners. Her mother's biggest regret was no being alive back then and fighting these strong men.
Her body trembled as goosebumps spread throughout Amazoness's body. Today was the best day of her life! She thanked the gods she had lived to see this day. She was going to battle the man in front of her, just not make him her mate, but for honor, hers and her peoples'. She was going to battle against someone who knew the ways of their eternal rivals.
Amazoness had been wishing for a day like this since she was a little girl as she sat on her mother's lap and was taught the way of the Amazons.
'There's no need to have a trump card anymore! If I don't show my everything here, I'll regret it for the rest of my life! I'll bring shame to my people!' Amazoness came to a decision,
Amazoness took a heavy step forward, the ground trembled underneath her feet as she raised her shield and spear in a stance she had yet to show anyone other than her master.
Acheron smiled and slammed the base of the shaft to the ground.
"So, I was right, to think I would witness an Amazon utilize martial arts…" Acheron said,
Amazons have always been warriors that fought by instinct alone, making their offense and defensive moves unorthodox and unpredictable.
The girl in front of Acheron was different no matter how hard she tried, years of practice would eventually show in her movements and betray her. Acheron felt both happy and sad knowing this, this girl will probably be the strongest Amazonian warrior to have ever lived but it took thousands of years and their last descendant to achieve the full potential of their bodies and see the foolishness of their old ways.
"So, tell me… how far have you gotten?" Acheron asked,
Amazoness didn't answer, instead, formless energy started to build up inside her and traveled up her spear.
Acheron slammed his spear on the ground once again, this time it was followed by the ground slightly trembling.
"Wonderful!" Acheron exclaimed,
"Half step into the Grandmaster realm! You are even slightly able to use Ki!"
'Ki?' Amazoness thought,
Seeing a trace of confusion in Amazoness eyes, Acheron smiled.
"Ki, Chi, Qi, inner strength, chakra, aura, life energy, vital force… Different cultures call it different things, these are all names that signify the same thing … reaching the threshold of Grandmaster" Acheron explained,
"But it matters not what you call it…. Come! Show me your true potential! Your real power!" Acheron exclaimed,
"After thousands of years, eternal rivals shall clash again!"
Amazoness watched as Acheron raised the spear and slammed it back down, this time the ground trembled beneath her feet.
Amazoness shook her head and blinked multiple times as if she had gotten something in her eyes.
'What was that?!' She exclaimed in her head as she looked at Acheron.
Something had flashed before her eyes.