Neoni - Champion【GMV】 - YouTube
Primus and the Lantern were the chosen representatives to meet the Champion, whose reputation was literally intergalactic in scope. Primus was there because Champion had little respect for non-warriors, and the Lantern was there because his organization was also universal in scope, and very, very old.
The ship the Elder of the Universe had arrived in was literally shaped like a massive arena, in effect bringing his own performance venue with him, sidestepping the issue of having a decent place to compete available on whatever world he arrived in.
It translated as The Colosseum, naturally enough.
Getting on the Elder’s bad side could be very bad news, so he was treated civilly, allowed to dock freely at LaGrange Station, and given an immediate audience. Alien traffic had picked up significantly after Galactus had left, but it was also much more respectful than it had once been.
Usually Comet handled interactions with aliens, as Carol Danvers was an experienced administrator and enjoyed the authority that came with the job (and she was half-Kree). However, Champion was also known for his sexism, and if she didn’t like it, the Elder simply didn’t care. In the interest of not causing a brawl that would destroy the station, she swallowed her pride and stepped aside, making sure to not even see him when he came aboard.
The Elder was a big fellow, over nine feet tall and weighing a good thousand pounds. Primus couldn’t scan his biology, but there was no denying the feeling of power and control radiating off the Elder. He was definitely a user of Core disciplines, as well as ki, and the refined and tempered feel of it was at a level Primus had only felt in two other individuals. On top of that, the raw strength and effortless grace in every motion clearly indicated that his physical Stat line was probably close to Primus’ own.
This was a transcendentally skilled martial artist with some of the highest physical attributes to support his skills in the universe. He was the Champion of the Universe, proclaimed as unbeaten in hand-to-hand combat for literally tens of thousands of years... at least!
And now he had come to Earth. Primus could only sigh at what was going to come.
“Elder Slatterus,” he greeted the huge Elder cordially, bowing deeply to him. It cost nothing, and this was a literal Elder of the Universe, tens of millions of years old at the least, potentially billions, and possibly the most experienced martial combatant alive. He knew the martials arts and profound disciplines of races that had gone extinct long ago. From any perspective of a warrior, he was worthy of respect.
Primus glanced over the entourage of the Elder. One female, who was obviously a secretary of some kind, and surpassingly lovely in a violet-skinned, feather-haired way. The rest were guards, all of different species taller than humans, massive in build, and controlled in their movements. Super-strong massively skilled fighters.
The Elder was naturally enough extravagantly wealthy with all those years to accumulate money, and thus near impossible to buy. If you wanted to learn from him, you served him, and he would impart nuggets of martial knowledge to you as payment. A decade in his service could turn a rough recruit into the greatest champion of their people, and so spots on his ship’s crew were always hotly vied for.
It was the women accompanying the warriors who had turned that service into something profitable for all concerned, leveraging Champion’s desire for martial challenges into the Colosseum’s travels to different worlds. Simply selling the fight coverage to multiple galaxies made sure that the Elder and his crew were all plenty wealthy in their own way, and when it came time for them to leave, members of the crew were often rich enough to literally buy their species’ way into the galactic community.
“Ah, the Primus!” the Elder responded, lazily performing the same clasped-fist salute, a variant of which was known throughout space. He only bowed slightly, of course. “You are on my list!” the big blue giant smiled expectantly.
Primus sighed inside. “Please, be seated, Elder, and let us know how we may be of assistance to you.”
Lord of all he surveyed, the Elder took the oversized chair prepared for him, swept up one of the hand-casks of wine set out for him, and poured it into the similarly oversized goblet there for him.
“Ah, good wine!” he exclaimed, and the woman there made a note as Primus and Zhuli seated themselves. The four honor guards were surveying the two with challenging eyes and wariness. Lanterns were known to be very powerful, and at this time Zhuli of Koligu was likely one of the most adept Lantern-wielders in the entire Corps.
Primus was on their master’s List. They weren’t.
Champion finished his first goblet, respecting it, and poured from a second cask as he spoke, “Primus, your planet and its people recently came to my attention as a place that glorifies martial combat. I have come to challenge your mightiest and take their measure against the rest of the universe’s warrior races.”
The guards behind him straightened with pride.
Primus nodded, watching as the Elder sampled the second cask, made a face, and simply dashed the contents off to the side. Primus wasn’t offended by the gesture, as it was a blunt measurement of the Elder’s tastes. Champion finishing the first goblet meant that vintage had just become a galactic delicacy, and whoever owned barrels of it had just become very rich.
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“As I’m sure your assistant has informed you, the great majority of the human race is not empowered with the physical prowess that is the standard of many of your students, Elder,” Primus replied smoothly. “That being said, there are indeed members of our species who have evolved to a level your students may find worthy of respect,” he added simply. “I presume you have done some research. May I ask who has been found worthy enough to sit on the List of the Champion of the Universe?”
The blue giant was clearly enjoying the fact that his reputation had spread to even a backwater world that hadn’t even managed to settle throughout its own solar system. He poured himself a third cup, merely tweaking a finger, and his secretary stepped forwards.
“By the information available on the galactic exchanges, these individuals have been reviewed by the Champion and deemed fit to take his instruction,” the female said in a birdlike, trilling voice that soothed all the nerves, and she did so in nigh-flawless Human, not using a translator. Doubtless employed to settle all the feathers the arrogance of her master might ruffle.
Primus and Zhuli watched the array of individuals play out, a list of merely ten men. Each came with footage obviously purloined off either alien security systems and surveillance, or TV coverage.
The first was Sasquatch, the strongman of Canada’s Alpha Flight team, ranked tenth. Primus steepled his fingers at the sight, but said nothing.
Second was Wonder Man, a former villain or mercenary who had just joined the Avengers as another muscle man. He certainly had the strength, but his fighting skills were suspect.
Third was the Hulk. Primus raised an eyebrow at that, but simply studied the footage attached, and quickly realized why he was rated so low. His fighting style was primal and instinctive, despite the often widely-varying level of strength he was showing. To a master martial artist at the top of the power scale, that was simply an unforgivable weakness.
Fourth was the shining metallic form of Colossus, the young Russian who had been dispatched by the Great Bear to serve with the Euroforce. He was well-trained, as all the Russians were, and only lacked true speed to truly be a formidable fighter.
King Namor followed. He would likely have rated higher if it were not for the fact his true strength could only be displayed in water.
He nodded when Ben Grimm, the Rock of the Fantastic Four, took the sixth position, ranked fifth. Ben’s personal combat skills had improved nicely over the past few years, moving from grappling and Might-based clouting stuff to some truly impressive punching skills and a rolling, bouncing style of movement that still caught a lot of people off-guard.
Part of that was no doubt because of the #4 position, which held The Mountain. There was someone who had truly improved greatly over the past few years, and his bouts with Hercules were all matters of public record. He had truly improved from a strongman relying on his Weight of the Mountain to get his edge in fights to a very impressive pugilist now.
He wasn’t surprised to see Hercules as the third seat. Hercules was pretty much the epitome of a bare-knuckled brawler, and had evolved immensely over the decades since he had followed The Hag. That last sparring with The Mountain out in Antarctica had been impressive, and Hercules was Primus’ own most frequent sparring partner, since they could practice techniques on one another without worrying about being truly hurt.
His own face came up at #2, and the Elder grinned expectantly, clearly relishing the prospect of combat after seeing some of the fights being displayed and the amount of property damage inflicted as Primus went up against some of the strongest beings in the universe. There were images of a dozen of his off-world escapades among the scenes there.
The last image was a still image of the Great Bear, right from the Lexipedia entries. Naturally, footage of the Great Bear in combat was very hard to come by. If he didn’t allow it to exist, it didn’t.
Zhuli looked at him, smiling slightly. Primus shook his head slightly.
“There’s a few weak points in your list and ranking, Elder,” he finally spoke up.
“Oh?” Champion’s reply was halfway between insufferable confidence in his own judgement and curiosity at it being challenged. “There are others I do not know of?” he guessed quickly.
Primus nodded slowly. “I can see you are not interested in armor wearers, but body transformers are fine. Sasquatch is several notches down in combat capability from these individuals.”
Zhuli popped up the images of the Juggernaut, Attuma, the Abomination, the She-Hulk (lifting a few eyebrows at her inclusion), the Eternal Gilgamesh, Comet, Fury (the last two raising more eyebrows), and the Mesa, another stony villain who worked out of Spain.
“Comet, the Hulk, and She-Hulk are charge-ups. The latter two are also berserkers; if they start getting angry, their capabilities escalate very quickly, and they become quickly capable of taking on Hercules directly.” Both of the green-skinned images rose up to directly below Hercules, surpassing The Mountain. “Comet’s ability to absorb energy and transform it into strength is basically limitless. If she’s given the chance to charge up, she fights with me as an equal.” Her image folded in next to his own silently, and the Elder’s eyes narrowed.
Gilgamesh was also placed equal to The Mountain, simply on the basis of his extended combat experience, while Fury was placed just below Namor; Mesa and Attuma, and the Juggernaut, were placed below and above Wonder Man respectively, with the Abomination just below The Rock.
“There’s also En Sabah Nur, who calls himself Apocalypse.” The shadowy ancient mutant was illustrated. “However, a good portion of his capabilities come from active combat morphing, so you might disregard him.”
Two more faces flicked on, and the top of the rankings changed as The Black Bear and the White Bear folded in next to Hercules. Primus offered no explanations, and then his own ranking fell to #3, and a face everybody on Earth knew was interjected there.
“Another female?” scoffed Champion immediately, taking another drink scornfully.
An image arose there, and the Elder went silent as he saw Galactus facing off against the Fourth Host.
He saw a dark-haired female raise a Sword.
Ding. Ting.
He slowly set his goblet down as he watched a Celestial fall apart. All the scorn was gone from his face as he stared at the image.
“I have never won an open-hand fight against Sama Rantha,” Primus admitted calmly into the absolute quiet, save for the echoes of the sword stroke hanging on the soul. You never forgot those notes if you ever heard them. “If you want to fight the Great Bear, you will have to go through Sama, The Golden Hag. And, unless you think yourself tougher than a Celestial, I highly suggest you keep your opinion on her gender to yourself. She doesn’t have a high opinion of ours, either, but she’s polite enough not to say so.”