As I was sent to the floor for what must've been the hundredth time, I realized that maybe I was going about this the wrong way. I gained no real ground against Lord Khars. Not only was he stronger, he was also faster and far more resilient; it was no real physical contest. I couldn't outmuscle him or outlast him. Even if I gained the ability to maximize the use of the form I held now, it would do little against him. Each time I attempted an attack or mustered a defense, he'd put me on the ground in a single move, every single time. So, perhaps, I was approaching this the wrong way.
In a far more logical sense, this body was already as efficient as it could possibly be. What I was missing, perhaps, was a proper approach to combat. I needed to fight in a manner that would maximize all my strengths, while covering up my weaknesses. The basic guardsman martial arts that I'd been using against one of the God-Emperor's Custodes was surely not up to par, even if it was incredibly useful against other humans.
So, as I stood up, I abandoned it. There was one other martial arts form in my repertoire that I hadn't used, simply because I thought it was unfair. But, to be honest, I wasn't even sure if it would be enough. As long as I stuck to martial arts and physical attacks, I figured it wouldn't be cheating and neither would it be unfair. The gap between Khars and I was so unfathomably wide that I was certain I still wouldn't be able to touch him, even if I took on the form of a full Astartes with Power Armor. And I still remembered the Carcharodons, their gruesome melee tactics and frightening physical prowess and all of them appeared to move in slow motion if I had to compare them to Khars, who was not wearing any armor, except for his helmet.
And so, by the God Emperor of Mankind, if I was going to so much as land even a grazing hit on Khars, I was gonna have to make use of [Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist] or I'd just keep kissing the floor until this was all done. And, honestly, I felt as though not giving it all that I had, all that I was capable of, in terms of physical combat, at least, was an insult to Lord Khars' own prowess; it'd be as though I thought he was weaker than I, needing a handicap. And, besides, Khars was clearly a master of Martial Arts himself, utilizing an incredibly simple grappling style that made full use of his immensely powerful form, height, and build.
I was also rather certain of the fact that he was far superior to that Daemon I fought and barely defeated.
If I was going to win those awesome rewards, without further insulting Lord Khars, then I'd have to fight without handicapping myself. I was going to give this all I had.
And so, I breathed in and settled into the main and basic stance of the [Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist]. Khars then nodded. "Good, you've realized the futility of attacking me with mortal martial arts. The Carcharodons mentioned your mastery over some esoteric form of hand to hand combat that baffled even them. Can you imagine? Members of the Adeptus Astartes baffled by the display of martial skill by a Guardsman; when I heard that, I knew I had to see it for myself. Now, attack with all you have, Perry the Guardsman."
The [Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist] was not an offensive martial art. By its very nature, it was meant to absorb and redirect energy – and that was essentially the gist of it. The higher levels, I assumed, would simply allow me to absorb more and more energy that I should be capable of. At level 10, which was where I was now, I was confident that I'd be more than capable of taking on fully armored Space Marines in hand to hand combat. A part of me couldn't wait to test myself against a Custodes.
Level 10 likely still wasn't enough, but it was the best I got at the moment.
And so, I began walking towards Lord Khars, maintaining my stance with every step. Though, to be perfectly honest, the stance was not nearly as important as the knowledge of the principles that governed [Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist]. But its very nature, it was a formless martial arts that could be used from any position and from any angle to absorb, redirect, and counter any attack sent its way. And so, as Lord Khars reached out to grapple me once again, I breathed in and truly focused. This time, I treated him as a genuine threat to my life and my existence, an enemy that must be destroyed; the only rule of engagement was that I could only make use of martial arts and nothing more.
His hand surged forward, faster than I could fathom, but slow enough for me to somewhat perceive it. He was trying to grab me by my hair, a maneuver he'd done about a dozen times, and then simply throwing me to the ground face-first with enough strength to crack my skull, something that definitely would've instantly killed any normal human – but, with me, Khars could afford to hit harder than he otherwise would. My innate understanding of [Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist], at least, at my current level, told me that the best counter was to simply move out of the way. I strafed to the right, but Khars was faster; by the time I felt his hand wrapping around my hair, I was already on the floor.
However, perhaps completely by accident, I was able to hold onto his wrist with my right hand. It didn't take me more than a moment to completely regenerate the damage I'd received. And, with all the strength I could muster right then and there, I took the ambient and potential energy from his body, something only the masters of [Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist] could achieve and used it to pull him into the floor. I made him budge a full inch, before Khars simply swung his whole body and threw me right into the nearest wall. My bones crunched, my organs ruptured, and my muscles were torn right out of their ligaments. I breathed in and regenerated myself quickly enough, losing no biomass in the process as all the damage was internal. Khars nodded my way. "That was... interesting. That move you did, stealing all the potential energy for an empowered grapple, was genius. At least, the concept is genius. The execution could use some refining. Also, I believe it won't be as useful if your opponent is far faster than you, like myself."
"Show me more."
I nodded, once more settling into the same stance. I almost had him right there, but Khars was far faster. And I wasn't entirely sure how to make up for that. The simplest solution that immediately came to mind was to simply make myself faster, but that wasn't exactly an option and, honestly, even if it was it'd simply defeat the purpose of this training. So, what else could I possibly do?
No matter how hard I thought of a solution, nothing came to mind. What I did know, however, was that repetition was the mother of all learning and, if nothing else, I had the advantage of needing no rest and Khars likely hadn't broken a sweat after sending me to the ground more than a hundred times already. So, while I didn't have an answer just yet, I knew that I'd eventually grasp enough of an understanding of martial arts to figure one out eventually.
Off to the sides, Duncan and Katarinya looked on with keen interested. The former because of his own experience as a fellow soldier and the latter... because she probably just enjoyed watching violence. The other Custodians were there too, ten of them to be exact, all in their glimmering golden armors, but – as expected – both Whamuu and Eshidisi had gone the some route as Khars, wearing only their helmets and loincloths for some odd reason, their skin glistening in the faint light. Actually, standing still as they were, the both of them looked a lot like golden statues that encapsulated the perfection of the human form, works of art, crafted by the God Emperor himself.
Without much else to try, I rushed at Khars. He did not move or stir. I threw a simple punch with my right hand, just enough to get him to grab it. And, strangely, he did. Khars' massive hand wrapped around my wrist, twisting and breaking bone. But, I cared little for it and, instead, twisted it even more, breaking bone, ripping flesh and sinew and skin, before I then pulled my now severed hand from his grasp, which was further aided by my blood, which lubricated my skin enough that slipping from Khars' grip became somewhat possible. Red splattered everywhere. I then very quickly regrew my severed hand, taking what spare kinetic energy I could from that exchange and focusing it onto the tip of a single finger. And then, I sent my left hand surging forward, a single finger outstretched.
Khars wore no armor. His skin, as far as I noticed, was more or less similar to human skin. The amount of kinetic energy I'd condensed into the tip of my single finger was more than enough to pierce through muscle and bone.
And then, I blinked and my left hand was bent in an angle it shouldn't have been bending in, my forearm snapped in half. Khars, once again, moved far faster than any Astartes, stopping my attack dead in its tracks. I roared and forced the raw and sharpened bone onto the surface, upon which I imparted the remnants of the very small amount of kinetic energy I'd stolen from him. However, I also sent forth a jolt of potential energy, which I'd taken from the rest of my body, right into my left arm, propelling it forward with a burst of speed. Khars leaned out of the way, but not before the sharpened bone grazed his abs, leaving behind a red imprint. My left arm outstretched, Khars then grabbed my face and, once again, sent me into the ground in a single, swift move.
"That was a good attempt," Khars said, towering over me as I regrew my left hand, fixed my skull, and slowly pushed myself up. "You used your natural abilities, without resorting to unsavory methods. To be entirely fair, if you were just a little bit better with your timing and execution, you might've gotten me there with a good hit. So, what did you do wrong?"
"Too slow," I said, my teeth slowly moving back into place, while I reabsorbed the blood on the floor back into myself. Khars tossed my my severed hand, which I absorbed as well, regaining most of the biomass I'd lost. I breathed in and considered Khars' question. "My Martial Arts isn't suited for this, I think. I'm the one who's forcing an engagement, but my style is primarily defensive."
True enough, with Khars on the defensive, I was left with mostly nothing to redirect, save for any potential energy I might be able to steal, which really wasn't much. And, as Khars himself said, wasn't effective against someone faster than myself as potential energy was, perhaps, the easiest to regenerate. So, technically, as long as my enemy just stood still and did not attack, my punches would be just that – punches. I was strong enough to seriously injure an otherwise normal human, but my [Enhanced Human] form was not nearly as powerful as an Astartes and nowhere near the bare minimum power of a Custodes. So, a normal punch, without absorbing the kinetic energies of my opponents' attacks, would never even hurt Khars, no matter how cleanlyI landed a hit.
"True. You're learning from your mistakes; that is good. The style you made use of is deceptively powerful, but you failed to cover up its weaknesses and capitalize its unique strengths." Khars nodded. "So, how do you remedy that unfortunate disadvantage?"
Well, wasn't that the big question.
The answer was rather simple, honestly. "I just have to get better at fighting, I suppose. I need more experience."
"Well, then; I'll be on the offensive, this time." Khars said, turning his back to me. He then held out both of his arms and flexed. And my eyes widened as his rippling muscles writhed and warped, taking on the shape of a gruesome, snarling, inhuman face. I recognized it immediately. Because no natural muscular formation could've createdsuch a shape – at least, not without some form of extreme mutation. Duncan had the same thing, after all, since I'd implanted it into his flesh. But, with Khars, the difference was staggering. His aura changed. The air rippled around him, Every sense, every instinct, in my body screamed of danger, of death.
This was... unexpected. Khars had the Hanma gene?
The armored Custodians tapped the butt of their spears on the ground three times in a rhythmic pattern, while Whamuu and Eshidisi both stood still. I wondered if they also had the Hanma gene – if every member of the Adeptus Custodes carried the Hanma gene.
Fascinating.
Such an incredible gift must've been given to them by the God Emperor himself, gene-forged and further developed by tailoring unique enhancements that set them apart from the Space Marines, which certainly explained their extreme physical prowess. If the stories were to be believed, Custodians spent hundreds of years training, engaging in grueling trials that test mind, body, and spirit; and, with the Hanma Gene granting them the ability to grow stronger with every defeat...
Just how outclassed was I?
"Prepare yourself, Guardsman."