Underworld Bride Trials 1 Playboy King - Meg Xuemei X. Page 0,28
without my advanced translator-com device, I understood her well. I had mastered several species’ languages when I was a child, and valkyrian had been one of the required lessons.
“Will it be a warrior’s match or a death match?” I asked.
She shrugged, not wanting to commit just yet.
Fine with me.
I nodded. “You want one-on-one, or do you feel the need to gang up on me?”
Knowing I wouldn’t be able to defeat several valkyries without my sanjiegun and my magic, I appealed to their pride.
She laughed coldly, her pointed ears prickling in irritation. And then she charged. At least she came alone, but I kept my head on a swivel in case they abandoned their honor.
She didn’t deploy her fists, unlike the demon brutes, but swung her leg at me. I knew from fighting a valkyrie before that I could take the impact. I crossed my wrists and blocked her kick, then my foot snapped out. I aimed low, toward her knee. She leapt back to avoid my boot.
She was almost as fast as I was, but I hadn’t used my top speed, and neither had she. She carried out a side kick to my left, and I realized that she was trying to learn the pattern of my moves. A couple of small groups close to our corner stopped battling to watch our fight.
Valkyries were the hotties in the trials.
But this wasn’t a study hall, and I had no intention of letting anyone learn my fighting style. There were also close to ten thousand spectators in the stands, not to mention the cameras trained on us.
I had no idea how long this trial was going to last, and exchanging fists and kicks with the valkyries for a long period of time was going to wear me out. This warrior race never backed off. So I’d have to act quickly before anyone saw how I actually moved.
I hated street fights. It wasn’t my forte to make meaty pulp out of my opponents. I killed when necessary, never for entertainment.
This left me with using the killing art of Meridian against the valkyries. Fortunately, valkyries and other humanoid forms shared the same anatomy, and I had studied it extensively. Meridian points didn’t work on demons, since they were very different from other species. Over the years, I had met a couple of demons on other planets. Hell was the lone place where demons lived in droves.
I knew only two Meridian points: the death pressure and the unconsciousness pressure that played with the subject’s nerve plexus. Every species had a different death spot. Sometimes, it’d take a few tries to get it right.
When the lead valkyrie ran at me with her sharp claws extended, I allowed them to slam into my chest, so I could get close to her. Bitter surprise flitted across her amber eyes when she saw that she hadn’t pierced my armor.
My armor was a state-of-the-art shield. It absorbed most of her impact, but still, my ribcage hurt like hell. I sucked in a breath and pressed my fingers into the soft spot behind her pointed ear, making contact with her unconsciousness point. At the same time, the heel of my right palm struck out and smacked her jaw, sending her flying back.
She fell unconscious before her head hit the hard sand.
That last move had been a ruse so the audience would think I’d rammed my fist into the valkyrie’s jaw, effectively incapacitating her. They would never discern what they didn’t know—I’d just applied pressure to the Meridian point. Even seasoned fighters knew very little about this unique martial arts move, and I wanted to keep it that way.
Her companions traded a shocked look. I bet no one had ever disarmed their leader within two strikes. They roared in grief and rage, and three of them lunged at me at once. I lowered my body and swept my leg at them from below. I tripped one of them, but the other two leapt away and regrouped swiftly.
“Halt, tigresses.” I slammed a fist into my palm to signal them to stop their attack.
“We aren’t shifters!” a dandy-nosed valkyrie hissed.
“You’re dead,” another valkyrie spat in a Southern accent, fury burning in her big silver eyes.
“No, but you will be if you come at me again,” I vowed. “I showed your leader courtesy. She’s alive but unconscious. Go check her pulse. Your kind is honorable but too stubborn and bloodthirsty, so I knocked her out.”
“Don’t lecture us,” the dandy-nosed valkyrie snapped.