One swift kick to her stomach was all that was needed to send Esdeath flying, crashing into the nearby rock. However, much to my surprise, she rather quickly stood up, spat up a bit of blood, and rushed at me once again.
Her physique was much stronger than I had initially anticipated, which was rather surprising. I didn't anticipate that she would be this powerful; it was a rather small miscalculation on my part.
It seemed that the direct lineages of the Partas Tribe were far more powerful than the ordinary tribesmen of the Partas Tribe. The General of the Partas Tribe readied her saber, though this time, faint bluish energy appeared all around her weapon.
'Warp Energy, though different from the ordinary Warp Energy, this one is contaminated by the Essence of Ice and is freezing everything around, aside from the weapon itself. The source should be the Blood of the Danger Beasts that she had absorbed...'
The Essence of Ice was very potent within the Warp Energy, and when I say potent, it really was; probably, if the output of the Warp Energy was higher and more powerful, then she could have the potential to freeze Space itself.
Rather dangerous truth to be told.
This time, I was forced to use more effort to defend against the incoming attacks, as they were far more ferocious and powerful than before, but I did not lose even a bit of their precision and well-calculated strikes that she had employed before.
Interestingly enough, she was using her rage to fuel her power, though she was not letting her anger cloud her judgment, which made it rather harder for me to fight against someone like her.
Most of my combat style revolved around provocations and tempting them to make mistakes. The best situation was when they got enraged and made many mistakes, many of which I could then exploit.
Unfortunately, someone like Esdeath Partas wasn't that stupid to fall for such kind of strategy; even though this strategy was rather simplistic, I was often surprised how many people, very powerful entities, would fall for rather simple provocations and temptations.
Sounds of clacking were heard when our weapons clashed against each other, as I blocked several times; all of her attempts to strike me were rather futile. Finding an opening in my stance and style was rather nigh impossible for her right now, so in the end, she started using more and more of her raw power.
As she had access to Warp Energy and that weird Warp-Bloodline-based Ice Manipulation, I was at a disadvantage in the area of combat versatility.
Not only were her offensive powers outstanding, and her combat prowess was rather high, but at the same time, Ice Manipulation and, overall, the Ice-related powers were considered one of the most versatile around.
To top it off, we were found in the frozen wasteland, where everything was frozen and filled with ice and snow. This was practically the best environment that she could have, and it basically increased her powers severalfold.
In a split of moment, several thousand icicles were shot toward me every second; I was forced to dodge and counterattack even more often, because our spar was becoming more and more destructive for the environment.
Esdeath was very good at launching large-scale attacks on me, which was rather understandable with all of those annoying abilities that she had, especially when her Psyker Abilities were supported by the Ice-attributed Super Danger Beast Bloodline.
With my bladestaff, I was able to keep the General of the Partas Tribe far from me, at least from the distance of her saber, which was certainly good, but she then started using her Ice Abilities to close the distance between the two of us.
After several more minutes, there was something that I noticed about the Heiress of the Partas Tribe... she was rather quick learner.
'Just a few exchanges, and she was already able to adapt to my tempo... ts... geniuses.'
She was a martial arts genius and combat genius like Hela. The senses and capabilities of Esdeath Partas were rather similar to those of my wife; there were only a few people like her born every few millennia, and they were exceedingly rare.
Fortunately enough, due to my long sparring with Hela, I learned how to deal with people like her, and it was to end the fight as soon as possible. I didn't really doubt that if the duel was being prolonged more and more, she would be able to adapt even more to my combat style.
Even now, it was becoming rather annoying.
Partly due to my very own arrogance or overconfidence in the matter, as I kept playing with her partially. Even though I wouldn't really like to admit it, like this, it was like a cat playing with a mouse.
'If I let her adapt to my combat style, this would become even more annoying.'
I was becoming more and more like Hela in this regard because I also created a tendency for myself to play with my enemies; it was rather a bad habit. That was something that I needed to remedy in the near future, or else it could end very badly for me...
Deciding that it was time to end the spar, I used my top speed with my bladestaff and appeared in front of the Heiress of the Partas Tribe, striking her with the blunt end of the bladestaff in her stomach.
Not wasting any time, I sent another strike and another, causing her mild disorientation while using the same window of opportunity when she wasn't right in her senses to kick out the weapon out of her hand.
"It seems that our little spar has come to a timely end, with your loss... most obviously."
I stated with the sharp end of my bladestaff pointing at her neck, several millimeters away from her neck, as she laid on her back on the ground. She panted heavily, bloodied a bit, as she looked at me with a grin and excitement.