The fight took a drastic turn when Heiss changed personalities. The blows that he previously dodged at the precise moment became more predictable, and he deflected them with simple blows. He increased his precision with the sword and dagger, especially the strength.
His strength increased to a ridiculous level. The moment Kalika prepared for Heiss's attack, it was she who ended up flying to the other side of the room.
Personality #16: "COME TO ME BITCH"
He raised his arms, and his neck cracked when he moved it to the side, a maniacal and ecstatic form he had never shown.
In the time it takes a person to take a breath, Heiss moved choreographically, as if his steps were measured, making a quick turn to increase the force he exerts on his sword through the spin.
His scream was a form of provocation and declaration; the hatred and contempt were palpable.
"Clank"
Kalika instinctively moved the sword where the noise that broke the wind came from, blocking before it impacted her face; however, the impulse of the force made her take steps to one side, losing her balance.
A weak point that would be exploited by Heiss, who slid at the same time she lost her balance, through the lower part and sending an explosive kick to the belly area.
It was blocked by the sword, held from one side to the other. But the recoil was too much, mainly because Heiss used the impulse sustained by his hand on the ground, apart from also using his muscle mass to transmit the blow.
"Thud—tok—thud"
First she flew for a few seconds, then rolled on the ground. In the end, she took advantage of the spin and stood up supported by her sword, which, from a minuscule perspective, trembled slightly.
Personality #16: "...Wow, you really are tenacious, not for nothing did your subordinates endure the training that Heiss gave them. They even endured #4's blows despite him holding back, but it was surprising that they weren't knocked out at the first one"
He walked slowly, with measured pace, fixing himself on the expressions that Kalika could make.
Caleb had only been able to communicate at the beginning when they were just rescued, and days later when they already had the trip planned. In the end, he could only communicate through a message that they were on their way, but he didn't have the opportunity to tell about the activities they had since leaving Junín.
She observed Caleb and the others; they had tense facets, as if the words reminded them of the overwhelming defeat they had.
After fixing herself on their behavior, she returned her gaze toward her adversary.
"So you fought and won when they used their maximum strength?"
She wanted to know how far they had gotten, it was just mere curiosity.
Personality #16: "I don't think it's time to ask, dear..."
Spontaneously, Heiss threw the dagger, moving his arm like a whip, propelling it at great speed.
"Uff..."
Kalika let out a sigh, she raised her hand toward where the dagger was coming. Her movement was elegant, almost hypnotic, moving her center of gravity slightly with the minimum time she could while the dagger arrived, a fleeting movement that seemed involuntary, although different, propelling her left hand toward the lateral side of the dagger.
The brush was subtle, but differential. The dagger followed the course that the hand gave it, avoiding by millimeters her face and stabbing into the wall behind her.
"It seems I can't hold back with you"
Kalika realized that if she didn't use her best cards, she wouldn't win, they would maintain a slight tie. Most likely, with the momentum that Heiss had, she would end up losing.
Personality #16: "You were holding back? What audacity... oh, so that's it"
He was referring to one thing, the eyes, apparently it wasn't something common, not for normal people. Heiss is a very isolated case, this not only because of his personalities, but because of his genetics.
Heiss's personality realized it, since in the district these peculiarities were detonated through training and cocktails of experimental drugs.
She is a blood heir, or at least she seems to be. These peculiar rarities are the fruit of very rare evolutions, which became famous in the old era, but which were hidden by the church and by different governments, kingdoms and even empires, all to keep these "overhuman or superhuman" hidden.
They were conferred the title of blood heirs because once it awakened in a subject, it was very likely that their descendants would inherit their peculiarities.
They could range from super strength, like the one called Samson or excellent sight, like the sniper Vasily Zaytsev; increased reflexes, special characteristics of imitation, talent or superhuman intelligence level.
Many of the characteristics of ancient warriors, philosophers, mathematicians, athletes, etc. From a scientific point of view, it was very rare that humans with mutational differences beyond color or slight physical adaptations wouldn't appear.
Humanity ignores these existences, and only those who know understand how precious they are at the specimen level, they are invaluable.
The church called them another way, some it called blessed by God, while others for their peculiar characteristics it called cursed by the devil.
And in the reflection of Kalika's eyes, that minimal change gave him an idea of why a mundane woman was so strong, it was because she was a blood heir.
Her now burgundy eyes gave him the suspicion, after all it wasn't his first interaction with a blood heir.
"Shall we begin?"
Heiss pointed the sword toward Kalika, lowering his center of gravity, slowly leaning forward, his movement was explosive. The wooden floor was heard creaking from the pressure of maintaining the impulse.
Unfortunately, Kalika leaned backward, letting her spine carry all the weight. Falling, she put her hand on the ground and turned her lower body to launch a kick at the arm that held Heiss's sword.
He avoided it by a hair, moving to one side. She, on the other hand, finished the turn and stood up, holding her sword, now in a different way from the traditional European.
She put her arm beside her head, pointing the sword toward Heiss; at the same time, with one hand, she touched the wide part of the sword; she was getting ready to counterattack.
Likewise, she launched herself and gave different slashes, but unlike the first time when she took advantage of the undulated sword to slip away and try to cut her target, this time she behaved differently; she not only took advantage of Heiss's direct attacks to perform a counterattack disrupting her adversary's defense, but she moved her sword as if it itself undulated.
Furthermore, she used her flexibility to make undulating movements, almost like a well-choreographed ballet dance; her sword moved in a way as if the sword's curve undulated at the owner's request.
Unlike Heiss, whose sword had a sword curvature and that no matter how skilled he was, defending himself from instinctive cuts. He couldn't handle the torque difference that pressed on his sword, which generated that he lost the advantage of overwhelming force.
Besides, it seemed as if Kalika knew where and in what direction the sword would fall, as if she predicted its trajectory, which she used to put her opponent against, sometimes taking advantage of his own strength.
"Clank"
First the swords sounded clashing; each time it repeated, the sparks of metal could be seen. They continued this way until the balance finished breaking.
"Shrrring..."
In one of Heiss's attacks, where his sword headed horizontally toward Kalika's head, she managed to foresee beyond what Heiss's own personality believed; she foresaw not only the sword's trajectory, but his own movements.
She blocked the wrist, preventing him from continuing with his attack. Then, without wasting the moment, she kicked the back of the knee. Although he tried to hold his body by tensing his muscles, the kick was too powerful for him to resist it, which made him fall on one knee.
She squeezed the wrist she had blocked with her other hand and took advantage to drag Heiss, who had no support point. When she threw him to the ground, she pointed her sword at his neck.
In this way, the first combat had ended.
***
The spectators, who were the subordinates of both, were with their eyes completely open. They hadn't missed any moment of the battle and yet they felt that the speed at which they moved surpassed all reaction and action capacity of a human, it was simply too much.
There were some points where the speed decreased, but they were brief moments where the clash of swords became one of who had greater strength.
Some of them were a bit dismayed by the fact that Heiss had fought completely different from how he did with Caleb and his group; this form was elegant, although chaotic, of brute force and very aggressive style.
Very different from the efficient and almost deadly type with which they had fought. It's not that this style was weaker; on the contrary, it was much stronger in some senses, as if designed to tear down a mountain. Only that they felt this style suited Kalika like a glove, because when her eyes darkened, she initiated a new defense style, which made Heiss's deadly attacks reflect against him.
This caused that in each clash he had a weakness, and even more so when his assault was stronger.
Personality #16: "...Not bad, girl"
He was on the ground; he didn't look at the sword that was at his neck, he only looked at her.
"Are you still treating me like this when you're the one on the ground?"
Her expression was serene, almost as if she didn't care about the opponent she fought with. It's as if Kalika had changed from her state of constant fighting and arrogance to a colder and calmer one.
Personality #16: "Of course, I can't say I'm happy with my result, but it's not something I should take into account. Since we both held back, or do you think I wouldn't notice that your style was being reserved, only willing to beat me when I attacked. And that I didn't change or vary the strategy when I started losing dominance in each assault, it was more than entertaining to see a new facet. A new one different from the one seen previously"
"I only hear excuses from someone who lost"
Personality #16: "Really? Well, excuse me, not every day can I face a blood heir"
Upon hearing those words, Kalika was partially surprised; she didn't know many people who knew about blood heirs. If it weren't because the Tanakas had records in their private library and that Nile trained her, explaining the talents she could be capable of having, she would never have found out about anything.
They were rarities; she wouldn't even deny that her collection of subordinates had the goal of finding people like her, not just her new family; a task that would come out 7 negatives and one positive.
The person who knew most about blood heirs was her grandfather, but she never dared to ask him anything about it; she couldn't even ask why they had murdered her mother for having her. A part believed it was because of that rare genetics she possessed; however, it was discarded a few years later when she associated it with other possible causes.
"How do you know about blood heirs?"
Heiss observed her with a creepy smile; his attitude hadn't changed at all even after losing.
Personality #16: "We children not blessed by God, how could we not know what they were if they experimented on us to extract part of that genetic inheritance. We grew up seeing some and were able to see others die; only we, the strongest, managed to survive until we were betrayed"
"How many do you know?"
Personality #16: "...Only some remain who are the codices of the other districts, it's not something worthwhile, after all you're weaker than them?"
Suddenly Heiss grabbed the sword with his bare hand, and squeezed it, helping himself to rise while simultaneously cutting himself with the sword's edge.
Kalika could only hold her sword with a slight frown on her forehead.
Personality #16: "Since we're done, we'll go to the next confrontation, I hope you're prepared. I may be impulsive, but I'm nobody compared to the next one"
Heiss walked away to where his subordinates were; there he took a different weapon, an arming sword.
A sword of the most common and simple, used by knights, this one had space to put both hands, but otherwise it was almost the same as any other.
Of those who observed him, they said nothing, especially because when he approached, Heiss's personality made them a gesture of silence.
Nobody knew what was happening; they knew the next duel would be the most important because it would determine whether Heiss was up to par or not. It was already likely that he had passed Kalika's test; still, it would be a way to make sure how skilled the person who starts teaching them is.
He positioned himself in the same starting zone. For some reason, Heiss's behavior had her a bit uneasy; although she didn't care about the opponent she had in front, she hoped not to have to pull out her last card.
"Well..."
Heiss's eyes changed as he said those words between soft breaths. He slowly raised his head upward; he had his eyes closed. Slowly he lowered it and finally opened them; there an intense ruby red color had formed.
Personality #2: "Shall we begin?"