Deep Sea Wars 9.1

9.

The Surface

Lady Jan glared at her opponent across the straw mat. She was dressed in the dark blue loose clothing suitable for the dojo training in her mansion at the estate. It was a loose tunic held by the dark sash at the waist and the balloon over the knee length pants above her bare feet. Her hands were held out with the knuckles bent inside at the fingers to resemble the leopard paws. It was a deadly form of the Far Eastern arts for the Leopard Claws art was only taught to Masters and men but hardly a lady had ever been known to practise it. Her opponent was the short bowmen with the blond and Slavic look. He was dressed in the similar dark garb with his pants tucked into the knee high laced boots. His blond hair was covered with the red bandanna. His name is Kosovan. He does not have a heavy chain on his neck with the dragon emblem. It was tattooed into his chest.

On the side of the dojo mat there stood Bian Feng who had returned. He was to report to her.

“Master, please feel free to join us.” Lady Jan spoke out without averting her stare. “Master Kosovan here is an expert in System; an ancient art of the northern Eastern countries.”

The Systema Art does not have any distinctive techniques but it covers the overall body and mind with the spirit. The master of the fighting art had to develop all of these before they could master the fighting techniques of punches and kicks.  That includes some form of acrobatic moves.”

Master Bian Feng stepped forth and then bowed to the lady. He then held both his hand in front of him to flex the muscles on them. The knuckle cracked was loud before the master took the fighting stance with both legs bent and the right leg moved back to give him the kicking power. The Leopard Style was one of the five styles perfected by the Shaolin monks centuries ago. Its difference was the way fist was created. It was the bending of the fingers at the first joint instead of the knuckle. You then clasp your thumb to the fingers. The fist could be used in jabs, chops or rake on the opponent flesh. Yu can also do a backhand slap with it.

Lady Jian smiled and then moved her lefts apart slightly before swinging the left right back. She was an opponent of the ancient art of Karate. The lady was part Japanese from her mother side and had spent most of her childhood there learning the katas’. She learned her basic there from the Grand Masters before moving to the main continent where she soon perfected her skills with many other opponents.

“Hai!” Lady Jan kicked her way into the threesome fight. Her front kick was at waist level with the toes as the impact point. She had placed her second toe to support the main toe to give it more power instead of using the bottom sole of the foot. She was kicking at Kosovan who had stepped back to avoid the kick and raised his left arm to block it. He was to strike at her with this right jab into the lower waist when he saw the leopard rake from the left of his face.

“Kia!” Bian Feng had lent his attack to the ladies’ but she was not impressed by it. Lady Jan turned her body to do a reverse kick on him. He saw it coming and blocked it. Bian Feng went into a half crouch to swing his left arm at the lady’s right thigh but she had stepped away. It was Kosovan rushed in with his overhead punch to the Bian Feng’s outlaid arm. He made contact but before he could follow through, the other had lowered his arm to channel the striking force with it. It was a Chinese Tai Chi move to counter the force with a softer rebound so that it will reduce its impact force. Kosovan saw his move countered and then turned to do a round side kick. His kick was blocked by Lady Jan who then used her right fist to attack back.

Kosovan changed his target to focus only on the lady. He moved in with a series of front kicks while approaching Lady Jan and Bian Feng had moved in from the rear which was the blind spot to Lady Jan. He swung both his fist palm upwards in the leopard grasp at the lady’s waist. Lady Jan saw the move and moved her arms to block it. She arched her body back while she raised her right toe to kick at Kosovan. It was like a dancer move but her kick was deadly. Kosovan reeled back to avoid the kick and had to do a back somersault to regain his balance.

Bian Feng saw his move countered had then stepped back to do a leopard fist at the Lady but she had countered it with a body block with her arm. She then countered with the deadly thumb ‘boshi ken’ or thumb fist. It was fist with the thumb bend at hand. She delivered it with her arm outstretched and at the last moment she twists the wrist to deliver the thumb blow onto the underside of Bian Feng’s forearm.

The trio split away from each other’s reach and accessed their next moves.

“Master Bian Feng, there is no shame in defeat. We have all been defeated before.” Lady Jan replied. She then pulled apart her tunic to reveal the metal exo-skeleton on her chest to her shoulders and trailed to her forearms.

“This is my mark of defeat. I had my spine broken once but it’s now reinforced with this. It gives me the extra strength to my kicks and punches. The metal trailed beneath my flesh there.” Lady Jan smiled “Kosovan held his own badge of defeat. His spine was like mine.”   

Kosovan rushed in with a sliding kick at Bian Feng legs while Lady Jan did a round house right kick at the surprised master’ face. Her toe kick broke his left cheek when Kosovan kicked at his left thigh. He bent over in pain when Kosovan deliver the next blow with another kick at the left waist of the crouching master. It was then Lady Jab moved in with her right hand chop at the back of the neck. She broke his neck bone and then in a series of chops she went down trailing on the log spine.

“Master Bian Feng, you are one of us now.” Lady Jan told him when the other fell to the ground writhing in pain. “You will be given a new body frame by my healers. We learned from the sea. To swim together we need to be one with each other. We will be the new masters of the Sea.”