Beta Ray Bill

The crowd cheered.

All of them were excited for the fight to come, the joy they felt overwhelming them. I ignored them all though, focused upon Beta Ray Bill before me, a man who looked exactly like his comic book counterpart. However, there was also something different about him as well.

He just looked beaten down.

Like something was tearing him apart from the inside.

There was something very wrong with him.

Whether that was a good thing or not was something I'd have to find out later. Right now though, I had to make a decision, spare Beta Ray Bill and bring him over to my side. It'd give me a powerful warrior as a soldier, someone who was very loyal. On the downside though, he was a righteous being or was supposed to be, I'm not sure what he was like now. Either way, if that part of him was still there, hidden away, it would probably cause problems down the line.

I had intentions to rule the universe, to gather power and make myself the strongest being within it. That would put me at odds with many people, both good and bad. I couldn't go through my life sparing everyone I came across, I'd have to kill many and there might be times when Beta Ray Bill would disagree with those decisions.

This was purely hypothetical of course, but it was also something I couldn't rule out as a possibility.

The answer though, was very easy for me when I considered what Beta Ray Bill could become in the future. I knew that the Korbinites were still out there, finding them wouldn't be too difficult and that would make Beta Ray Bill indebted to me. It'd take time, but I might be able to use Beta Ray Bill's current broken downstate and the reunion with his people to make him truly loyal, deeply loyal to me.

And when I did, mould him into someone who could infiltrate Asgard.

It was a risky gamble I know, but there were weapons and secrets within Asgard I wanted to get my hands upon. Beta Ray Bill might be my ticket into it, though they're things to consider for the future. Right now, I needed to put an end to this fight and then begin the pièce de résistance of my plan.

Already the fight had been in full swing, their weapons having broken from the weight of their blows, nothing more than broken shards of metal upon the ground. Now we were circling one another, studying the moves the other were making and thinking about what they could do, or at least, I was.

By some unknown signal, the momentary break that had befallen us shattered, Beta Ray Bill rushed in like a mad beast. Both arms extended as if going to tackle me, I on the other hand shifted my foot back, arms raised in preparation to counter his charge.

The Korbinites arms were very large, I couldn't even wrap my fingers around the curves of his bicep and simply ended up placing my palms flat against them. Even then the force and momentum of Beta Ray Bill was astounding as he drove me back. My feet dug into the ground, pushing against him with all I had yet it was for nought as I kept getting pushed back.

'I knew he was strong, but this is, amazing.' I thought with a smile, hardly concerned in the slightest. My arms strained, exerting every ounce of strength to stop Beta Ray Bill from wrapping his arms around me as was his intention.

To crush me no doubt.

But I had other plans.

I timed it just right, waiting till the back of my heel struck the side of the arena. Beta Ray Bill noticed this and gave up on trying to wrap his arms around me, instead going to pummel me. But just as he pulled his arms back just an inch, my fists slipped from his biceps and struck on the underside of his chin.

The Korbinite grunted, head whipped back but not stumbling away.

Yet I had already landed a spinning back-kick into his sternum by the time Beta Ray Bill had lowered his head back down. It only forced my opponent to take a step back, but it was enough for me.

I had already come into this fight expecting to be the weaker of the two of us, but I came in prepared to be the most skilled. For all his strength, Beta Ray Bill seemed to be a fighter with some skill, but not enough. I was going to use that to my advantage and end this fight in a clinical fashion.

Watching Bill shake his head, I shifted my stance to a more defensive one, prepared for any assault that he might make. He didn't disappoint, a huff of warm air released from his mouth like a savage beast before he threw a powerful right cross.

Blocking it would be impossible and the height of stupidity.

Instead, as I should have done against my fight against Doomsday, I intended to be a counter-offensive fighter.

Stepping in close, I leaned my head to one side, a slight slap just nudging the punch to just a tiny bit to the side with the back of my hand. With my free hand, I drove my fist upwards into his side while swinging my other hand back down with a hook into his face.

Once more Beta Ray Bill stumbled back and I moved with him, making sure to eliminate the distance between us.

Again, Bill recovered and came back with another swing.

A jab this time, disguising the cross that was coming behind it. Weaving my head, I dodged the strikes and the many others that followed. Just like I had realised from the initial blow, Beta Ray Bill did have some measure of skill, but not a massive amount. He wasn't like Doomsday, relying purely upon brute strength to beat my opponents to death.

There was some finesse to his movements, he was familiar with combat and knew how to ensure the removal of any unnecessary movement. But that was all, he was not a pure brute, he was close though.

Once more, an opening presented itself and I capitalised.

-X- Line Break -X-

"Two hands winning!" Miek cheered.

"We can all see that!" Elloe replied sharply, eyes enraptured upon the fight before their eyes.

Korg much like Hiroim remained silent, both looking towards the booth where the Red King and the Governor sat. 'When I fight, look to the booth, see their reaction.' Korg replayed the words Tah told him before he went to prepare for his fight against the Red King's Champion. 'I can't say for sure what you're looking for, but you'll know when you see it. When you do, that's the time.'

Looking to the former guard of the Red King's father, Korg silently asked the question upon his mind. Hiroim in turn shook his head moments later after a bit of deliberation. The crowd were enjoying the fight, so was the Governor and even the Red King.

But little cracks were beginning to appear.

Hiroim knew what the Red King was like, he was a child who threw tantrums when things didn't go his way. It was precisely the reason the Emperor had ordered him to assassinate the Red King when he was but a child.

An order he had failed and regretted to this day.

He may have wanted this fight to go ahead, but the Red King wanted and expected his favoured Champion to win. All the talk he may have had with the Governor meant nothing because the Red King didn't want Tah as his champion, he wanted Beta Ray Bill.

This fight was going exactly as Tah wanted, it just so happened that it wasn't what the Red King wanted. Right now, the Red King was bottling his displeasure, but very soon that would all come crumbling down and when it did, that would be when the signal needed to be given. How Tah knew the Red King so well was something that Hiroim didn't know, but Tah knew that the Red King couldn't stand to see his champion lose.

-X- Line Break -X-

Crouching down, I struck out at Bill's left knee on his inner side with my elbow. It buckled slightly under the strike, Bill coming down with an overhead strike aiming to crush me. I spun along the ground, coming up behind the Korbinite and hooked my arms around his waist.

With a heave, I ripped him up off the ground and pulled him up over me and slammed Bill headfirst into the ground.

Quickly releasing him, I got to my feet and jumped back just ever so slightly as to keep some distance between us. Ultimately, as big of a threat as Beta Ray Bil was, the difference in skill was the deciding factor between us. He relied on brute strength, I relied on skill coupled with strength.

In a way, he was exactly as I had been before arriving on Sakaar. Confident that my overwhelming strength would secure victory and nothing else.

I had learned that lesson, he hadn't.

As Bill got to his feet, I rushed in close and slammed a plethora of blows into his stomach. He recovered well, a guard getting in the way and blocking the end of the combination. Only for my final punch to only lightly tap against his guard, a shift that caught Beta Ray Bill by surprise. This left him open to the roundhouse kick that slammed into the side of his face.

A single step, that was all it took for Bill to recover, coming round once more with a powerful uppercut. That single blow alone left a burst of wind rippling through where I once stood, washing over the crowd.

But I was already out of the way, flipping over Bill and landing behind him. Pushing off the ground, I drove my elbow into his back, Bill letting out a gasp of shock.

He was durable though, just as always.

Recovering quickly and once again coming round with a backhand strike intent on taking off my head. Spinning under the strike, I came up with an uppercut that struck him in the underside of his chin. I even went with the momentum, jumping up with it and careful to not let my ability of flight be seen, I altered my direction and came back down.

A crushing overhand blow that actually knocked Bill to his knees.

Landing on the ground, I quickly shifted back, avoiding the hand that reached out to grasp my ankle. It clenched around nothing but air, me rushing back in and kicking Bill across the face. He was rag-dolled across the ground, not having a proper stable footing to brace himself properly.

This was actually kind of fun.