Chương 22: Doomed

Doom's eyes narrowed behind his mask, the fury in them never concealed. For a moment, Mason wondered whether he would attack, but then Doom spoke in a dignified voice, "Doom did not come here for a clown." Mason smiled. He had been sitting down, meditating, which was about the worst way to start a fight. If Doom sought out a fight, he would have already attacked, so he relaxed, replying with what he was sure was an annoying lack of panic, "Apologies, your Royal Highness, but I am a mere commoner.

I'm afraid you will have to do with little old me." Mason thought he could hear Doom grinding his teeth, but his voice remained unchanged, "The King is to be addressed as Your Majesty, but Doom should not expect decorum from a monkey." Mason nodded along, "Especially the monkey who slapped the King's face. You should be glad I didn't fling shit at you." It was hard to read Doom's expression, on account of the mask, but Mason was pretty sure his face eased up at that, surprisingly.

Again, his voice remained much the same, as if he was addressing a subject of his, "Yes, the monkey who bypassed my mystical force-field and titanium armor." Mason kept smiling but said nothing, always making sure to keep his smile collected and somewhat smug. Doom was an immensely dangerous threat to the world at large, and Mason had no doubt that were he to wish him harm, there would be little he could do to protect himself.

However, Doom was just as arrogant as he was powerful, which made him somewhat predictable and manipulable. Mason was using that very arrogance to his advantage. Seeing Mason not say anything, or act surprised or even fearful, Doom clenched his fists before surprisingly putting them forward in a martial greeting, his voice gaining a hardened edge, "I challenge you to a duel. Martial arts only." Mason raised an eyebrow and did not accept immediately, asking instead, "What do you mean exactly by 'Martial arts only'?

Besides, it would hardly be a fair duel if one of us was in titanium armor."

"Are you scared of Doom?" Mason snorted softly, "You won't rile me up that easily. We can have that duel if you wish, but I'm afraid you do not know what you are getting yourself into. You understand little of martial arts, after all." Something shifted in Doom with that last sentence. His ego had been hurt. His fury was rising. None of which was good for fighting.

"Will you take the challenge?" Mason shrugged and slowly got up, leaving himself full of openings as he slowly carried the candle to the side, blowing it out. These openings were mostly fake, as Mason had his Breath focused on Doom at the moment, and would thus have more than enough time to react, but Doom did not know that. Being seemingly underestimated put Doom on edge.

Finally, Mason stopped in front of Doom, well within range as he took a stance, both palms opened as he beckoned Doom with the same smug attitude. Doom struck like a snake, his entire body activating for a momentary burst of speed, his armored fist going for Mason's face to wipe off his smile. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. It was only a punch, but Mason already found quite a few interesting things about it. Doom was clearly no novice in martial arts.

That punch had been faster than anything Izo could muster, and bursting with that much power in a single instant was something only the greatest fighters could accomplish. Evidently, Doom had been trained by some of the best martial artists, although he appeared to be lacking any training in Neidan. Because as fast as Doom was, Mason read him before he even started moving, so he also moved ahead of time.

Something Mason had noticed with his training at the MMA Gym, as well as his fight with Izo, was that martial artists relied too much on preconceived moves. This was done to bury the moves in their muscle memory, which in turn allowed them to ignore reaction time altogether, as they would not even think before striking.

Against normal opponents, there was nothing wrong with it, as the truly great martial artists would know enough moves to move fluidly, but against someone who could read their moves ahead of time, using that rigidity against them was all too easy. Mason tilted his head out of the way the very moment Doom aimed his punch, and although his opponent attempted to rectify the trajectory of his armored fist, Mason dodged the attack all the same, stepping into his reach and feinting an attack.

Mason did not even have to think about whether his feint worked, as his Chi told him it did and how Doom wanted to react to it, so Mason instantly lowered himself, ducking under a grapple and allowing him to punch Doom's armor, right over his liver. It was a light tap, something that would not have hurt even without the armor, but they both stopped nonetheless. Their short exchange had been more than enough to prove Mason's earlier claim.

Straightening his body, Mason turned his back on Doom without a care, while the Latverian leader stood still, the only sound coming from him being his faint breathing. Sitting down in a relaxed, if not lazy posture, his head leaning against his fist as he stared at Doom with a teasing smirk. That smirk finally seemed to awaken something in Doom, who growled softly, "Do you take Doom for a fool? You were reacting to Doom before he moved, and your energy readings were off."

Mason cocked an eyebrow, making it clear he was getting bored in his tone as he drawled, "And once again, you elected to show your ignorance. You know, no one would think you were mute even if you stopped speaking." He snapped his fingers and added without letting Doom place one word in, "First off, your moves were obvious enough that any decent master could read them with the naked eye. Secondly, those predictions were born from martial arts, same as that punch the other day."

In reality, he was being a dick to harm Doom's pride. From what he saw, Doom was at the very peak of 'mundane' martial arts, and could likely rival just about anybody. Without Chi in the balance, Doom would be even better than Mason. Unfortunately for him, Mason could in fact read his moves ahead of time. The silence stretched on, so Mason asked, "So, did you come here to display your ignorance, or did you want something?"

Doom remained eerily still, always so careful not to show any of his emotions, until he eventually bowed, fists forward but not aggressively this time as he said, "Teach Doom martial arts."

"Do you mean 'please teach the mad king who set the Hulk on you and just challenged you out of nowhere martial arts'?" The titanium of Doom's armor clinked with his movement as he unfurled his arms, conceding without questioning, "You may ask one thing out of Doom in exchange."

"What do you have that might interest me? And don't say money; you're paying regular tuition in any case." Victor Von Doom, as the King of Latveria, had virtually billions to spare, so he did not voice out any objections, proposing instead with great gravitas, "I can teach you magic." Unfortunately for him, Mason did not show the expected reaction. He looked disgusted, like Doom had personally offended him, and spat out, "Do I look like I got the time to learn to summon sparkles?"

Doom narrowed his eyes, some of his anger leaking out as he said, "Tread carefully, fool." Mason snorted derisively, not taking the warning seriously, or pretending to at least, "You're the one playing fey. I'm pretty sure that whatever I ask, you'll tamper with. But now that I'm thinking about it, can you do a gravity room?"

"A gravity room?" Mason nodded, straightening as a particular Saiyan came to mind, "Yeah, a room where you can increase the gravity. And I'm not talking about one of those spinny things pilots train in; I mean a room where I can train under increased gravity. Something that could go up to like a hundred gs or something." Doom was silent for a while before he finally exhaled, "You really are a monkey." They had a deal.