317 Cultural exchange 6

Sizing up his opponent, Dax assessed not only how to beat the 4 metre tall centaur, but how to also avoid killing him outright.

(Should be doable in about… 40 seconds?)

While Dax warmed up his joints and stretched in a somewhat relaxed manner, Goran started spinning his practice spear around as his attitude changed into that of a seasoned veteran on the level of a qiton elder, displaying the reason he was the leader of the other centaurs in a society which solely valued strength.

(... Better make that 50 seconds.)

"Is Dax really going to be okay?"

Watching Dax's nonchalant attitude as he warmed up, Ke got increasingly more nervous as the seconds passed. While she could sense that Dax was strong, Ke hadn't seen him fight yet, therefore she didn't know for sure.

"What a ridiculous thought, there's no way Dax can lose."

With IMI translating for Solaris, her prideful tone was clearly a display of trust in Dax's abilities, but she had yet to offer Ke any evidence or reason behind that attitude.

"Really? Centaurs are widely known as the best calvary there is and Goran looks extremely strong."

"That hardly matters, Dax is a qiton."

Perhaps wanting to brag about her lover, Solaris felt awfully talkative all of a sudden.

"A qiton?"

"Yeah, they're a race created to be the perfect weapon, furthermore Dax's body has been enhanced with the best biological engineering there is. He's an extremely skilled special forces operative with over 500 years of combat experience if there's anything able to kill him he would have been dead a long time ago. Even if you pitted him alone against the entirety of the Galactic Empire, Dax would come out on top."

(That's not exactly a good thing, is it? To have a single soldier be stronger than the entire country would be problematic...)

"T-that sounds amazing…"

A bit more at a loss for words than anything else, Ke was nevertheless put a bit at ease listening to Solaris' seemingly endless praise.

"Remember this is just a test of strength, not a fight to the death. Are both participants ready?"

"Sure, anytime."

With the dark elver representative acting as the referee, Dax still carried a nonchalant attitude which earned him the ire of the surrounding crowd, but Goran had started to see through the act. Dax's breathing was rapid and shallow, loading his body up with oxygen while the subtle readjustments he was constantly making with footing tested out how much pressure he could put on the ground.

"Don't let me down now, Dax!"

"Begin!"

"Here I go!"

Predictively Goran immediately went into a charge as he used his blunt spear as a lance, charging with murderous intent towards Dax who remained completely stationary, not even bothering to take a stance, but keen eyed observes noticed that his smile had all but disappeared, as had all other expressions on his face. As Goran closed to within striking range he trusted his spear, aiming for Dax's chest as his target all but disappeared, next thing he knew, Goran was on the ground.

"Please take this seriously."

Speaking in an ice cold voice, Dax instantly chilled the entire village to its core. Although Ke barely saw it happening, she did catch a glimpse of Dax sidestepping Goran before hitting him with a single open palmed punch, sending the 900 kilo centaur flying with little to no visible effort.

"GHAHA! Sorry about that!"

Getting back on his hooves, Goran laughed loudly as he regained his fierce smile, spinning around his spear he started stalking Dax instead of just blindly attacking.

"I guess I got too excited! It's been a while since I've had such a worthy opponent!"

Clearly still too excited to fight, Goran continued moving in circles around Dax with a beaming smile on his face, meanwhile, Dax didn't even bother moving, standing perfectly still it seemed he was confident he would be able to counter Goran no matter what direction he came from. 

An assessment which was quickly proved correct, as every time Goran struck, he only hit air or the ground.

"You're 300 years to early to even attempt to beat me."

Finally going on the offensive with those cold words, Dax knocked out Goran before the person in question even realized what had happened, bringing a tense silence to the centaur village.

"Kyaa! Dax, you're so cool!"

Well, mostly silent anyway.

Charging with speed comparable to Goran, Ke rapidly closed in and hugged Dax as she squealed like an overly excited school girl meeting her favourite idol and before he could peel her off him, Ke closed in on his head and quietly whispered into his ear.

"I'm looking forward to my compensation~ After getting me this excited there's no way I'll let you snake out of this agreement~"

(Shit…)

Getting a shiver down his spine as he peeled the overly excited lamia off his body, Dax realized he would have to seriously deal with Ke at some point, because there was no way she would just let him go.

-

"GHAHAHAH! You totally beat me, Dax, you sure are ridiculously strong! Thanks for not holding anything back!"

When Goran finally woke up he didn't seem upset about losing in the slightest, in fact, it seemed to be ecstatic that he had found someone stronger than himself to fight against. Against such an honest and straightforward personality, Dax also found himself with a full on grin, Goran was definitely the type of acquaintance he would love to get drunk with while sharing war stories.

"So, what are we going to do now, acting village leader?"

Turning slightly more serious, Goran's aura transformed into that of a seasoned village leader as he asked Dax.

"We evacuate, transport has already arrived."

As Dax answered Goran, multiple GE-5 heavy transports suddenly flew over the village before breaking and switching into VTOL flight mode as their massive electrothermal thrusters roared with power.

"There's room for everyone, what do you want to do?"

Turning to the dark elver representative, Dax wore a thin smile which concealed a strong willed presence.

"... There's really no choice is there? Without the assistance of the centaur village we can't defend against the Emergence."

(Score one more exotic race with unknown qualities, Ra and Mu are going to be happy.)