(Anissa POV)
My name is Anissa, and I am going to be the strongest female Viltrumite on Viltrum ever to have existed. How do I know this? I challenged many other woman on the planet who are known for their strength, and after two decades of training and fighting, I am confident that it is only a matter of time until I finally come out on top and best them all. It takes sweat, blood, and gore to get here, and from what I have been told, I am most likely to reach the top spot. But do I care about the women? Do I care about placement or positions? NO!
There is but one thing I care about, and that one thing doesn't care about me for some reason.
A few cycles ago, I became 30 years old and experienced a growth in body and power. I am finally a woman, with the looks going along with it, but I can't truly prove it because the one I want to prove it to refuses to do it. Nowl-Ahn, the man of men, the Vitrumite amongst Viltrumites, the hardest-working Viltrumite to exist and definitely the strongest in the coming future.
I was three years behind Nowl-Ahn during basic training school. I was an infant of 5 years when I first saw him perform during combat training. At the time, he was eight and pitted against an older Viltrumite at least two years above him, one and a half heads taller and bigger. That's two years of training, learning and growth the other boy had over him. I stopped walking and observed the blood feast. That other boy's fists impacted Nowl-Ahn's face full force and made his head snap back and from side to side. There were audible cracks and sounds of blood vessels bursting and bones breaking. Chief Instructor Gondor looked on from the side with his arms crossed. He was judging the two boys. I knew that he was a hard man, even for Viltrumite standards. Only true Viltrumites could ever hope to pass his tests, and he is utterly without mercy.
The taller boy was pounding Nowl-Ahn and smashing his head on the ground, but he refused to give up. I watched him stand back up, despite his lower jaw hanging by mere skin and his left arm being broken in multiple places. He had a deep wound in his stomach and was bleeding profusely, but he looked at the older boy with defiance. Blasted, I was smitten immediately. And then, I became a witness to one of the most glorious and disturbing scenes I have ever seen. Nowl-Ahn took a punch through his stomach, just to get closer to the older boy and bit him deep into his neck, and ripped it open. But he didn't stop, he bit into his neck once more, and while the boy tried to get him off, he was like a wild beast.
From what I heard, the older Viltrumite died that day, and Nowl-Ahn was in the infirmary for a few weeks.
I don't know what it was, I just couldn't stay away after that. I used my free time to go and spectate at his fights. Every week, I witnessed Instructor Gondor pit him against larger and older boys who pummeled him into unconsciousness, or suffered at his hands greatly. He just wouldn't stay down, and the only other option was to kill him or knock him out cold fast enough. Gradually, Nowl-Ahn grew better at the fights, and it was as if he grew used to the injuries and brutality he went through. I couldn't stop myself and followed him back to the dorms to find out where he lived. I was like a disgusting voyeur, looking at him when he trained and decided to fight him.
I approached him and declared my intention for all to hear. He was pushing weights at the time and didn't even stop to look at me. I repeated what I said, and other than a short glance in my direction, he didn't respond. After he finished the set, he said, No and that I should leave him alone. I got mad after he said that and picked up a weight and smashed him on the head with it. I saw the anger in his eyes as he turned around speedily and slapped me on the face, making me fly backwards and fall unconscious.
He got into a lot of trouble for that, apparently. This is why I always threaten him with property damage to get him to agree to my challenges.
Since then, I have challenged him whenever I could, whenever he was around and couldn't flee from me. I threatened to fight him then and there and cause destruction, for which we would get a lot of trouble, and that usually got him to agree. But never did he do it, because he wanted, always because I forced him in some way. Over 20 years have passed since our first fight, and he has become my personal whetstone. I have long understood that I need to be the proactive one in this strange relationship. He is so unlike other Viltrumite men I have seen. They go at it with the women and conquer them, but he doesn't do that. It's as if he doesn't want to hurt me, and initially, I was disgusted by that. I abhorred his lack of interest and un-Viltrumite mindset. I saw him train, break all of his bones, and almost kill himself and his opponents, being ruthless and brutal. But against me... he is like a lamb.
I still remember the first time I told him that I had chosen him. It was bizarre.
.
(Flashback)
*BOOOM*
Nowl-Ahn's fist impacts my face and makes me almost pass out. I fall to the ground and use all of my strength not to pass out right away. I see him look at me with the same concern in his eyes as he always does. I have started to hate that he is looking down on me, and I hate it! Oh, how I wish... but it's alright. This was a test anyway. A test to see whether he was the one, the one for me to marry and mate with. We would create strong children and improve the glory of the Viltrum Empire. We're both over 20 years old, after all. Most Viltrumites do it early in their lives and then lose interest, and then maybe do it again after a few millennia.
"W-ait..." I say with blood pouring out of my mouth.
"You have become stronger, Anissa. I'm glad."
He says such things to me. He's looking down on me by not even using all his strength, but when he says those words, I can tell he means them. Urgh, pathetic.
"I... have chosen... you."
"Hm? What for?" he asks.
"To be, my... mate," I say and wipe away the blood from my mouth, but more always comes out.
Nowl-Ahn looks at me with a stern expression and disapproval, very unlike how he usually looks at me. Good, at least he has the right look now. I need to make this clear before I lose consciousness, which I already feel slipping.
"No!"
"Huh?"
"I said no! End of discussion. I would have done so if I were looking for someone to mate with. I give everything for the Viltrum Empire, but not my intimacy. Who and when I choose to mate with will have nothing to do with her strength, but because I care and want to. Now piss off, you have overstayed your welcome."
I don't understand. I saw his lips move, but didn't understand what he said. My vision is unclear, but I walk forward.
"You're pathetic... Nowl-Ahn... Not even-"
*BOOOM*
"That's enough from you," he says and walks away, leaving me on the ground, bleeding.
(Feedback end)
.
I didn't understand what he meant back then and still don't. He didn't talk to me for over a year after that and focused on his own things. But I knew where he lived, so I went there and challenged him. Eventually, after having to fix his house over and over again, he started fighting me again and has been doing so for years now.
That's also the reason I'm flying to his house now. He has started that strange training, where he has stopped eating for months and doesn't breathe for weeks at a time. He lost some mass and has become rather lean. He has lost all of his body fat and looks as if he didn't have any skin, just the metal-like fibres of his muscles. I don't say I don't like it, it's just that I prefer muscle mass over definition.
I reach his house and fly to the entrance, not even knocking. He had to replace the door, because I just broke it, so he stopped locking it and rather gets the fights over with and gets rid of me.
"Nowl-Ahn!! I'm here for my fight!" I shout and walk through the house.
There is absolutely nothing in here that would prove that someone lives here. Apart from some kitchen utensils, the house is empty. I don't even realise why he uses it. He could live in the gym, and I think as long as he gets food, he wouldn't mind. He has declined my offer to come and live in my apartment, so that I don't always have to fly here and find him. I don't hear him and walk outside, where he sometimes is reading some papers or doing exercise.
"Oi, what are you doing? Are you slee...ping?"
I stop talking and run forward.
"Wha... what the fuck happened? Nowl-Ahn? NOWL-AHN?! Oh shit. SHIT!" I start to hyperventilate seeing him like this.
He seems to have been in a meditative position, but his entire stomach and chest are crushed and squished from top to bottom. His arms and legs are mushy, and all of his organs are lying around. He looks like that soup dish... all that blood. I shoot into the sky as fast as I can and fly towards the healing complex, the largest one on Viltrum. I rush into the entrance and shout as loudly as I can.
"I need an emergency squad in district 2824y, the third house. I don't know what happened, but he looks as though he was crushed vertically while meditating or something. Organs and blood lie all around, and I don't know whether he's still alive!" I say as fast as I can.
The man reacts immediately, sending out a team right away. I fly back to Nowl-Ahn's house together with the team and watch as they arrive at his house. I show them where he's at and look as they get ready to take care of his vitals.
"What the fuck happened with him?" one of them asks.
"I don't know. When I arrived here, I found him like this." I say, looking at the terrible state of Nowl-Ahn's body.
"I haven't seen anything like this. It's as if his body was crushed by something from above. But what could have done something like that?" the other man says.
They attach tubes and monitors to him and load him onto a stretcher. They move him as fast as possible. Usually, getting injured isn't as problematic on Viltrum, but whatever happened with Nowl-Ahn... was serious and is taken care of. I have never seen him this injured and doubt he will survive this, but despite that, I refuse to leave for some reason. I follow them to the healing complex, where he is taken to surgery.
I wait for hours and hours. After almost an entire day, someone exits the surgery room and walks past me.
"Hey, what happened?" I ask.
"What? Who are you?" he asks me.
"I told you about Nowl-Ahn, the man you brought to surgery. He had all his bones crushed and organs turned to mush. What is going on?" I ask angrily.
"Ah, that. He was just finished. We placed the organs back and arranged the bones as far as we could find them. It was like doing a puzzle, more than doing surgery, like creating a Viltrumite out of all of his basic pieces. I don't know how it is possible, but against all odds, he seems to cling to life. The only question now is whether he can do that until his head and heart recover enough. Usually, damage of that extent kills any Viltrumite, but with him... who knows?" he says and just walks away.
I watch him walk away and go to the room, where he is lying at the moment. I want to walk away, to be as unconcerned as the surgeon just now, to not care... but I can't for some reason. I take the chair and sit down in the room.
I am not even sitting for a minute when the door crashes open and a large figure enters.
*BOOOM*
I don't see the man's face, but any Viltrumite would recognise this man. He is a legend on Viltrum, the powerful Conquest. He stands next to the bed and looks at Nowl-Ahn. He grabs the handle of the bed and crushes it. He turns towards me and looks me in the eyes. I feel a cold shudder run down my back. Nowl-Ahn once told me that he knew the man, but not that they were close. So what is he doing here?
"What the fuck happened?" he asks me.
"I... I don't know. When I arrived at his house, I found him sitting in a meditative position, seemingly crushed by something. I don't know how it came to that, and the surgeon couldn't tell me either." I say.
"Why didn't the fuckers put him back together? He has no face, and not one bone or muscle seems to be where it's supposed to be. They havent' done shit."
"I was told that they had to put him back together like... like a puzzle... he was quite thin due to some kind of training. I don't know anything else."
"Hmm."
Conquest looks at Nowl-Ahn for a while and then turns towards me again.
"Who are you? Are you the one he settled for?"
"My name is Anissa, and no, he didn't settle for me."
"Ah, I see. You're the runt who keeps challenging and fighting him."
"Y-yes."
"Good, the little shit won't go after you, you'll have to be proactive. He has too many useless things on his mind. Did he slack off in the last few months?"
"I couldn't say. He has been doing the new training, which I didn't understand... but he was always doing something." I answer him.
"Hmm."
Without saying another word, he leaves the room, leaving me alone with Nowl-Ahn. What a weird moment. I sit back down and wait. He looks terrible. I don't think the surgeons ever had such a case, and it also didn't sound like they gave it their all. For the first time, the Viltrumite way... bothers me. Whether he survives or not, it doesn't matter to them. If he dies, he was too weak in the first place; that's what they think and tell themselves. That's why the medical section on Viltrum is the one that is the furthest behind all others and the one with the least number of young Viltrumites ever wanting to join.
What's wrong with me? Why am I having such thoughts? Am I faltering?
...
I hope he makes it.
No... he'll make it. I'm sure of it.
___________________________
Nowl-Ahn is 33 years old, and Anissa is 30.
I hope this was any good. I suck at writing romance and think it shows.