Ivar was superior in more than just strength, but Andra had no status window to discover that.
Of course, fighting skill was not measured in the status window, but would this seemingly random human from Earth really be more skilled in a fight than the beloved son of an emperor-tier therian clan leader?
He did not believe he had much to fear in this fight. The only question was whether his claws could penetrate Andra's armour, but if not, he would just have to aim for her unprotected face.
He needed Alita to back off, however, as she would only get in the way, "Back off, Alita. You will only get in the way. This would be a case where the master protects the servant. Let's not make it a habit, though."
Alita backed off as Ivar had ordered; she didn't like it; she wanted to help; she wanted to be his Valkyrie! But she had seen how Andra had withstood Ivar's blow and made herself no illusions about being able to do the same had Ivar struck her with all his strength.
She wondered how Andra had gotten so strong. To her knowledge, Andra was no stronger than a regular woman in good physical condition, yet the evidence seemed to suggest otherwise.
Regardless, Alita knew she would only get in the way right now, but she promised herself she would never be sidelined again.
Meanwhile, Ivar was excited.
It had been a while since he was last in a real, one-on-one contest with a worthy opponent.
He knew he needed to watch out for her weapon; his skin and fur were tough, but Andra was strong, and if that weapon were as sharp as it looked, only his claws and newly gained horns would be able to resist it.
The two combatants stared at each other for a moment longer before they charged at each other, Ivar in a wide stance with claws at his side and Andra with her weapon above her head.
Ivar quickly sidestepped the choreographed attack; he almost let his guard down, thinking this woman had little skill with the sword.
Almost.
Since this woman had the ability to boost her stats somehow, he had decided to keep an eye on her status screen during the fight, and when he noticed her agility and strength suddenly jumping up, he prepared to defend himself.
The woman's sword made a nearly impossible turn while barely slowing down, forcing Ivar to stop his own attack and swing his claws at the incoming sword to stop it.
His speed allowed him to make it just in time, parrying the sword with one hand while bringing the other in for a sideswipe, which Andra managed to barely avoid by jumping back.
Ivar took another look at her stats and noticed they had gone back down to the numbers following her initial boost.
Selene sounded in his head, "It seems she also has the ability to boost her already boosted stats another time, but only temporarily. I wonder where her abilities come from; she looks like an average human, not even anything extra like with Alita."
Ivar responded, "I see. Well, the easiest method of finding out is also the quickest."
Then, out loud, "Care to tell me where your strength comes from, Andra?"
He received a snort in response, "How about I ask you the same thing? I assume it's some kind of genetic engineering? Some insane scientist's attempt at creating a werewolf? I admit, they did a good job. The antlers are a little weird, though."
Ivar sighed exaggeratedly, "I know, I know, I don't like screwing with my rugged wolf looks, but what can you do? Anyway, why do you assume I was created that way? What if I really am a werewolf?"
Andra made a dismissive gesture, "Impossible. My mistress would know if those existed."
Ivar responded with a raised eyebrow, "Oh? How interesting."
Realising she may have revealed too much, Andra attacked again, and they started trading blows in this narrow alley.
Her attacks were methodical and precise, while Ivar's attacks were savage and devastating.
While Ivar's stats were generally higher, Andra was expertly using her occasional boosts to create some unpredictability.
Andra would sometimes try to fire her arm-mounted gun, but Ivar would always knock it out of the way in time, and the weight of the gun seemed to be slowing that arm down.
Ivar also used the blue shield to defend himself against both her rifle and her sword, compensating for his lack of a weapon. Fighting this way allowed him to quickly gain experience in using this new ability.
Alita watched it all with anxiousness, barely able to follow their movements.
After a few minutes of trading blows, Ivar had yet to be harmed, but Andra had some deep gashes on her armour. None were leaking blood, however. Clearly, they were not deep enough to affect her.
Andra was scowling but seemed to realise something as she praised her opponent, "As much as I loathe to admit it, despite your apparent savagery, your skill in a fight is higher than mine.
The only reason I am still alive is because your claws are not sharp enough to fully penetrate my armour, but that would change as my armour becomes more damaged. I will have to force an ending."
She suddenly changed direction and charged towards Alita, confident her armour was still intact enough to protect her from Ivar's retaliation. Ivar, however, smirked and charged after her, suddenly going even faster than before.
He appeared next to Andra, who had all her attention on Alita and swiped down with his right claw, aiming for an already damaged spot around her right wrist, cleaving straight through armour, skin and bone, cutting off the woman's weapon-wielding hand.
Andra screamed and backed off while clutching the stump where her hand used to be and glaring at a smug Ivar.
"Here is a tip for you, human. Always leave something in reserve for when your opponent lets their guard down."
Ivar wanted a weapon, so he had been aiming to take her hand from the start.
Obviously, if he managed to kill her, he would have the weapon either way, but even if Ivar was confident in his ability to defeat her, killing was not the same as beating and to assume he could kill someone with mostly unknown capabilities was arrogance, not confidence.
So he waited for her to let her guard down.
For a moment, it seemed like Andra might let herself be blinded by anger and charge again, but she suddenly seemed to calm down, and after throwing another glare at Ivar, she disappeared with a flash.
Ivar looked surprised, "Instant teleportation? Guess I was right not to assume I would be able to kill her."
Selene appeared next to him, "Looked like it. But probably, with many restrictions, otherwise she would have used it during the fight.
Anyway, I really want to know who this mistress is and what she knows. I'm also surprised this Andra did not react to the northern winds shield. It almost seemed like she had seen similar things before."
Ivar nodded, "Well, as long as we keep going like this, I suspect we'll be able to meet this woman soon enough, as she seems to have beef with either Alita or Sanctuary. I should make sure to grow stronger before then, however, and perhaps get myself some armour like that woman had aswell.
Anything in the knowledge you grabbed from cyberspace regarding the kind of armour that woman had on? Assuming it could be made to fit my transformed state, it would be useful."
She shook her head, "Nothing. But that's not too surprising; both the military and corporations usually keep the best stuff for themselves. Which makes that mistress even more interesting."
It was then that he felt Alita's soft body wrap herself around his monstrous form. She seemed to cry a little, "Thank you for protecting me, Master."
Ivar shrugged and patted her head, "It's fine. Devote yourself to me, and I will protect you from anything you can't handle yourself. Use this as a lesson, however. Never slack off in your training."
Alita let go and nodded with determination while wiping her tears, "I will!"
Seemingly having recovered pretty fast, a slutty smile appeared on her face, "And I'll make sure to properly thank you later, Master."
Ivar grinned, "You'll do that anyway, you little slut. I can smell your arousal from here; I bet you'd be happy even if I took you right here and now."
The response came immediately, and with no small amount of cheek, "So why don't you then?"
While inwardly happy how much he had corrupted this woman in a short time, she needed to be reminded who was in charge.
Ivar scoffed, "Because you need to learn some patience and because I will fuck you when I want, not when you want. Besides, we can't stay here since the enemy knows where we are. Let's get your sister into the fold, and then I will reward you."
Alita smiled brightly, seemingly having lost any guilt about betraying her sister after noticing Ivar was sincere in his promise of protection, "Okay! Let's go then!".
Ivar was a little surprised at her enthusiasm, as she was a little more hesitant about the situation before, so he checked her status window and noticed two changes.