(⌒▽⌒)☞☜(⌒▽⌒)
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"I always knew our soldiers had weak willpower, but I never expected them to be inferior to even a woman!" Two generals whispered as they discussed, and the old army man spoke with resentment, seeing most of the fleeing soldiers being from the army.
The air force general, a rank lower with less experience, could only offer comforting words to console his old comrade.
"She is a highly trained senior agent, very different from ordinary soldiers."
Of course, the old man from the army didn't want to conduct a self-examination in public. To cover for his troops, he had to exaggerate the enemy's strength, and indirectly also boost Daisy's capabilities. Now having found an excuse, he immediately shifted the conversation to agent training.
Daisy was unaware of their discussion, currently being pursued by various flames, lightning, and ice, feeling a bit overwhelmed.
With her dark vision, she estimated that The Mandarin, who practiced chi arts, also had it. The darkness inside the room didn't hinder either of them.
"I admit I underestimated you! You are an elite. In my era, no woman could achieve this level." Despite continuous bombardment failing to kill her, The Mandarin finally had some impression of Daisy, upgrading her from Passerby A, B, C to an Elite A, B, C.
But that was it; he couldn't see Daisy's specific abilities and believed capturing and killing her was the only ending.
In the cat-and-mouse game, The Mandarin saw himself as the cat, while Daisy could only struggle on the brink of life and death, using all her strength to fight for survival.
The enemy's struggle was a source of joy for The Mandarin; he enjoyed being in control over everything very much.
Daisy, while dodging attacks, was also observing.
The Mandarin's attacks were extremely fierce. If Storm was a mage, he was the god of magic! However, he id too dependent on the rings, and no matter how powerful they were, without a user, they were useless.
Daisy had an Adamantium alloy dagger hidden in her wrist guard. The dagger was crafted from leftover materials of Yashida's alloy sword, capable of cutting through Wolverine's claws with a single focused strike. Now, its sharpness wasn't inferior to that of the alloy sword.
Even if The Mandarin's skin was as tough as "copper and iron," it probably wouldn't be as sturdy as Wolverine's claws.
Daisy took out the dagger from her wrist guard, seizing the opportunity when The Mandarin was complacent. With a sudden burst, she had a chance for a single strike.
Could one dagger stab The Mandarin to death? She found it challenging. As for blinding one of his eyes or cutting off half of his nose, those wouldn't be effective and would waste a good opportunity.
To prevent him from dodging and launching a counterattack, she aimed the dagger at The Mandarin's right hand. His five rings in the right hand were very powerful; even taking two would be enough for her for a long time...
Even if the rings had user recognition, Daisy wasn't afraid. She knew the rings were technological weapons, not magical equipment. As long as she cut off external signals, she had a way to deal with them. If worst came to worst, she would destroy them; they couldn't remain in The Mandarin's hands.
Calculating the distance, just as she narrowly escaped another fiery impact and The Mandarin burst into laughter, Daisy teleported behind him with a swish.
Her left hand clenched into a fist, pale energy in the dark room appearing somewhat conspicuous. The Mandarin caught a glimpse of displacement residues, and before he could understand what was happening, Daisy smashed a punch into the back of his head.
Invisible ripples swept through the entire room. The narrow space couldn't entirely contain the force of the punch; the walls distorted and deformed, ultimately turning into dust.
The Mandarin, at the forefront, felt an overwhelming pressure, his mind a bit confused. However, his reaction speed was far superior to an average person's. He quickly turned to counterattack.
He still used his most proficient, least energy-consuming flame impact.
Unfortunately, the ring was ultimately an inanimate object. Faced with Daisy's long-awaited strike, the initial flame energy was insufficient. The flames barely ignited before being shattered by the shockwave.
"You tricked me!" Realizing that such a powerful attack couldn't be triggered by Daisy's sudden burst of power, The Mandarin felt a mix of shock and anger. But facing this seemingly mountain-shattering blow, he wasn't confident in using his perfect body to confront it.
He instinctively raised his right hand to counter the vibrations.
Two completely different frequencies, formed by different energy compositions, clashed. One was just a ring, and the other was a living person, having undergone two rounds of body enhancements, equipped with scientifically unrealistic gear like vibration-resistant wrist guards. The result was obvious.
A muffled sound accompanied the collision of the invisible shockwaves. The Mandarin's eyelids twitched; he realized that his shockwave had been shattered by the opponent, and this woman playing possum was even stronger than he had imagined!
He had to summon a hurricane again to resist the shockwaves.
After two rounds of repelling flame impacts and shockwaves, Daisy's punch finally exhausted its strength against the hurricane.
She had also estimated her own level, which was roughly equivalent to The Mandarin with two rings.
The distance between them was extremely close, close enough that even in the darkened room, they could see each other's expressions.
The Mandarin didn't see panic, fear, or the realization that her plan had failed on Daisy's face. She didn't even look at him directly.
At this moment, Daisy was focused on The Mandarin's right hand. Suspended in mid-air, after her left-hand strike missed, she took out the alloy dagger, and with a swift motion, she swung it down on The Mandarin's raised right wrist.
She had long noticed that The Mandarin needed time to mobilize the rings and couldn't fire continuously. Every time he used a ring, he pretended to boast and talk big, which was actually concealing this weakness that's not really a weakness.
All ten rings relied on his own body to cast, and continuous use would burden the body heavily.
Now facing Daisy's assault, he had used three rings in quick succession, reaching the short-term limit. The next ring activation would require at least two to three seconds, and that was Daisy's chance.
"Insect! How dare you defy me!" Perhaps understanding Daisy's sinister intentions or simply feeling provoked, The Mandarin's hair stood on end, and his eyes overflowed with an unbreakable killing intent. He retracted his right hand while simultaneously twisting his waist and unleashing a powerful punch towards Daisy.
The Mandarin is someone capable of tearing Iron Man's armor by hand; judging from his posture, it was clear he had considerable strength.
This punch had no energy enhancement, purely relying on physical strength. It was powerful, and fast, and indicated that he had undergone rigorous training in close combat.
Daisy's target remained unchanged; the dagger continued its downward motion. She manipulated gravity to shift herself horizontally by thirty centimeters, avoiding a direct frontal impact. At the same time, she positioned her arm to shield the side of her body, preparing to absorb the impact with the Vibranium wrist guard.
The reputation of Vibranium is well-deserved. The Mandarin's punch caused no harm, but the impact force still made her step back.
The attack angle of the dagger deviated from the wrist.
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