Maria readied her weapon and met Hecate’s mana-covered fist with her ax. When their strikes connected, she was greatly surprised by her opponent’s strength. Even with all the stats obtained from her Calamity and the special equipped effects of her Zantetsu-R, she was evenly matched with Hecate.
They traded attacks blow for blow and neither side relented. It was quite clear to Maria that Hecate had learned some form of martial arts because she was fighting using her fists and legs.
She was learning something similar just for the game, but she was self-taught, while Hecate seemed to be formally trained and had adequate fighting experience to boot. It was quite tricky to fight with her and Maria was only able to trade blows because she had the reach advantage.
If they were to fight without
