The two leaped at each other with now equal speed and strength. Samehada gurgled in excitement as she slammed against the flat of the sword of Beth's. Both sword wielders could consider their swords as clubs now: Kisame's based on looks and Beth's due to her not using the edge. The two contested their strength and Beth found that Kisame was now evenly matched with her and was slowly pushing her back despite her own massive strength. Her eyes narrowed at the thought.
With a grunt, she pressed harder and stopped her sword's retreat. The pressure against each other caused their feet to embed into the earth like anchors. The surrounding shinobi and Valkyrians watching were transfixed and caught in the power struggle as well.
All the shinobi thought they'd never get to see someone actually match Kisame in raw strength when he got serious.
Alicia never thought a human—or whatever Kisame counted as—could physically match her sister's full base strength. Their own base stats were far higher than anything a regular human could hope to achieve.
Megusa was simply enjoying the good fight though thoughts of drawing her own blades for a fight once again did whisper temptation in the back of her mind.
Yagura was well suitably impressed by Beth's strength, to force Kisame to have to exert such chakra enhancements upon his own body.
The power struggle kept going. Either could have dropped out of it but it was now a matter of pride in one's strength that they were known for. Kisame was called the "Monster of the Hidden Mist". The number of people on this planet who could match him in pure strength could be counted on one hand.
Beth would never forgive herself if she pulled out of the lock. She endured over a hundred years of pure torture to reach where she was. She was not going to let some sub-human with a bit of innate energy manipulation stain her efforts.
"Release restraints, level 1," she intoned, getting a comprehending look from Kisame.
A silver flame sprouted from Beth's left eye and the very air around the two became heavy with static discharges. For the people in the surroundings, it seemed as if they were standing underneath water. It was a form of pressure that didn't match killing intent. All were curious about what the fire coming from Beth's left eye was, though only Alicia, Megusa, and Yagura understood it.
Beth's muscles spasm and stretch a few inches to accommodate the increased access of power. Her sword began steadily pushing back Samehada who was squawking in surprise. She tried to see if she could eat whatever was powering Beth but to her frustration, whatever it was wasn't chakra. Kisame felt the push against him and began flooding his network with chakra. He was too far into it to pull back. Chances were that with so much pressure on their blades, if one of them moved back, they'd never move fast enough to dodge the opponent's blade. It was all or nothing.
One would stand, and one would fall.
His own muscles began straining and screaming in protest as he forced his Ichibi's sized chakra reserves throughout his skeletal, musculature, and respiratory systems. He needed every single bit of power his body could squeeze out. Beth noticed the dramatically increasing strength and began lifting up her power as well. The very air filled with static became a miniature thunderstorm due to Beth's power while Kisame's vast chakra seemed to drown the country in a pressure similar to being underwater. The ground beneath their feet was torn asunder like dust in the wind and the trees around them were either crushed or set aflame by both's power increase.
The spectators that couldn't handle the stress passed out due to their own desire to see who would come out on top. Those of at least Jounin strength, and those of the few Seven Swordsmen watching with shock and excitement, started placing bets even while it felt like they were wearing Might Guy's weights.
A burst of conflicting power was expelled from between Kisame and Beth's blades, sending out a dome of pressure to uproot the dead or pressured trees around them, sending them flying in all directions. Alicia drew her blade to knock aside a few that flew at her and Megusa. The intensity of the fight had sensor ninjas skilled in sensing chakra signatures from long distances looking worriedly towards what felt like a Bijuu running wild.
The explosion had sent the two swordsmen back a few meters to their halves of a crater made by their struggle. A silver aura began emitting from the fire of Beth's eye, casting a sterling glow over the area behind her while Kisame's blue chakra was coating his own half. As the two contestants charged into each other again, the two colors clashed violently for domination and neither looked to be backing down or running out of juice. The ground beneath them was destroyed again and pushed them back but in time quicker than an eye blink, they were blade locked again.
Samehada's scales were scratching at the sword of her opponent, creating enough sparks to start a bonfire but the blade's metal held like an impervious wall.
It felt like hours but eventually the more dominant was starting to emerge. Beth was pushing back Kisame an inch at a time and both fighters knew it. Beth finally reinforced her sword by grabbing the handle with her other hand as well and the change became obvious even as Kisame was using both hands as well. Quickly removing one hand, he placed it along Samehada's scales and stopped the encroachment.
Beth's focused gaze was actually joined with a barely noticeable snarl on her lips and her eyes' pupils became slitted. With a roar from both of them, a great explosion of pure force and energy erupted from their blades that covered the area with gusts and debris. Despite his efforts, Kisame was thrown backwards with a force enough to send him rolling like a ball. Despite her tremendous power, Beth didn't send him flying far away because of his own power nearly matching what she was releasing. Still, with him gone, her blade followed through with its long denied swing and Beth's muscles stopped it before the tip hit the ground.
The air pressure generated was still vast and carved a massive gouge into the earth that simply obliterated earth, rock and trees for several hundred meters while being dozens of meters deep and wide, nearly killing numerous shinobi who happened to be in the way. Thankfully, they were able to use shunshin and escape to safety but the damage done by that swing froze their muscles with fear.
Beth began returning her power back under its biological locks and thus the flame and aura disappeared.
Kisame's body had been implanted in the ground after one final vicious roll. He hadn't seen what air blast of their attack but as he finally pried himself out, he collapsed to a knee in exhaustion, having never had to strain his body to such an extent. Usually his body was stronger than his opponents and Samehada capable of eating the chakra of anyone who might match it with enhancements, like Tsunade or Jinchuuriki were famous for.
He spat a wad of blood from some internal damage onto the ground and idly gave the destroyed area a good appreciative look. He saw Beth standing ready and raised his hand as a gesture of "No more" and she began cooling off. The entrance of Yagura, her twin, and the ambassador lady seemed to make the end of the match official. A couple of Jounin came by to offer him a hand but he waved them off. It just wouldn't feel right if he didn't walk away from this match on his own power.
As his opponent walked over to check up on him, he gave her a grin and a nod that she returned, though her grin was simply a small tilt up on her lips. Both had earned the other's respect today.
Kisame sighed as he got a deep breath in him. Yeah, with opponents like these around, he could start loving the idea of the Uzumaki returning.