As the two warriors closed the distance, Kisame waved off any question about his health though he'd have to pry out Samehada's scales that were still bent into his hand. He was taking what chakra Samehada could spare to ease his body's aches. His partner sword had done a good job of hanging in there for him. Kisame gave the taller woman in front of him a cursory glance and didn't see so much as a single bruise or cut.
"Just how strong are you, Beth-san?" What he didn't expect was an actual answer.
"When I said 'Release Restraints', it's an aria we use, utilizing self-hypnotism to unleash some of the barriers our brains put on our body. Too much accessibility would be a huge strain on the body if we aren't trained for it. 'Level 1' is always the lowest restraint we have among the others. You can usually tell because a flame will sprout from our eye," she said, tapping said eye where Kisame had remembered seeing a silver flame bloom. He'd thought it was just a trick of the light, or the adrenaline during the battle.
"Sooo, you can get a lot stronger?" he asked for clarification. She nodded in return.
"The eye flame usually represents us releasing 10% of our full reserved strength."
He felt a stone drop in his stomach, or was that his jaw dropping? He didn't know but he wasn't the only one who heard it as a few shinobi nearby felt their bowels loosening at the realization that she had outmatched their physically strongest shinobi with but 10% of her full strength. Kisame felt his throat swallow a huge metaphorical humble pie.
"Well damn."
She smirked in a cocky—no it looked like it but Kisame had the feeling she wasn't pleased, or like she wasn't feeling the emotions behind the expression—way. "You think your pride is hurt? After all my training, to be forced to release a limiter for the first time in a fight against someone who isn't a Valkyrian, you've both insulted my pride and earned a bit of grudging respect." Her eyes sharpened to slits. "Do not expect a similar result in any future fights. I will destroy any will to fight you may have next time and any thought of victory you might get will be brutally crushed, Kisame Hoshigaki."
"Heh, now that I smell blood in the water, I'll be chomping at the source, Beth-san." He got a thoughtful look for a moment. "You're ridiculously strong though. How strong are you compared to your sister?"
"Fishing for information so bluntly?" she asked. He shrugged.
"Yes, information gathering is important but sometimes I just prefer a head-on approach. No lying or manipulating; just a nice, straight forward battle of strength and skill, so sue me why don't you?"
The twin nodded, remembering how unenviable Megusa's position was and how the woman had missed the straight forward mayhem of warfare on the front lines. "I suppose I understand. Anyway, Alicia is the more powerful of us. She is the offensive type while I am more specialized in defense. My 100% effort would be her 70% at best, but her durability is about half that of mine. We've learned through trial and error the strengths and weaknesses in our forms and compensate for each other's flaws."
Kisame grimaced at the second serving of humble pie, but he did glance down at his impaled hand and thought back to how the scales that so easily tore through his skin didn't even penetrate the epidermis of Beth's hand.
"Any other information you want to gather for your village?" she asked with a combination of disinterest and amusement, topped with a proverbial, metaphorical cherry of arrogance that would make Dio Brando or Gilgamesh, King of Heroes, impressed. Kisame honestly felt the woman was treating his curiosity like that of a child's had her face not looked so aloof.
"Sure, why not? Can your queen back up her hype or is there a reason she needs two powerful warriors as her guards?"
Beth's stoic face finally broke, and by extension Alicia's as the conversation had been shared since it started through their mental connection, and the swordswoman had to do her damned best not to laugh in Kisame's face. It helped that she honestly had forgotten what it meant to want to laugh over the course of her training and that unfamiliar sensation was included among the numerous behavioral actions they were trained to ignore.
Instead, after regaining her facial pattern, she gave Kisame a look that belied the massive amount of awe and curiosity she honestly had towards her queen's strength.
"There is a reason for us as her guards, but not what you're thinking. Queen Freya's power in just physical combat is unmatched. Never in recorded history has she ever been overpowered by any of the billions of foes she has faced in combat. We serve as her guards because she was in need of a far weaker extension of her own self as she must restrain even her base form's strength to not accidentally crush those who she does not desire death for. We are her guards because she is simply too powerful, Kisame. My sister and I can not be compared to her. If we are a candle, she is a sun."
The shark man who is reputed to have the chakra reserves of a Tailed Beast could not find a bit of doubt in Beth's voice. To be honest, it almost sounded like fanatical worship. This warrior, powerful in her own right and more than deserving of his respect at her strength and skill, sounded like she would fall down and worship the ground around her queen. "You really don't sound like you're exaggerating, y'know? You're comfortable telling a possible enemy that kind of information?" Really.. such a powerful warrior as Beth was currently sounding really out of character. Did their queen inspire this kind of worship from all of her subjects?
"Kisame," Beth said with utmost seriousness. "It doesn't matter if your entire world knows it or not because Queen Freya is simply that powerful. I've only ever bore witness to her releasing just two limiters, just through an old video recording." It was actually a Nebladed Valkyrian who had died of old age and no heir to her body, but that wasn't necessary for Kisame to know. Also, it went unsaid that Freya needed twice as many mental limiters as a Royal-class Valkyrian, meaning she had thirteen in all.
"It was a magnificent battle against a formidable warrior who fought against Queen Freya. Their battle destroyed a country's entire capital, collapsing tall buildings and upending entire housing blocks with just the force of their swings connecting. She had him dead to rights and as a final gesture of respect, she showed him a glimpse of her true power. At ten percent, the land around her was burnt to cinders for miles, the very air was filled with static and set aflame, and an entire country shook itself apart down to its continental plate. The person who earned her respect did not survive her next blow, and neither did the planet they fought on."
She stalked up to him as his mind tried to simply comprehend the absurdity of the retelling. Beth looked him in the eyes and he could glimpse a bit of smug satisfaction at his state of mind, and admiration to who he guess was her queen and the memory she was recalling. "Do you understand, Kisame? I can say this with ease and openness, free of any consequence and breach in information, because our queen is just. That. Powerful. There's not a single living being in known existence who can prove to be her better. If one exists, we have yet to find it. If you don't believe me, that's fine, but I dare you to look me in the eye and call me a liar as I swear on my honor as a swordsman that I have said nothing but the truth in regards to Freya's power."
Beth got him with that last bit. He was sorely tempted to call her out on it but if a swordsman's honor was anything to a Valkyrian like it was to an Uzumaki, calling her a liar still would have a massive claymore stabbing through his face. He held his cheeky retort behind his lips and nodded. "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, Beth. It's only the craziest thing I've ever heard so no big deal."
She nodded and backed down, seemingly pacified. "I never said you had to believe, but just don't call me a liar. There is no need for lies between swordsmen on the battlefield, nor off of it. Now, if you neglect your hand anymore, it's liable to gain an infection, Kisame. I believe your sword would be able to help with that, no?"
He nodded and whipped a kunai out before meticulously dipping the bent scales up out of his hand. He ignored the pain simply enough while Samehada fussed at her scales' state of deformity. What? Even a swordsman's sword would have its own amount of pride. When he straightened the scales out a little bit, he ripped his impaled hand off the handle while holding the sword with his other. Samehada didn't waste time speeding up his regeneration now that she wasn't unintentionally stopping it and she was gurgling out apologies to her wielder.
"Thanks, Samehada. Don't sweat it, girl. I'm not mad." He patted the sword with his healed hand for good emphasis.
Beth paid close attention to all of her senses regarding the healing process. Her eyes were sharp enough to almost see on an atomic level when focused on a single area—a small area a few inches in width, like the wound on Kisame's hand. She watched as a nearly transparent layer of energy, a thin haze like that of heat rising from a hot paved road, enveloped his hand. Moments later, his cells began rapidly reproducing as if they were getting an adrenaline rush. Those new cells began reproducing as well, recreating the loss bone marrow, ligaments, muscles and finally, the skin.
The entire wound was closed and healed in seconds, leaving only scar tissue faint enough to nearly blend in with his blue skin. Beth also took notice how the sword, Samehada, shrunk a little bit, about a few inches in length. She quickly came to the conclusion that the sword's size is dependent on how much energy it has and its shrinking rate is related to how much energy must be required to hyper-stimulate the different types of cells within the body to heal the wounds. It must use chakra as well. If so, how does it get more?
Beth gave the train of thought half her attention as her sister and charge arrived with the Mizukage following. He gave her a calculating look mixed with caution and appraisal that lasted for a glance before he turned his attention to his own shinobi who wasn't showing any signs of injury now though his stance had barely enough tenseness in them to show to the experienced eye that his body was still riding on the high of the fight.
"That was quite a fine spar, if I do say so myself," Megusa spoke up, giving a gleaming, knowing look towards Beth and a look of approval towards Kisame. "You've certainly surprised me, Kisame-san. While I've never seen Beth fight before, I've heard tales of her and her sister's strength and skill. Know that you are the first non-Valkyrian I've known of to last so long."
"As a bodyguard to your queen, I've no doubt that is very high praise, Megusa-dono," Yagura stated, a rhetorical statement. "Despite your loss, you've proven much of the rumors of your strength true, Kisame-san. Know that Kirigakure is proud to have you protecting it."
The swordsman didn't quite puff up at the praise, though he did have a feeling of pride. However, it was still completely overpowered by the new fire burning in his belly to get stronger. Seeing how outmatched he was after learning of Beth's true strength and how she could simply dismiss all of his future efforts like a ridiculous fairy tale really lit a fire under his butt. He has found an axe and he is going to be busy grinding it.
Surprisingly, Alicia spoke up, adding her own two cents. Her look was even more aloof than her sister's as she stared down at him like he wasn't worth her time though a really good eye could see she was taking a bit of pleasure in dressing him down.
"Not bad for a non-Valkyrian, but any elite veteran of the Major-class can push Beth to using ten percent of her full power." Yagura had not yet known of the significance of the eye flame and thus was certainly blindsided by the casual reveal. "The most powerful Major alive can even beat any one of us with her more vast experience and skill, though she holds a position just as important as ours so she's not a bodyguard for the queen. Still, I am much stronger than my sister. Feel free to challenge her as much as you want but know that you'll never approach her true level of power, thus you'll always be a child compared to myself."
The casual stance she had with her hip cocked to one side and that side's arm resting on it, the blatant condescending look in her eyes—all of it was done as if she was stating the weather forecast. Yagura gave her a reproachful glare while Kisame's grip on Samehada's handle turned his knuckles pale white.
Oh yeah, he was going to grind that axe sharp enough to split that bitch's head in two. He glared back at the two sisters who were glancing down at him like he was saying something silly and they the adults who were brushing him off as unimpressive. His glare was all the humor he'd give them.
Challenge accepted.
A clap of the hands from Megusa broke up the stare down. "Well, I believe we've had quite the amount of excitement for the day, don't you think, Mizukage-san?" she cheerfully asked. The midget among the group nodded in agreement.
"Yes, Ambassador Megusa. Should another fight break out, I doubtlessly might find myself cutting loose as well. This training field would not survive and the paperwork that would give me is unappealing. Shall we retire somewhere? Perhaps I can treat you to some local cuisine?"
Megusa glanced at the three warriors, asking the question. Kisame shrugged and nodded while the twins gave twin "very well" (pun intended). "Fabulous." She turns to Yagura and gives a small bow that would draw many eyes to her hanging chest. "Do you have any suggestions, Mizukage-san?" Yagura would have fallen for the lure but he caught the challenging gleam in Megusa's eyes as she wasn't even trying to hide it. With a withheld sigh, he maintained eye contact with the insufferable woman.
"Very well, I know of a restaurant within jumping distance that is nationally ranked in the top five. Open air table arrangements, a kitchen allowing one to see the chefs cooking, a large buffet you pay by the pound after eating, and a talented musician group are its finer points. Since your queen had admitted that your people do not utilize a money based economy, it will be my pleasure to purchase this meal for you."
A sudden presence filled the air around the group but the only ones not reacting to it were the Valkyrians. Kisame had started looking around the area to locate the source of that feeling of dread. Yagura was wondering why he suddenly felt like he made a deal with a devil. While Alicia and Beth's faces were neutral and unassuming, Megusa's only had a soft smile and a predatory-like slant in her eyes.
"We are very thankful, Mizukage-san. Oh, I do hope to try some of the seafood native to these islands."
As Yagura led them to the diner, he couldn't help but cast wary suspicion on the woman.