Blood was leaking everywhere. Even bone was visible as many of them had protruded out of her skin. It was a terrible sight.
Things were really bad for Princess. It was just a single hit, but she already found it difficult to stand back up.
She looked defeated, so the golem didn’t pursue her. Thor asked smugly from where he stood, "Do you admit defeat now?"
She gritted her teeth and said, "Not yet. You are still too weak mentally to be equal or superior to me."
She was referring to the fact that at the last moment, the golem had held back. If it hadn’t, half of her body would have been crushed by that hit. But instead of being grateful for Thor’s restraint, she was mocking him for it.
Thor understood this, but he didn’t get angry. He simply sneered and said, "Let’s see how long you can keep your bravado up."
The fight should have ended after that first punch, but Princess was determined to fight until she couldn’t before she admitted that a human who is cheating by using external sources of power to beat her is strong.
So Thor controlled the golem to walk towards her and begin hitting her. The golem didn’t aim to kill her. It just wanted to maim her and cause as much pain as possible.
The second punch hadn’t even touched her before the sight became too much for Leroy to bear. He shouted at Thor, "Wait."
Thor asked with dissatisfaction, "Wait for what?"
Leroy explained, "Let me speak with her."
Then he controlled the golem to stand aside. Leroy saw this and went over to Princess to speak to her. The other two couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it seemed he was trying to convince her of something.
Thor had agreed to this intervention because he was hoping for an end to this. What he wanted mostly was for her to admit that he was strong.
He didn’t want to crush all the bones in her body, and he took no pleasure in doing so. Actually, he didn’t like crushing her because it looked like he was doing the same thing she did to him in a different way.
He didn’t want to become the bully that she was. He just wanted her to admit that he was strong enough to be her equal at the very least.
He didn’t want to become the villain he had ser out to vanquish, so he was hoping that Princess would be convinced by her boyfriend since physical pain didn’t seem to do the trick and he was willing to wait to see this happen.
After a few seconds of secretive communication between Princess and Leroy, they came to a conclusion. Leroy then helped Princess to stand up so that she could speak standing. She had insisted on it.
She gritted her teeth and said, "I’m sorry for the way I behaved after I defeated you in combat. It wasn’t good sportsmanship, and I promise to try not to repeat that kind of behavior in the future."
Her eyes glared at him, but he didn’t back down. He glared back at her while making the golem flex its metallic muscles.
Leroy also nudged her, so she said, "And I admit that you are strong and talented."
Thoe nodded clearly pleased and said to her with a smug tone, "Apology accepted. And don’t be too hard on yourself. It is not your fault that you were defeated like that. I am just too talented. If you were half as talented as me, with your dedication and hard work, you would have fared better in our fight."
Princess wanted to say something, but Leroy elbowed her in the area where her ribs had fractured. That silenced her and let Thor leave with his golem without angering him.
The two lovebirds watched as Arthur and Thor left before speaking. It was Princess who spoke first. She had a lot bottled up within her that she wanted to say.
She said to Leroy, "It is your fault that I admitted defeat so easily. You didn’t want to see your woman being beaten so badly, so I took pity on you and apologized easily. Since this is your fault, you have to make it up to me."
Leroy admitted with a smile, "Whatever you say, my lady."
Then he kissed her on the lips.
The kiss didn’t last long because Princess was in too much pain. She pushed him away and said to him in a hurry, "Put me down quickly. Standing makes it hurt so much. My whole body feels like I collided head-on with a mountain."
Leroy set her down and said, "You could have avoided all of these if you had simply apologized and said that he was strong."
She explained, "I thought he was bluffing with that golden shield. I really thought I could take him."
Leroy rolled his eyes at her and said, "You are just too proud. You were too proud to be sorry, and now you’re refusing to admit that you were wrong to fight him because you’re too proud."
She ignored what he said and promised herself, "It is not over yet. I will get him later. Let’s see how long he can keep building golems to carry him around. At most I’ll catch up to him at the fifth mortal coil. Then I will beat him up."
She raised her fist to the sky and swore, "The pain and humiliation of today must be returned a hundredfold. It has to be a hundredfold, or I promise not to..."
Leroy didn’t let her finish what he considered to be nonsense. He took out some pills and put them in her mouth as she was speaking. This caused her to shut up.
While she was swallowing the pills, he took out the first aid kit and prepared bandages. Then he ripped open her shirt to treat her injuries.