Kyoko Akan vs. Masuyo Ai - Iron Sharpens Iron

“Hey! Rope break! Let her go! One! Two!”

Fucking ropes.

In a fun little callback to her debut, Masuyo’s MMA expertise was letting her forget that she wasn’t in a cage and, just like before, it had nearly cost her the match. Her hope to just rip Kyoko’s arm away from her lifeline and drag her into a quick knockout had fallen short of the mark. She’d underestimated the Belly Queen’s strength yet again and it was going to cost her her advantage. But it didn’t mean this was over. Not yet. Not while she still had time to spare.

“Three! Four!”

With a fraction of a second left to spare, Masuyo unraveled the guillotine choke and pushed herself away. She stepped back a good distance, waiting just at the center of the ring with her hands on her knees. Beads of sweat ran down the side of her face, cascading down her jaw to drip off her chin. Her body ached. She winced and let out a pained groan with one breath as her stomach lit up again, the impression still left from Kyoko’s fist. A shimmering glow on her skin highlighted the definition of her etched abdomen, the contours on her shoulders, the wrinkles on her forehead as she furrowed her brows. Her eyes lingered on Kyoko, seeing the color and fatigue in her face.

The Demon slapped her thigh, willing herself back up to two feet, raising her fists and clenching them tight enough to see the white of her knuckles. “Come on, Kyoko! It's not over yet! You and me! To the finish!”

Kyoko had saved herself from a brutal submission hold and knock out but as Kyoko stood up and breathed heavily, looking red in the face and pink in the sides as the damage on her body was extremely noticeable. She was going to be feeling this match for a month, but she would be proud cause she would remember the struggle she overcame she was ending this match the winner and Masuyo wasn't going to stop her. So when the Demon came up once more looking ready to go to war bruises and fatigue and all, Kyoko gave her a smirk before her smile turned fierce as she stomped on the mat.

"Dont have to tell me twice! I'll fight you until you stop moving! " Kyoko said through her hoarse voice. She had no idea how she could talk after the guillotine nearly ripped her head off but she wasn't about to let herself be outdone by Masuyo with only a few minutes left Kyoko took a few steps forward backing off the ropes to show she was all in.

Hell. That’s what she felt like. Complete hell. Absolute agony from head to toe.

She couldn’t remember her time her body had felt so roughed up. The closest was probably that one alleyway she decided to pick a fight in, deep in Buster gang territory. Her body didn’t respond to commands like they used to. Everything felt out of order, messed up, and above all, slow. Even the simple act of keeping her fists raised was generating took an unreal amount of effort. All of her stamina felt drained, all of her energy sapped. She felt like collapsing at any second.

But then she heard Kyoko call back, saw her push away from the ropes, and one last spark shot through her. A wide, cocky smirk overtook her features, near mirroring her opponent’s as she moved to close the distance again. She couldn't end this yet, not until her body quit first. Kyoko deserved her all.

She approached the Belly Queen slow, but with earnest. She kept one fist close to her, another with an open palm facing her adversary, watching for a strike to parry. The instant she was close enough, she’d meet Kyoko straight out of the gate with a one-two punch combination towards her face, stepping forward and following through with a quick uppercut straight to the underside of her jaw.

Kyoko was ready to go. Or at least as ready as she could be when half of her felt like it wasn't working properly, but still. If the women wanted a fight she was going to get it and Kyoko made sure she was ready when masuyo came in for another round of attack. Gritting her teeth as she had to bear through and duck Kyoko did her best to avoid the first few ounces that came her way as she would try and throw a right into the Demon's side.

She knew the core of her opponent had to be feeling the worst of this match and figured that was the best place to start but her plan wasn't going to end there as her next target would be a right hook to Masuyo's slightly bruised face.

Just narrow the distance. Dig in. Don’t give her time to breathe.

Masuyo kept relaying those commands to herself in her mind, keeping the plan she was throwing together on a whim straight in her head, but it was something that was much easier to conceptualize than put into action when her body felt like an overheating engine on the brink of detonation. She chugged along, throwing herself forward with every ounce of energy that she could muster, hoping it the next strike would be enough.

She threw a couple of stiff strikes, but fell short as Kyoko stepped and ducked underneath them, capitalizing on Masuyo’s exposed side with a hard punch. With the damage her core had gone through, anyone could have seen what was coming next a mile away and braced themselves. Masuyo staggered, letting her guard sink just a for a second, just long enough for Kyoko to nail her with a hook to her cheek.

A few bells rang inside of her head. Her eyes went wide as she stumbled to the side with grit teeth and balled fist, barely hanging on to the edge. Through it all, she tied her spirit together and kept it strong, firing back with one loose, quick left backfist to the side of Kyoko’s face.

He clock ticked, and Kyoko felt that the timer was the only thing keeping her up. She knew the second the clocked stopped she'd collapse glad the match was over but for now she had to let the gas she was running on keep her running. She started to get the better of her in the brawl sending her reeling as her costs continued to pack the punch that she always had but Masuyo didn't stop there making sure that even as she reeled back she was in a position to turn and slam Kyoko with a backhand to the face.

"Pppugh!" Kyoko spat as her head was knocked to the side and she stumbled a bit from the action. Trying to keep on her feet despite the hit to the face she would bring her foot up and try to kick at the Beasts leg to further knock her off balance.

It would be a lie to say there wasn’t a bit of desperation when Masuyo threw that backhand. The shot to her face had done more damage than she’d let on. Her head rattled and her ears seemed to grew rung for a lingering moment, leaving her with an uncomfortable ache to deal with. She clenched her body from head to toe, the contours and veins in her arms becoming clearly defined as she shot her backfist right upside Kyoko’s pretty face. She was good at pushing through her pain, testing her limits, but even she had her breaking point. She just hoped she could secure that last point before she reached it.

But if she was hoping to get Kyoko to back off, she was going to have to keep dreaming. "Gah!" A yelp escaped her lips as the Belly Queen’s kick smack her upside the leg, right on the bone. A shock shot through her shin, cutting her balance right from under her. She fell to one knee, keeping an arm braced against her head for any follow ups that came her way.

Not the most ideal position to be in, not with the state her body was in.

The fight was getting intense. Every hit felt like it was one that could potentially end the match if the other was careless. And neither wanted to be the one who gave in. Though finally Kyoko's last hit after taking the back hand seemed to rattle Masuyo the right way forcing her to a knee and leaving her vulnerable. Kyoko wobbled on her own two feet as she moment presented itself and closed in to try and finally put the Demon down.

"When I pin you this time..you won't be getting up." Kyoko said. Aware of Masuyo's lingering hands made her wary of trying to go for any kind of straight forward attack but still she knew she had to get something going to win. with her head lacking for better options Kyoko brought her hands to Masuyo's head and pulled her in for a knee, connecting other that she would slowly pull her under her legs and then try to lift her up in a piledriver position. A move that would end a match relatively quickly. To say nothing of what it would do to her opponent this late in the game as she would try and send her crashing headfirst into the ground.

Get up. Get up. Get up.

She screamed it at herself enough times to drive her insane, but it didn’t matter how hard she tried, her legs weren’t keen on supporting her weight just yet. Kyoko caught her right on the kneecap, leaving enough of an impact to keep her leg tingling and Masuyo right on the ground where she needed her. The rudimentary guard she put up was in anticipation of some kind of knee strike. Kyoko seemed to be something of a fan of those.

Except that wasn’t at all what she should have been looking out for. Her opponent came right in and yanked her head away. By the time the MMA maven had even thought to react, she was already between the Belly Queen’s svelte thighs, being lifted up in another solid demonstration of strength. A horrible sense of deja vu washed over Masuyo, knowing exactly what was coming next as her hands danged to the floor and she stared straight forward with grit teeth. The audience watched with bated breath. All eyes were on Kyoko as she set up to finish the match with the most literal bang possible. Her words lingered for a moment in the Demon’s ears, nearly resigning to the truth behind them.

Until a fire welled in her gut. With whatever energy she could scrape together, she latched her legs tightly around Kyoko’s neck and pressed her palms to the floor. The burning ambition in her stomach flashed into searing pain as her battered abs flexed, her core crying out as she curled her legs forward. With a resounding cry that reached that ceiling, Masuyo would throw her lower body forward, bringing the Belly Queen down with a hurricanrana.

Kyoko had Masuyo in a prime position tone finished off as she tried to lift that powerful body of hers upward and and have her upside down for the impeding crash to the mat. Masuyo seemed out of it and Kyoko knew that no matter how tough the Demon may be. This would leave her from being able to get back up again especially not with how much time they had left. Though she had underestimated her willpower. As what should have been the deciding blow instead turned into the Demon's legs clamping around her throats the second she could hold her up. With herself suddenly being pulled by her legs and flung forward in an hurriarana!

"Aahhgk!" Kyokonwas sent flying and landed roughly around her neck after the drop. Her head all sorts of messed up from brutal impact as Kyoko seemed to lose control of her entire body, unable to respond after the fact of put up any kind of offense to set the tone.