AV 18 Entropy Championship - Manami Kuroda (c) vs Cicilia De'Reignhardt

Cicilia's attempts to rise were only met with her falling HARD on her forearms, her feet slipping on... something, unable to find traction. Beit her own blood or the lack of sense she discovered with her blindness, the Juggernaut struggled to even make sense of the sounds around her without her eyes to act as a focus! Manami's voice seemed to come from everywhere, her mocking piercing her ears from every angle! ...The sound of her voice was already enough to ignite rage in the boxer but her absolutely callow and thoughtless insults scorched BRANDS into her emotional crux! She DARED compare THIS to getting a black eye or a swollen-closed lid!? DID SHE HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT SHE'D JUST DONE!? Both of the Juggernaut's eyes were already swollen closed easy, fresh blood still covering her face in a hot, sticky, distracting mess that drew her attention away from the sounds she should've already been listening too...

...Everything was wrong... She felt dizzy... weak... Feverish even... She could feel her own breath in her throat, how it rubbed against the protective skin inside, the heat in her forehead, the chill of the wind along her back and shoulders... Cicilia shivered as her head whipped this way and that, trying to pinpoint the source of Manami's voice, to steer herself in the right direction so that she had, at least, SOME hope of protecting herself...

...But all the wires were crossed... She probably couldn't even tell where her hands were if someone asked...

*BAM!*

"GURRHHHHGHHGH!" Cicilia groaned, a sharp KICK nailing the German in her stomach, flipping her HARD on her back and forcing out a guttural heave and retch! She... was completely unprepared for such an attack, the strength of which completely messing up her insides and planting the twisted seed of nausea within them to infect and spread throughout the battle... But such an end to the aggression would've been too merciful for someone such as Manami. A force akin to that of a hammer SLAMMED into the boxer's cheek from above, CRUSHING her head between it and the mat, Cicilia squirming underneath the wolf's stomp as if such a movement would free her!

The champion's heel dug into the boxer's cheek, the pressure forcing more blood out from her preexisting wounds, the German groaning/snarling within her snare as if she were a bear caught in it's signature trap...

...she felt so helpless... afraid... angry... God, she felt so sick... she wanted to just crawl in a hole and die.....

...But not before taking a piece of this girl with her! Manami's boot came down again and this time, Cicilia was ready... or as ready as a blind person could be in this situation! Cicilia ROLLED HARD to the side just kick enough to feel the wolf's foot SLAM into the floor where her head once was, the boxer FORCING herself to her feet and THROWING herself in the direction of the wolf, Desperate to get her hands on her! If Cicilia got lucky and managed to barge into the woman, the Juggernaut would DRAG HER DOWN TO THE FLOOR WITH HER once again, like a kraken dragging the much lighter galleon down into the depths!

From there, the boxer would trap her underneath, straddling the champion as her hands SHOT DOWN towards the woman's face, fingers GNARLED into claws as she attempted to REND his girl into nothing but strips of biomatter! Technique was gone. Training was irrelevant. This was about self defense FAR more than it was about winning at this point... Cicilia was hurt, critically so...

...and there was nothing worse than a beast being backed into a corner!

Uh oh, uh oh. She was letting things get away from her. It was impossible to resist, though.

There was something so damn pleasant about stomping a strong body like Cicilia’s into the ground. Submissions were her true love in life, twisting joints to the breaking point and hearing them beg for release was a pleasure unlike any other. But this? Feeling the yield in her cranium, the crunch of dense bone beneath her boot spoke to that primal itch, the feeling of dominance from standing over fallen prey. She felt it in her blood. Strength. Excitement. Arousal.

Couldn’t resist double dipping.

Manami raised her foot again and slammed it back down, wanting to crush the features all along the German’s pretty face. But her soles only found the floor. Not a second later was her foot taken out from under her. Wrenched away from her, snatched out like a cobra striking from its hiding place amongst the leaves and rustle. The wolf’s back smacked hard against the floor and she barely managed a second to breathe before the pugilist’s weight fell down on her stomach. She brought one arm up, expecting a punch to knock her senseless.

Imagine the Wolf Girl’s surprise when a claw swiped her hand away. The surprise of the moment was swept away in the pain Her nails slashed against the side of her face, tearing bits of flesh and skin along with it in a spray of blood that coated the canvas. Everything after that became so much a blur. All Manami could see was red. Taste blood. Feel fire and pain. The screams of the damned echoed out from the ring as the raging bear on top of her hacked away at her, and all the wolf could muster in response was an unsteady guard with her forearms. Cicilia could break through in the next few moments. Her skin was peeling away, hacked apart in a vicious maul.

Through it all, Manami kept a wicked smile etched across her face. The fury and brutality, the raw violence in the air tickled her lips. The agony tearing through her arms pumped adrenaline through her veins, fed the burning ecstasy between her legs.

She wouldn’t be done in by blood loss. Manami’s legs came up from behind, wrapping tightly around Cicilia’s midsection before using the lock to throw the German harshly down, slamming her back first to do the ground as she tightened the bodyscissors, making sure the air that left her lungs stayed out.

Cicilia could not see, she couldn't think... The pain was in her mind, clawing at her every thought, blinding her to even the words her inner voice would speak! She couldn't feel anything... nothing around her was clear... She could barely even tell where the floor was or where Manami was underneath her, even as her fingers raked across her face in some desperate attempt at self-preservation! Every motion she did was completely out of fear/adrenaline-fueled self-preservation, this realm of sanguine darkness sapping any possibility of coherent action!

...It was only when the boxer sensed a change in texture from Manami's face to the stronger, more rigid texture of her forearms did the boxer realize that not only blood was running down her cheeks... Her blood was surprisingly cool running down her cheeks, having quickly lost the heat her body had produced once exposed to the outside. This was hotter, her eyes BURNING as well as stinging and cutting and aching...

...She was crying...

She hadn't even noticed the change in her breathing from rapid and hostile to uneven and shallow! She wasn't SOBBING, there was no lip-trembling moans of sorrow coming from the boxer's lips, but the pain was slowly branching down from her eyes and into her spine, it's ugly, gnarled roots cutting into her chest and wrapping it's brambles around her heart... From an aching heart are tears extracting and pain was clear and in abundance... the Boxer's scarlet blood and salty-clear tears ran/mixed down her cheeks as she attacked blindly, trying to KILL whatever was underneath her that had done this...

...But then a pair of pincers came out of the dark... and LOCKED around the boxer's midsection!

"GHHHHGHHHH..." She gagged as she felt her ribs GROAN... They were being squeezed inward, pressing against her lungs and restricting their expansion! In her rapid, shallow-breathing state, choking was the WORST thing that could've happened to her... and yet, like a mad animal caught in a thicket, the boxer continued to attack, interchanging claws for punches, trying to land ANY meaningful damage... Anything for this pain, this danger... all of it to just go away!

Every second locked was another pound of pressure Manami forced into the German’s size, biting down with all the ferocity of her namesake. There was a grandness in this particular kill, felling the wild and uncontrollable beast that Cicilia De’Reignhardt had proven herself to be ten times over. Crying. Wailing. All that strength failing in her veins and slumped dead to the ground with the rest of her.

The Wolf Girl could sense the strain working on Cicilia’s midsection, feel her ribs crying out and her lungs desperately pushing out for air. She could break them, easily. Three pumps? No, four. Four hard squeezes and she’d have this woman out of commission, perhaps even permanently if the referee were slow about it. At the very least powderize a few bones before that hysterical strength of hers took over. That would be quite the sight...but a bit too quick for Manami’s favor. She was sending a message with this match, and she had to make it resonate, perpetuate.

It had to sing.

She uncurled her legs from the Juggernaut’s midsection, but the act of mercy was short-lived. The wolf kicked both her feet into the German’s bareback, letting her flop onto her stomach before she rolled forward and pounced on to Cicilia’s back. Leaving her confounded, Manami would quickly grab her arm and pin it behind her, putting the strength of her tendons to work with a harsh hammerlock. Her free hand moved to the girl’s raven hair as she leaned her head in, raising it off the ground to get a better look at the damage she’d inflicted, savor the sight of her wounds. Only, she found more than that. For a second, she swore she saw a glimmer mixed in with the vicious red swirling down her cheeks, running freely with a slight transparency that was hard to mistake.

Were those…

“Tears?” Her gaze turned vacant for a moment, as if taking in the reality in front of her. Then, her expression darkened with a wicked smile and a sickening cackle from between grit teeth and razor-sharp fangs. “Ahhh. I think I’m starting to get you now.” Manami gripped her raven locks tightly and yanked her head up, making sure the whole world had a good view as she brought her lips close to her ear.

“All of the anger, that deplorable, short-sighted attitude of yours. It’s just a ploy. A safeguard to hide all that weakness and fear you’ve stowed away inside of you. I don’t know where it all came from and I don’t particularly care. But what I do know? Fear is a weapon. You either wield it, or someone else will. Tear you apart, inch by inch. You’ve lost that battle and haven’t even realized it. Little do you realize, that’s what’s keeping you here. Broken, beaten, consumed.” Her tongue trailed up Cicilia’s cheek, tasting the bitter rage as she ran a line up to the source and invaded her eyelid, plunging deep and without a second thought. She wanted it all. The pain. The hate. The rage.

Uncut.

For all of Cicilia's wild and STILL powerful attacks, Manami weathered them all somehow and PUSHED the boxer to the floor, only to wrap her up in a hammer-lock! How was she still FIGHTING!? Cicilia was MUCH stronger than her and, though blind, felt her fists and nails bite HOLES in her body! What was keeping that stupid wolf afloat, how was she able to keep up a slug-fest against the Juggernaut!? She was far stronger than her AND tougher.... this shouldn't be happening!

...And yet it was....

Cicilia was losing so much blood from her eyes, STINGING tears mixing with the sanguine fluid as they both rolled down her cheeks. She growled and snarled as she pressed her face against the floor in frustration, her teeth gritted angrily as she tried to move both herself and the woman that had subdued her! How had this gone so horribly wrong...? How did she let this happen? THIS WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN! Manami wasn't anything she couldn't handle... She shouldn't have been able to do this to her! Not even Margaux could do this to her! She couldn't believe any of this was happening...

It just wasn't possible!

...This was when the Entropy Champion decided to speak up, to muse how she had a good idea on what Cicilia was about... This declaration gave the blind and frustrated boxer pause, forgoeing the struggle... if only to hear the demented ramblings of a woman who knew nothing of the person she fought... She sounded like nothing less than a sith-lord chastising her apprentice, remarking how all the boxer's anger was nothing but a front for fear... Fear was a weapon, yada yada yada, Manami falling into the same trap as most of the other freaks in this god-forsaken place: Monologuing... and about things NOBODY ever thinks!

"D-do you think..." Cicilia growled violently, hissing as her opponent licked her! "ANYONE GIVES A DAMN WHAT YOU THINK!? DO YOU THINK ANYONE'S LISTENING TO YOUR STUPID CRAP!? STOP TALKING AND FIGHT, YOU INBRED SONOFA-" ...That moment of strength was met only with Manami actually sticking her tongue into the blood-dripping wounds she had inflicted upon Cicilia's eyes, the boxer, first SHOCKED she would do something so disgusting (after all, there are a number of incurable blood-born pathogens distributed in this way) but the SALTY, INFECTIOUS PAIN that flashed across her face stunned her silent!

...Between the agony and blood loss the boxer's mind was starting to warp, an image of her sister replacing the wrestler that still had her trapped. Her voice... overlaying on top of the insane mad-woman that lapped at her wound like a stupid mutt. That sick, twisted women... now two of a kind...

It was an amazing phenomenon in the range of emotions one could taste from the bittersweet stream leaving another's eyes. That outburst of emotion. Frustration, pain, shock, resentment. Rage was the most potent, adding a bit of burn to her tongue the moment it hit.

Plenty of faces grimaced and turned away revolted at the sight, most covering their eyes, some looking closer with greater attention and biting their lips and curling their toes. Manami paid them no mind. Why concern herself with the opinions of bleating little sheep? Oblivious little nobodies that wouldn't survive two seconds outside of their false sense of security. There’s no hiding from reality. That was the harsh lesson Cicilia was forced to learn a thousand times over.

And in an instant, it was over. She was done, exiting the wound with a thin strip of red tattered to her lip for a fleeting moment. Manami brutally slammed her face back down to the canvas before letting go of her raven locks, having something more lasting in mind.

She’d had enough of the yelling. She wanted to hear her cry.

“It’s impressive when the weak rave this much!” Manami looped her other hand beneath Cicilia’s arm, transitioning the hammerlock into a kimura. She leaned in as she cranked the hold, wanting to feel how hard the Juggernaut would fight the inevitable end, feel the measure of those words. “But it doesn't matter how much you scream. How badly you want it. How many fights you come out on top of, how many times you stand up after you fall down. It’s the here and now. Compared to me, you’re nothing. And you’ll always be nothing.” She slowly bent the arm from behind her back, leaning into it as she felt the elbow sing with agony. A little more….a little more…

“You should just die.” There. She torqued the arm at just the right angle and pulled it back toward her with a single, violent yank. Her aim was to dislocate it, but at the very least, it’d give a nice stress test of those strong lungs of hers.

Cicilia's face was SLAMMED into the floor, the boxer letting out a heavy grunt as the champion ground her features against the mat.... There was nothing she could do! Blind and alone in the agonizing darkness, all Cicilia could attempt was to cope with the sharp drags of agony as she was SHIFTED into a kimura hold! Her arm was being destroyed, she could feel it... but what really got her attention beyond the pain... was a familiar voice... one that completely blocked out Manami's... It was haunting, yet similar to Cicilia's, slightly older and more mature-sounding but with as much a cruel edge as the woman's who held her down!

In her state, Cicilia couldn't think correctly, haunting memories of her past merging with the going's on in the present as she tried to make sense of reality around her...

“It’s impressive when the weak rave this much!” ...Elfrida cackled in her ear, her voice completely overriding that of Manami! A cold stabbing fear cut into her chest... the boxer wondering HOW IN THE HELL DID ELFRIDA GET ON TOP OF HER!? Did she take out the champion so quickly she was able to resume the hold without the German ever noticing it!? Was she just so in pain... she blacked out while they were transitioning power!? How could this be!?

"W-What do... you.... know....!?" Cicilia gasped, fighting against the hold, the pain, the person who had her down... "Y-you n-never cared enough.... to give me... a chance... I've gotten.... LEAGUES stronger... than when we... last fought..." Cicilia craned her head over her shoulder, her blood-caked eyes staring back at... what the German perceived as her older sibling.

"...A-and whatever you do to me.... I will always get stronger.... until I break you... m... mysel-AAAGH!" The pain.... It was... unbearable.... she... she couldn't......

‘Fought’?

Yes, an otherwise insignificant detail in the grand scheme of things. Nothing Cicilia could say or think was going to save her from the darkness now. But those words tickled something in the back of Manami’s skull. She could have distinctly remembered only meeting this woman only once before today. Funnily enough, it wasn’t an experience Manami hadn’t seen before. She’d lost count of the heaps and dregs she’d torn into, but never forgotten how loud they wailed. Begging for forgiveness, seeing things that weren’t there. Pain was an incredible stimulant in many ways, reawakening all kinds of sentiments long dead and buried.

A funny little smile crept up on the Wolf Girl’s face as she watched the German go through the motions. That robust surface was little more than a front, hm? Amusing.

“Silly little Cicilia.” Manami spoke in a voice years younger and softer than the one time had given her. She leaned down to her side, speaking down to the juggernaut in the most literal manner possible. “How can you break yourself…” Her right leg tucked under Cicilia’s neck, digging her shin into her larynx “...if I break you first?”

With a flex of her steel thigh, she started applying pressure on her neck, slowly cutting off the air supply. At the very least, this feeling never got old. Feeling life slip away between her thighs and thread through her fingers. And somehow, it only felt more rewarding here. It was becoming a familiar sight for the regular viewers tonight. Voices from the crowd shouted their disapproval, expecting a heroic comeback in these dwindling seconds.

“A thousand more leagues, perhaps. Then maybe you’ll entertain me.”

"Silly little Cicilia. Elfrida whispered in her ear as more and more of the boxer's breath was stolen from her, far beyond the place of no return. Her strength had waned, she had lost far too much blood and air was in threateningly short supply! All she could to do was struggle... Struggle fruitlessly as if it were even worth the effort. It was beyond hope that her sibling would even let her go at this point, detecting NO weaknesses in her hold nor any mercy dwindling within her voice... There was only darkness willed with only the clamping maw around her throat and the mockery of her sibling filling her ears...

"Y-you... never... could break me...." The German choked as her features began to slack, her struggling growing weaker and looser, her movements collapsing. Words were but jumbled messes in her head now the image of her older sister in her mind melting away like water-colors diluting in a fluid solution. The boxer had lost and she knew it... Like a weak, cry-baby idiot she had lost to her sister AGAIN... She kept losing and losing and lost, not just to her damn prodigy of a sister... but to everyone else! Despite all the training, despite feeling like she'd been better than before, despite true, tangible evidence of her progress, this KEPT HAPPENING!

Another few thousand leagues before she could challenge her...?

Heh...

Let her sister die with that sensation of anticipation in her stomach, let it gnaw at her until it gave way to the emptiness of apathy. Let Elfrida watch her only to be disappointed at every turn. She hoped that shame of association she KNEW she felt would burn her sickly and weak. She hoped.... that.... she........

“Knockout!”

The bell chimed again and again into the sea of jeers and cheers that surrounded the ring. With each clang, the air around the arena seemed to be made even thicker. The atmosphere of the slaughter weighed down on everyone watching the spectacle, and now that it ended, they all merely watched. Watched as the Wolf Girl stared at the German’s vacant gaze, seeing the last wisps of consciousness fade away.

Manami’s heart beat like a tribal drum deep within her chest as she looked down at her fallen quarry. Her skin seared with heat and sweat dripped from her chin. Her chest rose and fell steadily with long, drawn breaths from her worn lungs. The adrenaline tapered from her system second by second, letting her senses return to her in the least comfortable fashion. The wolf winced and dropped Cicilia’s arm. She stared at her hand, suddenly aware again of her broken finger and the odd angle at which it had been twisted, pointing skyward slightly askew and managing little more than a twitch when she attempted to move it. Her eyes couldn’t turn away from it. The corners of her mouth seemed to twitch upward and her body trembled with an addictive euphoria.

Brief, but exhilarating.

A hand tapping her shoulder brought the sound and color back into the world around her. Her pupils glanced to the side to see the referee extending his hand. Her trembling stopped, Her face was sucked of all satisfaction and left with little more than a disinterested frown. She unhooked her leg from Cicilia’s neck, letting the pugilist's face fall lifeless to the canvas. From behind, a medic moved in to check on her as the referee raised Manami’s hand into the air.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! YOUR WINNER AND STILL ENTROPY CHAMPION: MANAMI KURODAAAAA!”

Before the official had the chance to lower the arm himself, Manami pulled away and let it fall to her side, turning away with the intention of leaving...before an impression struck her. She looked down at the German, still being treated, but now facing the sky to allow for a better examination. They had just started bringing in the stretcher when the Wolf GIrl knelt down at the pugilist’s side. Her hand reached out and caressed the side of the woman’s face, slowly and gently tracing her cheek with her thumb, wiping the line of blood from her eyes beneath her fingertip. She traveled all the way up to the duct, stopping just short of the orbital. There, a dark smirk overtook her face, the malice and promise of pain etched into the shadows and contours along her face She teased the edge of Cicilia’s eye, taunted the nerves below, leaving an impression for her long and dreamless sleep.

Then, she stepped away. The official handed her the Entropy Belt, which she slung casually over her shoulder then turned and rolled out of the ring. She ascended up the ramp with the same dark smirk about her face. A promising start, she had to admit. Very promising. If she kept on this current path...

Manami chuckled to herself, slowly bringing her hand to her mouth. She licked the blood from her thumb and disappeared behind the curtain.

“Bitter.”