SS 19 Entropy Championship - Manami Kuroda (c) vs. Pyrena Alexandria Nikos

So Manami didn’t like getting hit in the head and having her leg about to be ripped off its socket. Who knew?

Pyrena thought as much, especially with the Wolf Girl showing her insistence in such matters. Certainly, wouldn’t be pleasant in having the bones in your leg being destroyed into powder. She was desperate. Seemed that was the case when she driven her heel into the Greek Titan’s ribs. Tougher than most, she can bear with it, if only for more seconds where the tendons would be ripping in the seams. With more second’s past, a lot of damage was being done to her legs, something she could not have when she’s defending her belt.

Eventually, Pyrena would have to relent. Broken ribs were not the way to go when it came into a match. She did manage to give a good kick to the chest with the leg that wasn’t damaged by the Wolf Girl herself. Now they were both on even ground, the Red Amazon pushing onto her hands and knees, where she could feel the sharp, nagging, jarring pain on her knee. Shaking her head, with gritted teeth, she came up with the assistance of the barricade. As much as she did a number on Manami’s leg, her own isn’t as fresh. And she felt that as she rose. Pain is nothing new to her, and Pyrena liked to believe that she has gone through much worse. Though few opponents left an impression like Manami, she hated to admit it but not doing so would be dishonest.

“Sure, thanks for the advice.” Sarcastically saying. Pyrena didn’t need such sage advice from Little Miss Hannibal Lecter.

Tapping the toe of her boot on the sand, she rolled her shoulders, seeing Manami pushing off the divider that kept them and the audience separated. It wasn’t surprising that Manami could stand after all of this. What was, however, was the Wolf Girl giving a…compliment? Something like that, she was merely saying that she fought better than she hoped. Well, that was something she didn’t expect to hear. Manami did wonder as to what is it that driven Pyrena. What was it that pushed her, kept her fighting? The answers she gave was close to the truth than she may have expected.

“Like pretending to be a wolf?” As if that wasn’t, by extension, pretending to be something that they aren’t. “Or perhaps that’s you acting off your based instincts. Funny how one can be driven into being less than human and more a beast.” She pushed off the divider, limping away, rolling her neck. “Of course, I care for her. That’s no question. And of course, I don’t like you. But since you decided to concede…I guess I’ll say that you’re at least among the toughest that I faced here. You’re still standing when others I battled would have long been defeated. Something I can give where it’s due.”

‘Pretending.’

Manami found herself slightly fixated on that word. She felt for a moment as if Pyrena had suddenly started speaking in another language. Pretenders brought play armies with spears and shields. Pretenders gilded themselves in gold and fought for the sake of honor. Pretenders were everything she was trying to destroy in this glorified dollhouse of hedonistic lunacy.

In due time. For now, the rest of the Greek woman’s words still hung on her mind. She listened while rolling her shoulder to keep loose, mentally planning her next move as she kept an eye on the redhead with a sidelong glance, only paying mind to her words in passing. Right up until the last one. A compliment. Manami stopped mid-motion, turning her gaze back with slightly wider eyes and parted lips. No sound came forth for a few seconds onward. A slight chuckle started to test her lungs, building in her throat before a great dam of laughter burst out all at once.

There was something so comically quaint about this self-proclaimed warrior and her sense of honor that just made her demise all the more attractive in Manami’s eyes.

“Oh my. Did you mistake my affirmation for respect?“ The Wolf Girl snickered to herself for a couple of moments, unable to stop the natural reaction choking her lungs and wagging her tongue. The moment passed however and, just as quickly, her face turned solemn and her eyes struck with annoyance. “That’s honestly too bad. I wanted this. I want you to hate me. Because I hate you, Pyrena. I hate everything you stand for and everything you want to be. I’m getting nauseous just being around you. Just standing there is making my stomach hot, my body is screaming its utter disgust of you.”

Manami smacked a hand to the side of her face, clawing down the side of her cheek as he felt beads of sweat form across her temple. Her breathing was heavy, unsteady and palpable in thick clouds. Primal. A crooked smile etched its way across her lips beneath her bloodshot gaze. “Painting these sands with red with those self-righteous ideals is the only end to tonight that will satisfy me. I won’t leave a piece of you for the crows.”

The Wolf Girl crouched low; hunched forward, arms out like the beast bearing her namesake. Fangs that bared at each corner of her lethal smile. A wicked twitch to her eye manifested just a tinge of the longing she felt for the near future painted in her mind. She was ready. “I’m going to devour you, bones and all.”

Pretenders also howled as if they were wolves themselves during their debut, but that’s neither here nor there.

Regardless of their ideals, both were fighting as hard as they can and both were inches from having any tear in their knee ligaments and joints. Manami was close to having her head caved in due to Pyrena’s knees and the Greek Titan’s arms were almost separated and pulled out of their sockets. This wasn’t like any of her fights so far in AFW. Except for Reiko, this was one of the toughest. Not many of her fights go past the four-minute mark; they just end way too quickly. She had to wonder, what she way too strong for this league? For a place held as the mecca for wrestling, this wasn’t exactly what she sought out for. The Red Amazon knew not to go into the pride department; an overinflated ego does one no good in the long run unless they can back it up.

Which is why it is a massive shame to have Manami being the one to give her the toughest bout here. She despised the woman, but she was not above giving someone their due respect. Even to the ones she loathes. Only to find that her words were entirely wasted on someone that didn’t want it. A waste of breath that she can’t take back. All because Manami had to be a massive cunt about it.

Bad showmanship is perhaps something Pyrena should have expected, yet her words did come out of her mouth, only to be thrown right back into her face. Pyrena is everything that Manami is not. Opposites, completely different from one another. The crowd certainly didn’t like that as they voiced their disproval, but some never cared much about respect and wanted action so they added some cheers too. “Hmph. What a waste.” All Pyrena could do is sigh. Her eyes closed before tempering herself. Now was not the time to lose her mind. Not to sink to Manami’s level. If she hated what she stands for, then why not rub it in her face even more?

Pyrena settled into her stance, yet she kept standing, her fingers slowly curling into tightly-clenched fists. She was not a beast, living only to kill and destroy. Pyrena is a warrior. And she’ll be a warrior to the very end.

“Then I’ll simply have to put. You. Down.”

Resolute. Manami could appreciate that flicker of conviction in the rival Greek’s eye if only to see it flicker and die at the twilight of all their posturing tonight. It was all just a reminder of what the Wolf Girl was here to do. What she wanted to erase. That. She had to kill that no matter what it took. No matter the blood on the sand or the turn of her stomach.

She hated this other feeling too. Wanting to tear her opponent to shreds, rip them apart piece by piece, but having to be reigned back by her higher brain functions. Everything was telling her to attack and wreak havoc to her heart’s content on this great blight before her, but that little voice of reason couldn’t help but keep speaking its objections. Manami knew what she didn’t want to acknowledge. The direct attack meant certain death.

Annoying.

Fervent hatred complimented them well. Loathe as she may have been to admit it, Pyrena was quickly proving herself to be a rather fearsome adversary. Strong, smart, quick-witted and versatile. With this aching body, Manami had to move carefully from here on out - very carefully. She couldn’t afford to ease herself and give her opponent the initiative. She’d keep to the outside for now. Use these stipulations she’d insisted upon against her when the time came.

For now, she’ll hack at her weak spots. Tear the ligaments, leave the beast open for the killing bite.

The Wolf Girl kept on her toes, shifting her weight from one foot to the other before she stepped in, going to throw a low kick inside Pyrena’s shin, only to move back at the next second. She’d move in once more, twice, before the third feint went towards the inside of her right thigh.

Rather than back off this time, she brought her foot straight down and stepped in, aiming to exploit this minuscule opening in her guard and ram her shoulder into Pyrena’s sternum. If she managed to put her back on the defensive, Manami would follow up by quickly leaping to her side and kicking off the top of the barricade, hurling her front foot forward with a high jumping roundhouse kick to the side of Pyrena’s head.

Both would reinforce their convictions coming into this fight, and the Los Angeles crowd gave a massive pop at the sight of those two settling into their respective stances. Wherever it is something of honour or something egocentric, neither woman was going to back down now. Pyrena knew as much, Manami's intentions were made clear to her, not that she needed more confirmation as to what kind of person the Wolf Girl is. Rather than going in some long-winded tirade, she'd keep things simple with her response. There wasn't much to say anyway; even if she did, it would be a waste of breath.

It didn't matter since, at the very least, Manami seemed to be cautious in her approach. Attacking like a mad beast wasn't going to get her anywhere, and with an opponent like Pyrena, she's not one to be taken lightly. The Red Titan sensed as much when she reverted to using feints. Even if she were still 100%, she would take them seriously, biding her time until she found the opportunity to strike. With the pain still stinging on her knee, she had to react, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, her heel rasing up each time in case those feints turned out to be the real thing. Her eyes narrowed in on Manami, keeping her guard up, wondering when that attack is going to come.

At the third, Manami's leg came up higher, which had her raising that right knee high enough to accommodate the block. What transpired is Manami stepping in, another feint that she used that lead into a shoulder barge, catching the Red Amazon off guard and pushed back on the defensive. A low grunt would be audible for Manami's ears, nothing she could do to hold that back in her throat. No doubt the Wolf Girl liked that sound, minuscule as it is.

Her arms wouldn't drop down, willing herself to keep them up, knowing they would be needed for whatever came next. Manami wasn't going to settle with just ramming her shoulder, no. She wanted more. The emerald gaze caught the nimble champion leaping off the barricade before seeing that kick swung towards her. Pyrena's left fist would shoot out in response to such a massive strike, opting a risky tactic in eschewing her defence for a hard interception, her long arm blasting towards Manami's head while she's still in the air. Pyrena would eat that kick as a consequence, and hard, but if she managed to strike her down and add that to the countless other strikes to the head, it would be well worth the gamble.

Pyrena was a jittery woman on the defense. The resolute stance and stoic gaze played well into her performance this evening. She was a woman of many capabilities and likely a treasure trove of experience, but habit was an irrepressible foundation of human nature. Manami shared her wonton love of destruction of all things false and putrid. Pryena would prefer not to have her knees kicked in. They all had their preferences, nothing they could do about it.

It made the Wolf Girl all the more inclined to continue with her attack. Her emphasis on leg strength and being able to make any mouth scream bloody murder often drew the attention away from Manami’s overall strength. Being uttered from those of a bulkier build and towering height was a fear fundamentally removed her psyche. If anything, that feral grin slashes across her lips only seemed to grow wider as she rammed her shoulder into the Greek’s sternum, forcing her foe back a step. One precious step.

Her limbs moved on their own, working off a path predestined in her mind. In her leap, the champion’s front foot found the barricade and quickly kicked off in a soaring arc. It was a sight more naturally seen in a cage fight than on the outskirts of a wrestling ring, but evidently not one that Pyrena was unfamiliar with.

The moment she found the Greek’s head was glorious. Filled with ecstasy. The crack of her thick skull, the shudder of her bones. The impact was crisp and tasted like heaven on her tongue, sending a euphoric shudder up her thigh and to her center. The next moment, a blow knocked those senses clean from her mind.

She hadn’t seen the cross coming and it showed in the momentary surprise splashed across her face with the winding ripples of skin and tissue. The Spartan’s knuckles cracked against her jaw and sent Manami in a tumbled to the floor. She found herself on her knees with her forehead to the floor and hands pressed firmly into the sand. Not a favorable position, but hopefully Pyrena was a bit worse off.

There would be worse things to be caught from the Wolf Girl herself, something that Pyrena kept telling herself whilst being rammed by Manami's shoulder. Could have been a kick to the knee. She'll take that at the very least. The champion's leaping kick would have been considered one of them, though the difference was that the Greek Titan herself made the conscious decision to take the kick. While that was crazy, even coming from Pyrena, this served a purpose.

That being her fist sailing towards Manami's face like a bullet, firing off that punch like a shotgun towards her head. Punches were always quicker to fire off than kicks and that helped to intercept Manami from the skies, a place where a wolf isn't safe. Of course, her taking that kick on the side of her head meant that she wouldn't relish the feeling of knocking the taste out of the champion's mouth but that was something she made peace with. The knowledge that Manami herself wouldn't get off from such a clean hit was good enough.

The Red Amazon didn't quite crush her jaw but she must have felt that one. Both would fall to the floor, Pyrena herself hearing that annoying, high pitched sound that came from taking a hit like that. Her vision shaky, but she saw Manami in quite the position. Pyrena shouldn't have been too eager, but with how good her foe is, she didn't want to waste such a chance. A quick attempt to rise to her feet and make her way towards Manami only rewarded her by stumbling onto the barricade, letting the steel clang and ring for a brief moment on her form. The Red Amazon's arms draped over, as if holding onto a piece of wood after the ship crashed into an iceberg, Pyrena saw something among the clatter that could be used.

Reaching out with her long limb, she pulled out a metal chair from the other side of the barricade, folding it up till it's as straight as it could be. Eyeing Manami's form, Pyrena gasped and grimaced, doing her best to fight on through the pain before bringing that piece of metal down onto the Wolf Girl.

And here she was being oh so worried about Pyrena’s kicks from start to finish. What an annoyance, this woman.

One good knee to the gut, one slicing kick to the shin, any of it would be enough to put things back in the redhead’s favor. The air was one the place Manami assumed she could take this Spartan by surprise. She appeared a bit more of a grounded fighter, stuck in the routine of a professional match and codified method of combat. Manami understood the importance of adaptability to one’s environment, making use of every advantage available. Capitalize on her blindspot. Anything less was foolhardy.

A bit shortsighted, perhaps. Pyrena’s reflexes were even better than Yuki’s. She found herself having to concede to that reality as she stared into the sand, still waiting for her vision to realign and the noises surrounding her to regain their clarity.

Her hand reached out for the side of the barricade to support her rise, taking one wobbly leg off the ground. The mix of shock and adrenaline from a blow to the jaw and ungraceful flaw was a bit more than her battle-hardened frame was ready to take all at once it seemed.

A heavy, metallic clang smacked down on her skull and brought her face first back down with the floor again. The shock sent her wide-eyed and cast the world into slow motion for the longest second. The pain flowed in the moment after the numbness subsided, pulsing in waves through her cranium. She shot a spiteful glare over her shoulder from the ground, casting violent death straight at the towering warrior through red eyes irritated by the grains of sand and dust.

Her back leg suddenly kicked up off the ground like a catapult, snapping straight upward between the warrior’s legs and the delicate place that lay waiting for her heel at the top. Assuming she could get the Greek to reel forward, she’d find a handful of sand waiting for her as recompense for her troubles.

Versatile.

One word that thoroughly described it all when it comes to Pyrena in battle. Just saying that one word gives an opponent all they need to know when stepping into the ring with her. Surely by now, Manami would have come to the same thought, or at least, when her thoughts properly aligned after one hell of a punch. Sure, the Greek Titan’s kicks were something to look out for, Isabella realised as much, and she prided in her own leg power. But that would simply bring one’s attention away from the rest of what Pyrena could offer. Which didn’t bode well for Manami as she was entirely focusing on the lower body, rather than the other four limbs the Red Amazon had. The result was almost getting her jaw cracked. Literally.

Versatility does also mean that Pyrena shouldn’t be predictable. While a soccer punt could have done pretty nice right about now, she stumbled onto the realisation that there was more to be done. That one can use the whole environment to their benefit. Most of the Los Angeles crowd expected Manami to be the first in engaging with weapons, not the Spartan. Pyrena was the one that suggested this type of match. She might as well make use of such rules.

The Wolf Girl was on the verge of getting up to her feet, only to be met with cold steel smacking right onto her cranium. With how strong Pyrena was, this added to the effect as Manami was sent down to the sandy floor. The titan stood tall, and the crowd cheered in her favour. Manami’s red eyes would be met with Pyrena’s cold glare, unrelenting, merciless as if she was the one to bring justice to her transgressions. Not just since first stepping into the ring, but all of her torment she brought to ones that didn’t deserve it. A single raise of the metal chair would signify another strike of the judgement hammer, but Pyrena suddenly stumbled into something that would describe Manami as a whole too.

Perseverance.

Wherever that made sense, considering this came in the form of being kicked in the breadbasket, this still brought results regardless. A loud cry of pain from Pyrena and a shocked, angry boo that came from the crowd probably gave all that Manami wanted. Her legs buckled, the chair slipped from her hand behind her as she doubled over, covering the delicate place that is throbbing with sheer pain. She could have just done with that, but Manami wasn’t yet done with going the dirty route. Sand flew into her face, some catching her eye as she stumbled onto one knee, letting out a few groans here and there as she tried to brush the grains of sand from her face.

These sheep could honestly, truly go fuck themselves.

In some simpler life with a version of herself that was hopelessly lost like the rest of them in the whims of a fair contest and honest rules, Manami might have spurned that kick below the belt too. Maybe it was even a tad beneath what she expected out of herself. Crude, not an ounce of finesse, even a hint of desperation behind it. Hardly the demeanor of an AFW champion, correct? Perhaps.

But that would require her to actually give half a care about a single thing this federation or its patrons held as ideals. The fact that this match was without any rules to protect their shining justicar seemed to have eluded their feeble minds. It was hardly something for her to get hung up on, a fleeting a momentary throb of irritation upon her brow. The slaughter itself would always take precedence in her mind. Pyrena seemed more than happy to make use of the hardcore setting she’d proposed. It was only right that Manami attempted to pay her back in kind. She was hardly satisfied with how things had progressed so far.

Thankfully the brute’s size proved too much to handle on stumbly legs, bringing her face into convenient range for a handful of sand. The Spartan helpfully fell back to one knee, taking a moment to herself that Manami was far from content to allow.

It was remarkable how idiotically oblivious this woman could prove herself to be.

The Wolf Girl brought herself into a low crouch, taking a sprinter’s position as she felt the muscles tense in her thighs and warm blood cycle through her legs. Against her heart beating to a primal drum, she pounced forward in a mighty leap that closed in the distance between them in a blink. Her knee shot forward with a vicious strike aimed right at the Greek’s jaw, intent on knocking her flat on her back and leaving her dead to the stars that would dance in her wake.