Boxing Slugfest: Cicilia De'Reignhardt vs. Kenko Nitai

Kenko's abs had survived Cicilia's uppercut, a little bit worse for wear, but still able to flex, still able to fight. The Ainu girl did not intend to allow her opponent's abs to manage the same. Cicilia had taken step after step forward, bringing their bodies so close that less than an inch separated their bellies and chests if they both stood up straight. Now, as the long-haired girl's punches whizzed by above Kenko's head, she had the opportunity to show her superior fighting skill, to crush her rival's abs where the other had failed to do the same.

Her initial uppercut, similar to the one she had just taken, sunk in deep, making Cicilia heave in agony, her pale body seeming to fold up around the red glove. Kenko let it stay deep inside that gut for a second or two, making sure it felt like a wad of molten iron had buried itself inside of Cicilia's tummy. And then she dug it out, lined herself up, and then fired off punch after punch into that gut, causing cracks in that powerful wall, making sure each and every muscle in that six-pack felt the pain, began to break down...

At last, Cicilia's arms came down and absorbed the next four or five punches. Kenko knew her attack was not going to work, and pulled her arms back and up, just as Cicilia's hook came at her, trying to sneak around the side and bash into her jaw again! Kenko swung her guard to the side, getting her gloves in front of the punch, absorbing it, bobbing back again as she battled to maintain her balance where she stood! She supposed, since Cicilia had backed off first, she could move her feet, point having been made with only a few scuffs and bruises to show for her stubbornness. After deflecting that hook, she would take a step to the right, leading with that side of her body as a southpaw fighter. She would throw a quick jab at Cicilia's face, trying to force her to keep her guard up...before diving in low with a hard left hook, still targeting that pale gut!

Kenko's skill, ability to recover and keep fighting wasn't making this even remotely easy for the Juggernaut. Even the German's counter attack went completely deflected, Kenko's defense as solid as a rock, absorbing the german's blows much to her frustration! Even her MASSIVE hook that she stepped into, throwing a great deal of her own WEIGHT into... Kenko still took it like the champion she made herself out to be, her guard still holding strong... perhaps maybe at the minor cost of her balance! Cicilia found herself at a loss... she had put in a GREAT DEAL of strength into that punch with minimal results! The only marks she had made upon this woman were ones in places that couldn't matter less, the German finding herself being PUSHED in her own ring for the first time in forever!

Time seemed to slow for Cicilia as her thoughts turned inward, her attention being drawn to the sparks of outrage being stirred within her soul! Could this have been what Elfrida felt when she had a true challenge, this anxiety of being pushed from her pedestal, the fear that her name would be taken from her by some nameless stranger... that everything she had worked for would be wasted because of some upstart... These were thoughts the German had always thought of as callow, a child clinging to her victories, unwilling to let even one of them be sullied by the gloves of another... But now that she had gained that sort of notoriety here in Japan... now that Cicilia WAS strong enough to be a threat... She knew how it felt... She knew how it felt to feel her pride being challenged...

...And she couldn't hate it more...

"Damn it..." Cicilia growled, dragging herself back into her guard in time to hide behind her gloves, Kenko's jab bouncing right off of them! The Juggernaut could read her though... it wasn't like she was being completely overwhelmed! In fact, it was a technique she used herself often enough to read the signs... a simple 1-2 with a distraction up top to open the body! the moment Cicilia saw her arm cock back, she knew what was going on, the German's arms Dropping down like anvils from the sky, her forearm and upper arm CATCHING Kenko's hook JUST in time to absorb the force of the impact, Cicilia's body bending inwards somewhat as she defended against the attack!

"Gggh...." She growled, her sanguine eyes FLARING with anger! Cicilia would respond with an attack of her own, a rapid string of jabs coming at Kenko's head, stabbing at it harshly, aiming for her jaw, her nose, her eyes, each punch hitting harder and harder, Cicilia stepping into Kenko each time, their thighs slapping together once again as the German drew close!

"TAKE THIS, DAMN YOU!" Cicilia ROARED, bringing her arm around in a BRUTAL straight punch, aiming to CRASH right through Kenko's guard and SMASH her dead-center of her face, aiming to send her FLYING on her back!

Neither of them had said much during this fight, letting their gloves do the talking as they bombarded each other's faces and bellies, but Cicilia was starting to get frustrated, the heiress to this global boxing legacy obviously frustrated that a swarthy girl from a remote northern outpost of civilization was outdoing her in front of her own fans. Kenko just made a soft noise, somewhere between a grunt and a laugh, as she fired off that jab, finding it blocked, then aimed lower, still trying to turn that gut into pudding...

Cicilia managed to block it, blunting Kenko's momentum. Once that happened, the Ainu brawler knew that her opponent was about to come at her, and come at her hard. Reading the red-eyed girl's body language as quickly as she could, Kenko would hastily raise her arms up, getting a tight guard ready just as the storm of jabs slammed into her. As Cicilia moved forward, their legs smacked together again, neither one of them able to maintain the usual amount of space around her feet due to the difference in handedness between them. Kenko kept her foot as far forward as possible, aiming to force Cicilia to lose her balance if she kept trying to step forward.

But, when that hard straight came, and the girl screamed in English at Kenko, the force of that blow drove Kenko's red gloves back against her own face, hard enough to hurt as if the punch had landed without even being slowed, as she stumbled back a couple of steps under the force of the blow! "Aaigh..." she hissed. <Damn you...> she added in her native tongue, as she quickly took another step back to stabilize, and then a couple to her right as she aimed to not fall victim to any follow-ups!

Cicilia's punch wasn't enough to obliterate Kenko's guard but it served its purpose well enough. Like a massive bullet blasting into a Riot Shield, Cicilia's punch sent Kenko's guard RIGHT back into her face, forcing her down defense to become Cicilia's offense and hit her instead! The Japanese girl was sent stumbling, stunned, falling step-by-step backwards with the Juggernaut marching after her, the boxer's eyes ablaze with hate, frustration, the blows Kenko had landed only serving to empower the Juggernaut! She hadn't felt this motivated to beat someone since Margaux all that time ago, this motivated to plant someone on the floor of this ring. While nobody would be able to truly reach the levels of utter disgust and anger the German felt towards that wolf-in-sheep's-clothing, this woman's power rivaling hers...

...It was a threat.

This was always how Cicilia imagined Elfrida would've felt should Cicilia have ever reached her level of fighting ability, this insecurity that her position in the hierarchy was being threatened by some no-name that came out of the ether. All this time in AFW, securing her place, taking her tame and wrestling it away from her legacy, forging a life her with someone she loves and maybe even making a few friends... The strength it took to make all that happen was being threatened now in the ring Cicilia had owned since day ONE... She would NOT allow that! Damn Kenko... Damn her and her skill... Perhaps it wasn't even a rival that Cicilia had wanted since the start, but a plaything, a chew-toy. Something strong enough to put up a resistance, something she would have to try against to defeat... but not someone who could truly COMBAT her!

The Demon that had haunted the Juggernaut since her earliest memories haunted her even now, her ideals, morals (or what Cicilia imagined they were) embedding themselves in her. Selfish motives for fighting, a soulless need for security, the Juggernaut losing the luster that made her such a fan favorite back in those simpler days.

Kenko would retreat and Cicilia would persue with predatory viciousness, firing jabs, hooks, beating into Kenko's arms, laying siege to her body with a bloody resolve! With expert awareness of her surroundings, the Japanese native would dance away with a few quick steps to the side but Cicilia would turn on a dime and follow, stepping DEEP into Kenko's guard, perhaps even over extending herself, and bringing her fist around in CRUSHING STRAIGHT towards her head, aiming to lay that woman out with a furious blow to her jaw!

Kenko's retreat was not a long one. She stepped backwards just enough to find her balance, and then to the right to force Cicilia to move with her, to do something other than just barrel forward and fire off haymakers. Kenko hated to move back, and was definitely the sort of boxer who leaned more into her fists than her footwork. But in this case it was necessary, and her opponent had been the first one to step back in this match, so Kenko did what she had to do.

Cicilia kept close, constantly following, firing jabs and hooks which, more often than not, rebounded off of Kenko's guard with bone-rattling force. A few shots got through, to smack into Kenko's sides and leave big purple bruises, with one of them glancing along her jaw, making her hiss in frustration as the blue leather made its mark. As Kenko moved to the side, Cicilia stepped in closer than ever before, her foot practically behind Kenko as she invaded the Ainu boxer's personal space. Kenko knew an attack was coming, and, when Cicilia's arm pulled back, Kenko knew the kind of damage an attack with that much of a windup could do when it landed.

So Kenko would stop moving to the side and would step forward, as deep into Cicilia's legs as Cicilia had stepped into hers, the two of them so close their abs and chests were practically glued together as their legs tangled up. Kenko pulled her fist back and fired off the hardest straight that she could muster, aiming it at her foe's face as the other pugilist aimed at hers...the result being a titanic collision of red and blue leather as those powerful punches collided halfway between their heads, Kenko roaring as she flexed her powerful muscles to try to overwhelm Cicilia and drive her glove completely back, in spite of the pain of the collision in her limb!

"RRAAAAAGGGHH!"

Cicilia's desire was to keep Kenko at arm's distance, hammer her at the fullest strength of her punches, beat her into complete submission with the full power at their most destructive range! Until now, she had succeeded in keeping Kenko back at this distance, slamming into her stomach, her ribs, her jaw, her blows flying true with each strike... But Kenko was perceptive, at the very least aware of her buckling position! As Cicilia kept up the attack, pressing into her both spatially and at the point of her fists, Kenko would advance as well, defensively approaching, weaving and bobbing like a snake around the boxer's punches with extreme dexterity! Even the Juggernaut was thrown off by her swaying movements! It was like a viper on approach to her prey, her body bobbing and weaving with each step, rapidly slithering up to her foe, fangs bared, ready to strike! Kenko was as creative as she was powerful, it seemed... but Cicilia was already beginning to read her movements... predict them. Her sanguine eyes tracked Kenko as she drew ever closer, their eyes locked intently on one another as if scanning her opponent, the Juggernaut cocking back a mighty fist in preperation...

...and Kenko would do the same! Stepping into one another, Cicilia's chest and Kenko's would MASH together as the two women refused to give a single INCH to one another, getting DEEP into clinching territory as the two women stood toe-to-toe, breast-to-breast, abs-to-abs, BARING down on one another's space in order to gain control! Most would've retreated in this situation, take advantage of the other woman's lack of pull and back away... not these two girls! Cicilia's sheer determination, her stubborness, DEMANDED she hold her ground, that she would stand TALL against this arrogant aggressor or FALL in the process! No matter how her body GROUND against Kenko's as they closed in on one another, no matter how unbearably close their faces got as Cicilia PUSHED into the other woman's space, no matter how dreadfully uncomfortably their legs would entangle with one another...

Cicilia would see this woman BUCKLE if it was the last thing she did!

"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Cicilia roared, BRINGING her fist around in an utterly HAVOC-REEKING PUNCH THAT WOULD COLLIDE WITH KENKO'S DEAD ON, their gloves BLASTING together in an ear-splitting THUUUUUMP! that BLASTED across the stands! Red against blue, German against Japanese, dark against light, the two girls would REFUSE to step back on ANYTHING in this fight, even this clash of strength as the two PUSHED against one another Cicilia SHOVING her fist into Kenko's as she did the same!

"NNNNGH!" She grunted, pressing her forehead HARD into her rival's her sanguine gaze burning a HOLE deep into the darker woman's eyes! Her muscles flexed, bulged as she FOUGHT dead on with someone for the first time in a long time, the Juggernaut pouring her heart into this struggle... to gain a win worth having!

Kenko's red glove and Cicilia's blue glove met at the exact midpoint between their two big windups, and neither glove budged an inch as they slammed into each other with brutal power and terrifying ferocity! With how close they were, it wouldn't even matter if one punch or the other did win this contest of strength—there was no way to properly target the other girl's face when it was pressing in so closely against one's own!

Still, it was a matter of pride, and Kenko took those deathly seriously! Underestimated her whole life, given nothing without having to go through a hell of a fight, Kenko fought tooth and nail no matter what the situation, and so she wasn't going to give up on this until she had the proof that she needed to know she could outmuscle the heiress opposite her! They pressed together, abs to abs, chest to chest, nose to nose, eyes so close that Cicilia's eyelashes were tickling Kenko's face with every little movement! "NNNNGH!"

Kenko's red glove shook from exertion, as punching against another boxer's fist was pretty much a constant, neverending punch, using all the same muscles without a chance to let them rest. Sweat poured down her brow, and she let out loud grunts and barks as she just kept up forcing her glove into Cicilia's, waiting for the longer-haired girl's arm to break down first—though judging by the way neither had been moved back even so much as an inch, it might not happen anytime soon! "Ggghhhhh...!"

The struggle between these two was going nowhere and everyone could see it. Even Cicilia could see it and her vision was often as tunneled and narrow as much as any other maniac that polluted this league. With her fist pressing against the stubborn Kenko's, nobody was going anywhere. At some point, someone was going to have to play "chicken" in order to gain some sort of advantage... and that someone was going to have to be Cicilia De'Reignhardt. Could anyone call this a fight if the two of them stood there, just testing their strength! All this amounted to was a glorified arm-wrestling contest in front of a crowd! If Kenko wasn't going to give up easily... then she would have to pay that price in full. Suddenly, the German would pull back, allowing Kenko's fist to overtake hers as the boxer leaned to the side, the woman's tanned, red-gloved fist SHOOTING past her face... and leaving her over-extended and vulnerable! With a harsh grunt, the boxer would bring her other fist UP SHARPLY under Kenko's chin, aiming to SHOOT her face SKY-HIGH and shock her into a state of rocking, allowing the Juggernaut to PUMMEL her for daring to be so mind-numblingly stupid!

...If Cicilia had been a year or two longer, this struggle could have gone on for some time. Hell, they could've pushed against each other until they passed out for all she would've cared. Not anymore. The Juggernaut had grown smarter as a result of her fights, getting punched repeatedly in the face for her stubborn refusal to defend herself having taught her the meaning of "defense." Especially against these kinds of opponents, those that could mirror her own abilities, Cicilia was no longer DUMB ENOUGH to hope that her steam-roller would flatten Kenko's as they crashed into one another! She was going to have to play a little smarter than that if she wanted to go home with all her teeth... and already she was coming up with a plan. Kenko fought like her, that much was obvious. The way she stood, the way she threw her punches, it mirrored Cicilia perfectly... to the point of annoyance. She wasn't going to give up her position easily, likely as fucking bull-headed as herself when it came to dominating the space.

...She had an idea what this woman was going to do next and while that might not let her come out unscathed from now on, it might give her a bit more of an advantage.

Instead of pressing the attack and allowing Kenko to resink her teeth, the boxer would instead hop back, putting a little bit of space between them. Her breathing leveled, her mind cleared, her sanguine eyes pinpointing the traditional weaknesses of the German's Slugger strategy.

No more swinging wildly... She had already picked out her targets.

Of course Cicilia would have to be the one to play chicken, as Kenko was so horribly stubborn she simply refused to back down from any sort of confrontation. She just couldn't concede any ground when her pride was on the line. Her opponent was stubborn, too, but clearly was not quite so stuck in her ways as Kenko was, because she pulled back, Kenko's fist shooting forward, well past Cicilia's face, her intended target. Kenko gasped as she crashed into her opponent, trying to check her swing as much as she could and pull back to a safe distance quickly. She knew the sort of things she was exposed to right now.

She couldn't react fast enough, and her chin got rocked, face snapping upwards, spit flying from between her lips as Cicilia landed a clean blow which sent her stumbling backwards, definitely stunned for a second! She wobbled, but didn't come too close to falling—her chin was tough, and she was not a girl who hit the canvas easily. A few seconds later, she managed to shake her head and clear her mind, but that might already be too late, because if she knew how Cicilia fought, she would be coming right at her...

But maybe Kenko didn't know Cicilia's style as well as she believed she did, because the European woman didn't come at her.

That gave Kenko a chance to recover and reenergize, too. She wasn't going to back down from the volume of punches she was throwing at Cicilia, but she could focus in on weak points and try to blast Cicilia with pinpoint pummeling rather than bravado-boosting bombs. She raised her red gloves and stared at Cicilia's red eyes, taking a step forward again with a scowl on her face.