Summer Splash 2020: Entropy Title: Manami Kuroda(c) vs Hazumi Hazama: Submission Match

Harumi had taken some bad shots before, and been struck in the head numerous times throughout her martial arts career. Since joining the wrestling business, the danger to her head only increased with the numerous suplexes and slams that occupied many wrestler's repertoire. But even knowing all of that, and learning to endure and dispel light head trauma to avoid situations just like the one she was in, the simple truth was that Manami packed a punch that Harumi simply never had the displeasure of experiencing before. The sharp whip crack of a kick not only sent a searing pain through her skull, but managed to knock her senses loose! Even the tongue in her mouth felt alien to her, like a dry ball of cotton that she could vaguely feel as she tried to pick herself up off the floor. Her sight was coming back to her, but only just barely. The bright shining stars that had taken up her vision seconds prior were slowly fading into recognizable images. A glove that slowly grew into a hand, that soon evolved into an arm. Everything but the dead center of the Martial Artist’s vision was pitch black, but some sight was better than none, as she tried to slip her legs back underneath her.

Before she could climb back up on her shaky legs, something was caught in the Judoka’s returning vision. The dull shade of grey that obstructed the center of her sight actually moved, revealing itself to be a shadow rather than the effects of the strike. It wasn’t long after Harumi felt a grip of steel gently but firmly seize her wrists as words that could have slipped from the lips of a snake cut through her delusions like the reapers scythe. Harumi’s arms immediately tensed up, resisting the woman’s assertive grip as the Samurai looked over her shoulder.

A pair of gleaming eyes that practically glowed were what greeted Harumi. The now-familiar toothy grin of Manami flashed for only a second before Harumi turned away to focus on the troubling hold the Wolf Mother was keen on strapping her into. As much as Harumi was trying to resist, Manami had a clear advantage in comparison to strength and leverage to aid her. Manami easily pulled her back into a seated position, and dug her knobby knee into Harumi’s back, which didn’t help matters too much either, locking her firmly in position. Soon, the Samurai’s shoulder’s couldn’t go any further, but Manami continued to tug and pull, forcing Harumi’s own arm to slowly cinch around her neck in an admittedly creative and painful chokehold. Needless to say, Harumi hated it. Her emerald eyes sent a glare over her shoulder, a knowing look pointed at Manami and her motives.

Slowly, Harumi’s feet began to scooch forward, looking to drag her lower body away to try and angle. Most of the tension was focused on the Judoka’s upper body, something Harumi was hoping to take advantage of using a tactic she learned from her debut. With a pained expression, she grunted and groaned, trying to jerk her arms and wrists from Manami’s inescapable grasp! Of course, Harumi was well aware that escape through brute force was nearly impossible. No, the savage thrashing was only a show for Manami to distract her from Harumi’s feet's positioning. If she succeeded in tempting the Champion’s sadistic tendencies and got her feet in place, then Harumi would spring her real escape plan.

Quickly anchoring her feet, Harumi would actually use Manami’s knee as a sort of support beam as she pushed off the floor and looked to use the beach of her skull as a battering ram! She planned on slamming Manami right in the face while getting room for her arms to maneuver and attempt to snap free from the Champion’s distracted grasp!

Let her be clear: the judoka must die.

Painfully. She wouldn’t settle for a simple victory by pinfall, a submission on the leg. Harumi was stubborn and as slippery a competitor as she was skilled, loathe the Wolf Girl was to admit it. She offered a welcome challenge relative to the rabble management saw content to throw onto her dinner plate, but the judoka was also a persistent thorn in her side. It seemed as though she had a feasible counter for every offense had to offer.

Manami hadn’t even reached into half of her playbook, yet she knew this match was going to require a thorough deep dive. She didn’t intend to offer Harumi a chance for retaliation. She had to shut down every avenue, deny the use of those limbs; end her before she got started.

The straightjacket was perfect for just that. It got off her airflow and strained her stamina while also placing a tremendous strain on the shoulders. The harder she pulled back, the deeper her knee would dig further into the curve of her delicate spine. A few torques and maybe she could separate a few of the columns. Slip a disc or two free-

“GRGH!” Manami grit her teeth and tied back a howl of pain and anger, nearly slicing her tongue off. Her grip released on the judoka instantly. Manami stumbled back on awkward feet, falling to one knee beside the ropes. Her hand clutched tightly against her throbbing nose in a half-successful attempt to stem the pain. Drops of blood flowed between the ridges of her fingers to stain the floor. Her wide-eyed, bloodshot gaze casting a surmounting ire turned from the canvas at her foot to her adversary across the ring.

“You stupid bitch!” Her hand slowly peeled from her mouth, leaving a viscous handprint of thin crimson over the length of her lips. Beneath it all lay a dark scowl, her fangs bared as she barked out at the modern-day warrior. “I’m going to crack your skull open and force you to choke on your blood! I’ll have your broken face plastered all over Japan for that useless Georgian waif of yours!”

To be perfectly honest, the maneuver Harumi pulled was one made from desperation. If the Judoka had been positioned even slightly different, that could have very well been the end of the match. Manami was the stronger of the two, as she had proven already, and with the leverage she had on Harumi’s arms in that hold, she likely wouldn’t have been able to escape without some serious damage. And the savagery of the Wolf Mother was something Harumi had seen first hand, and had agreed to this match in order to stop. But if such a thing were possible, the judoka was losing sight of the illusive solution.

Not that such a question was on her mind at the moment. Harumi was too busy smashing her skull against Manami’s nose, feeling the soft cartridge get crushed and the slight give of bone. Suddenly, the steel grip around her arms vanished, and the Silent warrior rolled off Manami’s knee before she could regain her senses and rolled over towards the ropes. Her shoulders were sore from being tugged on, and her wrists were bruised where Manami had clamped down on them, but nothing was broken or out of place. Harumi could still fight Manami! And after glancing over towards the Champion, she was glad she had gotten off as easy as she did.

The Wolf Mother had fallen to one knee, gripping the nose Harumi so rudely smashed during her escape. Harumi could already see small crimson streams flow through Manimi’s fingers, dripping scarlet droplets onto the ring's soft colored floor. The red stood out heavily on Manami’s green colored attire, making it even more noticeable then what might have been normal. Normally, the Samurai would have felt some pity for her foe’s spilled blood...but pity wasn’t something Harumi had for this woman. Even as Harumi climbed back to her feet, she felt nothing close to guilt upon seeing Manami remove her hand to reveal a red smear across her lips. The two exchanged glares as Manami finally lifted her head from the bloodied floor. The Wolf Mother’s eyes were enraged in a manner Harumi had never seen before. It hardly even seemed human, expressing so much lethal rage. Harumi understood the anger that came from pain, but this seemed to be something else entirely. Manami wasn’t spouting threats in a fit of rage, but making Harumi a flat out battle plan. She’d absolutely meant what he said, Harumi had no doubts about that.

Which made what came next substantially easier.

Normally, Harumi would have let Manami rise. A foe on their knees was a sad sight to see, a pose often attributed to submission or helplessness. Attacking someone while they were down like that was hardly sporting, but then Manami wasn’t so much a person anymore. She was more akin to a rabid dog or ravenous animal that had proven herself too dangerous to spare. Harumi despised her before, for what she had done to Eka and so many others here. But now, she wanted to prove to the Wolf Mother that the woman in front of her was the stronger of the two. That her actions were irredeemable, and would be dealt with swiftly.

Spoiler:

Harumi’s eyes glared down at Manami, their eyes holding for what felt like an eternity, but in reality was only a few seconds. After that, Harumi moved forward. It was a simple approach, burning the distance between the two away with swift steps and a determined look. Harumi looked like she was about to take one last step, but instead shifted positions. Her arm came about, as strong and sharp as steel. Manami’s form sat just before her as the Samurai once again drew her blade in the form of a chop, and brought it down in a savage fashion, looking to punish the Wolf Mother with a shattering strike across her jaw. Harumi’s eyes didn’t shift, never looked away. Manami wanted savagery, but no beast was cruller in this world then Man. Not even the Wolf.

And Harumi hoped this reminder would finally keep Manami’s disgusting mouth shut!

Manami felt petrified watching those droplets fall to the floor. This was really happening, wasn't it?

When the public heard of tonight's matchup and the bitter tension frayed between them, very few would have suspected that Manami would be the first to bleed. And there would be blood. A "submission" match was little more than a framework, a pretext for the violence that captivated the hearts and minds of the millions witnessing their mutual destruction unfurl. The Wolf Girl had demonstrated an unparalleled propensity for taking advantage of a simple set of "rules" and bending them in the most painful ways possible.

A pure-hearted nobody like Harumi should have made easy prey in that regard, no?

Someone, anyone honestly. Please explain then how Manami was the one down on one knee, staring at this misguided waste of martial talent and she was the one who looked weaker. Why she was on the backpedal and this nobody was causing her so much grief. Her. Manami Kuroda.

The answer was actually quite simple. Harumi was a warrior bound by convictions, but by no means restrained by them. Manami had underestimated her capacity for violence and overestimated her compassion. Harumi would and could dispatch anyone that stood in her way, she had the power and aggression for it. She was a tempered blade hidden in its sheath of serenity, drawn for the sole purpose of vanquishing all that would stand against its pact of moral absolutism.

It was a mistake she would not make again.

Harumi stepped fast and with purpose. Through blurred vision, she almost appeared like a specter phasing between one reality to the next in a transient blur on the ring floor. Manami attempted to stand up from her kneeling position only to find herself looking down the length of her arm. The clatter of frail bone followed with a deafening strike that smacked across the Wolf Girl’s jawline, sending a debilitating shock through her head and down the length of her spine. Manami fell back and crumpled to the floor. In the next couple of moments came an eerie silence before the crowd roared back at the unbelievable display. There lay the Wolf, still in the stage light.

Dead?

Close. Manami’s corpse-like form twitched once, then twice with curious involuntary spasms that would suggest a deep slumber; down for the count. Then, all at once, her foot shot out in the direction of the judo girl. Her heel led the assault out, aiming to smash into Harumi’s kneecap and snap the leg backward with a single, purposeful strike made driven by reflex alone. A desperate, but nevertheless brutal assault.

The danger of a strike across the jaw such as the one Manami sustained was not something to underestimate. There were a variety of factors in play which very few really knew about. A normal strike against the jaw caused the head to quickly accelerate around due to the concussive force. The muscles in the neck unconsciously tense up and stop the head from going any further then it was supposed to, causing a sudden and violent stop. With the brain still inside, the momentum caused the precious muscle to impact against the protective bone. The brain can bounce off and make a second impact, creating enough trauma to shut down the nervous system and even temporarily paralyze the victim. Unconsciousness is a common result from normal strike, but the strike Manami suffered was far from normal.

The Wolf Mother had just taken some previous trauma thanks to Harumi’s desperate headbutt. Not only that, but she was struck by a professional. The Silent Samurai knew what she was doing, exactly where to hit in order to knock an opponent down and make sure they stayed there. Paired with Manami’s groggy state at the complete lack of defense there was from preventing such a strike, and there was no surprise when Manami Kuroda finally toppled over in a soundless clump! That soundlessness hovered in the air for a few seconds...the quiet tranquility Harumi had wanted was finally earned after a vicious deed. But it would not last.

The audience erupted in surprise! The Wolf Mother was infamous for tearing her opponents to shreds with all of the mercy of her namesake! She was the Bloody Entropy Champion! The fighter that left bones of fallen in her wake as she continued to climb the AFW ladder like it was an escalator! There were hundreds of her fans in the audience itself, but no one had ever imagined that it would be her who would collapse first! The voices of hundreds of people swirled and churned! Melting into a typhoon of screaming and yelling that washed over the Samurai who stood above Manami with that hardened look on her face.

Was Manami dead? The officials were nervously unsure, as such a strike really could kill a person thanks to the brain trauma. But Harumi stared down at her opponent all the same. She was a professional, and she knew how to hit someone in just the spot to knock them on the ground and keep them there…but not kill them.

Harui despised Manami for everything she had done. She broke her opponents, made them scream and beg for mercy while shining the wolfen grin to the cameras like it was all just one big game. She’d wanted to do the same thing to Eka, and almost accomplished her goal. The sight of Manami’s foot on the Georgian’s throat was still properly ingrained in her mind's eye and she was sure it would be there for some time after this. Even glaring at the Wolf Mother’s twitching form, Harumi felt a pain of disgust and fear in her guts. The feeling knotted and twisted as the Samurai knew damn well what her opponent was capable of and what she had been promising seconds before.

“The only thing that will be plastered all over Japan, Manami Kuroda, is the headline of your defeat. I promised to humble you in front of your pack...but now it's time for you to submit.”

Harumi’s haunted words would go unanswered. Manami remained still with only the slightest of movements as the Samurai approached. It would be a rude awakening for the Wolf Mother, but a necessary one. Harumi planned on locking in something simple but effective, and if things went right, then this fight would be over rather quickly. Harumi took one last step near Manami, before freezing instantly! Her eyes shot wide open as her legs began to move in retre-

WHAM!!!

In the blink of an eye Manami’s foot suddenly shot off the ground and cracked against Harumi’s shin! The woman barely managed to lift her leg in time, but the audible sound of fabric ripping apart was the precursor to a howl of pain from the not-so-silent warrior. Manami’s heel had struck with the intent of destroying Harumi’s leg, to destroy her knee! Instead, the wolf managed to rip a nice cut across the Warriors shin, causing a small river of crimson blood to roll down the now exposed leg! Harumi stumbled to the floor, gripping her limb as her teeth were clenched tight in restrained agony! How on earth was Manami able to do that? Was it reflex? Or was she still conscious?

Impossible!

Harumi’s emerald eyes glared daggers at Manami’s body as the blood from her wound began to soak her hands. The cut was deep, but evidently not enough to stop the fight. The Judoka’s mind was a swirl of what just happened, not sure if the Wolf Mother had been playing possum or unconsciously scored a lucky subconscious hit!

'Nearly dead' would not have been too exaggerated an estimate for the time being. The taste of metal inside of her mouth might have been slightly worrying if she could still remember what blood tasted like. Her senses were a fog as her brain continued to rock and ricochet inside of her cramped and battered cranium. Sights and sounds escaped her. The world came to her as a nebulous fog with faint patches of light. The Wolf Girl had certainly been in more promising condition.

Did Harumi’s strike render her blind? Her eyes didn’t appear to be making themselves terribly useful and that was worrying. The champion was having a difficult time piecing the blurry sections of her vision together. Every attempt to focus her eyes would be met with a sharp shock from the corner of her jaw. It hurt to move. The typical reaction would be to panic. Isn’t that right? Scream out into the void now that she’d been denied use of her body, her grip on reality?

For the weak, certainly. Manami Kuroda would never taste weakness. She cursed it with every fiber of her being. She expelled it entirely.

Manami moved. No, that wouldn’t be right. Her body moved on its own, reacting to the minute stimuli from prey too stupid or too arrogant to parade in the territory of sleeping beasts. Like a whip her leg shot out to reward the champion with a satisfying crack. It wasn’t the damage that she was looking for, it wouldn’t be enough to turn the tables just like that, but it bought her precious seconds to reconvene. This one would take some thought.

Minor fracture. Not good enough. The corner of Manami’s mouth creaked as her jaw cracked and ground itself back into position with a near audible click of her back teeth. “You try my patience, samurai.”

Manami lifted her shoulder and rolled onto her chest to push her head up from the floor onto all fours. Her movements were loose and felt detached. Then the light left her entirely. The wolf’s head lulled with vacant eyes barely visible through the sweat of her bangs. The droplets of blood that stained the canvas before her very eyes escaped her recognition. Manami couldn’t see them anymore. What she could see were the breaths of life pervading all around her in a mix of colors. It was an ardent mist in the blackness. Disbelief, joy, panic, euphoria, anger carried their individual sparks in the void.

As did the single ragged breath of stubborn determination only a few feet away. Manami looked to her opponent’s direction and pounced at Harumi with a savage fury that seemed inhuman...something other and unseen. With a feral instinct, she went to dig her claws into the samurai’s shoulders and force her back onto the floor. The wolf would pin her beneath her weight and draw her bloody fangs close to her neck with only the moist touch of death to accompany Harumi's descent.

The warm and sticky lifeblood that was slowly soaking Harumi’s hands was easily ignored thanks to the confusion and pain that plagued the Judoka’s mind. The chop she delivered to Manami should have been more than enough to keep the Wolf Mother down for hours! And yet the Champion still had enough strength to rip a bleeding cut across Harumi’s leg! The silent Samurai’s hardened expression was twisted into one of pain as she kept trying to figure out what she had done wrong. How had Manami withstood such a strike? Dozens of scenarios and questions ran through Harumi’s head, but were quickly silenced as her once thought to be defeated opponent let out a horse whisper that sliced through the air like a blade.

Like an actual horror movie, Manami rolled over onto her stomach and began to rise! Despite being seemingly unconscious minutes before, the Entropy Champion pushed herself back up onto her hands and knees. Manami’s heavy breaths seemed to be visible as her bloody fangs were on full display even in her weakened state. The Judoka could only watch as her opponent did the impossible and got back up, watching Manami slowly recuperate as more scarlet droplets fell from the Wolf Mother’s maw. She knew that Manami would soon turn on her, that the bloody, gruesome fight would resume any second! But Harumi could only watch...those emerald green eyes glaring in disbelief as Manami’s lifeless eyes seemed to search around the ring in an absent minded manner. It wasn’t long before those dead eyes crossed over Harumi’s downed form and before she could move into a defensive stance, Manami would suddenly launch herself into the air, coming down right on top of the wounded Samurai!

Sharp, pointed nails buried themselves into Harumi’s shoulders as the Samurai was forced to let out another growl of pain! Like a wild animal, Manami was fighting with the intent to kill, or seriously maim! Her razor sharp fangs flashed as Manami brought them down onto the Samurai, the only thing saving Harumi from lethal harm was by sacrificing her arm to Manami’s bite!

“Arrrgh!”

The forearm guard on Harumi’s costume kept Manami’s teeth from piercing the skin, but helped the Wolf’s jaws lock down on the limb! With her claws buried into Harumi’s shoulders and her teeth clamped tightly around her arm, the Samurai was almost completely trapped under the rapid Champion! Harumi tried to get her feet underneath her, trying to put a wedge between her and Manami. The Wolf’s instincts must have kicked in, because Manami’s knee was pushing down on the Samurai’s cut and causing the damaged nerves to flare up!

“You loathsome little-! Don’t you have any pride in combat?!?”

The once stoic woman’s tone was now jaded and sharp like Manami’s own teeth! Despite her shoulders enduring the piercing bite of Manami’s claws, Harumi used her free arm to try and push the Champion's jaws off of her arm! Should that fail, Harumi would simply have to try and throw a closed fist at Manami’s temple. Due to her position of being pinned on the floor, the strike’s force would be significantly diminished.

The hostility between the two was reaching its climax, and with both fighters so close to one another, there was nothing that could be done to stop them! A battle of pride with the opponents being pure savagery and strength against grace and deadly speed!

Manami didn’t care to hear anything that came out of Harumi’s mouth, not that she could comprehend any of it. It was as if the basest instincts spilled free from Manami’s mind after the back of her head hit the floor. She could smell the fear on her quarry and the breath of precious life against her face. Somewhere on the inside, there was awareness, yet it all clashed with the appearance before the audience now. Faces filled with disgust and mouths covered in horror regarded the sight appalled. Was she eating that girl alive? Why would someone do that? This wasn’t a wrestler. This was a monster.

Surely that was what they were thinking. And still, thoughts and emotions just didn’t matter anymore. All it became was simply bundles of nerves and hardwired reflexes driven by a singular murderous intent.

Predation. That was what this resembled.

A blow to her head knocked some semblance of consciousness back into her. The Wolf Girl grunted and just as quickly responded with increased pressure, digging her fangs deeper into the samurai’s gauntlets with a bite force that was surely reminiscent of Manami’s namesake.

“Choke to death on your pride!” Her full mouth muffled as one of her hands released Harumi’s shoulder. The reprieve her opponent felt would be quickly replaced by a sharp clap to her throat as the wolf shoved her forearm underneath her jaw. Manami leaned forward to pin the arrogant girl beneath the weight of her arm. Over Harumi’s arm, the wolf leader locked eyes with her detested equal. “We don’t need honor! We only need to move forward!”

There was an easy way to keep her trap shut. Manami slackened her jaw and seized the samurai’s wounded arm by the wrist and pinned it to the floor. The wolf’s other arm came away from Harumi’s throat and looped underneath the judoka’s arm. The champion grabbed her wrist on the other end and locked in the leverage she needed. With a violent twist of her upper body, Manami would torque the martial artist’s shoulder at a terrible angle with a relentless kimura lock from a full mount position. The brown of her perfect irises glowed with a malevolent hue focused solely on Harumi's pained expression. She wanted to bear witness to that loss of hope when her collarbone snapped and turned into powder.

“I’ll tear you apart.” She shouted into her ear and rumbled into between their hardened bodies.

Like a waking nightmare, Manami tore into Harumi’s arm with teeth seemingly made of steel and ferocity more in line with a rabid beast than what a person was capable of. The gauntlets on Harumi’s arms mitigated some of the force behind Manami’s jaw and kept the pointed teeth from breaking through the skin for the most part. But the gauntlets were mostly part of the Samurai’s costume, and even their soft padding couldn’t protect Harumi’s arm from Manami’s lower jaw that hooked into her like a pointed clamp! No matter how hard Harumi tried to pry and push the Wolf Mother’s mouth off, Manami didn’t budge. If anything, the attempt to escape only encouraged the monster atop of Harumi, her jaw’s closing more and more around Harumi’s arm! All the while, The Wolf Mother’s claws continued to dig into Harumi’s shoulders, one of Manami’s legs putting pressure on Harumi’s cut! It was an assault on many fronts, one Harumi was certain she couldn’t hold off for very long.

The quick strike to the head was an attempt to send Manami off of her, but thanks to the poor positioning on the floor and the claws still buried deep in Harumi’s shoulder, the glancing blow was only so effective. Truthfully, it only seemed to put the Samurai in an even worse position as some light came back into those disgusting eyes of Manami’s. As bad as the bite force was, it grew even worse. Harumi’s muscles tightened in her trapped arm, trying to keep Manami’s teeth from completely crushing the limb between her jaw but the pain was more than enough to elicit a growl from Harumi’s clenched maw!

Manami was forcing Harumi further and further into the floor! The silent Samurai pinned by Manami’s might! Only a single leg of the once stoic fighter kept any distance between her and the ravenous wolf that tore atop of her! Even with a mouthful of her opponent's arm, Manami continued to scream down at her! She hated Harumi, almost as much as Harumi despised her. Nothing mattered so long as victory was achieved, and Manami planned on proving that to everyone here today! Pride, sportsmanship, and honor were just words, as was the girl beneath her! A slightly talented rookie, who’d only gotten this far by sheer luck!

Manami would release her grip around one of Harumi’s shoulders, the indents of her fingers still visible even on the fabric of the Samurai’s costume even as the champ brought her arm down on Harumi’s throat like a dull guillotine! Harumi’s eyes opened wide from the shot to the neck, but nothing escaped under the champ's muscular forearm. The Samurai’s free arm immediately went to seize the compressing limb’s wrist, pulling at it with what strength she could muster as her arm was continuously chewed on! One of Harumi’s emerald eyes was squeezed shut, the other one open wide! The burning glare in that singular eye bore up at Manami. The choking Samurai was still fighting, her glare showing her annoying resolve to fight against this Beast that roamed the AFW.

The Samurai’s leg remained a small barrier between them, and Harumi continuously tried to push and buck Manami off with it. Should Manami stay in her dominant position, there was a 50/50 chance Harumi would either escape, or suffocate beneath Manami’s arm. But this was a verbal submission match...and while no one doubted Manami’s conviction to beating an unconscious opponent, many of the Wolf Mother’s fans were certain their Champion would much rather break this prideful warrior mentally as well as physically.

And they might be proven right. Manami would finally spit Harumi’s now thoroughly chewed arm out of her maw, grasping Harumi's wrist and SLAMMING it to the floor! The Samurai’s blade, her weapon of choice, was torn and bleeding. The fabric around the arm was in tatters, and the spots where Manami’s lower canines had pierced through the skin dripped around the vicious bruising the other teeth had wrought! Manami had to care for how roughly she had thrown the wounded weapon onto the floor, only planning to wrap it even further as she finally released Harumi’s throat in order to lock in a Kimura hold! The leverage was there, the hold in place. Manami cast one last look down at Harumi…

And torqued upwards!

Harumi’s scream rang out into the crowd. It overtook any cheers from Manami’s fans or any squeamish noises from the rest of the audience. The sound lingered in the air, echoing out for a few minutes after Harumi had finished! The pain in her arm and shoulder overtook the Samurai’s nerves as she was forced to endure the hold. This wasn’t the first time she endured this submission, and the painful memories bubbled back up into her subconscious!

To her credit, Harumi only screamed that one time. Harumi’s costume became damp with sweat as Manami continued to hold her arm up in the hold. Even without looking, Harumi knew Manami was watching. The Judoka’s free arm gripped Manami’s trunks, giving her something to squeeze through the pain. Something began to slip through Harumi’s lips, the samurai panting heavily in spite of her breathing exercise…

“Ah...I…I”

Harumi’s head slowly turned. Her eyes were narrowed, almost drowsy thanks to the immense pain she had just undergone. Sweat rolled down her cheeks as her chest continued to rise and fall.

“I..think...” She continued to mutter…

“I...think...Eka’s hold…was better!”

A defiant smile cracked across Harumi’s lips, the Judoka snickering at her own statement. She released her grip around Manami’s bottoms and brought her good arm up into the air. Her fist was clenched tightly, as though showboating to the audience that she had endured the hold and remained conscious. But the act was actually just a disguise, as Harumi brought her elbow down like a descending spear, looking to impale the Wolf that lay atop her with more force then she should have been capable of!

Why did it have to be Harumi of all people that brought this out of her? It was the stalwart student with nothing to gain and everything to lose that provoked her the easiest. There was something in that ice-cold demeanor feigning some warrior’s resolve that belonged to a bygone era and disgusted Manami to no end...

It didn’t matter. None of this did. The arena, the title, her ambitions. It could all burn into merciful oblivion for all she cared. There was only one thing that concretely existed within the Wolf Girl’s mind. One sole ambition whose longevity was the focal point of her purpose in life: Harumi’s scream.

Even in the brief time the two of them had known one another, Manami knew this was a rare delight. Her voice had all the marks of one that hadn’t scarred its vocal cords in quite some time. Screams of pain, cries of ecstasy, shouts of anger. The judoka’s voice hadn’t known true adversity from the moment it came to be. Manami made her taste true pain; that voice crying agony to the heavens filled the champion with eternal peace. Her lips curled at the corners into a lethal smile as she leaned forward, pressing the side of her head into the samurai’s as she deepened the hold.

For an instant, she thought the girl was signaling surrender to the obvious superior. Wouldn’t that have been fittingly underwhelming? No. Of course, Harumi would never admit that to herself. She would only retort with more defiance. It was the one trait that she seemed exceptionally talented at. Her judo simply left Manami wanting. The champion simply huffed a bitter scoff to her adversary’s smirk. She thought nothing of the woman and even less of that righteous fist she had raised into the air.

Her opinion quickly changed when a downward striking elbow cracked the back of her skull. Manami’s eyes grew a vacant white with shock. Gathering that much force from a single motion should have been impossible from her position. She didn’t have the torque nor the angle. For an ordinary person, this may have been the case. But a determined and seasoned martial artist was a different story. The samurai had honed her arms into folded steel and allowed the wolf to have to taste the full power of their potential. Ikken Hissatsu.

Her body fell weak. Her kimura lock slackened and while it may have been worth the risk to reassert herself, Manami wasn’t going to give Harumi the chance to reverse the situation. She had done enough damage. The champion slapped her palm into the side of Harumi’s face and shoved hard into her, rolling off the judoka and popping up to her feet close to the ropes. Perhaps too quickly. Manami wobbled on two unsteady feet for an instant before she recovered with a slight breath. She bided her time from a distance, waiting to see what Harumi would do as she caught her breath.

The frenzy had passed, but the warrior’s fate was sealed. What good could the rising star do with one good arm after all? What was one good claw worth?