Ravens of Eternity

As the two inched towards each other, Miko floated up just a bit higher. She wanted a better view of the fight, and her height wasn’t doing her any favors. Although she didn’t have the sensitivity to bodily energy like Freya and Kali, she could still feel it rising in general.

It began to hang thick and heavy in the air, and was a feeling she was relatively familiar with. She always felt it whenever Freya prepped to go all out.

“I’m placing a 250,000 credit bet on Freya,” she said. “Or krohn if you prefer.”

Eris perked her head at the girl. She certainly didn’t expect her to be the type to gamble.

“I’ll take the krohn,” she replied. “It’s much more valuable.”

“Seriously?” Xylo exclaimed. “Not sure this is the time, honestly.”

“I can tell you this is not the first time,” Miko retorted. “I recommend you invest in this gamble as well.”

.....

Xylo was aghast at Miko’s suggestion. After paying Lucifer, and losing the Spirit of Amelia to the Federation, the last thing they needed was to waste their money even further.

“And risk what little we’ve got left?” she protested.

“We have plenty of time to make more,” answered Miko.

“Easy for an immortal to say.”

Up on the platform, Lucifer and Freya circled one another as they closed the distance. Their eyes bore into each other with such an intensity that time slowed to a crawl for them.

Both bolted into action at the exact same moment and charged into each other.

Lucifer swatted at Freya’s head with a right backhand, which was easily parried. At the same time, ze blocked her left uppercut with an open palm.

Freya quickly performed a straight right at Lucifer, who leaned back and out of the way, while ze snap kicked into her side. She decided to take the brunt of it, and instead of evading, used the energy to immediately counter instead.

She performed an overhand left into Lucifer’s chest, which struck at the same time as Lucifer’s kick.

Both were knocked away from each other by the simultaneous blow, rubbed their bodies from the pain, but quickly stepped right back into close melee. The two once again exchanged opening jabs before they delivered and countered a series of strikes.

Their fighting became much more frenzied as pure energy coursed through their bodies.

As they ramped up their energy, their speed, their power, their technique, so too did their enjoyment of the fight itself. They were having the absolute time of their lives, arguments be damned.

And of course, the damage they received increased as well. Whatever blows that got through their defenses certainly did a number on their bodies.

But still, neither were bloodied – yet.

Lucifer came in fast with a lunging left knee followed up by a heavy right hook. Ze was quickly parried, and hir knee pushed down, which greatly slowed hir momentum. In response, ze morphed hir hook into an elbow strike instead, which Freya just caught in the nick of time.

She countered with her own knee, and shoved it into Lucifer’s gut painfully. The blow knocked the wind out of hir lungs, and ze was forced to back up to recover.

As ze stepped back, Freya pressed her advantage, hopped to the side, then spun into a powerful hook kick.

Lucifer didn’t evade, and instead dashed into the kick, grabbed Freya by the leg as ze spun around, then threw her over hir shoulder. Ze slammed Freya face-first into the padding with a WHUMPH, and knocked all the wind out of hir opponent.

Freya pushed through the pain, spun around even while in Lucifer’s grip, and swung her other leg straight at hir head. Her shin smashed into Lucifer’s face and threw hir a half dozen meters off to the side.

Both combatants panted with heavy breaths while they laid on the ground and recovered. Waves of pain ebbed through their bodies, even as their stamina began to recharge. Then, they both hopped back to their feet, and once again settled into their stances.

Then, they charged into each other and traded even more powerful blows than before.

Much of the wild betting and screaming and cheering died away, and was instead replaced by shocked silence. Those in the room had certainly watched the two of them fight before, but never in person. And they gained a newfound respect for the pair’s abilities.

They watched as the pair’s combat abilities shot well past their expectations. Many felt their energies rise to levels they could barely understand.

More than that, the power of the pair’s blows became more and more pronounced. Waves of energy pulsed out from the point of every impact, and many Discordians felt the strength of it as it passed through their bodies. A few were even pushed back, ever so slightly.

Regardless, everyone felt as the floor underneath them shook from the impact, and they watched as the octagon’s mesh walls buckled and flexed from the energies that exuded outward.

The sheer energies that whirled around the octagon pressed heavily on their chests, and left them breathless.

Freya unleashed a mad flurry of strikes at Lucifer, and pushed hir back further and further until hir back was pressed up against a titanium mesh wall. It bulged out as ze was pushed further into it by Freya’s frenzied attacks.

And although ze blocked the first batch rather easily, Freya chipped at hir defenses with every blow until she eventually fought her way through. She slammed an uppercut right into Lucifer’s abdomen, followed by a devastating right hook to hir chin, followed by a flurry on hir chest and stomach.

Lucifer was knocked around like a doll as Freya broke through all hir defenses and pummeled hir relentlessly. The many hits dazed hir further and further, and ze was forced to keep hir arms close to help defend hir body.

Hir own helplessness in the situation angered hir. Somehow, ze had allowed herself to get cornered so easily – many of hir attempts to overwhelm Freya had resulted in failure. Yet somehow Freya managed to find a way to outpace hir.

Ze screamed in frustration, which helped clear hir mind. The wave of energy ze let loose pushed against Freya, and staggered her momentarily.

Lucifer immediately snapped up hir advantage, poured excess power into hirself, and pressed an attack.

Now it was hir turn to release a flurry of attacks on her. Ze swatted Freya’s face with a quick jab, followed up with a right knee, then a downwards elbow, and then a flurry of fast punches around her head and chest.

Freya took all of hir hits in stride, and backed up with each blow. Though she did her best to block, was completely overwhelmed by Lucifer’s ferocity. Her mind was dazed further and further, even as the breath was knocked out of her more and more.

Lucifer finished up with a powerful back kick that threw Freya a dozen meters away.

She landed with a THUMP, and rolled a couple times before she finally came to a stop.

As she rose up and caught her breath and rubbed her bruises, Lucifer began to circle her, and formulated a new path of attack.

Ze had long since realized that they were pretty much on par with each other – both employed unparalleled technique. Each of them could dish it out as much as they could take it.

And as ze feared, the fight was certainly down to a battle of attrition. Whoever ran out of energy or stamina first was going to win. And it was clear that they both had vast amounts of stamina and energy to draw from. Not only that, but they could reinforce their bodies greatly, and even heal damage on the fly.

The fight could take hours to conclude. Which sounded like a rather interesting prospect, but also exhausting. They all had other things to do, after all was said and done.

Why ze even fought so hard to be in the Ravens was a bit of a mystery to hir. Ze glanced over at them, and was filled with a desire to be alongside them. Though ze didn’t exactly know the reason why.

Ze was simply compelled.

It suddenly dawned on hir that it was instinct that drew hir to them. It was so powerful that ze ended up fistfighting one of them.

Not that ze was regretful of it. In fact, it had made hir incredibly happy. Ze had finally found someone who could fight hir to a draw. The only thing that could make hir happier, was to win.

And if ze joined up with the Ravens, it would allow them countless rematches to further test their skills. What could be better than that?

More critically, ze now understood the allure and power of instinct, and realized that the only way to beat Freya was to use some measure of impulse as well. If ze infused a level of unpredictability in hir attacks, ze could throw Freya’s own instincts into disarray.

Lucifer closed hir eyes and breathed deeply. Ze filled hir lungs with air and poured energy straight into hir blood. Power coursed through every millimeter of hir body.

Ze focused it all into a single fine point, then ze launched hirself towards Freya with overwhelming speed and power. More than ze had channeled in the fight thus far.

Within the blink of an eye, Lucifer got right up to an utterly surprised Freya. Simply Lucifer had been mostly defensive all throughout the fight. Hir suddenly turning hyper aggressive like Freya simply caught her completely off guard.

Tiamat’s Transcendence rang out and warned her, but the surprise had frozen her momentarily. Certainly, long enough for Lucifer to take advantage of the opening.

Ze once again poured an inordinate amount of energy into hirself and launched multiple furious attacks at Freya.

Lucifer began with a right hook, followed by a left snap kick, then a left cross to follow. Freya tried her best to block and parry them, but was a fraction of a second late every time. Each of Lucifer’s blows hit splendidly, and dazed her further. And when she raised her arm to parry the left cross, Lucifer instead grabbed her forearm, and twisted it downwards.

Freya had no choice but to flip over to counteract the throw, just like she had done a few times before.

But instead of finishing the throw, Lucifer simply let go, then performed a spinning roundhouse while Freya was flipped upside down in midair.

The kick struck her squarely, and threw her straight into a titanium mesh wall, which buckled severely from the force of the blow. It was strong enough to knock all the air out of her lungs, and caused her mind to go blank.

Lucifer sped right up to her even before she could recover. She barely had the time to fall down.

Ze reared back with an open palm, infused it with every ounce of energy ze could muster, then thrust it forward with all hir might. Hir palm struck Freya right in the chest, and transferred all of that energy straight into her.

And because the mesh wall was already stretched to the limit, many of the links within it simply snapped from the tension. Pieces of the wall broke off and flew in every direction. They scattered everywhere, and bounced off the few who were unfortunate enough to stand too close.

Many Discordians who were too close felt the sheer power of Lucifer’s blow, even with the distance that separated them. Those in a cone in front of where the two were fighting were thrown to the ground helplessly.

Freya herself was thrown right out of the octagon, and sailed for a dozen or so meters before she fell down towards the ground. She smashed into a few Discordans along the way, and toppled them into a heap of bodies.

They collectively groaned out of pain.

Back in the octagon, Lucifer’s body heaved as ze panted heavily. Despite how much energy ze had used up, a wide grin spread across hir face. Ze exhaled deeply, centered hirself, and recovered some of hir stamina.

The moves had cost hir a great deal of energy, but ze found the expenditure well worth the effort.

“Looks like I win,” Lucifer said gleefully.