Overcoming Zeal (Hangaku vs. Raina)

[dlamp]

The crowd was nearly silenced to the brutality they witnessed, only letting out gasps and worried murmurs as they watched the two women doing all in their power to rip and tear into each other, one letting out a near-deafening shriek of pain as she suffered liver shots and the other vengefully clawing her nails into her opponent while being cursed out as Raina desperately tightened the headlock to try and choke Hangaku out of her vicious grip. An effort that proved fruitless as the Warrior only dug her nails in deeper, now solely focused on causing Raina as much pain as she could manage. The only sign of emotion Hangaku reveal was her bitter, vengeful snarls of annoyance and displeasure at Raina's struggling, but eventually it all came to a head.

With a desperate and angry surge Raina shoved Hangaku right off of her was heavy force.

"Argh!" And with both a lack of air and energy in her upper body to resist, Hangaku flopped onto the mat with a hard thud, only giving Raina one last disservice in raking her nails hard and deep along her side before falling to give her a few more marks to remember the painful sensation. But despite that harsh push Hangaku was still able to keep her legs wrapped tight around Raina's legs, being a nuisance to her still. As painful as the shove was the Warrior could at least finally take in air, and with her legs still clinging to Raina she had every intention of grinding her body to sand. "Not yet!" It was a near snarl, and she followed her snapped threat with action, wrapping her legs tight and moving to grab a Raina's ankles to pull her down with her.

[Rose~Medley]

“You.. bitch!! I’m bleeding!”

Raina hissed in absolutely profound fury. She was severely pissed off at this aspect, feeling Hangaku’s fingernails dig into and leave many red marks across her body, some which broke her skin even! She had never felt as much pain before in her whole life, but today she was facing an actual professional wrestler.. who wasn’t afraid to fight dirty.. and was severely enraged! Her eyes widened, realising she was screwed

Specially as her sensitive waist was still latched onto by the fucking octopus of a girl! But Raina was a cornered animal, and there was little more dangerous than that! Her fingers clasped, and she’d hold her hands together.. before raising her fists and slamming them down! All of her force into Hangaku’s stomach, bashing it mercilessly over and over like a mace to dig into her stomach, leaving bruises from the force! Sure Raina hadn’t been going easy on Hangaku by any means before now, but in her pain, she had lost any sense of restraint and was bashing her stomach SILLY!

“IT HURTS!! FUCKING LET GO!!”

[dlamp]

Did you think you wouldn't bleed in a match like this? Hangaku gritted her teeth, only giving Raina a sharp look in place of her bitter thought. It seemed Raina was finally reaching the same mindset Hangaku had long ago.

This match was about survival.

Raina might have had height and weight on her, but Hangaku had enough freedom in this match to use cheap tricks, mindgames, and other tactics to whittle away at Raina's stamina. And the look her opponent gave the Warrior, the surprise and realization of her situation, it turned Raina's sharp glare into desperation and fury. She snapped soon after that, force to deal with the pain of having her body marked by Hangaku's nails and the continued pain of Hangaku's thighs squeezing the life out of her. She rose her hands high for a hammer blow, and both Hangaku and the crowd let out a breath. The Warrior tried unhooking her legs to get away, to at least mitigate the incoming damage but-

"Ngaaaaah!"

Too late. her legs were already tightly attached to Raina's waist, and even as she unhooked them the time it took to get away didn't match her furious opponent's speed. Her eyes went wide on impact, the crowd groan and gasping at hearing Raina's fists slam hard into the Warrior's gut and let out low, groaning echo as the air was forced from Hangaku's lips. She tried blocking, tried bringing up her legs to use her shins as guards, but it was too late for that. She took at least three hits before she was able to roll herself away, every blow making her spit out saliva and likely bruising her body under her kimono and leaving her gasping for air as she got some distance from the woman.

[Rose~Medley]

“Ku.. ku..!”

Raina breathed heavily. After ruthlessly having pounding her palms down in a hammer blow, Raina had finally freed herself from Hangaku’s octopus like grip. She was in a pitiful looking state, eyes narrowing and pain surging through her body. It hurt, and she’d hold her waist, her legs trembling from the effort to stay standing in the pain. But she’d level her finger towards Hangaku, meeting her eyes. The crowd held their breath.

“I’m gonna fucking kill you!”

And then they screamed in anticipation, the roars rising to a crescendo! Raina roared with them, adrenaline fuelling her body and making her have the pain as a secondary emotion! The Firecracker erupted, blazing forwards and lifting her leg up high, stamping her foot down mercilessly on where Hangaku was resting! A brutal stomp, and if it hit or not, Raina would grab Hangaku’s thigh and clasp her by it roughly.

Then she turned. Turning on her heel, spinning around and spinning Hangaku with herself. She’d spin in circles, using the momentum to quite literally lift Hangaku off the ground and get some air.. finally using her weight to her advantage! With a sharp twist, she’d let go and send Hangaku flying right into the turnbuckle, dropping on her ass at the same time!

[dlamp]

Hangaku finally had a moment to take a few breaths after that harsh hammer blow, but it only lasted second before the woman riled herself into a rage again. The overall pain from the bodyscissor along with both the physical and emotional beating she took over the match seemed to have finally broken what little restrict was left in this woman. And the Warrior’s jaw tightened at Raina’s manic shriek and drive for further bloodshed. My... how savage. It was a bitter thought, but a thought was all she had to time for as Raina immediate made a mad dash for her. Sweat immediately formed around Hangaku's forehead, and her senses kicked into overdrive.

She threw her body to the side further to roll out of the incoming stomp, feeling Raina's boot just barely stretch the fabric of her kimono as she rolled away. But that was far from the worse Raina had planned, quickly snatching her hands along the Warrior's waist. Dammit. Hangaku bit her lower lip, soon being dragged along the ground as Raina's nails dug into Hangaku's thigh for what felt like petty revenge.

Then, the world started spinning. Literally.

"W-Whoa!" Not fit to just throw Hangaku aside, Raina put some momentum into the buildup toward her eventual toss, sending Hangaku's senses and sense of gravity off-kilter. The world spun... and Hangaku was along for the ride as all she could do was wait... and try to prepare.

Her body flung across the ring like a ragdoll, and the crash got a loud gasp from the crowd as the Warrior slammed hard into the turnbuckle back first. "GRUH-!" The pain along nearly knocked her out. Her body went limp on contact, left in a gasping heap as the crowd watched. "O-Oug..." She could feel the bruises start to form under her kimono, along with her swimming consciousness.

But still... the Warrior was able to keep her eyes locked onto Raina despite that, narrowed and glaring her way as she reached for the ropes to give her enough support to rise.

[Rose~Medley]

“What the fuck..?”

Was all that came out of Raina’s mouth. Her eyes widened a little. While she was furious at Hangaku, she couldn’t even.. even fathom what it took to withstand such a devastating series of attacks, even after having been on the receiving end most of the match! She’d meet Hangaku’s eyes, the homicidal rage dying down a bit and her eyes clearing.. only to be clouded by uncertainty.

“Nobody could take that just by training alone.. the fuck is driving you, Ku-Ku?”

She asked, both pissed and curious and honestly a jumble of emotions. She took a second to catch her breath, still in a sitting position with a hand on her waist.

[dlamp]

It was a slow and painful struggle for Hangaku to get to her feet. Every joint in her body ached as she pulled herself up with the ropes. Her spine screamed at her to stop, her legs buckled with each inch she rose, her hand fought to keep a solid grip on her, and underneath her kimono were the harsh and blueish bruises from the hammer blow she just took. It took a lot to just keep from huffing in a pathetic wheeze. And still the Warrior was able to stand, propping herself along the ropes and keeping her breath as steady as possible she was on her feet, to the amazement of the crowd and her opponent both. And Raina asked the question that everyone in the audience asked.

How? How could she stand after taking all this?

And for a moment, Hangaku paused, searching for an answer. At this point keeping her family's money in her family's hands wasn't a good enough answer, as true as it was. To give the honest and lambast Himeko might put her family's treasury at risk depending on the Princess's mood. And faking some nonsense answer didn't feel right either.

"Haaa..." The sigh was meant to come out more annoyed than tired, but her weary body could help the make it haggard. "Because..." She started. "My Princess gave me an order. She told me to work a miracle. So I'm going to make a miracle happen tonight." She pushed herself off her ropes, body lowered into a stance. "I'm going to make four miracles happen by the end this. And then I'm going... then I'm going..." She sucked in a sharp breath, looking Raina in the eyes.

"Then I'm going to show my Princess why she made me her pillar!"

[Rose~Medley]

“Princess? Miracles..? You’re.. living in a world that’s different from mine, aren’t you..?”

Raina didn’t know much about honour. About having something to lose, to serve someone, to be their Warrior. All she knew, and had ever known were her fists, her wits, and survival. All Raina knew.. she wanted to live and she’d do anything for it.

But being faced with Himeko’s conviction, the battle had turned into less a battle of strength that favoured Raina, but a battle of conviction. Raina’s wish to survive was all she knew, and when faced with Himeko’s motivations.. it was just.. something that felt very heavy. Even if the street urchin didn’t know everything there was to know, her opponents resolve.. weighed on her, breaking something inside of her, chipping it just a bit. Her will to fight, replaced with some sense of awe. Coupled with the pain she was feeling.. Raina looked at Himeko with somewhat wide eyes, breathing heavily while on her knees.

“But.. fuck if I don’t.. want to win too. I can’t lose.. for different reasons than you, but..”

Here she stopped. Unsure what to say, Raina never really had a way with words, and here it shone more than any, coming to a halt mid sentence.

[dlamp]

"Hehe..." A near-caustic laugh at Raina's words and awe as the adrenaline started to bleed out of her and her mind refocused on the match. Her face was left flushing red, partly from all the damage she had taken, partly from the energy she had been spending to stay standing, and... from just how melodramatic her little speech had been. My, I think our little Hellion is rubbing off on me. Epic speeches were more Himeko and Reiko's thing, but... Well, that's the heat of battle for you, it could make you do some rather crazy things.

"Don't mind me. I'm being overly dramatic frankly speaking..." She admitted, waving if off. "The short of it is my boss says to win, so I'll win. Feel free to keep going for whatever reasons you have as well." She looked over Raina, noticing her pause and hesitation. That said... Hangaku's eyes narrowed. I won't let your hesitation go unpunished. She charged forward without wasting another second, going for a low sliding kick at Raina's ankles.

[Rose~Medley]

“That.. sounds more anti climatic than I expected.. hah. I think I quite liked the Warrior side of y- whoAaAH!”

She’d say with a little, sharp gasp. Raina was engaged in her thoughts that she hadn’t even noticed what Hangaku was up to.

Suddenly her legs were kicked off balance. A solid strike, one that left Raina little option but to tumble forwards, her head bashing against the canvas! Her hand immediately went to her head, as she’d hiss a little.. suddenly gaining back her aggressiveness.

“Why you little!-“