Main Event: GASTER vs Astrid Arvidsson (c) for the LAW Openweight Title

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Oh, it was a truly cinematic moment. When the Golden Dragon raised her head and looked at her rival, Clara took a step back. It was hard to tell if she felt a chill on the back of her neck, but Astrid had no doubt that this turn of events literally shocked GASTER. And this was just the beginning. Although the brunette's face was hidden behind the mask, the descendant of the great Vikings had no problem understanding that Clara's emotions had quickly changed.

GASTER clenched her fists and she took a hard step forward. If she was shocked at first, now she was angry. Huh. Yes, the Golden Dragon had a real talent for evoking such emotions in her rivals. Perhaps some could make a funny collage from the expressions of her rivals' faces, because those eyes widened in surprise after the pin was broken at the last moment is truly priceless. And although this time the Golden Dragon avoided defeat in a different way, Clara in any case joined the list of those who were annoyed by the stubbornness of the champion.

To express how dissatisfied the British woman was with this result, she grabbed the lid of the coffin and spared no effort to send it down, thereby hitting the blonde's back once again. This caused Astrid to let out a painful scream, but almost no one heard it. Her scream was drowned out by her rival's loud words. Clara clearly wasn't going to joke, she didn't let go of the coffin lid, making it clear to everyone that if she had to, she would just beat the champion unconscious with it. Astrid understood this first of all.

"Grrrhhh..." she groaned through clenched teeth after the coffin lid slammed into her back once again.

In most cases, the audience forgets that avoiding defeat is actually not the most difficult part of the job for a fighter. Having avoided defeat, the fighter must also find the strength to continue fighting, because otherwise everything was in vain. Right now, Astrid was in exactly that situation. Yes, she didn't let Clara close the coffin lid, but her condition still left much to be desired. So that…

"PPPPFFFF!!!" The blonde filled her lungs with air as much as possible.

When Clara once again began to lift the lid to then throw it on Astrid's back, the champion abruptly turned to the side, simultaneously grabbing her opponent by the nearest arm in the wrist and elbow area. Such an emotion as rage was familiar not only to GASTER. At that moment, rage was also reflected on the bloodied face of the descendant of the great Vikings. Like her opponent, she wasn't going to lose. Being an openweight champion means being the best. And for that, Astrid was willing to do anything, no matter how big the price was.

If she had managed to grab Clara's arm, she would have had a death grip on it. To let her opponent know that she would fight to the end, the Golden Dragon intended to pull GASTER's arm sharply and thereby lower Clara's head. Astrid was sure that her opponent was stubborn, but this was not a problem for her. The champion was going to send her own head towards her opponent's and hit Clara with a headbutt right in the center of her mask!

[Vc0m]

It was hard to deny that Clara was indeed afraid... she let fear rule her life for way too long, to the point where, even for important matches, especially most important ones like this, it could show up when she least expected it... when she least needed to feel it. She believed beating the Baroness meant she had conquered her fear... and she was wrong. She felt a shiver going down her spine at Astrid's monstrous willpower...

Her frustration and anger were driven by that fear, not realizing the dangers of falling to the primal instincts in a difficult match like this!

At first, it seemed like the Shadow Lord's efforts were bearing fruit, that they were weakening the champion, judging by the groans from Clara's attacks. She still continued to slam the lid down, again and again. Groans weren't enough... Astrid had to be weak enough for GASTER to properly shove her rival back into the coffin...

...that's what she believed right until the moment her arm was grabbed!

"Wha--?!!

In her anger, Clara didn't realize that Astrid turned once more, furious eyes staring back at the Shadow Lord's mask as she pulled on the lightweight's hand with the strength the Brit didn't expect the blonde to still have! Her face rushed to meet Astrid's forehead!!!

"GWOOOOOOOOGH!!!"

Contrary to popular belief, Clara's mask did not shield her from face strikes. Astrid's forehead dug into her mask, as it dug into her face (specifically her nose), forcing the Brit back!

She stepped back, dazed from the strike and hearing ringing in her ears, before finally finding a stable surface to prop herself against, that being the commentary desk...

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"Guuuhhhh!!!" Astrid growled as her forehead slammed into Clara's mask.

Even at the best of times, a headbutt is a painful attack for the one who uses it. For Astrid, it was akin to self-flagellation because there were four open wounds on her face, not to mention the fact that she was tired. After the headbutt, a certain amount of the Golden Dragon's blood remained on the brunette's mask, while the champion herself lowered her head down. She covered her face with her hand and breathed through her bared teeth. It was no secret that she was strong, but no one had any problems seeing that Astrid was in agony and that she had either already reached her limits or was catastrophically close to it.

Nevertheless, Astrid was satisfied with the result. The price she paid was fair, because as a result, GASTER received no less damage, not to mention that the headbutt forced her to back away, giving the Golden Dragon an opportunity that she could not miss. Trying to breathe as deeply as possible, the descendant of the great Vikings opened the lid of the coffin.

Barely restraining moans of pain, the champion threw her leg over the wall of the coffin, so that she literally fell out of the wooden structure. The audience greeted this with a loud roar because for them it meant that the match was not over yet. In another situation, Astrid would have allowed herself to smile, but at the moment she was too tired for that. Her appearance and the condition of her costume served as a reminder of what she went through in this match. There were bruises and wounds all over her body, while her costume was not only stained with pumpkin pulp, but also torn in several places.

"Time... don't waste time..." she reminded herself mentally.

Right. Taking an upright position, the Golden Dragon placed both hands on her knee and used it as a fulcrum to get to her feet. As soon as she straightened up, the blonde immediately staggered. At that moment, she realized that she was no less tired than in her match against Ostberg. She wasn't going to say it out loud, but Clara had reason to be proud, because not every woman managed to make the Golden Dragon feel real exhaustion.

Nevertheless, the champion pulled herself together and took a stable position. Only now she realized that her headbutt had worked even better than she had hoped. The force with which her forehead crashed into Clara's mask was enough for her opponent to recoil back so far that as a result she ended up near the commentators' table.

Astrid, slightly staggering, headed towards GASTER. The blonde ran her hand over her face, removing fresh drops of blood, and then she clenched her fists. Although she was tired, she doubted that Clara had more stamina reserves than she did. Therefore, she was approaching her rival like a doom. Her intentions were very clear. No matter what she had to go through, she was going to defend her title no matter what it cost her.

[Vc0m]

Clara's senses were all thrown out of control. Her vision? Blurred. Her hearing? Still covered by the constant ringing. Smell? Taste? Completely blocked by a mix of blood and sweat. Touch? She felt pain across her whole body. Slowly, some things started to return to her. The roar of the crowd broke through the annoying ringing, picture in her eyes became clearer...

However as she realized the image that she saw in front of her, she wished it didn't.

Astrid properly got up from the coffin. The bloodied and bruised champion now looked like a heroine, a Valkyrie from Northern myths she admired, staring down evil in the face, as the small Shadow Lord's heart beat out of control with fear.

"No...NO I REFUSE TO GIVE UP TO HER!!!"

No matter how dire things got, Clara was going to become the champion. She was going to fight past her fear, and defeat Astrid, no matter how many times she got up, no matter what it cost her in the end!

Her eyes started to dart around until they dropped towards the hammer - the prop Astrid brought to the ring earlier! How theatrical would it be if the blonde hoisted her own petard, the means of her downfall brought in by her:

"Please be real...", Clara would think to herself, darting towards the hammer as she grabbed the hilt with both her hands!

"...?!!"

As Clara tried to lift the hammer... it wasn't budging!

Clara's second and third (maybe fourth or fifth?) winds were all exhausted, and she was weakened, especially as her arm still hurt beyond belief. Still, even if it was made of metal, there is no way she should've had a problem with a simple prop! The irony now fell onto the Shadow Lord, as she wished for the hammer to be real... and seemingly got her wish. But the Mjolnir of Goddess of Thunder denied her it's power...

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Did Astrid have a specific plan when she was approaching Clara? Not really. Considering her condition and that of her rival, she was sure that no plan could be reliable in this situation. So she decided to trust her instincts and experience. She didn't have much left to offer GASTER, but she intended to start with a couple of punches to see how confident the brunette was on her feet at the moment. Yes, she still took Clara very seriously and she was still sure that before she tried to use something really heavy, she needed to make sure that Clara couldn't stop her.

Whether it was a coincidence or not, the contender apparently had the same opinion as Astrid. As the Golden Dragon, staggering with fatigue, approached the British woman, Clara began to gradually come to her senses. And as soon as she discovered that Astrid was no more than four steps away from her, she began to look for something that would help her make sure that next time the champion would not be able to get out of the coffin.

And this something turned out to be nothing more than Mjolnir, which Astrid brought with her, but left right on the commentators' table before climbing into the ring.

Clara grabbed the hammer with both hands and spared no effort to try to lift it. The commentators sitting right in front of her were literally gasping for breath, trying to describe in detail how much the veins on the British woman's arms and neck swelled due to the tension at that moment. However, no matter how much time she spent and no matter how much effort she put in, the result remained unchanged. Mjolnir remained in its place, not moving even a millimeter. And although everyone in the arena could draw their own conclusion from this, Astrid was going to say her conclusion out loud.

"You're not worthy..." she said quietly, without a trace of mockery, but with all seriousness.

Spoiler

Taking advantage of Clara's confusion, Astrid found herself right behind her rival. Of course, her words were really nothing more than theatrics. Clara was certainly strong because she picked up and threw Astrid several times like a rag doll. However, the fact was that this hammer was really made of metal, and unlike Astrid, whose weight Clara was able to handle, the weight of the hammer was concentrated at one small point. Simple physics. To lift such a piece of metal, it is necessary to have truly monstrous physical strength. For the same reason, the Golden Dragon left Mjolnir away from the ring. Although she respected and loved hardcore, she knew that it was too dangerous a thing and that if she had hit Clara with it, she would most likely have broken several bones of the brunette. That's why she left it here as a prop, not as a weapon.

Nevertheless, GASTER demonstrated the irony of this situation with her own hands.

Astrid's words might have seemed cruel to Clara. During the match, no one has time to figure out the context, but in fact, the champion did not pursue the goal of insulting her opponent. From Astrid's point of view, it all came down to the fact that Clara had simply lost her way. Yes, she is an incredible fighter with outstanding experience. However, today she came for the title only because she had been trying to get it for many years. An obsession, not a real goal. If she had come here with a different mindset, she might have had a much better chance. But what's done is done. Mjolnir, which she could not lift, became the personification of the reasons why Astrid had no right to let her rival walk away with the golden belt today.

Due to the situation, the champion slightly changed her plan. Instead of using her fists, she intended to grab Clara's shoulder and the back of her head. And if she had succeeded, she would have sent her upper body down to smash the brunette's hidden behind the mask face right into the commentators' table. Now that they were both closer than ever to the end of the match, she didn't want GASTER to find a way to stop her. And for this, the Golden Dragon intended to stun the contender so hard that the bells rang prematurely in her head!

[Vc0m]

With her level of fatigue, the few unsuccessful attempts of trying to lift Mjolnir made the Shadow Lord's head spin from the effort. Still she tried, still she failed. The hammer wasn't budging from its spot, and GASTER's time was running out.

"What...are you going to do once you do lift it?", Clara asked herself in the middle of her futile attempts... and truthfully, she didn't have a clue about the answer now. She expected the hammer to be a well-made prop, but not this well-made, not this heavy! Even if Clara somehow lifted it... striking anyone with it would be way past a wrestling match. Even in a No-DQ environment, this would be tantamount to assault, if the Brit was lucky.

At Clara's final attempt to lift the hammer after that realization (as well as after her arm couldn't take any more strain), Astrid would be standing over her, saying the 3 words she wanted to hear the least at this moment in time.

"..."

Clara fell silent. If tonight wasn't one of the most important matches of her career, she might've played along in a dramatic, villainous fashion... but she knew that the intent behind her rival's words was beyond simple theatrics, beyond Clara lifting the hammer. She knew that her words were really about the prize at stake. And those words made the Brit feel something she thought she left behind in her match with the Baroness.

Fear.

Fear of failure. Fear of coming this far only to end up just the smallest bit short:

"I AM-----!!!"

Right as Clara tried to turn around to come back at Astrid, the blonde grabbed her head before she could realize what was happening. The Shadow Lord was a lot more fatigued than she originally believed. The Champion would ram her foe's head downwards, smashing it straight into the commentary table!

Clara's head was ringing once more. She wanted to scream, but her throat felt hoarse after so much of it in this match. For a moment, her vision and thoughts went completely dark, and once her vision and her mind came back to her, the image in her eyes would be too bright and too blurry, while her thoughts would be short and incoherent...

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Clara clearly had something to say to Astrid's words, but the Golden Dragon did not give her rival such an opportunity. Literally the very second the British woman started to turn, the champion grabbed her by the shoulder and the back of her head. A moment later, Clara's face crashed into the commentators' table, thereby forcing the commentators themselves to jump to their feet. While they continued to cover the events taking place in front of them, GASTER was clearly in a very bad condition because after this hard collision she did not try to push Astrid away or something. She did not move at all.

Feeling her strength draining away, Astrid didn't waste any time. Considering how many wounds and bruises were on her body, she had no doubt that soon her reserves would be completely empty. Clara had gone as far as Ostberg in trying to take the title from Astrid, but now the Golden Dragon intended to end it all. And she had something more than suitable in mind for that. Still holding the back of Clara's head with one hand, the champion intended to reach out with the other hand to her opponent's leg, while simultaneously pressing her shoulders against the brunette's back.

"Gggrrrr..." sounded through her clenched teeth.

Many viewers mistakenly believe that over time a fighter gets used to muscle pain, but this is a terrible misconception. At the current stage of the match, every move made the blonde's muscles burn. This burning pain was an obstacle in her way. This burning pain was trying to stop her. However, if Astrid had been the type to succumb to such things, she would never have become a champion. Even if the day ever came when she refused to continue fighting because of the unbearable pain, she still intended to make sure that today was not that day.

With a wild growl, she intended to pull Clara's head back while straightening up to her full height. The Golden Dragon's amazing physical strength was in the public domain and no one had any doubt that she was easily able to handle the weight of the contender. However, at that moment, her legs were shaking like a leaf, thus showing how exhausted the champion was. However, she was determined to lift GASTER and put her on the shoulders in an Argentine backbreaker rack position!

If she had succeeded, then surely the audience would have made a loud wave of noise, suggesting that the Golden Dragon intended to use the notorious submission hold in an attempt to break the back of the contender. Which would really be a pretty good option if it was a standard match where she could get the victory by submission. However, in the current circumstances, Astrid intended to use something else, or rather to demonstrate to both the audience and Clara her new signature move.

Taking a deep breath in order to take her mind off the pain for a second and fill her muscles with strength, the champion intended to throw GASTER's legs over her head with one hand, still holding Clara's head with the other hand. Thus, she wanted to force the contender to be in a horizontal position face down, because in this case, the last thing left for the descendant of the great Vikings to do was to spread her legs to the sides and direct her opponent's body directly into the commentators' table! Many people knew it as an Argentine facebuster, but she gave it a much more colorful name. In Clara's case it was especially symbolic, because it was what marks the beginning of Ragnarok, the Gjallarhorn!

[Vc0m]

Clara's vision went in and out, with the Brit unable to tell what she was seeing. The image in her eyes either went too dark or too bright as if her brain was unable to tell her eyes how much brightness they should observe. Steadily, her vision returned, though everything was still fairly blurry...

The first image that the Brit saw in her eyes after her head was smashed into the table were the arena lights above her... but they were considerably lower than the last time she ended up looking up. It was then that the Shadow Lord also realized that her back was bent at an arch, and her rival's mighty arms held her head and leg. Clara was up on the Champion's shoulders... and it terrified her. Astrid wasn't going to go for a submission, that was a waste of time considering how fatigued she was, so what did the blonde have in mind?

It was then that Clara went flying, her gaze turning from up, to down, as she realized just how truly screwed she was:

"NO---!!!"

CRASH!

"YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

The crowd exploded as the table broke from the collision with Astrid's Gjallarhorn, the commentary team swiftly getting up from their chairs to step aside while their working space collapsed into a heap of wood, metal and plastic, while in the middle of that heap lay the Shadow Lord Clara GASTER, unmoving while she laid face down on the ground, her vision and mind completely blank...

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The orchestra of the exclamations of the commentators, the noise of the audience, the cracking of wood and the screams of Clara filled not only the entire arena, but certainly the entire city. The contender's body passed through the wooden surface like a knife through butter. Mjolnir crashed to the floor with, being buried under the rubble of what a moment ago had served as a place of work for commentators. Now it all was just a pile of useless junk, with Clara lying absolutely motionless among it.

For a few seconds Astrid just sat in front of Clara, looking at her rival, and then the fog abruptly covered her. The Golden Dragon's body began to fall backwards and she had to press her palm against the concrete floor, creating a fulcrum. The blonde closed her eyes for a few seconds, gasping for air. It wasn't her style to engage in self-deception, so she clearly realized that she had underestimated how much damage GASTER had done to her. It might have been just a momentary weakness, but it meant that she was losing control of her body due to fatigue.

"By Odin's beard..." Astrid muttered.

The Golden Dragon gritted her teeth. No, this is not the time to chill out. Taking another deep breath, she gathered her strength. Pushing off the floor with her hand, the champion rose to one knee and reached for her opponent's head. Clara looked deplorable, so the blonde assumed that she would have to lift the contender to her feet with her own hands. However, that was exactly what she was going to do.

Astrid was going to grab the British woman's head with both hands, and then pull the brunette up, while straightening up to her full height. The Golden Dragon's movements were sluggish, she barely had the strength to resist the pain that filled her muscles. However, determination was visible on her bloodied face. The same determination she was filled with at the end of her first title defense.

The descendant of the great Vikings always said that she was not afraid of defeat, but today she intended to win. The golden belt entrusted to her was something much more significant for her than just an official permission to call herself a champion. She wanted to turn this into her legacy and for this she was ready to overcome any pain.

Rising to her feet, the Golden Dragon was about to stand at Clara's side, still holding her head. That way she wanted to close the brunette in a simple side headlock hold, thereby pressing GASTER's head against her torso and breasts. Astrid didn't have much strength left, so she chose the easiest way because this hold allowed her to both hold her opponent's weight and to some extent limit her ability to move. She had one last thing to do.

Accompanied by the growing screams of the audience, the champion headed straight for the open coffin, dragging Clara with her. The pain and fatigue were the most sincere evidence that this was one of those matches that Astrid joined LAW for. From the very beginning, she wanted to fight only the best of the best, giving more than one hundred percent in every match. Clara was able to give her such a match. But now it's time to end it all, because if the British woman was destined to become a champion, then the Golden Dragon intended to make sure that it would happen not today, and only after her opponent gets back on the right track.

[Vc0m]

You could never tell how long you were unconscious. It's only after a little bit of time passed when you got your bearings that you had any idea how much had passed while you were blacked out. To call being unconscious "asleep" was a misnomer. You never dreamed while out, you were only surrounded by the darkness, not knowing how you got to that point...

The first thing Clara noticed as she came back to consciousness was the sound. It was deafening in the arena. Then, a thought came to Clara's mind: "Huh...I...lost, didn't I?"

That was when she noticed a contradiction with her thought - the lights of the arena were still shining in her eyes. If she lost, why wasn't she inside the coffin?

She then realized another thing - she was standing upright. If she was knocked out, why wasn't she laying down?

Her vision became clearer, as she felt a sensation of her head being squeezed by strong arms, driven to someone's chest, all the while forcibly dragged to...

...a coffin.

"...no..."

She could still do it. The match was still on!

But her body felt incredibly sluggish. Her arm pulsed with pain. The coffin was getting closer and closer...

"NO!"

With her statement, Clara lifted her leg up, aiming it for the backside of Astrid's leg! Assuming her shot rang true, Astrid would be left kneeling, with Clara released from her hold:

"Not losing...not to you... not tonight..."

There was one thing that Clara learned by herself. She was watching Chika's past indie matches and thought one move was important to learn, both from its position and power, that could give her a big advantage in the match.

Taking a deep breath, Clara took a step forward, and jumped. While in midair, she tried to do a flip, aiming her foot directly for the top of the Champion's head, trying to kick her foe with a Pele Kick!