Safiyah Neferet vs. Aspasia El-Shenawy - Dance of the Serpents

[BlackAkuma]

Asp really had to thank Sophia the next time she had a chance. Though her friend would never have dreamed of being in a match like this on her wildest day, their training had improved the Water Serpent’s basic ring skills immensely, to a point where she felt much confident in her technical abilities. This was the result showing in action - Asp remained aware of her position in regards to her opponent, kept the rules in mind, and was able to turn the tide once a single opportunity presented itself.

It wasn’t a knock against Safiyah’s prowess - in fact, if the tables had been turned, she was willing to wager that she, herself, would’ve fallen for the same trick. It was too easy for women like them to get lost in the sensuality of the moment, and while Asp knew little of her opponent’s background, she was willing to bet that she was no stranger to moments like this. That it was a common occurrence. Perhaps too common.

Some younger referees might have been caught off guard by the sudden change, but thankfully for Asp, theirs was one of the more experienced ones. Enough so that she didn’t hesitate when the shoulders came to the mat and effortlessly moved into position, putting Safiyah into the panicked mode she required.

The first count went well enough, and even gave Asp a surprising bonus - the foot against her crotch gave her a wild burst of pleasure, one that she would surely miss.

The second count was more interesting. For a moment, Asp thought she would genuinely score the pinfall - it wouldn’t be enough to win, she would still need to make Safiyah orgasm, but it would be the harder part of this match done long before she had anticipated it would be.

Alas, it was not to be, but Asp got the result she ultimately needed - she was let go, the two of them parted ways, and she was allowed a reprieve. [“We did. And do.”] She wiped her chin clean as she rose back up to her feet and retook her stance. [“Absence makes the heart grow fonder. You will see.”]

With that promise, Asp looked to re-engage, though she did so slowly. Her body was still feeling the effects of the hold, and she wasn’t in a state to push herself just yet. Still, she knew better than to give Safiyah free reign, and sought to keep her at a distance with quick kicks aimed at her shin, lashing out whenever the woman got too close, attempting to force her into a substantial move.

[Lightman]

Safiyah took a slow breath as she pushed herself up, her body glistening under the lights, still thrumming with the residual pulse of their last exchange. That had been close. Too close.

Her heterochromatic eyes flickered with something dangerous, something hungry, as she studied Asp, who had already risen, regained her stance, already begun her next plan of attack. Although this ended way too quickly, just when she finally had the advantage, Safiyah could not deny the cleverness in Asp’s manoeuvre. Few could have broken out of her coils so cleanly, let alone turned it into a genuine attempt to steal a fall from her.

The momentary pin attempt had been a surprise, yes, but it had only served to remind her of one thing—Asp was not to be underestimated. The Water Serpent had slipped free, used the moment to break their entanglement, and now stood before her, ready to strike again.

This is still fine. She can recover from this.

Asp was smart to keep her distance. She had felt the strength in Safiyah’s holds, particularly her legs, the lethal precision behind every touch. Now, she was testing her, measuring the distance with flicking, snapping kicks aimed at her shin, forcing her to react. The Water Serpent was playing wisely—staying mobile, keeping her from closing in, wearing her down bit by bit.

The Azure Cobra absorbed the first few kicks, letting them glance off her legs, rolling with the impact rather than trying to check them. It seems odd to let herself get teed off here, but the bluenette was observing Asp, noting the rhythm of her strikes, the pattern of her footwork. Asp was moving well, but Safiyah could see it—the subtle way she was favouring one side more than the other, the momentary pauses between attacks. Something Reiko mentioned in her first lesson. Might as well put it to great use.

[“Hesitation only makes the fall sweeter.”] A different philosophy, one that ruled within the Azure Cobra.

Asp flicked out another kick, but this time, Safiyah would move. She swung her leg low as if she was going for her own kick to the legs, only for Asp’s kick to force the darker-skinned leg to carry on its trajectory. A silly, rookie mistake, at first glance.

That was until she carried on the momentum, twirling around on the ball of her foot, as that same leg lashed out once it completed the cycle, only that she went higher this time. The tanned leg moved like a whip, aiming to nail the redhead right on the side of her head.

[BlackAkuma]

The kicks weren’t simply meant to peck away at Safiya and keep her at a distance - no, Asp was recovering, too. That bodyscissor and choking combination had worn her out far more than she would’ve liked to admit, and she swore she could still feel her opponent’s legs around her waist, a phantom sensation that refused to abate. Little kicks like this cost her little energy, allowing her stamina to return and her breathing to normalize.

But, as prudent as this was, Safiyah had a point with her little taunt - it couldn't last forever. Asp could already see it in her foe’s mesmerizing eyes, analyzing her and calculating, no doubt preparing some subtle trick to regain control of the match. This woman was playful but tricky. Dangerous. Something was coming, and soon.

Ignore the words. Focus on the movements.

Safiyah came out with a kick of her own, but it seemed poorly time, as it met with Asp’s own and was sent away - or so she thought at first glance. On closer inspection, however, there was a practiced grace in the way her opponent moved, a purpose to it, and the hallmarks of intent, as if her body was winding up for something much more dangerous to do with those legs.

Whatever it was, Asp wanted not part of it. As Safiyah spun about, she went low, dropping into a deep crouch as her suspicious were confirmed - a kick that would’ve beheaded her passed by overhead, moving through the air so fast that she could hear the wind being sliced. She’d not only done well to avoid it, but doing so put her in a prime position, at Safiyah’s back for a golden moment. Too good to pass up.

Asp leaped straight up out of her crouch, springing high like their striking namesake. Her legs shot out and wrapped around her opponent’s head, as she came to sit on her shoulders for a single instant. The Water Serpent leaned forward, just enough to plant a quick kiss on the woman’s forehead, before she threw her body back all at once, yanked her opponent’s head along with her, and attempted to spike her skull on the canvas with a fierce poisoned ‘rana.

[Lightman]

Safiyah’s body moved with precision, every strike a measured calculation, every step a deliberate choice. She could see Asp’s strategy unfold in real time—the cautious, tactical use of energy-conserving kicks, the way she allowed herself space to recover while keeping Safiyah at bay. Banking it for the future, where the damage would be more pronounced. It was intelligent, undeniably so, but also predictable. If Asp thinks she has things under control, then so be it. Then the fall comes.

She had feigned a kick, had let Asp believe for a moment that she had intercepted it, had let her think she had successfully deflected the incoming assault. But Safiyah was not so easily dissuaded. She wouldn’t have struck without reason. That first kick had been a mere whisper of movement, a breath before the storm. Her real intent was coiling beneath the surface, waiting, winding her body up for something deadly.

And Asp knew it.

Safiyah could see it in the subtle twitch of her muscles, the way she dropped low in anticipation of a strike she had not yet thrown. A sharp, knowing smirk flickered across Safiyah’s lips. She liked this. The tension, the chase, the moments of breathless anticipation before an explosion of movement. Then she moved.

Her foot cut through the air in a vicious, decapitating arc—but Asp was gone. A flicker of surprise flashed in Safiyah’s gold and sapphire eyes as her opponent ducked, her body folding into a deep crouch. The kick sliced through empty space, a moment too late, the wind whipping past in a fierce rush. Fast. Asp had read her. Had seen the strike coming before it even began. To be fair, it was a similar strike from the beginning of the match. Wasn’t the most unpredictable, coming from a snake.

And then—she was gone.

Asp sprang upward, her body unfurling like a striking viper, launching herself with a terrifying speed that even Safiyah had not fully expected. In a blur, legs wrapped around her head, thighs clamping down with a vice-like grip.

A sharp inhale.

A flicker of movement.

A kiss.

Soft. A mere ghost of lips against her forehead.

And then the fall.

The moment Asp’s legs clamped around her head, Safiyah knew she had been baited. The Water Serpent had played her role to perfection—patient, elusive, striking only when the moment was just right. And now, as she felt the sudden shift in weight, the forward lean of her opponent, the teasing whisper of lips against her forehead, she understood exactly what was coming.

But understanding was not the same as stopping.

In that fraction of a second, before gravity dictated its will, Safiyah’s instincts took hold. A poisonrana was a move meant to drive its victim’s skull mercilessly into the mat, a devastating manoeuvre that could change the tide of any battle in an instant. Lesser opponents would have been caught by that. But Safiyah was not just any opponent. Years of gymnastics trained the body to react even as her body tilted backwards.

It was the same way the Azure Cobra used when it came to the dragon screw. Rather than resist the motion, she flowed with it, using Asp’s momentum. Before her skull slammed against the mat with a sickening force, both of her palms pressed onto the mat, creating a good base for the bluenette and something to take the brunt of the impact. Turning the violent impact into a controlled tumble, her body coiling like a serpent refusing to be tamed before slipping out with a handspring, flipping away from the Water Serpent’s coils. Landing on her feet, Safiyah flicked her hair back with a flourish of the hand, making that whole affair look easier than it was.

["I didn't mean that fall, habibti."]

[BlackAkuma]

The longer this match went on, the more Asp was starting to see their similarities as a problem that she would have to find a way around instead of being a simple amusement. It was a wonderful thing to have someone that she was so similar to, but it also meant that there was little she could do to outmaneuver Safiyah. Any attack that she could avoid, Safiya could. Any attack that she could make, Safiyah could. The two of them could dance and dance and dance, until one of them simply made a little mistake for the other woman to exploit. Around and around and around again…

Fun. Good for the audience. But hardly a productive way to win a match. No, to do that, she needed an edge over her foe, and as she caught Safiyah with the Poisonrana and pulled her through the air, she felt she had one when she relied on more ‘traditional’ wrestling moves. Working with Sophia had given her a wider array of moves to work with, ones that she wouldn’t have typically contemplated, and this was one of them. It suited her style of wrestling, but was something more complex than simply kicking and dancing about.

It showed promise at first. Her legs snapped tight around Safiyah’s head and lifted her off her feet, which should’ve meant that her head was on a collision course with the floor. But she could feel the way her foe’s body was moving, the way it was twisting, the subtle moves. She wasn’t resisting, she was moving along with the attack, claiming the momentum for her own. Which likely meant…

The lack of impact and Safiyah's voice told her all that she needed to know: the woman had landed safely. An impressive maneuver, Asp was sure, and one she would love to see when she rewatched this match…along with the maneuver she, herself, was about to attempt.

Instead of turning to face her foe, Asp sought to take her off guard as she launched backwards, fell away, and let her leg arch through the air in a path that would see her feet colliding with Safiyah’s face, trying to strike her with a Pele Kick.

[Lightman]

The way these two snake-themed combatants moved made for an exciting watch for the audience. It was non-stop action, neither having a moment of reprieve. Describing the fight to someone unfamiliar with the combatants would sound chaotic. The way they moved, dodged, weaved, struck and coiled against each other, was of control, not chaos.

The moment Asp’s legs coiled around her head, dragging her backwards, Safiyah felt it. The way her opponent shifted and her weight carried both of them through the air was clean, practised, and undeniably deadly. But Safiyah was not a woman who allowed herself to be thrown without choice.

Her body twisted with the motion, rolling like a wave rather than resisting like a stone. The impact Asp had expected never came. Instead of her skull slamming against the mat, Safiyah’s feet found it, absorbing the momentum in a perfect arc, flipping through the motion, and landing like a whisper. Her toned legs spread slightly to absorb the shock of the landing. Graceful. Effortless. The impact should have been devastating, but Safiyah stood firm, unshaken. The crowd gasped at its sheer audacity, the way she had turned what should have been a decisive moment into nothing more than a dance move.

But there was no time to admire her escape.

Safiyah’s head snapped up, her gold and sapphire eyes locking onto Asp, who had not turned to face her but had instead chosen to fall backwards, her body arching like a coiled spring releasing its tension. A counter? No—an immediate follow-up.

The movement was brilliant in its unpredictability. Most wrestlers would have turned, assessed, and reacted. But Asp attacked blindly, trusting in her positioning, timing, and skill. The Pele Kick sliced through the air in a deadly arc, feet aimed straight for Safiyah’s face.

Too late to dodge. She had to take the hit—but she refused to take it cleanly.

Safiyah’s hands shot up at the last possible moment, catching Asp’s ankles just before impact. The force of the kick still struck, rattling her skull and sending a sharp jolt of pain reverberating down her spine. The Azure Cobra absorbed the force of the blow, backpedalling to create space between them. Aside from a throbbing ache in her jaw, it could have been much worse.

[BlackAkuma]

As easily as Asp made the move look, the truth was that she was taking a leap of faith when she went for this move. She had practiced it a few times with Sophia, and knew how to do it in theory - her body was well suited for such maneuvers, light enough to execute it with the risk of hurting her head like some might have. But she had never used it in a match before, not even during sparring. There was a real chance it would turn out poorly or she might hesitate too long and leave herself open.

Thankfully, that turned out not to be the case. There was a tense moment as her feet arched through the air where she wasn’t sure if her target was where it was supposed to be, but then she felt the impact - it had landed. Mostly.

She couldn't tell what had happened exactly, but it was clear there was some sort of disconnect, something had blocked the impact. The good news was that it meant she was covered for the moment, since Safiyah was still too stunned to capitalize on her downed form. But it also meant that the onus was on Asp to take advantage of the small window she’d created - she needed to strike, and she needed to strike now.

Simply standing up would’ve taken time, too much time, but Asp had better, more interesting options. She’d come down on her shoulders after landing the Pele Kick, and as Safiyah staggered away she threw her leg up, rolled backwards, and transitioned into a handstand as she closed the distance. Her feet shot upwards and attempted to snag her foe by the neck, locking on tight and pressing into her neck with her calves.

It wasn’t a solid hold and it wouldn’t last long if Safiyah fought it, but she intended to not give the chance - Asp rolled forward, pulled her opponent’s body along with her, and attempted to send her rolling off towards the ropes, for what would likely be an awkward fall if she was unprepared.

[Lightman]

The moment of impact was disorienting, a sharp jolt of force colliding with Safiyah’s temple. Safiyah felt the force of the kick, but she had managed—through sheer instinct—to raise her arm at the last possible second, absorbing some of the blow. It wasn’t perfect, mind you. The impact still rattled her skull, sent a sharp jolt of pain down her neck, and still made her vision blur for a heartbeat. But it was something. The bluenette's body adjusted, muscle memory taking over, instinctually keeping her upright even as she reeled from the blow. She could not afford to lose her footing, not against an opponent like this. The Azure Cobra shook her head, trying to dispel the haze creeping at the edges of her vision, but there was no time. She felt it—the shift in the air, the movement behind her.

Asp had not hesitated.

Safiyah caught only a blur of green, red and alabaster from the corner of her eye, the unmistakable flicker of limbs moving with acrobatic grace. A moment later, python-like legs clamped around her throat, calves pressing tight against her neck. Her muscles tensed immediately, her body responding before her mind could even catch up. The hold wasn’t tight—not yet—but it was positioned with the kind of precision that only someone with Asp’s fluidity could achieve.

Her body tensed instinctively, her hands shooting up, fingers pressing against the smooth, oiled skin of Asp’s thighs, trying to pry them apart before they could tighten further. She felt the tension in Asp’s calves, the way they pressed into her throat with just enough force to disrupt her equilibrium. Safiyah had mere seconds to react, but as she pushed against her opponent’s legs, Asp was already in motion. Then came the roll. And then—momentum.

Safiyah knew what was coming, knew that her body was already past the point of immediate recovery. Asp had committed fully to the manoeuvre the pull sudden and powerful, and with Safiyah’s stance already staggered from the previous blow, she had no time to root herself, no leverage to halt the movement.

And there she went.

The roll was violent, a disorienting blur of motion as Asp’s fluid technique wrenched Safiyah’s body forward, dragging her through the air like a ragdoll caught in a riptide. Safiyah’s back hit the top rope first, the impact of steel jarring her spine before the momentum carried her further, hurling her through the gap between the middle and top ropes. The world turned sideways for a breathless second, and then—

Crash.

She landed hard outside the ring, her body skidding slightly on the slick floor before coming to a stop. Her breath rushed from her lungs in a sharp exhale as she forced herself to remain still for just a moment, her mind racing to process the sheer audacity of what had just happened. Safiyah heard the crowd erupting with cheers, the sheer frenzy of energy that had consumed the arena as they reacted to what they had just witnessed. And for the first time in the match, she could feel the momentum slipping through her fingers. Not again.

Safiyah pushed herself up, her palms pressing against the cool floor, the bluenette quickly dusting herself off. Her breath came in somewhat measured inhales, controlling the rush of frustration building in her chest. Keeping her colourful eyes on the Water Serpent, the Azure Cobra exhaled sharply before she crawled underneath the bottom rope, slithering almost, slowly getting to a low crouch.

[BlackAkuma]

During dance instruction, Asp always told her students to think of their dance like a story, one they were telling exclusively with their bodies. It was not only a way to help them break down the movements and organize them in their minds, but also a way to make sense of the overall picture and put it together into something coherent. There was a beginning, a middle, and an end. Ebbs and flows. Peaks and valleys, twists and turns.

Asp found it was much the same with a wrestling match, particularly this one. The opening act was through, their engagement had passed, and the two now had a much more comprehensive understanding of each other. Now, they were approaching the climax - the steady build into a crescendo, where they worked to outdo one another. It was only a matter of time before one of them faltered and gave ground for a victory, but who would fall first?

At the moment, Asp felt the shift was in her favor. She had hoped to send Safiyah flying with her move, but her gambit proved even more successful than she could’ve hoped. She had expected the move would throw her foe for a loop, but even she hadn't thought it would send her out the ring. Nonetheless, tha was what happened - she looked over to see her fellow Egyptian pulling herself up off the floor, looking not the least bit pleased. Understandably.

Asp brought a hand to her mouth, covering a laugh. She didn’t want to be mean, but that was a little funny.

Asp stood back up and backed away from the ropes as a flustered Safiyah entered the ring. While it was tempting to try and attack her while she was down, that sort of cheap shot was not in her repertoire. That being said, she wasn’t above a taunt. ”You were saying something about a fall, habibti?”

She could not resist.

Now that her itch was scratched, Asp moved in again, this time coming at Safiyah with arms up, trying to bait her in a collar-and-elbow tie-up. An orthodox thing to aim for at this point in the match, but that was part of the point - she wanted to see how well Safiyah handled things from a more traditional angle.